The future of PCP

[Danman]

Good day fellow Hamsters. Recently, some of us were discussing the future of Springers and it got me wondering....what do we think the future of PCP (talking next 5-10 years) looks like?!
What i have seen so far:
-Extreme Long Range (ELR) slugs
-Higher operating pressures (300Bar + )
-Electronic triggers/operating systems
-Semi and Full Autos
-More barrel companies/options

My take on all this?

-ELR: I find it very interesting but I have never shot past 100Y to date with my airguns.

-Higher operating pressure: NO THANKS, everything i currently run is 250B, with my compressor able to output 300B. More expensive gear, heavier /stronger tanks and more stress on everything. Then there is safety,
I personally dont want to put my cheek up to a 300+Bar bottle to shoot. I'd rather see better internals, improved design and... I'll just refill a little more often thanks

-Electronics in pcp: While not "new", for me its a nope, nope, and more NOPE. The benefits don't outweigh the negatives.

-Semi/full autos: while 'cool' i have ZERO use or desire for them. My shooting is calculated and precise (or so I'd like to think). Flip the happy switch and precision, pellets, and your bottle pressure disappears quickly. Give me a 10round mag and a lever and I'm happy.

-More barrel options: Now this I can get behind! Squeaking out precision is the name of the game for many Airgunners and sometimes we want a 1:16twist vs the factory 1:30twist to send slugs, or a .30cal offering in a gun that doesn't offer that but clearly has the power, etc. Having more barrel options is very nice and can turn a meh airgun into a lazer, with SubMoa barrels making some good waves currently.
Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts

 

[hameditor]

Good day fellow Hamsters. Recently, some of us were discussing the future of Springers and it got me wondering....what do we think the future of PCP (talking next 5-10 years) looks like?!
What i have seen so far:
-Extreme Long Range (ELR) slugs
-Higher operating pressures (300Bar + )
-Electronic triggers/operating systems
-Semi and Full Autos
-More barrel companies/options

My take on all this?

-ELR: I find it very interesting but I have never shot past 100Y to date with my airguns.

-Higher operating pressure: NO THANKS, everything i currently run is 250B, with my compressor able to output 300B. More expensive gear, heavier /stronger tanks and more stress on everything. Then there is safety,
I personally dont want to put my cheek up to a 300+Bar bottle to shoot. I'd rather see better internals, improved design and... I'll just refill a little more often thanks

-Electronics in pcp: While not "new", for me its a nope, nope, and more NOPE. The benefits don't outweigh the negatives.

-Semi/full autos: while 'cool' i have ZERO use or desire for them. My shooting is calculated and precise (or so I'd like to think). Flip the happy switch and precision, pellets, and your bottle pressure disappears quickly. Give me a 10round mag and a lever and I'm happy.

-More barrel options: Now this I can get behind! Squeaking out precision is the name of the game for many Airgunners and sometimes we want a 1:16twist vs the factory 1:30twist to send slugs, or a .30cal offering in a gun that doesn't offer that but clearly has the power, etc. Having more barrel options is very nice and can turn a meh airgun into a lazer, with SubMoa barrels making some good waves currently.
Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts

What a great question!!!!

Give me a little time - and probably a beer - and I'll try to get some thoughts together

 

[Pumacarl]

Wow! Good topic. I can't predict the future, or the trends, too many variables constantly appearing. I have been thinking about the direction that I want to go in lately myself. It is kind of amazing how much my opinion on different aspects of this sport/hobby have changed in such a short period of time, and there is no end in sight. Any answer I give is certainly nothing like a Soviet-Era five year plan, that's for sure! More like 5 months. As of right now, I am totally bored with shooting anything under 50y, and have started pushing out to 200y. I never want to take my airgunning over 120fpe, .30 caliber, or the speed of sound, so I do have an upper limit that I don't need to waste time thinking about, which helps. Discounting sub-100y pesting entirely, which past to present pcp's handle well enough already, and just looking forward to the future of having fun shooting further, is where my interests take me.

The next big step for pcp has to be in making consistent barrels and ammo. Nothing else will really make a difference until we can finally
get a consistent piece of lead and a concentric precise bore with the right twist rates. No more barrel lotteries or having to buy whole cases of pellets or slugs, that we finally found to work. If this can't be done, across the board, the future won't be much different than where we are now, which isn't bad actually, it just takes a lot of work and some luck. Needing to slug your barrel to find out what size it ended up being is xxxxing ridiculous! Needing to index your barrel, the same. Needing to polish your bore to remove fretting, or having to re-crown, ditto. The same goes for the ammo and weighing and sorting and cleaning. Progress has been made, sure, but not to a fixed standard. We are all still in figure it out yourself land. Of course, with all that being said, someone will probably just make an electronic fire/control system that takes into account all of your guns problems and gives you an on point fire solution. lo!

 

[pan60]

I think we will see more efficiency in the gun all around theres room for improvement.
I am not entirely sure how I feel about the higher pressures the safety worries me less then the cost to upgrade. the pressure in a fire arm compared to a airgun in reticules but we except it in a fire arm. damage can happen at 250 bar also
as far as full auto well I am probably not dumping money on one but that is really because theres other stuff I want and my income just wont allow for it haveing said that if I could I would I mean air gunning is fun and I could see a lot of fun in a full auto gun
: )
I think slugs will improve and any of the big names in the airgun would will make improvements in their barrels or they will be left behind.
what I would like to see is shorter barrels I hate these long guns and with better efficiency they are not needed to the same degree they once where.
I think Tom shows that with his new EVOL HPS .30 and that little short barrel : )
If I was only punching paper from a bench I could see it but for pesting and hunting I cant.

 

[PasadenaMike]

The Circle of Life for a Shooter

You start with a slingshot.
Then you upgrade to a BB gun.
Next, a break barrel or multi-pump rifle—your first taste of “real” airguns.
Eventually, you step into the world of powder burners.
Then you discover PCPs, go all-in, spend way too much, and realize it’s a whole ecosystem: tanks, compressors, O-rings, leaks, drama.
So, you go back to a nice, simple break barrel for its no-fuss charm.
But then you realize you’ve been spoiled by the raw power of PCPs.
So, you return to powder burners…
…until the ammo prices and range fees make you wince.
And finally—you come full circle—
You grab a slingshot, smile, and think: "This is all I really needed."

 

[pan60]

its suose to be fun : )
I dont need any of it to survive its just about having some fun mostly
I did get into pcp as a tool for posting but it quickly morfededed into a hobby
but I do like sling shots to : )

 

[Bladebum]

I'm not sure where the future will go, but I HOPE it goes in the direction of advancing technology to where we don't need 700mm barrels to make serious power. Also, get rid of this choke business, slugs are here to stay and chokes are an old school fix for crappy ammo and crappy barrels. I personally, have zero interest in ever obtaining an electronic gun. I dont care if some stick with it, but as long as they don't all turn that way. These are just some of my hopes, but I'm sure people used to hope carburetors would never go away and get replaced by efi too

 

[PasadenaMike]

its suose to be fun : )
I dont need any of it to survive its just about having some fun mostly
I did get into pcp as a tool for posting but it quickly morfededed into a hobby
but I do like sling shots to : )

Yeah I agree it’s for fun as well.

 

[Bladebum]

The Circle of Life for a Shooter

You start with a slingshot.
Then you upgrade to a BB gun.
Next, a break barrel or multi-pump rifle—your first taste of “real” airguns.
Eventually, you step into the world of powder burners.
Then you discover PCPs, go all-in, spend way too much, and realize it’s a whole ecosystem: tanks, compressors, O-rings, leaks, drama.
So, you go back to a nice, simple break barrel for its no-fuss charm.
But then you realize you’ve been spoiled by the raw power of PCPs.
So, you return to powder burners…
…until the ammo prices and range fees make you wince.
And finally—you come full circle—
You grab a slingshot, smile, and think: "This is all I really needed."

