Reply With Quotehttp://s960.photobucket.com/user/rha...%20fx%20bobcat
just a couple to show them next to each other.
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After a lot of thought, well over night as couldn't sleep i decided to get the Daystate Pulsar in .22 with the walnut stock (ltd Edition). I now own both the Bobcat and the pulsar so maybe in a good position to compare the two.
Presentation was a winner for the pulsar as it comes in a hard case with foam already cut out for a scope. The FX i was expecting to come in some sort of case for the money but came in a black box and to be fair not a great deal of packaging to keep it safe in it's transit from Sweden. Fx comes with rifle, magazine and charging probe plus the manual which is generic so you have to read through to find the relevant bits for the Bobcat. They should produce a manual for each rifle not just one that covers the whole range. The instructions for the loading of the magazine aren't totally clear and easy to follow.
The Daystate has it's own manual, a little certificate as it's the ltd edition, single shot tray, allen keys for adjusting the trigger, a warranty card and the fill adaptor. Batteries were already in the rifle. Now the down fall for the Pulsar. The case is not long enough to put the rifle in with a moderator attached. Well the stumpy moderator i have fitted for now anyway, the case could be about 6" longer.
Finish. Obviously the two rifles are totally different as one is walnut and plastic with steel shroud and the other is synthetic finish. The fx was clean and not covered on layers of oil however the cheek piece was a sort of grey in colour but a good rub down seemed to clear away the grey film and it is now a matching blak with the rest of the rifle. The black on the FX barrel shroud is a semi sheen for want of a better word. The Black on the pulsar is a powder type coating and matt in colour. I think i prefer the finish on the bobcat but that is a personal thing. If i am really picky the bobcat's finish shows no mould lines whatsoever. The pulsar has a visible mould line on the fore end of the picatinny rail. The walnut on the pulsar is nothing to write home about and finished with oil to a slight sheen. I have a r10 with better grained walnut on it.
Initial feel. First thing i noticed on the pulsar was the trigger blade was loose and facing the wrong way. Strange as there was a test sheet giving stats etc. Surely whoever "tested" the rifle to give the chrono reading would have noticed a loose trigger blade and certainly one facing in the wrong direction. The pistol grip on the pulsar could do with being a little bigger for me as i have quite large hands and the bottom of my palm is slightly over the base of the grip. Also the indent for access to the batteries was a bit sharp on the edges and after walking around with it for an hour my palm was a little sore. The fx is a nice fit for my hands but there is a allen screw right underneath where my thumb joint touches which after a while made quite an indent into my skin will be easier to sort this than the pulsars hole in the battery access clip. Balance between the two for me was very similar but the pulsar "felt" slightly heavier on the back end but i can live with that. The cocking lever on the fx is better tucked away into the stock. The pulsar lever is slightly more proud and a bit more noisy on the cocking than the fx. The safety on the fx is next to the cocking lever and very smooth to operate with just a gentle nudge. The pulsar safety is inbuilt into the trigger much the same as the air arms and i kinda prefer this to the fx, but it is noisy to engage and disengage which i found annoying.
Magazine. The daystate wins hands down. Very easy to fill and operates smoothly. The loading of pellets into the fx is initially a pain in the backside as the first pellet has to be loaded from the front then the mag is turned over and the remaining are loaded from the rear of the mag. The instructions in the manual are not the easiest to follow. Now i am used to it it is ok and i can manage it in the dark for ratting but i would have the daystate mag over the fx any day or night of the week. The mag sticks up on the pulsar as do all daystate mags but being a bull pup it doesn't interfere with scope mounting. I would still prefer to see it lower in the action. I can envisage problems when i go to mount my nite site as i think the mag will be in the way. It was on the fx but i have moved the cheek piece back and it clears the magazine. Anyone with a nite site will know about the camera unit on the scope.
Silence. Fx is almost silent without a mod fitted. There is no way of adding an additional mod as there is no male thread or female thread to attach a mod to. UK Neil is making a special one for me. The pulsar although shorter than the bobcat is noisier without a mod but if fitting a mod it ends up longer and i have fitted a stumpy mod. It is now almost silent but won't fit in the case with the mod attached.
Power. The pulsar is kicking out 11.5 ftlb on H&N ftt. The Bobcat is kicking out 11.9 ftlb on H&N Baracuda's. The Pulsar settled down to a 10ftps spread over 4 mags at 180 bar. The Bobcat won hands down at 3ftps spread over 4 mags at 180 bar (The Bobcat is a 14 shot mag the Pulsar is a ten shot mag). Both rifles like H&N pellets so far. However i have put more pellets through the Bobcat then the pulsar so maybe it will tighten the ftps up a little with more lead in the barrel.
