SIG Sauer is making a big push into the air rifle market with a whole catalog of new rifles and pistols for plinking, small game hunting and training. One exciting gun is the upcoming SIG Virtus, a pre-charged pneumatic rifle patterned on their MCX carbine.
The Virtus weighs and handles almost exactly the same as its centerfire counterpart which makes it a very affordable training and teaching tool. It also uses a clever magazine system that conceals a small belt of pellets.
The standard magazine holds a 30-round belt and can quickly be reloaded with fresh belts through a loading gate on the side. Each airgun comes with flip-up iron sights and the grip holds a multi-tool with a sight adjuster and belt reloader. The Virtus PCP has a standard M-Lok handguard and railed flattop receiver for optics and other accessories.
The Virtus has a tank that can be charged up to 3,000 PSI. It’s a regulated system that fires at around 1,100 PSI pushing standard .22 airgun pellets up to 700 feet per second. SIG says the tank is good for about 200 shots between refills, with about 150 full-power shots before the system starts to taper off.
The regulated gas system helps ensure repeatability and accuracy, and the Virtus is capable of inch groups at 50 yards.
The suggested retail price is $349, with real-world prices under $300, which is very appealing. SIG will also offer a U.K.-legal version for sale overseas.
See Also: SIG’s Amazing Ranefinding Kilo3000 BDX Binoculars – SHOT Show 2019
Availability in the U.S. is expected to be toward the beginning of the second quarter of 2019, hopefully around May.
This is the first PCP rifle from SIG but with the company’s big foray into airguns there’s sure to be more in the works. SIG is working to build a very complete line of PCP, CO2 and airsoft products including ammunition and more for fun and for training, all at competitive prices.
For more information about SIG’s new airguns check out their website for details.
Love this gun
Can someone answer whether this will be each shot advanced by the trigger pull, or is it air actuated? That’s a big factor in my decision and I have not seen a word on it.
I have to say that SIG moving into the airgun market is probably BRILLIANT. I have lots of firearms, but man I’ve wanted an affordable, reliable, repeating pellet gun for AGES. Just for appeasing shooting pangs when all you have at the moment is the back yard. Something to quickly purge a birdfeeder of an invading squirrel. And don’t even forget about the Airsoft market. You can show up with *name brand* SIG air gear? That will sell like crazy. I’m definately behind this move on SIGs part.
Nothing about it on their website .
Some one asked about recharging the tank. Sounds like you need a compressor that is used for filling scuba tanks. When Harbor Freight started to spread like mold across the country, they had a compressor good for up to 5000 pounds, but have not seen it in their catalog forever. May have somehow run afoul of the scuba tank compressor industry since the HF offering costs about 1/10 of what theirs did. At one time, the fellow that had the record for shooting a bear can full of concrete, (3 miles at the time), built his own cannon on an old 20MM gun mount, and charged the tank with that HF 5K pound compressor.
As an airgun, instead of a firearm, the setting for giggling like a little kid at full-auto is there, right? RIGHT?
How do you recharge the tank to 3000psi?
You use a special hand pump or an adapter to allow filling from a scuba tank.
Hand pump takes about 5 minutes.
Switch-SELECTABLE Semi-FULL would be great! But 88/90s are a MUST. The UZI Full-Auto is ridiculously underpowered (make by UMAREX) with a single 12 oz CO2. 🙁
This falls directly into the Who Cares Folder!
Where the hell is Clay?
He seems to be relegated to the “occasional story” now….too bad