Akela first impressions and a question for Akela owners

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JohnL57

JohnL57

Member
Jul 29, 2015
2,136
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California, United States
 

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In the pics I tried using a piece of neoprene to pad the pic rail since I had to remove the cheekpiece to see through the scope. 

A friend asked me to recommend a rifle- after seeing the review on the Kratos I recommended the Akela. Next thing I knew, I got an email saying he was sending it to my house😳! Rifle arrived very well packed and with a beautiful stock with some figure. The pic rail changed my plan to mount a compact 30mm scope since the only pic rings I had were for 1" scopes. I put on a 3-12 Hawke. What? Can't get a sight picture. I set the scope all the way forward, removed cheek piece. Now I can see through the scope. I pulled some patches, the bore wasn't too dirty. Now to sight in and shoot for groups. After a mag or two things started looking good, but I kept feeling a puff of air on every shot. I also seemed to see some vertical stringing.

Has anyone else gotten the puff of air on every shot? I did check to make sure the breech seal is there- it looks fine.

This my first bullpup, but I don't see how the cheek piece can be used without super high rings? Guess my neck is too long? 

I want to like this gun, but I'm not convinced yet. I plan on trying another scope in case the Hawke has issues.


 
Puff of air may be somewhat normal since its a Kral if it has an exposed slot where you can see the hammer and spring hitting the valve if taken out of the stock which seems most pronounced when the power is turned down low and less Puff of air when it's cranked up. It's rather normal since it's not the FX WC3.
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I tried stuffing some tissue in between the stock and the action. When I shot, it stayed put. Next I loaded a pellet and removed the mag, wrapped tissue around the probe. When I shot, the tissue jumped. So It seems to be the breech O-ring. Kinda disappointing on a brand new gun imo. It did come with some tools and o-rings but I hate to have to replace a breech seal on a brand new gun. I did lube the Oring with some divers grease but no luck.

Here's the breech and the action underneath.

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I saw somewhere that the Akela had a lot in common with the Kral PB. The breech O-ring on my PB gave up after I tried to push a H&N Grizxly slug thru it. Power dropped and noise increased. Replaced the o-ring, problem solved. Since then, I store the gun uncocked in order not to compress the o-ring.

It also looks like you need risers. This is particularly pronounced with the PB, but in fact I use them with all my bullpups. Around 5 bucks (incl shipping) for a pair at Aliexpress / mizugiwa).

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I also install a bubble level (4 bucks) onto those high-mounted scopes for accuracy at 50yds+

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I’ve had no issues with mine. I was afraid of running out of rail so I opted for offset mounts. I have a 3-9x40 Hawke on mine. 
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Hey, that Akela stock is clamoring for some extra elbow grease + nut oil if you don't mind me saying ... 
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And who's that second beauty in the background ?
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That’s my Marauder wearing a CraftsmanVit bullpup stock. I shoot them side by side the other day. The Akela stock is a little plain. 
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I also install a bubble level (4 bucks) onto those high-mounted scopes for accuracy at 50yds+

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I've thought about getting a leveler too, and saw prices and recommendations all over the place. Over here, I don't see people talking about them at all. I shoot against a bunch of hills, plenty of curved surfaces, and sometimes it's hard for me to see what's truly level. I might get something like this too.
 
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@Dingfelder

I was a bit sceptical at first, and I am not a fan of China. But hey, they are all made there, even the ones sold here for 20 or more. For a few bucks what have you got to lose ... And they work, especially for high mounted scopes and in hilly environments lacking a flat orientation point.
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The real trick is in installing them. First align the crosshairs of your (mounted) scope with a true vertical or horizontal line, e.g. the window or roofline of a building. Then position the bubble horizontally, move left and right and let it come to a horizontal rest. Tighten the screws on either side evenly. Adjust the level again if it gets out of balance (pulled down to one side b/c of the screw, happens very quickly when tightening). Use a drop of blue threadlocker. Good luck!
 
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I really like my Akela, that being said, I'm new to PCP's and it's only the second one I've purchased. I ended up running this mount to get the scope where I wanted it.

https://www.leapers.com/index.php?act=prod_detail&midx=2180&allids=2131_2178_2180&itemno=AIR31850

I like a fairly tight cheek weld so it works well, if you don't care for a fairly tight cheek weld or pending face/head shape I would recommend opting for the high rings, it runs a little tight with the mediums. I've got my "floater scope" on it right now and it's a Hawke Frontier 5-30x56.

Not sure if the base was a little thick on the mount (as I've not ever used UTG/Leapers rings before) or the Weaver/Picatinny rail on my Akela is a little narrow (haven't measured either one) but I did have to lightly file the base to fit into the groves on the rail.
 
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On another note, the "parts bag" that came with my Akela did/does have 2 or 3 extra breech o-rings that came with it! Not sure about the puff of air. Mine did have a slight leak when I received it. It seemed to lose 80-100 psi or so over a 24-36hr period of time, thammer (Troy I believe) gave me some pointers on where to look. After I degassed it and started opening it up, the o-ring that seals the valve body to the gauge block (not sure that term is correct) was dry and didn't appear to ever get greased. It actually stuck to the gauge block when I removed the valve body. Cleaned everything real good, applied grease to the seal and put everything back together, been leak free since.
 
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