Wighill have a number of ripley elites in store circa £500 - £550 including lefties and thumb hole stocks ,
Now i have long fancied one of these guns having read review on gunmart and in airgun world , however I was put off initially by a number of posts that are on airgun bbs in relation to this rifle . Terry doe speaks highly of them and suggested anyone wanting one ring Nigel at wighill guns for info.
So this I duly did , first let me say Nigel appears a top bloke and no amount of questions are queries regarding the gun was too much trouble,
I took each of the challenges one by one, that were posted on here regarding power loss etc etc. let me just say guys that listening to nigel , put my mind completely at ease , and he went through the challenges posted on here one by one , , Nigel sets all the guns to 11.4lbs to allow for marginal creep and gives a 12 month warranty on all the guns,
So as I said, I'd long wanted one of these guns and took the plunge , including a hogun decimeter silencer , one of the originals not the Highland outdoor versions. you will need one as the gun makes quite a crack, but any good quality silencer should do , I just liked the way the Hogun looked on the gun,
so to today and the proof in the pudding so to speak , sighted in at the club this morning fitting a mamba lite 4-16 mtc scope ,used a high mount but on reflection i will change to low mounts just for better eye alignment with this gun , but as I swapped it directly wholesale from My HW97kt I didn't feel like changing all my mounts around on all my other guns. ( Diana Stutzen / Steyr Hunter).
within 4 shots absolutely on the button and I continued to put 300 pellets through the gun.
Accuracy is outstanding as good as my steyr out to 40-45yds achieving pellet on pellet and small clover leaf type groups , I should mention that the calibre is .177 the same as my steyr but at a third of the price I know which is impressing me more , overall the rifle is very solidly built and a lovely piece of Kit. the trigger is multi adjustible but i found the setting suited me fine . I got 80-90 real good shots before the poi started to drop ,( I filled up to 220bar - the reservoir has a safe operating pressure of 300 bar , but i guess old habits die hard , and i'm nervous about going to high. The gun doe's not have a regulator which makes the accuracy all the more remarkable.
the refill port is nicely located at the end of the tube with a rotating collar as protection , those in previous posts who complained about the hiss as you fill it , this is just till the pressure balance is reached and goes immediately after this point , (bear in mind that the refill adapter is not locked in place till the pressure is reached !)
Of other note is that you load directly into the barrel as the breech is formed by cutting away the barrel, It is a Walther lothar match barrel, which obviously goes some way to explaining the accuracy. . Also the gun has a nice piece of walnut on it , supplied I believe by the custom stocks of sheffield
Good points :-
accuracy -outstanding equal of the steyr
price - cannot be beat
looks - each to his own but to me its beautiful
engineering - excellent , I would expect nothing less , this gun does carry steve ripleys name and was enfineered by Jim Hogun.
trigger - able to suit all needs. curved blade on mine , but match triggers are available
Bad points:-
No pressure gauge , not to much of a worry to me , but I do Know some like them
No Safety , I do believe all guns should have a safety , belts and braces after all
.
would I. recommend this gun to anyone absolutely , do I need to , No .
Colleagues in the club who tried it were more than impressed , the HW100 and daystate ranger owners were amazed at the combination of price and accuracy.
Dont take the negative feedback on here about this gun as definitive statements , contact Nigel at wighill guns and try for yourself. I can't see how you wont be converted . I am
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