Skout Skout EVO First Impression

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Lewis

Lewis

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May 2, 2015
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Eureka, California, United States
I just got my new Skout Evo. I couldn't be happier!
The new solid barrel system is very impressive. I opted for the .22 caliber Lothar Walther 25 inch poly 1:15.75 twist. This is a full typical LW barrel inside the 1" diameter carbon Skout housing with the entire remaining volume filled with CF and epoxy bonding. It is as solid as a baseball bat!
The new indexing is more intuitive, repeatable, and better executed than on any gun I have ever seen. I upgraded to the benchrest buttstock instead of the lightweight Evo setup because I prefer the additional adjustability and I am not looking to save any weight since it will mainly be shot from the bench. The electronics are improved from the Epoch and the larger screen is much appreciated. The trigger mechanism remains unchanged (which is a good thing). The on/off valve is better and both shuts off the bottle and degasses the gun with one twist. As a lefty, I did prefer the regulator gauge on the right side of the gun on the Epoch and I also preferred the tool less regulator adjustment. Although it never happened to me there was a risk in setting the bottom of the gun on a log or bag and bumping the reg adjuster by accident on the Epoch. The new design brings the reg adjustments up and in alignment with the gun lengthwise. Lastly I was able to get it in custom camo which I fell in love with on the very first Epoch prototype!
It is stabilized by an Odin Prizm bipod that is my new favorite even if they are fairly pricy. Atop sits a Vector Optics 5-30x56 Continental 34mm tube. The bad news is that I only took a couple of types of ammo to the range today and the wind prevented any critical analysis of groups at 100. The good news is what I saw so far is very promising! I can't wait till next Friday when I'll have another chance, and I'll get test more projectile options.


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Lewis said:
Love the stars and stripes!
Please let me know what projectiles and speeds you find work best.
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Beautiful anodizing on the rifle..very different from anything i have seen
You didn't mention the caliber, but i had a recent discussion with Bill Gardner about projectiles
with the LW Bull barrel..he suggusted i take a look at JTS 22g going in the upper 900's
dwell to 27-29 and lpr to 170-180
I ran out of air before i could run some targets
Let me know how it works out
Mike
 
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wooferocau said:
So pleasing to read that someone is taking "Barrels" seriously!!

FX ..... Ya listening !!!!!!!! ;)
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Don't be like that about FX barrels/liners, they did make a step forward by putting their liners in the air tank and "solved" the problem of vibration and movement I think. My only complaint is that they don't learn from, say, Epic Airguns or Skout Airguns how to make a good hammer-valve system. It would be good for Daystate to give up its closed ego.
 
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Airfuture said:
Don't be like that about FX barrels/liners, they did make a step forward by putting their liners in the air tank and "solved" the problem of vibration and movement I think. My only complaint is that they don't learn from, say, Epic Airguns or Skout Airguns how to make a good hammer-valve system. It would be good for Daystate to give up its closed ego.
Click to expand...
FX wasn’t the first to put a barrel in the air tank
a Chinese company did it years ago..not that well. I believe it was a snow peak
the Artemis m30
FX did it better,but not first
 
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manabeknives said:
FX wasn’t the first to put a barrel in the air tank
a Chinese company did it years ago..not that well. I believe it was a snow peak
the Artemis m30
FX did it better,but not first
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I didn't say who was the first to make a barrel in a pressurized air tank, but that with that FX eliminated the problem of their thin liners, and that it wasn't the Chinese Snowpeak that did it first, but the Altaros m24, only that they weren't able to produce that rifle before😉
We won't pollute this thread again please.
 
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coolsound said:
Love my EVO so far but have not been able to shoot it much. I have the same .22 LW barrel. I added the Tesla moderator to make it a little more backyard friendly.

50 yards 5-shots group with JSB 25.39 gr pellet. Regulator set at 1,300PSI. Chrono at 858fps.

View attachment 489151

View attachment 489152
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I really want an evo one day for reduced weight. Getting to love my epoch. So simple to change in order to shoot different projectiles. I wonder if it is possible to order an evo with an epoch rear barrel lug installed so I could just use epoch barrels. Order it with no barrel to save some coin. Assume the probes are the same.
 
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Shortcut said:
Today was the first day I had to see how it shot at a distance. This is a full mag dump at 100 Yards JTS .22 22.07 gr 930 fps. Please know I am not the best shooter, in the hands of a good shooter this would really tighten up. 30 shots
View attachment 489443
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Yes, same magazines are used in both.
 
