Today Ian McKee whose blog name is 45Bravo tells us about his Air Venturi Avenge-X Tactical model.
If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email me at blogger@pyramydair.com.
Take it away, Ian.
Air Venturi Avenge-X Tactical model: Part One
by Ian McKee
This report covers:
- Quality?
- Description
- Features
- First impression
Today we start my review of the Air Venturi Avenge-X Tactical model.
The Avenge-X rifles are all the same base rifle but with different options. They feature interchangeable .177, .22 and .25 calibers, carbon fiber bottles, slim line pressure tubes, wood or synthetic stocks and bullpup configurations.
There are eight possible configurations available, available in all three calibers.
BB is reviewing the wooden stock version, I chose the tactical version to be different, and I don’t have a tactical version of a full size pellet rifle in my stable. Also, I want to directly compare it to a friend’s FX Crown in an aftermarket Saber Tactical stock that carries a total MSRP of $1,949.
Quality?
Now I know a $530 rifle will not have as nice a trigger, fit, finish and quality grade materials as a rifle that costs four times as much, but I do love it when a budget gun shoots well above its paygrade.
Description
The rifle is just under 44 inches long with the stock fully extended, and 40 inches total when collapsed. Without an optic, it weighs just a little under 7 lbs.
Avenge-X Tactical.
The Avenge-X, bipod and ammo all fit perfectly in a mid-sized case.
Features
To list all of the features found in the rifle would take up most of today’s blog without leaving much room to discuss many of them in detail so we will cover a few of the highlights in today’s blog.
Let’s start with the receiver. It started as a solid machined block of aluminum, and the side-mounted cocking lever is reversible for left-handed shooters, or people who want to manipulate the action with one hand, while still gripping the gun with the other.
It has a stainless steel externally adjustable regulator, an externally adjustable transfer port, and a two-stage adjustable trigger, and an industry standard Foster fitting to fill the rifle, no fill probes!
The fully shrouded barrel is user interchangeable for caliber. Currently the options are .177, .22, and .25 caliber. The barrel kits include the barrel, shroud, internal moderator baffle stack and barrel centering device, and a one-half-inch x 20 threads per inch threaded end cap with thread protector.
All of the rifles ship with one standard capacity magazine (10 pellets in .177 and .22 caliber, and 8 in .25 caliber) and one high capacity magazine that holds 20 pellets in .177 caliber, 16 in .22, and 13 in .25 caliber, and a single shot tray is included as well.
The rifle comes with a high-capacity mag, a standard mag and a single shot tray.
The tube reservoir version of the rifle lists 80 shots per fill in .22 caliber. We will test that on high power and again on low power to see the difference in the shot count.
The rifle has two gauges. The one on the left has blue markings and tells the regulator pressure. The one on the right has red markings and shows the fill pressure. Both gauges show pressures in bar and psi.
The Tactical rifle comes with a very comfortable AR-compatible pistol grip, and AR-compatible stock with a grippy rubber butt pad. These can be easily changed to aftermarket ones if you prefer.
There is a metal Picatinny rail on the front of the forearm that is securely attached to the main receiver. It’s there for mounting a bipod or other accessories.
First impression
Overall, the Tactical Air Venturi Avenge-X has a very solid, quality feel, without being bulky or off balanced.
Follow BB and I on this journey as we explore what the Avenge-X has brought to the playing field.
Shoot safe, and have FUN!
Ian
45Bravo,
how delightful: thank you for sharing that picture of the 8 configurations. Those and the barrel calibres, all exciting choices, hmm… 🙂
[ps Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)’s choice would be mine]
Ian,
Golly gee whiz, one of these things sure is tempting. If I was to have only one PCP, it would be one of these. The fill pressure is kind of high, but that gets your shot count up.
I would choose number two.
It beats the heck out of the other modern Tactical Chassis type PCP’s price wise. Lets see if it can perform well.
I would get this one, but a few things held me back. I have over 20 PCP’s and 15 of them are side levers. 4 are semi auto. 1 is a select fire electric hybrid, Evanix Speed. Then there is 1 pistol and my last is the Western Sidewinder select fire Tactical Chassis. I don’t need another side lever PCP and am trying to cut back … Well some!
It certainly falls into my preference for “Tac-T-Cool”. Guess I could always sell some off and replace them?
I’ll be on the edge here and on the lookout for Enablers.
I looked into all the high end Tacticals and most are single shot side levers. It was time to get one that not only “Talked the talk” but “Walked the walk” and the Sidewinder filled the bill being “Select fire” (Semi or Full Auto)
My desire for a fun filled full auto kind of faded away but being able to use it if I wanted was a key selling point along with a removable mag and a few innovative features. Also liked the overall design. Kind of a semi- bullpup.
