regulated or unregulated

[Raj]

Sweet ....

[bchannell]

There is no question that a regged gun has a flatter shot string and more shots per charge. It adds cost to an already expensive hobby. In the case of the AA S400/500, they shoot simply fantastic, without a reg, and the only minor inconvenience is that you have to take advantage of the shot string. I wouldn't trade my S400's for a regged Theoben, (and I had one, that's now gone), they're that good. I also wouldn't trade it for a 'wolf MCT. While the wolf is not regulated, as such, it does manage the air supply to some extent. BUT, take a look at some AA shot strings and then go look at the MCT shot string. I think you'll find that AA has found a way to flatten the string considerably over the 'wolf. With all the hype and cost, the wolf isn't able to outclass the AA in any significant way. That's not to say that the wolf isn't a fine gun, but there are a lot of ways to skin that cat. Now compare the AA to a Theoben MFR and you'll find that you get roughly the same shot count, with the same ES. My AA S400 shoots JSB 8.4's at 865, and I get 40-50 shots from a 360cc bottle with an 11 fps ES. My AA s400 gets roughly 50 shots with the same pellets, at the same speed, and has an 12fps ES, so who's to say which is best, regged or not?

[Raj]

IMHO ... regulating a rifle comes into its own on a rifle with a puny cylinder like the S200. In my S400, I can afford to fill low - say 165 bar and get about 40 shots in the sweet spot before it starts tailing off. If I tried the same with S200, I would get about 25 shots in the sweet spot. Now a regulated S200 gives me close to 60 shots - all in the sweet spot - from a 200 bar fill down to 100 bar.
I would not bother regulating my S400 carbine and certainly not the S400 classic. If I get the time this weekend, I am thinking of writing up a "Regulators De-bunked" post.