TargetTalk

Anyone have any opinions on the suitability of these for serious international air rifle competition?

Opinion yes : suitability No. This is a beginner training rifle, and imminately suitably for that purpose. It does not qualify as a serious Olympic air rifle. Other opinions may differ but that is mine. Remember the admonishmont every body has one. Good Shooting Bill Horton

Bill, you are right about the MPR, but i know a guy who uses one and is shooting regular 570+ with it. He fitted the alu but plate and weighted it up to about 5KG. So for the price that's pretty good. He also fitted some second hand Anschutz sights with raiser blocks.
Peepsight

What does this rifle lack? Is the trigger poor? How about the accuracy? Does it have a poor balance? How would it compare with a used FWB 300s or RWS 75 for a starter rifle. It seems like a 570 is a pretty good score for around these parts. If the gun is capable of that, it would be capable of winning some matches.

Mike,
It sounds like you are trying to make the MPR work for your situation. The FWB 300 and RWS 75 are better rifles, period. The only 'advantage' is the MPR is Compressed Air. If you are only going to shoot occassionally with it then the added expense with the CA is just not worth it. As far as shooting in the 570's with it. Yes, it can be done BUT, look at the scores that have been shot with the FWB's and RWS's!!! By far higher on average. The quality of theFWB 300 and RWS 75 is much better than the MPR. I am not knocking the MPR per se, just stating a fact. If you don't want a spring air rifle and are set on getting a CA then, just bite the bullet and pay for a good one! You will be far happier in the long run.

Actually, I just wanted some opinions on the gun, Ted. They look pretty nice and the prices are a lot less than the top-of-the-line compressed air rifles. I didn't expect that they would have all the bells and whistles. I was just hoping that maybe they had a decent trigger, sights and accuracy, that might make them competitive. I'm already set up with a scuba tank for air pistol and the compressed air gun does seem attractive, especially if one can get a rifle at a reasonable price. I'm pretty much spoiled. I gave up cocking an air pistol many years ago. I still am considering a springer, though.

Hi,

We have been using five Daisy XS-40's for about four years. It is essentially the same rifle as the MPR. We have also being using five Air Arms T200's which is the same action, barrel etc. for a year. We use them only for sporter competition and are pleased with them. My best shooter shoots in the 540's. I would probably not use them in precision competition because they are a light and, unless you buy a more exotic buttplate, not really adjustable enough for most shooters. I have no problems with the trigger because there are adjustments to make them more crisp and single stage. I don't know how light they can be made because I have to stop at 3 pounds by rule. I have had some problems with cylinders, all the XS-40 cylinders needed repair by Pilk Guns. The T200 cylinders have been OK so far but I get a lot fewer shots out of the T200's. The sights are OK but fragile, three broken so far. I bought the XS-40's new for $450 and I'm not sure I would pay almost a $1000 for the same gun. I hope this helps.
Grant

The Air Arms rifle I found most interesting was the S400 MPR, which has the one piece stock. It is priced at less than a thousand dollars. The S400 MPR looks to be superior to the T200. The Daisy XS-40 is going now for around $370.

I think what most are trying to say is that the MPR is in action, bbl, sights, basically the same gun as the S200 and XSV40. MPR is for "Multi-Purpose Rifle" which Air Arms brought out with the thinking that a person (read parents) could purchase this rifle in a "SPORTER" configuration, and as their shooter gained knowledge and moved into PRECISION, for a fairly low cost upgrade from the sporter config to the precision config (i.e buttplate, bbl weights, and a precision set of sights).

I think it is a decent Precision starter gun .... to bump up one more notch to a hi-end P-gun, you would need more adjustability than the MPR stock gives you.

Remember, however, that even in the sporter configuration, the MPR is NOT an approved 3-Position Air Rifle Council sporter gun. It is an NRA Sporter Air Rifle though.

Your initial question was if it was a rifle for "serious" Intl competition. I'd say "casual" is more like it. If you are into "serious" keep an eye out for a used 2002CA in wood or alu ($1000-$1400) or an 8002CA ... FWBs, etc. If you need lots of adjustability, fixate on the ALU stocks

My advice to you is keep $1500 ready to spend, and watch the For Sale area on this board, Neal Johnson's site and some others and snatch one that you are interested in immediately ... they will go in less than a day, so you gotta be on your toes.