This is shaping up to be a very interesting series. I think that the two styles that you and BB chose to report on will be some of the more popular ones. Recently, the Micro-hunter review inspired me to install an AR conversion kit on a used Diana Chaser. And I really like the feel of it, very comfortable. And it works well for shooting targets in the basement. So, the tactical style has really grown on me. Looking forward to the rest of your review. The Avenge-X is looking great to me at this point.
What conversion did you use for the Chaser?
I suspect you probably used Buckrail which is here in Houston and he makes good stuff at a reasonable price.
What are your thoughts on his kit?
Ian
Yes, you are correct, Buck Rail is great to do business with. They shipped promptly and kept me informed. The kit was easy to install and his video instructions are very good. I just followed his videos to the letter and everything worked out well. All the pieces fit well, and look great, and work as advertised. The Diana Chaser kit I have has an attenuator on the rifle barrel but not the shorter pistol barrel. The one on the rifle barrel isn’t designed to be removed. Buck Rail sells an attenuator that screws right on to the pistol barrel. I have it also and like it a lot. And I have a rear sight for another different rifle on the way from Buck Rail.
45Bravo,
The real test will be if you use this rifle in competition!
Good luck to you…
-Yogi
That is my long term intention, to see if it can hold its own in benchrest against more expensive airguns.
Ian.
Ian,
The rifle is a chassis just begging to be customized every which way. This might turn out to be the airgun equivalent of the M16 which has become like a blank canvas upon which the owner can hang whatever accessory they want. I wonder what accessories and what settings you will settle upon?
Siraniko
I do agree that it lends itself to accessorizing.
But that can be a double edged sword.
Am not one of those guys that hang a bunch of stuff on their guns.
But I have seen some that have too much stuff on their rifles.
Even my home defense rifle is as close to what I carried as can be without a Tax stamp for things you can’t make since 1986.
If you are going to build one, you might as well build two.
The top one is 5.56, the bottom one is .22LR.
One for work, one for plinking.
Thanks Ian!
Contrary to my usual preference for high-end traditional PCPs I’m seriously considering getting a .22 caliber Avenge-X with the tactical stock. Bonus would be a .177 barrel kit to experiment with.
I don’t need another 30 fpe PCP but can see the Avenge-X replacing my Maximus as my “carry around while I’m working on the property” pester.
Hoping that testing with slugs will be part of the review agenda. Think the Avenge-X has the power, the question is if the barrel will stabilize slugs.
Subscribed to your channel 45 Bravo Airguns and have watched the videos on the Avenge-X – thanks!
Happy Friday all!
Hank
Good morning.
Yes slugs are on the agenda.
I intend to test some that are in the same weight range as pellets, and then retune to heavier slugs eventually.
I think Tom is going to change his to .177 for testing eventually, and I will change to .25.
We will meet in the middle and both test .22 so there can be a comparison between two different versions of the same rifle in the same caliber.
Ian
A question for the readers, as I mentioned yesterday, we have a lot of people on here with a lot of knowledge about many things.
My wife found something in an abandoned storage unit that i can not identify.
It has no manufacturer markings, the only markings are index points for the controls, if you turn the handle the flat metal disk spins.
Anyone have an idea what we are looking at?
Thank you.
Ian
A disk sander? A potter’s wheel? What is in the middle of the disk? Does it rise up to a point? Is there any residue in the nooks and crannies that would give a clue what it was used on? If it was a bacon slicer, it would have old congealed fat somewhere, if it was a potters wheel, it would have clay, if it was a disk sander, sawdust, etc.
45Bravo,
wow, a new enigma machine ! 🙂
It looks to me like there may be some lettering stamped into the oblong plaque, bottom left (opposite side to the handle), ie the yellow circled area in the cropped picture below. Do you still have access to the machine to confirm?
The crosshead screws suggest it might not be very old. All the adjustments appear separate from the rotating disc.
Whatever it is, I also suspect that it is almost complete. That’s a seriously robust looking device, apparently designed for heavy duty and/ or longevity, ie commercial use. Maybe a baker’s tool for quickly shaping dough repeatedly to the same measured size?
What fun! 🙂
side
inside rear
markings
Keeping in mind that my brain stays pretty goofy these days with the medicine…… Without physically examining it I think what you have is an early commercial food processor of sorts. They use a similar one to this day
With a bowl that rotates like the plate does. Then hemispherical blades
Rotating on the opposite axis slicing everything down to a dice.
This one may simply be for sorting.
Notice there is a significant range of settings……. So agricultural or food service are where I would look further.
FYI I am the guy at the flea market the old guys bring stuff to to ID!
And this is the South…… So an old guy asking someone else is not first nature lol.
That’s what I was thinking. Some kind of bacon slicer maybe?
