I'll speak as a retired person (one who spent several happy years in London in an earlier life - ex CT-H&E head office employee), and acknowledge the wisdom these members have shared with you. I'll share another option with you; I, too, have returned to air guns after several generations, and I have a common "retirement issue," which you may not share: Having to make spending choices rather than spend now - save later, as the younger crowd sees things.
So, for what it's worth (FWIW), there are a number of non-pal air rifles that can almost match the performance of the models suggested, albeit without the higher build quality and also at a shorter range. So, here's my thought for consideration, depending on whether my intro fits your scenario: Try a less expensive rifle as your first in a long time, and while you do so, consider seriously whether your interests will be limited to plinking, or in moving on to small, medium, up to big-game hunting.
Here are a couple of suggestions (I own both), and if you direct your thread to starter guns, I'm sure you'll get many more suggestions. First is the Benjamin Nitro Piston 22 break-barrel (can be purchased for less than $250, otherwise look for something else) - an easy-to-break/load rifle that that carries significant respect for its accuracy at medium range (35 yds or less), and which can easily be upgraded to a hard-hitting 750+ fps rifle with a little work (help would be easy to find here if you have your PAL).
The second is the Industry Brand QB78, which is also accepted as a pretty accurate rifle at medium range, and comes in a non-pal .22 cal CO2 version. No pumping, good medium range power and a decent number of shots per 2-CO2 cart charge), and also can easily be converted (again, with experienced help if you've get your PAL) to a 800 fps-shooting PAL version and also to High-Pressure-Air (HPA) with a few dollars worth of modification. You can also convert it into a 9-shot repeater for another
$100 or so. Your cost for the basic is approx. $130 (usable at medium ranges out of the box.
http://scopesandammo.com is a good starting place to find this one (Proprietor's name on this forum is AirGunEric.
As a disclaimer for "advisors" looking for angles of dispute, I will note that the trigger plays an important role in your satisfaction with an air gun rifle, and my mentions, and air guns of their price range, can be improved dramatically with a bit of trigger tuning (again, likely available here).
So, if you decide to "try-light" picture any rifle in this price range with a much smoother trigger. If you can't picture it, ask if someone will do it for you. Areas such as trigger mechanism and exterior finish play a key differential between good, moderately priced rifles, and good, starter-priced rifles.
Then, if you decide to go farther than rifles of this range permit, they are relatively cheap giveaways, but also can be easily sold here for 60-70% original price (especially if you have made any extras mods}, Just sayin', if you've got the retirement blues, or you're just prudent or unsure about the sport at the moment, you can get started for less than $150 bucks at get at least half of your investment back if you decide it's not quite what you expected or were looking for (or to put toward a better rifle).
If this makes sense in your scenario, just tell the guys you want to invest minimally at first with the interest in escalating after you've tested out the gun capabilities and the sport in general. I think a few will back me up with a few more starter-gun ideas.
PM me if you like. Others are better at specific hardware recommendations, but I can help with the "senior" perspective, which is hard for most of these guys to envision as having any kind of impact on air gunning decisions.
Good luck.
Murray
P.S. to readers who have made it this far:
I, too, can can far too verbose (long-winded) as some of you. Even though it's not my usual way of doing things elsewhere, I tend not to edit to be more concise in this environment, and as a result, I also often miss mistakes, as well as stupid "auto-spelling" corrections. In Other Words (IOW), I'm not claiming to be perfect, but I do use paragraph breaks consistently, and this helps us gain more efficient readers of our posts. Honest. I'd gladly give you some tips on using paragraph breaks if you're interested in learning that skill.
P.P.S. If you had no interest at all in what I had to say, then I can also assure you it wasn't because you saw one long. massive block of copy that you weren't sure you could make it through.
P.P.P.S. This P.S. string is not related to any of the posters above, in this thread.
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An air gun is like a beer: You figure it out.
Ace, I admire you for everything you contribute to this forum, but sometimes (and this is not just you) I wonder, considering the audience, who would gainfully follow this kind of build. It seems we're taking the sublime to the ridiculous (if not, to a level that is not necessary to reach a simple goal:
to run HPA on your 2240. Why a "huge" tank on such a little carbine?
Why not just buy yourself a 2240 Hipac? If your goal includes more shot capacity, how about installing a longer tube and get an extended Hipac? What's the true advantage of a regulated air supply in a gun that cannot, in any way, be modified to shoot over 500 fps without making it either another gun (e.g., a 2260) , or a restricted weapon? If you want a legitimate air rifle, why not use a 2260 tube and add the 2260 Hipac package to build a legal PAL-rated rifle that will shoot as hard or harder than what you've built here?
Not trying to be a plick, honest; just adding another angle here to stimulate a bit of interesting repartee,
So, like, when can you build me one of these?
