I want a 25cal and wanted opinions on whether I should get the 25 Gauntlet or Aea 25 Standard regulated? My criteria is Accuracy, shot count and power. I know power is listed in each gun's description, but I only trust users reports. I thank you in advance for making my decision! jmag
@jmag Personally I would lean towards the AEA more myself. I bought one of the first release G2 rifles in .22 cal direct from Umarex and it was a continual battle to keep it working and had probably the tightest and crappiest barrel (that I've since replaced with a LW polygonal which at least improves it some). The customer support through Umarex USA is also non-existent unless you buy it from a bigger retailer who will honor it (they certainly didn't buying directly).
I own a number of AEA's including the challenger standard stock in .30 cal, the challenger pro in both .22 and .30 cal, and an extremely beaten up first generation HP semiauto carbine (compliments of the post office tearing it to pieces) that still works well despite the beating it took. They are all very sturdy airguns that are considerably simpler construction and are also considerably easier to work on. They also have very good support for them from many of the vendors.
Some points comparing my .30 cal challenger standard and the .22 cal gauntlet g2:
- The g2 is WAY longer length than the aea, also very front heavy
- The g2 regulator is pretty much static set unless you want to fiddle with washer stacks (and yes I know the default challenger is unregulated, but there are add-ons for it now both from AEA and others)
- The g2 trigger is pretty crappy (and the safety is worse), it can be replaced with a Hajimoto kit but that's a pricey add on
- Unless something has drastically changed on the barrels the g2 is VERY hard to chamber even with pellets, slugs are downright brutal
- The g2 does have a pretty generous shot count, and it probably will be higher than the AEA even with a regulator installed (the .30 cal is a bit of an air hog so can only go by what others have stated for shot counts in their .22 challenger standards)
- The bolt action on the aea is easy and butter smooth to cock, the g2 is most definitely not
I can go into more detail later, but right now we're about to get hammer by another big storm so gotta shut down the PC for the night. Hope some of this info helps.
Well I'm a retired Vietnam vet and have been playing with air guns since I was a teenager. So with the pump up 22 you have a squirrel/rabbit gun for 35 yards. Then I got into the PCP world and that was a game changer. So after a couple of years with an unregulated gun I got an Avenger. So if you want a large shot count and repeatable accuracy a regulated gun will always outdo a standard air gun. Now you have big bore! You will probably see that the 35, 45 and up to 72 Cal has one or two shots and maybe three and then your velocity is too low to bother unless you're very close range. Now they have these big bore guys in regulated form and the consistency is what is more attractive. However if I just wanted to kill a bear a 45 or 50 caliber unregulated gun would definitely do the job. After your two shots you got to go back to the compressor and refill. You might have a little less energy with a regulated gun and be able to get a greater number of shots but with ample power for hunting. About a year ago I bought an aea Challenger Pro in 35 caliber. Depending on the settings I can get 220 ft lb of energy for five or six shots, turning it down a little bit averages 180 ft lb and gets 17 shots. I don't even bother with pellets anymore.
That's a 125 grain hollow point that I cast my own.
There are plenty of available options in the 35 Cal arena from 85 grain and up. The maximum limit on this gun is about 130 grain but they have things like the Western rattler that shoot 175 grain at almost 300 ft pounds 🙂
@awilde Thank you so much for the reply. AEA it is! I already had an AEA Challenger Bullpup in 50 and a Challenger Pro in 30 caliber that is unbelievably smooth. But, I have read so many good things about the Gauntlet. It is so good to hear from experienced airgunners! I'll be getting an AEA in 25!
@rising_dragon Thank you for the info! That 35cal seems very interesting. I have a Fire 201 in 35 and it is tuned for 220fpe and has a half power mode to give more shots. But at the price these AEA are selling for, I can see eventually getting one. Thank you for responding, jmag
