WHAT’S IN THE BOX WIN!

Get the most

out of your
new rifle
WINCHESTER
4.5 SPECIAL
REVOLVER
WORTH
£139

GUN
TESTTWIN-REGGED
TEARAWAY
Doubling up with
the FX Maverick
PEST CONTROL

TWILIGHT
RIFLE TEST
UNDERLEVER
BELIEVER
ZONE Targeting crows
Four springers, but
which is best?

at the roost
HUNTING
SCOPE TEST
FATAL
IF LOOKS ATTSeRt AoutCyouTrIO N
COULD THRILL
Hawke’s new SFP Sidewinder
decoys
and get results

ISSUE 145
MEET THE TEAM
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
MIKE MORTON
MIKE has been shooting
air rifles and pistols for four
decades, and loves target
shooting, hunting, plinking
and tinkering.
CONTRIBUTOR
RICHARD SAUNDERS
RICHARD is a journalist ,
author and airgun hunter
who’s been creeping about
the undergrowth with his
rifle for more than 30 years.
CONTRIBUTOR
ANDY McLACHLAN
ANDY is the man to help
you get a competitive edge.
While he’s happy shooting
HFT, he’s been taking on
benchrest lately as well.
SUBSCRIBE
& SAVE
PAGE 40
THE AIRGUN SHOOTER PROMISE
AUTHORITY
AIRGUN Shooter is written by
airgunners for airgunners. Our team
has decades of combined experience
in everything from target shooting to
hunting and is committed to bringing
you the highest quality advice around
in print and video form every month.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
EDITOR’S LETTER
SPEAKING UP FOR OUR SPORT
AS IF SHOOTING sports haven’t been
through enough over the last couple of
years with the general licence debacle and
then coronavirus, the government is now
suggesting tighter restrictions on the use of
airguns by young people.
The Home Office’s firearms safety
consultation includes a proposal that will see
14- to 17-year-olds lose the ability to use airguns
unsupervised on private premises where the
owner has granted them permission to shoot.
The removal of this vital exception within the law
will impact thousands of young shots,
preventing them from practising on targets or
carrying out pest control unless supervised by someone aged 21 or over.
British firearms laws are already among the toughest in the world, and this
move to make them even tighter strikes me as being yet another restriction that
will impact most on responsible, law-abiding shooters. The law already states
that people aged under 18 are not allowed to own an airgun. That means that
parents have control of legally owned airguns in any household and it is
therefore already the case that they must decide whether their children are
responsible enough to be allowed to shoot an airgun unsupervised at 14, 15, 16,
17 or not at all. My feeling is that the government should be focusing on the
proper enforcement of existing laws and the reintroduction of responsible
parenting rather than trying to score a quick political point with a blanket ban.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation has rightly launched a
lobby against the proposal, branding it “unnecessary and damaging”. BASC
director of firearms Bill Harriman explained: “There is no body of evidence to
justify removing the exception, and if the proposal is successful it will have
serious ramifications for the wider shooting community.”
Consultation on the proposal closed on 16 February. The Airgun Shooter team
all made their responses and I hope you did too.
Enjoy your shooting and stay safe,
Mat Manning
Group Editor, Airgun Brands
airgunshooter@futurenet.com
YOUR LATEST HUNTING GUIDE
On a more positive note, we have compiled a huge
collection of hunting articles to help you enjoy even more
success in the field. The third edition of The Airgun Hunter’s
Yearbook is packed with instructional hunting features, all
laid out in seasonal format to make for an informative
reference guide for live quarry shooters. You can access the
digital version at http://bit.ly/agm145yearbook
PASSION INDEPENDENCE INSPIRATION
WE are absolutely obsessed with THE views you read in Airgun Shooter OUR mission is to maximise the
airguns and we love writing about are entirely our own, which means you enjoyment you get from your shooting,
them. We’re here to share our can trust every word you read in these so you’ll find every issue is packed with
knowledge with you and focus on pages. We’ve built up reputations from new things to try with your airgun,
helping you become a better shooter, years in the field – we’re not prepared unparalleled technical insight and the
and we hope you’ll share your to pull any punches when it comes to real-world experiences of shooters just
knowledge and expertise with us, too! telling you what’s hot and what’s not. like you.
5
 ISSUE 145

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Editorial
Group Editor, Airgun Brands Mat Manning
Editor-in-Chief Mike Morton
mike.morton@futurenet.com
CONTENTS
21
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Designer Rebekka Hearl
What’s in the box?
Production Editor Elizabeth Wood  ike Morton runs through
M
Group Art Director Dean Usher some of the things you can
Contributors
Phil Barker, Pete Brookes, Olly Curtis, Simon Everett, Ray Garner,
find with your first PCP
John Hooper, Phil Hooper, Andy McLachlan, Shawn Minchin, Jim Old,
Lee Perryman, Richard Saunders, Phil Siddell, Jonathan Young

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16 Letters 30 The countryman

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18 Competition
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36 The grey issue
 ow grey squirrels came to be living
H
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21 PCP package
If you’re thinking of buying your first
PCP rifle, here’s what to expect
49 Howl at the moon
 oger Lait gets to grips with the new
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6 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 WIN! WINCHESTER 4.5 SPECIAL
WORTH £139 PAGE 18
ESPECIALLY FOR HFT

TARGET
SHOOTER
YOUR REGULAR GUIDE
TO HFT AND EVERYTHING
TARGET-RELATED!

42 Give it a rest
 unning through the
R
options shooters have 
for a shake-free 
shooting experience

46 All that matters

 ather than just yearning
R
for power, take a moment
to think why you shoot

28 30
Powder vs pellet Fatal attraction
 n Umarex replica goes up against its
A  rotecting crops from corvids is all
P
bullet-firing brother in a day’s work

53
Crackdown time

36 49
Weed out the greys Howler slugs  he approaching lambing season puts
T
 hy airgun hunters should be
W These slugs will take any shooter corvids under our crosshairs
scoping out grey squirrels straight to airgun heaven

TESTING STATION
100% INDEPENDENT REVIEWS

53 The twilight zone

 utting in a late shift to crack
P
down on scavenging corvids as
lambing season approaches
64 Twin-regged tearaway
The verdict on the brand new Maverick 
from FX Airguns

58 Airgun answers
 ot a burning question to ask?
G
Our in-house experts will be
70 Spring-powered underlevers
Four of the best fixed-barrel springers go under the
microscope and into the field
able to provide an answer!

82 The Gun Room

 aisy was best known for its
D
74 Hawke Sidewinder 30 SF
This scope is worth way more than a sideways glance
SUBSCRIBE
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that all changed with the Power 78 Webley Mosquito Express
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& SAVE
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www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 7
 ZEROING IN
KIT / NEWS / PEOPLE / EVENTS / INSIGHT
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
AH! ONE!
If you’re looking for some fast-fire
action and want something
different to a pistol, Mike Morton
suggests you take a close look at
the Crosman R1
M
ost shooters take their
sport pretty seriously, but
there’s definitely a time and
a place to let off some
steam and shred some tin
cans, and the blowback
Crosman R1 and its 25-round magazine will
let you do just that as quickly as you can
squeeze the trigger.
The R1 is modelled on the M4/M4A1 carbine,
a battle rifle in service with most branches of
the US military, and its AR-15 style civilian
variants. The R1 really does look and feel the
part, with the standard controls all present, even
if some of them carry out a slightly different role
to the powder-burning originals.
Crosman’s latest backyard blaster is powered
by two 12 gram CO2 capsules that sit alongside
each other inside the drop-down magazine,
which accepts up to 25 BBs. One feature that
really stands out is the collapsible butt stock,
which behaves just like the one on the standard
M4, letting you choose one of six positions to
alter length of pull, something that shooters
with longer or shorter arms will really appreciate.
The foregrip consists of four Picatinny rails,
offering plenty of room for accessories, with the
open sights being attached to the upper rail as
normal. These sights are high, again just like the
originals, but this has been done for a very good
reason. The long upper rail on the R1 lets you fit
an additional sighting system such as a red dot.
When using a reflex sight like this, you just need
8
The stock release button lets you
extend the butt stock to one of
six positions so you can get the
length of pull just right for you
to flip the open sights down and out of the way.
And when you want to use the iron sights you
can either remove the reflex sight – which will
take only a few seconds – or just leave it in
place and flip up the opens, as you’ll still be able
to get a good sight picture.
Garden guns are great fun at the best of
times, and are an even more attractive
proposition when your range time is restricted.
Crosman’s R1 is a good choice to first grab
your interest and then maintain it, as it offers a
wide variety of shooting opportunities. It would
be great fun to experiment shooting this rifle
with a variety of sighting systems, and that
could also include a smaller or zero eye relief
telescopic sight.
I can see plenty of shooters in the US taking
the R1 into their backyards to help them
maintain their skills with their AR-15 as the
controls are so similar. As for shooters in the
UK? I can see plenty of us just taking an R1 into
our back gardens purely for some practical
plinking pleasure.
THE R1 REALLY DOES
LOOK AND FEEL THE PART,
WITH THE CONTROLS ALL
PRESENT, EVEN IF SOME
OF THEM CARRY OUT The R1 is powered by two 12 gram CO2 capsules,
and the hex key that’s used to pierce them is
A DIFFERENT ROLE secured inside the magazine alongside them
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 ZEROING IN NEWS AND MORE

KEY SPECS
GUN SUPPLIED BY:
Range Right
(www.range-right.co.uk)
MANUFACTURER:
Crosman
MODEL: R1
PRICE: £299
CALIBRE: 4.5mm (.177)
AMMO TYPE: Steel BBs
MAGAZINE CAPACITY:
25 rounds
POWERPLANT:
Good gun fit is key to successful shot placement, whether it’s 5.56mm NATO or 4.5mm BB, and the R1 offers six different lengths of pull Two 12g CO2 capsules
ACTION: Blowback
WEIGHT: 2.75kg (6.07lb)
BARREL TYPE:
Smoothbore
SIGHTS: Flip-up open
MOUNTING RAIL: Picatinny
STOCK STYLE:
No spent brass cases will be ejected M4 adjustable
from this M4 lookalike, but the
ejection port cover still springs open STOCK MATERIAL:
when the charging handle is activated Nylon fibre
SAFETY: Selector switch

The R1 comes equipped with

flip-up open sights, but the
long Picatinny rail makes it
easy to fit a reflex sight, a
small scope or even a laser

Just like the power-burning M4, the sights on the R1 can be flipped down The upper receiver hinges open to give you access to the bolt assembly
and out of the way if you want to fit an optic like a reflex sight and magazine seal – these should be lubricated after every 3,000 shots

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 9

NEWS
IN BRIEF
QUICK SHOTS...
NEED A REMEDY? VISIT
THE DOCTOR
Owners of the mighty Theoben Rapid will
be well aware of Dr Bob’s Gun Bits, as this
bespoke British manufacturer started out
by building a bipod clamp for the buddy
bottle-equipped hunting rifle way back
in 2006.
Many more items have been produced
since then, and the firm has a new website so
you can check out the range for yourself.
There’s still plenty of focus on supplying
enhanced or replacement parts for the Rapid,
such as a hi flo exhaust valve, trigger and
brand new magazine.
But there’s plenty on offer for shooters of
other marques, such as a
Weihrauch HW100
buddy bottle
conversion kit and a
quick-fill kit for the
BSA SuperTEN. Go
to www.
drbobsgunbits.com
to find out more.
GAUGE THOSE PELLETS
Pellet prep can make a huge difference to
accuracy, with one of the key elements being
sorting the ammo to a specific head size.
While some tins are supposed to contain
pellets of a particular size, they are not always
identical, so the US firm Pelletgage has come
up with a way to determine the true size of
your ammo.
The standard Pelletgage will let you
measure the size of each pellet. But the firm
also makes another type of gauge called the
PelletgageR which sorts pellets to a particular
head size. As long as you know which size
your rifle prefers, this method is a little faster.
Both the regular Pelletgage and
PelletgageR are available from Intershoot
(www.intershoot.co.uk) for £52 and £50.
10
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
PCP TIMES THREE
From bullpup to buddy bottle,
Benjamin has something for
pretty much every airgun
shooter with its new range of
pre-charged pneumatics
B
enjamin is a well-established name
in the US, but is perhaps less
well-known over here. However, that
looks set to change with the release of
three new PCPs – the Akela, the Cayden
and the Kratos.
These guns share a number of features
such as a Turkish walnut stock, an adjustable
trigger blade, side cocking lever, Picatinny rail brake. It has an adjustable cheekpiece and an
and sling swivel studs. RRP of £549.
The Akela is a bullpup and is available in The Kratos uses a buddy bottle and comes
both .177 and .22 calibres, with the rotary in .22 and .25 calibre, with 12- and 10-shot
magazine holding 14 and 12 shots magazines respectively. The barrel is
respectively. It features a shrouded barrel and shrouded, the cheekpiece is adjustable and
has an RRP of £599. the RRP is £649.
The Cayden comes in .22 calibre and To find your nearest stockist, call UK
features an unshrouded barrel that’s been distributor Range Right on 01423 881919 or
threaded 1/2” UNF and capped with a muzzle visit www.range-right.co.uk
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
HAIL TO THE CHIEF
If you want to dress up
your air rifle in something
that offers function as
well as form, then check
out the Chieftain from Form
Rifle Stocks
G
ood shooting stems from good gun
fit, and Form Rifle Stocks has made
The optional cheekpieces
a name for itself with some really allow the shooter to go wild
outstanding stocks offering plenty of and add a splash of colour to
the elegant grey laminate of
options and adjustment, mainly for the Chieftain
fullbore rifles, but also for airguns in the
shape of the brand new Chieftain. is used to ensure a solid and stable structure
This eye-catching ambidextrous thumbhole to the laminate.
stock has a unique interchangeable The Chieftain can be fitted to a number of
cheekpiece system which allows the shooter different air rifles depending on the inletting
to customise the look of their stock with chosen, these being the Air Arms S400, S410,
a range of coloured laminate cheekpieces S510 and TX200, the Weihrauch HW100,
and hamsters. HW77 and HW97, and the BSA R-10. The
Devon-based Form sources the laminate Chieftain’s RRP starts from £525. To find a
hardwood timber it uses from a company local dealer visit www.raytradeuk.co.uk,
called CWP in Finland, which has a great email info@raytradeuk.co.uk call 01635
reputation for dying and manufacturing 253344, or visit Form’s online shop at www.
Scandinavian birch veneers. A hot glue press formriflestocks.co.uk
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 ALISTAIR
MONTGOMERY
Airgun Shooter reader
and keen shot Alistair
Montgomery explains
why the sport offers
him so many benefits
and so much appeal

M
at Manning recently asked
the question: “Why do
people shoot?” Inevitably
there will be more than one
reason given by the myriad
of enthusiasts in replying to
this question and the order of their
importance to each of them. I am certain that
being outdoors, close to nature and wildlife,
companionship with like-minded folk and of
course the primaeval desire to hunt and
provide something for the kitchen pot will be
mentioned. Some might include that it is part
of their occupation as a gamekeeper or pest
control officer.
It is possible that to someone who does not
shoot, all these benefits could be gained from
other outdoor activities, and why engage in a
pastime that is potentially dangerous? To them, I
would argue that this is an emotive suggestion.
Shooting is no different from many other activities
or pastimes which they probably take for granted
as being normal and acceptable.
Rugby, football, cricket, golf, tennis/racket
sports, fly-fishing come to mind and are but
the tip of the iceberg. The ability through practice,
training and discipline to combine hand-eye
coordination with reactions, timing, good
judgement and self-control, especially in a
SHOOTING IS NO DIFFERENT FROM MANY OTHER
challenging situation to achieve a successful ACTIVITIES OR PASTIMES
outcome, brings immense satisfaction and
mental wellbeing. serious, but that is no reason to disapprove of it. physical and social wellbeing. I get tremendous
It is comparable to scoring a try or goal, a good After all, we all drive despite the possible satisfaction when I master a tricky quartering clay,
cricket stroke in reply to a fiendishly delivered ball. consequences of an accident – which is or correctly judge the right windage and
Serving an ace or returning the ball in tennis, a statistically far more likely than when shooting. holdunder with my air rifle just as a snooker player
hole-in-one at golf or a brilliant bunker shot. The I enjoy the great outdoors in many ways. does coming back from being snookered and
list could go on. Furthermore, the injury rate from Hillwalking, rock climbing, fishing, woodland then clearing the table.
many of these sports can make horrific reading walks as well as shooting. They all bring their So why do I shoot? Because it is rewarding,
both in numbers and severity. Thankfully shooting respective benefits. To be deprived of any of involving trained skills and discipline, and brings
injuries are few, though one realises they can be them (as we have been) is detrimental to mental, me into contact with other decent folk.

12 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 THE BARN DOOR
Jim Old goes all philosophical as he recalls how Covid
has affected members of the shooting community, but
looks ahead to a brighter future

R
ight, let’s have a show of hands. Who else Airgun clubs mean different things to different people.
is sick of this bloody pandemic? One, two, Speaking for myself, I go to shoot. I like a nice morning
three… I can’t quite see you guys at the session with not too many people, when I can really
back. Thank you. Yes, I make that… concentrate on sending lead downrange with all the
absolutely everybody. No surprises there. accuracy I’m able to muster. I enjoy the absorbing rhythm
We’re all locked down once more, but of aiming, firing and reloading and can lose myself in this
gone is the in-it-togetherness of last spring. It’s all got for a couple of calming hours. But I know there are those
very boring, very quickly. for whom the banter, mickey-taking and gun-chat come
Back in the good old days, before Lockdown 3.0, I first and the shooting second. And then there are the guys
bumped into my friend Des. who just like to be around
He’s a work colleague and a other people.
member of my airgun club. I Since joining the club,
was cheerfully telling him I’ve met a couple of
about my Sunday morning old boys who’ve been
sessions there, how I tried to recently widowed ,and
book a slot most weekends, another whose pre-Covid
how I’d put my name down shooting sessions were
for Covid marshalling duties. his only respite from
Des looked dejected and the responsibilities of
told me he hadn’t been to being a full time carer. I
the club since it reopened. “I haven’t seen them back
go for the social side,” he there since it first
said. “If you can’t have a reopened. I presume
chat, what’s the point?” they’re having to shield and
“You can chat. A bit,” I I worry about how isolated
responded, lamely. But then they must feel.
I remembered the 10 feet of Sometimes, in the
clear space between the middle of winter, it can be
shooters, the ‘in’ and ‘out’ difficult to imagine a
doors, the antiseptic summer’s day; the freeing
cleansing of shooting warmth, the endless light.
benches, the instructions But we know that summer
not to mingle in the car park, is coming and that’s a
the marshal who yelled at blessing on a dark, damp,
me for getting a bit too slate-grey morning. In a
close. Add to that the similar way, we know that
cancelled competitions, the Covid’s days are
postponed AGM and the numbered. If the NHS hits
padlocked clubhouse and I its weekly vaccination
saw that Des was right; the target we could be out of
social side of club life has this nightmare within a few
taken a hammering. It’s months. Airgun shooting
nobody’s fault; just the way things are. Human interactions will recover. Padlocks will fall from clubhouse doors and
pared back to a minimum to allow basic functions to ranges will eventually reopen. Competitions will resume and
continue, in this case shooting. Before it was forced to close prizes will be given. Hands will be shaken in car parks once
again, the club had become a microcosm of our new, more. One sunny day, in the not too distant future, I’m
regulated world. And it wasn’t for everyone. Des had certain we’ll all be looking back at this horrible pandemic;
somewhere he needed to be and as we parted I wondered remembering what it took from us and giving thanks for
how long it would be before I saw him again on the ranges. what’s finally been returned.

