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BRK Ghost Review

Just put 1 of the larger huma gauges on for the reg. It says 85 bar instead of almost 100 that the stock gauge read. I’ll be happy if it will shoot 13.4 rd’s at 815 consistently and 13 h&n and possibly 15 gr nsa to over 900 - 920. Thats enough power for what i want it gives me a nice .2 flatspot from 25-50 yds an still gives good trajectory at 100. Can’t wait to get out and see what it will do @50&100 cause inside it’s damn amazing!
Glad to hear that you're impressed with initial results.

Seems like a long time to me that you mentioned you had one on order. I'm sure it felt even longer to you.

Let us know how it does when you get a chance to stretch it out.
 
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Its a 28mm huma 1/8 bsp
64DDA3C7-CD52-40DF-9C9A-22020B74D3FE.jpeg
 
Seems like a long time to me that you mentioned you had one on order. I'm sure it felt even longer to you

It was ordered early feb!
Well got out today as i have a match in 2 wks and it’s supposed to rain the next 2 wks! Now remember i got this gun 3:30 yesterday, went out to get my scope wheel marked in 5 yd increments and shot 5 shot groups at each yardage. Strelock seemed to be somewhere out in left field on this 1 as it was off near and far. Don’t know why just yet cause strelock matches the chair gun data? Anyway here’s a pic
4BC79541-242E-4AB3-BB2B-43C6A9E6EB53.jpeg
 
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Seems like a long time to me that you mentioned you had one on order. I'm sure it felt even longer to you

It was ordered early feb!
Well got out today as i have a match in 2 wks and it’s supposed to rain the next 2 wks! Now remember i got this gun 3:30 yesterday, went out to get my scope wheel marked in 5 yd increments and shot 5 shot groups at each yardage. Strelock seemed to be somewhere out in left field on this 1 as it was off near and far. Don’t know why just yet cause strelock matches the chair gun data? Anyway here’s a pic
Groupings look pretty dang good, especially for such prelim results. From the distances I presume this is in prep for a field target match? 13.4s @ the 815fps you mentioned yesterday?

Regardless, looking good!
 
Groupings look pretty dang good, especially for such prelim results. From the distances I presume this is in prep for a field target match? 13.4s @ the 815fps you mentioned yesterday?

Regardless, looking good!
I thought so too especially since i was doing it very quickly as it kept threatening to start raining! Id get a few drops for a min then a couple minutes later same thing. Im really hoping the lighter hammer spring gives me the adjustability to get up to around 920 from this 815 setting and for me this will be perfect! Oh and yes ft match in 2 wks
 
Had another competition experience with the Ghost this past weekend-sub 20fpe silhouettes and field target.
The long and not Ghost-specific version is here: https://www.airgunnation.com/thread...an-az-ft-and-silhouette-match-report.1289226/

The more Ghost-heavy version will be shared here.
This was the first competition with the .20 cal barrel, and it went well. The Ghost was the highest scoring gun in the silhouette match, achieving a 39/40 in gusts up to 25-mph and shooting tiny little chickens out to 70 yards, from a bumbag. (chickens are roughly the size of a 50 cent piece). The next highest score was a 35/40.
My silhouette miss was a pulled shot, notice it was on a larger animal on one of the closer distances. Perhaps I could see the larger .20 better than the .177 shooters and that played into the success of the Ghost .20 in silhouettes? but I saw that pellet arch right between the legs of the pig, perfectly coinciding with yanking the trigger, and therefore the gun, ever so slightly lower than intended.
ghost silhouettes.jpg



The Ghost went on to shoot 49/52 in the field target course. Course Troyer was 32, so not incredibly difficult, but hard enough. That 32 is higher than many grand prix matches. I was the only shooter on a bumbag (Open class) but looking at the overall results, only one rig scored higher (a 50/52 in Hunter class).

My 3 misses were:
  • miscalculated hold-off for the wind on the second highest T of the course (1.5" kz at 55 yards). This was on my first lane. I held about an inch left of the kz for a left to right wind, but needed to hold another inch at least, b/c that pellet impacted at 3 oclock
  • a near target due to brush (don't remember exactly which lane but it was something like a 3/8" at 12-15 yards). This target was lower than the shooters level, with a dirt bank/drop off about halfway to the (lower) target. There was some grass and weeds on the edge of that drop off, and I thought the pellet would clear them, but didn't. And therefore deflected to result in a miss
  • final miss was a pulled shot on a 1/2" kz at 18 yards. Not much room in that size of kz for a yanked shot. Pulled this one left and low.
Common trend with all three misses was shooter error.

I ditched the knee riser for this match, instead just resting the gun on my knee. I also got rid of the sun shade on the Midas Tac. Call it an effort to simplify I guess. Overall the lack of the knee riser didn't seem to have a detrimental effect. Nor did I miss the sun shade or feel like its absence reduced my ability to range-by-focus the targets (more of a scope situation than a Ghost situation, but together they make the rig so including my thoughts there). I kinda liked this more streamlined version of the Ghost. Felt like I was shooting a gun and not a contraption, like I often feel like when shooting field target specific guns.

Overall I was really impressed with the performance of the Ghost .20. As accurate/consistent/reliable/dependable as any other field target rig that I've had the pleasure to compete with, owned or borrowed.

Since I was the only guy in Open, and my son was the only shooter in Unlimited, we had a discussion and decided to both make the move to Hunter class, at least when there are no other Open/Unlimited shooters at a match. This scenario played out similarly in a couple of the summer matches last year and it's just more fun to compete against people than being all alone in a class. So....we did a bit of Hunter class practicing this evening.....He had to ditch his tripod and I had to ditch my bumbag. We made some improvements to the shooting sticks that have been used off and on for the last few years and we both had to turn down to 16x and give up on dialing the turret. Both the Ghost and his Vet are already set up for Hunter, having marks for 16x on the sidewheel. The scopes are also both ffp so we just need to convert click values to holdovers. He figured it out with a simple verbal explanation, prior to even firing a shot. We set up traps at 10, 35, and 55 yards and were able to consistently hit a 1/16" dot at 10, keep em within about 1/2" at 35 and within 1.5" at 55 so seems promising. Kinda fun to both shoot at paper together like that, "calling" our shots and watching each other's success in the scope. We'll report further on how the Hunter class prep progresses.
2023-05-01_23h10_57.jpg
 
No photos, but I had an amazing afternoon with the Ghost .20 today.

I've got an eye appointment with a specialist tomorrow morning in Phoenix and was able to turn the 3hrs each way trip into a 4for1special. Pest birds at the dairy with the Ghost, spending the evening with my dad, eye appointment tomorrow, and picking up some airgun-related goodies at a friend's house on an alternate route home tomorrow afternoon.

Keeping it relevant to the Ghost review and ongoing performance analysis....I'll of course focus on the bird pesting at the dairy here. I spent 3 hrs at a PHX area dairy this afternoon. Good friend Ben set me up in the shade and then it was cock and shoot, as fast as I could, for 3 hrs straight. I brought an unopened tin, and a nearly half full tin. At 500/tin, I'm calling the pre dairy quantity roughly 700pellets. And there are only about 100 left!!! Fast and furious was the bird shooting.

All shots were taken from a standing tripod. Pre massacre, I was arguing for seated stool and shooting sticks but Ben told me, "you'll want the tripod" and he was right. With so many different angles and heights and distances, the swiveling tripod was perfect. I've commented before about how well the Ghosts ergos are for offhand shooting, and while standing tripod shooting is not offhand shooting, it's not far from it. I was again pleased with the Ghosts "feel" during the dairy outing today. It just "fits" when shooting offhand, or near offhand. I can't put my finger on why, and dunno if it's a balance point or ratios of dimensions or configuration thing, but shooting the Ghost from a standing position simply feels right.

In line with the ongoing efforts to get converted over to Hunter class for field target, I left the scope power @16x the entire time at the dairy, and used hold over versus my typically preferred dialing the turrets.

I went with the .20/13.73 grainers, at the just under 20fpe mark of 805fps. Most shots were under 70 yards but there was one perch at 84 yards that I got around 15-20 Eurasian collared doves off. Final count was about 15pigeons, 2 starlings, and somewhere between a boatload and a ton of Euro doves. I quit counting somewhere between 70-80 birds, and that was in the first 30-40 minutes.

