30 Cal Bullpups?
With all of the 30 cal bullpups just coming out I am a bit surprised at the more limited interest I have noticed (many folks join the thread discussions but then state they plan on sticking to .25 or smaller) on the various forums. My guess is that at the 30 caliber level the additional noise, limited shot count, excess power (70-85 FPE), etc. or at least the perception of some of these may limit the market to pest hunters and those with a lot of space rather than the target shooters but I really don’t know.
Given some of the initial long range accuracy I am seeing in the testing, though, and the better BC of these pellets, I am wondering if some of that is misguided. What if the 30 cal turns out to be the cats meow on accuracy – especially outdoors and long range when the wind starts blowing? Just curious what is steering interest away from this caliber. 😕
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Very good information OG. 283 yards is really reaching for a diablo shaped pellet but it must still be stable at that range to hit so regularly. That is exactly what I am slowly gathering from bits and pieces of threads on the 30 cal air guns so far using JSBs. It may be a quite a range extender – easily at least 150 yards where the .25s are really petered out. I don’t want casts where the bullet can fly a mile or more so 30 cal fits a nice niche. Beyond 30 cal it seems the air usage really picks up and the shot count really plummets and some major design changes may be in order.
How is the noise on that hybrid boss? They are reporting Marauder .25 level noise on the 30 cal Bobcats which I consider excellent.
OG – how do you consider the build quality, robustness of the FX compared to the Edgun?
I must confess my dream is to puff some of my never disappearing sparrows with a 30 cal air gun. :5: 😈
I got the last Boss that AOA got in their first shipment. I shot it 1 shot, just to see if it would shoot and then tore it down and made a bull pup out of it.
I got it cobbled together and had it shooting then took it back apart for more work. A buddy asked me to come out to an all day Sunday PB and air gun shoot so, I just threw it back together. When I got there, everybody wanted to know just what the hell I had?
When they found out that it “was just an air gun” most of them left me alone. I had to sight it in at 50 yards and my buddy and I did some 50 and 100 yard shooting. The wind was 0-5 miles from right to left and intermittent. With the breeze blowing and shooting at 100 yards, my R3, 25 long shot somewhat tighter vertically displaced groups, the Boss did better horizontally. With no wind, the R3 shot better overall groups.
Where the Boss really started to come into its own was shooting small water bottles at 158 yards. It was much easier to hit the water bottles with the Boss; the heavier, higher BC 30 cal pellets were less affected by the wind. The PB guys were shooting at the bottles and were averaging a hit every 2nd or 3rd shot. My buddy and I were hitting the bottom of the knocked over bottles almost every shot.
Now, all of the PB guys were back, asking questions and wanting to give the Boss a try. I will say that I had a much better scope on the Boss than what any of the PB guys had on their guns.
My buddy then wanted to try hitting a crossing sign that was 283 yards out and at a 30 degree angle to us. I used the Chairgun Iphone app and found that I could turn the Hawke 4026 scope down to 8X and use the last mill dot for 283 yards. My buddy started hitting the sign right off of the bat. Probably 12-15 people, including 10-12 year olds wanted to try. Just about everybody could hit the sign. I had the Boss mounted to a camera tri pod and we were using that combo for the 283 yard shooting. I later went down to check out the sign and the lead smears were in a group that measured around 4” tall and 10” wide. The group was around 25 shots. I was impressed with the Boss and really impressed with the 30 cal JSBs.
I didn’t try the Matador at 283 yards but, I don’t think that the “light” pellets would have done as well as the 30s did.
I am really looking forward to getting an email from Tony that states that my 30 cal R3 long has arrived!
I’ve seen this alot too,…folks get all excited by those bigger calibers but when they actually get them they realise that they did sure go a step further, shooting bigger calibers gets expensive very quickly, much more of a commitment than normal airgun day to day shooting
Only guessing but, pellet choices limited, its new everyone waiting for everyone else to TEST it out.
I for one have been a wait and see attitude but think I may pull th etrigger soon if i get some extra cash.
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I have a 22 cal Royale that I bought new just to try to make a bull pup out of. I had it shooting, just needed the stock final shaped and painted. My R2.5 25 long came in and the Royale sat for the next 2 ½-3 years. I didn’t shoot 2 tins of JSBs thru it. I took the bull pup parts off of the Royale and put them on the Boss. I am going to put the Royale on the Yellow in the next couple of days. The Royale developed an air leak at the bottle junction and I am waiting for the proper O ring from AOA. I hope that fixes the gun.
The Boss shot great until I put a Hart .257”, 28” long 1 in 14” twist on it. I took a few hundred dollars to get parts made to convert it from a 30 cal to a .257”. I did get to take it to the range, once, and try out my LBT cast bullets. They shot like crap.
I have since been chasing air leaks in the Boss. I have replaced all of the O rings a couple of times and I have even put a complete replacement air valve rod and air valve rod seat in the gun. The gun still loses 1000 psi over night. I am hoping that the new air valve rod and seat just need to be shot some and will then seal. I am casting up some bullets for it right now and I plan on taking the Boss to the range either Sat or Sun.
I have owned 5 Matadors and 2 FXs. In my opinion, the Matador is far ahead of the FXs in fit, finish, the overall design of the internals, the quality of materials used, shot count, ES and ED AND RESALE VALUE! Your results may vary!
I expect to lose at least a couple hundred dollars on each FX gun when I sell it. I have never lost a penny on an Edgun sale and I could have easily made a couple of hundred on each one. I don’t play like that.
The Boss is quiet for the amount of power that it puts out but, it isn’t as quiet as my R3 25 long.