Anyone got the new leshiy yet?

I think the DASE shop received their first shipment Oct 12th and is selling them for 1280 euros with an extra barrel ($1400US). I pre ordered one in June from Edgun West without an extra barrel. I don't know what the price of the Leshiy from EdgunWest is but I got a "ball park" on the extra barrels at $80-$150 us. It would be great if they were $1200 or less from Edgunwest without the extra barrel :)
 
We've got first snow this weekend. Checked the Leshiy in quite hostile wet winter environment today... no problem at all. It's tough as nails and really, not much to rust. Awesome outdoor airgun...

leshiy_web_sno.jpg
 
disclaimer: please remember that my current setup with SWFA 1-4x24 scope is NOT optimized for long range airgun sniping. Up to 35m it's great, 50m is still fair, but anything past 50m is clearly crippled by magnification of my scope. However, for general shooting and power plinking, that scope is just awesome and I really enjoy looking through it... an on it as well, lol!

ammo: I checked JSB Exact Express / 16gr / 18gr, and all that in 5.50 5.51 and 5.52 (where possible of course) so I really checked it well. Exact 16 grain and 18 grain in 5.52 works best for me. Actually 18gr seems to be just a hair better so for final testing I opted for 18 grain BUT for field plinking I’m gonna use mostly 16gr for more forgiving trajectory (not always I check distance with rangefinder). Also please understand that to shoot in the open field I decided to stay at just below 17 J of energy, which I believe can be very helpful for my colleagues in Europe (power restrictions of 17J / 12fpe in most countries). I know it's not massive but still more than adequate for my usual ranges. I used solid Harris bipod, Vortex rangefinder / Strelok Pro / perfectly calibrated scope & turrets (SWFA scopes are dead solid in this regard) so the trajectory was not an issue at all. Just measure, dial in, and shoot dead center. I tried also other pellets incl. HN Crow Magnum and Polymag Predator but (as expected) results were very disappointing.

conditions: perfect! No wind, slight overcast, clear air. Awesome. And a cup of hot coffee next to Leshiy. Also I think a relatively slow shooting sequence (single shot gun) helps a lot to get the most of Leshiy.

Distance: 25m
- scope set at 4x is all I need at that distance. 
- usual group about half inch c-t-c, some groups hair below 12mm. Of course not all of them as I’m not a shooting machine but overall accuracy is just perfect. 

leshiy_web_lac.jpg


Distance: 50m
- scope set at 4x and honestly, it was OK but on the edge of usability. SWFA 1-4x24 Classic Tactical has a very airgun friendly reticle with a diamond in the center. At that distance I could perfectly bracket the 2” Birchwood Casey targets in the diamond. So I was not aiming the center, I was bracketing the whole target. And it worked great, actually much better than expected. However, the size & shape of my targets helped me A LOT. It’d be much harder with smaller (below 1 inch) targets.
- usual group within one inch, some groups 20/21mm c-t-c. 

leshiy_web_lad.jpg


Distance: 75m
- scope set at 4x and it was absolutely not high enough
- groups opened up to above 2 inches c-t-c and some were considerably above that… honestly, didn’t expect anything better at 75 yards at that energy level and with my 4x scope. Below is actually my best 75m group of the day.

leshiy_web_lae.jpg


Initial conclusions: 
- at my power level surely I need .177 barrel and better scope. I’ve got Hawke Airmax on the way and extra barrel… well, as soon as they’re available from Ed’s dealers. My combo is awesome up to 50m and I will stick to that distance. I feel extremely comfortable at such distances, and really, for anything more than 50m I’d just take my Lelya. Or better yet Matador. 
- Leshiy is my walk-around precise plinker (FYI - I don’t hunt, just shoot for pleasure) so for me shot count is more important than power delivered down range – as long as accuracy is not affected of course. And imho that level of accuracy is absolutely fine! Of course it’d be hard to expect the same when shooting in the field without a bipod, so actually Leshiy has better potential than my off-hand shooting skills. And that means it’s ME who is limiting factor, not my airgun. Which is how it should be.
- what I absolutely like about Leshiy is new trigger – it’s just great! Superbly smooth, light, very precise, adjustable and with overtravel stop. It’s best trigger I’ve had on my EdGun ever, incl. tuned & polished trigger on my Lelya. And of course that plays key role in accuracy. 
- if you want 100m long range hunting machine - just stop moaning and get Matador in .25 :D
- and last but not least... can't wait for some other guys with Leshiy .25 set at full speed...
 