14 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 AIRMAIL
WHERE YOU GET TO AIR YOUR VIEWS AND OPINIONS
WIN!
THE BEST LE OF
GETS A SE H
SPORTSMAT
M O U N
T

T
TTER

S
C

MAGNETIC ATTRACTION
LETTER OF THE MONTH I noted with great interest the
letter from James Lake, "BB
DOUBLING UP Blues", and the reply that
I write with regards to “Scope seemed to blame steel
Considerations” by Andy McLachlan in contamination of recovered
issue 141 (apologies I’ve fallen a bit behind lead as one reason for some
with my reading recently). In the article, clubs not allowing BB guns.
Andy talks about the various features, Approximately 600 BC,
advantages and disadvantages of Thales of Miletus made some
different scopes and comments upon the mention of a wondrous stone
increased difficulty in target acquisition he called "Lodestone". So, for
when using a higher magnification scope, at least 2600+ years, we have
as well as developing the wobbles on had a simple way of separating
higher magnification. ferrous material from
This got me thinking about offset scope I suspect that this non-ferrous. In common
mounts that I occasionally see advertised on the might be used for something like wild pig parlance, it’s called a magnet.
internet. These allow either a single scope to be hunting in the US, allowing the hunter to swiftly Given how powerful modern
mounted off to the side of the rifle, or if you gun use either gun-mounted sight according to the neodymium magnets are and
will allow it a second scope besides the first one range of the target. how easy it is to get them, it is
on the top of the gun. There are also mounts I’ve Personally, I have not seen such methods used a ridiculous claim for any club
seen rarely that will allow one scope on top of over here, apart from the fitment of either a laser to make for not allowing BB
the other if required. or torch sitting above the scope line. I think that guns. Wave a neo magnet over
I’m curious to know your opinion on mounting the setup illustrated would allow the hunter to the collected lead/steel debris
a higher magnification scope for taking shots in choose the best for purpose when confronted with and the BBs will literally leap
the field, and a lower magnification scope for a target, although achieving a good head position out of the scrap.
scanning and target acquisition. might be a challenge when considering how high Sandy Smith, Dundee
Stuart Bannon either optic might be above the ideal cheek
position on the gun stock.
Andy says: That is certainly an interesting thought My own opinion would be that using a single
regarding how the shooter might use two optical optic with varying levels of magnification would
devices to achieve the best of both, namely devices result in superior levels of accuracy and of course
set up for close- and longer-range targets. One less weight and more manoeuvrability. That’s not
image I’ve seen illustrates a red dot-type device to say that two optic devices could not be
sitting above a low-magnification wide field of view incorporated into one, particularly if designed that
traditional optic. way by an enterprising scope manufacturer!

MAT’S HAT Mat says: I get asked this

On this dull day I can get some
target practice in, but I am
finding it a bit cold on my head
and ears. Can you help me
please? What I need is a hat like
the one Mat has got, but I
cannot find one anywhere to
purchase. Can you tell me
where I can get one? I would be
most grateful – and warm.
Richard Hannaford
Mat may be a master at tracking down airgun
quarry, but a new hat is proving far more elusive
question all the time and I’m
afraid that my hat is an old style
that has been discontinued.
Quietwear makes a similar
version called the Reversible
Radar Hat, which is a bit thicker
but should be good for really
cold conditions. If anyone is
able to track down a hat exactly
like mine I’d Iove to hear from
them as I need a new one.
They may be little balls of joy to us, but some
gun clubs simply don’t like BBs being used
alongside lead pellets, slugs and bullets
Mike says: I’m not sure whether
any magnetic sifting of the
metal would need to be done
at club level, or more likely, at
recycling plant level, but it
could certainly help to make
BB guns more accessible to
club shooters.

Email your letters to asletters@futurenet.com, including your full name and address

JOIN US TODAY ON FACEBOOK AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/AIRGUNSHOOTER AND SHARE YOUR SHOOTING STORIES AND PHOTOS

16 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 !
ENTER

N
TO

I
FREE

W
WORTH
£139

WINCHESTER
4.5 SPECIAL REVOLVER
The Winchester 4.5 Special lives up to its name as
it really is a rather special type of CO2 pistol,
shooting .177 pellets from a rifled barrel, rather
than ball bearings from a smoothbore.
This Winchester takes its aesthetic inspiration from
the old school stainless steel revolvers of the 1960s,
70s and 80s, being of all-metal construction apart
from the plastic grips. The frame and cylinder have
been given a beautiful polished finish, giving it quite a
luxurious look and feel, especially considering its
relatively modest price tag of £139.
This handgun represents the conventional style of
revolver on which it’s based, where the cylinder
swings out from the frame for loading, unloading and
cleaning. The 4.5 Special uses an eight-shot rotary
magazine that slots into the rear of the cylinder. The To be in with a chance of
magazine is even ejected from the cylinder with a winning, just answer the
working extractor.
Being all-metal, the 4.5 Special is a weighty beast,
following question correctly:
with its neutral point of balance being immediately in
front of the trigger blade. When you actually take hold What type of magazine
of the gun it does feel nose-heavy, but the shape and does this gun use?
size of the grip do a good job of counterbalancing that
weight, so it’s far easier to hold in the aim than you
might imagine.
A) Rotary
The gun can be shot in either single- or double- B) Single stack
action mode, where most of the effort is used to cock C) Double stack
the gun and rotate the cylinder anti-clockwise to
present the next chamber, after which it only requires Enter now at:
a little more finger pressure to send that round on its http://bit.ly/agm145prize
way. The sights are open, being a crisply machined
Enter the competition web page in the address bar of your
U-shaped notch and post type, and the rear sight is web browser, not into a search engine.

adjustable for windage and elevation.

The Winchester 4.5 Special is a rather lovely looking
revolver that’s very easy to shoot and has an overall
finish that’s quite luxurious. And for the money, it’s a
bit of a bargain.
Our thanks go out to BSA Guns (www.bsaguns.
co.uk) for supplying this fabulous competition prize.
TERMS & CONDITIONS: This competition closes on 18 March
2021. By taking part, you agree to be bound by the competition
rules at www.futureplc.com/competition-rules. Entries must be
received by midnight on the closing date (UK time). Open to UK
residents aged 18 years and over. The winner will be selected at
random from all correct entries. The prize is non-transferable and
non-refundable. There is no cash alternative. The winner must
collect the prize in person from a Registered Firearms Dealer,
which the winner can nominate.

18 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
TECH FEATURE PCP PACKAGE
FOCUS
WHAT’S IN
The rifle I’m using as my Guinea pig is
a Weihrauch HW100 S loaned to me by
Hull Cartridge. Outside of dedicated
manufacturer rifle kits and retailer combos,
which usually include a scope and mounts,

THE BOX?
this has to be one of the most complete
rifle-only packages I’ve ever seen. It
includes a couple of optional extras that
may make some newcomers scratch their
heads at first, but will definitely add to the
overall shooting experience once they
understand their value. But although I’m
focusing on this particular rifle, most of the
points I make will apply to pretty much any
type of modern PCP.
If you’re thinking of buying your first I’m deliberately not concentrating on the

PCP rifle, Mike Morton runs through gun itself this time round. Most of the items
listed here are definitely not sexy products.
some of the things you can expect to find They are, however, the unsung heroes of
the airgun world and will help ensure you
in the box – and some you won’t keep shooting for longer and enjoy yourself

W
without a hitch while doing so.

e’re all more than well It’s an exciting time to be a part of the THE MANUAL
aware that last year airgun community, with many people now When it comes to firearms, and that very
wasn’t great, and this heading straight for a pre-charged much includes airguns, it’s important to
year hasn’t exactly got pneumatic rather than going the more acquaint yourself with the manual even
off to a good start traditional route of starting off with a before you take your new purchase out of
either, but one of the spring-powered rifle. So I thought I’d offer a the box.
few positive things to come out of few tips to anyone grabbing a PCP for the There are two very good reasons for this.
lockdown has been an influx of people to first time, letting them know just what to Understanding how your new rifle operates
our sport. Some are brand new to airguns, expect when they open the box and how to will ensure you don’t damage the gun. And
while others have returned after a long make the most of it, and that means the even more importantly, understanding how
absence, possibly not having handled an information supplied with the gun just as it works will ensure it doesn’t end up
airgun since their youth. much as any physical item. damaging you or anybody else.

While the gun may be This scope’s been fitted

the star of the show, to a dovetail rail, but
it’s the little extras that some shooters will If a rifle can take a
enhance the experience prefer to use a Picatinny moderator, it’s usually a
wise move to fit one for
either field or target use

Learn how to load your

magazine, how to fit it
into the gun and how to
keep count of your shots
The fill probe can
either be fitted directly
Sidelevers can be made A simple dust plug to your air hose or to a
easier to grab hold of means the fill port stays quick-release coupler
by fitting a drop-down clean, and that means
biathlon handle trouble-free shooting

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 21
TECH
FOCUS
A user manual may not make terribly exciting bedtime reading, but understanding its contents will help
keep both you and your rifle safe
It really is vital to understand how the gun
is cocked, how the magazine is loaded,
inserted and removed from the action, how
the safety catch operates and how to make
the gun safe. Without knowing all this, you
won’t be able to check that the rifle is
perfectly inert and is safe to handle. Safety
must always come first.
THE TEST SHEET
Some rifles come with a sheet of paper that
shows how the rifle has performed over the
chronograph. This test will have been carried
out either when the gun was at the factory or
after it had arrived at the importer’s.
The test sheet that came with my HW100
S in .22 calibre shows that Weihrauch
FT-Exact pellets were used for the test, with
one magazine’s worth of 13 pellets having a
variation in velocity of just four feet per
second and the gun having a muzzle energy
of 11.53 foot pounds.
This velocity spread is excellent, especially
for a brand new gun, and the spread should
22
The test sheet is proof that the rifle is not only
UK-legal, but is capable of delivering a super-
consistent velocity straight out of the box
only shrink further as the rifle continues to
bed in with further use. It’s important to
note that the muzzle energy is within the
UK legal limit of 12 foot pounds.
While this proves the rifle was legal when
it was tested, muzzle energy can change
over time and when different ammunition is
used, and once a shooter has taken
ownership of a rifle it’s their responsibility
IT’S VITAL TO UNDERSTAND
HOW TO MAKE THE GUN
PERFECTLY INERT AND SAFE
to ensure it stays within the limit, not the
manufacturer’s, importer’s or retailer’s.
Do also note that this test is all about
finding out the rifle’s velocity and energy,
not necessarily its accuracy. While
FT-Exacts might very well prove to be an
excellent match for this barrel, it’s up to the
shooter to determine the optimum ammo
for their particular air rifle, which means
plenty of testing. However, it’s certainly a
good place to start for any new shooter who
doesn’t already have several different tins of
pellets to hand.
FILL PROBE
In order to fill your PCP with compressed air,
you’ll need to connect the fill line to the rifle
using either a snap-on Foster fitting, or in this
case by using a fill probe that’s inserted into
a port on the gun. The probe is usually
manufacturer-specific, and in some cases it’s
rifle-specific, with some manufacturers using
two or more different systems, depending on
the age of the gun and the exact model.
Identifying a fill probe isn’t always easy.
Some probes look very similar to others, and
can even be inserted by mistake into the fill
port of the wrong rifle, but this will just waste
air and also runs the risk of damaging the
little O-rings that help make an air-tight seal.
The Weihrauch probe seen here is black,
while most are bare metal, so this one is
quite easy to identify. Otherwise make sure
you remember which probe goes with which
gun, marking them up and storing them
separately if necessary. I keep my probes
in a small tin, but a small zip-lock bag also
works well.
It’s always a good idea to inspect the
O-rings before and after use, as a damaged
O-ring may not seal properly
and will need to be replaced.
Some rifles come with a spare
O-ring kit, but many don’t, and
having to source a replacement
for a damaged O-ring can mean
several days of frustration
waiting for that small packet to arrive in the
post before you can go shooting.
O-rings don’t need much maintenance, but
they should be given a very thin coating of
silicone grease every now and then – I use
food-grade grease that I bought from
Amazon. Go easy when applying it. There
should be just enough grease to give the
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 FEATURE PCP PACKAGE

This fill probe is fairly easy to identify, while some others look very similar to Mike’s added a Best Fittings quick coupler to his own Weihrauch fill probe,
each other – using a mismatched probe could damage the probe or the gun which lets it be snapped on and off the fill line with ease

O-ring a slick look and feel. If you can see a
layer of grease sitting on the ring then you’ve
applied too much. One way to ensure you
use just the right amount is to rub some
between your thumb and forefinger, then
apply it directly to the O-ring.
Because the probe is being inserted into
the fill port of the rifle, it’s essential to keep it
clean. A friend of mine once neglected to do
this and his rifle failed to fill or hold air
properly, necessitating an expensive and
time-consuming trip to the gunsmith for a full
strip-down, clean and reassembly.
The probe needs to be attached to the fill
line (air hose) on either your charging
(dive) cylinder or your stirrup
pump, and this can be done
two ways, either by
screwing it directly to the
fill line or to a quick
coupler, which lets
you quickly switch between probes from
different manufacturers without having to
unscrew them. I recommend adopting this
system even if you swear you’ll only ever
have the one rifle, as it gives you the ability
to fit the fill probe to the rifle before
attaching it to the fill line, and this means
you won’t be putting any strain on the rifle,
the probe or the hose. It also means the
probe can be detached and stored
separately, as mentioned above.
DUST PLUG
Dust and dirt are the sworn enemies of a
PCP, and the fill port must be protected
even when the gun is not actually being
pumped full of air. Some PCPs use a
protective metal or plastic collar that is
either pulled or twisted to reveal the port,
then closed after the gun’s been filled.
Alternatively, as with the HW100 S, the fill
port may be protected by a dust plug,
which is usually made of metal or Delrin,
and may or may not also have a little O-ring
to create a secure seal. If so, a thin smear of
silicone grease will help extend the life of
this O-ring.
Some PCPs don’t have any type of fill
port cover or plug. This is not good, and I’d
recommend covering the port with a small
piece of masking tape or electrician’s tape,
although I’ve known some people who’ve
used a small strip of bicycle inner tube or a
thick elastic band – it will all depend on the
layout of the rifle in question.
Luckily the HW100 S has a Delrin plug
with a single O-ring. I lost one of these in
the past and since then have adopted the
habit of removing the plug for filling, placing
it inside the little tin where I keep my fill
probes, then replacing the probe in the
tin and putting the plug back in the gun
immediately after the rifle has been filled.
Once you get into a routine like this
you’re less likely to lose these small, but
important little items.

Dust plugs, such as this

Delrin example, keep the
fill port on the rifle’s
onboard air cylinder nice
The dust plug usually needs to be inserted upside
and clean – a clogged
down, but there’s little danger of it falling out due
port means trouble
to the O-ring

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 23
TECH
FOCUS
Something else to consider is when to fill
the rifle so it’s ready for the next shooting
session. Some people like to keep their guns
topped up so they are ready to “grab and go”,
while others will fill their gun just prior to
shooting. It’s really up to you.
One of my buddies does the former, while I
do the latter, reasoning that there’s no point
making the gun hold all that high-pressure air
until it’s actually needed. So just choose the
system that works best for you,
remembering to top the rifle up when needed
and to stop shooting when the pressure
drops too low.

The orientation appears upside down due to the way the air cylinder has been screwed into the action,
but the data tells us the working pressure is 200 bar
STANDARD WORKING PRESSURE
While your partner may be more interested
in SJP (any Sex And The City fans out
there?), the PCP shooter is far more
concerned with SWP – the standard working
pressure the rifle is designed to be filled to.
This figure, which may also be referred to
as PW (Pressure, Working), will usually
be expressed in bar, but
sometimes in pounds per
square inch, and it will be
found in the manual and/
or on the rifle itself. The
SWP of a pre-charged
pneumatic will typically be anywhere from
200 bar to 250 bar.
The size of the air cylinder or buddy
bottle on the rifle, when combined with its
standard working pressure, will determine
the shot count of the rifle.
It’s very tempting for the new shooter
to think that they’ll be able to get more
shots by putting in more air. They won’t.
The rifle is designed to operate within a
certain pressure range, and at best they’ll
just be wasting air, and at worst they’ll be
putting an unnecessary strain on the
internal components.
BIATHLON HANDLE
The HW100 S is activated by a sidelever,
there’s nothing new there, but what is new is
the inclusion of an optional biathlon handle
– a drop-down handle that can be attached
to the end of the lever.
Sidelevers offer a speedy method of
cocking and cycling the action on a PCP, but
it can sometimes be hard to locate the lever
when the action’s fast and furious. If you
don’t shoot a particular rifle very often, or if
you frequently swap between guns which
have sidelvers of slightly different lengths,
shapes or sizes, you can sometimes waste a
precious couple of seconds fumbling around
for the end of the lever.
A biathlon handle takes its name from the
winter sport that combines cross-country
skiing and rifle shooting, where time is very
much of the essence. A biathlon handle
makes it so much easier to locate the main
lever and cycle the action quickly, sometimes
using just one or two fingers as an alternative
to the standard pinch grip on the end of the
main lever.
The one that comes with the Weihrauch
slots into a neat cutout, after which it’s held

This HW biathlon handle fits neatly into a cutout in

A biathlon handle makes it quicker to find the end of the sidelever when you’re in the aim, making the sidelever and is then secured from behind with
follow-up shots flow faster an unobtrusive little grub screw

