GaraGun
23-08-2005, 05:27 PM
Theoben Evolution .177 Review 23/08/2005
I have lusted after a Theoben since the day I first saw them in the early 80’s, must have been 19 or 20 years ago, & never before owned one!
Yesterday I had to return my broken Lightning to my favourite shop, (CH Westons in Brighton), to be sent for repair at BSA. I saw the new Evolution, in Walnut R/H, & .177, just what I needed.
When the box opened, I was a bit surprised by the light colour of the walnut, but I always had a soft spot for a blonde, so. It came straight into shoulder for me, light & well balanced, with a comfortable roll comb cheek piece.
My only concern was the cocking effort, as my hands, arms & shoulders are deteriorating with old age & arthritis. I asked if I could try this, & was invited into the back of the shop, where I was also informed that you must not ‘de-cock’ gas rams as it does not release the internal pressure? Anyway a couple of shots were all I needed; the effort is similar to my Lightning, so no problems there. The silencer gives a good firm hand hold, I tried a couple of shots in the dark as it were, with no sights fitted.
I had a scope ready at home, an Edgar Brothers 6x44, for which I needed some nice low 30mm mounts, these were quickly sorted by the way of a set of SportsMatch TO35, perfect! My .177 pellets were all, well, shall we say at the lower end of the price range, so I thought I would get a couple of tins of ‘quality pellets’ to try.
A few minutes later the credit card was on the verge of meltdown, & we were on our way home, 32 miles ~ with big smiles.
It did nothing but rain all afternoon & evening, so apart from a couple of shots out the part opened patio door, I spent a pleasant few hours, with a bottle of French red, fitting the scope & mounts, generally fondling, getting the feel of my latest acquisition, of course reading all the associated paraphernalia also. I like the extended guarantee that Theoben offer, excellent value IMO, £28 for 10 years, bargain! I also weighed the new pellets in preparation for the next day, which I hoped & prayed would be a good day for testing.
Sure enough today has been lovely sunny & hot, so after a mad rush around town early this morning, ‘I’ve mostly been shooting in the garden all day!’
I started with the mid range weight pellets, H&N FT&T, the initial shots, (having transferred the scope from another rifle), were way to the right, so a few minutes zeroing at 20 metres, & we were sorted. I soon found I was grouping extremely well – for an old git – so when a Magpie happened along & sat there laughing at me, he was soon sorted too. Excellent, clean head shot at 20 m, followed a few minutes, & only a couple of shots later by his noisy inquisitive friend.
I have probably put about 500 shots through it so far today, mostly at paper targets, followed by several strings over the chrono.
Calibre .177/4.5mm
Pellets weighed by average ex 50 on digital scales, Velocity recorded by Chrony F1 placed 5 m from muzzle.
Pellet Tested: - - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - Average results:
Dynamit Nobel Geco
4.50mm 7.1 grain £2.19/500 / 778.9 fps - 9.56 ft lb - 11mm cc groups @20m
Haendler & Natermann
Field & Target Trophy
4.50mm 8.58 grain £5.95/500 / 736.5 fps - 10.34 ft lb - 14mm cc groups @20m
Haendler & Natermann
Extra Heavy Baracuda Match
4.52mm 10.49 grain £6.95/500 / 594.4 fps – 8.25 ft lb - 17mm cc groups @20m
Pleased - - - - - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Disappointed
Metalwork finish - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Woodwork finish
Cocking effort - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Barrel closing effort
Normal Dovetail/Scope rail - / - - - - - - - - - - Moulding of Butt pad
Accuracy - - - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Power
Low Recoil
Quiet
Weight
Looks
I think for the money, Theoben could have spent a little more time on details, eg: sanding off the rough edges inside the cutout for the barrel to open, & around the trigger guard. The moulding of the rubber left a lot of tatty long bits on the recoil pad, which I have trimmed using tweezers & a razor blade! The stock ‘looks & feels’ unfinished, I tried to buy a bottle of Danish oil in town this morning but no luck. To be honest, it’s not everybody that wants to spend £400+ on a rifle & have to finish it themselves is it? The metalwork is good, but again, a wipe over to remove all the finger marks before it was boxed would have been nice. There is no manual either, just a leaflet which mostly covers their Rapid series, a very different beast from a break barrel gas ram, don’t you agree? No tools, no mention of trigger adjustment.