I mainly mentioned the slicer so you can follow where my conclusion comes from.
I don’t believe there is cutting involved with this one….. Just a familiar mechanism….. Some sort of centripetal sorter I believe. Again pretty sure it’s agricultural. Likely part of a larger machine since no marks.
For all I know it’s for plantng seeds
At an adjustable interval
I found it, an antique Downey Johnson coin counter.
Missing the counter and other parts obviously.
Thanks for the input!
Ian.
45Bravo,
a coin counter! Hehe, I would never have guessed that. 🙂
Would you tell how you found out, please.
Sure, Hi3, I ran the photo of the front through a Google images search (I had forgotten about that feature) and it brought up several images of various mechanical devices, but one was a coin counter that looked similar
I then typed vintage coin counter into the search, and chose the images tab, and scrolled until I found the one that closely matched this one.
I was not listening to myself, being in the IT field when a person asks me “why is my computer doing such and such?”
I normally tell them when you have a problem, “Google is your friend.”
Ian
45Bravo,
thanks and Well Done !
None of us thought of a reverse image search, and anyone who did, likely failed.
Now that you know, I wonder what it’s fate will be? I submit, cleaned up, you place it on a sideboard in your lounge with a sign, similar to the pictured one, on the furniture next to the coin counter. 🙂
It’s fate is undecided at the moment, and like many of us here, I have too many oddities in the whole house, much less the lounge area to add something of that size and weight.
I am having to be selective with my additions, and really need to downsize…
Ian
LOL well in that case, only refer to the part of my answer where I called it a centripetal sorter.
I’m having an off day…..
Thanks Ian that was fun
No there is no residue inside or outside.
It’s construction and operation say military to me.
The disk is smooth, no blades, not areas for grinding, slicing or other abrasive tendencies.
The mechanical clockwork system in the back lower part seems to have an increasing ratcheting system, that eventually hits a mechanical reset point.
Ian.
Ian,
Thank you for your introduction to the Avenge-X.
I’ve been watching and reading a lot about this platform. It’s amazing how many videos have been made and how much has been written about the Avenge-X.
Not sure anyone has spent as much time tuning the Avenge-X as Steve at AEAC. Think he has over 4,000 shots on his gun so far. All he has had to do was replace the o-rings on the bolt (thanks to Tyler Patner). Have you done the trigger mod that removes 2 of the 3 washers that are in the rear trigger screw?
Steve has done exhaustive and multiple tunes with pellets and is moving on to slugs. Very interesting to me.
https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/avenge-x-pcp-tuning-guide-aeac-pre-video-learning-updated-10-31.1298590/
I looked into that airgun nation link, and it seems like tuning airguns has evolved into a science of sorts. At least a hobby that some people become intensely involved in. Or perhaps it’s just something that presents a challenge to people who enjoy solving them.
I moved on from firearms and you got what you got. Any improvements in performance usually involved changing ammo, getting an expensive barrel replacement or taking it to a gunsmith. Today’s airguns are something else.
Accurate paper target shooting is not my favorite part of the sport. It is time consuming, and I am into way too many other things. I was assuming manufactures would be setting things up to get the most out of their airguns and kind of leave things alone. So perhaps it’s the reason I don’t get too deep into tuning.
I have adjusted hammer springs and trigger screws and turned knobs from low to high but that was just to see what happened and returned them to the original setting for the most part. Switching pellets is my form of tuning these days, along with adjusting scopes 🙂
I was intent on improving everything on the Hellboy AR BB rifle. It was a total disappointment out of the box for everything but looks. I cleaned up some linkage, shimmed up some springs, opened a hole, shimmed up the magazine position in the receiver for better alignment, installed a longer tighter barrel that happened to be rifled and positioned it closer to the magazine air seal. It improved accuracy, FPS and trigger operation but I would not consider it tunning. Just made it work better. The barrel change increased the accuracy.
I have also converted some airgun pistols and the BB M1 Carbine to be able to shoot full auto, but that is not really tuning.
I am glad to see air gunners out there doing all this tuning and informing us. Really appreciate it. Nice to know all that information is out there for us if we desire to change things.
After 14 years of actively collecting airguns I guess I’m still a novice. Especially when it comes to tuning.
But as long as I can easily send a furry hole digging car engine compartment saboteur to his maker I am satisfied.
Speaking of the Devil, there’s one now, on top of that big rock behind my truck. Adios Little Devil !
Bob M,
Gutsy little devil!
shootski
Didja get’im?
Roman,
My FX Independance is sighted in on that rock. From time to time, they move in under it and come up to sun and check out the area. Perhaps wondering which vehicle to attack first or act as a lookout for others.
The impact thud was loud and clear, and he disappeared, so I am going to assume he has been transformed into a Coyote snack.
