Definitive Guide to Air Venturi Avenger

The Avenger hit a great price point and established the product in the US market, which led Air Venturi to come out with another version to fit airgunners demands. The synthetic stock version weighs in at 6.40 pounds. The wood stock version climbs to 7.00 pounds, which is still pretty reasonable. The stock is of unknown wood, or at least it's not clearly stated in the paperwork or marketing materials. It's chunky and substantial, but not overly so. There's stippling on the grip and forearm. There's a sling mount in the rear and a Picatinny rail under the forearm at the front. Hunters and bench shooters alike will appreciate these touches.

On top of the receiver is a hybrid scope rail that will take either Picatinny/weaver mounts or 11mm dovetail mounts. The scope rail is another nice feature that makes things that much easier for shooters who already have an optic and rings. In between the split rail is the breach. The Avenger comes with two mags and a single shot tray. In .22 caliber each mag holds ten rounds. In .25 caliber you'll get eight rounds per mag.

Immediately beneath the front of the scope rail and on either side of the receiver block, you'll find two pressure gauges. The gauge on the left side of the rifle is your reservoir pressure. The Avenger needs 300 bar for optimal shot count and performance. The gauge on the right shows your regulator pressure. Inside the forearm and up against the receiver is the large plenum, which feeds the power to each shot. This is part of the "secret sauce" of the rifle's power and accuracy.

On the right side of the receiver, you'll find the side lever cocking arm and the safety. The side lever operates with minimal effort and is a joy to use on the bench or in the field. Underneath the action, you'll find the fully adjustable trigger. Our sample breaks at around 1 pound 2.3 ounces out of the box. We saw no need to make any adjustments.

At the front of the rifle, you'll find the fill port covered by a screw-on fill cap at the end of the barrel shroud. There are no baffles in the shroud, which impacts the noise level, which came in at 106DB. Fortunately, you can purchase the DonnyFL adaptor to convert the end of the shroud to have a 1/2 UNF threaded end for adding accessories.

The fit and finish of the various parts, (we did not take it out of the stock to check under the hood,) look well built and match up nicely. At this point, we are looking at a typical medium to high end (from a feature perspective) PCP air rifle. As we look under the stock, we start to see what sets the Avenger apart in a crowd. There are two Allen screws. One is a degassing port, and the other is the regulator adjustment screw. The rifle ships with the regulator set to max pressure, which is 2900 PSI. Frankly, that's too high for most pellets, especially in .22 caliber. It may be ideal for heavier slugs and heavy pellets, but you are most likely going to want to turn that down once you get familiar with it. Being set at 2900 PSI also limits the number of usable shots before you start to fall below the reg pressure. In our tests, we got 30 shots before we started to drop off the reg.

The basic process to set the reg would be as follows. First, read the manual. Second, read the manual again. Improperly adjusting the reg could brick your gun, which is NOT covered under warranty. To adjust the reg lower, you need to completely de-gas the gun. From there, follow the instructions in the manual to set the reg at the lowest pressure and then refill the gun to 300 bar. Slowly turn the reg screw until you get to the desired pressure on the reg pressure gauge. Use a chronograph to verify your results. You can increase the pressure on the reg without degassing it, but you'll need to de-gas the gun again if you need to lower the reg pressure. Again, read the manual before doing any adjustments.

At the back of the receiver, you'll find another hole. This is an access hole for adjusting the hammer tension. Follow the instructions in the manual to either increase or decrease the hammer tension as necessary. Again, you'll need to confirm your results by shooting over a chronograph.

If you are looking for something that takes up less space, the Avenger comes in an awesome bullpup design. Coming in a full 10" inches shorter than your regular Avenger. The bullpup design comes with all the features you expect, and much more. Add in magazine storage compartments in the stock, a full pistol grip, and adjustable cheek and butt pads, the bullpup Avenger is able to be customized for maximum comfort while shooting. The bullpup Avenger is built with the shooter in mind. Adding in extra Picatinny rails on the foregrip, the rifle can fit any accessory that you want to add. The Avenger also comes with a longer scope rail, allowing you to put on a bigger scope, making sure you maximize the potential of the rifle.

Accuracy and Performance

Once you've filled the Avenger to 300 bar and loaded your mags, the fun can begin. The action and pellet loading and cycling are smooth. The trigger is predictable, and the added weight helps stabilize it for bench shooting. It's a completely different and much-improved shooting experience.

We did not adjust any aspect of our sample. We wanted to provide you with an expected starting point before you go turning any knobs or screws. Our .22 caliber sample, with the regulator at the default setting of 2900 psi, shot the 18.13-grain JSB pellets at 930 FPS, generating 34.5+ FPE. It also shot the 15.89-grain JSBs at 34 FPE, pushing them over 980 FPS.

We shot all our groups at 50 yards with somewhat windy conditions, which is, unfortunately, the norm for us. When it came to accuracy, heavier pellets certainly shot better. In our opinion, they were pushing a little too fast, which may account for some of the flyers we saw. Dialing back the power on the JSB 18.13s to just under 900 FPS may yield slightly better results. We also shot the 15.89-grain JSBs and the 15.89 Hades as well. The results with Hades were more on par with what we would want to see from the Avenger minus two slight flyers. The regular 15.89s did not shoot as well as we would have liked. We think they were still pushing a little too fast to get the best results possible. JSB also makes the .22 Jumbo Monster pellets which are 25.39 grain. Given how well the .25 cal Avenger shoots the 25-grain JSBs, we suspect these would be a good pellet if you wanted to push maximum energy out of the .22. Unfortunately, we don't have any inventory to test with at this time.

Summing Up

The Air Venturi Avenger is a true "enthusiast gun". The simple external adjustment of both regulator and hammer spring tension allows limitless adjustability to the gun. It has the power and accuracy to reach out to 100+ yards. It's good for bench shooting, target shooting, small to medium game hunting (the .25 could be used for predator hunting in the right conditions), and it feels like you are shooting an airgun that costs a lot more.

If you want to know more about this airgun, please reach out to us here at Airgun Depot. We'd love to help you find the best options for your airgunning needs.