Karma Red Panda, so far didn’t see great groups in YouTube videos!!!

[mubhaur]

Based on the hype of Red Panda a lot of airgunners were waiting for it to come to the market.

Now when it is being sold, I have seen almost all YouTube videos of Red Panda but did not find any extra ordinary groups at 100 yards.

There are many other brands including FX which do same or even better than what has been shared on YouTube as far as accuracy is concerned. Specially in 30 caliber.

Either the users didn't tune it properly or it needs more time to break in.

Don't know.

Bhaur

 

[Franklink]

Karma - Karma Red Panda Bench Model

The kind of port i have been asking for since i got back into airgunning. rerally the single or dual transfer ports are so,,,,,, SIGH Also i dont know if its just me, but feeding a pellet forward with a pin probe over a dual transfer port,,,,, that never feel good. EdGuns have been using these...

www.airgunnation.com

 

[Sqwirl57]

I suspect you'll only see ordinary groups for the most part. You aren't getting the gun that won RMAC which was shot, tuned, and customized by extraordinary shooters and tuners. Dudes on YouTube usually only look extraordinary because they have the power of multiple takes and editing on their side

 

[mubhaur]

I suspect you'll only see ordinary groups for the most part. You aren't getting the gun that won RMAC which was shot, tuned, and customized by extraordinary shooters and tuners. Dudes on YouTube usually only look extraordinary because they have the power of multiple takes and editing on their side

Right
But the strange thing is this that people on YouTube are also unable to show good groups either.

 

[Sqwirl57]

Right
But the strange thing is this that people on YouTube are also unable to show good groups either.

What kind of groups are they showing?

 

[tibor]

I'm sure you read Derick walls post on the model here on AGN{ unless he's sponsored}..looks legit..replacing the gages first thing seems cheap as _uck and the poor case included with the rifle, I won't put to much thought in you tube videos...like Sqwirl57 mentioned.

 

[Centercut]

Derrick’s @zx10wall groups were excellent and done at an indoor range. He did five separate 5 shot groups at 100 yards and measured the C2C of each one and then presented an average.

His average was 0.89” for the five groups with AEA 50.5 grain pellets.
He has previously done the same tests with the .30 Cricket TAC and ZAN 56 grain pellets that he finished 4th with at last years EBR Pro, just a few shots behind Thayne and his Pandy prototype. That average was 0.99”. So about a 0.1” difference.

While they are very close, what isn’t mentioned is that his ammo with the Cricket was 56 grain ZANs, and with the Pandy was the new 50.5 grain AEAs. In my thinking these two results were close enough that the differentiating factor COULD have been due to the superior ammo….

And what this tells me is that yes, the Pandy is a good, very accurate shooting gun, but it’s not “next generation” or a “game changer” IMHO.

PS., Derrick is not sponsored by Karma, Saber Tactical, or DonnyFL. He is a fellow Team Centercut shooter and our primary sponsor is Airguns of Arizona.

 

[mubhaur]

What kind of groups are they showing?

Their groups at 100 yards are well over 1" as I can recall.

Further we need to see repeatability. So on paper 4 group of 5 shots or 10 shots groups would suffice.

 

[Sqwirl57]

Their groups at 100 yards are well over 1" as I can recall.

Further we need to see repeatability. So on paper 4 group of 5 shots or 10 shots groups would suffice.

I'd give it time. Most guns aren't holding 1" at 100yds from the factory and some had to utilize an entire market of aftermarket upgrades to get them there. Boy do those marketing teams make you think they can though

 

[mubhaur]

I'd give it time. Most guns aren't holding 1" at 100yds from the factory and some had to utilize an entire market of aftermarket upgrades to get them there. Boy do those marketing teams make you think they can though

True. I also do my work on guns to squeeze the required accuracy out of them.

 

[mubhaur]

I'm sure you read Derick walls post on the model here on AGN{ unless he's sponsored}..looks legit..replacing the gages first thing seems cheap as _uck and the poor case included with the rifle, I won't put to much thought in you tube videos...like Sqwirl57 mentioned.

Yes he is a great person and airgun enthusiast. I don't miss posts.

 

[Chuck-in-Ohio]

I'm sure you read Derick walls post on the model here on AGN{ unless he's sponsored}..looks legit..replacing the gages first thing seems cheap as _uck and the poor case included with the rifle, I won't put to much thought in you tube videos...like Sqwirl57 mentioned.

Even if he is sponsored, Derrick would run up the BS flag in a skinny minute if there was cause to do so.
There are folks who create content that absolutely bears paying attention to, and Derrick is one of those folks. He would not be a member of the team that he shoots with if he was not 100% legit IMO.

