I recently had an email discussion with AOA
regarding several questions I had, that would affect someone‘s selection of the proper Blackwolf “for them”; especially if wanting to use it for field target.
I was interested in:
#1 The weight of various options
bottle v tube v stock.
#2 platform power and caliber changes.
note - I wanted a comparison to the Ghost as changes to the Ghost are pretty straightforward.
On the Blackwolf there are a couple of things that make caliber and barrel changes slightly more involved if you’re wanting to go from low power HFT to high power EFT.
This discussion did not specifically address WFTF <12 fpe.
Here is what I learned:
If you are wanting to get under 20ft-lbs for HFT with this gun, you need to go with the L.P. 17" barrel option.
Why?
With the larger transfer port and big plenum on the Blackwolf H.P. Models you will have trouble getting the gun to shoot at lower powers. EFT, no problem.
With the 17" .177 L.P. Model using a smaller transfer port, AOA reports that they got it to work really well under 20ft-lbs so that‘s the best option for people wanting to stay <20 FPE.
They suggested or reported that the 23" L.P. Model in .177 may struggle to get under 20 FPE.
Regarding shot count, bottle version, right now the .177 17" got 250 shots max (i.e. at low reg settings) <20 for? or about 125 shots at 30ft-lbs.
AOA suggested that the cylinder version, not in stock, would get closer to 150-175 shots but don't quote me.
Weights:
The 17" .177 cylinder / tube version in carbon grey is 6.9lbs, walnut 7.5lbs, Laminate 7.9lbs.
Note:
selecting the in stock “bottle“ version in any of the available platforms, shaves off .5lb.
Over the 480cc? Bottle Choice.
bottom line-if you’re wondering, the cylinder / tube versions are .5 lbs heavier.
Thus the lightest possible configuration would be a grey carbon stock with a 330 cc bottle by special request.
And if you’re at field target person you will have to choose the L.P. 17” version.
Some additional info as of 3/11/2025:
AOA reports being able to get low power, but even the lightest (white) spring was "too strong" at low reg pressures of 80-90bar and they reported getting zero velocity change with the PWR wheel; and mentioned it was still using a lot of air and sounded wasteful (and didn't shoot great).
They ended up using the transfer port from the UK sub12 guns with everything else the same and it worked perfectly.
The plan is to include the high power transfer port as well as the low power one so customers can use either.
The conversion is simple, the transfer port is a brass piece threaded onto the barrel - all you would need to do is remove the barrel and swap out the transfer ports.
AOA reported a shooter used the Blackwolf in the Sonoran Grand Prix a few weeks ago and it shot really well.
With the different transfer port it got 17-19ft-lbs at 90bar reg and was very efficient. I think we set his up for 10gr but 13gr will work fine as well.
The platform can still swap to any caliber/barrel length you want even with the 17" barrel so that won't be an issue.
regarding several questions I had, that would affect someone‘s selection of the proper Blackwolf “for them”; especially if wanting to use it for field target.
I was interested in:
#1 The weight of various options
bottle v tube v stock.
#2 platform power and caliber changes.
note - I wanted a comparison to the Ghost as changes to the Ghost are pretty straightforward.
On the Blackwolf there are a couple of things that make caliber and barrel changes slightly more involved if you’re wanting to go from low power HFT to high power EFT.
This discussion did not specifically address WFTF <12 fpe.
Here is what I learned:
If you are wanting to get under 20ft-lbs for HFT with this gun, you need to go with the L.P. 17" barrel option.
Why?
With the larger transfer port and big plenum on the Blackwolf H.P. Models you will have trouble getting the gun to shoot at lower powers. EFT, no problem.
With the 17" .177 L.P. Model using a smaller transfer port, AOA reports that they got it to work really well under 20ft-lbs so that‘s the best option for people wanting to stay <20 FPE.
They suggested or reported that the 23" L.P. Model in .177 may struggle to get under 20 FPE.
Regarding shot count, bottle version, right now the .177 17" got 250 shots max (i.e. at low reg settings) <20 for? or about 125 shots at 30ft-lbs.
AOA suggested that the cylinder version, not in stock, would get closer to 150-175 shots but don't quote me.
Weights:
The 17" .177 cylinder / tube version in carbon grey is 6.9lbs, walnut 7.5lbs, Laminate 7.9lbs.
Note:
selecting the in stock “bottle“ version in any of the available platforms, shaves off .5lb.
Over the 480cc? Bottle Choice.
bottom line-if you’re wondering, the cylinder / tube versions are .5 lbs heavier.
Thus the lightest possible configuration would be a grey carbon stock with a 330 cc bottle by special request.
And if you’re at field target person you will have to choose the L.P. 17” version.
Some additional info as of 3/11/2025:
AOA reports being able to get low power, but even the lightest (white) spring was "too strong" at low reg pressures of 80-90bar and they reported getting zero velocity change with the PWR wheel; and mentioned it was still using a lot of air and sounded wasteful (and didn't shoot great).
They ended up using the transfer port from the UK sub12 guns with everything else the same and it worked perfectly.
The plan is to include the high power transfer port as well as the low power one so customers can use either.
The conversion is simple, the transfer port is a brass piece threaded onto the barrel - all you would need to do is remove the barrel and swap out the transfer ports.
AOA reported a shooter used the Blackwolf in the Sonoran Grand Prix a few weeks ago and it shot really well.
With the different transfer port it got 17-19ft-lbs at 90bar reg and was very efficient. I think we set his up for 10gr but 13gr will work fine as well.
The platform can still swap to any caliber/barrel length you want even with the 17" barrel so that won't be an issue.
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can’t imagine being happier with anything else!
