Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Airgun Shooter

FX HYBRID SLUGS www.fxairguns.com FX Airguns have been at the forefront of the slug revolution and make barrel liners and other gun design adaptations to optimise airgun performance with this ammunition. Their Hybrid slugs are claimed to combine the best of pellet and slug ammunition, and boast impressive long-range grouping. Hybrid slugs feature a hollow core and recessed base to reduce weight and improve expansion on impact. They are available in .22, .25, .30 and .35 calibres, and a range of weights from 19 to 68 grains. WILDMAN SLUGS www.wildmanslugs.com While working in pest control after a career in the military, Liam Craven noticed a gap in the market for affordable high-quality airgun slugs, so he started making his own. The enterprise grew into Wildman Slugs, which makes some of…

WORTH £549 The Benjamin Cayden is a sidelever-operated hunting rifle that at first glance looks like a traditional sporter, but on closer inspection actually offers quite a bit more, and in any case is extremely pleasing to the eye. This .22 calibre pre-charged pneumatic comes with two magazines, sling swivel studs fitted fore and aft, no fewer than six hex keys, plus a selection of spare O-rings and an optional Picatinny rail which can be attached under the forend. The woodwork has been finished beautifully, and the Cayden’s stock has obviously been treated to several coats of oil, giving off a glorious odour. The gun comes with a perfectly matt oil finish, which assists grip. The little details really stand out. The butt has also been shaped to let shooters…

I seem to have been talking a lot about scopes recently. Having described the choices I have made for my own shooting and given readers some thoughts regarding what I consider to be good value optics, I have once again jumped in and purchased yet another for myself. There appears to be some misunderstanding from some shooters, particularly those that might come from a firearms background, that suitable telescopic sight options for airgunners cost less than £100 and are more than adequate for what we need. These days, it is true that you can go into a gun shop, look through a few lenses and decide to purchase a scope that costs a lot less than even the most affordable airgun. I must here remind novice shots that it is…

Although I am willing to embrace new technology if I think it is justified by the improvement it brings to my results in the field, I am not a fan of newfangled kit that’s complicated to use and ultimately makes for a less enjoyable shooting experience. For this reason, I have been slow to jump on the thermal night vision bandwagon, preferring to stick with my trusty infrared setups instead. I have dipped a toe, though, and I had pretty good results using an InfiRay Saim model I was sent for review last year. Therefore, I was quite excited when Highland Outdoors asked if I would like to give the Saim SCP19 thermal riflescope a try. I accepted the offer and the unit duly arrived, along with an InfiRay Eye…

Despite the obvious advantages of a magazine, multishot, piston-powered air rifles have not been particularly forthcoming. There are some notable exceptions however, such as the recent Swarm series of multi-shots from Gamo, and Hatsan has now entered the fray with the SpeedFire. This break-barrel rifle is powered by the Turkish firm’s Vortex gas piston system. It’s available in two calibre options, .177, as seen here, and .22, and the gun is also available in two stock options, these being the standard SpeedFire with a black synthetic stock and the SpeedFire W, which wears a handsome walnut handle. The SpeedFire is a full-power, full-size rifle and length of pull is a healthy 365mm, which is perfect for shooters like me who have long arms. The synthetic SpeedFire has a slightly shorter…

FOR SALE: Ripley XL9. Hardly used, perfect condition, a rare opportunity to buy, .177 with MTC Taipan scope 4-16x50. Fitted with CS500 stock. Hard carrying case. 12 litre bottle (out of date). £1,500. Colin Ellis (Nottingham). Tel: 07858 305080. Email: colin ellis46@icloud.com. FOR SALE: Air Arms Pro Sport .177 with walnut stock, Nikko Mountmaster 3-9x50 AO IR scope. The gun is very accurate and in excellent condition. £480. FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW80 .22 in beech stock, Hawke Sport HD 3-9x50 Mil Dot IR. The gun is very accurate and in good condition. £360. FOR SALE: Stalker Cheetah MKII .22. A gun by Adrian Hartley based on Daystate, with Nikko Mountmaster 3-9x40 AO, Bisley leather strap. This must-see gun is very accurate and in excellent condition. £675. FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW99…

Daystate has announced its first new release of the year – the Red Wolf Heritage – which not only represents the second generation of the British company’s electronic supergun, but is also a limited edition of only 250 rifles worldwide. It’s been styled to match the Genus, a special version of the Huntsman that was launched to celebrate Daystate’s 40th anniversary. And like that gun, the Red Wolf Heritage mixes a bronze and carbon-fibre finish with matching laminate woodwork. Despite its super high-tech electronic brain, the rifle maintains a more classical look. The limited edition Heritage model incorporates the very latest updates applied to the Red Wolf in its three-year production, such as the ART barrel and Mapped Compensation Technology, and Daystate guarantees the rifle can deliver match-like accuracy out…

The woods where I am shooting today are managed for wildlife conservation, so grey squirrels really aren’t welcome. I tend to hit this particular permission very hard twice a year, once at the beginning of the winter and once again in early spring. By having two concentrated campaigns, each running for a month or two, I am able to really drive down the numbers rather than just chipping away at them. The owner and his son are both keen shooters, and they do their best to keep the pressure on when I’m not around. My efforts are concentrated around the hungry period when natural food is thin on the ground. I hold back on my first push until after the autumn harvest of nuts and seeds has been mopped up,…

