richness
25-06-2006, 02:32 PM
I wrote a review on my then new Mk3 RT FAC .22 a while ago, which i have pasted below, and at the end are my observations versus my new Mk3 Sports FAC .22. There's also lots of pellet testing included:
MK3 RT review, and pellet tests:
Anyone buying an FAC Daystate Mk3 is going to have been round the block, so I’ll spare you the patronising tone of some reviews. This gun will be primarily compared to a Rapid Mk2 because I have direct experience of that fine rifle and it must represent the most serious competition to the Mk3 Daystate
First off, the Daystate RT is an attractive gun. Not in the functionally attractive way that the Rapid is but rather in a classical, thumbholed luxury way. The wood is exquisite, the lines flowing subtley from comb to foreend.
Looks aside, the functionality of the stock suits me well. The palmswell is about right for my hands and I like the various thumb-rest options that the stock provides.
One of the things that initially attracted me to this rifle was the high gloss silvery-looking bluing on the cylinder. I’m delighted to say that this did make it to production and the finish looks like a top-flight shotgun. Absolutely stunning :D
I particularly like the magazine system. The magazine indexes each position, so one can easily load it in pitch darkness. As good as the Rapid system is, I found it difficult to load at night due to each pellet slot not being indexed. There have been reports of the Mk3 mag not rotating properly and I can report that this is due to the pellets not being pushed in to the rubber o-ring properly. This means that the pellet skirt rubs on the rotating magazine and increases friction to the point where the last pellet won’t click into place. Obviously this is easily overcome and I find the mags effortless to use. I have stuck paper to the rotating sides with pellet numbers on them. This way, I can simply read off the number of pellets remaining. I am surprised that this wasn’t done originally.
As the action is not cocked by the bolt, the bolt action is just wonderfully light; it only needs to slide in and out of the magazine. It is silent and the angles are such that it can be activated with an instinctive flick of the wrist. This is one of my main preferences to the Mk2 Rapid..
The action always being ready takes some getting used to. If the trigger is pressed at any time with the safety off, the gun will fire. This is strange but further alerts one to the importance of strict trigger discipline.
I have an Harris bipod fitted to mine. I had my doubts but I tried one on and it really doesn’t do the gun’s balance any harm so I thought I’d try it out. I’m glad I did because the long range shots that the FAC power and the gun’s accuracy permit are made a sight easier by the bipod, no doubt about it. Whilst on the subject of accuracy, I remain staggered by the performance. With top pellets this gun is capable of one hole groups at 50 yards, fingernail groups at 70yards and sub-inch groups at 85 yards. Really quite remarkable. I didn’t do my normal pellet testing routine of clamping the gun in a vice because I didn’t seem to need to!
I have done long range pellet testing before but never with an FAC rifle. I must admit to being surprised at the difference that a pellet’s ballistic coefficient has on its flight at longer ranges.
These are the pellets that passed the initial veto at 35 yards:
AA Field/ Daystate FT 5.52
WebleyVenom Lazapells 5.52
Baracuda Match 5.52
Bisley Magnums 5.52
Eley Wasps .50
Exterminator 16gr
Exterminator 20.5gr
(Those that didn’t are:
RWS Superdomes, Super H Point
Accupell/Powapell)
All the above pellets fly through one hole every single time at 35 yards.
Only when the range is stretched to 60+ yards are the best shown.
I must say that the Daystate’s barrel didn’t seem too fussy; it spat all these pellets out with alarming accuracy. My favourites here are really based on trajectory.
On this score, the AA Field/ Daystate FT design is a remarkably clear winner.
For example, a 14.5gr Lazapell would be leaving the barrel at 830fps, 40fps faster than the heavier 16gr Daystate FT, at 790fps but at the 45 yards zero, the Lazapell is a good inch lower than the Daystate. The same applies to the 800fps 14.5gr Wasp.
Baracuda Match is definitely a better feeling pellet through this gun than the similar Bisley Magnum. The Baras are seriously accurate but obviously fly much loopier than the mediumweight fodder.