 

[tibor]

I agree..and I thought his post was legit, just seeing 2 rp in the picture made me assume he was.

 

[zx10wall]

I agree..and I thought his post was legit, just seeing 2 rp in the picture made me assume he was.View attachment 467088

Hello there. I’m actually also a dealer and own Tenacious Airguns. I acquired 2 RPs and I am keeping 1 for myself. The other was sold to a teammate. I would have gotten 10 if I could have but I can’t swing that cost.

I’ve had one session with the RP. I shot those groups and was impressed. Keep in mind, as far as comparing to my very capable Cricket 2 Tac, I know that Cricket very well. Out of the gate, the RP nudged out my Cricket. I’ve already learned some tuning subtleties that the RP prefers over my previous tune. I will also experiment with speeds and other nuances. I tell ya, when you boil it all down and your getting all you can muster from a platform, .1” doesn’t seem like much but that can yield several more points on a 100 yard BR card. For me, it’s worth more exploring and the RP is delightful to shoot on the bench.

Y’all have a great weeekend.

 

[tibor]

pretty honest video..
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iRACWeads8

 

[zx10wall]

pretty honest video..
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iRACWeads8

I would say that does look to be an honest review. To add a critique; his rear rest isn’t doing him any favors! On a lot of those shots, his sight picture went from on target to 2” high of target after the shot. This screams that his rear support isn’t adequate and he won’t get consistent results.

For any precision shooting one must find consistency. Shot to shot needs to remain as close to the same as humanly possible; weight and size of projectile, fps, stability of the setup, pressure you impart, trigger control and concentration! To manage it all is actually rather taxing on the nervous system! When using an airgun, if there are deficiencies in any of the above variables, it’s going to show up even more than in using a firearm! Lock-time is considerably slower with airguns and of course the projectile is usually slower to exit the muzzle as well.

Food for thought

 

[BryceHale]

I chatted with a few other airgunners and some think the Red Panda might need a longer break-in period. I'm not ready to give up on it yet—sometimes these things just need a bit of patience and tweaking. Anyone else having the same experience?

 

[Centercut]

I chatted with a few other airgunners and some think the Red Panda might need a longer break-in period. I'm not ready to give up on it yet—sometimes these things just need a bit of patience and tweaking. Anyone else having the same experience?

What is it not doing that you feel it should be doing? Maybe you could be more specific please?

Also, I’m curious why recent purchasers of the Pandy aren’t saying anything about the frailty of this gun? Do you feel you’ll be ostracized by the community if you tell of receiving the gun broken? I know of three Pandys that have been received in the past few weeks with this issue:

Broken Pandy

It appears that these fasteners without sufficient thread engagement (3 1/2 threads) plus the flimsy case, result in significant damage with any sort of rough handling while shipping.
The good thing is this can be fixed at the Karma manufacturer or dealer level with a recall. Replace the too short screws with ones that give proper thread engagement and upgrade the case to something like FX or Daystate uses for their top of the line guns. IMHO

 

[Dairyboy]

What is it not doing that you feel it should be doing? Maybe you could be more specific please?

Also, I’m curious why recent purchasers of the Pandy aren’t saying anything about the frailty of this gun? Do you feel you’ll be ostracized by the community if you tell of receiving the gun broken? I know of three Pandys that have been received in the past few weeks with this issue:

Broken Pandy

View attachment 468671

It appears that these fasteners without sufficient thread engagement (3 1/2 threads) plus the flimsy case, result in significant damage with any sort of rough handling while shipping.
The good thing is this can be fixed at the Karma manufacturer or dealer level with a recall. Replace the too short screws with ones that give proper thread engagement and upgrade the case to something like FX or Daystate uses for their top of the line guns. IMHO

3 already? For such a heavy over built gun that's not good for durability......

 

[Centercut]

3 already? For such a heavy over built gun that's not good for durability......

Three that I know of. I don’t know the actual number.

Apparently two things.
- the case is not only weak, the foam inside isn’t the firm type that will keep the 17 pound gun from moving inside.
- the screws in the photo only have a few threads engagement. Standard engineering practice is fastener diameter x 1.5 for engagement length. I’ve been told it’s considerably less than that.

And like I said above, it’s an easy recall. Longer fasteners (or longer and larger diameter) and a stronger case with more dense foam. Easy day.

All that will be forgotten if the production models do well at RMAC. I think in addition to those that shot the prototypes last year, the RusBear has ditched his ultra modified .22 FX Crown and has shifted to a .30 Pandy. It’s only something I’ve heard third hand, so don’t quote me on that.