What Is The Best Air Rifle Manufacturer

[Carmen Kalua]

Notall rifles are equal. Some are absolutely fantastic! Others are, well, junk. While we can debate endlessly on the merits of one specific rifle over another, there is an industry-wide trend for some manufacturers to make better rifles than others. So, what are the 10 best manufacturers you should consider for your next, or first, rifle?

Tikka is not an American company, but has a growing following in the US. Instead, Tikka is a Finnish rifle company under the leadership of Sako, a brand well-known in Europe for excellent hunting rifles. Based on general reviews and my personal experience, Tikka is about as good of a budget rifle as you can buy right off the shelf.

Savage is a company I have a lot of experience with, not necessarily by choice but rather by circumstance. A southpaw can usually find a Savage rifle at their local pawn shop. The company, based in Westfield, Massachusetts has made a name for itself in the 20th Century selling budget-friendly alternatives to Winchester and Remington bolt-action rifles.

Not as famous as Ruger or Browning, Bergara is a gun manufacturer based in Spain in their namesake city. Commonly known to muzzleloaders as CVA, Bergara makes a good product for centerfire rifles as well, with their specialty being accurate, longer-range hunting rifles. In this niche they are hard to beat.

From the beginning it seems that these two companies have had their fates intertwined. John Moses Browning produced innovative designs at the end of the 19th Century and put both companies on the map in the days when black powder was still king. While both brands live on, today Browning and Winchester are owned by FN Herstal and are thus subsidiaries.

Founded in 1945 by Roy Weatherby, this company started out making specialized wildcat cartridges famous for their proprietary profiles. Today, Weatherby is about the only company that makes both Weatherby chambered rifles and ammunition.

Located in Redmond Utah, Fierce produces some very high quality hunting rifles. The downside is that, like a lot of specialty gun companies, service can be spotty for purchasing a firearm or getting a broken part replaced. However, if you are in the market for a top quality hunting rifle with the latest technology baked into the platform, then this company is worth trying to get a hold of.

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The test starts well before the first round of ammunition is fired, however. I spend several weeks gathering the guns, weighing them, measuring specs, scoping them up, and ensuring they are in tip-top condition for the rigorous week-long evaluation.

Each rifle is evaluated on nine categories and given a score of 1 to 5 from each judge, except for the accuracy score, which is based on the data from the groups shot. We average the scores for each category and use that to determine the ranking and awards. The categories are handling, accuracy, workmanship, aesthetics, ergonomics, meets purpose, versatility, reliability, and value.

These scores then translate to the grades on the report cards for each firearm. Performance consists of the scores from handling, accuracy, ergonomics, and reliability. Design includes workmanship, aesthetics, meeting its purpose, and versatility. Value stands on its own.

At first glance the Sako 90S Adventure looks like an ordinary bolt gun, with its synthetic stock, American Classic geometry, and sporter-weight barrel. As it turned out, this rifle is anything but run of the mill.

I did a full-blown review of the Sako 90 Adventure that gets into the weeds concerning its virtues, and also highlighted a couple minor drawbacks in its design. (Namely, that the stock should ditch the swivel studs and incorporate a recessed Picatinny rail along with QD attachment points. If it did both, the rifle would truly be perfect.)

The only problem we had evaluating this rifle was figuring out who got to shoot it next. This lightweight wonder delivered otherworldly accuracy in 6.5 Creedmoor, and we have the receipts to prove it.

The tube comes from Preferred Barrels that, like Browning, is based out of Utah. The stock is a McMillian carbon fiber Game Warden 2.0, which has a vertical pistol grip, ample flat-bottomed fore-end, and reverse slope comb.

The rifle has a smart feature set, including an integral 20 MOA Picatinny rail with a bubble level, QD sling attachment points, a Pic rail on the fore-end for a bipod, and a short 18-inch barrel that works well with a suppressor, which is how we shot it.

In my full-length review of the M1854 I describe it as the most remarkable rifle of the year. That Smith & Wesson was able to create such a fine lever-action rifle the first time the company dabbled in the platform is quite an achievement. On top of that, S&W configured the rifle smartly for the intended audience of close-range hunters and brought it to market at a competitive price.

