TargetTalk

This is a fairly stupid question. I know Avanti's BB guns shoot fairly slow - but should they have trouble penetrating a corrugated cardboard target backer (my backer board is pretty old cardboard, so might be a tad tough)?

I am not home, and my step son noticed everything is bouncing off his target rather than punching through it (no holes to score).

The new ones that I have will certainly punch a hole in cardboard at 5 meters. Don't know what they'd do at 20 meters, never tried.

Should make a hole in cardboard at 5 meters although sometimes they stick in the cardboard.
Many possible causes. Make sure bb is seating all the way. If not, clean shot tube. Try putting a bb in and letting it go down. Then turn gun muzzle down. If the bb falls out then it didn't go down all the way or there is a problem withe the abutment magnet. Sometimes this magnet comes loose and gets in the air cylinder causing havoc.
If not a dirty shot tube then it's time for disassembly and new seals. It requires a special spring tool so you may want to send to Daisy.

Some of the Avanti 499's I have worked on had a lot of oil in the plunger tube. That caused a lot of problems. Erratic velocity and complete loss of accuracy, the gun will not hold a 2 inch group at 5M. Gun will have to be disassembled and all the oil cleaned out. Most likely new seals will be needed.