Brocock Bantam Sniper XR .22

First impressions - I waited a few days before writing anything as I wanted to get familiar with the Sniper XR. Not having had the original Sniper HR or any other Brocock or Daystate products to date, I made sure to learn the platform before voicing opinions. 

I really like this rifle. It's almost too easy to shoot it's nuts. It came stock running ~840fps with JSB .22 18.13, but I could tell the tune was off as the reg was at 140bar and I knew it could do better (more on that down the page). I tried a few different scopes and settled on the SWFA SS 3-15 based on how it mounted the most 'balanced' based on eye relief - not too much weight forward or back.

I shot the rifle a bit as it came stock to see what I felt could be done to tweak the output and efficiency. The trigger has 2 very distinct stages, very crisp, repeatable, but a touch heavy on the 2nd stage ootb. I gave a few cleans of the barrel with a bore snake just to clean any gunk or residue. Accuracy and precision were definitely there - hole on hole at 15 yards indoors. Reasonable volume for a shrouded barrel but a bit loud indoors. I tried a Huggett Astille .22 with one extension which quieted it down, but caused the precision to diminish and a 15 yard group spreading out to 3/8". I then tried a .22 Koi and it is completely silent and back to hole on hole precision. (No knock on the Astille as it is accurate on other rifles, just not so good on the Sniper XR.) The side-cocking lever is a dream and very smooth. Even with the HS set a bit higher than stock, cocking is near effortless.

Onto a little bit of tuning for personal preference. I got the JSB 18 to ~870 with the reg @ 140bar. Decided to increase a bit to 150bar, tuned the HS, and am getting ~890fps with JSB 18s. Tuned the rear screw on the trigger set to lighten up the 2nd stage. With this setup the rifle is super accurate, super quiet with the Koi and the shot cycle is super smooth. The 3-step adjuster brought the speeds down to ~800, ~750, ~550 fps with the 18gr - convenient in a pinch, but not something I'd use much. I haven't done much bipod shooting as most of my rifle are more of the carbine variety and very light so a bipod doesn't work well, but on the Bantam a bipod is very at home. The gun is not heavy at all for it's size and balances very well for off-hand shooting, but it's got enough size and weigh to it that it is more stable on a bipod than my smaller lighter air rifles. (Kinda relieved about that as my Atlas has been sitting unused for a while.)

I haven't tried any slugs yet to see how they do. I did try the H&N Barracuda Match 21.1gr and with the above tune it's pushing them at 855fps and deadly accurate.

Overall opinion is that I am very pleased with my purchase. Compared to other air rifles I've purchased I feel like I got quite a lot for my $1,400. If I had wanted more power I would have purchased the HP version, but that wasn't my goal. (Of course I'll crank the reg up to 170-180 at some point and see what I can do with some heavier slugs.... ).

I'll take some pics and post my setup in the next few days. Also going to see if I can take it out to 50 yards in my backyard, but it's got some wicked swirling winds that make me look like I've never shot in my life. 

Thanks Mahajrodney. Far from my first, but just as excited as you about it. 

You made a great first choice IMO. Have fun with it.

This Sniper XR has really grown on me over the past week. It's a very sturdy and stable shooting platform, but not so heavy you can't it standing for some off-hand shots. With an SWFA SS 3-15 on top, bi-pod and Koi it balances very well off-hand.

It has taken a liking to several slugs in addition to the JSB and H&N Barracuda Match pellets. The FX Hybrid slugs are the top performer so far. Keeping 5 of the FX slugs inside a .25" hole at 15 yards is easy. 

I tried a few NSA slugs I had on hand. The 217 23.0 and the 2165 17.5. The 23gr was terrible, the 17.5 wasn't too bad but they're too small to be able to use with the magazine. I have a .217 sample pack coming from NSA so I'll see if there's any with some promise.

On to some H&N slugs. I have: .218 21gr, .217 23gr, .218 23gr, .217 27gr. The 3 heaviest were all pretty bad. The .218 21gr was the best with performance just below the FX.

A few things to note:

• I noticed the reg setting had begun to creep up to 160 bar after a few hundred rounds. I lowered it back down to 150 today. Hoping this is just the reg breaking in, but worth keeping an eye on.
• I had adjusted the rear sear set screw for a pretty light trigger. Possibly just parts breaking in, but after a few hundred pellets through it I was scared when the last 2-3 pellets per magazine would just shoot as I was closing the cocking lever. I backed the rear sear set screw out a touch over 1/8 of a turn. Trigger weight increased a bit, but not more pre-fire condition. It's a nice trigger, just not a match trigger - def not safe to take it too light. 
• Probably very specific to my setup, but slugs shoot exactly 0.5mil to the right of pellets. Makes for a simple adjustment on the scope when switching between the two. 

To give some idea on air usage. At 150 bar shooting the JSB 18.1s at ~31-32fpe - filled to 250 bar. Fired 4 mags - 40 shots. Reg at 190. Average of 15bar per magazine. So 250 down to 145 would net you 70 shots with the last 2-3 slightly off reg.

Thanks hitech. 

One thing that did happen after this write-up is I noticed the side-lever started popping open when I would shoot. Found a set screw that holds the lever at the back had nearly unscrewed itself. Screwed it back in and tightened up. So far so good, but another screw to keep an eye on when I do maintenance.