• The AGN App is ready! Search "Airgun Nation" in your App store. To compliment this new tech we've assigned the "Threads" Feed & "Dark" Mode. To revert back click HERE.

Daystate Wolverine "R" - First Impressions / Shots on Target / Pics

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

SocalTrail

Member
Jul 19, 2016
238
21
CA, United States
I'll start with my back story on getting this rifle....

A few months ago I sold a beloved Daystate Wolverine B Hi-Lite here in the forum. This particular rifle was rock solid, quiet and incredibly accurate, I immediately regretted selling it. I sold it simply because I was bored and wanted to continue the never ending quest of trying new airguns. After I sold the Wolverine, I found Utah Airguns had a green laminate Crown in .22 cal so I jumped on it, simply due to the hype surrounding the rifle. I can expand on my experience with the Crown in case anyone would like, but suffice to say I was extremely underwhelmed by the rifle and sold it a couple months after I bought it. Not impressed at all. 

This takes us to about the first week of April. I called up AOA to inquire about the new Wolverine "R" and after answering my questions, the sales person told me they had some of the Daystate Red Wolves in stock and ready to ship. The cost of the walnut Red Wolf was $200 more than the Wolverine R and he said all the guns they had tested thus far had been lasers. I bit on this after I had a great experience with my original Airwolf MCT I had back in the day. The rifle was a tack driving laser and I never had a single issue with it. Also sold that one to explore new stuff and regret selling that one as well. It killed more rabbits and doves and any pellet rifle I have ever owned, I had a single day with 66 Eurasian Doves and 5 rabbits... it was great! I got the Red Wolf a few days later and got the chance to play around with it. The rifle itself was beautiful... what I had come to expect from Daystate rifles. My particular rifle showed up with a battery charger equipped with a European electrical plug... a bit of a bummer but one quick email to AOA had them sending me out the correct charger, no biggy. While I was waiting for the charger, I had time to think. I ended up realizing I really wanted the Wolverine R which was my original choice, and the Red Wolf wasn't what I was looking for in what I would use primarily as a field rifle. Another quick call to AOA and I had a laminate Wolverine R in .22 call headed my way and the Red Wolf headed their way. 

I got the rifle yesterday. Initial impressions are, well....like I mentioned before, Daystate makes fantastic stuff and this rifle did not disappoint one bit. I've owned 5 different Daystate rifles so far and have never had anything but positive experience with them. I had one valve leak early on with my old MCT but it was a easy fix that I performed on my own. The fit and finish is superior to anything I have seen out there. I've owned Theobens, a couple FX rifles, Air Arms, HW, Airforce, Kalibrgun, Taipans, and WAR. Daystate hands down has the best overall design and finish... this is partially subjective but my opinion on the finish and machine work is also based on 20 years as a aerospace machinist. The anodizing is clean and free of flaws, everything is designed extremely well. It has an extremely robust barrel to receiver interface and the trigger is up there with the Anschutz rimfire target rifles i own. Its smooth, clean and free from grittiness and creep. 

After I got the Wolverine R out, I gassed it up, ran a couple patches down the barrel and fitted a scope. I use the Sightron S-Tac series of scopes on all my airguns... phenomenal glass for the money in my opinion. I proceeded to shoot several 5 shot groups at 35 yards with 18.1 gr JSB's. This is legitimately the most accurate air rifle I have ever shot. The first group was honest to god one hole that measured out at .27" - The diameter of the hole made by 5 separate pellets was only .05" bigger than the actual pellet itself. I shot 4 more groups of five. Each group was as impressive as the last. i had a couple fliers in there that I can 100% no excuse blame on my daughter who was there "helping" me shoot and accidentally bumped me a bit too hard. I ended up shooting 80 rounds through the rifle and I'm still not off the reg (looks like the reg is set at 140 bar or so). All I did today was shoot for groups and do some positional / off hand work with the rifle. All the groups I shot were with magazine fed, no single feeding. 

I'll run a string over my chrono after I get another 100 or so rounds through it to allow the Huma reg to break in a bit.

In short, I would highly recommend anyone who is looking at this rifle to jump on it. The cocking lever is smooth as glass and nice and short, the daystate anti-double feed mags work flawlessly, and this is arguably the quietest 32 ft lb rifle I have ever shot with the factory Huggett mod. The attention to detail in this rifle is glaringly apparent. There is nothing that you touch that feels cheap or plastic like. this rifle IS expensive, but I truly feel like I got what I paid for, especially after I shot it :) I'd like to also give a nod to AOA for helping me out... awesome customer service is an understatement. 

