KRAL Airguns and WAR

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Olevey

Olevey

Member
Aug 4, 2016
388
20
CA, United States
Hello everyone,

Just wanted to communicate this to everyone who has been following the KRAL Arms saga regarding Wicked Air Rifles and Travis' frustration with the brand. I spoke to Travis for a while today, and in the end the post he had made was really nothing more than a vent for a horrendous weekend in terms of problems that had arisen with the Krals. He actually regrets sending that out, and emphasized to me that although it may have appeared that some clients with the Kral Arms rifles may have been left out to dry that in NO WAY was that his intentions. He has built his reputation, which we all know is quite good, by word of mouth only so it is not in his moral fabric to let customers hang out to dry, never has and never will. He has cooled down now and is starting the fabrication of some much more solid cocking levers, and sears as well. At this point he is not sure if he will begin to distribute the guns again, but will work with Kral to identify the problems and suggest feasible solutions to them. If they do not take his advice, well, that is their problem but hopefully they will. Travis asked me to let you all know as his time is at a premium now and he feels (and I agree) his time is better spent fixing the issues that arose and providing mitigating strategies for potential future issues. I hope this makes anyone affected feel better, I know it did for me!
 
I appreciate Travis sharing the information. He could have easily kept the information to himself. Instead he provided valuable information to anyone looking to purchase a Kral and to Kral owners who now know to be on the lookout for failure to specific parts. I also appreciate Travis coming out to say he will help fix the problem by manufacturing replacement parts if needed. Sounds like a stand up guy to me.
 
Upvote 0
Travis is the type of guy you could leave a bag of money with and not worry 1 dollar was taken out. Most people know this.But some will want to stir the pot. And hes even willing to make replacement parts himself!!! Whats that tell you.I dont even know why he bothers when he makes awesome guns if i was him id just stick to making his own products.
 
Upvote 0
I hear that TimTebow, I cant speak for him in terms of making his own products, but I get the feeling that it is exactly what he is probably going to do. It is my understanding that the guns he has made are pretty solid and just amazing all around. I wish I could afford one at this point :)

@Ed Travis actually was going to say it himself, maybe I jumped the gun a little bit but I just wanted anyone who was nervous about the situation like I was to get the straight story. Im sure he will chime in here soon.

@mmahoney Everyone has a bad day and says dumb poop, that's basically all that happened. I agree with you, his actions after the fact now are whats important and as you said seems stand up to me too.

@farmerjoe Crosman is an excellent example of the way things should be done in many respects. In all honesty I dont really love any of their guns too much, but have much respect for what they have done for the industry.
 
Upvote 0
A different take. If you can do your own mechanical work and have access to a machine shop, like the one Hobbyist post on a different thread, that is great.

But if you have to send your gun out for custom work, stuff gets goofy fast. You spend $500 on a rifle and then sink hundreds more into to make better, why not just bite the bullet and get a $1k-$2k gun upfront? I don't know much about Kral, but I'll bet they're a multi-million dollar international company that has fine in experience in the manufacture of airguns. Why take their rifle and hand it over to a garage shop mechanic to have it 'improved', it makes no sense and it voids the warranty. Once you do this, your money is gone, and your chance to sell has been greatly diminished.

I think the whole tuning a new rifle (not maintenance or repair) is a throw-back to days of Beeman. Beeman went to great lengths to brag up his upscale springers from Germany, and then go for extra cash with his in house QC and tune job. "We disassemble the rifle and polish and hone the internal parts and install our proprietary grease for smoother shooting more power and accuracy". This is a scam, gentlemen.

Oh, and the notion that Kral would care what Travis has to say is ludicrous, that's not how companies work. Kral has their own engineering staff with mechanical designers and machinists, they don't need input service techs.
 
Upvote 0
Tuning took my rifle from 36 fpe to 46 fpe, not sure how that is a scam. Also, many of the parts on my Kral are hand ground, not what I would expect from a "multi-million dollar
international company"...

I have the ability to manufacture my own parts, but still chose to have it tuned by WAR. Travis has far more experience in that department as shown by the fps and shot string. I also never bought the rifle for investment purposes.
 
Upvote 0
"SilentMatt"Tuning took my rifle from 36 fpe to 46 fpe, not sure how that is a scam. Also, many of the parts on my Kral are hand ground, not what I would expect from a "multi-million dollar
international company"...

I have the ability to manufacture my own parts, but still chose to have it tuned by WAR. Travis has far more experience in that department as shown by the fps and shot string. I also never bought the rifle for investment purposes.
Click to expand...
Sort of proves my point. If you're not happy with the build quality of a $500 rifle, you could have sent it back for a refund. And since you weren't pleased, a higher grade air rifle may be what you want. Going to 46fpe sounds like a nice improvement; however, stock rifles with that power level are available, customization is not required.

If you are happy with it that all that matters. I do my own rebuilds and mods myself.

I didn't like either of my $500 PCPs. One went back to pyramyd and they sent me an Air Arms instead which was what I should have done in the first place. The other disappointment I piddled with for years without satisfaction.
 
Upvote 0
I see it not as the gun let him down, think about it these guns have been out (US) for a very short time. During that time Travis has tuned and got into many people's hands several (don't really know how many), where all the other people that are working with these guns have done little more than lip service. He didn't include upgrades to cocking levers or sear or any of the other designs flaws but is addressing them openly, but people still bash this guy for some reason.
Where are the rest of the tuners?
They are still working on getting these guns out, and are directly benefiting on the failures that Travis is working through.
Think about it, how bad would it be to get a BWalton fully tuned + regulator + his custom ldc, then have the lever snap the 1st week or the sear fail.
Or THammers' .357 build he was posting about, hate to have that sear fail on that or even try and cock that with stock lever.

I'm not bashing those other tuners but Travis seems to be doing most of heavy lifting here, taking all the heat, where is their input?

And while I'm at it I am so sick and tired of hearing "just pay $1-2K" argument, it should not take a $2K gun to shoot a .22 pellet 25 - 75yrds, there should be an option under $700 imo.
$2K big bore now that's a different story.
 
Upvote 0
So far, nothing has broken on my gun, the only thing I'm not pleased with is the quality control at the "multi-million dollar international company".
Would I be more pleased had my gun come with a better barrel and shot at least MOA, yes, but I went into this fully knowing it was a $500 gun
and I like to tinker anyway. My buddy shoots a Wildcat, he is always tinkering with it and just put an aftermarket regulator in it. He shoots it at 100+ yards
and currently it is more accurate and quieter than stock. It's a higher end gun and shouldn't have needed any tuning though...
 
Upvote 0
"SilentMatt"So far, nothing has broken on my gun, the only thing I'm not pleased with is the quality control at the "multi-million dollar international company".
Would I be more pleased had my gun come with a better barrel and shot at least MOA, yes, but I went into this fully knowing it was a $500 gun
and I like to tinker anyway. My buddy shoots a Wildcat, he is always tinkering with it and just put an aftermarket regulator in it. He shoots it at 100+ yards
and currently it is more accurate and quieter than stock. It's a higher end gun and shouldn't have needed any tuning though...
Click to expand...
That's cool, I think the puncher breakers look great, and I had one ordered but cancelled because I get like that when things are back ordered. Seems like most everyone likes them. Looks like a great value.

Would be nice to get to see and hold these things in person before shelling out hard cash and hoping for the best, but it is what it is.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu