Difference between Carbine & PCP?

[Bussta]

Just a quick question

 

What is the difference between a carbine & PCP air rifle, which is more powerful for rabbiting?

 

Is a carbine the same as PCP?

 

Also how easy is it to refil a PCP airgun without a divers bottle?, someone said that you can get a handpump? if so how much are these?

 

Again the old question crops up - if I am to shoot vermin (pigeons, Rabbits e.c.t, the what would be better - .177 or .22?

 

[alanlee]

A PCP gun is a 'Pre-Charged Pneumatic'.

 

A carbine is a gun with a shortened barrel.This makes the gun easy to use/carry, and according to many reports is just as accurate as a full length rifle.

 

When advertised, some dealers say "available as either rifle or carbine", this means there is just a difference in the barrel length, everything else is the same.

 

PCPs can be refilled with either a divers bottle, or a handpump.The pumps are £100ish new, the bottles around £150 new. If you cannot afford either, then just take your gun along to your local gun shop who will refill it for around a £1 a time.Thats OK if there is a shop close by, if not, then you really need to be able to fill it yourself.

 

Most guns put out between 10 ft/lb and 12 ft/lb. It makes no difference whether they are carbine/spring/pcp.

If you want to get a Firearms Certificate, then a full length rifle in .22 is better I believe, as they are more flexible when being tuned up.

 

Either 177 or 22 is good enough for shooting any vermin within airgun range(a max of 40 yards I would say, and probably better to be within 35 yards).The debate about which calibre to go for can go on for weeks.177 is more accurate.22 hits with more force. If either hit a rabbit between the eye and ear, it would be dead.

Alan.

[PTaylor2k4]

i used .22 in my lightning but i've gone for .177 in my new shadow 1000 and i'm gona be shooting mainly birds

 

can't give an opinion because the thing aint arrived yet

[Vermin Dropper]

A carbine is a gun with a shortened barrel.This makes the

PCPs can be refilled with either a divers bottle, or a handpump.The pumps are £100ish new, the bottles around £150 new. If you cannot afford either, then just take your gun along to your local gun shop who will refill it for around a £1 a time.Thats OK if there is a shop close by, if not, then you really need to be able to fill it yourself.

or take the bottle from under your rifle into a scuba diving shop, they will also charge it up for around a quid,

[oddbob]

The .22 vs .177 debate has raged for about 100 years now, the only thing that has been agreed on seems to be '.22 for fur, .177 for feather'. But you could always get a .20.

 

 

 

Can of worms alert........can of worms alert...............can of worms alert..............

[Devilishdave]

Or if you can shoot and are confident in your ability to place the shot where you want .177 for everything!

 

 

Dave

[oddbob]

What is the difference between a carbine & PCP air rifle,

Normally about £20, the shorter the barrel the more it costs

 

 

Not taking the pixx here, just an observation on prices.

[roblade]

hi mate,

 

a air rifles come in statndard length or carbine (or karbine) a couple of examples are:

 

Air Arms S410 classic (full length)

 

Air Arms S410 carbine

 

and spring guns

 

Air Arms TX200 MK3 (standard)

 

Air Arms TX200HC (hunter carbine)

 

the advatages of the carbine are very few, but with the full length you do get more shots per charge.

 

Again a .177 PCP will use more air than a .22 so a .22 would also give more shots per charge. If you are using a pump i would recomend a .22 full length rifle and not a carbine.

 

unless you are going to walk the FAC path of air rifles and are using it for the field would strongly recomend you have a good look at the srping rifle as an alternative, most decent spring rifles are able to keep up with the top PCP rifles though wont give one hole accuracy due to the tendancy of springers to recoil.

 

I use a TX200 MK1 for all my shooting i never have to worry about how many shots i have done, i never have to worry about hold over if gettiong a bit low on air and i never have to worry about have i still got enough air in the gun to take the shot, just load the pellet aim pull the trigger, every time it goes where i want it to (unless i mess it up!)

 

in the club competition (Hunter Field Target style) sunday just gone i shot a score of 38 out of 40 (which was a joint top scope along side a rapid MK1 and a daystate MK3) the daystate cost more than 10 times the price of my TX.