This was the first time I've had high enough volume shooting to need to swap back and forth between the 300cc and 480cc bottle. It worked great, the valved bottles in the Ghost allow a spare to be kept pressured. I topped off both tanks to 250bar before I left home and Ben came to refill me with his 60min SCBA after about an hr. That top off allowed me to finish out the 3hrs without needing air again. (Lots of shots per fill @20fpe). I really loved the convenience of just unthreading one bottle and threading the other on. Having an additional bottle and valve is of course an added cost, but for serious high volume shooting like seen at the dairy, or just for the convenience of taking an extra bottle instead of a hand pump or compressor ....well, I thought the extra bottle thing was pretty dang cool today.

I've heard speed competition shooters talk about how hard that is on a gun, and me, not being a speed shooter, I'd always been somewhat skeptical. My prior thought was, "is the speed shooting hard on the gun, or is the shooter choosing to be hard on the gun in speed shooting." Well today kinda changed my mind about that a bit. In the midst of those 600 shots, I started thinking about how many times the gun was cocked, how many times the trigger sears have to catch, how many times the moving parts of the gun each has to do their thing, and I concluded that collectively, high volume shooting can be quite hard on a gun. Duty cycle might be a term at play here. 600shots in three hours is probably the heaviest concentrated usage this Ghost will ever see. It performed admirably. No troubles, no hiccups, no fuss no muss. It functioned 100% as I'd hope it would. I kept cocking and shooting, and it kept sending pellets downrange to kill yet another bird.

I only brought the Ghost, ie no backup gun. I guess that's a pretty good endorsement for how much trust I have in its ability to function properly.

Overall it was GREAT little outing with the Ghost! I had enough fun that I might just schedule my next eye appointment at the recommended time instead of going 8 months past like I did this time. And you can bet I'll be checking in with Ben for another run at the dairy for that next trip down to Phoenix. The question then becomes, am I traveling to the valley to shoot birds at the dairy and happen to have an eye appt too? or vice versa? Gotta keep my priorities straight. 😁

Thanks for the great time Ben.
 
No photos, but I had an amazing afternoon with the Ghost .20 today.

I've got an eye appointment with a specialist tomorrow morning in Phoenix and was able to turn the 3hrs each way trip into a 4for1special. Pest birds at the dairy with the Ghost, spending the evening with my dad, eye appointment tomorrow, and picking up some airgun-related goodies at a friend's house on an alternate route home tomorrow afternoon.

Keeping it relevant to the Ghost review and ongoing performance analysis....I'll of course focus on the bird pesting at the dairy here. I spent 3 hrs at a PHX area dairy this afternoon. Good friend Ben set me up in the shade and then it was cock and shoot, as fast as I could, for 3 hrs straight. I brought an unopened tin, and a nearly half full tin. At 500/tin, I'm calling the pre dairy quantity roughly 700pellets. And there are only about 100 left!!! Fast and furious was the bird shooting.

All shots were taken from a standing tripod. Pre massacre, I was arguing for seated stool and shooting sticks but Ben told me, "you'll want the tripod" and he was right. With so many different angles and heights and distances, the swiveling tripod was perfect. I've commented before about how well the Ghosts ergos are for offhand shooting, and while standing tripod shooting is not offhand shooting, it's not far from it. I was again pleased with the Ghosts "feel" during the dairy outing today. It just "fits" when shooting offhand, or near offhand. I can't put my finger on why, and dunno if it's a balance point or ratios of dimensions or configuration thing, but shooting the Ghost from a standing position simply feels right.

In line with the ongoing efforts to get converted over to Hunter class for field target, I left the scope power @16x the entire time at the dairy, and used hold over versus my typically preferred dialing the turrets.

I went with the .20/13.73 grainers, at the just under 20fpe mark of 805fps. Most shots were under 70 yards but there was one perch at 84 yards that I got around 15-20 Eurasian collared doves off. Final count was about 15pigeons, 2 starlings, and somewhere between a boatload and a ton of Euro doves. I quit counting somewhere between 70-80 birds, and that was in the first 30-40 minutes.

This was the first time I've had high enough volume shooting to need to swap back and forth between the 300cc and 480cc bottle. It worked great, the valved bottles in the Ghost allow a spare to be kept pressured. I topped off both tanks to 250bar before I left home and Ben came to refill me with his 60min SCBA after about an hr. That top off allowed me to finish out the 3hrs without needing air again. (Lots of shots per fill @20fpe). I really loved the convenience of just unthreading one bottle and threading the other on. Having an additional bottle and valve is of course an added cost, but for serious high volume shooting like seen at the dairy, or just for the convenience of taking an extra bottle instead of a hand pump or compressor ....well, I thought the extra bottle thing was pretty dang cool today.

