The Steyr Pro X… It’s quiet, semi-auto, balls out accurate, and incredibly simple Austrian quality airgun from a company with over a 100 years of gun manufacturing under it’s belt… in short, I’m in love! I’ve shot quite a few airguns in my day, including all of the what I’ll call the "tier 1” list. With that context, I can say the trigger on the Steyr is without question the greatest trigger I have ever shot… and the fact that its’ on a semi automatic bullpup further blows my mind! My only concern ahead of receiving it was it being .22, as I’ve become accustomed to shooting larger calibers for the bigger bullies. I think this was more of a me problem vs what a .22 is capable of… and with a big ole bully under it’s belt, the Steyr Pro X in .22 reminded me… with the right shot placement, .22 is more than a capable caliber for everything I shoot. I’ve put about 2,500 rounds through it so far, which has me ready to take you through and unpack why this is a must have in your collection.
Barrel / Accuracy:
Steyr makes every piece of this gun in house… including all the custom work on the barrel. Given the pedigree of the parent company… I knew the barrel was going to shoot great, but I was really surprised how well it shot both slugs and pellets with literally zero tuning.
I didn’t have the right pull through cord to clean the barrel… so I literally took it out of the box, loaded some NSA slugs, and pretty much every pellet I could think of. I was going between a bunch of different options, and It was punching dime groups with NSA .216 and .217’s, along with 18gr JSB’s and Hades. Most of the initial shooting was close range of 30 yards, but I can tell at 30 which ammo will have potential at 100+ just by watching the slow-mo tracers. I’m looking at the stability, the not so much the group at 30…
so for example… the HN barracuda hunters, the crow magnums, and a few others… they all did fine at short range group wise, but I could tell not to bother taking them long, but the 18gr, Hades, and both the NSA 17.5gr in .216 and .217 were just making one ragged hole after another. I’ve got a bunch more ammo to test, and all the long range stuff… which I’ll get to here soon.
The super impressive part, I was dumping 10 shot groups like that as well as fast as I could pull the trigger. 30 yard, dime’ish size groups while mag dumping. I even slowed it down to double taps to really work on and figure out this trigger, and was able to stack them in the same hole. I had to watch it in slow-motion to confirm! So, a big checkmark in the barrel column… this ones a shooter!
Trigger:
Ok, this gun isn’t cheap, but after shooting one mag you’ll quickly think you got a crazy deal. This is without question the nicest trigger I have ever shot. The giant cherry on top… it’s a semi auto bullpup! Bullpups are notorious for terrible triggers, but not this one.
The first stage is smooth, but different… it's like squeezing a spring… it’s heavy compared to first stages on other triggers, but clean. It almost feels like it’s a safety feature given the semi - auto. It butts up against a firm wall, and then a super light and clean break. You can adjust this if you want, but out of the box is like 8oz.
While just sending a single round down range is amazing, the magic in this trigger is that the gun cycles and is ready for the next shot without completely resetting to the first stage. You only have to do that once… then it’s game on. Triple taps, quads… even a mag dump are totally possible. One other thing to note… while this might seem minor to some, the trigger blade is super comfortable, and for those double and triple taps… that’s key!
Semi - Auto:
Pretty much every semi-auto airgun uses air to cycle the magazine… which can introduce some complexity into the design, and potential for additional maintenance. Steyr’s gets it’s semi-auto action from a super simple magazine that winds like a clock. This mechanism is hidden and self contained within the magazine itself. You wind it up when you load it, and it simply rotates down as you fire.
The net result is an airgun version of having your cake and eating it too… in that you get the benefits of a really simple gun and a semi-auto action without sacrificing accuracy or efficiency. More of how efficient this gun is in a minute… but real quick… here’s how it all works… let’s assume you have shot a mag, and it’s now empty. You simply pull the charging handle and you can now remove the mag. Load the mag, and then slide it back in. You then simple rotate it like a clock. Close the mag door, put it on fire, and mag dump. Rinse and repeat. You can decock the gun to safely store, or just press this mag release button and remove the mag itself.
Quiet:
For 99% of us… how loud the gun is really matters. The appeal of airguns is the ability to enjoy the gun in the comforts of your own backyard. While you’re seeing the industry shift a bit and focus on extreme long range… for 99% of us, that might be fun to watch, but that type of shooting is not what the majority of us has access to even try.
I run an airgun in my yard to shoot 1,000’s of critters in my yard, and occasionally get to shoot long range at farms. With neighbors on all sides, I need it to be quiet. Without a suppressor this gun is 100% not backyard friendly, but with one… it’s not only a backyard friendly gun for pest control, but it’s an all day kinda shooter… which is good, as with this trigger I promise you will be sending 4 when you normally would send 1!
There really isn’t a need for big can either… I have found the best one so far to the be the new Eagle Vision Sigma M4. It’s small and super quiet. The barrels are not threaded, but the gun comes with an adapter made by Steyr. It’s super strong, and keeps things nice and snug. You won’t have any concerns with a 3rd party adapter.
Efficiency:
For reference, I’m shooting Hades around 890fps and 17.5gr NSA slugs at around 800. You fill the gun to 200 bar, and shoot down to about 120. Over that small amount, I’m getting 6 mags, or about 60 shots at full power. The gun is incredibly efficient. I’ve been using the Peazy to fill it, and I think was able to top it off from 120 to 200 bar at least 3 times if I remember right… the point is… the gun is CRAZY efficient!
Summary:
This gun checks every box for me, but it’s the trigger, simplicity to work on, and insane accuracy that make this worth the price of admission. I’m looking forward to checking out the other guns in the Steyr lineup… which brings me to a fun announcement. I’m going to be giving this gun away as part of the next T-Shirt drop. Make sure to stay connected, as I’ll be dropping the new shirt design here shortly, along with all the details. Thanks again to my friends over at Airgun Sport… they are the sole US importer and retailer of these amazing airguns from Steyr.