This is a tough time of year as schools and clubs are snatching them up, but there may be some that come on the market after the Nationals this week, and also close to when school starts ... Christmas and Spring breaks are pretty good too as some of the kids in college realize that cash in the pocket is better than the 3 year old air rifle in the closet that they may never compete with again ......

I shouldn't have used the adjective "serious". I can see that to many here it implies that I want to compete at the national or international level. I'm not looking for rifle of that quality...not in my budget.

Hi,
The Daisy XS-40 is no longer for sale but is the exact rifle as the Air Arms MPR that goes for $975. If you can find some for $370, buy them up and give me the source so I can get some too.
Grant

I'm not looking for rifle of that quality...not in my budget.

Then, I agree with Grant ... the XSV-40 has more adjustment options than the T200 (MAYBE slightly less than MPR)

If you can find a good working XSV-40, go for that and save.

Whatever you do, do not look at the new "Edge" as you cannot legally fire that in an International match .... it is a sporter only rifle, even though it looks like a P-gun (sights are too high above the bore CL)

AirForce fixed the problem with the sights - so it is now legal in precision events. I looked at the sample at the NRA Airgun championships last weekend & it appears to be a much better gun than the MPR.

Tom

AirForce fixed the problem with the sights

Interesting!

Did anyone measure the height of the front sight? It used to be about 1/2 inch (12 mm) too high. If they just lowered it, can you get your dead down enough?
(The photo on their website still shows a high front sight)

Glewis4252,

Here is where I got the price for the XS-40 Valiant. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. I did notice later that elsewhere in their ads, they show the XS-40 discontinued.

http://www.pyramydair.com/p/airforce-ed ... ifle.shtml

I just got an e-mail from Airforce. They said that the Edge's front sight has been lowered to 60mm, making the rifle comply with the rules for International Air Rifle.

There may have been an error in the post that mentioned that the MPR and the T200 were esentially the same rifle. The sights appear to be the same but the stock on the MPR seems to be of one piece while the one on the T200 and Daisy is a two peace configuration. Take a peak at the Champions Choice catalog for confirmation. Good Shooting Bill Horton

Well, I had the chance to be a RO for the State Games of the West Air Rfile events this past weekend and I guess I'd like to report on some pleasantly suprising (to me) results on an MPR that was being fired by a young lady from Colorado.

When I first saw her outfitted with this rifle (an MPR configured for sporter) I felt sorry for her shooting this rifle in the precision events. (She had the jacket & pants all set OK)

Talking to her dad, they have the prec buttplate and sight extension tube, but she won't let him put those on the rifle until after the CO state championships in a few weeks.

This gal shot a VERY RESPECTABLE 580 in the 3x20 match and a 378 in the International match (I think I remember the scores correctly ... if I'm off a few points either way forgive me)

The point is that this rifle certainly has my respect as one that can do what Air Arms envisioned ..... moving the sporter shooter into the precision arena with one rifle. Especially a smaller shooter. She is 17 and is slightly smaller than my 13 year old.

I see a few people shooting the MPR Precision at competitions [10m standing] and i have seen some good scores, 575 +.
Most shooters seem to fit the Centra basic back sight and an Anschutz fore sight and some have raiser blocks fitted [Anschutz fit]

The one big advantage with the MPR is it's basic weight, it is light for the juniors but ballast weights can be added to bring it up to adult weight.
None of the German or Austrian match air rifles with wood stocks are light as basic and you cannot remove weight to lighten them. The MPR has the right formula for all age groups.
The MPR is also good value for money when compared to other brands and it does shoot 10's in the right hands.
I am not trying to say its as good as the top German guns but boy the MPR will give them a run for their money and i have seen it first hand at matches.
Peepsight

Thanks for your first-hand observations peepsight. New products in the elite shooting sports meet a lot of resistance here. The rifle looks more interesting now than ever.