Shot about 200 rounds with my Wildcat that arrived today. Here are my no-holds-barred comments...
Before we begin. I got the case. I would get it again, but be forewarned -- it barely fits (vertically) the wildcat with a modest scope. I have a bugbuster.
First. The gun is as accurate as you would expect. Several times I shot a new target at 50 yards and had to immediately walk to the target in disbelief. I had shot the bullseye on a 25 foot NRA target (about (1/4'). This happened multiple times.
Second. The magazine system works well, but is probably the weakest part of the gun. It may not be as foolproof as the Bobcat magazine which is self propelled in terms of rotation (but perhaps a person with a Bobcat could comment on this). I found that you need to seat the magazine, click it backward to a proper registration mark, and then move the bolt forward. The bolt requires that you firmly and deliberately move it in both directions. I am not complaining here, but there are complications with registration in a system where the bolt advances the magazine. With practice I think it will be less of an issue. But be deliberate in how you move the bolt.
Third. My wildcat as it came from AoA had one muzzle break screwed to the nozzle, not five like Ted had in the video he posted earlier. I guess you can add more (which I did not pay for), but my point here is that that the .22 does have a pretty substantial crack with the one muzzle break supplied. I will probably be adding a moderator of some kind to keep from drawing the attention of my neighbors.
Fourth, the magazine does a fair but not extraordinary job of keeping the pellets in place. It has an O-ring band that is designed to capture the pellet as it is placed in the magazine. I found that once the pellets were loaded, some pellets tended to move forward, and others moved backward if you had them in your pocket. This is only an issue if one of the pellets comes beyond the forward or back face of the magazine which can cause a jamb once the magazine is placed in the gun. I had not been closely monitoring this, and I placed a new magazine in the gun without checking. In short, the gun locked up such that I could not close the breach or rotate the magazine to clear the jamb. In fact I could not even remove the magazine -- it was stuck. In all honestly this only took about 30 seconds of fiddling until the matter was resolved, but I made a note to check the magazines to see if the pellets were flush prior to seating the magazine again.
Finally, the fit and finish of the gun is excellent and it does have a cheek rest which is not shown in pictures on the gun's left side. With a normal cheek mould by eye was aimed straight down the sight. Excellent.
One small tweak -- my gun's stock is not completely secure to the action -- as I can feel the action move a bit as I move the gun from horizontal to vertical. The Bobcat had a snugging screw on the forestock that may have addressed this issue -- the Wildcat does not. I think some double sided tape or the fuzzy side of velcro under the air tank will easily solve this problem. This problem does not concern me.
Overall, I am very happy. As with any gun there are some minor issues that you have to get used to. But I think that the Wildcat is a winner, and I cannot wait for my next shooting session.
The trigger is every bit as good as Ted says it is. Mine is very light. One pound or less. Adjustable of course.
Before we begin. I got the case. I would get it again, but be forewarned -- it barely fits (vertically) the wildcat with a modest scope. I have a bugbuster.
First. The gun is as accurate as you would expect. Several times I shot a new target at 50 yards and had to immediately walk to the target in disbelief. I had shot the bullseye on a 25 foot NRA target (about (1/4'). This happened multiple times.
Second. The magazine system works well, but is probably the weakest part of the gun. It may not be as foolproof as the Bobcat magazine which is self propelled in terms of rotation (but perhaps a person with a Bobcat could comment on this). I found that you need to seat the magazine, click it backward to a proper registration mark, and then move the bolt forward. The bolt requires that you firmly and deliberately move it in both directions. I am not complaining here, but there are complications with registration in a system where the bolt advances the magazine. With practice I think it will be less of an issue. But be deliberate in how you move the bolt.
Third. My wildcat as it came from AoA had one muzzle break screwed to the nozzle, not five like Ted had in the video he posted earlier. I guess you can add more (which I did not pay for), but my point here is that that the .22 does have a pretty substantial crack with the one muzzle break supplied. I will probably be adding a moderator of some kind to keep from drawing the attention of my neighbors.
Fourth, the magazine does a fair but not extraordinary job of keeping the pellets in place. It has an O-ring band that is designed to capture the pellet as it is placed in the magazine. I found that once the pellets were loaded, some pellets tended to move forward, and others moved backward if you had them in your pocket. This is only an issue if one of the pellets comes beyond the forward or back face of the magazine which can cause a jamb once the magazine is placed in the gun. I had not been closely monitoring this, and I placed a new magazine in the gun without checking. In short, the gun locked up such that I could not close the breach or rotate the magazine to clear the jamb. In fact I could not even remove the magazine -- it was stuck. In all honestly this only took about 30 seconds of fiddling until the matter was resolved, but I made a note to check the magazines to see if the pellets were flush prior to seating the magazine again.
Finally, the fit and finish of the gun is excellent and it does have a cheek rest which is not shown in pictures on the gun's left side. With a normal cheek mould by eye was aimed straight down the sight. Excellent.
One small tweak -- my gun's stock is not completely secure to the action -- as I can feel the action move a bit as I move the gun from horizontal to vertical. The Bobcat had a snugging screw on the forestock that may have addressed this issue -- the Wildcat does not. I think some double sided tape or the fuzzy side of velcro under the air tank will easily solve this problem. This problem does not concern me.
Overall, I am very happy. As with any gun there are some minor issues that you have to get used to. But I think that the Wildcat is a winner, and I cannot wait for my next shooting session.
The trigger is every bit as good as Ted says it is. Mine is very light. One pound or less. Adjustable of course.
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