The action is aluminum with steel added where the four bolt lugs lock up. The action has a 90-degree throw with dual lugs stacked two deep. The bolt throw is smooth and only after putting about 60 rounds through the rifle does it gum up a bit. But a quick wipe with a rag and some solvent or oil restores it to its slick, pristine state.

The rifle comes with an integral 20 MOA Picatinny rail, and to further reduce weight the raised portion of the rails are machined out a bit. Like everything else on the rifle it looks good but serves a purpose.

The Pursuit is a heavy-barreled three-lug bolt action mated to a chassis with a polymer fore-end and grip/buttstock. The action is smooth and easy to operate and stayed slick no matter how many rounds we put downrange.

The general ergonomics of the Pursuit are really good as well. The undercut buttstock lets you control how much pressure your shoulder exerts on the recoil pad and fine-tune your reticle hold. The comb adjusts for height. The mag catch at the front of the trigger guard is slightly oversized and easy to manipulate. The trigger, safety, and generously-proportioned bolt handle are all comfortable and intuitive to operate.

The spiral fluted barrel gives the rifle a bit of flair and the muzzle is threaded 5/8-24. A section of Picatinny rail with six slots extends off the front of the fore-end for mounting a bipod, and the stock has a series of M-Lok slots on the underside of the fore-end as well. The rifle has multiple QD attachment spots for a sling.

The butt stock can also be removed from the rifle by drifting out a single takedown pin and potentially swapped out for another design. The rifle also has captured action screws, which is a nice feature. The bolt can be taken down without tools.

The stock is the most notable change from prior 1895s and, while this might come as a surprise to some readers, it is the first factory Marlin centerfire lever action to have a stock made of something other than wood.

The butt is nylon-reinforced polymer that is thinned out in the middle and pays homage the iconically ugly (and beloved) boat paddle Zytel-stocked Ruger M77 of years past. The thin portion has three M-Lok slots to add items like cartridge carriers. A beefed-up portion sports QD attachment points, and the recoil pad is pretty stout.

Marlin configured this rifle with an attractive feature set beyond the stock. The receiver has a Picatinny rail that extends halfway up the fore-end and makes mounting optics a simple exercise. The rail also comes with a ghost-ring rear sight to compliment the bright green fiber-optic sight up front. We did the bulk of our shooting with a Nightforce 1-8 LPVO on board.

The rifle has a mid-sized lever loop, which is more functional than the oversized loops that everyone seems to like. The whole rifle is finished in a graphite black Cerakote that looks purposeful and pretty badass.

This rifle quickly became one of the darlings of the test. All the things that make so many hunters and shooters hold Tikka in high regard are present in the Drover. Its performance, accuracy, value, workmanship, and fun-factor are undeniable.

The stripped-down butt stock and overall light weight made for an unpleasant ride for whoever settled in behind the rifle, even in the moderate .308 Winchester. The exercise of gathering that five-shot group data was necessary and useful, however.

The lack of an adjustable gas block is the biggest shortcoming on the gun. The factory 22 ARC ammo ran the gun too hard, especially when we added a suppressor to the rifle, which is something many (if not most) 22 ARC shooters will be prone to do.

The accuracy of the ammunition was markedly diminished compared to the results we got from the Proof Elevation MTR. The average five-shot group with the 88-grain ELD-M was 1.243 inches, while the groups with the 62-grain ELD-VT averaged 1.673 inches.

We did have an issue with some ammo hanging up in the action causing it to bind up when running it off a bag on a tripod. This seemed to be ammunition specific, but it did cost the rifle some points in the test.

We were pleased with how well the rifle tracked during our shooting from the prone position, and the fact that the action can be swapped from right- to left-handed operation is another feather in the cap for the BRX1 design team.

In 2010 when Ruger introduced the Ruger American Rifle, it gained immediate traction with hunters. It combined excellent accuracy and good ergonomics at an attractive price and has been one of the most successful rifles of the last couple decades. With the Generation II released in 2024, Ruger built on the success of the original by adding numerous useful upgrades to the platform, along with some refinements.

The Cascade is an unrefined working tool that delivers a lot of punch for the money. It has an adjustable cheek piece to tune the stock fit. The stock also has a rubberized coating that will give a secure handhold under any condition.

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