Having been away from the industry, I’ve missed out on all the new releases, so I’m having fun catching up on what’s come along. I had never heard of Effecto airguns, which are made by the huge Turkish gunmaker Huglu. This company has been making shotguns and firearms for over 100 years, and it’s decided to venture into the airgun market, so I was keen to see its version of the modern pre-charged pneumatic in the shape of the Effecto PX-5 Pro.

I could immediately see that Effecto had had a good look at the market and included an impressive list of must-have features. The Effecto PX-5 Pro follows the now-classic barrel-over-reservoir layout with a bolt-action, magazine-fed mechanism. It’s the way airguns have been designed ever since modern PCPs first came along, and for me it is still the best. Being configured this way delivers conventional handling and a gun that points very naturally. 

As we might well expect, the stock is made from Turkish walnut that wears quite a light stain, revealing a few figuring stripes on my test gun. The styling is very modern, with a steep pistol grip that filled my hand well. Being ambidextrous, there was no thumb groove, but my usual thumb-up technique was still comfortably accommodated nonetheless. 

Interestingly to me, I noted that there are both chequered and stippled panels on the sides, I imagine for style, but both offered good grip. 

My guess is that because most of this work is done today by lasers, the designers are free to choose any styling they like and I think they did a nice job. The stippled panels even have Effecto written on them.

 

Effecto PX-5 Pro – key specifications

Supplied by: Highland Outdoors (highlandoutdoors.co.uk)
Manufacturer: Effecto Airguns
Model: PX-5
Price: £741.99
Warranty: One year
Type: Pre-charged pneumatic
Action: Bolt-action, magazine-fed, regulated
Length: 110cm
Weight: 3.5kg
Fill pressure: 240 bar
Shots per fill: .177-150, .22- 240
Magazine capacity: .177-12, .22-10
Accessories included: Two magazines, single-shot tray, Allen keys, spare O-rings

 

Serious adjustment

Something that pleased me very much on the Pro was the inclusion of an adjustable cheekpiece. I consider this to be a vital part of any serious rifle put on the market today, and this one has again been done well. There are two directions of adjustment on offer. The first, and most obvious, is the vertical one. 

The wooden cheekpiece sits on top of two metal posts that are locked in place by small grub screws that are nicely hidden in the stock. There are washers and spacers included that you can also use to help set the height, but it worked perfectly well without them as it was delivered to me. The second adjustment allows the cheekpiece to be moved left to right, so as to fine-tune the fit, which was a lovely addition.

I was surprised to find that there is a third stock adjustment on offer, which is the vertical movement of the concave, soft rubber butt pad. This pad is nice and grippy on the shoulder, helping stabilise the rifle with minimum physical effort. 

To make the movement, you remove another two well-hidden Allen bolts, which detaches the pad. Underneath this is a plate with a larger bolt that when loosened frees the plate to move up and down. 

I felt that the stock’s drop-to-heel dimension fitted me well, so I didn’t need it adjusted, but if for example I planned to do a lot of prone shooting, I’d certainly move the pad up to get the ideal fit for that position. All the metalwork used in the adjustment mechanisms is very discreet and matches the action’s finish well. 

I note that Effecto offers some wonderful laminate stock versions of this gun, and I thought that the green and brown one looked lovely. 

I like to think of that kind of stock as supremely tough and stable, while offering camouflage in the process.

 

Taking stock

The forend is without chequering, but is a nice, rounded shape that fitted my hand well. Bolted to it is a short section of Picatinny rail, intended to accept a bipod or other accessories like a torch or laser. Fortunately for me, it was positioned forward of where my leading hand contacts the stock, because it’s quite an angular piece and would not be comfortable to hold. 

I feel it looks a little out of place on what is otherwise an elegant sporting design, but 30 seconds with an Allen key could remove it if you didn’t want it there. If it were mine, I’d use those empty bolt holes to take the front sling swivel and then drill the butt section for the other. For hunters on the move this gun is no lightweight, as I’ll come onto later. 

An unusual styling feature is that the belly of the stock sweeps up to meet the trigger guard. At first, I thought this might contain the pressure gauge, but no. That’s at the far end of the air reservoir, so my conclusion is that it’s a bit of style. Speaking of the trigger guard, it’s nicely curved, in keeping with the sporting style, as is the trigger blade. The trigger guard also contains the safety lever. This is a controversial location – I’ve used them extensively and never had a problem, but it’s worth being aware that you’re disengaging the safety with your finger by the trigger as you do.

My test gun had obviously got a few miles on the clock, having been through the hands of several other testers before me. I mention this, one to explain the scratches, as they weren’t done by me! Secondly, because the excellent trigger had its second stage set below 1lb. On the range this was lovely, but for hunting I’d be adjusting it up to 2lb, a more realistic weight for field use and a great deal safer. It broke cleanly and was a pleasure to use during my test. In a way it’s good to know that it can be adjusted this low, because some guns have a narrow adjustment range that might not suit everyone’s taste. 