Anyone who would like any questions answered about the "R" or wants more info on my opinion of the Crown, let me know. 


My only criticisms of the rifle thus far.... Daystate has never made it easy for the end user to make adjustments. I really with they would incorporate a hammer spring adjuster for fine tuning. I understand why they don't, but it sure would be nice. The only other thing I can think of is at first I felt like the trigger was placed very far forward... After 70 shots i can honestly say I never noticed it. I think this may be adjustable though, I need to check. 

PICS:

This top pic is three 5-shot groups at 35 yards from a front and rear sanbag. The first rounds out of the rifle after zeroing the scope. Middle group has a single flier caused by a bump from my daughter :) *** I made turret adjustments after the first two targets to end up with what you see in the 3rd target. 

1525926411_6624135185af3ca0b009687.16183665_IMG_0830.JPG



This has all five groups with a .22 cal pellet sitting in the middle box. The other group just to the 7 o'clock of the gold pellet also had a flier which I cannot explain. 

1525926684_8972444535af3cb1cc1e135.76225171_IMG_0835.JPG



1525926845_13924950985af3cbbdb979f3.68442420_IMG_0836.JPG


1525926858_16496951445af3cbcaeff542.93923644_IMG_0837.JPG


1525926872_6210358865af3cbd81fe7b8.55105814_IMG_0838.JPG


1525926884_15753630115af3cbe47a8671.53630410_IMG_0839.JPG


1525926914_10026990865af3cc02e1d809.00646270_IMG_0840.JPG
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stone02, Westypete, fusion and 1 other person
Marmalade - 

These are my particular experiences and observations. Mind you, by nature I am extremely critical of how things are designed and manufactured. First off, my particular crown came with a small scratch on the receiver, it was small and most would probably not notice it but this bothered me. It bothered me more than normal because the previous two FX guns I owned ( T12 Whisper and Revolution), both also had imperfections in their finish. On the revolution, it came from the factory with mangled allen screws. It looked like a kid assembled it. Yes, it was brand new. On the Whisper the shroud had a blotch in the finish, it looked like a lighter stain in the black finish. Just things that should have been caught in quality control. Second, the barrel on my crown actually had some droop. I like to shoot distance so I was forced to buy adjustable scope rings in order to center my scope and use the turret elevation to make it past 100 yards. I never got a clear answer as to why this was and definitely checked and double checked the bolts. 

So now onto the actual experience shooting the rifle.... The rifle shot well. It posted good groups but nothing amazing. The smooth twist x barrel seemed to be a one trick pony to me. It liked 18.1 JSB's and that was it. It wouldn't shoot the heavy 25.4 .22 cal JSB's worth a damn and wouldn't shoot the 16 grain pellets either. I also found that it leaded up faster that my conventional rifled barrels and was more sensitive to lead fouling. I would get pellet de stabilization and spiraling when the barrel went north of 400 pellets. My groups at distance were never that great, in fact I think by best group at 100 was around 1.75"... My WAR Flex will shoot groups nearly half that size and I have the targets to prove it.

Thats brings me to the last point... with all the adjustments on the rifle, I could still never get mine to shoot great. I think if you were retired and found joy in tinkering on your gun for hours on end and finding the perfect settings then maybe you would love the rifle. I don't mind tuning and have tuned many, many air rifles myself. I tune them and leave them until something changes or goes wrong and the gun needs a re-tune. I hunt with my air guns a lot and rely on their consistency and accuracy. I didn't like the external adjustments and how I never had confidence in them. When I took the rifle out I was always checking the settings to make sure I was on the right ones. This whole design is just a novelty in my opinion. Not saying it is not nice to have the option to change reg pressure easily, change hammer spring tension, and port size, but I personally didn't need these adjustments readily available. I would have been perfectly happy having them concealed under the stock. Again, personal opinions. 

The whole barrel system just seemed like it was flimsy and weak. I had significant POI changes when changing the position of the collapsible shroud and adding 3rd party mods. The factory extendable shroud was another gimmick in my opinion. It worked just enough to make the rifle comfortably shootable as far as noise is concerned but the rifle is far too loud in factory configuration for me. Why not just simplify things and make a nice, effective fixed shroud with threaded end cap? 

