Air Arms Pro Sport Review

Overall Rating

Is the Air Arms Pro Sport really worth it? Is it all the reviewers and shooters say about this $670 spring piston air rifle? After about a 1000 rounds through my Air Arms ProSport, I thought I would do a review on this spring piston air rifle. If you do not have time to read the long version I would say in a sentence or two that the PS is an impressive rifle. Beautiful, quiet, 40.5 inches short, shrouded, great trigger and packs enough punch for most of your pest and hunting needs and did I mention BEAUTIFUL!
Let ' s really take a look at this rifle. I have made up 7 categories that are the most important to me and hopefully many are of importance to you when considering a purchase of a spring piston air rifle. These categories are not top to bottom in importance but all of these categories work together as a whole.
TRIGGER- I will say right off the bat that I am a self proclaimed trigger snob. The gold trigger on this gun is a two stage fully adjustable unit that can work great right out of the box for some but may need tuning for others. My rifle was shipped to me with a trigger that was mushy and creepy. After a call to Bori at TGAG I got some trigger tuning tips and went through an adjustment sequence that improved the performance greatly. I would guess that my trigger is set to 8 to 12 ounces and has a short 1st stage pull. It is not as crisp as I would like yet but it is getting close. I know that it ' s only tuning talent that separates me from the perfect trigger tune! It seems that the Rekord trigger gets compared to the AA trigger quite often and for good reason. Both Beeman and Air Arms make great triggers/rifles. I have a Rekord trigger on a R9 and would have to say that so far the Rekord has my PS trigger beat by a small margin. The Rekord is easier ( for me ) to adjust and it breaks a tad more crisp. Again I will say that a skilled tuner could make the AA trigger just as good or better than the Rekord. With a bit more break in and some luck, tuning this trigger will be a favorite I ' m sure.
BALANCE/LENGTH/WEIGHT
When I was reading reviews on this rifle, my review writers often commented on what great balance these rifles have. Well, in short, I completely agree. This gun weighs right at 9lb ' s without a scope but it is so well balanced I just don ' t have a problem with it. The rifle comes to my shoulder nicely, comfortably and well balanced. The length of this rifle is impressively short considering it is shrouded ( more on that later.) At 40.5 inches it is easy to wield and use.
If you are going on an all day hunt and you are not in good shape, you may feel that this gun is too heavy but with the great balance and steady holding characteristics, it ' s worth the effort to carry a field.
COCKING/LOADING
I have to tell you that with all the pictures and talk about the cocking arm on this rifle, I was still not sure how the whole set up worked and even looked. Let me tell you that the cocking arm on this gun is really slick. The hidden lever lends this rifle to really look like a firearm. In my opinion it ' s this lever ( among other things) that really sets this rifle apart from other air rifles. Don ' t let me mislead you though, this rifle takes a firm and positive hold to cock the 40lb mechanism.
When I first got my PS I cocked it only to find that it would not fire. After a call to Pyrimyd Air I realized that I needed to pull down on the lever just a bit more to set the trigger. Duh? After learning that, it has become quite simple to cock this rifle. There is no anti bear trap or buttons to press when putting lever back flush with the stock. A simple way to hold this gun whilst cocking is to place the rifle butt on you hip or in the crook of your hip and leg. I hold the gun with my left hand and pull the coking lever down towards my body with my right arm until I hear a little ' click. 'I load the pellet and bring the lever back flush with the rifle stock. The loading window is large and easy to use. I have fairly long fingers and goods sized hands and have no problems loading pellets. Interestingly, if you fumble a pellet while loading, the pellet falls through the loading port and out the bottom of the rifle. This allows you to just load another pellet instead of turning the rifle up side down to get the fumbled pellet out of the loading chamber.
ACCURACY/SHOT CYCLE/SIGHT PICTURE
The term accuracy or accurate is often a mis-defined word. What does it mean? Does it mean that the gun without the aid of human contact shoots accurately or does it mean that you and me the shooter can shoot this particular gun accurately? Arguably, most upper end spring piston air rifles are accurate void of human contact or the right human contact. Many of them have the same barrels bought from the same companies. The point I am trying to make is that the PS is a gun that I and most shooters can shoot accurately. This rifle is not hold sensitive like many spring piston rifles get dubbed. It ' s just plain easy to shoot. Mind you that your can ' t just grab this gun any old way a fire off one holers at 40 yards but using your basic shooting skill you will be able to shoot quite well with this gun. I am amazed that this very average shooter can place very tight groups at 35 yards. I have shot way more pellet on pellet shots than I ever had with other spring piston rifles. In capable hands this rifle would shoot ragged holes all day long at 35 yards and beyond. Part of the reason this rifle is so easy to shoot is the gentle recoil. The gentle backwards nudge is slight enough for me to not loose the sight picture of what I am aiming at. I had thought that loosing the sight picture was a given with springers but I was amazed that I could keep my eye on my target during and just after each shot. This feature is a HUGE plus for this rifle especially if you are also a PCP shooter. It ' s super easy to go back and forth between shooting mediums without having to get anal about springer shooting technique.
POWER
The advertised power for this gun is 16-18fpe in .22. My rifle shoots right at 16fpe with 14.3 CP ' s. I have shot PCP for about 5 years and am used to a lot more power in my guns. I have found that this rifle has plenty of power for ground squirrels, pigeons and crows just to name a few. At 40 yards I am shooting clean through these critters and the pellet just keeps on going. Being the power hungry shooter that I am I would love it if this rifle shot at 18fpe but I am not sure what more I would accomplish with the 2 extra FPE?
SHROUD/STOCK/BARREL
The shroud on this rifle is really sweet. Not only does it look really cool it works quite well to lower the report. Besides the Beeman R11, I have not been able to find an off the shelf spring piston rifle that is shrouded Like my PS. This shroud just exudes quality and is part of what makes this gun so special.
I chose a walnut stock for my rifle. It adds another $130 to the price tag but is well worth the investment. Air Arms has been coming out with great wood and this rifle is no exception. The checkering is flawless and the ventilated butt pad makes a nice pellet holder. The 9.5 inch Lothar Walthar barrel is just what the doctor ordered. Superbly accurate and built to last a life time. Like Air Arms, LW has proven themselves again that they build an awesome product that really lies at the heart of an accurate well made rifle.
QUALITY/BUILD
You may guess by now what I am gong to say about this category. I don ' t think a rifle could review so highly and not have great build quality. Air Arms did this gun right. Solid, nice looking, accurate, great bluing, awesome wood, and ridiculously accurate. Eight hundred bucks is a lot of money to throw down for a spring piston rifle but to me it is well worth it. With all this being said and no rifle being perfect in every way, you may be wondering if there are any draw backs or negatives on this rifle. One might say the price is a negative. Another thing is that this rifle does not have a simple solution for installing a sling. I am not saying it can not be done but so far I have not found a system that I trust. The main problem is with the cocking lever where it is located, it makes it hard to attach the front swivel. Some install the swivel on the shroud but an AA dealer told me not to do that in fear of damaging the shroud. This rifle is not for the faint of heart or should I say (faint of arm?) You might get real tired toting this gun on an all day hunt with no sling. A shooter might find the cocking lever on this gun to be an issue. It is easy enough to cock but to be honest I would not sit down and shoot this gun 100-200 times for a plinking session. I would use my R9 for that. What I have mentioned above I really had to dig deep to find. The negatives ( for lack of a better term) on this rifle are just minute and may just not come up on another shooters radar. One thing I do know for sure is that this rifle will be staying with me for a long, long ' ..long time.