I'm not sure about returning all the way to slingshots, but pretty accurate that everyone returns to simpler platforms usually. Ultimately, airguns are about fun. If its not fun anymore because stuff is too complicated it defeats the whole point. Of course, "fun" is subjective. Im just a hunter so I like simple, some guys think constant fiddling is fun , to each thier own.

 

[PasadenaMike]

I'm not sure about returning all the way to slingshots, but pretty accurate that everyone returns to simpler platforms usually. Ultimately, airguns are about fun. If its not fun anymore because stuff is too complicated it defeats the whole point. Of course, "fun" is subjective. Im just a hunter so I like simple, some guys think constant fiddling is fun , to each thier own.

Yeah it’s just my usual exaggeration lol.

 

[GHairgunner]

Great topic thanks for the start.
Guns in general have a ton of room for improvement. While the general plinker wouldn't notice a competitor like myself and an engineer I see tons of room for improvement.

Barrels: If I can design and build a better barrel that has made me very competitive I would say. Shame on the manufactures that supposedly know what their doing to get beaten by a beginner.

Gun: Quality, performance, and design improvements are basically ignored by manufactures in my opinion. I would use the number of times I have had my regulator, value and hammer apart and trying to find consistent performance as well as repairs far more than enough evidence quality and design improvement are not thought of at the factory.

Electric: I like electric guns as tuning and finding performance is better and easier. Also you won't find a better trigger.

Ammo: I'll start with pellets. Basically have not seen any improvements in performance (ever?). This may be my next project as it is low hanging fruit. Yes I think airguns should stick with pellets but come on somebody think outside the box.............. Slugs, they are cheaper tooling and faster to make but the manufactures charge us more for them because you can shoot them farther. But for the rare cases are just not that good of ammo. For us city dwellers a hundred yards is 5-6 houses away, and everyone should ask should I take that shot?

So in general YES there is a lot of room for improvement. Who is going to develop a gun that produces consistent SD's, what company is going to produce a barrel that wins every comp without doing anything more than put it on your gun. What company is going to create a pellet that is accurate and can be that way past 100 yards. Just more good questions.

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

We are all still in figure it out yourself land. Of course, with all that being said, someone will probably just make an electronic fire/control system that takes into account all of your guns problems and gives you an on point fire solution. lo!

Personally, I sort of like the "figure it out myself" part. I agree that poor (cheap) manufacturing quality is a drag, but isn't tinkering around the main thing that makes this hobby fun?

 

[Pumacarl]

Personally, I sort of like the "figure it out myself" part. I agree that poor (cheap) manufacturing quality is a drag, but isn't tinkering around the main thing that makes this hobby fun?

Tinkering around cosmetically, or for form, is one thing, but I shouldn't have to fix the basic function, or figure out what size slug to use. We still have plenty of figuring out to do just with ballistics and practice.

 

[Danman]

Of course, with all that being said, someone will probably just make an electronic fire/control system that takes into account all of your guns problems and gives you an on point fire solution. lo!

In all honesty I wouldn't want that
I see the value dont get me wrong, but i do love a challenge. I would say Element optics is well under way with that exact system. Ol Matt Dubber has validated it on a couple of his vids...range finder/scope/firing solution all in 1. You, of course need to input your ammo choice and it's BC. Honestly nothing makes me smile more than dumping a pigeon/squirrel at 50-100Y after I just guessed the holdover with my Ghost and Mrds....after plenty of field testing via paper and plinking of course.

 

[Pumacarl]

In all honesty I wouldn't want that
I see the value dont get me wrong, but i do love a challenge. I would say Element optics is well under way with that exact system. Ol Matt Dubber has validated it on a couple of his vids...range finder/scope/firing solution all in 1. You, of course need to input your ammo choice and it's BC. Honestly nothing makes me smile more than dumping a pigeon/squirrel at 50-100Y after I just guessed the holdover with my Ghost and Mrds....after plenty of field testing via paper and plinking of course.

Yeah, I saw Matt's Hyper7 video, when he made it, very impressive. If I wasn't just playing around, I'd have one already. When the price comes down, maybe.