It’s on the other side of a barbed wire fence and I’m not about to climb over it to check.
B.B., 45Bravo and Readership,
More and more talk about BULLETS (airgun misnomer slugs) and not too much knowledge about what makes them fly RIGHT.
https://www.lapua.com/lapua-ballistics-tips-stability-estimation/#:~:text=Simple guide for ensuring bullet,range and long range bullets.
Resources are to be found all over. They are mostly from the world of firearms. Other than upper end velocities (d/T) it almost all can be used with some down scaling of some of the parameters.
At a minimum it will show what you and many airgun owners didn’t know about bullets (slugs the non garden type) or maybe even pellets and Ballistics.
(This is sort of a RANT after reading some stuff on the HAM community written by some readers about the Avenge X testing.)
shootski
45 Bravo,
Enjoyed reading this first part and look forward to the continuing series.
I would flip the rifle in the case to the scope up orientation. Not as photogenic but easier on the scope in the neverending battle against the potentially bad effects of GRAVITY.
Thank you for your great work!
shootski
B.B. and Ian,
Did the test bench/facility on your tour at AirForce sound like this one:
“Unless otherwise requested, the barreled action of the rifle is first removed from the stock then mounted into a precision machined bedding block that is custom made for your type of action (when available). This block is then put into our return to battery fixture, which is attached to a large concrete block that has its own foundation separate from the rest of the building. We take these steps to ensure that as many variables as possible are removed during the testing process. This helps us to provide you with the most reliable testing data you can find.”
More info if desired here:
https://www.lapua.com/support/rimfire-test-shooting/
I wonder if PCP airgun aficionados would like to have/pay to make use of similar facilities….
shootski
PS: Check out this Range: https://www.capstonepg.com/rpc/
BB and Ian,
I look forward to yours future reports on this very interesting rifle. Although I tend to prefer steel and wood, there is something about the tactical look that I found attractive.
I recently sold a nice PCP I had in .22 – do not ask me why – and I am looking at one of these to take its place. I already have an Avenger in 177 and I like it a lot. Now, I cannot avoid the question of what is different between the traditional Avenger and the X version, beyond cosmetics and the capability of making caliber changes. Can you elaborate a bit on that on your next blog?
Henry
Henry,
As a happy Avenger owner, I also would appreciate a little more elaboration about the difference. (even though I think that BB did cover quite a bit in his first Avenge-X review)
This machine is shaping up to be good one.
Bill
Country life and air gunners
For those of you who wonder why we are always talking about pest control here is one example of the type of destructive damage they can do on a regular basis. Left unchecked they will multiply and totally destroy your property. They dig hundreds of holes that leave mounds of dirt all over, eat your plants to the ground, kill trees by eating the roots and nest and crap in anything that will protect them from natural predators … your stuff!
For the most part you can never even think of landscaping with anything but rock. They will eat everything. Just leave everything natural. They avoid eating ugly native plants, probably how they alone managed to survive. They don’t taste good. Plan on a sprained ankle if you step into a hole. And fences and walls don’t work. They dig under them or sneak in behind you.
Car distributer spark plug wires.
Bob M,
Pellet gun party? How many folks would come out and help?
I would place Cinnamon or Peppermint Essential oil on a cotton ball and place it under my hood for starters. In a place it won’t remove paint or rubber parts. Of course at this point (as pictured) that is a moot point.
Next up for a try would be burrow system and resident rodent elimination/destruction with propane and oxygen detonation; might be okay during rainy period but not during fire season. Hopefully you will not have burrows under structures. Smoke blown into the burrow system will help find all the alternate entrances.
Not nearly as much fun… If you stop up all but one entrance you could introduce Carbon Dioxide using 20lb cylinders that would asphyxiate the entire burrow without the Wildfire danger or potential structure damage of the more permanent solution propane/oxygen detonation method.
best of luck,
shootski
Shootski’ thanks for the suggestions. It’s a bit more complicated and widespread. Like at least 8 acres of interconnected tunnels. The previous owner’s wife actually fed them indirectly by spreading feed all over for generations of them. She liked the rabbits.
If I filled the area with explosives, you would probably be able to see the explosion from space. 🙁
Rabbits, gophers, ground squirrels and field mice, as well as rats were attracted. And all the big green weeds from this year’s rain just made them fat and happy. They prefer to take root in disturbed ground, AKA private property.
Tail pipe exhaust works well too. My neighbor prefers a shotgun, but his two dogs really help keep them away. My other neighbor’s vacant burned-out property exposed hundreds of gopher mounds. Almost one for each weed.
I just need to get out of the house more and sip a cold one with an accurate airgun.
Really nice shootin. What scope are you using?
With the big tank option you could shoot over 200 shots on a fill. Wow!!