It is worth noting that the Exterminators are indeed very good pellets, but superpellets they are not. They are a touch faster than pellets of a similar weight but they do not hold more energy or fly flatter. Indeed, I prefer Baracuda Match because the performance is identical and when I shoot heavy pellets I am trying to reduce penetration and I think, although I haven’t tested it in any scientific way, that the Exterminators are more inclined to drill than to splat.
Whilst the Exterminators are very fine pellets, made to the highest of tolerances, they will not increase your gun to tank-like powers overnight or guarantee to bore straight through a three hundred yard gazelle.
The 16gr are good but are outclassed at longer ranges by the supersmooth-flying AAs.
They are very accurate, but as I say above, all of these pellets listed are grouping much the same; not one is worth paying twice as much for as any other.
At a push, the results are:
AA Field are clear winners. They fly flatter, hold more energy and are pellet on pellet all the way out to 70yards+. Remarkable. I found the Daystate FTs were of higher quality; less duds per tin. At the price, though, it may be worth buying AAs and sorting them yourself.
Next were Lazapells. Fast, flat and accurate. They aren’t as flat as the AAs but seriously accurate.
Baracuda Match. Stunning out to 45 yards. Really hard-hitting. As accurate as anything; I just want a faster, flatter pellet most of the time. Bismags are nearly as good but slower and not as smooth as the Baras through this gun.
Exterminators. The 16s are accurate and flat, on a par with the Lazapells. Not as good as the Field at longer ranges but a fine pellet nonetheless.
The 20.5s are accurate, on a par with Baracudas.
Eley Wasps. A surprise good show from the old design. Fast and accurate but give up to all the other past 50yards.
Those are the results of the pellet testing. The AA Fields are different class to the others and I will soon by buying several thousand of them from Daystate. With the same BC as the legendary Bismag design, but at a faster 16gr, they are special at 22ftlbs out of this Daystate. Off the bipod, you can shoot sub-inch at 80 yards all day long. I was surprised by this; eighty yards seems a very long way when you measure it out!
As suggested on the bbs, 50 shots is fine at SWP but more can safely be achieved at a fill pressure of 3600psi, or even up to 4000. This has been checked with Daystate. Half as many shots again can be achieved this way. That being the case, I am having the gun tweaked so that it does 25ftlbs with AAs. This will lower my SPC but I’m getting 70+ at the moment so I don’t mind if that drops a little.
I am aware that the locktime is fast on this gun. This, I’m sure, is partly due to the FAC power levels but it is clearly fast nonetheless. The trigger is lovely. Have no fears about having a microswitch! There are adjustments for light, medium and heavy weight let-off (second-stage) and first stage travel and weight. As much as I like a light trigger, mine came set too light and I weighted it a little more, and that was on the medium selection! I would imagine that the lightest of light would be a matter of ounces. Anyway, let-off is crisp and reliable.
I like the safety catch. You can just flip it round with your thumb and it is silent. There are little green and red blobs that show you whether you are safe or not and also the red LED comes on when the safety is off.
There are many customisable functions, operated by combinations of trigger pulls with the safety used to activate the menu. It sounds complicated but is a cinch to use. You can adjust power, shot counter from 10-2550 shots, a 10 shot magazine reminder bleep, LED and beep on or off etc etc. All the functions can be turned on or off according to your preferences.
I have just received the low battery warning. The gun does at least 3000 shots at 12ftlbs, it seems. This seems ample as all it then requires is to be plugged in overnight to recharge. At the FAC level, my warning has come on after about 1300shots. This may increase slightly as the battery beds in but I think I will make a note to recharge my battery after every two tins of pellets so I don’t get stranded without power.
Along with the magazine, there is something else that I consider to be different class on this gun. It is incredibly quiet. Despite being twice as powerful, with one of BAR’s Psyclone Logun-style silencers on it, it is easily half as loud as my 12ftlb Rapid Mk2! You hear the slightest thud of report; the firing cycle makes more noise than the pellet exit! Very much like an S200 – and we all know how quiet they are. This makes it a doubly efficient hunting tool.