24 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

This rotary magazine isn’t enclosed in a housing,
keeping it simple, but effective, but you do need to
know from which side the pellets are loaded
in place with a screw. Some sidelevers can be
fitted with an aftermarket biathlon handle,
components like these usually being slipped
over the tip of the sidelever.
If you use a handle like this, make sure it’s
firmly pressed onto the end of the lever as far
as it can go before screwing it in place. A fair
bit of force may be required.
MAGAZINE
Unless you’ve bought a single-shot PCP, your
rifle will come with a magazine, and some
manufacturers will even provide two. This is a
great feature as loading a magazine can take
quite a while and having two at the firing
point or in your hide all ready to use means
you can keep the action coming for far longer
before it’s time to reload.
However, and this may sound a little
controversial, if you’re a new shooter then
can I suggest you put one magazine aside for
now? There are a few tips and techniques to
learn when loading and using a magazine,
and it’s easier to concentrate on what you’re
doing when only one mag is in play. And
when the shooting’s over it’s easier to ensure
the rifle has been made safe and you’re going
home with just that one magazine.
If you have an open-style rotary magazine
such as the one that comes with the
Weihrauch, it’s important to know from
which side the pellets are loaded. We all get it
wrong from time to time, but it’s a real faff
realising you’ve pushed them in from the
wrong side and having to pop them out
again. It’s even more important to know from
which side the magazine is loaded into the
action. Some magazines can be inserted
from either side, or can at least be adapted
to be inserted from either side, but don’t try
to force it in the wrong way.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
Mike likes to use the silver witness marker to
help keep count of the shots he’s taken – when it
reappears in the same position he’s out of ammo
In the case of this HW magazine, pellets are loaded
from this side, which faces the shooter when the
magazine has been inserted into the action
Find out how many pellets your magazine
can hold and adopt a system that lets you
keep track of how many shots you’ve taken
and how many pellets are remaining.
ADOPT A SYSTEM THAT LETS
YOU KEEP TRACK OF HOW
MANY SHOTS YOU’VE TAKEN
Enclosed magazines with an inner drum,
such as those from BSA, Brocock and
Daystate, use a coloured dot to let you
know when you’re on your last shot. When
that shot has been taken, the inner drum
won’t turn any more.
FEATURE PCP PACKAGE
Weihrauch’s open rotary magazine is a
bit different as it will keep rotating inside the
action as long as the rifle is being cocked
and fired, even without any pellets
remaining. But the side of the magazine has
a groove that’s been machined into it, and
this can be used as a reference marker
when shots are being taken and the
magazine rotates.
In this case you know that when the
magazine has made one full rotation
and the marker appears again in
exactly the same position as it
started, you are now out of ammo.
The Weihrauch mag uses two large
O-rings to hold the pellets in place.
I treat these just like the O-rings on
the pellet probe and dust plug, and give
them a very thin smear of silicone grease
from time to time. If you have an enclosed
mag, like the ones mentioned above, it may
be tempting to lubricate these too, but it’s
best not to, however, as the mechanism can
High-quality silicone
grease is great for
protecting the O-rings
on the fill probe, dust
plug and magazine,
but too much grease
may attract dirt
25
TECH
FOCUS
Engineers at Picatinny Arsenal developed this alternative mounting system for the US military, but
airgun shooters can benefit from fitting a Picatinny rail to their rifles as well
quickly gum up and foul the smooth
operation of the magazine. Enclosed
magazines can be stripped down, cleaned
and tuned, but that’s not something new
shooters should attempt as it can lead to
missing parts and much heartache!
PICATINNY RAIL
My HW100 S is fitted with a traditional
dovetail rail, but it comes with an optional
Picatinny rail as well. A few years ago a rail
such as this was seen as the preserve of the
military, which is not surprising considering
how it was designed for the US armed forces
at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.
Nowadays however, air rifles may come with
dovetail only, Picatinny only, or a hybrid rail
that can accept either mounting system.
The Picatinny system uses a series of slots
into which a corresponding bar on the mount
is dropped and then secured.
A moderator will protect your stealth in the field,
your hearing at the indoor range and your
relationship with your neighbours in the garden
26
It was developed to let different optics
and accessories be swapped over quickly,
to maintain zero when the original optic was
swapped back again and to prevent scope
creep under recoil.
SOME SHOOTERS PREFER
THE SIMPLE ELEGANCE OF THE
TRADITIONAL DOVETAIL RAIL
Air rifles benefit from all these
advantages too, but some people simply
don’t like the look of the Picatinny system,
preferring the simple elegance of
the traditional dovetail. Whichever
system you end up with, just
remember you’ll need dedicated
mounts to match.
MODERATOR
Many PCPs, the HW100 S included, are
supplied with a moderator, while those that
don’t already have one in the box are usually
capable of being fitted with one bought
separately. Air rifles are noisier than many
people think.
While air rifle hunters will want to fit a
moderator to remain stealthy in the field,
club shooters will benefit too, as will people
who enjoy shooting in the garden without
incurring the wrath of their neighbours.
Virtually all modern air rifle barrels that
can accept a moderator will have been
threaded to a standard called ½” UNF
(unified fine), and in turn most moderators
designed for airgun use will also be ½” UNF.
This isn’t really something you need to pay
too much attention to, but there are some
threads that don’t use the ½” UNF standard,
so you just need to be aware of this.
The only penalties to using a moderator
are the financial cost, if your gun doesn’t
already come supplied with one, plus the
additional length and weight. Some
moderators may affect a rifle’s point
of impact, in which case the rifle will
have to be re-zeroed.
While the rifle will always be the
star of the show, these smaller items
work together to make everything
tick smoothly. If you’re a newcomer to the
sport, just remember to keep it clean, keep it
safe and keep on shooting!
This is Weihrauch’s latest
slimline moderator design,
where the base of the moddy
matches the diameter of the
barrel for a cleaner look
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
SHOOTING
ADVICE

GLOCK
VERSUS
GLOCK
Nick Stanning pits the
blowback BB-firing Glock 17
Gen 5 from Umarex against
the 9mm powder-burner

M
ost people who enjoy Glock gathered handgun experts from lack of finger grooves. Let’s take a look at the
shooting air rifles also enjoy around Europe, and together they real thing next to the Glock 17 Gen 5
shooting air pistols. Even the developed the Glock 17. It was given this blowback BB gun from Umarex to see how
most serious 10m shooter name for being the 17th patent applied for, they have done.
competing at national, or not the number of rounds it holds. Glock At first glance it is hard to tell them apart.
even international, level can won the contract against the biggest names At second glance it is no easier. In fact, these
enjoy shooting up tin cans in the garden. in the firearms world and the Glock 17 is two are so similar you really have to know
One of the most popular sectors in air still here. It’s now on the fifth generation, what to look for to tell them apart, and even
pistol shooting is the replica pistol. These and Glock handguns are used by many then it’s only possible when looking at them
air pistols shoot mainly BBs using CO2 as a law enforcement agencies and military close up!
power source and are not designed to hit a forces around the world. The main giveaways are the safety catch
bullseye at 10m. But they are usually close on the Umarex where the serial number is
replicas of their steel counterpart, and most SIDE BY SIDE located on the 9mm one, and the moulded
importantly they are great fun to shoot! The Glock 17 Gen 5 is the latest offering, extractor rather than a functioning one. Top
I am fortunate enough to live in a country and has an upgraded trigger, match-grade marks to Umarex!
where handguns are legal, so I’ve been barrel and an improved protective coating Picking them up is the same story. The
taking a close look at some of the popular to the slide. The main difference is visual, trigger reach is a little longer on the Umarex
air-powered replicas and comparing them with a change of stippling to the grip and a and the slide rattles, but with the slide taped
with the original, and this time it’s the
Glock. But first, a little history. Glock has
been around since 1982, when Gaston
Glock, a curtain rail manufacturer, heard of
the Austrian army’s plan to commission a
new standard-issue duty pistol.
The Austrian ministry of defence
formulated a long list of criteria for the new
generation service pistol, including
requirements that it would be secure
against accidental discharge from shock,
strike or a drop from a height of two metres
onto a steel plate. Also, after firing 15,000
rounds of standard ammunition, the pistol
was to be inspected for wear, and then
be used to fire an over-pressure test Put the two guns side by side and you’d be hard- Muzzle energy on Nick’s Gen 5 is around 330 foot
cartridge generating 5,000 bar – twice the pressed to tell the difference – they look very pounds when firing his choice of 124 grain FMJ
standard pressure. similar and even weigh the same ammo – rather more than the BB variant

28 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

The slot that reveals the serial number on the
9mm Glock is used to house the safety catch on
the Umarex model
down and my eyes shut, I was completely
unable to tell them apart. The weight and
balance are identical.
It’s a clever trick that Umarex has achieved
here, as most of the weight is in the full-size
magazine rather than the slide. More
Brownie points to Umarex!
AT THE RANGE
I took the Umarex along to my local range for
the guys to have a look at. They all loved it
and couldn’t believe how accurate a replica it
was. I have the feeling Santa may be
delivering these to their kids next Christmas!
The genuine Glock 17 fires a 9x19mm
Luger round, in my case firing a 124 grain Full
Metal Jacket bullet at 1,100 feet per second
from a muzzle energy of around 330 foot
pounds. The recoil is substantial enough to
have to deal with, but is also by no means
oppressive or difficult. I shot steel plates
at 25m with it, which seemed to be a bit
Both of Nick’s Glocks are the Gen 5 model, which
saw the removal of the finger grooves in order to
let the shooter’s fingers sit more naturally
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
FEATURE HANDGUN SHOWDOWN
While both guns have notch and post sights, the notch on the 9mm version is highlighted with a solid
white line, while the BB gun uses dots
My only other gripe is that this model
I TOOK THE UMAREX doesn’t field strip, although I think it should.
ALONG TO MY RANGE The Gen 4 model does, so why not this one?
But if you want a fun gun to shoot – and
FOR THE GUYS TO HAVE A particularly want a Glock 17 Gen 5 replica
LOOK AT. THEY ALL that really looks the business – then this is
the gun for you. And if you want the best
COULDN’T BELIEVE HOW Glock 17 replica full stop, maybe buy the
ACCURATE IT WAS Umarex Glock 17 Gen 4 BB gun instead.
too much of an ask for the Umarex, which
produces less than 1% of that power, but
we shot it, we enjoyed it and sometimes a
small “ting” could be heard.
Once back home in its natural habitat it
can still dispatch cans at 10m with pleasing
regularity, and toy soldiers fall to its
rapid-fire capability across the garden. The
blowback action provides a pleasing feel to
the experience, which can be enjoyed by
the whole family.
As with all BB-firing guns, extra care
should be taken with ricochets. Hard
backstops are the worst for this, and eye
protection should always be worn.
GLOCK PERFECTION?
There are many things to like, even love,
about the Umarex pistol, but that slide
rattle isn’t one of them. It sounds like a pen
hitting the glass of your washing machine
as it spreads ink over your clothes and Nick’s disappointed that the Umarex Gen 5 can’t
there’s nothing you can do about it. It is the be field stripped, but otherwise praises it as an
rattle of disappointment. accurate replica of an iconic handgun
29
THE COUNTRYMAN

• Controlling corvids reduces

costly crop damage caused
by this agricultural pest
• Crows frequently attack and
kill young lambs. Keeping
corvid numbers in check
reduces the threat to
livestock and protects
farmers’ livelihoods
• Songbirds are more likely to
flourish when there are
fewer corvids stealing eggs
and chicks from their nests
• A day out on crop protection
duties is a great way to get
fresh air and exercise

THE QUARRY

CARRION CROW
Corvus corone
PEST STATUS: A major
problem for farmers, especially
in the spring, crows peck the
eyes from newborn lambs. They
also feed on the eggs and chicks
of other birds.
HABITAT: Crows have a wide
range of habitat, but feed mostly
around farmyards, in woodland
and on crops. They favour
nesting sites in tall trees either
in woods or along hedgerows.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Crows are sharp-eyed and very
wary of man. Getting within
range usually takes a high level
of fieldcraft and concealment.

30 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 CORVIDS

FATAL
ATTRACTION
With flocks of corvids threatening to decimate the
forthcoming spring drillings, Mat Manning sets up a
hide and decoy ambush to deal with the unwelcome pests

O
n the farms in my locality,
fields of maize grown for
cattle feed are usually
harvested in the late
autumn and new crops are
then quickly drilled in their place.
However, wet weather made last
year’s harvest extremely difficult.
Some farmers had to leave it much
later than usual and many fields
were then too wet to use the heavy
machinery to sow the following crop.
Today I am shooting over one of
these late harvests that is yet to be
redrilled. Lots of corvids and a few
pigeons have homed in on the
remaining maize kernels, which offer
them an easy food source at a time of
year when natural pickings are hard to
come by. Although the birds aren’t
doing particularly costly damage to
the remnants of last year’s crop, the
farmer is planning to redrill this field
very soon. With so many of the
feathered pests gathered in the
vicinity, the new crop will be
annihilated before it has a chance to
establish unless action is taken.
I am planning to spend a morning
shooting over decoys. The field is far
too close to houses to consider using
a shotgun, so an airgun is the obvious
choice. That means I will need to
persuade birds to land fairly close to
me, which can be challenging, but I
have a few tricks up my sleeve to help
with the task.
The concealment provided by a
good hide is very important when
targeting wary corvids, but the way
you use your decoys can also make a
big difference. If there is one thing I
have learnt over the years it is that
movement is a key factor when trying
to convince incoming crows that
imitation birds can be trusted, so I will
be using decoys that bring some
motion to the setup.

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 31
THE COUNTRYMAN
08:10
SUPPORT ACT

THE FIRST JOB is to quickly create some

concealment, but it’s important to do it in the right
place. After watching over the field for a few minutes,
Mat can see the main routes the birds are using to
access their feeding grounds and the places where
they are landing.
Mat picks a hide site close to one of the busiest
incoming flightlines, where a patch of scrub creates
a useful backdrop that will help to conceal the outline
of the hide and also prevent too much light from
shining in through the back and revealing his outline.
Although you can prop up a hide with sticks cut
from the hedge, Mat prefers to use purpose-made
poles as they provide a quicker solution and firmer
support for his camouflage nets.
Today he is using Sniper Hide Poles which boast
some neat features. They have sturdy ground spikes
that you push in with your boot, the attachment
hook at the top and a clever little hook at the bottom,
which keeps the net nice and tight and stops it from
flapping in the wind. They are also extendable, and
the screw that works the mechanism has a cord that
attaches to the pole, making it impossible to lose it.

08:35
ADDED APPEAL

DECOYS GENERALLY do a reasonable job of convincing

pest birds to return to their feeding grounds, but there are
plenty of things you can do to make them more attractive, and
one of the most effective is to add some movement.
Nothing catches the eye quite like motion, and it’s what
incoming birds expect to see. An affordable way to get
movement into the pattern is to use shell decoys with pegs
that incorporate a sprung section enabling them to dip and
bob in the breeze. If you want to spend a bit more, a motorised
flapper has an even more realistic and eye-catching motion.
Mat is using a combination of moving shells and an FF6
flapper from Flightline Decoys. With a dead crow from a
previous outing mounted in its cradle, the motorised unit
creates the impression of a feeding bird fluttering about
amongst the stubbles. One problem that airgun shooters face
is that of birds spooking when they get close to the flapper.
The great thing about the FF6 Combo is that it has a remote
control, so you can stop it as soon as incoming birds get near.
A pattern incorporating eight shells, two full-bodied decoys
and the flapper seems about right for today. Mat places the
closest decoy 20m from the hide and the furthest one about
35m away, where they will serve as useful range-markers. The
flapper is set just outside of the main decoy pattern where it
really stands out.

32 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 CORVIDS

08:50
READY FOR ACTION

WIND DIRECTION can play an important part

when setting up for a hide and decoy session. Birds
tend to take off and land facing into the wind, so it
is important to reflect that in your decoy pattern.
When shooting with a shotgun, Mat usually likes to
have the wind coming off his back so birds tend to
approach from in front and offer the easiest shots.
It is a little different with an airgun because birds
have longer to scrutinise the hide site as they fly in
to land. With this in mind, you are less likely to be
noticed if they are approaching from the side.
Content that his hide and decoys are set up
properly and in the right place, Mat starts to settle in.
He has a beanbag seat to keep him comfortable while
he waits for chances to arise and is also using
shooting sticks to help him shoot with precision.
Mat’s final job before putting on his head net is to
load up his 30 ft-lb Daystate Red Wolf with 16 grain
Rangemaster Sovereigns. It is not unusual for crows
to land out in the field just behind the decoys. This a
hard-hitting setup which will help Mat to combat the
breeze which is pushing across the field when
tackling longer shots and should deliver serious
impact and clean kills.

EXPERT TIP

RIGHT PLACE,
RIGHT TIME
SUCCESSFUL DECOYING
hinges on being in the right place at
the right time, always keep your eyes
peeled for signs of gathering birds.
Ploughing, harvesting and seed
sowing are key farming activities
that can generate serious interest
from pest birds. If you have a farmer
who has the time and inclination to
let you know what is likely to be
happening when you’re on his
ground then you have a major
advantage when it comes to
getting your timings right.
When birds start to gather on
fields, try to line up a day’s shooting
as quickly as you can. This will
enable you to deal with them before
they cause too much damage and
will also improve your chances
of getting some good shooting
before they move on to new f
eeding grounds.

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 33
THE COUNTRYMAN

MAT’S GEAR

GUN
DAYSTATE RED WOLF (FAC)
www.daystate.com
OPTICS
MTC MAMBA LITE
www.mtcoptics.com
SCOPE MOUNTS
SPORTSMATCH TWO-PIECE
09:05
www.sportsmatch-uk.com FIRST OPPORTUNITY
AMMO
RANGEMASTER SOVEREIGN
www.daystate.com DECOYING TAKES PATIENCE and can also be hit imitation flock. It doesn’t usually take crafty crows very
and miss. Be prepared for long waits between shots long to realise that something is not quite right when
FLAPPER DECOY and don’t be too disappointed if bags are smaller than they land close to decoys, and their standard reaction
FLIGHTLINE FF6 COMBO expected – some days the birds will shun your decoys is to fly away and not come back. That means that
PIGEON FLAPPER shots need to be taken quickly, but without rushing.
for no apparent reason, so blanks are a possibility and
www.flightlinedecoys.co.uk
something you need to take on the chin. Mat already has the gun shouldered so he only has
SHELL DECOY After the disturbance caused by building the hide to make tiny adjustments to his aim before he picks up
JACK PYKE FLOCKED SHELL and setting out his decoys, Mat is expecting the crows the crow in his sight picture. The bird is standing bolt
CROW DECOYS to take a while to drift back. Thankfully, the wait upright with its chest facing towards Mat and is clearly
www.jackpyke.co.uk doesn’t turn out to be too long and a single crow is unsettled. In a steady, unhurried motion, Mat flicks off
HIDE POLES soon wheeling over the field. Mat gives the FF6 a quick the Red Wolf’s safety catch, settles his crosshairs on
SNIPER HIDE POLES flap to focus the curious bird’s attention on the decoys the heart and lung area, applying a touch of aim-off to
www.flightlinedecoys.co.uk and the response is just what he wanted. compensate for the breeze, and instinctively pushes
GLOVES The crow swings around and sets a direct course for through the trigger. The pap from the Red Wolf’s
MACWET LONG CUFF the decoy pattern. Its final approach is on fixed wings muzzle is followed by a hollow “thock” and the crow
www.range-right.co.uk as it glides down and pitches towards the back of the rolls over onto its back.

34 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 CORVIDS

09:20
BELLY-UP!

ALTHOUGH MAT IS back into the hide, he picks it up,

delighted to account for the first
bird of the session, he is
frustrated that it has come to
rest with its legs in the air. A
belly-up bird can really spook
others as they approach the
landing zone, as proven by a pair
of jackdaws that spot the errant
corpse and flap away on
panicked wings long before they
get over the pattern.
Breaking cover is not usually a
good move once you have
settled in as it causes additional
disturbance and can draw
attention to your hiding place,
but Mat has no choice but to
clamber out and deal with the
dead crow. Rather than taking it
turns it over the right way and
places it among the decoys. A
real bird is unbeatable when it
comes to adding attraction to
the decoy pattern, but it does
need to be the right way up.
Mat clambers back into his
hide and is soon back in action.
This time a passing jackdaw is
intrigued by the motion of the
FF6 and swoops in just to the
side of the decoy pattern to take
a closer look. Once again, Mat is
ready for the shot and at just
under 30m it is a mere formality.
The Red Wolf delivers another
clean kill and this time the bird
settles face-down, so there’s no
need to break cover again.