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And here a quick follow up after I got my Hawke Airmax 2-7x32 with ultrafine AMX reticle and paralax adjustment. Much better solutin than 1-4x24 for target practice but still quite compact! Yeah, looks good... btw, I put the bipod in reverse position to move legs as much forward as possible to make my shooting position even more stabile.

leshiy_web_xwa.jpg


I had my first quick test at 30m range and fired some 5-shot groups. With 7x mag, paralax at 30m and superfine reticle it was such a pleasure... and it's easily visible in my groups.

leshiy_web_xwb.jpg


Outer diameters: 8mm / 12mm / 13mm

I attach couple of groups as the smallest one was surely a bit lucky... but still counts! Even @ bigger groups some pellets hit on top of another. I'll do more extensive testing incl. 50 & 75 meters some other weekend. I'm still not sure about 75m but good 50m groups should be below 20mm in diameter. Anyhow, for a first quick session with new scope it's not bad. 

leshiy_web_xwc.jpg


Also the scope is actually better than expected. The etched reticle is very fine, great for precise sniping. I'm not a hunter but I guess it'd be NOT a hunter's dream, especially in darker autumn days. It's very fine and would easily get lost when shooting late afternoon in the forest. Illuminated reticle would help a lot in such conditions. Turrets are firm but I'd not trust them as a dial-in instrument. Clicks are not well defined, especially compared to SWFA... ok, honestly, non-comparable at all. So adjust the scope, screw the caps on and forget it. Use MilDot, it's faster and easier. Glass is good, picture is clear, bright & contrasty. Adjustable objective is a blessing and it's an 'internal' mechanism so the first 1/2" on the front doesn't rotate... should work like a charm with Butler Creek covers. It's not USO or NF but for my needs (and for my wallet) it ticks all boxes. However it's surely not as sexy as my SWFA 1-4x24 Tactical... at least for me! 

Posted all that earlier on other forum but I hope it's helpful also here. Cheers!
 
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I know 2 guys with Lelya, who put March 1-10x on them (so even more expensive) and such a combo is really an awesome package. I used to have two Lelyas (.177 and .22) and such a scope would be blessing indeed. Recently I sold one Lelya so actually if I'd sell my Vortex and SWFA I'd be very close to March 1-8x26 :]

EDIT: @manicminer I will try some sort of redpoint one day but I need to do some more research. The one you suggested is 2 MOA, I'd certainly prefer 1 MOA. But considering I just got Hawke for Leshiy and Leupold for my Theoben SLR project and I have some other plans regarding optics... well, good redpoint won't come very soon :/
 
Oh, just one important remark regarding scopes (other than AR-scopes without actual objective bell) -> in case of Leshiy scope rings should be one step higher than what you'd use on classic airgun / rimfire / AR rifle. Note that the objective bell has to be above LDC housing and not just above weaver rail as it usually is. My HAWKE is a good example - on any other airgun I'd use medium rings and on Leshiy I had to put high rings, otherwise the paralax ring would not fit above the LDC section. 
 
"PiterM"Oh, just one important remark regarding scopes (other than AR-scopes without actual objective bell) in case of Leshiy scope rings should be one step higher than what you'd use on classic airgun / rimfire / AR rifle. Note that the objective bell has to be above LDC housing and not just above weaver rail as it usually is.
Anyone wondering what rings to get can use this calculator: http://www.mil-rad.com/scope_ring_calculator
The LDC extends 5.4mm above the rail, so put '-5.4 mm' in the last box in the calculator.

I had to go with Warne Maxima X-High (.650") to mount my 33mm Leopold above the LDC.
33w4jdf.jpg