Daystate Pulsar HP .177

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fderry

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May 2, 2019
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Colorado, United States
Just received my Daystate Pulsar HP .177 today.



I have been fascinated by the Redwolf but prefer a bullpup. Electronic controls seem to me to be the next step in PCP evolution and I really wanted to try one of Daystate’s electronically controlled airguns. Finally bit the bullet and bought the Pulsar. My initial concerns with the Pulsar was it’s looks and it’s advertised weight. The looks kind of grew on me (still not the best looking bullpup). The weight hasn’t been an issue in the various posts/reviews that I could find and most folks said the balance in hand was great.



Initial impressions are that it looks a lot better in person (still not the best looking bullpup). Balance of weight is good. Best butt stock adjustability of any airgun that I have experienced. Love the light cocking action. Best trigger out of the box that I have experienced. Like the ability to charge reservoir without a probe. Not fond of the electronics time out.



Been following Steve’s Instagram posts on his Redwolf HP .177 review and decided to break out my Labradar and test my, out of the box, Pulsar with the pellet and slugs I have on hand. I have attached the Word document that summarizes the Labradar data. Interesting note is the slugs don’t lose as much velocity as pellets over 25 yards. I knew slugs were better at retaining velocity (better BC) but the numbers still surprised me.



The next step is to fit the stock to me, sight in the scope and test pellets to determine the best pellets for the various power settings.

Pulsar 1.1600396162.JPG


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View attachment Pulsar HP 177.1600396194.docx


 
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I have a Renegade HP, in dark green.

Even though, I shoot offhand, it's really not that heavy. I shortened the barrel shroud to just past the air tank. NOW, it's more proper bullpup length..! Still has all of the baffles in it, I just had to shorten them a little.

I also like the stock, yea, even in green. To me anyway, it's got a very nice shape that sits well at the shoulder and the trigger hand (right) is also comfortable. The only thing is the trigger. I need to adjust it to make it heavier. But I keep not doing it. You put your finger on the trigger, and your heartbeat will send the pellet flying..!

Overall, very happy with it, even the look.

Mike
 
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I'm sorry but I am having a very hard time not finding that rifle beautiful. To me it is gorgeous, so I respectfully withdraw and leave it for others more knowledgeable to decide.

Damn, that's nice. Yeah, I'm going.
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I fully agree - Looks are always subjective but to me these are beautiful.



It's good practice to make use of the safety for guns with super light triggers such as the ones on the Pulsars and Renegades.
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That's the truth. I may have swiped the trigger on my Red Wolf causing a down-range AD coming off the cocking lever. Warned my buddy about this and d@mn if he didn't do it himself about 2-3 shots later. Use the safety and practice good muzzle discipline!

Haven't done it with my new Pulsar yet, but I'm really only getting to know the gun (I received mine on Monday). I too was surprised that the gun did not feel as heavy as most say it is. Also surprised at how loud it is - but it is an HP after all and I was used to the quietness of my Red Wolf, but it is a standard power gun.

Really excited to start bonding more with my new Pulsar! Especially now that it is wearing its new Aztec, thanks to OnehitWonder and the AGN Classifieds.

IMG_0760.1600436507.JPG

 
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Thank you or for all the comments! As I play with the Pulsar more I have to admit there is a functional beauty to this bullpup. I am getting to like the blend of black and wood.



It will be a few days before I post accuracy information but one thing I noticed while I was doing the chrony work was slight shroud/barrel vibration during the shot cycle. Normally would only feel this as recoil when my cheek is on stock and looking through scope, but for the chrony work I had bullpup locked into the rest and was off the bullpup looking at chrony and bullpup as I was shooting. Slight barrel movement/vibration is normal for all guns but usually not visible. The rest may have contributed to this movement. I had read one thread where the poster commented that his Pulsar required a firm hold at the higher power levels. Will be interesting as I start looking for best pellet/slug at different power levels.



Well it’s time to adjust fit and scope alignment. Will update in a few days.
 
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Thank you or for all the comments! As I play with the Pulsar more I have to admit there is a functional beauty to this bullpup. I am getting to like the blend of black and wood.



It will be a few days before I post accuracy information but one thing I noticed while I was doing the chrony work was slight shroud/barrel vibration during the shot cycle. Normally would only feel this as recoil when my cheek is on stock and looking through scope, but for the chrony work I had bullpup locked into the rest and was off the bullpup looking at chrony and bullpup as I was shooting. Slight barrel movement/vibration is normal for all guns but usually not visible. The rest may have contributed to this movement. I had read one thread where the poster commented that his Pulsar required a firm hold at the higher power levels. Will be interesting as I start looking for best pellet/slug at different power levels.



Well it’s time to adjust fit and scope alignment. Will update in a few days.
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Good observation. One of my least favorite things about the Pulsar is the long unsupported barrel as well as the cantilever scope rail. Seems vibration/movement might be more of a concern with this design but the rifle shoots beautifully as it is. And it isn't the only air rifle with a long unsupported barrel.
 
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I agree on being careful with the trigger. Learned my lesson years ago with my custom 10/22 with a Kidd trigger group. That trigger was so light it was almost dangerous! Safety on and don't take safety off and move finger to trigger until you are ready to take the shot. Been my practice since then (should always have been my practice)!

TMH - Great picture of your Pulsar!






 
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...It will be a few days before I post accuracy information...
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Well, don't even bother with any light or medium weight pellets. I finally got to spend some quality time with my new Pulsar HP and was really disappointed at the beginning - until I got to know the gun a little better and switched to JSB Beast 16.20 Diabolos.

After shooting groups I did some basic chrono work with my FX chronny:

16.20's: 10 shots, AVG 821, Hi 830, Lo 807, Spread 23, SD 7.5 (Pulsar on Mid power)

And now I know why I couldn't group with the lighter pellets:

13.43's: 5 shots, AVG 1108, Hi 1111, Lo 1104, Spread 7, SD 3.0 (Pulsar on Mid power)

13.43's: 5 shots, AVG 999, Hi 1002, Lo 997, Spread 5, SD 2.3 (Pulsar on Lo power)

I have also found the Pulsar HP to be less forgiving to a new shooter with little/no/poor technique. I found that I really, really had to do my part to get a good group, and still had too many 5th shots which messed up a pretty good one. There was only 1 shot which went awry which I couldn't attribute to my own error. I found that you really needed to use isometrics and pull the butt tight into my shoulder to get decent follow-through and adequate groups.

At first, when shooting the lighter pellets, I thought that I had another 'problem' Daystate magazine (my CARM mags are still in the mail). But after switching to the 16.20 pellets and getting more familiar with the gun using the SST, I switched over to the mag and it was just as accurate for me.

All groups below were at 25 yards, 5 shots each, bipod on the front, bag at the rear, breezy with a few gusts mostly into my face but a little from the right to left.

IMG_0761.1600464606.JPG

 
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TMH - I had issues with my adjustable scope rings and had to order some new rings today. Just saw your post and threw on some fixed rings (to low for the Pulsar) and shot a quick group from a bipod and rear bag with my FX chrony. The Pulsar was set on low power and I used JSB 10.3 gr pellets. My FX chrony registered Average of 939fps for 10 shots with an ES of 28 and SD of 7.2. Not a great group, but shot a 1/2" group at 30 yards. For reference the Labradar had an average of 920 fps with an ES of 17 and a SD of 5.4 for the same pellet yesterday. Looks like your Pulsar is shooting hotter than mine. I may not get a full test in this weekend because my scope ring issues.

I did notice the Pulsar is very hold sensitive. Once I get the right scope rings I may have to relearn how to shoot. I have run out of time for shooting tonight so I will have to play tomorrow.
 
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I agree that it is very hold sensitive. I posted a thread a while back with my results with my Pulsar 177HP as well. I was very careful to try out different holds at each speed and then different speeds.

Lighter pellets were no go at any speed for me. 

The 13gr JSB were excellent on low. Around 820 FPS, which seems to be the magic spot for that pellet. The RDs were slightly better than originals. This was the second best setting for me, and it liked a very light hold at this setting/pellet combination.

The 16gr JSB were even better on high, around 937 FPS. This setting required an extremely firm hold however. While this was slightly more consistent, I preferred shooting the 13gr as it was “easier”.
 
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All I could test today was the JSB Monster 13.43gr pellets today after getting the scope set up. The target was at 30 yards with 5 pellets per group. Light to no wind. I tested a string of 5 pellets with the FX chrony. Power at Med - Average 891fps, High 893fps, Low 886fps, ES 7, SD 2.7. After chrony test I removed chrony from barrel so that it didn't affect barrel/shroud harmonics for accuracy test. The circled 3 targets are the best of the day. The target squares are 1" by 1". It took a long time, a lot of pellets and more targets for me to get a feel on how to hold the Pulsar on the bench. As mentioned by other folks, I can attest that the Pulsar is hold sensitive. I found that on the bench with a bipod and rear bag I had to have a strong grip on the pistol grip and medium to heavy pressure against my shoulder. Full disclosure, I'm generally a 2 MOA shooter and you can see that in the other groups. The circled 5 shot groups are the best I have ever shot. This Pulsar is definitely more accurate than I am. Not going to bother with High power for this pellet. Will try JSB Monster 16.2 gr pellets and NSA slugs tomorrow.

19 sep 2020.1600554160.JPG



 
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Tested JSB Monster 16.2 gr pellets today. At Med power FX chrony indicated an average of 837 fps, high of 840 fps, low of 830 fps, ES of 10 fps and SD of 2.6. At High power an average of 917 fps, high of 923 fps, low of 902 fps, ES of 21 fps and SD of 5.6. Shot 10 pellet groups at each power to get this data then removed chrony for accuracy testing. I am happy with velocity at both Med and High with this pellet. Picture of target and setup below. Target at 30 yards.

Targets #1 - #9 are at Med power setting and #16 - #24 are at High power setting. Will test NSA 12.5 gr and 15.5 gr slugs in the next few days.

I did notice that the grip on pistol grip is more critical than pressure into shoulder. I varied shoulder pressure while maintaining a firm grip on pistol grip and didn't notice a change in POI. Not sure shoulder pressure matters from bench but I did see that it matters from a free standing position. 

20 sep 2020.1600634680.JPG


Test Setup.1600634722.JPG

 
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Those are some nice groups. 

The butt pad on my gun is dropped somewhat to allow a reasonable cheek weld. I haven't played too much with tightness of grip on the pistol grip (at least not knowingly so) but I found things improved if I used my support hand to press the bottom of the of the butt pad, forcing the gun butt into my shoulder. So my support hand was actually both squeezing the rear bag for height adjustment and holding the gun into my shoulder. YMMV Probably incredibly poor technique but I'm new to this so I don't know any better!
 
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TMH - I use the same hold for bench shooting with my off hand squeezing bag but my grip hand provides the main shoulder pressure with a bullpup. In my case, from the bench, I didn't see much difference with the pressure against my shoulder at 30 yards. This is counter to my experience on the bench with a standard rifle where I use a light hold with my trigger hand and firm shoulder hold with off hand.

Thank you for your complement but I usually can be a 2 to 3 MOA shooter on a good day. Think about what MOA is. 1 MOA is 1 inch at 100 yards or 1/4 inch at 25 yards. A .25 pellet is 1/4 inch in diameter. This means to shoot 5 pellets at 1 MOA with a .25 pellet at 25 yards you would have to put every pellet into the exact same hole! We have a little more leeway with .177 pellets, but not much. A few years ago I asked a question about the 1 MOA standard on another forum and the best answer I got was to think in "MOC". MOC stands for "minute of critter". By the way, the targets above are some of the best I have ever shot. I attribute that to the Pulsar not my ability. I need a lot more practice to improve my shooting skills and at 73 years old my time is limited! 


 
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