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Trucker3573 said:
I really want an evo one day for reduced weight. Getting to love my epoch. So simple to change in order to shoot different projectiles. I wonder if it is possible to order an evo with an epoch rear barrel lug installed so I could just use epoch barrels. Order it with no barrel to save some coin. Assume the probes are the same.
Click to expand...
Barrels for the Evo and the Epoch are interchangeable.
the main difference is that the new Evo barrels have an idexing system on the barrel.
On the Epoch, the metal collar at the breech end of the barrel is fixed..will not rotate.
On the Evo's barrels, the metal collar is free spinning to allow for indexing..just remember that the wider of the two tabs on the collar goes on the bottom otherwise the ratchet will not lockdown.

I guess you can go for a lighter weight overall with the Evo, but if you add the LW bull barrel(after market barrel)..you're back at the Epoch weight.
Evo has better display, shut-off pin valve and cosmetic changes for easier access.
I do not believe there are any changes to firing system .. in that aspect, there are the same
 
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UPDATE:
I got to take it out today with the intention of testing pellets at 100 yards.
I have over 350 rounds of different types of ammo through it so far and have not yet cleaned or polished the barrel.
All testing so far has been out of the tin, no sorting, cleaning, or lube/wax.
The barrel showed a preference for the JTS 22.07.
970 FPS
High Pressure Regulator (HPR) 1500
Low Pressure Regulator (LPR) 150
Dwell was tried from 15 to 35. My best groups were at 19 but the differences were minimal and anecdotal at best.

In 5 to 8 MPH switching winds it printed group after group with 7 or 8 out of 10 under an inch. No attempt was made to hold for wind, just straight point at the bull and shoot. The flyers opened the groups up to 2-3 inch. These were all 10 shot groups and many of the 5 shot groups were better than MOA. Under these conditions I am VERY impressed indeed!
 
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Lewis said:
UPDATE:
I got to take it out today with the intention of testing pellets at 100 yards.
I have over 350 rounds of different types of ammo through it so far and have not yet cleaned or polished the barrel.
All testing so far has been out of the tin, no sorting, cleaning, or lube/wax.
The barrel showed a preference for the JTS 22.07.
970 FPS
High Pressure Regulator (HPR) 1500
Low Pressure Regulator (LPR) 150
Dwell was tried from 15 to 35. My best groups were at 19 but the differences were minimal and anecdotal at best.

In 5 to 8 MPH switching winds it printed group after group with 7 or 8 out of 10 under an inch. No attempt was made to hold for wind, just straight point at the bull and shoot. The flyers opened the groups up to 2-3 inch. These were all 10 shot groups and many of the 5 shot groups were better than MOA. Under these conditions I am VERY impressed indeed!
Click to expand...
I'm heading out shortly to do testing with the 22.07's too. Thanks for sharing the setup. Ideally, I'd like to have it dialed in for steel silhouette match tomorrow.
 
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Lewis said:
UPDATE:
I got to take it out today with the intention of testing pellets at 100 yards.
I have over 350 rounds of different types of ammo through it so far and have not yet cleaned or polished the barrel.
All testing so far has been out of the tin, no sorting, cleaning, or lube/wax.
The barrel showed a preference for the JTS 22.07.
970 FPS
High Pressure Regulator (HPR) 1500
Low Pressure Regulator (LPR) 150
Dwell was tried from 15 to 35. My best groups were at 19 but the differences were minimal and anecdotal at best.

In 5 to 8 MPH switching winds it printed group after group with 7 or 8 out of 10 under an inch. No attempt was made to hold for wind, just straight point at the bull and shoot. The flyers opened the groups up to 2-3 inch. These were all 10 shot groups and many of the 5 shot groups were better than MOA. Under these conditions I am VERY impressed indeed!
Click to expand...
Hello Lewis
I spoke with Bill Gardner, He recommended a LPR setting of 180-190
i always thought 10% of the high reg, so i asked him to repeat that...180-190...so i cranked it up
I set my dwell to 27
The 22.07 are looking good with the Bull Barrel as well.
I was regulating the fps for the 22.07's and was raising the velocity from 800-970.
Usually when i do this, the pellets would track up/down depending on the velocity change.
With the JTS's ..when i rasied the velocity, 1 ragged hole for the entire run ..looks really stable
I hope i can get out to try at 100 and 50 yards, but things seem stacked against me from making it to the range...soon

Glad you set up is doing well for you
Love how easy it is to change a tune if you wanted to see what another tune performs

Do you have the standard bull barrel, or the after market Lothar Walther bull barrel?
Thanks
Mike
 
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It's the Lothar 1 in 15.75 bull barrel.
I indexed it this morning. It made a circle about a foot in diameter at 100. The groups at about 1 o'clock were best so that's where I left it instead of the typical 12 or 6 o'clock positions. This is the easiest indexing system ever!
 
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