One problem I’m finding is the considerable force required to close the barrel up. This is often taking 2, sometimes 3 attempts, obviously I am used to break barrels, I have mostly been using my Lightning XL for the past 7 months, so I can assure you it’s not just me! The mechanism for retaining the barrel is the usual, & I have added a little moly grease, but still the same, perhaps it will bed in. The automatic safety fitted in front of the trigger was soon mastered, this could be a little more finger friendly, but not a real problem.
I must admit I was expecting power output levels to be a bit higher. Even my Lightning was giving out 11 ft lbs straight from the box, the best I’ve recorded with the Evo so far has been 746 fps with 8.58 grain H&Ns so 10.6 fpe, ain’t exactly red hot is it? Having said that, I’m sure it will do very – very nicely for my needs, power ain’t everything, sufficient for clean kills at up to 30 yards, & accuracy to match is the name of the game. It’s already proved that, 2 Magpies & a Squirrel on our first day, & all without leaving the comfort of my own back yard can’t be bad can it?
In a nutshell, I’m very pleased with it, I reckon it’ll be with me a long time.
Cheers, & good shooting,
John
Update:
Thursday 25th August 05.
Shooting from my usual garden chair, I felt something small drop into & roll off my lap, on close inspection of the ground I discovered a small grub screw. I immediately looked at the trigger adjustment, to find as I expected an empty thread! At this point I believe the air turned blue around me, I was not a happy chap.
I remembered seeing from the PDF of the trigger that there should also be a spring & a ball bearing, so I went over the ground with a magnet, where I fortunately found a small spring, but no BB. Looking into the vacant thread, I couldn’t be sure if what I could see at the bottom of the hole was a curved surface, (a BB), or the sear.
When I had calmed down a bit, I ‘phoned Theoben. After explaining to the receptionist what had happened, I was told I would have to talk to Tony, who was downstairs – could I ‘phone back in ½ an hour - & no, no-one else could help me!
The second call was answered by a different lady, so I explained all over again, only to be told to my amazement that, “oh yes, we have had some trouble with them”!
I asked for Tony, & waited while a conversation around the office was going on, which I could hear most of, (no-one seemed to know who Tony was, or why I had been told to talk to him), before I was put through to Martin. I introduced myself as a fellow Airgun BBS member, & said I knew of him through the forum. Then I explained all for a 3rd time, asking the explicit question, “is the ball bearing retained, or have I lost it?” After offers of sending me a screw & a spring, & explaining how the screw was factory fitted with threadlock, I explained all for a 4th time, that I had found the spring & screw, that I could see there had never been any threadlock on the thread of the screw in front of me, repeating; “is the BB retained in there or not?” Eventually Martin told me the ball could not have come out, so I was safe to put the spring followed by screw back in, & all should be OK. There was no way I wanted to send the rifle back after only a couple of days, & I didn’t fancy the drive back to Brighton either, so somewhat relieved I re-assembled the bits + the trigger guard I had removed. First try was a disaster, I know now – that if you tighten the allen screw in a little too far, it stops the trigger working altogether! Why couldn’t someone have told me?
I tried some AA Fields today; I find they seem to me to be the most reliable of pellets, in both .177 & .22 that I know.
The Evo was averaging 776 fps with 4.51 AA’s which I weighed at 8.43 grains, so pretty consistent 11.275 ft lbs, which is the best on test so far, & plenty for my use.
I seem to be getting an average grouping of 12/15mm c-c @ 20m now, with the AA’s, H&N’s & Gecos too. The rifle is running in nicely, an increase of approx 10% on fps all round, possibly helped by a damn good barrel clean, a chimney sweep couldn’t have got any more out of it!
PS; I still have not received a reply to my email to Theoben sent last Thursday :confused:
I have lusted after a Theoben since the day I first saw them in the early 80’s, must have been 19 or 20 years ago, & never before owned one!
Yesterday I had to return my broken Lightning to my favourite shop, (CH Westons in Brighton), to be sent for repair at BSA. I saw the new Evolution, in Walnut R/H, & .177, just what I needed.
When the box opened, I was a bit surprised by the light colour of the walnut, but I always had a soft spot for a blonde, so. It came straight into shoulder for me, light & well balanced, with a comfortable roll comb cheek piece.
My only concern was the cocking effort, as my hands, arms & shoulders are deteriorating with old age & arthritis. I asked if I could try this, & was invited into the back of the shop, where I was also informed that you must not ‘de-cock’ gas rams as it does not release the internal pressure? Anyway a couple of shots were all I needed; the effort is similar to my Lightning, so no problems there. The silencer gives a good firm hand hold, I tried a couple of shots in the dark as it were, with no sights fitted.
I had a scope ready at home, an Edgar Brothers 6x44, for which I needed some nice low 30mm mounts, these were quickly sorted by the way of a set of SportsMatch TO35, perfect! My .177 pellets were all, well, shall we say at the lower end of the price range, so I thought I would get a couple of tins of ‘quality pellets’ to try.
A few minutes later the credit card was on the verge of meltdown, & we were on our way home, 32 miles ~ with big smiles.
It did nothing but rain all afternoon & evening, so apart from a couple of shots out the part opened patio door, I spent a pleasant few hours, with a bottle of French red, fitting the scope & mounts, generally fondling, getting the feel of my latest acquisition, of course reading all the associated paraphernalia also. I like the extended guarantee that Theoben offer, excellent value IMO, £28 for 10 years, bargain! I also weighed the new pellets in preparation for the next day, which I hoped & prayed would be a good day for testing.
Sure enough today has been lovely sunny & hot, so after a mad rush around town early this morning, ‘I’ve mostly been shooting in the garden all day!’
I started with the mid range weight pellets, H&N FT&T, the initial shots, (having transferred the scope from another rifle), were way to the right, so a few minutes zeroing at 20 metres, & we were sorted. I soon found I was grouping extremely well – for an old git – so when a Magpie happened along & sat there laughing at me, he was soon sorted too. Excellent, clean head shot at 20 m, followed a few minutes, & only a couple of shots later by his noisy inquisitive friend.
I have probably put about 500 shots through it so far today, mostly at paper targets, followed by several strings over the chrono.
Calibre .177/4.5mm
Pellets weighed by average ex 50 on digital scales, Velocity recorded by Chrony F1 placed 5 m from muzzle.
Pellet Tested: - - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - Average results:
Dynamit Nobel Geco
4.50mm 7.1 grain £2.19/500 / 778.9 fps - 9.56 ft lb - 11mm cc groups @20m
Haendler & Natermann
Field & Target Trophy
4.50mm 8.58 grain £5.95/500 / 736.5 fps - 10.34 ft lb - 14mm cc groups @20m
Haendler & Natermann
Extra Heavy Baracuda Match
4.52mm 10.49 grain £6.95/500 / 594.4 fps – 8.25 ft lb - 17mm cc groups @20m
Pleased - - - - - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Disappointed
Metalwork finish - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Woodwork finish
Cocking effort - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Barrel closing effort
Normal Dovetail/Scope rail - / - - - - - - - - - - Moulding of Butt pad
Accuracy - - - - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - - - - Power
Low Recoil
Quiet
Weight
Looks
I think for the money, Theoben could have spent a little more time on details, eg: sanding off the rough edges inside the cutout for the barrel to open, & around the trigger guard. The moulding of the rubber left a lot of tatty long bits on the recoil pad, which I have trimmed using tweezers & a razor blade! The stock ‘looks & feels’ unfinished, I tried to buy a bottle of Danish oil in town this morning but no luck. To be honest, it’s not everybody that wants to spend £400+ on a rifle & have to finish it themselves is it? The metalwork is good, but again, a wipe over to remove all the finger marks before it was boxed would have been nice. There is no manual either, just a leaflet which mostly covers their Rapid series, a very different beast from a break barrel gas ram, don’t you agree? No tools, no mention of trigger adjustment.
One problem I’m finding is the considerable force required to close the barrel up. This is often taking 2, sometimes 3 attempts, obviously I am used to break barrels, I have mostly been using my Lightning XL for the past 7 months, so I can assure you it’s not just me! The mechanism for retaining the barrel is the usual, & I have added a little moly grease, but still the same, perhaps it will bed in. The automatic safety fitted in front of the trigger was soon mastered, this could be a little more finger friendly, but not a real problem.
I must admit I was expecting power output levels to be a bit higher. Even my Lightning was giving out 11 ft lbs straight from the box, the best I’ve recorded with the Evo so far has been 746 fps with 8.58 grain H&Ns so 10.6 fpe, ain’t exactly red hot is it? Having said that, I’m sure it will do very – very nicely for my needs, power ain’t everything, sufficient for clean kills at up to 30 yards, & accuracy to match is the name of the game. It’s already proved that, 2 Magpies & a Squirrel on our first day, & all without leaving the comfort of my own back yard can’t be bad can it?
In a nutshell, I’m very pleased with it, I reckon it’ll be with me a long time.
Cheers, & good shooting,
John
Update:
Thursday 25th August 05.
Shooting from my usual garden chair, I felt something small drop into & roll off my lap, on close inspection of the ground I discovered a small grub screw. I immediately looked at the trigger adjustment, to find as I expected an empty thread! At this point I believe the air turned blue around me, I was not a happy chap.
I remembered seeing from the PDF of the trigger that there should also be a spring & a ball bearing, so I went over the ground with a magnet, where I fortunately found a small spring, but no BB. Looking into the vacant thread, I couldn’t be sure if what I could see at the bottom of the hole was a curved surface, (a BB), or the sear.
When I had calmed down a bit, I ‘phoned Theoben. After explaining to the receptionist what had happened, I was told I would have to talk to Tony, who was downstairs – could I ‘phone back in ½ an hour - & no, no-one else could help me!
The second call was answered by a different lady, so I explained all over again, only to be told to my amazement that, “oh yes, we have had some trouble with them”!
I asked for Tony, & waited while a conversation around the office was going on, which I could hear most of, (no-one seemed to know who Tony was, or why I had been told to talk to him), before I was put through to Martin. I introduced myself as a fellow Airgun BBS member, & said I knew of him through the forum. Then I explained all for a 3rd time, asking the explicit question, “is the ball bearing retained, or have I lost it?” After offers of sending me a screw & a spring, & explaining how the screw was factory fitted with threadlock, I explained all for a 4th time, that I had found the spring & screw, that I could see there had never been any threadlock on the thread of the screw in front of me, repeating; “is the BB retained in there or not?” Eventually Martin told me the ball could not have come out, so I was safe to put the spring followed by screw back in, & all should be OK. There was no way I wanted to send the rifle back after only a couple of days, & I didn’t fancy the drive back to Brighton either, so somewhat relieved I re-assembled the bits + the trigger guard I had removed. First try was a disaster, I know now – that if you tighten the allen screw in a little too far, it stops the trigger working altogether! Why couldn’t someone have told me?
I tried some AA Fields today; I find they seem to me to be the most reliable of pellets, in both .177 & .22 that I know.
The Evo was averaging 776 fps with 4.51 AA’s which I weighed at 8.43 grains, so pretty consistent 11.275 ft lbs, which is the best on test so far, & plenty for my use.
I seem to be getting an average grouping of 12/15mm c-c @ 20m now, with the AA’s, H&N’s & Gecos too. The rifle is running in nicely, an increase of approx 10% on fps all round, possibly helped by a damn good barrel clean, a chimney sweep couldn’t have got any more out of it!
PS; I still have not received a reply to my email to Theoben sent last Thursday :confused: