Hi guys,
When I was looking for info about that wonderful rifle, I couldn't find much, hopefully now that is better and I hope this helps in case you have some doubts. This is just my opinion on some aspects of the gun I purchased in Feb 2020, some things might have changed since, for anything in particular don't hesitate to ask.
I started to follow this brand a long time ago and I was reluctant to believe a rifle can be that consistently accurate (a lot of guys post dime size groups even at 100yds but we all know that although it can happen, it's not common). Time passed and they were doing the same in competition than in social media posts (apart from setting world records) so it began to catch my attention. Mike then made a very good FT stock so I started to consider it thoroughly but here in Uruguay, shipping and taxes are crazy high (100% of the rifle itself), so it needed to be thought very carefully.
I made my mind and decided to order one around February 2020 and it got to me in July, a little more delay than expected due to the COVID (please contact Mike for actual delivery time because this might be different when you read this).
Options and looks:
You can select various options to make it basically to your needs: there are 3 barrel lengths 15-18-24” and cylinder sizes to match the barrel length. You can opt for a shrouded version (that at least at 12ft/lb it quiets it quite ok) or with the naked barrel to add an air stripper that Mike makes (among other options but I will follow his advice not to lose any accuracy). The rifle can be customized in various colors and to say the anodized is gorgeous would be an understatement, soooo much quality there! The shroud is very simple, just a titanium shroud without any baffles, to not disturb the accuracy Thomas rifles are known for. A handy thing it has is that the shroud has a cap at the end, so cleaning the barrel is a piece of cake, you just remove the cap, open the port and squeeze the patch.
I opted with the mid-size shrouded 18” version so I can shoot at home and in my experience, shorter barrels tend to kick a little more (even at 18” the rifle kicks a bit if compared to a Steyr) consume more air and need more weight at end to suit me well. You also can order yours with the shroud of the 18” with a 15” barrel to keep it more quiet and have more air, it all depends on your personal preference. I would leave the 24” version for benchrest, the 18” for FT and the 15” in case you also want to also shoot Pistol FT but that’s just my opinion.
The design is controversial, some may like it and others may don’t but the quality construction is impressive. The wood work is very very nice, mine doesn’t look as sharp as when it was brand new because of normal use but the colors in the laminate were impressive. The usage is very simple but it can take some time to get used to at the beginning if you have big fingers like me and use tiny pellets, just cock it and release it (a spring will automatically close the little lever), open the port, put the pellet and close it. There is hardly any effort to cock the rifle and, on a bench, the rifle doesn’t move a millimeter which is very handy for BR shooters. You can move the cocking lever also to the left side if you want. The grip is simply the best I have tried, fits like a globe! Be careful because it's kind of big and if you use the stock with offset, it can touch your chest in standing position.
Accuracy:
As stated before, I was reluctant to think it could be so accurate as I saw in pictures where 25-50 shots were into the 9 ring at 25m but it’s the most accurate air rifle I have ever seen and I had 2 Steyrs, Weihrauchs and saw many others from friends like AA, Anschutz, etc. Of course, it’s not 20x more accurate but a normal good 5 shot group is like an outstanding one of the beforementioned rifles (that of course all shoot better than I can shoot), if you shoot more than 10 the others simply can’t keep up the pace. The Thomas uses a made to measure LW barrel that is either poly (that can shoot any pellet well but Mike told me it’s pickier for 12ft-lb) or a traditional rifled one to shoot more variety of pellets at 12ft-lb. I ordered both to try them out and to do some BR maybe in the future and I have found out that the BC of the same 10.34gr at 12ft-lb was higher in the rifled one than in the poly although it deforms it more (0.027 vs 0.023 at sea level).
Removing the barrel is quite simple but let me give you a few tips: before you change them, use a little silicon oil so it slides easier and you don’t have to open the barrel housing so much. Put a little aluminum piece in the barrel housing cut so the screws don’t leave a mark in the aluminum housing when you press them to open. If you fell that it’s too much pressure to release the barrel, be careful, some times the barrels can have a 0.1mm difference and be hard to take out. Unless you need it, I would leave it there, specially for FT where POI shifts are your worst nightmare. I don’t know how many shots you can do but at 12ft-lb it’s quite some, would say maybe 180 or something like that from 210 to around 90b. The reason I haven’t done a complete shooting string is because I completely trust it, the rifle comes tuned from factory, I only checked that I was below the limit and did around 20 shots or so but as it’s so stable, it will be a waste of pellets and time in my opinion. I think it uses a huma reg and the consistency is top notch
Trigger
It’s amazing, it has 2 adjusters, one at the back for the 1st stage travel (you can have a direct 1 stage trigger) and then one at the front to adjust how clean and light (at the same time) is the breaking point. I have tested it and it’s very accurate and predictable. You can also move it in a rail to adjust the position and the direction of the trigger shoe. It’s simple superb. In my opinion it breaks cleaner than the steyr
An incredible accurate rifle but is it good for FT?
Most top-notch brands are accurate enough for FT, have customizable stocks, good triggers but not all of them are trustworthy and that is the main thing for me in a FT rig. I sold my 2 Steyrs because I couldn’t rely on them, the POI will shift often and the power will sometimes also go up or down. Fantastic rifles, well made, accurate but if they decide to group in another place, everything else falls apart. The Thomas is dead serious here, in 1.5 years, it hasn’t changed POI even once and we go from 5 to 40 Celsius here. Even moving the scope to another slot, cleaning the barrel or adding weight, I know I can grab the rifle at any time of the year and it will shoot deadly accurate where I want and that for me is priceless in a FT rifle. It only changed the speed once from winter to summer but only about 10fps that had no effect on POI and I corrected quickly with the power knob. Another nice thing is that the loading port is quite far back so charging it from kneeling (the most difficult in my opinion) is dead easy and it makes the rifle quite short (you don’t need a big bag to carry around a competition or in airport. With this rifle and quite some training, I became yesterday the uruguayan national WFTF champion with a solid 48/50 with a 5 target gap over the second, simply love this rifle!
Things that I would have done differently:
The scope rail could be a little longer although is probably right for 95% of the users, I couldn’t fit my March scope to a proper eye relief (I was on the edge with a Sightron SV). It’s not thaaat big of a deal, you can use a displaced scope mount either way as I did. With a little longer rail I would also have added a bubble level that I couldn't fit now
Add some markings together with a ball bearing system with springs to the stock so you can adjust the cant, length of pull and offset and make it repeatable. It’s nice to have the possibility to adjust so many things but will be even better if you could do it with presettings to try and come back to the same setting. When you untight the screws, it’s very hard to come back if you didn’t use tape or something to mark it down.
Add a manometer would be nice also, it’s not mandatory but it would be nice to know if there is a leak or just to quickly check if you have enough air before going to a shooting practice.
Additionally, I would have made the accesory rail a little longer to fit more confortably accesories, specially if you use a handstop for kneeling position. If I wanted to keep my rowan hamster, I couldn't add weight adjustment, that's why I changed the hamster and the windmeter to one that sits elsewhere.
Some may say to make them quicker but although maybe there is some room for improvement, remember that this level of craftmanship requires dedication and finish by hand so if Mike put 10 people to work, probably the results will not be the same, so just be patient, it’s worth it, believe me (and take if from a guy who paid for twice the amount you pay in the US). Just think that even though you save money from scale economies, the distributor cost of an Steyr is around $1500 and the rest (around $1700 let’s say) is just mark up from marketing, distribution costs and dealers, here the $3750 you spend are only going to the man building them so the money goes directly to the rifle, not people in the middle
Final thoughts, Mike knocked it out of the park with this rifle, in the US or Europe (if you can get it there), in my opinion it's just without a doubt by far the best option you can get for a top rifle considering the price gap is so small with similar rifles. In other countries some times it's not easy due to taxes but if you can, don't hesitate.
When I was looking for info about that wonderful rifle, I couldn't find much, hopefully now that is better and I hope this helps in case you have some doubts. This is just my opinion on some aspects of the gun I purchased in Feb 2020, some things might have changed since, for anything in particular don't hesitate to ask.
I started to follow this brand a long time ago and I was reluctant to believe a rifle can be that consistently accurate (a lot of guys post dime size groups even at 100yds but we all know that although it can happen, it's not common). Time passed and they were doing the same in competition than in social media posts (apart from setting world records) so it began to catch my attention. Mike then made a very good FT stock so I started to consider it thoroughly but here in Uruguay, shipping and taxes are crazy high (100% of the rifle itself), so it needed to be thought very carefully.
I made my mind and decided to order one around February 2020 and it got to me in July, a little more delay than expected due to the COVID (please contact Mike for actual delivery time because this might be different when you read this).
Options and looks:
You can select various options to make it basically to your needs: there are 3 barrel lengths 15-18-24” and cylinder sizes to match the barrel length. You can opt for a shrouded version (that at least at 12ft/lb it quiets it quite ok) or with the naked barrel to add an air stripper that Mike makes (among other options but I will follow his advice not to lose any accuracy). The rifle can be customized in various colors and to say the anodized is gorgeous would be an understatement, soooo much quality there! The shroud is very simple, just a titanium shroud without any baffles, to not disturb the accuracy Thomas rifles are known for. A handy thing it has is that the shroud has a cap at the end, so cleaning the barrel is a piece of cake, you just remove the cap, open the port and squeeze the patch.
I opted with the mid-size shrouded 18” version so I can shoot at home and in my experience, shorter barrels tend to kick a little more (even at 18” the rifle kicks a bit if compared to a Steyr) consume more air and need more weight at end to suit me well. You also can order yours with the shroud of the 18” with a 15” barrel to keep it more quiet and have more air, it all depends on your personal preference. I would leave the 24” version for benchrest, the 18” for FT and the 15” in case you also want to also shoot Pistol FT but that’s just my opinion.
The design is controversial, some may like it and others may don’t but the quality construction is impressive. The wood work is very very nice, mine doesn’t look as sharp as when it was brand new because of normal use but the colors in the laminate were impressive. The usage is very simple but it can take some time to get used to at the beginning if you have big fingers like me and use tiny pellets, just cock it and release it (a spring will automatically close the little lever), open the port, put the pellet and close it. There is hardly any effort to cock the rifle and, on a bench, the rifle doesn’t move a millimeter which is very handy for BR shooters. You can move the cocking lever also to the left side if you want. The grip is simply the best I have tried, fits like a globe! Be careful because it's kind of big and if you use the stock with offset, it can touch your chest in standing position.
Accuracy:
As stated before, I was reluctant to think it could be so accurate as I saw in pictures where 25-50 shots were into the 9 ring at 25m but it’s the most accurate air rifle I have ever seen and I had 2 Steyrs, Weihrauchs and saw many others from friends like AA, Anschutz, etc. Of course, it’s not 20x more accurate but a normal good 5 shot group is like an outstanding one of the beforementioned rifles (that of course all shoot better than I can shoot), if you shoot more than 10 the others simply can’t keep up the pace. The Thomas uses a made to measure LW barrel that is either poly (that can shoot any pellet well but Mike told me it’s pickier for 12ft-lb) or a traditional rifled one to shoot more variety of pellets at 12ft-lb. I ordered both to try them out and to do some BR maybe in the future and I have found out that the BC of the same 10.34gr at 12ft-lb was higher in the rifled one than in the poly although it deforms it more (0.027 vs 0.023 at sea level).
Removing the barrel is quite simple but let me give you a few tips: before you change them, use a little silicon oil so it slides easier and you don’t have to open the barrel housing so much. Put a little aluminum piece in the barrel housing cut so the screws don’t leave a mark in the aluminum housing when you press them to open. If you fell that it’s too much pressure to release the barrel, be careful, some times the barrels can have a 0.1mm difference and be hard to take out. Unless you need it, I would leave it there, specially for FT where POI shifts are your worst nightmare. I don’t know how many shots you can do but at 12ft-lb it’s quite some, would say maybe 180 or something like that from 210 to around 90b. The reason I haven’t done a complete shooting string is because I completely trust it, the rifle comes tuned from factory, I only checked that I was below the limit and did around 20 shots or so but as it’s so stable, it will be a waste of pellets and time in my opinion. I think it uses a huma reg and the consistency is top notch
Trigger
It’s amazing, it has 2 adjusters, one at the back for the 1st stage travel (you can have a direct 1 stage trigger) and then one at the front to adjust how clean and light (at the same time) is the breaking point. I have tested it and it’s very accurate and predictable. You can also move it in a rail to adjust the position and the direction of the trigger shoe. It’s simple superb. In my opinion it breaks cleaner than the steyr
An incredible accurate rifle but is it good for FT?
Most top-notch brands are accurate enough for FT, have customizable stocks, good triggers but not all of them are trustworthy and that is the main thing for me in a FT rig. I sold my 2 Steyrs because I couldn’t rely on them, the POI will shift often and the power will sometimes also go up or down. Fantastic rifles, well made, accurate but if they decide to group in another place, everything else falls apart. The Thomas is dead serious here, in 1.5 years, it hasn’t changed POI even once and we go from 5 to 40 Celsius here. Even moving the scope to another slot, cleaning the barrel or adding weight, I know I can grab the rifle at any time of the year and it will shoot deadly accurate where I want and that for me is priceless in a FT rifle. It only changed the speed once from winter to summer but only about 10fps that had no effect on POI and I corrected quickly with the power knob. Another nice thing is that the loading port is quite far back so charging it from kneeling (the most difficult in my opinion) is dead easy and it makes the rifle quite short (you don’t need a big bag to carry around a competition or in airport. With this rifle and quite some training, I became yesterday the uruguayan national WFTF champion with a solid 48/50 with a 5 target gap over the second, simply love this rifle!
Things that I would have done differently:
The scope rail could be a little longer although is probably right for 95% of the users, I couldn’t fit my March scope to a proper eye relief (I was on the edge with a Sightron SV). It’s not thaaat big of a deal, you can use a displaced scope mount either way as I did. With a little longer rail I would also have added a bubble level that I couldn't fit now
Add some markings together with a ball bearing system with springs to the stock so you can adjust the cant, length of pull and offset and make it repeatable. It’s nice to have the possibility to adjust so many things but will be even better if you could do it with presettings to try and come back to the same setting. When you untight the screws, it’s very hard to come back if you didn’t use tape or something to mark it down.
Add a manometer would be nice also, it’s not mandatory but it would be nice to know if there is a leak or just to quickly check if you have enough air before going to a shooting practice.
Additionally, I would have made the accesory rail a little longer to fit more confortably accesories, specially if you use a handstop for kneeling position. If I wanted to keep my rowan hamster, I couldn't add weight adjustment, that's why I changed the hamster and the windmeter to one that sits elsewhere.
Some may say to make them quicker but although maybe there is some room for improvement, remember that this level of craftmanship requires dedication and finish by hand so if Mike put 10 people to work, probably the results will not be the same, so just be patient, it’s worth it, believe me (and take if from a guy who paid for twice the amount you pay in the US). Just think that even though you save money from scale economies, the distributor cost of an Steyr is around $1500 and the rest (around $1700 let’s say) is just mark up from marketing, distribution costs and dealers, here the $3750 you spend are only going to the man building them so the money goes directly to the rifle, not people in the middle
Final thoughts, Mike knocked it out of the park with this rifle, in the US or Europe (if you can get it there), in my opinion it's just without a doubt by far the best option you can get for a top rifle considering the price gap is so small with similar rifles. In other countries some times it's not easy due to taxes but if you can, don't hesitate.