Accuracy. No contest so far. The Bobcat is more accurate at the moment, however see above as per shots through the gun. Approximately 500 through the Bobcat and 200 through the pulsar. Bobcat is regged smooth twist and pulsar is standard barrel. However at the same stage of pellets in the Bobcat ie about 200 it was still more accurate than the pulsar. Time will tell. The Bobcat has a Hawke Sidewinder half mil dot 4.5-14x42 mounted on it. The Pulsar has a Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 sat on top. A £300 scope compared to a £700 scope so really the Pulsar should have the edge on the Bobcat.
Triggers. Both have fully adjustable triggers. I have not had to adjust these bar tightening the Pulsar's after turning it to face in the right direction.
Attachments. Haven't managed to figure out if i can attach a Bi-Pod or sling to the Bobcat. Pulsar has the plastic forend with picatinny rail system. Would have liked to have seen both rifles fitted with standard studs at the prices they are selling for. I believe Daystate have done it the way they have so that they get extra income from the sale of their own Bi-Pods. £35 a Bi-Pod from Daystate. Hole in the stock for the mag on the Bobcat is a good idea and it is held in place by a spring bob when pushed in. I believe Daystate have missed a little trick there. Both cheek pieces are adjustable backwards and forwards which is nice. Both have power adjustment. I prefer the Bobcat as is much simpler system to use over the pulsar, just turn the knob on the side. Daystate's novel on and off for the power is growing on me. Bobcat has two pressure gauges one pre reg and one post reg. Call me old fashioned but i still like the idea of a pressure gauge to show bottle pressure on a rifle. Turn the Daystate on to get pressure in bottle. Quick peek at pressure gauge on cylinder on Bobcat.
Which One To Buy. Well so far, weighing up the various pros and cons it would be the Bobcat for me. £1300 for the Bobcat versus £1900 for the Daystate. Yes i have a limited edition with gold trigger etc etc but for me personally i would still go for the Bobcat if money wasn't an issue. I think the Bobcat MKII regulated is the better value for money. I am not a person that goes in for looks so a black stock or walnut and black stock is not an issue for me. It is solely down to performance and useability for value for money. We shall see how reliability pans out as i have only had the Bobcat for two weeks and the Pulsar for a day.
An Alternative. Priced between the two comes the Steyr Hunting 5. I love my Steyr and it is more accurate than both these rifles. Well balanced for a full length hunting version and the cocking/firing system leaves the other two in the dark ages. Now all i have to do is get the Karbine version also in .20. And no i don't want a semi auto, i am fine with the speed of loading on the standard versions
Last edited by nimrod177; 06-06-2015 at 09:44 PM.
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http://s960.photobucket.com/user/rha...%20fx%20bobcat
just a couple to show them next to each other.
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thanks on that well put together and a good/comparison review on both.Originally Posted by nimrod177
After a lot of thought, well over night as couldn't sleep i decided to get the Daystate Pulsar in .22 with the walnut stock (ltd Edition). I now own both the Bobcat and the pulsar so maybe in a good position to compare the two.
Presentation was a winner for the pulsar as it comes in a hard case with foam already cut out for a scope. The FX i was expecting to come in some sort of case for the money but came in a black box and to be fair not a great deal of packaging to keep it safe in it's transit from Sweden. Fx comes with rifle, magazine and charging probe plus the manual which is generic so you have to read through to find the relevant bits for the Bobcat. They should produce a manual for each rifle not just one that covers the whole range. The instructions for the loading of the magazine aren't totally clear and easy to follow.
The Daystate has it's own manual, a little certificate as it's the ltd edition, single shot tray, allen keys for adjusting the trigger, a warranty card and the fill adaptor. Batteries were already in the rifle. Now the down fall for the Pulsar. The case is not long enough to put the rifle in with a moderator attached. Well the stumpy moderator i have fitted for now anyway, the case could be about 6" longer.
Finish. Obviously the two rifles are totally different as one is walnut and plastic with steel shroud and the other is synthetic finish. The fx was clean and not covered on layers of oil however the cheek piece was a sort of grey in colour but a good rub down seemed to clear away the grey film and it is now a matching blak with the rest of the rifle. The black on the FX barrel shroud is a semi sheen for want of a better word. The Black on the pulsar is a powder type coating and matt in colour. I think i prefer the finish on the bobcat but that is a personal thing. If i am really picky the bobcat's finish shows no mould lines whatsoever. The pulsar has a visible mould line on the fore end of the picatinny rail. The walnut on the pulsar is nothing to write home about and finished with oil to a slight sheen. I have a r10 with better grained walnut on it.
