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.
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.
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.
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.