I was happy to be able to spend some time with my new Huntsman Revere in .25 this afternoon.
As you may know, this is a superb bit of kit!
Here's what I have to compare it to;
- Benjamin Marauder .177
- S.A.M. .22
- Kratos .22
- Akela .22
- Kral Pro 500/Jumbo .22
- LCS SK19 .25
...and a number of old springers, and my relatively new R9.
Fit and finish is superior to any other PCP I have shot. There is a reason this Daystate is multiple times more pricey than my Turkish rifles, and it shows right from the first time you handle them. The only other rifle I own that has similar quality, is the R9.
The Stock is simply fantastic. Checkering and fit comparable to a very good sporting rifle. Transitions from wood to but pads are perfect, unlike on my Turkish rifles. The grip cap is a lovely detail well executed. It's got an overall solid feel, but no oversized beefy lines like the unfortunate Marauder stock who's obscene girth I have grown to dislike immensely for it's almost comical obesity. The Revere is a solid yet lightweight easily pointable rifle. Truly a "sporter" which I intend for all manner of pesting and a wide range of hunting. FYI, I did NOT win the
"Woodgrain lottery" My particular Walnut stock is lovely, but it's simply not one of the amazing oes that often turn up. Even though the workmanship that went into this piece of wood is extraordinary, the blanks that ended up in all three of my Turkish walnut stocked air rifles are all
"figuratively" more appealing. But of course the workmanship is not as good.
All the metal work is superior as well.
Trigger is fantastic. I've not touched it at all, though I understand there is significant room for adjustment. Loving it as is so far.
The safety is a new design for me, super solid and easy to read, just very different. I like were it is located, you can always see it, and it can be switched easily with either hand.
I purchased the .25, as I intend to use it primarily for pests. This still leaves me with a still substantial 10 round magazine.
This magazine is a wonder in it's self. Perhaps others have similar, but coming from the Marauder and Kral style mags of plastic, this is light-years superior. Machined from solid bits of aluminum, anodized black, it's easy to load, and fits into the rifle with an ease unlike any of the plastic ones. Magnets hold the loading gate shut, and the magazine into the rifle before the bolt is closed to lock it in. I've read that the rattle sound can be considered a drawback. I did not run onto that off the tripod shooting paper, but can imagine it when stalking. It does have one other problem, which is a bit of a major design flaw IMHO, but that's more than just the magazine itself...
The Design flaw: My "We the Plinkers" edition came from AOA with rings and a 3-10 MTC "Mamba" scope. My first impression of this set up was
"why the tall rings on this small scope? there's enough clearance for this scope to drop much lower?" In fact, the scope is mounted so high, that I am unable to achieve a decent cheek weld, I have to "cheat" up and use more of the side of my jaw. Not a terrible or uncommon issue when using a rifle not set up for ones own needs, but it reflects on the speed with which I can get a good view through the scope.
The height is of course due to the needs of the magazine clearance required to fit under the scope. Ok, that's a thing with air rifles, and the solution is to adjust the comb/cheek-piece height to accommodate. This lovely sporter stock looks right, but it simply isn't right for the required height of the scope. To have this wonderful Daystate with it's superior fit and finish in essence,
handicapped by the fact that the comb is too low, (or the magazine and thus the scope its too high) ...well that's just bad planning.
If I don't use the amazing magazine and use the single shot, i can mount the scope to a height that offers perfect cheek weld. But I am not going to do that, nor should I be in a place to have to solve this problem either way (cheek pad, adjust my shooting etc..) all are solutions to a problem that should not exist. It simply needs a higher (or adjustable) comb straight from Daystate.
Obviously many overcome this hurdle, and it's such a nice shooter, that I will do the same. But if these ergonomics are important to you, and they should be, you really need to consider this defect before before buying. Even the Marauder has this problem covered (albeit in plastic) the Kratos and Cayden use the same gorgeous walnut for their adjustable combs, and the Pro 500 has a proper comb height out of the box.
Shooting: I only put three magazines through it before deciding it was time to pack it in. At that point both reg gauges were reading at 110/115 BAR. Unfortunately I don't recall what the regulator meter was reading at the beginning, but after two magazines and at least 3 dry-fires, (approx 33 shots) it was down to reading the same 180 BAR as the main bottle gauge. I'll edit this when I get around to a refill to see where the reg gauge lands when full at 250BAR.
I shot JSB Exact King .25 25.39 gr, the same as AOA used for testing with the scope they dialed in (close but not quite on)
Daystate had dialed in the reg for the Heavies. I'll try those next time.
I don't use a chrono, but AOA's data on the 5 shot test group with Kings are 814-816 FPS for 37.37-37.55 FPE.
Daystate's results using the King Heavies was 726.6-737.4 fps 39.8-41 fpe.
I was shooting at 35 yards (the max for my at home "range" ie: backyard) and this rifle with it's excellent trigger is a one hole wonder (lower right) at that range to be sure. I'd be better off with a superior scope, my eyesite is too old for 10x even at 35 yards.
I was surprised to see that even as the reg pressure began to drop with the bottle gauge reading, the poi never began to poop down. My last two shots (upper left) were as high as anything else. This leads me to believe I could get more shots, but I had reason to pack it in, and I was not looking to drop bottle pressure too far under 100 BAR.
All in all, and fantastic, well made peice of engineering with a lot of "just right" Goldilocks about it's build, size etc. I'll see what I can do about the comb/scope height issue. I'll be curious to see how much further I can push it at .25 shot count, but imagine that .22 and .177 would be far more likely options for this small tube gun. In my case, i have my big bottle
"load it on Sunday and shoot all week" rifles already, this was just what i was looking for. My most compact rifle with the heaviest hit!
