I bought this gun to replace my TalonSS which went to a good friend and fellow forum member Dave Dunn, or "DaveD" for short. These are the same gun as the FX Tarantula, the FX2000, RWS Excaliber, and a few others that came in a two shot variant. Mine is the full 8 shot rotary magazine version with black synthetic sporter Monte Carlo style stock. The gun is rated from 12-30fpe in .22 caliber and I would guess that is pretty close to the actual values. The gun was bought used from someone who answered my 'wtb" ad a few weeks ago, and came in shooting about 28fpe from what the previous owner said.
Still haven’t been able to sight this one in. The neighbors are in their backyard today with their little dog “Barkbarkâ€. As much as I would love to send Barkbark off to sleep with the fishes, I don’t do any shooting when they are outside. Nice older couple, just the sort of people that would call the police. On the other hand I have no problem sitting in the yard with a chrony and making 4-5 foot shots into a duct seal wad while writing down the results. Here goes…this is turned all of the way down:
1) 468.7 463.2 460.0 458.1 456.0
2) 457.7 462.1 466.0 455.7 451.3
3) 456.7 459.7 460.8 458.4 454.0
4) 461.9 465.3 460.0 455.2 453.5
5) 464.6 462.1 458.0 458.1 452.5
6) 459.9 467.2 463.8 457.4 453.5
7) 467.6 469.4 466.9 455.7 451.7
462.0 458.3 457.0 461.7 452.4
Start fill pressure 195 bar or 2830 psi
End fill pressure 155 bar or 2250 psi
Pellet Beeman Kodiak .22" 21.1 grain
Right around 10-11fpe, perfect for the backyard, but still loud. That was 40 shots with a very respectable string, I suspect I could keep going for another 40 shots and they wouldn’t drop much. The cocking cycle with the Kodiaks is poor, but I think that is because the Kodiaks have a small center hole in the skirt unlike most pellets, so the bolt probe gets stuck or even possibly caused the skirt to flare and push hard into the breach. I am starting to figure out how this gun likes to cycle, nice and slow. If you start ripping them out real fast it will sometimes not index the clip and you’ll get an empty shot. I tried a clip full of Benjamin Diablo's through it and it cycled much better than with the Kodiaks....I need to make a pellet order soon.
The trigger is a 2 stage 5 way adjustable deal, but with closer inspection it looks a little like the psuedo 2 stage thing the Chinese did on the AR2078 where the second stage is really the trigger pivoting against a spring and no true 2 stage where both stages do work. The biggest problem I have is that most of the trigger screws are only adjustable with the stock off. What makes that a problem is because the gun cocks on closing the breach like a QB78 you have to do an actual dry fire to feel your adjustments. There IS a half cock position in the bolt so you can do a no-air dry fire, but it doesn't feel the same as when the actual hammer spring is behind it...so it's pretty useless. Half cock is also the safety for this gun and is very effective...just like leaving the bolt open. Now that I have shed all of my complaints about the trigger, I will say that it feels pretty good. You pull till you take up the first stage, then the pull increases and "snap" off goes the pellet. At first I couldn't figure it out, but that was beforee I realised the no-air dry fire postion was different from full cock.....now it feels really good.
The fit and finish is pretty good with my only two beefs being the synthetic stock and the enameled reciever and air tube. I think everything should be blued steel and hard walnut, but I guess it doesn't matter about the paint instead of bluing because airguns don't get hot. The synthetic stock is similar to the synthetics FX is currently putting on their guns. It's not the same kind of plastic as what you would find on a Gamo, it's more like some sort of vacuum formed stuff, kinda like a wiffle ball bat...I think the Gamo synthetic is nicer, but I think this might be lighter. It's all still plastic, I don't like it, but it came with the gun. The ergonomics of this stock are also a little poorer than what you would find on the Gamo stocks. I think these guys in Sweden must get the same guys to use as hand models as the Chinese do when they make their stocks....the trigger pull is loooooong. The stock however shoulders pretty well, although the cheek weld could be better.
Since I started writing this my neighbors have driven away and I can go sight this in:
I have a limited size backyard. I get about 13 yards from my porch to my trap, it's enough to sight in ok, but just tells you if you have a pellet that works "ok" in your gun. I loaded a magazine of 8 more kodiaks and started sighting in without refilling since my 40 shot string. Within 5 shots I had it hitting dead center. I loaded another magazine and took 8 more one holers. At 13 yards accuracy is stupid boring with guns like these, where they really shine is at 100+ yards. At 13 yards you shoot through a magazine of pellets and never know if anything is coming out after the first shot because it only makes one hole. I think the Kodiaks may be a little on the heavy side for this gun, and it obviously doesn't like to cycle them, so I'll make a pellet order and see if I can put a few more lighter weight pellets at a distance to see what it will do on high power instead of low. I've now put 56 shots through this gun on a 195 bar fill, the gun is now at about 140-145 bar. I suspect on high power that number will go way down, but I think I could easily get 100 low powered shots out of this thing between fills.
Neighbor is home again and talking to my wife, I wonder if Barkbark told on me...oh well, such is life:)
That is a Leapers 3x12x42AO side wheel adjustable 30mm scope sitting on a set of what I believe to be Mac1 drooper mounts.