Initial feel. First thing i noticed on the pulsar was the trigger blade was loose and facing the wrong way. Strange as there was a test sheet giving stats etc. Surely whoever "tested" the rifle to give the chrono reading would have noticed a loose trigger blade and certainly one facing in the wrong direction. The pistol grip on the pulsar could do with being a little bigger for me as i have quite large hands and the bottom of my palm is slightly over the base of the grip. Also the indent for access to the batteries was a bit sharp on the edges and after walking around with it for an hour my palm was a little sore. The fx is a nice fit for my hands but there is a allen screw right underneath where my thumb joint touches which after a while made quite an indent into my skin will be easier to sort this than the pulsars hole in the battery access clip. Balance between the two for me was very similar but the pulsar "felt" slightly heavier on the back end but i can live with that. The cocking lever on the fx is better tucked away into the stock. The pulsar lever is slightly more proud and a bit more noisy on the cocking than the fx. The safety on the fx is next to the cocking lever and very smooth to operate with just a gentle nudge. The pulsar safety is inbuilt into the trigger much the same as the air arms and i kinda prefer this to the fx, but it is noisy to engage and disengage which i found annoying.
Magazine. The daystate wins hands down. Very easy to fill and operates smoothly. The loading of pellets into the fx is initially a pain in the backside as the first pellet has to be loaded from the front then the mag is turned over and the remaining are loaded from the rear of the mag. The instructions in the manual are not the easiest to follow. Now i am used to it it is ok and i can manage it in the dark for ratting but i would have the daystate mag over the fx any day or night of the week. The mag sticks up on the pulsar as do all daystate mags but being a bull pup it doesn't interfere with scope mounting. I would still prefer to see it lower in the action. I can envisage problems when i go to mount my nite site as i think the mag will be in the way. It was on the fx but i have moved the cheek piece back and it clears the magazine. Anyone with a nite site will know about the camera unit on the scope.
Silence. Fx is almost silent without a mod fitted. There is no way of adding an additional mod as there is no male thread or female thread to attach a mod to. UK Neil is making a special one for me. The pulsar although shorter than the bobcat is noisier without a mod but if fitting a mod it ends up longer and i have fitted a stumpy mod. It is now almost silent but won't fit in the case with the mod attached.
Power. The pulsar is kicking out 11.5 ftlb on H&N ftt. The Bobcat is kicking out 11.9 ftlb on H&N Baracuda's. The Pulsar settled down to a 10ftps spread over 4 mags at 180 bar. The Bobcat won hands down at 3ftps spread over 4 mags at 180 bar (The Bobcat is a 14 shot mag the Pulsar is a ten shot mag). Both rifles like H&N pellets so far. However i have put more pellets through the Bobcat then the pulsar so maybe it will tighten the ftps up a little with more lead in the barrel.
Accuracy. No contest so far. The Bobcat is more accurate at the moment, however see above as per shots through the gun. Approximately 500 through the Bobcat and 200 through the pulsar. Bobcat is regged smooth twist and pulsar is standard barrel. However at the same stage of pellets in the Bobcat ie about 200 it was still more accurate than the pulsar. Time will tell. The Bobcat has a Hawke Sidewinder half mil dot 4.5-14x42 mounted on it. The Pulsar has a Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 sat on top. A £300 scope compared to a £700 scope so really the Pulsar should have the edge on the Bobcat.
Triggers. Both have fully adjustable triggers. I have not had to adjust these bar tightening the Pulsar's after turning it to face in the right direction.
Attachments. Haven't managed to figure out if i can attach a Bi-Pod or sling to the Bobcat. Pulsar has the plastic forend with picatinny rail system. Would have liked to have seen both rifles fitted with standard studs at the prices they are selling for. I believe Daystate have done it the way they have so that they get extra income from the sale of their own Bi-Pods. £35 a Bi-Pod from Daystate. Hole in the stock for the mag on the Bobcat is a good idea and it is held in place by a spring bob when pushed in. I believe Daystate have missed a little trick there. Both cheek pieces are adjustable backwards and forwards which is nice. Both have power adjustment. I prefer the Bobcat as is much simpler system to use over the pulsar, just turn the knob on the side. Daystate's novel on and off for the power is growing on me. Bobcat has two pressure gauges one pre reg and one post reg. Call me old fashioned but i still like the idea of a pressure gauge to show bottle pressure on a rifle. Turn the Daystate on to get pressure in bottle. Quick peek at pressure gauge on cylinder on Bobcat.
