Huntsman Revere report

Not breaking any new ground with this report. The Revere (and its Huntsman forebears) have been well covered. Accurate, attractive, consistent, reliable, efficient & so on. Not a tinkering gun- know it can be done, but it isn’t externally adjustable & doing so internally isn’t something most of its target audience will want to do. Better choices for that.
Received the rifle (in .177) on March 1st, and through 1200 pellets, it has lived up to its reputation. Need a lot more pellets downrange to say much about durability, but thus far it’s been trouble free- no leaks, no mystery POI changes, etc.
Have only shot JSB 10.3 grain pellets, & not likely to try anything else soon (if it ain’t broke…). Getting 60+ shots per fill from the small cylinder. Carries an SFWA 12x scope in Warne rings, & a 0db moderator. Trigger was 8 oz out of the box, after a few shooting sessions I bumped it up to 12 oz. In that configuration, tips the scales at 8 lbs 7 oz.
Really finding it to be an ideal sporter for offhand shooting. Do most of my shooting this way, and early on started producing some of the better targets I’ve ever shot.
What I hadn’t done, until today, was give it a good wringing out from the bench. The last 6 weeks have been ridiculously windy for this area, think that’s been true for most of the Ohio & Tennessee valley areas (as the folks from Plains states laugh). Know better than to even try with a .177 when it’s 10-20 mph, much higher gusts, & swirling every which way. Managed to get a 25 yard zero during a relative calm just after dawn the day after setting her up, & it hadn’t touched a bag since.
Badly wanted to get reliable dope so I could start shooting silhouettes at regulation distances. So I broke down & went to an indoor range across the river that has 100 yard lanes available. Got my dope at a bunch of distances from 10-50 yards, then decided to shoot some groups to see what she can do. Knew it would at least be respectable, but dang- I was not prepared to see a group this small, even considering the literally perfect conditions (zero wind, rock solid bench).

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Ok, every blind hog finds an acorn once in a while, can it be repeated?

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Ok, couple clicks to center, then I want to see one more to believe.

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Briefly considered trying at 100, but in my joy I failed to notice the fellow next to me setting up his new 300 Win Mag. Sure noticed when he lit the first round off :). Took that as my queue to head home!

 
I have the same rifle in .22. Guess I've had it a year or so, and it's been perfect. I shoot the lighter 16 g pellets mostly, at around 880 fps. It actually shoots the 18 a bit better, but I don't have another rifle set up for the 16, and it seems a good match. And the squirrels don't know the difference! As yours, very stable POI. It would be a great woods rifle.
 
It's kind of funny that the Huntsman series (Regal/Revere) is Daystate's entry level gun. I'm not surprised by the groups you got with the Revere given that you did your part which was good. In .22 or .177, it doesn't matter. These guns are shooters. I have the older Regal XL in .22 but 65 shots in .177? You have me thinking now. I can only dream of a 100 yard indoor shooting range. I totally agree that it's the best way to check your dope. That guy shooting the 300WM sure was a party pooper. I probably would have left too lol. Great post!
 
Great report. I picked up the same rifle from another AGN member just a few weeks ago. I wish I could say that my groups are similar to yours--but I'd be lying. I will say that in low wind the rifle shoots as accurately as any gun I've ever owned. You're not exaggerating on the shot count. It seems like this little sweetheart makes its own air. And the best thing to me about the little .177 Revere is that it's an absolute pleasure to shoot. 

Regarding pellets. Mine loves the Air Arms Diabolo Field Heavy 10.3g. Seeing your results, however, I will definitely give the JSB 10.3s a try. (From the same factory?)

Keep enjoying that rifle.


 
65 shots is incredible, really? My .22 probably gets around 40, and there shouldn't be that much difference. I'm measuring shot count to the point it falls off the reg and I can detect a change in POI. I'm sure it would be considerably greater to a point well below the reg set point.

Was second guessing myself (have been known to... "misremember" on occasion!), so dug up the chronograph results. Did this after a few hundred rounds, to let things settle in:

1 885
2 891
3 883
4 886 
5 890
6 888
7 886
8 884
9 885 
10 884
11 885 
12 886
13 883
14 884 
15 885
16 889 
17 882
18 885
19 885
20 881
21 888
22 885
23 890
24 884
25 884
26 882 
27 884
28 891
29 888
30 886 
31 884
32 888
33 885
34 883
35 890
36 887
37 882
38 887
39 885
40 885
41 880
42 883
43 887
44 888
45 887
46 881
47 884
48 887
49 890
50 883
51 886 
52 888
53 888
54 889
55 883
56 881
57 885
58 887
59 891
60 886
61 883 
62 885
63 878

Didn't record after that, but think the next shot was 860-something, safe to say off the regulator at that point & probably was after shot 62. So 60+ would be more accurate. As with several fish I've caught, seems it grew a little when I told the story later...

If the gauge is to be trusted, regulator is set at a skosh over 140 bar.