Back in the 1990s an iconic CO2-powered pellet-firing revolver arrived on the airgun scene from Spain — the Gamo R-77. Made from a combination of metal and plastic, this handgun has provided a good mix of accuracy and fun over the years, being a lightweight revolver available in .177 calibre only and having a rifled barrel. It has an authentic full-size swing-out cylinder magazine, and for anyone starting to yawn who owns a modern shell-loading revolver, do remember this pistol came out three decades ago. “THE COMBINATION OF A LONG BARREL AND WOOD GIVE THE R-77 M6 A CLASSY LOOK” Eight pellets are loaded into the rear of the cylinder, which is released by a small knurled steel stub screw. It’s located on the barrel assembly to the front of…

Since the early 2000s when Field Target and Hunter Field Target became increasingly popular in Europe, manufacturers of precision 10m match air rifles started to produce 12 ft-lb rifles in order for shooters to compete in these disciplines. Prior to this, British manufacturers like Air Arms would dominate the HFT and FT scene – and they continue to stand their ground today. In 2017 German manufacturer Feinwerkbau offered its FWB 800x FT to the Field Target and Hunter Field Target world, promising new standards of quality, functionality and performance – carried over from their Olympic rifles. During lockdown I had one of these incredible rifles for a short time to test, running it through its paces in the wintry conditions my garden presented. It’s important to consider that the majority…

“Budget” is often a byword for “not very good”, but if you do a little research you’ll find some great gear can be picked up for a relatively modest outlay. Scopes are a good example. You could easily spend £1,000 or more, but if you’re only planning on shooting at targets 30 or 40 yards away most of the time, then how good does a scope have to be? Don’t get me wrong, we all like nice gear, and a bad scope is a miserable thing. So for this issue we’ve done our best to bring you six scopes that cost under £200. Courtesy of Range Right, we have the Konus Pro Evo 3-12x50, which retails for £185, while Edgar Brothers has supplied the Bushnell Banner 2 6-18x50, which goes…

S Before PCPs became tops there were other forms of pneumatical perfection. Multi-pumpers were popular, but the Single Stroke Pneumatic offered much more, and in the 1990s Parker Hale bit the bullet by commissioning their own, naming it the Dragon. This rifle came as a standard sporter in .22 or as a modified target version in .177. Low power SSPs had been around, but fuller power was complex to achieve. It had been attempted before, but in small batch or custom production, however the new factory-made Dragon gave stunning accuracy with decent usable power. The SSP had been regarded as the optimal airgun design, with no clunky springer bouncing around giving you a black eye or biting your fingers off, so this was seen as a new milestone and the…

We’re here to talk about a new range of airgun-friendly telescopic sights from Zeiss, but please indulge me for a bit. Many years ago I was on a long-range shooting course in Wales. I think it was in the summer, but being in Britain it was raining anyway. My scope wasn’t bad by any means, and the glass was reasonably good, even in the grey, wet conditions. But the reticle didn’t offer as much fidelity as I needed and the crosshairs were too thick, partially obscuring the target 800 yards away. The instructor took pity on me and let me use his rifle. While his gun was lovely, it was the scope on top that was the standout feature. The image wasn’t just good, it was great, being wonderfully bright,…

WIN! THE BEST LETTER GETS A SET OF SPORTSMATCH MOUNTS LETTER OF THE MONTH TIN CAN TERMINATOR The HW45 article prompted me to write in on my own experiences in what’s referred to on a popular forum as “the gentleman’s calibre”. My Silver Star version’s pellet of choice is the .22 Hobby or Superdome from RWS. Hitting Fray Bentos tins at 25 yards gives a satisfying thwack (other pies are available), as do empty aerosols around 15-20 yards. I rarely bother with paper targets. Performance figures are similar – recoil and dieseling add to the fun, though I draw the line at blowing the smoking barrel like in the movies. I haven’t needed to adjust the trigger. The fibre-optic open sights are good, but I recommend the holographic type as…

The last time that I visited my local airgun range a fellow shooter commented on the fact that I was shooting off split sticks. He told me he’d never seen anyone else at the range using sticks; when I thought about it, neither had I. As this particular range is predominantly set up for benchrest with individual shooting lanes, my habit is to spend most of my time zeroing and checking data, but then I’ll spend the last 15 or 20 minutes shooting offhand or using sticks. Marksmanship of any kind is a perishable skill, especially the fiendishly tricky stuff like unsupported standing shots. I’ve learnt through bitter experience that there is nothing worse than lining up a shot on a rabbit when there’s nothing to rest your rifle on and…

British gunmaker BSA has a talent for striking a very happy balance between classic looks and precision performance when it comes to airgun design, so it’s always exciting when this industry giant comes out with something new. Its latest release is a complete reworking of one of its most popular models – the super-successful Ultra – so it is no surprise that expectations were running exceptionally high in the lead-up to the new CLX model. Some might argue that the Ultra didn’t need to be revamped. I’ve had an SE model of my own for about eight years and it has never let me down, so BSA certainly already had a reliable performer on its hands. Nonetheless, the CLX line sees the Ultra getting a very thorough overhaul, and I…

I don’t hunt a great deal these days, but when I do I always use ammo that’s consistently accurate in the particular rifle I’m using, and most of the time that means a conventional roundhead pellet. But in the pursuit of more knockdown power – and to reduce the chance of over-penetration – manufacturers have come up with a huge variety of alternative designs, one of the most innovative being the Polymag from US firm Predator International. These pellets are produced for Predator by JSB, and the Czech company makes a regular-length Polymag as well as Polymag Shorts, which measure around 8.85mm in .22 calibre, as seen here, and are designed to be used in rotary magazines. Polymag Shorts are very different to standard JSB ammo, combining a hollow head…