Shooting Impressions
Shooting after work and after the children are in bed means shooting at night at this time of year. Turning on the lights in the back rooms of my house, I illuminate both my backstop and a shooting position 10m away. I set up a rough benchrest style operation with a plastic garden table and chair, and used my old FT seat and a rolled up sheet as a support for the rifle.
First, I simply plinked with the gun for 10 shots, without zeroing. A shot at a line of empty 12 bore shells told me that the gun was shooting 1” to the left and a touch high at 10 yards.
The gun had hardly any muzzle report at all. There was a prrrp noise from the action rather like a frog’s croak. I will try the gun without the additional moderator later, to see what the sound is like unmodified. I cannot imagine that a better quality moderator would make the gun quieter, but if I ever acquire one, will see what results it gives.
The gun moved slightly on firing with the impact of the hammer. This was not appreciable though, and over a longer distance I am sure I would still be able to follow the pellet’s flight through the scope.
I then put up a standard 10m 5-bull air rifle target and proceeded to zero the scope so that the gun would shoot 1” high at this range. I was concerned that the moderator might affect accuracy and was quite prepared to chuck it away.
I found the trigger a little heavier than I am used to. The stock needs to be removed to adjust this, so I may do this later. There is a very slight amount of creep, which is predictable and did not detract from my enjoyment of the gun. The trigger is nothing like as bad as an untreated CZ rimfire, but not as good as that on my old Titan Mohawk.
Using 9x mag and Accupells, the first 5-shot group was 1/8th" centre to centre. The pellets all went through the same hole. I moved the group over to where I wanted it to be on the target and again, the group was very small indeed. I then emptied a full magazine into a target using the upper mildot on the scope, which was set at 6x for this exercise. My group opened up to ½” centre to centre mainly because I was having fun rather than really trying to keep things tight.
Switching to RWS Superdomes, I carried on plinking at a double spinner (45mm and 13mm discs) and resetting 45mm disc target, empty shotgun shells, a beer can (end on of course) until I had fired 80 shots or so. I didn’t miss anything I aimed at, nor did I notice any drop off at all in zero. The pressure gauge now read 120 BAR, a drop of 50 BAR from the 170 the gun came with. I was able to reload fast enough to keep the spinner spinning.
The 300-BAR 3ltr bottle I bought with the gun is with the diving shop being charged from empty. I will pick it up tomorrow and recharge the gun to the recommended 190BAR pressure.
My first impressions are that this is a superb British product. I love the lines of the gun, the way that the cylinder finishes short, allowing the barrel to protrude. It looks like a gun, if you know what I mean.
For me, it balances beautifully, and the large Airmax scope does not look cumbersome or out of place. The moderator adds to the grace of the design, being only ever so little thicker than the diameter of the barrel shroud. I am sure that this will put many rabbits in the bag. Without seeming so light as to bounce around on aim, particularly for a standing shot, it is that much lighter than my Mohawk, and will be easier to carry as well as easier to load. I am very pleased with the choice I made.
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