 
That guy shooting the 300WM sure was a party pooper. I probably would have left too lol. Great post!

Thanks!

Used to moonlight at another local indoor range, including RSO duty. Was 25 yards max, so not many of the big boomers, but even the "weak" pb rifle cartridges will rock you indoors. Always doubled ear protection- foam plugs and muffs. Still had a headache after a busy 2 hour shift on the range. I do not miss it.

Didn't really get upset, range rules allowed it & he paid his money. Plus it served as a "pinch" to let me know I wasn't dreaming those small groups!
 
Great report. I picked up the same rifle from another AGN member just a few weeks ago. I wish I could say that my groups are similar to yours--but I'd be lying. I will say that in low wind the rifle shoots as accurately as any gun I've ever owned. You're not exaggerating on the shot count. It seems like this little sweetheart makes its own air. And the best thing to me about the little .177 Revere is that it's an absolute pleasure to shoot. 

Regarding pellets. Mine loves the Air Arms Diabolo Field Heavy 10.3g. Seeing your results, however, I will definitely give the JSB 10.3s a try. (From the same factory?)

Keep enjoying that rifle.


Thanks!

It's been my understanding that the Air Arms pellets, & several other house brands, are indeed made by JSB. I've no insider knowledge to back that up, so take with a grain of salt.
 
That's a great chrono run. I think my .22 reg is set around 160, which is a little higher than needed with the 16 g pellet and the factory HST. But since playing with the hammer isn't very user friendly on the Revere, I'll leave it as is. I'm sure it can be tuned for better air efficiency, but it shoots great, and 40+ shots is sufficient for my use. So, if it ain't broke.......
 
great guns they are. i also wonder why the regs are set so high as the 22 wouldnt be such a air hog

I assume it has to do with the hammer and spring they use. At 160 bar, my 22 shoots the 18 at around 845 fps, and the 16 around 885. So, there is not a lot of room for a lower set point at that HST. Maybe the design doesn't accommodate a much higher spring tension with the standard hammer weight. I believe this might be one of those things that relates to the lower power history of many European rifles, with 12 fpe being the standard. We Americans force bending the rules of some of the great designs, to satisfy our demand for more power. Just a thought. 
 
great guns they are. i also wonder why the regs are set so high as the 22 wouldnt be such a air hog

I assume it has to do with the hammer and spring they use. At 160 bar, my 22 shoots the 18 at around 845 fps, and the 16 around 885. So, there is not a lot of room for a lower set point at that HST. Maybe the design doesn't accommodate a much higher spring tension with the standard hammer weight. I believe this might be one of those things that relates to the lower power history of many European rifles, with 12 fpe being the standard. We Americans force bending the rules of some of the great designs, to satisfy our demand for more power. Just a thought.

I think you are correct about bending the rules on some of these rifles designed for the lower power European market. I took my Weihrauch HW110 .22 apart the other day. (I have both a DS Huntsman in .22 and an HW110 in .22 - they seem to complete in the same market space). I bought a reg test gauge from HWTuning and checked my HW110’s reg pressure - it is 140 from the factory. It shoots the 16g pellets at 880fps - same as my unregulated Huntsman. So these guns designed for lower power seem to need the regulator cranked up pretty high to achieve “FAC” power levels.

To contrast this, My RTI Prophet Performance.22 shoots 18.13g JSBs at 955fps with the regulator only at 95 and the hammer spring backed pretty much all the way out!

I’m actually thinking about lowering the reg setting on my HW110 to increase shot count past the 40-42 that it currently gets. It might be cool to have a gun shooting 16g accurately at 780-810fps with a shot count of 60-70 on the regulator…
 
Thanks to all for the replies.

Wasn't sure what to expect for shot count, Daystate shows 46 shots for the export version in .177, but AOA shows 75. Ended up pretty close to the middle.

The big difference in published numbers, along with @rigbymauser's understanding of a 130 bar setting from the factory, made me wonder if the importer is increasing the reg setting prior to sale. Both Daystate & AOA include a short shot string in the box, & they're in agreement with each other (and mine), so pretty much rules that out. Seems more likely that my gauge reading might be high.


 
@EPG you should try that experiment with your HW110. I have a HW100 in .177, and tuned it down to a bit under 12 fpe, and I love it. Mine is the carbine with shorter cylinder, but still I think I'm getting 90+ shots on the reg. I shoot 10g pellets in the yard, and it's almost silent, and still deadly on the tree rats. I have no experience with the HW110, but the HW100 is very easy to tune.
 
Couple things I neglected to mention-

All shooting was done with Carm single shot loader. The factory single shot tray is fine, but the Carm is a little easier to find with those tiny pellets. Confession- magazine is still in the box, haven't used it.

Props to the JSB pellets as well! Great barrel, slick action, sweet trigger... none of it matters if the projectiles are dung. I'm sure JSB sends out a bad tin now & again, but I've never had one.

And some eye candy

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