10:40
CROWS ON CALL

MAT ADDS TWO bonus woodpigeons to the morning’s tally fairly quickly,
but then things go very quiet, and for a frustratingly long time. There are
no belly-up casualties among the pattern so Mat’s guess is that the birds
are just being ultra-wary. It’s hardly surprising, because the birds on this
patch get a lot of shooting pressure, and not just from Mat. Corvids in
particular are clever birds and it is likely that these ones have learned to treat
decoys with suspicion.
Sitting and doing nothing is unlikely to bring any significant change in Mat’s
luck so he decides to take action and give a caller a try. Crow calling takes a
while to master, but the best starting point is to mimic the sounds you hear the
birds making when you’re out on your shoots.
After spotting a group of birds drifting by in the distance, Mat gives the
caller a few blasts; blowing from deep within his diaphragm to get a really
raspy sound. Another go on the caller and two crows seem to be interested
and swing back towards the decoys. Mat gives the FF6 a quick flap to grab
their attention and then watches as the birds swoop in just within range. It’s
the longest shot of the day, but the wind has dropped
off and Mat makes another clean kill.
Sport remains slow for the remainder
of the session, but the combined
attraction of the caller and the
flapper enables Mat to bag
another jackdaw before he
decides to head home for
lunch. His final tally of six
birds is a respectable
outcome on a morning
when he had to work hard
to get results.

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 35
HUNTING &
FIELDCRAFT

THE
GREY
ISSUE
Pete Brookes explains how grey
squirrels came to be living in
the UK – and why airgun
hunters should be placing them
under their crosshairs
All photos © David Jinks

36 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

M
aybe we have a lot to thank
the grey squirrel for. It gives
us an incentive to get out of
our beds on cold early
mornings and catch the
splendour of first light, a
justification to be about in woodland and
the opportunity for us all to partake in a
national conservation project by assisting in
the control of a destructive invasive species.
That said, the term “invasive species” is
potentially misleading when you think of how
this small tree-dwelling mammal actually
came to be on these shores. It is not that the
grey squirrel scrambled onto beaches from
longboats landed on the north coast,
ransacking and burning red squirrel tree
villages to the ground along the way.
More so they were unwittingly deposited in
this country as unwilling pets around the late
1800s, brought across from their native
North America. Without falling into the trap of
judging history by our modern day beliefs and
ideology, you could say the only dumb
animals involved in this ecological disaster
were the human ones who thought it was a
good idea at the time.
So the grey did not cause the problem, we
did, and it is therefore right that as airgunners
we get actively involved and assist where we
can in their management and control. As
THE COMPETITION FOR FOOD
AND TERRITORY PUSHES THE
SMALLER RED OUT INTO MORE
WILD AND REMOTE AREAS
ethical and responsible shooters, if we are
engaged in the lethal control of any animal
then to protect our sport it is proper that we
fully understand the reasoning of our actions.
I am not saying we should always be sucked
into the arena of social media, or spend time
in debate with self-opinionated opponents
giving them the spotlight they crave. That
would take up far too much of our valuable
time when we should be outside with our
rifles, but at least have it in your head the
justification for what we do.
There are specific elements to all land use
and unfortunately the grey has a paw in all of
these. The Forestry Commission (FC) is a
good working example of this, formed in 1919
to build up timber stocks depleted by the
trench warfare of the First World War.
Then, it was purely financially driven to
produce a home-grown resource with
fast-growing uniform conifer plantations,
devoid of any biodiversity and out of bounds
to the public in many places. As a
non-ministerial department, the FC is driven
by government guidance and therefore public
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
FEATURE THE GREYS
opinion, so over the years since its creation
that financial drive now also includes in
equal part the perceived wealth of our
woodlands, so not only the commercial
value but also the benefit to the
environment and to society via positive and
sustainable management.
Financially it is estimated that the grey is
annually responsible for around £16m
worth of damage to our national timber
resources which ties up a further £6-8m on
control measures, not including the cost
suffered by privately owned woodland.
Ecologically, greys and deer are the
greatest threat to our broadleaf woods and
forests (that’s if we turn a blind eye to
human expansion and the resulting
fragmentation of our countryside). It’s all
well and good having a scheme to plant
millions of trees, but unless the two
aforementioned species are effectively
controlled then in many areas trees will not
reach maturity and broadleaf forests will
just not happen.
We now bring the conflict between the
non-native grey and the indigenous red
squirrel firmly into the equation. Reds are
native to this country, having been here
since the land bridge between Britain and
Europe disappeared at the end of the last
Ice Age around 11,000 years ago.
It is not that greys attack
and kill reds, but the
competition for sources of food
and territory pushes the smaller
red out into more wild and
remote areas. Add the
transmission of the deadly
squirrel pox to the red by the
grey, itself immune, then our American
compadre is doing itself no favours.
On a side note, the red squirrel is not as
innocent as its small fluffy appearance may
appear, and even though at one time
common throughout the UK, historically it
was persecuted in large numbers for the
damage it did to trees. Around the end of
the 19th century thousands were killed,
with red squirrel culling groups formed.
In the New Forest in Hampshire between
1880 and 1927 some 21,352 reds were shot
as forest pests, whilst around the same era
over a 15-year period the Highlands Squirrel
Club culled a staggering 60,500 in just one
area alone. Equating the damage between
the red and the grey, then the latter is the
greater culprit due to its higher population
densities, whereas the lower densities of
the red can be beneficial to woodland
assisting with the spread, regeneration and
structure of tree species and the dispersal
of several types of fungi.
Whilst difficult to place any actual
monetary value on the red, if we can
37
WILDLIFE
MANAGEMENT
prevent a native species going into
extinction and at the same time reduce the
loss of our broadleaf woodland, then surely
balancing that with lethal control of a
non-native destructive species such as the
grey squirrel must be a no-brainer?
So as airgun shooters what can we do?
Where reds are present there are several
conservation groups doing brilliant work to
protect them by culling the greys, not just
by shooting, but also live trapping along
with sound habitat management.
The airgun is the weapon of choice
in most cases, being efficient, discreet
and less damaging to trees as opposed
to a smoothbore shotgun. Airgun
manufacturers have been keen to support
such projects, Brocock being one example,
who is doing an excellent job of actively
supporting three of the projects based
in Cumbria, Cornwall and their home county
of Staffordshire.
There is no real national synchronised
approach to grey control, so perhaps this is
something we could bring together through
the close-knit airgun community. Why not
get together with others in your area – or do
it on your own and develop a coordinated
method for controlling and managing greys?
Set yourself a task and record the
numbers of the greys you take on your
permissions. Even if you are not within an
area inhabited by reds, or ever likely to be,
38
Brocock is an active supporter of organisations
such as the Staffordshire Squirrel Project
and its quest to bring down the numbers of
non-native greys
you will still assist in red conservation by
reducing grey numbers along with helping
to maintain our woodlands. However, I do
not think we should have an actual mindset
and expectation for killing all greys.
I do receive criticism for saying this, but
with an estimated increasing population of
2.5 million in this country we do not have
the means or capacity to cull every grey, so
why some organisations set that as a policy
that can never be achieved is beyond me.
WITH AN INCREASING
POPULATION OF 2.5 MILLION IN THIS
COUNTRY, WE DO NOT HAVE THE
MEANS TO CULL EVERY GREY
We must also understand that to many
people, especially regarding those living in
more urban areas, the grey is one of the
very few wild mammals they encounter,
thereby potentially evoking an enjoyable
interaction with nature. What are we to do
in their cases – go around city parks, public
spaces and municipal areas slotting any
wild greys that we happen to see? I think
not. Better that we direct resources in
containing the grey in less sensitive
financial and ecological regions.
The actual concept of rewilding I find both
admirable and exciting, but in a country
where actual wilderness is all but gone, the
return of large land mammals back into the
‘wild’ is debatably unrealistic.
Consequently then, does this unfilled gap
offer the red squirrel an achievable niche
back into the countryside more in balance
with the modern world? Through no fault of
its own, the grey, whether we like it or not, is
here to stay, and as an adaptive mammal
that has thrived against sustained adversity
over a period of 150 years, grudgingly I offer
it some credit.
Personally, I have no animosity towards
the grey, but I would like broadleaf woodland
to remain and I would like to see the red
return to my county, and for those reasons
the lethal control of an invasive species
such as the grey squirrel, in my mind, is
very much justified.
A powerful, if secondary, benefit of
tackling grey squirrels with an air rifle
is the simple fact that it gets us out
and about in some glorious countryside
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
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 TARGET
PRESENTS

SHOOTER
INSIGHT AND EXPERTISE TO HELP YOU RAISE YOUR GAME
mega-solid shooting position on which to
position their guns prior to competition.
Some will also use extremely wide
Here’s an example of a Forth Bridge-type front rests that also
cheaper imitation Atlas
bipod that’s been
provide additional levels of support due
modified by Jim Edge to to the great width between the
make it work a bit better supporting structure, sometimes up to
a couple of feet wide.
Shooters using such items swear blind
that the additional width does indeed
provide unparalleled levels of front-end
stability on the bench, although they will not
be practical if you are looking for additional
stability in a gun for the field. I also know
many benchrest shooters who prefer to rest
their guns on a sandbag at the front, with
one usually appearing at the rear as well.
This provides a super-stable shooting
platform for a high majority of those of us
HOW TO GET STABLE looking for the ultimate in shake-free

GIVE IT A REST YOUR

EXPERT
shooting. Any wobbles become even more
noticeable when the shooter is using high
magnification benchrest-type scopes with
Andy McLachlan runs ANDY McLACHLAN additional considerations such as your

O
through his options ne of the most
when it comes to shake- important items of
equipment for the keen
free shooting, and ends benchrest shooter is a
up using a high-end solid support designed
to hold the rifle securely
bipod for extra support when in the shooting position. It’s
obvious really – the last thing you need
is for the outfit to become unstable
when you are attempting to send your
pellet to an often incredibly small target,
sometimes at long range.
It’s all well and good owning a rifle and
scope combo worth a few thousand quid,
but if you cannot keep the thing stable, your
scores will not reflect what the outfit is truly
capable of – unless it’s truly supported.
Many serious benchrest shooters will
spend large amounts of money on superbly
engineered gun mounting platforms that are
infinitely adjustable and provide a
beating heart allowing the image to be
almost constantly on the move as you
attempt to time the shot. This is certainly
what I notice when using my 45x
magnification Leupold scope!
Such movement is much less likely to
influence the shooter, or for that matter the
fall of shot, if the gun is “locked in” to a
sometimes large and heavy gun stand that
allows the shooter to just touch off the shot
via the trigger blade without touching the
gun anywhere else.
I am sure that some super-serious
benchresters possess equipment that will
allow them to do this, but for me and most
of the shooters I know, we much prefer to
use rests that just provide us with some
additional rather than total stability.
With this in mind, and the rather unique
long-range benchrest rules established by
our club secretary, Ian Jones, the shooter is
allowed to only use “normal” bipods of the

42 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

type found used in the field, with no rear
supporting bags or rests, thus meaning that
the shooter remains totally responsible for
the rear of their gun’s stability via their
resting hand. This of course makes the
challenge far more taxing and was
introduced by Ian to allow shooters not
being able to afford high-end gun rest
solutions to compete within our local
long-range league.
With this in mind, many of us have
purchased examples of rifle bipods of
various standards of quality that have been
manufactured all over the world, including,
like most things these days, the Far East.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with
equipment from countries such as China, as
it usually provides shooters on a limited
budget the opportunity of purchasing fairly
good copies of Western-produced goods at
a fraction of the price. However, while they
might look similar, the engineering and
function of the copied items bear little
resemblance to what the original items are
capable of.
Like many shooters, my friends and I have
succumbed to copies of high-grade and
expensive bipods such as those made by
Atlas and Accu-Tac. Very often, shooters
such as my friends Dave Pilkington and Jim
Edge have resorted to heavy modification of
“blag” products in order to get them to
operate at improved levels, although they will
rarely if ever be as good as the genuine item.
I have owned lots of bipod front rifle
supports over the decades. For a long time,
the one to have was the superb Harris,
which was available with its extending legs
and tilt facility.
These fitted via an adapter that fitted to a
front-mounted rifle stock swivel stud, and in
the smaller leg lengths provided me with
superb support for field shooting for
decades. I also owned cheaper copies, but
these were never as good or as sturdy as
Mike Morton’s also a fan of
Accu-Tac bipods for exactly
the same reasons as Andy
– this one’s the BR4 G2 model
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
A genuine Accu-Tac offers
bomb-proof build quality
and superb operation,
including a wide footprint
for enhanced stability
the original item and tended to fall to bits
following severe use in the field.
Recently, I have been impressed with the
products of the American manufacturer
Accu-Tac. Having owned a cheap copy of
one of their smaller bipods (which has now
been modified by my friend Dave to work
much more effectively), I thought it would
be sensible to take a closer look at a
genuine Accu-Tac product to see if they
really are as well made and stable as
reviewers have made out.
A swift email to Shaun at Optics
Warehouse (www.opticswarehouse.co.uk)
– the national distributor of Accu-Tac
products via their wholesale business
Elite within the UK – secured me a WB-4
model for reviewing purposes. I had
requested this newly introduced model
due to its ideal specifications for my type
of shooting.
TARGET
SHOOTER
Not only would it be practical to use the
rest on the indoor range, but also outdoors
in the field, as I do not need a large bipod
and its additional weight. What arrived from
the ever-swift Optics Warehouse team was
the most solidly built and bomb-proof bipod
assembly I have ever seen.
I don’t usually comment on
considerations such as packaging, but when
a company like Accu-Tac goes the extra mile
to produce such a high quality box with its
foam insert to ensure each product arrives
in perfect condition, you can usually be sure
that attention to detail and overall
product quality will be very high. Let
me say that I wasn’t disappointed when
I opened the box and handled a
genuine high-quality bipod of this
standard for the first time.
What you see and feel when you first pick
up something of this quality is the overall
standard of workmanship and attention to
detail. Unlike the cheaper imitation
products, the legs and body assembly can
be locked absolutely solid, allowing no
movement whatsoever when used for
benchrested shooting.
The first time I used the new bipod I was
genuinely amazed at the difference in
stability this provided on aim. No more play
in the supporting legs allowed far superior
accuracy, and the item made a genuine
difference in my own ability to shoot from a
super-steady position. I had chosen the
wide-bodied platform to increase the
load-bearing footprint of the bipod, with this
certainly appearing to assist with the
super-steady positioning.
As you would expect, the telescoping leg
height adjustments (for which a couple of
spare feet are provided), the moveable legs
and cant adjustment facility all fit perfectly
into position.
Everything is constructed from 6061
aluminium alloy, hard anodised matt black
to a Type 3 military specification,
manufactured and assembled in the US with
a limited lifetime warranty. This all means
that it’s an item that you can genuinely
imagine being used in a few hundred years’
time, still looking and working as well as it
does now.
The only problem with this review bipod is
that I will now have to find the funds to buy
it. It’s one of those items that genuinely
does make a difference to your ability to
shoot accurately and is a joy to use. This
model is not cheap at £389.95. But when
you consider how much many of us pay for
a decent gun and scope, nearly four
hundred quid doesn’t sound so bad for an
item that provides such solid support. It’s
most definitely the best bipod I have ever
used and is very highly recommended!
43
TARGET
SHOOTER
SHOOTING PRIORITIES
ALL THAT MATTERS
Do you yearn for more power? Do you take your
shooting a bit too seriously? Andy McLachlan
urges us all to remember exactly why we shoot
T
arget shooting of one type or
another is a sport that has
stirred the imaginations of
thousands, if not millions, of
keen shooters for as long as
humans have been walking on
two legs and worked out how to use a
bow and arrow. Long ago, shooters
practised their skills to enable them to
either secure meat for their families, or
for the purpose of protecting them.
For those of us keen to improve our
shooting skills, the practice of trying to land
a projectile upon the target is rarely a chore
and is something that we all enjoy. These
days, it doesn’t really matter if we
occasionally miss the dead centre of the
bullseye as our lives don’t depend upon it as
they would have done in the past.
There are, of course, groups of people
within the armed forces whose job it is to
make sure that those in their charge hit the
bull all the time, but in a non-military
environment it really doesn’t matter if you
46
can’t hit that spot every time as your life
doesn’t depend upon it. Most, if not all, of
us shoot because we enjoy the challenge
of trying to get that projectile precisely on
the point of aim, every time. Trying to
achieve that level of skill is both fulfilling
and provides us with the opportunity of
entering that Zen-like place where we
forget all about our worries and are fully
able to concentrate on the job in hand,
namely hitting the target.
The look on John Oldroyd’s face reveals he is
actually enjoying himself and a competition
doesn’t have to be a full-on stress fest
Like many shooters, I enjoy owning and
using guns and their associated equipment,
and would have to say if I am honest with
myself that the “big boys’ toys” part of our
hobby is very much part of the interest, if
not a little bit expensive on occasion. Having
said that, it’s all well and good owning the
latest super-duper equipment, but if you
rarely use it, it can sometimes be hard to
justify the initial purchase.
Fortunately for those of us who enjoy
shooting air-powered guns rather than their
noisy firearm cousins, it is an awful lot
easier to gain access to somewhere like an
indoor or outdoor shooting range where we
can shoot for hours on end without having
to remortgage our houses due to the costs
of ammunition. As we all know, pellets are
still relatively cheap to buy, with a tin costing
about a tenner making it good for at least
five or six hours of continuous shooting.
In Andy’s opinion some
people take their shooting far
too seriously – people like his
son James, for example
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

If you were using a firearm, it is highly
unlikely that you would be shooting for
anywhere near as long. I would therefore
argue that the use of the air-powered gun is
much more likely to result in far more time
actually spent shooting and is therefore
better value for money. Fair enough, with
our air-powered guns we will never compete
with the terminal power of a firearm, but in
saying that, I didn’t buy any of my air rifles
for bringing down big game.
That is why I consider the humble,
legal-limit air rifle to be the ultimate in
readily available, target-friendly shooting
equipment. When I was many years younger
and owned various types of firearms, I
quickly realised that the ability to drop
quarry at much further distances was useful
if you were engaged in serious pest control.
However, I then realised that the reason I
enjoyed using legal-limit air rifles so much
more was because I had to make sure I was
a lot closer before releasing the shot. It
eventually got to the stage where my
shotguns and rimfires ended up staying in
the cabinet while my sons and I used our air
rifles to hunt.
It’s great having the additional range that
owning a more powerful gun allows, but it’s
an awful lot of hassle and is not necessarily
the best way to further increase your
enjoyment of the sport. There are very
many more places that you can safely use a
legal-limit air rifle than anything with a
“firearm” rating. The only thing I feel that I
and some other shooters are missing out on
is the ability to shoot at three-figure
distances with air rifles as is practised
currently by many shooters in the United
States. The reason for this is that it would be
fun trying to set up your own gun to shoot
certain projectiles at long range for
maximum effect.
You can always be assured of some
amusement if you draw anywhere near
the Taylor brothers during a competition
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
Happy smiling faces usually follow a
competition series – the trick is to
keep smiling all the way to the final
This is possible with an FAC-rated air
rifle, but introduces a different series of
issues, such as using a safe shooting area
and being unable to use non-firearms-
rated ranges made for legal-limit air rifles.
THE BOTTOM LINE FOR
ANYONE ENTERING A
COMPETITION IS NOT TAKE
IT TOO SERIOUSLY
If you can justify the purchase and use
of an FAC-rated air rifle, or firearm for that
matter, and you have somewhere that
requires this level of power, then great.
But if you don’t really need it there is
nothing to beat a sub-12 foot pound air
rifle for providing some challenging
shooting. As we all know, there are literally
hundreds of superbly manufactured guns
TARGET
SHOOTER
that will fit the bill for the novice shot. It is
also a great journey to be starting upon as
you find a suitable club or range that allows
you to meet other enthusiasts.
If you are a shooter that has just bought
yourself a gun and wishes to learn the
basics of safety and accurate shooting
practices, you will do far worse than
locating your local club and getting
yourself down there at your earliest
opportunity, rules permitting. You will
also meet other shooters who may well
end up becoming lifelong friends.
As you progress from being a shooting
novice, you will begin to notice that the
more serious shots tend to speak less
frequently than many others, come
equipped with sufficient gear to sink a ship
and can sometimes have a strange, far
away demeanour when you try to talk to
them. This is the result of them taking
themselves too seriously, but it’s something
that many of us do when we think that we
have “made the grade”.
Remember, unless you are amongst the
tiny number of professional shooters, all of
us shoot to enjoy it. It is not supposed to be
a chore, or something that applies any
additional pressure to our already busy
lives. We are supposed to be enjoying
ourselves when we attend any type of
shoot, even a competition.
The bottom line for anybody considering
entering a shooting competition is to
remember to not take it too seriously. You
are there to enjoy yourself! It does not
matter a jot if you come last, although you
will naturally beat yourself up if you do
particularly badly.
No, the secret is to just relax and enjoy
the company – that’s all that matters really.
The more that you practise, the better you
will become.
47
 AIRGUN AMMO SLUGS