The trigger was piss poor. The take up was not smooth on my particular. I bumped the weight back up to around 1.5 lbs for the first stage and it was much smoother. When it was set light (10oz) there was an issue where if you pulled the trigger up to the 2nd stage but didn't break the shot, the trigger would not reset itself. I guess this had something to do with being set light but this was how it was set from the factory, so go figure. You would have to slide your finger in there behind the trigger and help it forward to reset. My safety detent was weak and the safety would inadvertently get activated or de activated when carrying it. 

Overall, just too much poop to go wrong and what I thought was flimsy build quality. Like I mentioned, I feel like it would be a great rifle for something who enjoys tuning and fiddling more than shooting... I dont, I like to shoot and hunt. So back to Daystate I went and I am 110% glad I did so. The Crown pales in comparison to the Wolverine I have now. I cracks me up when everyone raves about how "innovative" FX is..... the only innovative thing they have done in recent times is develop the new twist X barrel system. Having an externally adjustable reg, externally adjustable HST and ability to change transfer port sizes is not innovative. Its been around for a long time and done in some cases, in a much cleaner and simpler way than FX. 

These are MY opinions and observations about the Crown... Not stating anything as fact. I know many people are out there who love their Crowns and I am glad to hear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stone02, JeffDodge, Marmalade and 1 other person
Upvote 0
Thanks for taking the time to write about your experience in detail!
Just like you, whenever I get something in hand I automatically start looking for details - good or bad. Probably a job deformation but hey, I want to see where my money goes. 

Reading post after post how the Crown is so beautiful and well made so accurate made me doubt this even more. The price just doesn't reflect that. It can't be as well finished as a Daystate for much less and have more features. Perfection costs.

My opinion on the adjustability is the same as yours. If you have too much time on your hands great, but I doubt the average end user tinkers much with the settings after getting them right. 

Like I mentioned before I'm looking at the Red Wolf. Why didn't you like it? 
I haven't held it but from what I've read the battery situation could be handled much better (proprietary adapter) and if I had to design it I would put the battery under the butt plate to make the stock in the grip area more solid and have more space for a bigger battery.
Also having a fully electronic rifle and not give the end user the option to adjust the power levels is just ridiculous. Having to wait for some third party to make a Heliboard on a 2200 Euro rifle? A missed opportunity at best.

 
Upvote 0
Marmalade - As I mentioned I used to have a Airwolf MCT. A couple years back before I sold it, I got a little side tracked with life and let it sit in the safe for maybe 9 months without being shot or charged. When I took it out, the battery wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. I would get a couple of shots and then just a click. A quick call to AOA solves this problem but I ate the bill because the rifle was over 5 years old. I had no other issues to mention. When I got the Red Wolf it reminded me of that. It is t that I don’t trust the electronics or think this may be the way of the future, it’s just in necessary for me. I have no doubt the Red Wolf is a shooter but I honestly never had it long enough to find out. For me, the simple reliability of the Wolverine is a beautiful thing. Being an ex-machinist by trade, I am confident I could repair anything that ever went wrong with the rifle. Being able to pick it up and not think, “ is my battery charged?” Is nice also. The way they integrated the battery could be done better, I agree but it is honestly not a horrible design. They are using very reliable and readily available LiPo batteries and based on a quick internet search, the battery they use is common in airsoft guns and can be picked up for under $15. The Red Wolf comes with the ability to have the power setting changed between low, med., and high and Daystate has a full programmer they will be releasing soon. 

You hit hit the nail on the head with the Crown. I feel like they charge a premium for it simply due to the extra adjustments they throw on it and the “innovation” of the smooth twist x barrel which probably costs less to make that a conventional rifles barrel. 
 
Upvote 0
Great timing with your little review as a friend was just talking with me last night about wanting to upgrade his Air Ranger to a Wolverine R. His Air Ranger shoots great, but he wants something regulated to get a higher shot count and more consistent velocity over a fill.

He initially wanted a Red Wolf, but has the same concerns about the electronics as you mentioned. The electronic rifles undoubtedly work great but it’s very nice just being able to grab a rifle and go without worrying about battery condition or state of charge as you can with the all-mechanical Wolverine R. Somewhat surprised to see that Daystate used a Lipo on the Red Wolf as that opens the door to over-discharging and puffing the pack inside the grip, or the pack puffing if the rifle is left inside a car on a hot day; I would have preferred to see them use 2x 18650 cells or similar.

Couple of questions… Daystate doesn’t have the owner’s manual for the Wolverine R posted online yet so I couldn’t find out for myself, but does the manual cover adjusting the regulator pressure?