Because I’m old-fashioned and love an elegant sporting rifle, I was delighted to see an 11mm dovetail. Thank you Effecto. These have served us well for decades and really didn’t need to be improved. 

They’re discreet and plenty strong enough for our needs, plus – and this is a big plus – they allow subtle, small increments in fore and aft adjustment, so that we can get our scopes placed perfectly for our eye. 

 

Manual instruction

For such a stylish and modern rifle, I at first thought the bolt handle was a little bit boring. It’s dead straight and plain, but then I found out why. In keeping with the other ambidextrous features of the Effecto PX-5 Pro, the action can be swapped to left-handed use with a few swings of some Allen keys. Cocking the action needs a firm, direct pull, but it all feels solid and chunky in operation. My feeling is that this will smooth out with use and perhaps a little lubrication. There are two magazines supplied, which readers like me will recognise as what I call the Theoben style. Once you learn what to do, they’re easy to use, but read the manual. Nobody works this out alone!

A single-shot tray is included, which I found very useful because it worked so well. The angled sides roll the pellet to the centre and are forgiving of my clumsy fingers.

I was truly impressed to find that the Effecto PX-5 Pro will not fire with the bolt lifted. So many times when hunting in the past, something has caught and lifted the bolt handles of my PCPs, so that when I fired a blast of air came back through the magazine and I missed my quarry. Another top mark from me here to Effecto for eliminating this problem. 

Once filled, my test magazines slid in beautifully, with a tongue and groove system ensuring that you cannot insert them the wrong way around. Pleasingly, Effecto has stylishly machined the sides of the breech block to allow a good grip on the mag to remove it. I have to say this has been very well done, and unsurprisingly it only requires one small pin to be repositioned in the mag to convert it to left-hand use.

 

Counting the shots

On the subject of the machining, my contact at Highland Outdoors, the importer, has visited the factory where over 100 CNC machines are hard at work, which explains the subtle but hugely impressive looks of the breech block. 

There is a lovely combination of angles and radii that deliver a soft, sculptured aesthetic that impressed me very much. This is even more special when you consider that this is not an expensive gun.

In front of the action we find a 58cm barrel hiding inside the now obligatory barrel shroud. I was glad then to learn that under the neat thread protector that we’ll find a ½in UNF male thread that will accept the silencer of your choosing. I fitted my standard test silencer, the well-proven Weihrauch one, which unsurprisingly worked well.

However, it must be noted that this made the already long PX-5 130cm; a very long gun indeed. If it were mine, I’d research the most compact, yet still effective silencer I could find. However, it’s a reasonably quiet gun without a silencer, so perhaps not everybody will need one.

Beneath the barrel is a long and large-diameter air reservoir. I’m told that the majority of these guns will be sold in countries that have no power restrictions on airguns, so they will need all the air they can get. For us, this means we can expect a very nice 240 shots per fill in .22, so you won’t need to be worrying about running short of air. 

The gauge is mounted at the front, which is a popular choice for the manufacturers, but I’m not keen on looking down the barrel to see what it says. Of course, it can be done safely by ensuring the gun is unloaded and leaving the bolt open, but it’s still not my favourite place to fit a gauge.

Right behind this is a thick barrel band and a rotary collar that covers the air filling port. Effecto supplies a conventional brass filling probe that works just like many others out there. As ever, I’ll remind everybody that the probe and port must be kept as clean as humanly possible, because forcing dirt into the rifle’s delicate internals with high-pressure air always ends badly, believe me! 

Through the chronograph with the 14.6gr H&N Field Target Trophy I had on hand, it averaged 590 ft/sec, equating to 11.30 ft-lb, which is just right. I was impressed that the velocity spread was just 7 ft/sec with pellets straight from the tin, showing that the regulator was working well. 

Highland Outdoors recommended Webley Mosquito Express pellets, but I had none in my collection in .22, so I used a close cousin of that pellet, the JSB Exact, which is similar, but heavier, for my accuracy testing.

Whatever great features any rifle might offer, one quality trumps all others and that is accuracy. On the range with the Exact the rifle was delivering good accuracy immediately, with pellet after pellet going through one ragged hole at 30 yards. I’d managed to grab some range time on a rare still day and the PX-5 delivered all the accuracy I had hoped for.

It has to be said that this is a big, heavy rifle, well-suited to the larger shooter and perhaps a bit much for lightly built folks. 

All that length and weight adds up to a stable gun on aim which can be very beneficial in some situations, which is great, but I do feel that this is a gun you’d be wise to handle before buying.

As you can tell, I was impressed by the Effecto PX-5 Pro, and while it’s not a match for the very best English and German PCPs’ performance overall, it’s half the price of many of them, and boy do you get a lot for your money. 

All that adjustability is very valuable to the shooter who prizes good gun fit for maximum stability on aim. It also feels well made, and although my test gun was a bit beaten up, I noted that the standard of finish was very good. 

If this gun suits your budget, don’t let the fact that it’s perhaps not that well known hold you back from handling one. I feel the Effecto PX-5 Pro is genuinely worth a look.