MK3 RT review, and pellet tests:
Anyone buying an FAC Daystate Mk3 is going to have been round the block, so I’ll spare you the patronising tone of some reviews. This gun will be primarily compared to a Rapid Mk2 because I have direct experience of that fine rifle and it must represent the most serious competition to the Mk3 Daystate
First off, the Daystate RT is an attractive gun. Not in the functionally attractive way that the Rapid is but rather in a classical, thumbholed luxury way. The wood is exquisite, the lines flowing subtley from comb to foreend.
Looks aside, the functionality of the stock suits me well. The palmswell is about right for my hands and I like the various thumb-rest options that the stock provides.
One of the things that initially attracted me to this rifle was the high gloss silvery-looking bluing on the cylinder. I’m delighted to say that this did make it to production and the finish looks like a top-flight shotgun. Absolutely stunning :D
I particularly like the magazine system. The magazine indexes each position, so one can easily load it in pitch darkness. As good as the Rapid system is, I found it difficult to load at night due to each pellet slot not being indexed. There have been reports of the Mk3 mag not rotating properly and I can report that this is due to the pellets not being pushed in to the rubber o-ring properly. This means that the pellet skirt rubs on the rotating magazine and increases friction to the point where the last pellet won’t click into place. Obviously this is easily overcome and I find the mags effortless to use. I have stuck paper to the rotating sides with pellet numbers on them. This way, I can simply read off the number of pellets remaining. I am surprised that this wasn’t done originally.
As the action is not cocked by the bolt, the bolt action is just wonderfully light; it only needs to slide in and out of the magazine. It is silent and the angles are such that it can be activated with an instinctive flick of the wrist. This is one of my main preferences to the Mk2 Rapid..
The action always being ready takes some getting used to. If the trigger is pressed at any time with the safety off, the gun will fire. This is strange but further alerts one to the importance of strict trigger discipline.
I have an Harris bipod fitted to mine. I had my doubts but I tried one on and it really doesn’t do the gun’s balance any harm so I thought I’d try it out. I’m glad I did because the long range shots that the FAC power and the gun’s accuracy permit are made a sight easier by the bipod, no doubt about it. Whilst on the subject of accuracy, I remain staggered by the performance. With top pellets this gun is capable of one hole groups at 50 yards, fingernail groups at 70yards and sub-inch groups at 85 yards. Really quite remarkable. I didn’t do my normal pellet testing routine of clamping the gun in a vice because I didn’t seem to need to!
I have done long range pellet testing before but never with an FAC rifle. I must admit to being surprised at the difference that a pellet’s ballistic coefficient has on its flight at longer ranges.
These are the pellets that passed the initial veto at 35 yards:
AA Field/ Daystate FT 5.52
WebleyVenom Lazapells 5.52
Baracuda Match 5.52
Bisley Magnums 5.52
Eley Wasps .50
Exterminator 16gr
Exterminator 20.5gr
(Those that didn’t are:
RWS Superdomes, Super H Point
Accupell/Powapell)
All the above pellets fly through one hole every single time at 35 yards.
Only when the range is stretched to 60+ yards are the best shown.
I must say that the Daystate’s barrel didn’t seem too fussy; it spat all these pellets out with alarming accuracy. My favourites here are really based on trajectory.
On this score, the AA Field/ Daystate FT design is a remarkably clear winner.
For example, a 14.5gr Lazapell would be leaving the barrel at 830fps, 40fps faster than the heavier 16gr Daystate FT, at 790fps but at the 45 yards zero, the Lazapell is a good inch lower than the Daystate. The same applies to the 800fps 14.5gr Wasp.
Baracuda Match is definitely a better feeling pellet through this gun than the similar Bisley Magnum. The Baras are seriously accurate but obviously fly much loopier than the mediumweight fodder.