Something that I would really like to see is gyroscopic stabilizers that you could mount to the stock. They have been around for a while now but are the size of a nerf football and used for photography. It would be neat to not need a tripod or a bipod and just take off hand shots like I use to. More of a pipe dream than anything else.

 

[Danman]

. What company is going to create a pellet that is accurate and can be that way past 100 yards. Just more good questions.

You just might be expecting too much out of the humble skirted pellet?...Pellets fall apart at long range, not bc of the build quality but mostly a fault of their design. Send too fast, too slow, wrong twist, too much wind and no matter how good your barrel/pellet Combo is speed will shed quickly and it'll fall apart, heck even barrel drift is real (entire group shifting one way or another down range). When I bought my S510 it would 1 hole or close to it 5 shots of 18.13Jsb outta the tin often @ 40-50Y. Who's to say if I had set it up for 100Y with NO wind, weighed and sorted i couldn't achieve excellent results? But... what happens when you shoot an outdoor AG challenge in shifting winds @ 100Y or try to smack a rabbit @120Y? You'll do pretty bad. Even H.P. slugs often fall apart at really long ranges, hence the ELR boat tails starting to really attract attention. (Matt Dubber @AirArmsHuntingSA just dropped a fairly geeky video on ELR slugs) cool stuff! For new Pellets; Zan has some offerings (the BR), then there is Aea and Jts with some really decent new lead, but at the end of the day a pellet is a pellet.

 

[MountainSportAirguns]

The future will be full of more hype, personally I'm happy with how things are going. My current lineup of Airguns achieve everything I need them to, different tools for different jobs. I see lots of focus on pushing Airguns that are modular, can hunt bunnies in the morning and with a quick barrel change I can hunt elephants in the afternoon.

 

[Farmplinker2]

I'd like for low-hanging fruit improvement, more technical data, somewhat accurate. A 14.3 Crosman pellet went 550 fps, not this gun reaches 650fps. Actual barrel diameters. Rate of twist, and is the barrel choked?

 

[SpindleB]

Good day fellow Hamsters. Recently, some of us were discussing the future of Springers and it got me wondering....what do we think the future of PCP (talking next 5-10 years) looks like?!
What i have seen so far:
-Extreme Long Range (ELR) slugs
-Higher operating pressures (300Bar + )
-Electronic triggers/operating systems
-Semi and Full Autos
-More barrel companies/options

My take on all this?

-ELR: I find it very interesting but I have never shot past 100Y to date with my airguns.

-Higher operating pressure: NO THANKS, everything i currently run is 250B, with my compressor able to output 300B. More expensive gear, heavier /stronger tanks and more stress on everything. Then there is safety,
I personally dont want to put my cheek up to a 300+Bar bottle to shoot. I'd rather see better internals, improved design and... I'll just refill a little more often thanks

-Electronics in pcp: While not "new", for me its a nope, nope, and more NOPE. The benefits don't outweigh the negatives.

-Semi/full autos: while 'cool' i have ZERO use or desire for them. My shooting is calculated and precise (or so I'd like to think). Flip the happy switch and precision, pellets, and your bottle pressure disappears quickly. Give me a 10round mag and a lever and I'm happy.

-More barrel options: Now this I can get behind! Squeaking out precision is the name of the game for many Airgunners and sometimes we want a 1:16twist vs the factory 1:30twist to send slugs, or a .30cal offering in a gun that doesn't offer that but clearly has the power, etc. Having more barrel options is very nice and can turn a meh airgun into a lazer, with SubMoa barrels making some good waves currently.
Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts

Quit releasing incremental changes as new versions of guns just to raise the price again. The hype also is ridiculous.

Not gun:
Better control on pellet size & weight

 

[SpindleB]

Quit releasing incremental changes as new versions of guns just to raise the price again. The hype also is ridiculous.

Not gun:
Better control on pellet size & weight

Wifi controlled:
solenoid air valve
regulator pressure adjustment
plenum volume

Set the valve dwell, air pressure and plenum size from an app. Presets for pellet weight, energy and shot count

Gyro stabilization
Scope auto alignment

Not that I would ever spend the $4k+ for an air gun like that.