I've heard speed competition shooters talk about how hard that is on a gun, and me, not being a speed shooter, I'd always been somewhat skeptical. My prior thought was, "is the speed shooting hard on the gun, or is the shooter choosing to be hard on the gun in speed shooting." Well today kinda changed my mind about that a bit. In the midst of those 600 shots, I started thinking about how many times the gun was cocked, how many times the trigger sears have to catch, how many times the moving parts of the gun each has to do their thing, and I concluded that collectively, high volume shooting can be quite hard on a gun. Duty cycle might be a term at play here. 600shots in three hours is probably the heaviest concentrated usage this Ghost will ever see. It performed admirably. No troubles, no hiccups, no fuss no muss. It functioned 100% as I'd hope it would. I kept cocking and shooting, and it kept sending pellets downrange to kill yet another bird.

I only brought the Ghost, ie no backup gun. I guess that's a pretty good endorsement for how much trust I have in its ability to function properly.

Overall it was GREAT little outing with the Ghost! I had enough fun that I might just schedule my next eye appointment at the recommended time instead of going 8 months past like I did this time. And you can bet I'll be checking in with Ben for another run at the dairy for that next trip down to Phoenix. The question then becomes, am I traveling to the valley to shoot birds at the dairy and happen to have an eye appt too? or vice versa? Gotta keep my priorities straight. 😁

Thanks for the great time Ben.
You are very welcome. It is definitely a target enriched environment.lol
 
Did a little assessment of empty and partially empty tins from the Ghost and arrived at..
  • .22/25.4 MRDs - 7 tins x200 = 1400
  • .177/10.34 - 3.75 tins x500 = 1875
  • .177/13.43 - 0.5 tins x 500 = 250
  • .20/15.89 -2.99 tins x 500 = 1495
  • .20/13.73 - 3.99 tins x 500 = 1995
  • And probably 300+ shots from random pellets, for testing purposes.
All in all, call it north of 7000 pellets that have been fired from the Ghost in the last 8 months.
 
175,000+ pellets have been shot through my Cricket alone and the rifle still shoots even better than when new. From all the shot cycles my Cricket has endured only a couple O-rings were replaced. No joke. I attribute such long-lasting performance to the low-power configuration (9 FPE) in that the valve doesn’t receive repeated, intensive beatings as it would in a high-power setup.
 
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175,000+ pellets have been shot through my Cricket alone and the rifle still shoots even better than when new. No joke.
That's alot! Couple years?

I feel the volume that airguns allow us that shoot is one of the most appealing aspects of the hobby. And that volume is possible through the fact that we're not wearing out barrels, getting mule-kicked in the shoulder each trigger pull, not losing our hearing, and that many of us can do it in a backyard without the ordeal of dragging everything to a public range or out away from town.

I realize 7000 is a small fraction of what many airguns will eventually shoot. I included an estimate of overall shots from the Ghost with the thought that some might be interested to know what kind of volume this review gun has thus far seen.
 
So the preferred choice of pellet in.22 is the 25g redesigned 👍. How come no 18g jumbo? Just curious.

Also what is the Ghost barrel is it ART or ART approved? Or it depended on cal and or HP or not?
The main use for the gun when I had the .22 barrel on it was for long range, high power field target. I've tried the 18.1s before in that game (different gun) and their subpar BC of about 0.035 puts them at an immediate disadvantage. So I used the .22MRDs with a BC up around 0.05.

The particular barrel I was using in the Ghost when set up as an HP in .22 was slow twist, with polygonal rifling. I think the rifling was something like 1:32 or maybe 1:36. And it is 23 inches long.

I understand that the Ghost Plus and Ghost Carbine come with 17" 12 land and groove rifled barrels, with the standard Lothar Walthar twist rate of 1:17.7. The Ghost HP comes with a 23 inch polygonal rifled barrel. I'm not sure of the twist rate in the HP polygonal barrels being shipped in Ghost HPs now, nor do I know if they're considered ART or ART approved. The machining of the barrels allows direct swap from a Delta/Alpha Wolf to a BRK Ghost. One would assume Ghost barrels are not coming off a different production line than barrels ending up in Daystate Alphas or Deltas, but I don't know that for a fact.