SHOOTING ADVICE

HOWL AT
THE MOON
Roger Lait gets to grips with the new Howler slug
from Daystate, and despite an anxious start finds
himself ending up in airgun heaven

“
Hi Roger, I understand you
like shooting slugs. How do
you fancy being the first to
shoot a new slug from Daystate?”
was the call I got from Airguns of
Arizona. “Yes please!” I shouted
back down the phone – I could
hardly say anything else, could I?
But before we get into my testing
phase with the new Howler slugs,
it’s time for a bit of backstory.
I’ve written extensively about
slugs before, as I am sure you are
aware. I’ve shot almost every slug
on the market and have learned a
whole bunch about them in the
process. These new Howler slugs
from Daystate are actually made
by Nielsen Specialty Ammo, a
company run by Nick Nielsen in
the United States. I have used NSA
slugs before and I must be honest,
have had mixed results. I was a
little worried because the last time
out I tried some 20.2 grain
flat-based slugs from NSA and
they did not perform well in my
gun. So it was with trepidation that
I waited for these new slugs to
turn up from America.
I thought it best to go out and
try some more of the NSA slugs
that I still had in my box of plenty. I
grabbed four boxes of different
Roger was testing
Wildman slugs
alongside the
Howlers – both were
amazing and worked
a treat in the Wolf
weights and base shapes, and then
headed to my local pest control
permission and tried them out on
some targets.
Things were not looking good,
not good at all! I set up my
Daystate Red Wolf and put targets
out at 50, 100 and 150 yards. After
an hour of shooting, and lots and
lots of coffee, I’d only used the
Credit: @wildlanduk

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 49
SHOOTING
ADVICE
Howler slugs are the result of
a collaboration between
Daystate in the UK and Nielsen
Specialty Ammo in the US
closest target as the NSA slugs
weren’t playing nice with my rifle. So
I was dreading getting these Howler
slugs to try, as I wasn’t really
expecting them to be any better. I
decided to call Airguns of Arizona
and ask what testing they had done
while these slugs were in the
development phase.
THESE SLUGS DON’T JUST
WORK IN DAYSTATE ART BARRELS,
THEY WORK REALLY WELL!
I was told in no uncertain terms
that these slugs don’t just work in
Daystate ART barrels, they work
well. Really well!
Two weeks passed and the knock
at the door came. The parcel had
arrived and it was full steam ahead.
Airguns of Arizona had kindly sent
me 10 tins of Howlers. I couldn’t
worry any more, it was now time to
50
Roger ran the
Howlers through his
Red Wolf using
Daystate’s new
higher-capacity
magazine, which
has a drop-down
magnetic faceplate
Credit: @wildlanduk
When I turned up at my
permission the wind decided to turn
up too. Normally that’s not a
clean the barrel of the Daystate, problem at all for slugs, but these
charge the battery and make sure Howlers don’t weigh much at all
both the gun and I were all ready – 20.3 grains in .22 calibre is not
to go. I wondered whether to take heavy by any means, which could
my FX as well to see how the mean that they would be blown all
Howler slugs work in the Superior over the place.
standard barrel? Yes, of course, Now don’t get me wrong, all slugs
as I wanted to see how well these move in the wind at some point, and
things would work in both guns. nowhere near as much as pellets for
So off I went sure because of the better ballistic
to put these coefficient (BC) of the slug. It was
slugs through time to set up a target at 50 yards
their paces.
Let’s get one
to see what these things could do.
I must say, my fears had returned
thing straight. and I really was worried about how
The Daystate well they would work. I wanted them
Red Wolf and FX Impact are totally to group – and group well. I had a
different fish. The Daystate has really good look at the slugs and
three power settings, while the first of all noticed how shiny they
Impact has infinite adjustability, so were, and on closer inspection how
can almost be tuned to whatever well made these slugs really were,
projectile you choose to use. If it with hardly any defects.
works in the Daystate at one I shot at the target and missed it
setting your luck is in, whereas the completely. Not a great start to be
Impact can be made to shoot them honest. But hang on, that was my
how you like. fault as I was zeroed at 50 yards
with my 27 grain Wildman slugs and
these were only 20.3 grain.
It’s not like I have been shooting
for nearly 25 years or anything?!
What a schoolboy error. So I fired a
Slugs more closely single shot at the target, aiming
resemble bullets lower this time, and did it ever hit
than pellets and high! How fast were these things
have a greater going? So it was out with my chrono
bearing surface in to see what I was dealing with.
the bore, but also I nearly fell over as the Howlers
have better ballistic were screaming along at an average
properties speed of 1,008 feet per second.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

I inputted the data to the Strelok
Pro app on my phone and turned
my attention to accuracy testing to
see what kind of groups I could get.
You must remember that I had
cleaned the barrel because I was
using different slugs before, and
different slugs lead up in different
ways, well that’s what I have found
anyway. Two magazines’ worth were
put through the gun and then
suddenly it happened: I was totally
and utterly shocked.
At 50 yards, and with brand new
ammo, remember, the groups were
nearly the best I had ever done. It
was slug on slug on slug. The group
was ridiculous. I carried on shooting
these tiny – and I mean tiny
– groups for a good while.
I was so enjoying looking at what
they could do that the smile on my
face was enormous. These slugs
right off the bat were incredible, so
out to 75 yards went the target. I
was so lucky at this point as the
wind had all but gone and it was
pretty much still.
And at 75 yards, as you can
imagine, they did not disappoint one
single bit. People talk about
sub-MOA groups out of their FAC
airguns and we all strive to get this,
but these Howler slugs were nailing
this with ease.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
Sub-MOA was a doddle! It
seemed they loved being shot
through the Daystate ART barrel
and it was almost too easy to
shoot the tiniest groups ever.
Get me out to 100 yards right
away! Now this was the real test,
the thing we all strive for, great
groups at 100 yards. There was a
time when only a few people and
only a few air rifles could really
shoot groups less than an inch at
100 yards, but nowadays it’s far
more common if you do your part.
Let’s see what these could do.
Shock, horror, sub-MOA at 100
easily. I nailed three groups next to
each other, well under the magical
one inch. The slugs were bang on
and as accurate as anything. It was
slug heaven. Time for a coffee.
IT WAS SLUG ON SLUG ON SLUG.
THE GROUP WAS RIDICULOUS. I
WAS SHOOTING TINY GROUPS
Howler slugs I sat there and chuckled to
have a ballistic myself. “These slugs make me look
coefficient of amazing,” I thought. “Such a
0.08 which shame nobody is here to see this.”
means they The Howlers were certainly doing
should cope very the business alright and the
well in windy Daystate loved them. On to the FX
conditions Impact then.
This gun has big power. I know it
can shoot slugs well, but I
wondered if the speed generated
would be too much for this
lightweight slug. I set up the
chrono and loaded up the
It’s essential to
keep the gun stable
when carrying out
any kind of
accuracy test, so
Roger brought
along his own
bench
AIRGUN AMMO SLUGS
magazine. I set the Impact to max
power on the side power wheel and
off we went. The chrono recorded
an average of 1,084 feet per second,
which worked out to 53 foot
pounds, not quite the figures I’d
been expecting, but still super fast.
Would they group at this speed?
Answer: oh yes! I went through all
the power settings on the side
wheel to see where they grouped
the best and then tuned the gun
when I found the optimal setting.
Fifty and 100 yards were a breeze.
They grouped superbly and worked
a treat!
I was over the moon with these
Howler slugs and how well they
performed through both guns. They
could handle the speed super well
and just went like crazy.
Then the wind
started up again.
This did change
the group sizes
slightly, but the
groups opened
up laterally,
which is not a bad thing, and while
the wind did affect them it was far
less than a pellet, for sure. I’d be
confident to hunt with them out to
100 yards on a still day, but would
keep it closer on a breezy day.
All in all these slugs were a
massive eye opener for me and
performed faultlessly every time I
have used them since that test. Well
done Daystate. Well done indeed.
Howler slugs will be available from
Daystate UK in the coming weeks.
51
 FEATURE XXXXXXXXXXX

HUNTING & FIELDCRAFT

CROWS IN THE
TWILIGHT ZONE
Mat Manning puts in a late shift to crack down on
scavenging corvids as peak lambing season approaches
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 53
HUNTING &
FIELDCRAFT
H
unting trips don’t get much
more exciting than an evening
targeting crows at the roost.
Waiting in a twilit wood for
these large, noisy birds to
arrive as tawny owls screech in
the distance and badgers rustle amongst
the undergrowth is a unique experience
and certainly brings you close to nature.
Wherever and whenever I do it, the
control of crows is always a job that gives
me a lot of satisfaction, mostly because
these birds can be incredibly destructive
when their numbers get out of hand.
The primary reason for culling these
carrion crows is to stop them from
attacking newborn lambs. These birds use
their large, stabbing beaks to target the soft
areas of their prey – usually pecking out the
eyes and then moving on to the belly.
It’s a slow, lingering death for the lamb,
and apart from being extremely upsetting,
it also has a very serious financial impact
on farming businesses.
By clearing the area around his feet of twigs
and leaves, Mat was able to move about without
making any telltale crunching sounds
54
In my locality, large flocks of crows also
cause damage to crops, usually by feeding
on freshly drilled seeds and emerging
shoots. Maize crops are a real favourite and
it’s shocking how quickly a large gathering
of corvids can decimate a newly sown crop.
On top of that, and the reason why I think
crow control is important is because these
opportunistic scavengers also feed on eggs
and chicks from the nests of other birds.
The impact on vulnerable songbirds is
huge, particularly ground-nesting species.
The farm where I am currently tasked
with thinning out crows is a mixed holding.
Lambing is just getting underway, which is
why the farmer is particularly keen to get
the birds’ numbers under control. I have
made some reasonable bags by targeting
the crows out on the open fields with hide
and decoy tactics, but these artful birds
don’t tend to fall for the same ruse twice.
After witnessing the loss of some of their
flockmates they are starting to treat my
decoys with suspicion so it is time for me to
change my approach, and that means
switching to roost shooting tactics.
Successful roost shooting for crows is all Mat puts on his head net to help prevent sharp-
about being in the right place at the right eyed crows from seeing his face peering up from
time, and that’s why I found myself the undergrowth
trudging into the woods that flank one side
of the farm just as the sun was beginning to
set. Crows return to their roost much later
than most other birds, and if I was planning
to shoot woodpigeons I would have been
way too late. A lot of woods are actually
used as roosts by pigeons and crows, but
many pigeon shooters don’t realise this
because they have packed up and gone
home before the corvids show up.
Crows have a preference for areas of
woodland with plenty of tall trees – they like
a good vantage point from which they can
scour the undergrowth for lurking danger
before they flutter down to more sheltered
boughs. Although you are unlikely to see
many crows in the woods during your
daytime outings, you should be able to see
their most obvious calling card. The ground
beneath a busy crow roost will be
splattered with their white droppings – it’s
a clear clue that’s very hard to miss.
Moving off of the main track through
the woods, I weaved my way through
the trees to the area where the crows
like to bed down for the night.
Although this sort of shooting takes
place in poor light conditions as
night begins to fall, you cannot use
Find a splattering of white droppings The Hawke Sidewinder 30 SF has excellent light
on the ground and you may just have transmission, but Mat achieved an even brighter
located an active crow roost view by winding down the magnification
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 FEATURE
FEATURECROW
XXXXXXXXXXX
HUNTING

A TREE LIKE THIS

PROVIDES USEFUL
COVER AND A HANDY
REST TO LEAN A PCP FOR
A SUPPORTED SHOT
artificial illumination to shoot crows – and
that means no night vision gear or lamps.
The best way to extend your shooting
time beyond dusk is to use a good-quality
scope that transmits plenty of light. My
BSA R-10 TH is topped with a Hawke
Sidewinder 30 SF in 4.5-14x44 spec. This
scope has a 30mm tube and really sucks in
the light, especially on its lower
magnification settings. The Sidewinder is
also equipped with an illuminated reticle,
which can be very useful when trying to get
a clear aim at black crows when they’re set
against a darkening sky.
Small groups of pigeons scattered from
their roosting trees as I crunched through
the undergrowth, but there was still no sign
of the crows. Arriving at my intended spot, I
settled against a forked ash tree and used
my boot to clear the leaf litter from around
the base of its trunk.
A tree like this provides useful cover and
a handy rest to lean a PCP for a supported
shot, but a misplaced foot can give your
position away if it crunches down on brittle
leaves and twigs. Creating a clear area only
takes a moment, but the advantage of quiet
footfalls as you shift position to get a better
aim can make a huge difference to your
results when targeting wary corvids.
I put on my head net to prevent sharp-
eyed crows from spotting my face peering
The ash tree provides welcome support as Mat settles his crosshairs on an unsuspecting crow up from the undergrowth and waited. It is
amazing what you can hear when you are
quiet and still in twilit woodland.
The songbirds were silent, but pheasants
were crowing as they settled down to roost,
something heavy (probably a badger) was
snuffling around in the gloom and it wasn’t
long before I heard the first cries of hunting
owls. Most encouragingly, I could hear the
distant croak of crows growing ever-closer
as the birds began to drift away from their
feeding grounds and back towards the
shelter of the woods.
My first sighting of a crow was a solitary
bird taking a high, straight course directly
over the treetops. More birds gradually
gathered above the woods until there was a
wheeling, cackling flock numbering several
dozen. The birds drifted lower and lower
until a small group pitched in the
uppermost boughs at the opposite end of
More and more crows flighted to the treetops as evening faded into night the spinney.

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 55
HUNTING &
FIELDCRAFT
Darkness closes in on the woods and Mat lines up for another shot as the crows return to their roost
Crows rarely settle for long when they
first arrive at the roost and, sure enough,
they soon lifted again as a single restless
flock and began to drift back in my
direction. The raucous chorus of croaks
and screeches drowned out all other
sounds as the crows circled above me.
PICKING UP SHOT QUARRY IS
IMPORTANT, WHETHER SHOOTING
AT EDIBLE PESTS OR NOT
A group of five or six birds peeled off and
swooped down into a tall oak about 30
metres from where I was standing. The light
was fading fast, but the bulky crows were
silhouetted against the grey sky and the
Sidewinder’s crosshairs soon found the
head of one of the closest birds. Using the
tree to steady the BSA, I made adjustments
to my aim before touching off the trigger.
The R-10’s whisper-quiet muzzle report
was followed by a solid “thop” as the .177
pellet found its mark. The crow pivoted on
its perch, relaxed its talons and dropped
head-first through the branches before
crashing down stone dead into the ground
while its startled mates flapped away. I
cycled the BSA’s bolt to reload in readiness
for the next opportunity.
Prime crow shooting time at the roost
only offers a very small window of
56
opportunity, but sport can be very hectic Picking up shot your quarry is always
during that brief spell of action. Sure important, whether you’re shooting at
enough, another small pack of birds soon edible pests or not. Crows obviously aren’t
broke off from the main swirling flock and going to end up in the pot, but they still
spiralled down into the trees around me. need to be tidied up – and mine were
Tangles of twigs and ivy made it difficult coming home with me because I like to
to get a bead on any of the birds, but after have a few in the freezer ready to use as
shuffling around the tree decoys on future outings.
to get a better angle I I am pleased to say that I managed to
eventually managed to get find all five birds by scouring the woodland
a clear view of one. At
about the same range as
floor by torchlight, and they will prove very
handy when I return for another go at the
the first one, it was a crows. Set up as bouncer and flapper
straightforward shot in the decoys, they’ll help me make the estate an
windless conditions and crow number two even safer place for this spring’s new arrival
was soon on the deck. of lambs.
The session followed a similar pattern
over the next 20 minutes or so, with birds
constantly dropping in and fluttering away
again. On several occasions the sharp-eyed
crows saw me moving or managed to
glimpse a flash of reflected sky in the
lens of my scope and flapped away
squawking and croaking before I had
a chance to take a shot. Others
made the mistake of lingering,
though, and I managed to account
for a total of five crows before it
became too dark to shoot.
Mat was able to retrieve all five of his
shot birds after scouring the woodland
floor by torchlight
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
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 AIRGUN
ANSWERS
OUR EXPERTS HAVE YOUR QUESTIONS IN THEIR SIGHTS!
WHETHER YOU’RE looking for a
quick fix to a nagging problem or simply
want advice on your next piece of gear,
email us at airgunshooter@futurenet.
com or write to us at the address below:
one of our experts will soon get you on
the right track!
Airgun Shooter,
Future Publishing,
Quay House,
The Ambury,
Bath,
BA1 1UA
MEET YOUR TEAM OF
AIRGUN ADVISERS
MIKE MORTON
MIKE really loves the
technical side of shooting,
and enjoys tearing rifles and
pistols apart almost as much
as shooting them
RAY GARNER
RAY’s been there, seen it
and done it, but while he
enjoys shooting older
airguns, he’s got a taste for
more modern hardware too
JONATHAN YOUNG
JONATHAN is an avid
shooter, collector and airgun
historian, and loves working
on and shooting some of the
rarer types, including CO2
PHIL SIDDELL
PHIL is a confirmed airgun
hunter, and always has
plenty of sound advice when
it comes to fieldcraft and
locating your quarry
58
A buff scarf covers enough of your
face without needing to resort to
camo paint or a full veil
CONCEALMENT
Which kind of face covering
is best for airgun hunting, a
snood scarf, face veil or
even camo paint?
YOUR EXPERT
PHIL SIDDELL
THAT’S A GREAT QUESTION, but
it’s worth considering why we need
to cover our face in the first place.
Those hunting at longer ranges, such
as deerstalkers, can get away
without covering their hands and
face, but airgun hunting is carried
out at very close range and so our
quarry is able to examine us in much
more detail.
This works against us, not just
because of the exposed flesh that
contrasts with the browns and
greens of the landscape, but also
because our eyes, mouth and nose
mark us out as being “animal”.
Concealing facial features helps us
fade into the background.
As a teenager, I well remember
smearing my face with camo paint
for a couple of my early forays. I
recall feeling rather self-conscious
and ending up with the greasy
substance smeared all over my
collar and rifle stock.
Suffice it to say I wouldn’t
recommend it as a solution! I have
always shied away from a full face
veil because I like to be able to feel
the slightest of breezes on my face,
and I use my hearing a lot when
hunting and don’t like having my
ears obstructed if possible.
That said, I might be persuaded
to use a veil if the natural cover
were exceptionally scant. My
preferred solution is a camo
pattern buff-type scarf pulled
up over my nose and mouth.
In addition to this, I also tend
to wear a peaked cap pulled
down low that will hide my eyes.
This seems to work well for me
and is easy to make adjustments
to as required.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

TUNING ADVICE
I’ve been hearing a bit about
airgun tuning, polishing and
porting, but what’s it all
about and is it worth it?
YOUR EXPERT
JONATHAN YOUNG
IN TUNING, THE aim is to smooth
out the working action, maximising
the potential of the airgun. This
should mean improving shot-to-shot
consistency rather than simply
making it go faster. In the past people
advocated the need to get maximum
power as near to the legal limit as
possible. Thankfully that old chestnut
has finally been well and truly buried.
Today tuning is a little more
cautious and scientific. Metal-to-
metal contact is usually the first
simple area that tuners tackle, and a
new gun especially can have its
components polished and greased.
Next would be whatever helps get the
air or gas through the action with less
resistance. With compressed air and
CO2, the idea is for the gas to get
through the valve to behind the pellet
as effortlessly as possible.
Some are crude modifications such
as fitting a go-faster hammer spring.
This knocks the valve open longer,
but the downside is the trigger will be
heavier and much more money will be
spent on gas bulbs. There may not
even be an improvement in shot-to-
shot consistency if the components
are now being overly stressed.
The valve is at the heart of every
airgun, and sometimes less is more
when consistency is of importance.
Compare the big brass valve from
a Crosman 22xx with a typical air
pistol valve – tuners use totally
different methods to tweak these
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
AIRGUN ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Enlarging and polishing the inside of
the valve body has been a mod
encountered on the Crosman tuning
scene in the US. Those 22xx series
valves lend themselves to this. The
idea is to increase the volume of gas
inside the valve body ready for
release as the hammer hits. The
downside is it costs a packet to have a
valve re-worked on a lathe, and even
more to buy the aftermarket units.
PORTING ALLOWS THE GAS
TO ESCAPE QUICKER WHEN THE
VALVE IS KNOCKED OPEN
One other point – and it’s an
important one here in the UK – is how
some owners ignore the need for a
chrono test. Surely it’s just
good to know that any work
done is an improvement,
isn’t it?
And while in some countries
muzzle energy is not an issue,
unfortunately here it is, and
we have some strict legal
power limits. Attempting
to tune any airgun without
assessment over a
chronograph is possibly the
dumbest thing that anybody
with an airgun can do.
Porting, in the simplest
terms, allows the gas to
escape quicker when the
valve is finally knocked open.
Depending on the valve
This pistol valve stem has
two exhaust holes, and just
cleaning out the greasy
gunk will really aid gas flow!
design, the valve stem exhaust
openings through which the gas or
air escapes can be polished or
enlarged. Needle files small enough,
a steady hand and lots of patience
are needed.
Recently some airgun tuning
houses, specifically in Italy and
Russia, have started selling custom
valve stems for pistols like the
Makarov 654k, but at high cost.
Some valve stems
have no ports, as in
Crosman 22xx guns
where any exhaust
hole is in the wall of
the valve body and
the stem simply seals
it shut. American Crosman tuners
restrict or open this hole, then polish
everything up.
Most basic tuning will see some
gains, but will increase gas use.
Put plainly, you won’t get as many
shots per CO2 bulb, and if done really
badly the shot-to-shot consistency
may be like chucking pebbles
into a garden pond. So these
seemingly minor tunes will affect
performance, but that’s not the same
as improving performance.
Some tuners have now worked
wonders by restricting flow, actually
lowering the power slightly whilst
gaining an increase in shot count.
De-stressing components like this
should also allow more consistency
on target, and is certainly an
interesting form of performance
tuning today.
59
AIRGUN ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
TELESCOPIC TERMINOLOGY
I want to get my first air
rifle and buy a suitable
scope to go on top. A friend
of mine has a Hawke
Sidewinder 30 FFP 4-16x50
(FFP Half Mil) scope. It looks
fantastic, but what do all
those numbers mean?
YOUR EXPERT
MIKE MORTON
WELCOME TO THE wonderful world
of airguns. It’s great that you want to
ask some questions about a scope
before just going ahead and buying the
first one that takes your fancy.
The naming conventions that apply
to a telescopic sight can initially be
confusing, but are extremely helpful
once you understand what they are
trying to tell you and how to interpret
that information.
I’m familiar with your friend’s
scope, having reviewed it back in
Airgun Shooter issue 142, and agree
it is indeed a lovely telescopic sight.
Hawke produces several product
lines, with the Sidewinder series
being one of them. The name itself
Some scopes have only
one level of magnification,
while this example has a
range from 4x to 16x –
something to suit most
airgun applications
60
already gives away some information
about this scope, as it’s telling you
that the parallax/focus control is on
the side of the optic rather than being
mounted at the front. These two
alternate systems of adjustment are
known as “side parallax” and
“adjustable objective” respectively.
The “30” in the name lets the
would-be purchaser know that the
diameter of the scope tube, which
is also known as the body, is 30mm.
The other size you’re most likely to
encounter is the 1” tube, which is
also known as a 25mm tube, the
metric conversion usually being
rounded down from the actual figure
of 25.4mm.
It’s important to know the diameter
of the tube when choosing suitable
scope mounts. In very rare cases,
you may see mounts that have a
series of plastic inserts to let you get
the correct match to your scope
tube. However, the vast majority of
mounts are specific to the diameter
of the tube and need to be matched
accordingly. You may also find
scopes with a wider than usual body
tube of 34mm, and again you’ll need
specific 34mm mounts in order to fit
one of these.
Let’s head back to the Hawke
scope in question, and the letters
“FFP” in the name, which stand for
“first focal plane”. I’ll come back to
this in a minute. The “4-16” refers to
the range of magnification offered by
the scope. If the telescopic sight is
set at 4x, this means an object
viewed through the scope will appear
to be four times closer than it really
is. Some scopes only have one level
SCOPE NAMING
CONVENTIONS ARE
HELPFUL ONCE YOU
UNDERSTAND WHAT
THEY’RE TRYING TO
TELL YOU
of magnification, which is known as
“fixed magnification”, but in this case
the scope has a range from 4x to 16x
and anywhere in between, so when
it’s set to the maximum 16x
magnification, objects now appear 16
times closer than they would with the
naked eye.
The “50” is another measurement,
this time referring to the size of the
front (objective) lens of the scope,
which in this case is 50mm. This
dimension is also relevant when
choosing scope mounts, as the front
of the scope, which usually flares out
into what’s termed a bell shape, must
not come into contact with the barrel
of the rifle or any mounting rail.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 AIRGUN ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

It can be a bit overwhelming A RETRO READ

for newcomers trying to get
I’ve heard of an airgun book sensitive times. Section 2 is ‘A Brief
to grips with the features History of Airguns’, and section 3
an optic has to offer, but
by L Wesley. Can you tell me
anything about it and is it covers ‘Blowpipes’, a subject also
the information is all in embraced by WHB Smith in his
the name worth my while tracking
wonderful book and by Robert
down a copy? Beeman in a later publication.
Section 5 of Wesley’s book is
YOUR EXPERT concerned with ‘Walking Stick
Pneumatic Rifles and Guns’, which
RAY GARNER were legal at that time, but not at all
so today. Another part of the book
AIR-GUNS AND AIR-PISTOLS is a looks into ‘Modern Gas Pistols’, which
beautiful book written by Lesley Wesley reports as classed as
Wesley and first published in 1955. In ‘dangerous weapons requiring a
his book, Wesley deals with many Firearm Certificate for ownership’,
airguns available in that mid-fifties and at that time rare in the UK (thank
period, together with numerous goodness that changed!).
historic and by then obsolete airguns. Further content is given over to
Wesley’s style of writing is an air-operated machine gun, made
refreshingly modest and self-effacing, by McGlashan of Long Beach,
and has an old school charm to it California. There is even reference to
Scopes with smaller objective lenses can which is a joy to read. It seems that the ‘Ten shilling gun licence’, bought
always be mounted higher, but it’s not the author ran a gun shop at the time from a post office if an airgun is to be
always possible to mount scopes with a of the book’s publication, and much carried or used away from the
large objective any lower. of his experience in that field is owner’s premises.
I’ve left my explanation of FFP until now represented in his writing. The first Wesley’s book was revised and
because I wanted to talk about the scope’s section of the book deals with the enlarged by Gerald Cardew in 1979;
magnification range first. The terms first ‘Classification of Air Weapons’, this latest softback edition containing
focal plane and second focal plane refer to interestingly not eschewing the term 208 pages of text, drawings and
the location of the reticle in relation to the ‘weapon’, which we likely would not photographs. Altogether a fascinating
magnification lenses inside the erector choose to use today in these more journey into airgun history.
tube, which sits inside the body of the
scope. Where the reticle is positioned will This book provides a fascinating
affect the way a shooter sees the image of insight into the airgun scene from
the target as they adjust magnification. the 1950s and will bring back happy
With a second focal plane scope, the memories for many veteran shooters
reticle is positioned behind the
magnification lens. This means the size of
the reticle will stay the same when
magnification is increased or decreased,
while the size of the image being viewed
will expand or contract accordingly.
With an FFP scope like your friend’s
Sidewinder, the reticle will be mounted in
front of the magnification lens. This time,
when the level of magnification is altered
both the size of the reticle and the size of
the target image will change, but remain
in proportion to one another.
The final term, “FFP Half Mil”, refers to
the type of reticle this scope is equipped
with. “FFP” means it’s been specifically
designed for use with a first focal plane
scope, while “Half Mil” means the reticle is
graduated in milliradians (mils) rather than
minutes of angle (MOA), and uses
subtensions of half a mil.
Understanding scope terminology can
be a bit of a minefield, but when it all
comes together you can guarantee there’ll
be no nasty explosions!

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 61
 PRESENTS

WHERE THE UK’S TOUGHEST AIRGUN TESTS LIVE 78 WExpress

ebley Mosquito
 pellet that’s a little lighter
A
and faster than the norm

MIKE MORTON
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
airgunshooter@futurenet.com

BRINGING you the best reviews coverage

we can is of critical importance to us. The
members of our review team are all
passionate shooters and have decades of
experience between us, and we put that
experience to good use when testing the
products that you see in this section. It’s
our responsibility to make sure that the
rifles, pistols, optics and accessories that
we test are able to enhance your sport!

64 Twin-regged tactical tearaway

Mat Manning gives his verdict on the brand new Maverick from FX Airguns

AWARDS
PRODUCTS receiving this award
represent excellent value for
money, whether they’re high-end,
entry level or anywhere in between

THIS award goes to products that

are the very best in their class,
taking into account build quality
and fit as well as performance

ANY item we recommend has to

70 Fixed-barrel underlevers 74 Hawke Sidewinder 30 SF

be something we’d be happy to use
ourselves, and this award means it
works, and works well
Rich Saunders takes a look at four of  ike Morton reckons this optic is worth
M
the very best fixed-barrel springers way more than a sideways glance

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 63
 KEY SPECS

MAKER: FX Airguns, Sweden

(www.fxairguns.com)
UK DISTRIBUTOR:
Sportsman Gun Centre
(www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk)
MODEL: Maverick (standard black)
PRICE: From £1,214.99
(£1,408.99 for model tested)
TYPE: Dual-regulated bullpup
CALIBRE: .177 (tested) and .22, plus
.25 and .30 at FAC
OVERALL LENGTH: 810mm
LENGTH OF PULL: 361mm
BARREL LENGTH: 500mm (tested),
also 600mm and 700mm at FAC
WEIGHT:
3.1kg (model tested without scope)
TRIGGER: Two-stage adjustable
POWER:
11.6 ft-lb on maximum output
(high-power versions also available)

64 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 GUN
GUNTEST
TEST FX MAVERICK

GUN TEST

TWIN-REGGED
TACTICAL
TEARAWAY The new Maverick from FX Airguns combines
proven features with an innovative dual
regulator system – Mat Manning gives his
verdict on this exceptional PCP

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 65
 An innovative dual
regulator system
delivers remarkable
shot-to-shot consistency

Stock fit can be tweaked by

means of an adjustable butt pad
which can quickly be repositioned
by slackening off the locking knob

Fast and smooth reloading

is assured by the slick
sidelever action and proven
high-capacity magazine

S
wedish gunmaker
FX Airguns is known
for making some of
the finest PCPs in
the world, and the
Impact MkII bullpup
has an almost legendary status
among airgun aficionados –
especially high-power shooters
who demand a high degree of
tunability in their guns.
FX also has a reputation for
taking an unconventional
approach, and not being afraid to
do things differently from the rest
of the crowd.
The new FX Maverick will reinforce
that reputation on both fronts. This
innovative airgun burst onto the scene
just a few months ago and quickly
became the gun that everyone is talking
about. And for good reason too,
because not only does it combine
winning elements of the tried and
tested Impact and Wildcat models, it
also has a very unusual dual regulator
system. On top of that, it also manages
to be a lot more affordable than many
of its competitors.
Trigger sensitivity can
be a problem on
bullpups, but the
adjustable two-stage
unit on the Maverick is
crisp and predictable
DUAL REGULATOR SYSTEM
It’s fair to say that the dual regulator
system – which is the real standout
feature on this gun – is geared more
towards shooters who want to really
ramp up the power.
However, there are benefits for
everyone because a system that
enables an airgun to shoot sweetly at
power levels beyond 80 ft-lb should
ensure that it shoots extremely
sweetly at sub-12 ft-lb.
THE VARIATION OF FOUR FEET
PER SECOND OVER A STRING OF
10 SHOTS HARDLY DEVIATED
Two regulators means the one
which delivers the air for the shot is
not receiving air at such a high
pressure as the main bottle. This
eliminates regulator creep, which
helps shot-to-shot consistency. The
.177 calibre sub-12 ft-lb review gun
showed a variation of four feet per
second over a string of 10 shots and
hardly deviated through the charge,
which amounts to hundreds of shots.
Considering the fact that some
variation can be attributed to anomalies
in pellets rather than power delivery, the
Maverick really does boast an
exceptional degree of consistency.
The dual regulator also means
extremely good air efficiency and the
test gun (a standard model with
500mm barrel and 480cc carbon air
bottle) returned about 500 shots at full
power output from a 250 bar fill – you
can probably expect even more in .22.
Air filling is via a
Foster connection
by the neck of the
removable bottle,
and the connector
comes supplied
as standard.
Unsurprisingly, the sub-12 ft-lb model
is restricted to keep it UK legal so you
can’t adjust regulator pressure. The test
gun was producing 11.6 ft-lb at full
power. A dial at the rear of the action
enables you to wind down the muzzle
energy should you wish to. The bottom
point of the dial shows the chosen level
and there are eight settings, which take
this gun down as low as 7.4 ft-lb by
adjusting hammer spring tension.

66 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

The standard model’s
480cc carbon bottle
holds enough air to deliver
more than 500 shots
Again, the adjustment will be more
useful on FAC models, but plenty of
sub-12 shooters will find it handy being
able to wind down for indoor pest
control on farms or for shooting on a
garden range.
The Maverick is also kitted out with
FX’s brilliant Smooth Twist X Superior
barrel. The barrel is interchangeable so
you can switch between different
lengths and calibres, and also has FX’s
interchangeable liner system. Barrel
options go all the way up to 700mm,
which will probably be of most interest
to FAC shooters.
A chunky shroud comes fitted as
standard, and on the sub-12 ft-lb review
gun it did a reasonably good job of
hushing down the muzzle report. It is
threaded for silencer attachment and I
expect hunters will probably want to
add something extra to make it
whisper-quiet.
Higher than usual magazine
capacities are something of a speciality
at FX these days, and the Maverick runs
the same setup as the Dreamline and
Crown. The magazine on the review gun
held a generous payload of 22 .177
calibre pellets and was driven by a very
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
Picatinny-type rails on both sides and under the barrel ensure plenty of
attachment space for accessories
slick sidelever mechanism, something
that FX perfected some time ago. The
lever is well positioned and the
mechanism works extremely well so
you can count on fast, reliable
follow-up shots.
The Maverick’s safety VALUE AND FEATURES
catch worked Despite its remarkable pedigree, the
perfectly well, but its
rearward positioning
FX Maverick is comparatively well
does make it a little priced. The gun featured here is the
fiddly to access standard model which retails for
£1,408.99. There are also Compact
and Sniper models as well as a VP
version which has an aluminium bottle
instead of a carbon one, and costs
about £200 less.
Thanks to its bullpup design, the
standard Maverick measures just
810mm, has a 361mm length of pull
and weighs 3.1kg before you fit a
scope. Typical of all FX bullpups, it is
very tactically styled and has a
Picatinny-type scope rail, forward
accessory rails on both sides and one
on the underside below the neck of
the bottle.
Overall stock design may look fairly
simplistic, but the Maverick is a very
comfortable gun to shoot.
GUN TEST FX MAVERICK
Apart from being quick and
easy to change, the Maverick’s
barrel is housed inside a shroud
which offers a reasonable
degree of sound suppression
The cheekpiece has a really nice
curved edge, the AR-type pistol grip
sets you up very well for the trigger
and the butt pad is height-adjustable;
just slacken off the locking knob and it
slides up and down enabling you to
tweak eye alignment with your scope.
The only real shortcoming with fit will
be for left-handers, as a left-hand
version is not currently available.
I am always very picky about
triggers, and bullpup triggers can be
problematic because of the linkage
required to create a connection
between the trigger blade and the
set-back action.
The Maverick’s two-stage unit is
fully adjustable and the match-type
blade can be adjusted for height and
angle. Let-off wasn’t as crisp as it is on
my Impact, but it was still good – and
that was without any adjustment at all.
From the box, it had just the right
amount of first-stage travel and
weight, and the second stage broke
cleanly, predictably and with no creep.
Moving on to the safety catch, and I
have to say that, aside from the
absence of a left-hand option, this is
one thing that I would change about
67
68 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

The Maverick runs the same
magazines as the Dreamline
and the Crown, and that
means an impressive 22
shots in .177 calibre
the Maverick. It works perfectly well
and is quiet to switch on and off, but I
think it is positioned too far back,
which makes it a bit of a faff to reach.
That is a very small niggle on an
otherwise excellent gun.
ON THE RANGE
As you would expect from an airgun
that combines features of such
illustrious airguns as the Impact and
Wildcat, and has the added advantage
of a dual regulator system, the
Maverick shoots extremely well. The
Superior version of the Smooth Twist X
barrel isn’t too particular about what
it’s fed, and the test gun gave good
results with a wide variety of quality
domed pellets.
JSBs just had the edge, and groups
measuring within 20mm from centre
to centre were commonplace at 40m,
and that was shooting in less than
perfect conditions. The Maverick’s
barrel has been proven to deliver
remarkable grouping at outrageous
ranges so I would expect to be able to
improve on my results on a completely
windless day.
The barrel design and very
consistent power delivery obviously
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
GUN TEST FX MAVERICK
Regulator pressure is displayed on the rear
manometer – the sub-12 model is restricted to
prevent tampering and keep shooters legal
Muzzle energy can be wound up or down via
the rear power dial which adjusts hammer
spring tension
THE BARREL ISN’T TOO noticeable to the shooter because your
face is right next to the action –
PARTICULAR ABOUT WHAT IT’S nothing is going to hear it downrange.
FED AND THE TEST GUN GAVE So that’s the FX Maverick. That dual
regulator setup is something really
GOOD RESULTS WITH A WIDE unique right now, but I can see it
VARIETY OF PELLETS becoming a lot more common on
high-performance airguns over time.
Of course, the greatest gains will be
play a very important part in the enjoyed by those who are able to shoot
accuracy equation, but the the high-power version, but there is still
Maverick’s predictable trigger is also a heck of a lot here for sub-12 shooters
a real asset. And this isn’t just an to get excited about.
airgun that shoots well when rested I personally think it would make a
on a bench; I also found it very cracking little hunting gun, and its
comfortable to shoot from sitting, stubby proportions would make it very
kneeling and standing positions. well-suited to hide shooting. Like all
One thing I did notice when high-end PCPs, the FX Maverick is not
shooting was a distinct “ping” from cheap, but it is a lot more affordable
the action, but it’s nothing to worry than some of its rivals and it boasts
about; it stands out because performance and features that far
everything is so quiet. Also, it is more exceed its asking price.
THE AIRGUN SHOOTER VERDICT
“Combining proven pedigree with an innovative and extremely consistent dual
regulator system, accurate shooting and a very competitive price tag, the FX
Maverick is set to be a very popular choice with shooters who want a quality
tactical bullpup”
69
 UNDERLEVER
BELIEVER
Many fixed-barrel springer fans claim their rifles can rival a PCP for
accuracy, so Rich Saunders takes a look at four of the best to find out
F
ew things are more
pleasurable in airgunning
than submitting to the
exquisite torment of
choosing a new rifle, and
surely there’s nothing more
tortuous than deciding which underlever
you want.
We’ll pore over magazine and YouTube
reviews, ask the opinion of people we know
– and many more that we don’t through
faceless internet forums – and often
descend into a spiral of indecision.
Fixed-barrel springers have an advantage
over break-barrels as they do not rely on
mechanisms to hold the barrel still once
cocked. And yet underlevers, and to an
even greater extent sidelever springers, are
few and far between.
70
The options for a new, full-power
underlever spring rifle are somewhat
limited, although that’s not to say
choosing one is necessarily easier. It really
comes down to a rivalry between just two
manufacturers – Air Arms and Weihrauch
– the best of Britain and Germany.
It couldn’t be any other way I suppose.
Yes, there are alternatives. However the
superb Walther LGU has been
discontinued and Diana’s equally
impressive 460 Magnum seems hard to
get hold of, at least here in the UK.
So that’s the manufacturers sorted then.
Now to the rifles themselves, and that’s
where things get a little more difficult. In
the Air Arms camp your choice is either
the Pro Sport or the TX200 Mk III, which,
for a 12 ft-lb rifle will set you back between
£629-£699 and £499-£569 respectively
depending on the stock you choose.
When it comes to selecting a Weihrauch,
things can get a little trickier still, as both
the HW77 and HW97 lines have several
variants in terms of stock design and
finish. Additionally, physically getting hold
of a Weihrauch to review right now is not
easy – which is likely due to a combination
of Brexit, the impact of Covid on
manufacturing and a boom in people
looking for something to ease their
lockdown boredom, I suspect.
However, thanks to Stourport-on-
Severn’s Allcocks Outdoor Store, we
managed to procure an HW77K Laminate
(£479), and I managed to persuade my
mate Jonny to lend me his prized HW97KT
– a rifle that retails for around £439.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk

£499-£569
AIR ARMS TX 200 MK III
World champion performance
I S
f you were to look down a
price list and note the Air
Arms TX200 Mk III was a
fair bit cheaper than its Pro
Sport sibling, you might come
to the perfectly reasonable
conclusion that it isn’t quite
as good and that
compromises have been made
to save money.
You’d be wrong though, as the
TX200 Mk III is every bit as
capable, well-engineered and
good to shoot as Air Arms’
other underlever. The only
difference, however, is in the
design, which gives rise to a
different layout.
Like the Pro Sport, the TX200
Mk III is available with a beech
or walnut stock, however unlike
the Pro Sport, there are
dedicated left-hander options.
The standard rifle is 1,055mm
long with a 395mm shrouded
and moderated barrel, and
weighs 3.9kg in walnut and
4.1kg in beech. The HC – Hunter
Carbine – model is 995mm long
thanks to a 319mm barrel and
weighs either 3.8kg or 4kg
depending on the stock.
Patches of fish scale
chequering on the pistol grip
and forend are intricate without
being fussy and afford plenty of
grip. The butt is finished with a
ventilated recoil pad, and the
pistol grip with a rosewood cap
and spacer.
When you consider the long
list of FT and HFT titles that
have been won with the TX200,
including a world championship,
it comes as no surprise to learn
that the two-stage adjustable
trigger is excellent.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
Nor are there any shocks in
the fact that the engineering on
the TX200 Mk III is every bit as
good as on the Pro Sport; the
use of a low-friction synthetic
bearing system ensures a
super-smooth, low-effort
cocking stroke as well as a
refined firing cycle.
Located underneath the
barrel, the cocking lever gives
an “over and under” look and is
held in place with a ball bearing
catch under the muzzle.
Although the cocking stroke is
ratcheted, the lever can be
activated silently.
The cross-bolt safety catch at
the back of the action comes on
when the underlever is pulled
down. Once again, there is an
additional anti-bear trap that
acts as a second line of defence
if for some reason you push the
safety in and pull the trigger
before returning the lever.
To release it, you just have to
push a pivot switch on the right
of the rifle by the generous
loading port.
THE AIRGUN
SHOOTER VERDICT
“Thinking the TX200 Mk
III is the Pro Sport’s poor
relation just because it is
cheaper would be a huge
mistake. The rifle is
exquisitely well
engineered and shoots
just as accurately. It just
looks a little different,
thanks to an underlever
layout that, if anything, is
lighter to operate.”
COMPARING KIT FIXED-BARREL SPRINGERS
£629 - £699
AIR ARMS PRO SPORT
Elegant sporting rifle lines
ome people would
question why you’d
spend what’s mid-level
PCP money for a spring rifle.
But they’ve probably never
picked up, let alone shot, an
Air Arms Pro Sport.
Available in either walnut or
beech, and only as a dedicated
right-handed rifle, the Pro Sport
is possibly the most expensive
springer, outside of specialist
target rifles, on the market. I’m
not party to the inner strategy
of the East Sussex company,
but I’m guessing it took the view
that if someone wants a decent
springer over a PCP they’ll be
willing to pay for the best.
From the moment you open
the box, everything about this
rifle screams quality. The finish
on the metalwork is deep, and
even though I know it’s not, the
stock looks like it’s been worked
on for weeks by an old chap
wearing an apron and
brandishing an array of ancient
woodworking tools that have
been passed down through
many generations.
Panels of ornate chequering
adorn both sides of the forend
as well as the steeply raked
pistol grip that is finished with a
rosewood cap and spacer. The
raised comb gives perfect
scope alignment and the
cheekpiece makes the Pro
Sport very comfortable to hold
in position.
Air Arms models the Pro
Sport on a fullbore rifle – a look
it achieves thanks to a chunky
377mm fully shrouded, match-
grade Lothar Walther barrel that
includes an integrated
moderator and an underlever
that tucks away invisibly.
The fact that the underlever
does not require a release catch
is testament to the rifle’s overall
engineering. The use of
synthetic bearings to reduce
friction on the balanced
mainspring, guide and piston
system provides a smooth and
easy cocking action.
The same arrangement also
ensures the firing action is
smooth and devoid of twanging.
At 4.3kg, the Pro Sport reduces
the minimal recoil to a gentle
nudge and the report is best
described as “thuddy”.
Pulling the sidelever down
opens a generous loading port
so you can insert a pellet in the
breech and automatically sets
the cross-bolt safety catch to
ensure the lever won’t trap your
fingers if you pull the trigger by
mistake. An anti-bear trap
mechanism provides a layer of
safety and the underlever will
not return unless the safety
catch is engaged.
THE AIRGUN
SHOOTER VERDICT
“The Pro Sport sets out to
be a premium-level
sporting rifle. Its
handsome, yet purposeful
looks do not flatter to
deceive. This rifle is every
bit as good to shoot as it
is to look at and is proof
that underlever springers
can compete with even
top-level PCPs when it
comes to accuracy.”
71
£479
WEIHRAUCH HW77
An enduring classic
U W
nderlevers were, of
course, around long
before the HW77, but
when Weihrauch brought the
model out in the mid-1980s, it
revitalised a category that
had largely relied on BSA’s
aging Airsporter for any space
on gun shop shelves.
Weihrauch had a good thing
going with its break-barrels, and
the HW35 and HW80 were the
must-have guns for many, so
when the underlever HW77 came
it was a little left field.
However, whether deliberate or
fortunate timing, the emergence
of Field Target shooting soon
meant the company was onto
another winner. There was a time
when you could look over a
muddy field somewhere in the
country and it looked like the
things were being grown there.
Weihrauch had of course made
underlevers before the HW77, but
the combination of the
company’s legendary engineering
quality combined with a modern
take on the style made for a
perfect combination that
exploited the advantages of
fixed-barrel accuracy to the max.
There have been a few tweaks
and modifications over the years.
Today, the HW77 is available as a
full length rifle or as a carbine, or
K, model. Unlike its brother, the
HW97, stock options are limited
to just a traditional sporter style
in either beech or laminate.
At 1,020mm and 4.2kg, our
HW77K Laminate model carries
on the marque’s reputation for
weighty and solid springers that
are, at the same time, well-
balanced and easy to handle.
72
There’s no adjustment in the solid
rubber shoulder pad, but the
cheekpiece on the ambidextrous
stock ensures excellent eye
alignment for a scope or the open
sights that come as standard.
Other than a comfortable cut
away and some chequering, the
pistol grip is plain, and though
there’s no shelf or groove, you’ll
find plenty of room to grip the
rifle regardless of hold.
Pushing a button beneath the
muzzle releases the underlever,
which sweeps back with no
interruption and sets the
cross-bolt safety catch at the
back of the action automatically
whilst opening the loading port to
accept a pellet directly into the
breech. The safety catch
prevents the underlever flying up
and trapping your fingers, as
does an anti-bear trap feature.
Once loaded, the underlever
can be returned quietly. Push the
safety catch off – it can only be
reset by re-cocking the action
– before engaging with the
HW77’s sublime Rekord trigger.
THE AIRGUN
SHOOTER VERDICT
“Though largely
overshadowed by the
HW97 in recent years, the
HW77 rightly deserves its
reputation as one of the
finest spring-powered
rifles ever made. It
combines a simple
elegance with perfect
proportions and
performance that is up
there with the best.”
£439
WEIHRAUCH HW97KT
German engineering at its best
eihrauch’s HW77 may
have reinvigorated the
underlever sector,
but the follow-up act, the
HW97, has taken it to new
heights, winning an army
of supporters happy to
argue to their last breath
that the rifle represents the
pinnacle of spring-powered air
rifle capabilities.
Although Air Arms devotees
will say otherwise, they have a
point. Certainly, the HW97 has
more variants than Air Arms, or
even the HW77. You can choose
either a sporter or thumbhole
stock in beech, blue laminate or a
black tactical finish. If that’s not
enough, the Field Target Black
Line STL model comes with black
or silver metalwork.
Our review gun is a beech
thumbhole stock carbine,
otherwise known as the HW97KT.
At 1,030mm and 4.3kg, it’s still a
substantial rifle in the tradition of
Weihrauch springers, but the
balance is superb, as is the fit,
thanks in part to the adjustable
shoulder pad.
The thumbhole will
accommodate even the biggest
hands, and although the design
won’t allow you to use a
thumb-up grip, there’s a shelf
either side of the pistol grip
which, along with a cheekpiece on
either side of the butt, makes the
HW97 truly ambidextrous. Panels
of chequering ensure plenty of
grip, and the forend tapers
towards a gently flared and
sculpted end.
Pushing a button underneath
the moderated muzzle releases
the underlever and although I
couldn’t perform the function
silently, the click from the release
and return can be stifled quite
easily. The cocking stroke, which
is smooth and requires little
effort, exposes the loading port
that enables you to insert a pellet
directly into the breech.
Cocking also sets the cross-
bolt safety catch located at the
back of the action and provides a
first line of defence to prevent the
sidelever flying up and the loading
port causing injury.
Even with the safety catch
pushed in, the lever will only
return if you move it. Once
pushed in, the safety catch can
only be reset by pulling the
underlever down again to
re-engage it.
If you’ve never shot an HW97
before you’ll appreciate why
people rave about it after taking
just a few shots. The easy-to-
adjust gold Rekord trigger is still
one of the best available and is
the key that unlocks the
remarkably consistent accuracy
of the rifle.
THE AIRGUN
SHOOTER VERDICT
“Weihrauch’s many
decades spent
manufacturing some
of the finest spring-
powered rifles is evident
from the moment you look
upon the HW97KT, let
alone shoot it. The finish
as well as the performance
are first rate and it’s no
surprise the rifle has an
army of admirers.”
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 COMPARING KIT FIXED-BARREL SPRINGERS

UNDERLEVERS
UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

W
hen it comes to buying a new
underlever spring rifle, two
brands stand far above the
others. If you think that
makes choosing one easy, think again as
all these rifles are well-made with
excellent quality and finish, as well as
performance to match. They truly are
springers that will compete with, and in
many cases outperform, PCP rifles for
accuracy and consistency.
In a way, although deciding which one
to opt for will result in much pencil
chewing, you have the security of knowing
that of the four rifles seen here there
really is no bad or wrong choice.
As is often the case, it really comes
down to the rifle that you personally like
the look of most, as well as your budget.
It’s not easy right now, but seeing the
rifles in the flesh and ideally putting them
to your shoulder will help you make that
tough decision a bit easier.
Good luck, and get that pencil ready.

NAME AIR ARMS PRO SPORT AIR ARMS TX200 MK III WEIHRAUCH HW77 WEIHRAUCH HW97

WEIGHT 4.1kg walnut, 4.3kg beech 3.9kg walnut, 4.1kg beech 4.1 to 4.3kg 4.0 to 4.3kg

LENGTH 1,050mm 1,055mm 1,020mm to 1,120mm 1,015mm to 1,030mm

BARREL LENGTH 377mm 395mm 370mm to 470mm 300mm

HIGH POWER OPTIONS 14 ft-lb. (.177), 18 ft-lb (.22) 14 ft-lb (.177), 18 ft-lb (.22) n/a n/a

SAFETY CATCH Automatic Automatic Automatic Automatic

SAFETY FEATURES Anti-bear trap Anti-bear trap Anti-bear trap Anti-bear trap

TRIGGER Fully adjustable two-stage Fully adjustable two-stage Fully adjustable two-stage Fully adjustable two-stage

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 73
 SCOPE TEST
IF LOOKS
COULD THRILL
Mike Morton takes a look at the Hawke Sidewinder 30 SF 4.5-14x44,
and reckons this optic is worth way more than a sideways glance
H
awke’s Sidewinder
scopes are often
touted as being
suitable for shooting
multiple disciplines
– and with multiple
types of rifle in mind as well,
incorporating rimfires and
centrefires as well as air rifles.
This is quite a tough feat to pull
off, as some shooters demand a
telescopic sight that’s light
enough to be carried around all
day, others want a higher
magnification for precision or
long-range use and still more want
an optic that works well at both
dawn and dusk.
But covering multiple bases is
something the Sidewinder has been
pulling off with great success for more
than a decade, and the latest versions
are the best yet. These new models
are lighter and stronger than before,
and have improved illumination and a
new locking turret system. These are
certainly great features, but best of all
is the fact that these new scopes are
being made with what Hawke calls
System H5 optics.
74
System H5 translates to a wider Just like the FFP model I examined,
KEY SPECS field of view, 4” (100mm) of eye the 4.5-14x44 comes with a lockable
MANUFACTURER: relief and low dispersion crown glass fast-focus ring. This will happily stay in
Hawke (www. that promises minimal field place once it’s been adjusted to your
hawkeoptics.com)
curvature and distortion. That’s shooting eye, but can be secured in
MODEL: Sidewinder 30
SF 4.5-14x44 something I was very eager to put to place for a belt and braces approach.
PRICE: £459 the test, as a scope, no matter how Aesthetics should be lower down
TUBE DIAMETER: well appointed it may be with on anyone’s list of priorities when
30mm exciting features, will only ever truly choosing a telescopic sight, but I think
MAGNIFICATION: succeed if it has been made with Hawke has hit the nail on the head.
4.5-14 good quality lenses.
OBJECTIVE LENS: The new range includes a variety
44mm
of scopes in both first focal plane 1
FOCAL PLANE:
Second and second focal plane formats, with
RETICLE: 10x Half Mil the Sidewinder 30 SF 4.5-14x44
LENGTH: 339mm tested here being an SFP model. I’ve
(13.3”) previously looked at the Sidewinder
WEIGHT: 680g (24oz) 30 FFP 4-16x50, and was suitably
EYE RELIEF: 102mm impressed, and had high hopes for
(4”)
this model too.
FOCUS/PARALLAX:
9m (10 yards) to infinity In keeping with the Sidewinder
OCULAR TYPE: range, the 4.5-14x44 has a side
Locking fast focus parallax control. There’s also an
ELEVATION/ optional sidewheel, which makes
WINDAGE
INCREMENT: 1/10
operating the control easier and
milliradian more precise. It’s not a monster
ELEVATION/ wheel and doesn’t add much weight
WINDAGE either, so there may be a few
ADJUSTMENT
RANGE: 28 milliradians hunters who’ll want to fit it to their
scope for extra in-the-field fidelity.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 SCOPE TEST HAWKE SIDEWINDER 30 SF 4.5-14X44

with this new Sidewinder. It’s elegant [1] Each click of

and understated, and if looks could the windage and 2
thrill, then this is the one to do it. elevation turrets
corresponds to a
FEATURES 1/10 mil shift in
This SFP sight costs £459. There’s a point of impact,
jump of £140 if you want to go for an and the reticle is
FFP Sidewinder with a similar range of similarly marked
magnification, but if you don’t actually in mils
need the advantages a first focal plane
scope brings, then the 4.5-14x44 could [2] The witness
very well be all you need as the other window will be of
features and build quality remain most use to
pretty much identical. This one has a long-range
smaller objective lens, 44mm shooters who
compared with 50mm, and that could dial in and want
be another plus point. to confirm how
many revolutions
HAWKE HAS HIT the elevation
3
THE NAIL ON THE turret has made

HEAD WITH THIS NEW [3] The scope

SIDEWINDER, AND IF will parallax
down to nine
LOOKS COULD metres (10
THRILL, THEN THIS IS yards) and the
turret is shared
THE ONE TO DO IT with the
six-position
The scope has an illuminated reticle, illuminated
and the IR control is located on the reticle control
left-hand turret, which it shares with
the parallax control. The parallax [4] Both the
control is smooth, but does require a windage and
fair bit of force to turn it. It’s not elevation turrets
excessive, and you certainly don’t feature pull-
need to fit the sidewheel to get to-use caps
which can be
4 5
sufficient purchase.
In fact the extra torque required can removed with a
be used to your advantage as it’s easy coin and reset
to differentiate between the parallax once the scope’s
and the illuminated reticle controls by been zeroed
feel alone, as the IR clicks with very
little force so it’s immediately obvious [5] This
which one you’ve got hold of when Sidewinder
you’re in the aim. comes with a
There’s also an off position between small sidewheel
each of the brightness settings on this that adds some
control, which means you don’t have dexterity to the
to wind your way through all six levels parallax control
of illumination to get to the one you while adding
want, then reverse the process when minimal bulk
it’s time to switch it off. and weight optional throw lever for extra torque. My standard test is to use a scope in
Just like the parallax control, the However, I used this scope on some a variety of lighting conditions, which
magnification ring at the rear of the of the coldest days we’ve had this I achieved here with the exception of
scope is similarly smooth, but again winter, and didn’t feel the need to fit bright sunshine, which failed to make
needs a little bit of force to turn it. the lever. an appearance on any day I’d
With a firm enough grip, it’s earmarked for my shooting. But most
absolutely fine, and having some IN OPERATION scopes work well in bright light, and a
stiffness present can be a good thing The 30 SF 4.5-14x44, just like its far better test is to use an optic in low
as it means the control is less likely to other Sidewinder stablemates, is light conditions.
be rotated by accident. If you are going chock-full of features, but the one This was all too easy to achieve
to be adjusting magnification quite that’s of most importance is the thanks to the dismal cloud, wind and
often then you can always screw in the quality of the glass. rain we’d been experiencing.

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 75
 Not great for me, but excellent test
conditions for the scope. Although it’s
impossible for glass lenses to allow a
100% transfer of light, this
Sidewinder is one of those scopes
that actually makes a target appear
brighter than it really is. Over the
course of several weeks I trained the
crosshairs over a series of metal,
paper and living targets, and the
image quality was phenomenal.
One of the key features of the H5
glass is its minimal field curvature. In
a worst case scenario, field curvature
means that objects at the
periphery of the field of view will
be out of focus, appearing
blurred and indistinct.
I purposely set out a series
of targets so some would
appear in my peripheral
vision when I was aiming at a
central target, and these
targets appeared perfectly
clear. I know from experience
that this can be hard to achieve,
so full marks to Hawke. And don’t
forget that although this scope isn’t
exactly cheap at £459, it’s not a
£1,500 optic either.
Years ago, for those who can
remember, it seemed that if you
wanted a good quality telescopic sight
to use at airgun distances you’d have
to buy a regular centrefire scope and
parallax it down.
Those days are luckily long gone,
and this Sidewinder easily meets its
advertised claim of parallaxing down
to nine metres /10 yards – and this is
at the full 14x magnification. It’s
possible to make the scope focus
even closer if you simply wind down
the magnification ring.
Hawke uses different reticles across
its FFP and SFP Sidewinder ranges,
with the second focal plane 30 SF
4.5-14x44 seen here being kitted out
with a 10x Half Mil reticle. Because it’s
a second focal plane scope, the “10x”
nomenclature means the milliradian
spacings will be accurate when
magnification has been set to 10x,
while “Half Mil” refers to the fact that
the spacings are supplied half a mil
apart, thus providing more aim points,
with even finer 0.2 mil spacings on
the outer posts.
This reticle is of the Christmas tree
type, where the floating aim points
can be used to aim off for wind. This
type of reticle can look a little
cluttered, but Hawke has done a
pretty good job of making it appear as
76
A zoom lever is another
nice optional extra,
which makes adjusting
power across the
4.4-14x magnification
range much easier
clean as possible, while still
providing as much information
as possible.
Back to the spacings, and the
Hawke’s 10x turrets also use the milliradian
Half Mil reticle system rather than minute of angle,
is a Christmas making this what’s known as a true
tree-style ret, mrad/mrad scope. Each click of the
offering plenty windage and elevation turrets will
of aiming off move the shot by 1/10 mil, so you
points for can cross-reference your point of
windage as well
as elevation WITH THE CROSSHAIRS OVER
A SERIES OF TARGETS THE
IMAGE WAS PHENOMENAL
impact to the reticle and calculate
the number of clicks to adjust,
rather than rely on guesswork.
The windage turret felt very
slightly different to the elevation
turret when I was making
adjustments, but this is a real
nitpick as the clicks themselves
were nice and positive for both.
The turret caps, which need to be
pulled up before any adjustments
can be made, were similarly positive
when clicked up and back down.
When zero has been set they can
be removed and repositioned so the
“0” on the turret matches your
chosen zero.
THE AIRGUN SHOOTER VERDICT
“Hawke’s Sidewinder 30 SF 4.5-14x44 is a real Goldilocks scope, being not too big, not too heavy and just
right for most applications – it’s a definite contender for shooters wanting a second focal plane optic”
The final feature that truly needs
mentioning is the witness window
and red marker that give you the
ability to keep track of the number
of revolutions the elevation turret
has made.
When dialling in for very long shots,
you may need to make more than one
complete revolution, and when it’s
time to return to zero it may not be
enough to simply go back to the “0”
marker on the turret
as you might still be
one or two complete
revolutions too high.
It’s not a feature
that most airgun
shooters will use very often, but
for those who do need it, it will
prove invaluable.
Sadly, this scope doesn’t belong to
me, and my handing over of this
Sidewinder is one side parting that
I’m not looking forward to in the
slightest! The slightly stiff controls,
which may even free up over time,
really are a very minor gripe
compared with the positive features
this scope has to offer.
This is an optic that can be pressed
into service in a variety of roles, and
it won’t just muddle through any
of them, it’ll take on all of them
with relish.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 PELLET TEST
EXPRESS DELIVERY
Mike Morton test the Webley Mosquito Express in .22 calibre, finding
W
a pellet that’s a little lighter and a little faster than the norm
ebley Mosquito
Express pellets
were a big hit
when they first
came out, but
then to the
dismay of many shooters they
went out of production for a while.
Luckily they were reintroduced a
while ago, and are now available in
both .177 and .22 calibres.
I’ve looked at the .177 variety
previously, finding these pellets to be
consistent over the chrono and
turning in some sub-five pence
piece-sized groups downrange at my
standard three distances. But that
was then, and it was now time to put
these pellets to the test once more,
this time in the larger calibre.
Mosquito Express are made for
Webley by JSB and follow the Czech
manufacturer’s own Express concept
of offering a pellet that’s slightly
shorter and lighter than normal, in
this case an advertised 14.35 grains
compared with a typical 16 grain .22,
making it a touch faster than normal.
The weight saving appears to have
78
been made in the almost As usual, I weighed a random
KEY SPECS non-existent waist and the length of sample of 50 pellets using my digital
the skirt, which is slightly shorter scales. They’re not necessarily
PELLET: Webley
Mosquito Express than usual. perfectly calibrated, but have
MANUFACTURER: Webley Mosquito Express are nevertheless proven to be very
JSB for Webley supplied in a standard tin with a consistent. Eleven pellets came in at
SUPPLIED BY: press-on lid of 500 pellets in .22 14.2 grains, 10 weighed 14.4 grains
Highland Outdoors
(www.
calibre. It’s nice to see the full and 29 were measured as being 14.6
highlandoutdoors. “normal” amount be included when grains, yielding an average weight of
co.uk) some other .22 calibre pellets are 14.47 grains compared with the
PELLET TYPE: stated weight of 14.35
Roundhead diabolo
grains – close
CALIBRE TESTED: .22
(5.5mm) ALL THREE GROUPS FELL enough, especially
HEAD SIZE: 5.52mm WITHIN THE OUTLINE OF A 10 considering my
uncalibrated scales.
SUPPLIED IN: Tin of
500 PENCE PIECE
PRICE: £20.99 TEST CONDITIONS
ADVERTISED sold in tins containing only 200 or This shoot was conducted outdoors
WEIGHT: 14.35 grains
300 pellets. That comes at a cost from a covered firing point on a cold,
MEASURED WEIGHT:
14.47 grains
though, as they have a suggested damp and overcast, but totally
USES: Target
retail price of £20.99 from UK windless day All shots were taken at
shooting, hunting and supplier Highland Outdoors. a 1” Birchwood Casey Target Spot,
plinking They look to be worth it though, with the rifle zeroed at 30 yards, with
as not a single pellet in my tin of me having to hold under at 20 yards
500 had suffered any crush and having to hold over at 40.
damage or manufacturing As usual, the pellets were taken
deformity. There was a fair bit of straight from the tin, and five shots
loose lead swarf in the tin however, were taken at each of the three
which I wasn’t expecting. Target Spots.
www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
 PELLET TEST WEBLEY MOSQUITO EXPRESS .22

TEST RESULTS ANALYSIS

20 yards 30 yards 40 yards

*1-inch targets used

The £20.99 price per tin in .22 calibre seems quite high at first
glance, but you are getting a full complement of 500 pellets

While the pellets

themselves were WEIGHT CONSISTENCY
very cleanly made
and showed no signs

14.4
14.2
14.6
of deformity or
damage, there was a

29

10
11
bit of lead detritus
left in the tin

DOWNRANGE
I decided to use my new Weihrauch
HW100 S for this test. This is one of
those rifles that just gets on with
things nice and calmly and does what
it’s told. It’s the golden retriever of
the airgun world. It was paired with a
Hawke Sidewinder scope and was
supported fore and aft by two
Dog-Gone-Good bench and wedge
bags. As usual, the test began with
the bore being leaded and the
Mosquito Express being fired over
my Shooting Chrony F1, with a
10-shot string giving an average
muzzle velocity of 604.4 feet per
second, a variation of 6.6 feet per
second and a muzzle energy of 11.74
foot pounds.
At 20 yards, group size was a very
pleasing 6.5mm centre-to-centre,
with 20mm of holdunder required. At
30 yards group size expanded
slightly to 10.8mm centre-to-centre,
with one shot very slightly off to the
left, although it was still a one-hole
group. Taking this pellet out of the
mix would have yielded a group of
just 6.4mm.
A sample of 50
pellets turned in a
pleasing average
measured weight
Back at 40 yards group size was of 14.47 grains
20.4mm centre-to centre. I used compared with
50mm of holdover, but when I the weight on the
started shooting I realised I should tin of 14.35 grains
have been using a few millimetres
more, as the group was below my
point of aim. Nevertheless the
intention is always to show the
initial five-shot group at each of the
three ranges, and so I didn’t shoot
another target.
All three groups fell within the
outline of a 10 pence piece, which
has a diameter of 24.5mm, while
the 20- and 30-yard groups were
within the 18mm diameter of a five
pence piece. Rifle and ammo
combos vary greatly. In my gun,
these groups prove the .22
Mosquito Express to be a good
performer, but put them through
your own .22 rifle and you might
find you’ve got a great one.
THE AIRGUN SHOOTER VERDICT
“Webley Mosquito Express pellets live up to their name, being light and fast, and taking a bite out of
the three test targets in all the right places”

www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 79
READER ADS
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IN THE SUBJECT LINE. THE ITEM STAYS LISTED UNTIL BEING KNOCKED OFF THE BOTTOM

FOR SALE: FX Impact MkII. Black, .177
calibre, 11 months old. Andy Hunt (West
Sussex). Tel: 07761 063442. Email:
andyhunt0627@outlook.com
FOR SALE: Two custom stocks. HW95
CS500, lLeft-hand with rosewood caps.
£140. HW99 CS700, left-hand
thumbhole with adjustable butt pad.
£160. Both in very good condition. R
Woodgate (Isle of Wight). Tel: 01983
566634. Email: OzzieBob@outlook.com
WANTED: Theoben gas-ram barrel in
.177 or .20, Slimline or EVO silencer
fitted. R Woodgate (Isle of Wight). Tel:
01983 566634. Email: OzzieBob@
outlook.com
FOR SALE: As new BSA Silver Star. New
May 2020, complete with hard case and
an unused Optisan Mamba 12x44 scope.
Cost £599. £350. John Lane (Norfolk).
Tel 01366 386329 or email john.lane19@
gmail.com
FOR SALE: Theoben Sirocco .22 with
Bushnell scope. Excellent condition as
little used. £400. No offers. Brian White
(Suffolk). Tel: 01977 661671.
FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW100 .22 rifle,
3x magazines, 1x single shot loading tray,
Hawke Airmax 4x16x50 scope, 7 litre air
bottle (in test), Harris bipod, sling and
gun bag. All in very good condition. Email
for photos. £675 ono. Anthony Griffiths
(Hertfordshire). Tel: 07742 292208 or
email atg.bushey@yahoo.co.uk
FOR SALE: FAS AP 604 in .177 calibre. A
quality target pistol from the 1980s,
recently rebuilt with new seals, shoots
very wel. Period attache-style, foam-lined
case and a spare set of seals. £275 ono.
Collection in person preferred. Nigel
Beesley (Norfolk). Tel: 07976 935884.
FOR SALE: Vintage BSA Scorpion in
.177 calibre with its cocking aid (you’ll
need it). Early model with plain receiver.
Powerful and accurate pistol dating to
1973/4 with a fine two-stage trigger,
owned by me since new and recently
serviced and overhauled by an
experienced gunsmith. £115 ono.
Collection in person preferred. Nigel
Beesley (Norfolk). Tel: 07976 935884.
FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW40 PCA in
.177 calibre. Bought new in August
2019 and with no more than one tin of
pellets through it since, this is a new
single-stroke pneumatic with a
steel-reinforced polymer frame. It has
an ambidextrous grip with an
automatic safety and is effectively
recoilless on firing. Fibre optic sights
make target acquisition easy. Original
box and instructions. £125 ono.
Collection in person preferred. Nigel
Beesley (Norfolk). Tel: 07976 935884.
FOR SALE: Karl Kaps Klassic rifle
scope. 1-4x24. German 4A reticle.
30mm tube. Compact, lightweight
classic scope of outstanding optical
and mechanical quality. Made by the
family firm of Karl Kaps, Wetzlar,
Germany. In box, with instruction
manual, lens cloth and maker’s
guarantee. £550. Immediate
availability. Ray Garner (East Yorkshire).
Tel: 01977 661671.
FOR SALE: Collection of old air rifles
and telescopic sights. Bob (Surbiton).
Call 07944 623013 or 07842 943401
FOR SALE: Daystate Griffin .22 calibre.
Silver action with black laminate
adjustable stock and case. Cost £1,700.
Wanting £995. BSA R-10 Mk2 in walnut
stock, scope and bag. £675. Both in
very good condition. Tony Litchfield
(Nottingham). Tel: 01159 844761.
FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW97K .22
underlever air rifle. Hawke Reflex
mounts and scope 6x42. All in very
good condition. The stock on the rifle
has a small mark – photos available.
£200. Stuart West (Melton Mowbray).
Tel: 07983 088162.
WANTED: Crosman Mark I or Mark II
air pistol. Any condition. Peter Bucknall
(Staffordshire). Tel: 07939 914342.
FOR SALE: AGT Uragan Compact in
.177. Bag, two mags, fill probe, extra
custom riser cheekpiece. Cost £1,350.
For sale at £950 ono. Paul Ford
(Denbighshire). Tel: 07841 457260.
FOR SALE: Logun Eazi-glide pump.
Never used, still in original box. Offers.
Gregory Heath (Cambridgeshire). Tel:
07534 574406.
FOR SALE: Feinwerkbau 300s. Good
condition. No marks. Custom wood
case. New breech and buffer seals last
year. Piston ring in good condition. New
ring with it. £275. FOR SALE: Rare
Drulov 10 Condor target pistol, five-shot
C02. Cased with all tools, set of seals,
unused set of selected pellets, buddy
bottle and receipt from dealer. Very
little use. £250. John Lane (Norfolk).
Call 01366 386329 or email john.
lane19@gmail.com
FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW 100 Sport
.22 including Weihrauch silencer plus
two mags. Sights: Hawke 4-16x50 AD IR
Mil Dot, mounts plus bag, manuals,
decoys and targets. Superb weapon,
extremely accurate. All excellent
condition. Retiring. Price is only £595. a
great saving on new. Kevin Forde
(Preston, Lancs). Call 07929 362027
FOR SALE: Daystate Timber Wolf .177. 14
of 100 limited edition gun. 5-20x50 MTC
Genesis scope, hard case, certificates,
mint condition. £2,000 ovno. Paul
Schielaert (Leeds). Tel: 07549 761580
FOR SALE: Air Arms Ultimate Sporter
.177. Laminate stock, 2x 10-shot mags, fill
adapter, hard case. As new. Genuine
reason for sale. Face-to-face only. Cash
only. £700 ono. David Bessell (Bolton,
Lancs). Tel: 07949 174570
FOR SALE: Weihrauch HW100T and slip
plus two 14-shot magazines and
single-shot adapter. £660.
FOR SALE: Harris 5”-9” bipod for
HW100T. £35.
FOR SALE: Hawke scope 4-12x50 AO
AMX and mounts. £115.
FOR SALE: Five-litre CO2 cylinder and
cover dated 2016/6 plus adapter for
HW100. £65. Spencer Brotherton
(Peterborough). Tel: 01733 689445
WANTED: Breech block for Daystate
Mk4is. Call Cliff Forder on 07796 199 207
or email cliff&rene@talktalk.net
FOR SALE: Daystate Air Wolf MCT .177 in
mint condition, fitted with Huggett
shroud and moderator. Ten-shot mag,
single-shot tray, quick-fill adapter and
hard case. Hawke Sidewinder 8-32x56
with IR. £1,100 ono. John Warner
(Derbyshire). Tel: 07544 510881. Email:
john.warner01@btinternet.com

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www.airgunmagazine.co.uk 81
THE GUN ROOM

Daisy used an
authentic 1911-style
working thumb
safety for this CO2
pellet-firing repeater

The Power Line 45 used an

unusual linear magazine
system in which the mag
was loaded along the
barrel rather than the grip

Colt 1911 styling was

much in evidence,
and back in the day
it was either this or
the Umarex 1911
It featured a firing
mechanism that could be
operated in either single-
or double-action mode

REPEAT
PERFORMANCE
Daisy were best known for their spring-
operated BB guns, but Jonathan Young recalls
how that all changed with the Power Line 45

L
ong before CO2 became
popular again, Daisy were
known here in the UK more
for their BB long guns for
youngsters. Their CO2
range didn’t reach us for
years until the late 1990s. Then, for a
period, the airgun press carried adverts
showing many new unseen Daisy
imports, each a CO2 marvel, one of
which was this amazing air pistol.
The Power Line 45 is a .177 fast-fire repeater,
but with no BBs in sight. A true pellet repeater
this, with Colt 1911 styling with a drop-in linear
magazine that slides onto the top of the frame.
The firing mechanism is astonishing in its
complexity and relies on the equally complex In keeping with the unusual magazine system, the
magazine that at first glance looks so simplistic, release catch was similarly unusual – just press
but in reality is anything but simple. the big round button
Through a series of springs that tension the
pellets ready for release, the magazine frees off
and a pellet is forced back into a carrier that
literally grabs it down into the boreline.
Ready for action, all of the 13 flat-topped
target pellets exit the rifled barrel at reasonable
speed. The pistol can be used more slowly,
of course, in order to avoid the issues with
over-eager CO2 depletion. With pellet over BB
accuracy, okay, it’s still not a target pistol, but
the Daisy Power Line 45 is capable of some
decent accuracy – with a fun factor of 10
thrown in for free.

The pellet magazine is virtually hidden when it’s

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 18 MAR fitted into frame of the gun, rather than the grip
mag well which is more commonly found today

82 www.airgunmagazine.co.uk
.
9000 9027