What's the difference between a Daystate Air Ranger and Wolverine

zebra

Member
Sep 29, 2015
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New York
Does anyone here have any insight into the differences between the Daystate Wolverine and Air Ranger?

In the pics, the Wolverine looks to have a slightly nicer wood grade and perhaps a nicer bolt handle but I was wondering if there is more to it than that?

On paper they look very similar. They apparently use the same valve design. They both use LW barrels and come with a 500 CC metal bottle. The overall shape looks the same too. 

Other than the wood, what makes the Wolverine worth the extra cash?

 
The only interchangeable part between the two is the valve dust cover. The reciever on the wolverine is bigger/heavy duty. The barrel is sunk into the reciever farther. The reciever is one piece too. The bolt is more heavy duty. The indexing pin makes it impossible to double load a pellet because the magazine will not index unless you shoot a shot.
My wolverine hilite has held zero at 50 yards/zero poi shift since I first mounted the scope back in early August. In that time I have put about 5000 pellets thru it and taken the action off the stock 2 times for trigger adjustments. The turrets have remained locked. The wolverine also comes quieter with the full huggett and shroud.
I get 55 shots at 32ft lbs in .22 from 230bar to 185bar. Those 55 shots have a maximum extreme spread of 12 ft sec. It likes the higher pressure. You can shoot her down to 120 bar and get alot more shots but your spread opens up. It behaves like a regulated gun until below 185bar. Whether or not this is good is up to you. Not having a regulator should yield less maintenance in the long term.
The wolverine is designed to take the punishment of 100+ ft lbs. The Air ranger was never designed to handle that kind of punishment. In .22 caliber......its your call if the extra dough is worth it. I believe its worth it for the sound, indexing pin, and extreme robustness of the reciever. I believe the wood is higher grade as well.

Food for thought.......there is a wolverine 2 coming out early next year. The saxon is the limited edition first run of these new wolverines. Miner upgrades from what I can tell.
 
Lets see..
  • Wolverines breech blocks are made out of one single block of titanium reinforced alloy, This mono block design is inherently stronger and stiffer than the two part breech found on the Air Ranger which uses an upper and lower section attached together by screws.
  • Wolverines have an open bolt safety mechanism that prevents the rifle from being fired while bolt is open.
  • Wolverines use recycled air to automatically index the magazine which makes it impossible to double load a pellet by mistake.
  • Wolverines have ambidextrous bolt handles that can easily be swapped from one side to the other by the user.
  • Wolverines have a much thicker and beefier bolt compared to the Air Ranger.
  • Wolverines have a redesigned pellet probe that relies on a breach o-ring seal instead of probe mounted o-ring.
  • Wolverines allow shrouds to be screwed directly into the breach block which is much more secure and independent of the barrel. The shroud on an Air Ranger attaches to the actual barrel via three set (grub) screws.
  • Wolverine stocks are ambidextrous.
 
Thanks all. That makes sense.

Has anyone here owned both? I'm curious how they differ in performance. I.e. Does the Wolverine's design actually make it more accurate than another gun that uses the same barrel and valve system.


It's an interesting take on the two piece vs one piece receiver block. The Mutant uses a two piece design while the Cricket uses a "mono-block". I preferred the Mutant design as it makes it easier to clean and replace parts etc. I never though about the cost in terms of stability and accuracy. 

The Mutant seems stable and holds zero perfectly but I wonder if it would be the same story if it had a longer heavier barrel like the Cricket. 

The ability to switch the bolt right to left would be a big plus for me with the Wolverine as I shoot both right and left-handed.