John Crump, reviews the Crosman Maximus Hunter PCP air rifle and beside just plain fun , finds it a useful training tool for rifle shooters.
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- The age old question is how to practice rifle shooting without blowing through a massive amount of ammunition and money. The truth is that shooting every week is cost prohibited. I have experienced that part myself. I benefit from the fact that the ammo I blow through is tax deductible, but for most people that isn’t the case.
There is a way around this massive expense. That way is shooting air rifles.
These are not the Red Rider BB Guns of our collective childhoods, and these will do a lot more than just shoot your eye out. These are known as pre-charged pneumatic air rifles which are better known as PCP air rifles. These things pack a real punch!
A pre-charged pneumatic air gun is a rifle that uses compressed air to shoot the pellet at very high speeds. The charging system consist of two parts. The first part is the external tank that you fill with the compressed air at any dive shop or at any paintball field. The second part is the air reservoir that is part of the actual rifle.
One of the biggest manufactures of PCP air rifles is Crosman. They were kind enough to hook me up with their Maximus Hunter and a Benjamin 15” charging system when they heard I was an avid target shooter. This was great for me since I have been looking at this very rifle. The charging system holds 90 cu compressed air at 4500 PSI which would make it effortless to charge the rifle.
Crosman Maximus Hunter PCP Air Rifle
The .22 caliber Crosman Maximus Hunter PCP Air Rifle comes with a 2000 PSI pressure gage built into the rifle that lets you know how much air you have in the reservoir of the rifle. It also comes with a rifled barrel, a synthetic stock, and a steel breech. Out of the box the rifle is ready to shoot with a 6×40 scope. The rifle looked and felt like a high quality air rifle.
When the Crosman Maximus Hunter air rifle and charging system came in I was really excited to try it out. I grabbed the tank and ran to a local dive shop and paid $10 to have if filled. The next day I headed out with a friend to a local air rifle range to put the rifle through it’s paces.
We filled the reservoir of the Crosman Maximus with compressed air and started shooting. The rifle’s single stage trigger was was crisp with a clean break, and it felt similar to the trigger on my Ruger 10/22. The scope also worked really well for it’s purpose. I am not sure if it would hold up to the recoil of a 30-06, but it is made for air rifles with very little recoil so it shouldn’t have an issue holding zero. It only took a few shots to get it zeroed in at 100 yards and it was a tack driver with the Crosman Premier Piranha .177/.22 Caliber HP alloy pellets we were using traveling at 1000 fps (Lead 850 fps). We both did great behind the trigger.
According to Crosman, with the Maximus Hunter’s reservoir full the shooter will get about an average of 30 shots before having to refill the reservoirs . I was averaging around 30 shots for each time we filled the reservoir so Crosman was dead on. Of all the air rifles I have fired using this system the shot count has been pretty much standard at 30. The compressed air tank will allow you to fill up the reservoir 10 times.
Even with the cost of having the tank filled and the pellets it is still cheaper to shoot the air rifle than a standard .22LR rifle. This is the real advantage of air rifles. Currently 500 pellets will set up back around $7. So for $17 you can shoot all day without breaking the bank. You can even buy the pellets using Amazon Prime.
This isn’t even getting into the hunting aspect of the Crosman Maximus Hunter. This air rifle is perfect for small game. It packs a punch that will take out any rabbit, squirrel, or other small animal with ease. The scope might not be super high quality, but it is great for an air rifle especially at under 100 yards.
At the time of this writing the Crosman Maxius Hunter is selling for $219.99. The real investment is the Crosman Benjamin 90 Cubic Inch Charging System that cost $429.99 ( less $$ online) . If that is out of your budget they do sell a 72ci tank that is regulated at 3000 PSI for $149.99.
The Crosman Maximus Hunter is a great PCP air rifle for target shooting or small game. I love mine.
The Crosman Maximus Hunter PCP Air rifle can be found at www.crosman.com
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.
I now have two hunters.you can get a hand pump on ebay for 50.00 bucks or a Benjamin for about a hundred.right now pyramid will sell you 1600 pellets for 25.50 benjamin hunting pellets,or 1.59 cnts per shot this rifle is a real shooter may need trigger mods which are easy see utube no power adjuster like a disco but better valving than a disco for more consistent shot string.otherwise identical to a disco. quality made product that no previous type of air guns can match.Lewis and all early air guns maxed at 800 psi,with 500 pumps maxi from 1000… Read more »
I had an ancient 5mm Benjamin pump when I was a youngster that I shot until it literallybfell apart in my hands. It was single shot, so I had to pump it up after each shot. Of course, these don’t compare at all with what Mr. Crump was shooting, and all I had was my back yard. However, I learned a lot about breathing, trigger squeeze, etc. If I had the chance, I would buy it again today. The 5mm pellets were hefty enough for pests, and deadly accurate for as much range as I had in my yard. However,… Read more »
Steven Bradley, yes, I am familiar with the Girardoni air rifle. I even saw one at the NRA annual meeting this year. I use it as an example of the fire power available in 1780 when anti-gunners claim our Founding Fathers couldn’t envision such a weapon.
For *only* $17, plus the cost of the pellet rifle, $220, and the cost of the charging system, $150 – $430, you can shoot a lot of .22 LR and still be better off financially. You can still find .22 LR for about $25 +/- for 500 rounds.
I figured in the cost of 500 pellets at $7 plus the filling of the tank at $10
Crossman $220 + charging system $430 = $650
Basic Ruger 10/22 $250 + cheap scope $50 = $300
So the Crossman costs $350 more. How much does each cost to shoot?
Crossman cost/300 shots: air $10 + pellets $4.20 = $14.20
Ruger cost/300 shots $15.00
I would have to spend $350/$0.80 = 437 days shooting, with a total of 131,000 shots to break even, financially.
The cheaper than a .22 rimfire argument is a tough sell. Air guns at this power level, regardless of type, tend to be more costly, more complex, and more fragile than firearms, but they do have a few advantages that John Crump didn’t go into. Noise is one. While they aren’t quiet, they don’t produce the hearing destroying sound energy levels of firearms. They can also make pest control easier, and open up small game hunting opportunities where regulations are an issue. Most jurisdictions where it would be illegal to discharge a firearm have little to say about air guns.… Read more »
You definitely don’t have to pony up $430 for an air system. There are lots of cheaper options. Crosman just sent him the Cadillac version.