Slightly disappointed, but not surprised Daystate didn’t incorporate any kind of easy hammer spring adjustment mechanism. Their build philosophy seems to indicate they really don’t want the end user messing with their rifles. I suppose the hammer spring tension can be adjusted via custom bushings/shims as with the Air Ranger.

Reason I’m asking is my friend wants the Wolverine R in .22, but wants to turn up the power to 36-38ft-lb or so without having the 6” extra length of the Wolverine R HP with the longer barrel. I told him I could probably do so via regulator and HST tweaks at the expense of shot count per fill. I can make new hammer spring bushings/shims as needed to tune the regulator/HST relationship, just wondering how difficult it is to get to the regulator.

Kind of surprised the factory regulator setting on your rifle is at 140 bar; that seems high for 32 ft-lb. I would have expected around 115-120 bar. Then again I’m basing my assumptions on all the Edguns I’ve had where the plenum volume and regulator pressures are different than the Wolverine R for a given energy level.

Thanks!
 
Upvote 0
I went to the Daystate Workshop last month. They covered tear down, repair & rebuild of the Wolverine R. Adjusting the regulator should be reserved for experienced tinkerers. The regulator pressure is quite a bit higher than your average airgun because it incorporates the harper valve system. For those looking to change the velocity I suggest starting with adjusting the hammer of the harper valve. If I recall correctly all you have to do is remove the stock and insert a single allen key from the back (shown in blue).

1525965252_18098974075af461c4549249.11501459_20180510_100222.jpg


 
Upvote 0
I tore the stock off last night. At first glance it didn’t look like the reg was externally adjustable. On the back side of the Huma there is a sticker that says 135 so I’m under the belief the gauge is just slightly off. 135 bar still sounds high, I run my WAR Flex with 125 bar normally when I have the .22 barrel on. I’ll have to run it over the chrono to see what’s going on for sure, the chrono print out from AOA reads 860fps avg with 18.1 JSB’s. If that is what the gun settles on, I will fiddle with it to bump it up to 905-915 unless it just hammers at 100 yards which is always a possibility. Like it was mentioned, it isn’t impossible to tune the rifles but it’s also not easy. Custom shims, polishing and some other tricks can get you where you need to go. I’ll run it through it’s paces before I mess with it though. 
 
Upvote 0
Well I'm not trying to say they charge a premium because the features are nice if you want them for the money you are paying. It's just that maybe for a lot of the people who bought the Crown recently it's their first higher end rifle and of course they really enjoy them, it's a step up - and that's great. But there are higher end rifles than the Crown in terms of the build quality and arguably accuracy that you have to appreciate. 
My first PCP was a Steyr LG110 and before I bought it I have never even seen a PCP before. And coming from smallbore competitions I kind of knew what I wanted in a rifle for my purposes. Since then I've shot some of the other competitors in the PCP market and I have to say I see where the money went in my rifle. 
 
Upvote 0
Michael, thanks for the info.

Based on the exploded diagram the regulator doesn’t seem terribly difficult to access, just time consuming... unfortunately you have to take apart half of the gun to get to it. LOL! Or maybe the regulator adjustment screw is easily accessible through the bottle attachment block after degassing and unscrewing the bottle?

Love how the Daystates look/shoot and really like their build quality, but they’ve never really been easy to work on or tuner-friendly. Every time I work on my friend’s Air Ranger I’m reminded how easy I have it with my Edguns. On my new R5M you only have to deal with 3 screws to remove the air reservoir and the regulator, and 2 of those screws are for the stock. Once the stock is off you only need a 10mm hex to adjust the hammer spring tension, and on the R5 the hammer adjustment now has detents instead of a jam nut arrangement as the R3 and older. Wish it was that simple for the Wolverine R…

I’m trying to talk my friend into a Wolverine R .25 HP, at 50 ft-lb that’s right in the sweet spot for the 25.4 JSBs… and I won’t have to mess with it. :p
 
Upvote 0
"kiba"Michael, thanks for the info.

Based on the exploded diagram the regulator doesn’t seem terribly difficult to access, just time consuming... unfortunately you have to take apart half of the gun to get to it. LOL! Or maybe the regulator adjustment screw is easily accessible through the bottle attachment block after degassing and unscrewing the bottle?


Click to expand...
You're correct, the only challenge is disassembling 1/2 the gun to get to it (and worrying about damaging o-rings along the way). Which isn't a problem if you're methodical in your approach. Negative, you cannot access it simply by removing the bottle.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu