We will get to the Blackwolf in a second but first some background.
I enjoy all Airgun related activities. Besides trying to start a new airgun range and field target club in the Mobile Alabama area called, S.A.G.E. short for Southern Air Gun Enthusiasts. I also enjoy helping new shooters get started and helping them discover what they like and often i help them find and set up their stuff. It's not as painful helping other people spend "their money". I'll post some pictures this weekend as time permits.
My newest shooter is 78 years young; he's in great health but he is still 78. After trying all my different (i have "20" too many) PCP air rifles he decided most all of them were just too heavy. Money wasn't a problem so he wanted something snazzy, and lighter.
Weight considered, the closest option i had that was to his liking was my Redwolf L.P. version with a 300 CC bottle; the turkish walnut is the lightest stock for a Redwolf. This RW currently has a pretty big Sightron S3 on top.
Hmmm... pause
In steps the Blackwolf in the entry level model. I suggested and he agreed to place a pre-inventory order with AOA 2 - months back? It arrived late last night 10 April 2025 too late to play with or take pictures. AOA had already done the hard work. They Tuned it Down for HFT <20 FPE and kindly shared their experience in doing this tune along the way. I already shared some of this tune info in another thread called Blackwolf Information.
The first thing i noticed at 3:30 a.m. this morning, during some initial setup, was just how light this PCP was.
AOA put a 300 CC btl on it per request to keep the weight down.
With the Athlon scope and wheel shown, the all in weight is 10 lbs 3 ounces. which includes a PRS single shot loader and a PRS M-Lok to UIT adapter.
The second thing i noticed was: you better use medium, or better yet, HIGH scope rings.
I initially tried my ol “slam the scope down as close to the barrel as you can, using low mount rings. No worky, the 50 mm bell on the Athlon Ares BTR Gen3 HD 2.5-15x50 using low rings the bell was probably going to touch once the pic rings were tightend up. I ended up temporarily using some Eagle Vision 30mm inf adjust rings i had laying around and they worked fine.
athlonoptics.com
This particular Athlon scope may get replaced with the Maven RS.5 4-24x50mm in SFP depending on which scope reticle and weight the end user likes prefers. https://mavenbuilt.com/collections/riflescopes/products/rs-5-4-24x50-sfp?variant=38111355240619
Even in a <20 FPE tune this .177 had a BARK. So after trying several different moderators I chose the Weihrauch moderator as it IS the quietest option that i had. https://www.airgunspares.com/weihrauch15unfweihrauchsilencer12unf.html
got off early today and went straight to work on the Blackwolf.
First thing was to chronograph it to see if it was Hft legal.
reg pressure was at 120
power wheel was at 10
jsb 13.43’s were flying around 915 FPS.
Too hot for Hft so I began turning down the power wheel and at 6 I hit the sweet spot of 815 FPS….
Based on experience with my Ghost, I chose 30 yards as my starting point for zero; and it was a good choice.
I had a 5-7 mph wind right to left but was still able to lock it in Within a click or two. I’ll fine tune or adjust a click or two later when the wind disappears.
The Blackwolf did not disappoint!
25 shots at 30 yards… see picture - those are 1/8” blocks. 4 outliers out of 25 from a wee bit of a wiggly bench. I made no attempt to correct for the wind.
This wolf likes the JSB 13.43 exacts.
45 shots were avg of 813.8 FPS on my Garmin C1 chrono
I found it easy to get a good eye box, on the bench, but there isn’t much room on the Blackwolf to move things around unless you have some sort of adapter.
This Blackwolf, as tuned, is very air efficient. If time permits this weekend I’ll try to get a full shot count from a 230 bar fill to the reg setting at 120 bar.
i did create a basic dope chart from 10 - 30 yards by taking actual shots and every shot by the 1/2 yard was very predictable and consistent.
I enjoy all Airgun related activities. Besides trying to start a new airgun range and field target club in the Mobile Alabama area called, S.A.G.E. short for Southern Air Gun Enthusiasts. I also enjoy helping new shooters get started and helping them discover what they like and often i help them find and set up their stuff. It's not as painful helping other people spend "their money". I'll post some pictures this weekend as time permits.
My newest shooter is 78 years young; he's in great health but he is still 78. After trying all my different (i have "20" too many) PCP air rifles he decided most all of them were just too heavy. Money wasn't a problem so he wanted something snazzy, and lighter.
Weight considered, the closest option i had that was to his liking was my Redwolf L.P. version with a 300 CC bottle; the turkish walnut is the lightest stock for a Redwolf. This RW currently has a pretty big Sightron S3 on top.
Hmmm... pause
In steps the Blackwolf in the entry level model. I suggested and he agreed to place a pre-inventory order with AOA 2 - months back? It arrived late last night 10 April 2025 too late to play with or take pictures. AOA had already done the hard work. They Tuned it Down for HFT <20 FPE and kindly shared their experience in doing this tune along the way. I already shared some of this tune info in another thread called Blackwolf Information.
The first thing i noticed at 3:30 a.m. this morning, during some initial setup, was just how light this PCP was.
AOA put a 300 CC btl on it per request to keep the weight down.
With the Athlon scope and wheel shown, the all in weight is 10 lbs 3 ounces. which includes a PRS single shot loader and a PRS M-Lok to UIT adapter.
The second thing i noticed was: you better use medium, or better yet, HIGH scope rings.
I initially tried my ol “slam the scope down as close to the barrel as you can, using low mount rings. No worky, the 50 mm bell on the Athlon Ares BTR Gen3 HD 2.5-15x50 using low rings the bell was probably going to touch once the pic rings were tightend up. I ended up temporarily using some Eagle Vision 30mm inf adjust rings i had laying around and they worked fine.
Ares BTR GEN3 HD 2.5-15x50 APRS13 Riflescope
When you want the best features from the top-tier rifle scope but not break the bank, look no further than the new Ares BTR line of scopes.
athlonoptics.com This particular Athlon scope may get replaced with the Maven RS.5 4-24x50mm in SFP depending on which scope reticle and weight the end user likes prefers. https://mavenbuilt.com/collections/riflescopes/products/rs-5-4-24x50-sfp?variant=38111355240619
Even in a <20 FPE tune this .177 had a BARK. So after trying several different moderators I chose the Weihrauch moderator as it IS the quietest option that i had. https://www.airgunspares.com/weihrauch15unfweihrauchsilencer12unf.html
got off early today and went straight to work on the Blackwolf.
First thing was to chronograph it to see if it was Hft legal.
reg pressure was at 120
power wheel was at 10
jsb 13.43’s were flying around 915 FPS.
Too hot for Hft so I began turning down the power wheel and at 6 I hit the sweet spot of 815 FPS….
Based on experience with my Ghost, I chose 30 yards as my starting point for zero; and it was a good choice.
I had a 5-7 mph wind right to left but was still able to lock it in Within a click or two. I’ll fine tune or adjust a click or two later when the wind disappears.
The Blackwolf did not disappoint!
25 shots at 30 yards… see picture - those are 1/8” blocks. 4 outliers out of 25 from a wee bit of a wiggly bench. I made no attempt to correct for the wind.
This wolf likes the JSB 13.43 exacts.
45 shots were avg of 813.8 FPS on my Garmin C1 chrono
I found it easy to get a good eye box, on the bench, but there isn’t much room on the Blackwolf to move things around unless you have some sort of adapter.
This Blackwolf, as tuned, is very air efficient. If time permits this weekend I’ll try to get a full shot count from a 230 bar fill to the reg setting at 120 bar.
i did create a basic dope chart from 10 - 30 yards by taking actual shots and every shot by the 1/2 yard was very predictable and consistent.
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guess I’ll have to finish what I started yesterday…. Setting up this BW.