It is worth noting that the Exterminators are indeed very good pellets, but superpellets they are not. They are a touch faster than pellets of a similar weight but they do not hold more energy or fly flatter. Indeed, I prefer Baracuda Match because the performance is identical and when I shoot heavy pellets I am trying to reduce penetration and I think, although I haven’t tested it in any scientific way, that the Exterminators are more inclined to drill than to splat.
Whilst the Exterminators are very fine pellets, made to the highest of tolerances, they will not increase your gun to tank-like powers overnight or guarantee to bore straight through a three hundred yard gazelle.
The 16gr are good but are outclassed at longer ranges by the supersmooth-flying AAs.
They are very accurate, but as I say above, all of these pellets listed are grouping much the same; not one is worth paying twice as much for as any other.
At a push, the results are:
AA Field are clear winners. They fly flatter, hold more energy and are pellet on pellet all the way out to 70yards+. Remarkable. I found the Daystate FTs were of higher quality; less duds per tin. At the price, though, it may be worth buying AAs and sorting them yourself.
Next were Lazapells. Fast, flat and accurate. They aren’t as flat as the AAs but seriously accurate.
Baracuda Match. Stunning out to 45 yards. Really hard-hitting. As accurate as anything; I just want a faster, flatter pellet most of the time. Bismags are nearly as good but slower and not as smooth as the Baras through this gun.
Exterminators. The 16s are accurate and flat, on a par with the Lazapells. Not as good as the Field at longer ranges but a fine pellet nonetheless.
The 20.5s are accurate, on a par with Baracudas.
Eley Wasps. A surprise good show from the old design. Fast and accurate but give up to all the other past 50yards.
Those are the results of the pellet testing. The AA Fields are different class to the others and I will soon by buying several thousand of them from Daystate. With the same BC as the legendary Bismag design, but at a faster 16gr, they are special at 22ftlbs out of this Daystate. Off the bipod, you can shoot sub-inch at 80 yards all day long. I was surprised by this; eighty yards seems a very long way when you measure it out!
As suggested on the bbs, 50 shots is fine at SWP but more can safely be achieved at a fill pressure of 3600psi, or even up to 4000. This has been checked with Daystate. Half as many shots again can be achieved this way. That being the case, I am having the gun tweaked so that it does 25ftlbs with AAs. This will lower my SPC but I’m getting 70+ at the moment so I don’t mind if that drops a little.
I am aware that the locktime is fast on this gun. This, I’m sure, is partly due to the FAC power levels but it is clearly fast nonetheless. The trigger is lovely. Have no fears about having a microswitch! There are adjustments for light, medium and heavy weight let-off (second-stage) and first stage travel and weight. As much as I like a light trigger, mine came set too light and I weighted it a little more, and that was on the medium selection! I would imagine that the lightest of light would be a matter of ounces. Anyway, let-off is crisp and reliable.
I like the safety catch. You can just flip it round with your thumb and it is silent. There are little green and red blobs that show you whether you are safe or not and also the red LED comes on when the safety is off.
There are many customisable functions, operated by combinations of trigger pulls with the safety used to activate the menu. It sounds complicated but is a cinch to use. You can adjust power, shot counter from 10-2550 shots, a 10 shot magazine reminder bleep, LED and beep on or off etc etc. All the functions can be turned on or off according to your preferences.
I have just received the low battery warning. The gun does at least 3000 shots at 12ftlbs, it seems. This seems ample as all it then requires is to be plugged in overnight to recharge. At the FAC level, my warning has come on after about 1300shots. This may increase slightly as the battery beds in but I think I will make a note to recharge my battery after every two tins of pellets so I don’t get stranded without power.
Along with the magazine, there is something else that I consider to be different class on this gun. It is incredibly quiet. Despite being twice as powerful, with one of BAR’s Psyclone Logun-style silencers on it, it is easily half as loud as my 12ftlb Rapid Mk2! You hear the slightest thud of report; the firing cycle makes more noise than the pellet exit! Very much like an S200 – and we all know how quiet they are. This makes it a doubly efficient hunting tool.