Avanti Champion 499B

We ended up putting a Harris bipod on ours- it will shoot flies off a bb - btw its a great 10 meter gun also

Pros
Mine was sent without a way to mount the rear sight- which they eventually fixed- in fact, they sent me an extra rear sight for my trouble.

Cons
Include a way to mount an optic rail

My BB gun definitely is BB picky. It does not like the Daisy Precision BB as it only rolls halfway down the barrel, does not engage the gun's magnetic catch and results in really bad grouping. The regular Daisy BB does better, but the Hornady Black Diamond gave the best performance. Your experience may be different. Overall, the gun is fun to shoot with the provided peep sights. It is tempting to install a red dot sight, but that takes away from the experience of shooting this wonderful smoothbore. Money well spent.

Pros
Somebody once said, "Only accurate riffles are interesting." The Avanti Champion 499B, although is not a riffle, is definitely interesting. It is lightweight, easy to cock and easy to load. The trigger is a little mushy with some travel but is easy enough to pull and has a decent release. It takes some patience to wait for the BB to reach the bottom where the magnetic catch is located, but once in position everything else is all up to the shooter. I set up some hanging metal targets at 10 meters and it consistently hits one of the silhouettes that is barely 1"x1" in size. For a smoothbore long gun that is pretty impressive.

Cons
The four of the included front sights are the same as the one installed on the gun. I wish they included one with a smaller aperture.

This little gem is just unbelievable regarding accuracy and pure fun for hours of enjoyment. Everything they state in terms of accuracy is spot on. So accurate it truly is not hard to shoot groups through one hole with match grade bb's. A bit expensive but it's worth the price of admission. I haven't found anyone yet who hasn't had an ear to ear grin after shooting this piece. Fun for the kids and us big kids alike for easy trigger time. First 5 meter group off hand, from a bench... I'd reckon one could thread a needle with it! One of the funner additions to the arsenal, you certainly won't regret the purchase!

Pros
Well built and lives up to it's claim.

Cons
Nothing!

One must hold the rifle vertically when dropping a single BB down the bore and hold it close to your ear anf listen for the quiet click the BB makes as it attaches to the magnet at the abuttment plate
before you shoulder the rifle to shoot, or the BB may roll out or the shot will not be true.
Use precision Daisy BB or Umarex precision BBs only. dont use old, dirty, re-used or cheaper BBs.
There are a few YouTube videos on maintaining these rifles for match level shooting that mention how to maintain and optimize these guns, be sure to google Daisy 499b accuracy tips and view the videos there.
all in all this is a good rifle for what it is and does. if you have aging eyes add a good red dot sight using an 11mm adaptor. use precision BBs

Pros
This Gun Does what it is supposed to do. in a small basement range, 15-20ft, it shoots dime sized (or less) groups with Daisy precision BBs. The small 11mm rail for the peep sight accepts a small 11mm to picatinny rail adaptor and allows me to mount a red dot optic to accomodate my aging eyesight. I have a Sig Romeo 5 w 11mm rail adaptor, on it currently and it is working quite well. A Bushnell TRS-25 could be a good choice or the sightmark Mini-Shot Aspec or Hawke Vantage. It is large enough to fit an Adult male, as well as youngsters. it is easy to use, charge and shoot.

Cons
There is not much to want to change as this gun is what it is. I will plan to look for a pad to increase the length of pull. There are a few YouTube videos on maintaining these rifles for match level shooting that mention that care must be taken not to damage the Shot tube and abutment plate. And, dont get oil into the shot tube (barrel). it would be nice to have a decent picatinny rail on this rifle for optics, but the rail it has, with an adaptor, supports small red dots as well as the included peep sight.

Amazing accuracy as advertised at 5 meters. I am looking forward to seeing what it can do at 10 meters. Definitely using the precision ground BBs. This gem of a gun deserves nothing less than the highest quality of BBs.

Pros
Instantly, out of the box {peep sight assembly required - took 10 minutes or less} with just a one click windage adjustment and one click elevation adjustment from Dad's test fire, got my 10 yo daughter to shooting less than 1/4" groups! (compared to 3"+ groups with our Red Ryder). Great confidence booster for a kid! And now opens up the shooting game targets (such as the race track and billiards game targets, etc. out there), a great avenue for family fun time (that doesn't involve a stupifying screen).

Cons
To compensate for lack of shoulder pad, I attached a piece of self-adhesive velcro hooks to the end of the stock and used a bike helmet pad (which adheres nicely to the velcro hooks and is pretty much sized perfectly for this gun without any cutting) to make an improvised shoulder pad (an integral rubber shoulder pad should really be standard issue on a bb gun at this price).

Pros
Well made. Super accurate. Good trigger and sites. Buy the precision ground shot BBs, and 5 meter BB gun targets. Well worth the money.

Cons
Nothing

Great gun for training accuracy and breathing control. I compete in NRL .22 competition, this little rifle is perfect for training and ammo is super affordable. Without being able to get properly zeroed I'm shooting 2 inch groups at 10 meters off hand. Love this little rifle, could be my favorite I own, and I own some nice 22's.

Pros
Excellent training tool.

Cons
None.

The 499b has been purchased as Christmas gift to my 6 year old daughter. The rifle has arrived on time in well wrapped pack. The only assembly was required is rear sight, which was very easy. It took me few shots to adjust sights to zero it. My daughter has fallen in love with this rifle, the light grey color wood stock make it look great. Overall it is well made. Lever action pump works great and easy, my daughter has no issue to charge it and shoot bullseye from 7 yards from prone and bag support. We are using standard .177 bb from Walmart. I can imagine how this rifle can shoot with match grade bbs. It is great rifle to teach your kid gun safety (real safety works great) and bring him or her to a shooting sport.

Pros
Easy to operate, accurate, safety, real wood stock, good trigger.

Cons
Stock is not adjustable, dyang age kids would have some problems shooting from standing position, single shot muzzle loading.

This rifle is made for target shooting at 5 meters, and it's excellent at that distance. It's very easy to cock, and kids and older adults will have a great time shooting it.it doesn't have much power, I doubt it'd harm a chipmunk, but I still wouldn't point it at someone, it could still put an eye out. For the money, it's one of the best target rifles you can buy.

Pros
Real wood, great peep sight.

Cons
Not very powerful.

I wrote up a nice little review of this great little gun earlier, but, somehow i did not post it it seems.

I would just say that, this gun is surprisingly excellent, i bought it for my brother so he could practice some fundamentals on his farm, without disturbing neighbors, or waking a sleeping toddler.

i ended up keeping the one i bought, and purchased him a new one because i kept "testing" it so much.

really a great bb gun, and the muzzle loading did not detract from using it for casual plinking at all for me.

this time i am signing up for airgun depot my business email, just to confirm the dang thing posted, i like it that much.