Which One To Buy. Well so far, weighing up the various pros and cons it would be the Bobcat for me. £1300 for the Bobcat versus £1900 for the Daystate. Yes i have a limited edition with gold trigger etc etc but for me personally i would still go for the Bobcat if money wasn't an issue. I think the Bobcat MKII regulated is the better value for money. I am not a person that goes in for looks so a black stock or walnut and black stock is not an issue for me. It is solely down to performance and useability for value for money. We shall see how reliability pans out as i have only had the Bobcat for two weeks and the Pulsar for a day.
An Alternative. Priced between the two comes the Steyr Hunting 5. I love my Steyr and it is more accurate than both these rifles. Well balanced for a full length hunting version and the cocking/firing system leaves the other two in the dark ages. Now all i have to do is get the Karbine version also in .20. And no i don't want a semi auto, i am fine with the speed of loading on the standard versions
Some say, ..... 4,000fps is enough
Thanks for the review.
So, the Bobcat is more accurate, has lower MV extreme spread, is quieter and is far, far cheaper of the two.
Who'd have thought that.
Al
Registered User
Until you can pellet test and find the best for both barrels accuracy will always be a question mark!
For me the regulator would tip it every time, I hate messing about with power curves, for £800 you get a HW100 which is just fill it up and shoot till empty with a 6-10fps spread over the entire fill!
At the cost of the Pulsar, and many of the premium rifles, not having a regulator is ridiculous!
Registered User
I agree when it comes to cost... But a regulator is not the be all and end all when it comes to pcp performance, sure you get more shots due to the ability to fill past what the firing valve would normally allow to remain consistent..
Un regged guns can achieve the same consistency once you find the sweet spot which literally takes a chrono and 10 mins..
Then from that day on you know your optimum fill pressure lasts for x amount of shots then you refill, there you have it sub 10 fps spread from a un regged gun..
Registered User
Great review with plenty of useful detail. The most telling point to me was the statement near the end about the Steyr Hunter 5 being more accurate, I know which gun is going on my most wanted list along with the RAW HM1000.
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To a degree, that 10fps sweet spot spread only occurs over a limited number of shots relative to the total number, either side of the sweet spot the variation can be too great to be of any use, take both my MPR-FT and my BSA Scorpion, the sweet spot is roughly 50-60 shots, before and after that the velocity drop is too great to be usable within the requirements I work to , so I have a cylinder capable of storing enough air for 100 shots but can only use 60 with consistency.
My HW100 and my AA Ev are both regulated, both give me over 100 shots with less than 10fps spread with no messing about with curves, fill it up and shoot until empty, the HW costs roughly £800 new, I find it appalling that AA for instance ask over £800 for the HFT500 when it's not regulated , nor is the Ultimate sporter, Daystate rely on an electronic valve, but still has a power curve, regulators are not new technology, Rob Lane sells very good ones for £80, if your paying more than £500 for a rifle then as far as I am concerned you should get a reg, the cheaper rifles can do without but the premium ones should be standard!
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I agree the hft500 and ultimate sporter should defo be regged at that price, either that or they should state the true number of consistent shots within say 10fps so people are not mislead into thinking that they just fill to the max pressure and expect no poi change throughout the charge. I mean they say an s400 classic is a 80 shot rifle, but in real life its more like 60 ish because the other 20 are a waste of air.
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The pulsar is all swinging dancing electronic so perhaps was expecting better or at least on a par with the bobcat. I have tried other pellets but have stuck with the H&N as they appear to be the most accurate through the barrels. I have an hw 100 and past the 45 yard mark it starts to loose out a bit to the bobcat. But like i said the pulsar barrel is still leading in which was very apparent yesterday.
Registered User
Whatever you want to call it.. the Pulsar IS regulated, probably better than any other rifle in existence, It's done by the computer, and DS call it Map compensated technology, MCT. It has been used successfully in the Mk 4 range, and AirWolf, which is probably why DS have stopped producing the Mk4, seeing the Pulsar as it's replacement.
Pick up your gun, shove a bullet up the spout
It's the Major Dennis Bloodnok Rock'n' Roll Call Tango
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I had a Mk3, very good rifle but there is a power curve with them, I shot mine from 200Bar down to about 95BAR and there is a curve!
It's better than a conventional spring hammer but it's not regulated.
Registered User
I have found JSB express to group best in LW barrels.
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lots of interesting stuff.well done and ceep us informed pleas
Registered User
Seriously horrible in my pulsar however only tried one size. Funnily today, ftt's grouped even better and my mate had a tin of H&N baracuda's and at 35 yds no point of aim change and as accurate as the ftt's. Went back to 45yds and the group opened up to about 1" compared to the bobcat remaining at sub half inch group, I did get better results from the pulsar today compared to yesterday but at the moment i have put this down to less wind today, in fact no wind today. Yesterday was a bit windy but the bobcat is .177 and grouped superbly.
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