 

what i would say is try and find a local airgun club and pop along to try as many rifles as you can, most clubs are very friendly and more than willing to help you out.

 

with regards to the best cal .177 or .22

 

my presonal choice is .22 but this is only as i like to have a chalenge.

 

a .177 flies faster and flatter and still has the same muzel energy both are 12F/lbs

 

but there is one very big advange of the PCP over springs they are VERY EASY TO SHOOT acuratly!!!!!

 

and a lot quieter

 

hope this helps you out

 

ROB

[Snotty]

Carbine orginally meant 0.69" bore. The soldier's musket was a 0.75" Bess, but they also did more conveniently sized versions for the cavalry and artillery in "carbine bore".

 

I think the word crossed the pond and came back again with a new meaning, any rifle shaped thing that is smaller than you might expect

[Bussta]

Thanks a lot for all of your help guys! - I didn't realise that the pumps or divers bottles cost so much!, I suppose it would be cheaper & easier to buy a few spare canisters for the rifle and have say three filled at one go so you always have one in reserve.

 

+ I think the bunnies may think I'm a bit strange walking around with a scuba tank on my back looking like some Ghostbuster wannabe! - mind you I could always mod it into a rocket pack & fly upto the tree canopy for those evasive pigeons!

[roblade]

if your worried about the costs of the charging equipment and have a gun shop that can recharge your rilf eclose by, i would consider one of the following:

 

THEOBEN RAPID/MFR

 

BSA SUPER 10

 

GUN POWER STEALTH

 

of the above three rifles they all give in excess of 200 shots some even as much as 300!!! and you can buy spare bottles for them cost around 50 quid second hand

 

though with the stealth you may find a loss of zero as the valuve is on the bottle and not the rifle

 

but when considering a PCP rifle and you have no charging equipment try and get one that has a regulator fitted.

 

what a regulator does (short version)

 

an unregulated AA S410 in .22 gives 90

 

same rifle regulated 150 shots

 

a regulator means you use less air per shot and each shot is almost exactly the same as the one before it

 

hope this helps you out a little

 

ROB

[lurcherboy]

I have just part-exed my AAS410 for a RWS that can do between 5-700 shots a refill.

 

I done this because I was a lazy *** and the pump is a chore. It takes 5 minutes to re-fill and I did not have the patience so up graded.

 

I would allways recommend a divers bottle from now on.

 

 

LB

[roblade]

Oh sorry i forgot to mention that there is a stealth on the sales section at the moment

 

drop me a line if your interestead

[Bonna]

Can't beat a Theoben Fenman with gas ram for field work. Low kick and accurate. Mine stays cocked for jhours without trouble and still give a good hard shot in .22

[Farmer-of-the-Futre]

As everyone else has said, the carbine is just a shorter version or the 'rifle' and pcp (pre-charged puenmatic) means the rifle is powered but clean, dry compressed air from an on board tank. There are so many advantages of them! If you are thinking of getting a pcp you cant go wrong with either a daystate, a theoben or an air arms. It depends on your budget but remember you would have to buy charging equipment. IMO it would be too much hassle going to the shop to fill up the gun everytime.

[Chr15j]

Can't beat a Theoben Fenman with gas ram for field work. Low kick and accurate. Mine stays cocked for jhours without trouble and still give a good hard shot in .22

Agreed, I have Fenman too, it's very accurate and hard hitting! I also have falcon fn12 pcp. I prefer the Fenman!

Edited October 12, 2011 by Chr15j

[labstaff]

Personally I would go for a .177 as the flatter trajectory is more forgiving when estimating range by eye. I think somebody earlier said that a regulator means the rifle will give you more shots per charge, this is true, but the idea of a regulater is that it regulates the air of every shot, i.e shot to shot power will be more consistant. There are ways to make a non regulated gun more consistant but it means chrono-ing each shot throughout a charge, recording the feet per second of each and then finding the mid ground of the power curve but thats off topic :look:

If your any where near a FT of HFT club there may be someone there who will give you a charge or the club may charge your gun for a small fee.