After 10 minutes of assuring Tom with "I swear, I WON"T RUN OFF" with his gun, he finally pulled it out from a dark and cold corner to let me breath on it......lol! Ok, not even, the gun was out in plain sight even before I arrived..... ;D. Tom, and I sat around and talked the talk for a while. I then asked Tom a series of questions about the gun, himself and his company http://americanairarms.com. After that, it was time to shoot the gun. I closely watched Tom handle the gun to become more familiar with it when it was my turn. I must say, the 1st thing I noticed was how light the cocking mechanism was when Tom cocked it. I've seen his short video and I even talked to him about it prior but, to see it first hand was a revelation. Its like, "BELIEVE IT OR NOT, YOU JUST SEEN IT WITH YOUR OWN EYE IN PERSON". After watching Tom blast some slugs down range, it was then my turn. Tom was shooting out to 80 yards and quickly told me to do the same. Heck, i just wanted to shoot at 50 yards but who am i to argue with anyone when they tell me to STRETCH the gun just a little further....lol! I then set up 2-2liter water bottles and a regulation bowling pin. This was just for familiarities sake and not a full on shooting session. I just wanted to quickly see how accurate and consistent the gun was for a 1st couple of shots test session. After i walked back to the shooting table, i asked Tom how many mil-dots the target would be at and he promptly said, "3/4's of a mildot". Now, before i shot and after watching Tom work the action and controls on the gun, i asked Tom how light the trigger was and he told me 11 OUNCES :o. Tom was going for 2 lbs cause this is strictly a hunting gun and not a target gun but, just assembling the gun with all its linkages and well CNC'd parts, the trigger weight just came out to 11 ounces Tom said........lol!
After grabbing the gun single handed and moving it EASILY into a position in front of me to shoot it, the lightweight was very evident. 6.6lbs is very easy to maneuver single handed. I then cock the gun with my left index finger just like Tom did in his video and it was that easy. And this gun was set up for a lefty and I never even paid it any mind. I could easily OWN this gun in a left hand configuration and I'm a die hard right hander....lol! I then load a 134+- gr Lyman Devastator HP bullet into the chamber and close the cocking handle with hardly any effort. Remembering Tom suggested Holdover, I held dead center on the 2 liter bottle and let the very 1st round fly. Even though the light trigger took me by surprise, all the star aligned and i hit the bottle center mass and it exploded with authority. All I could say was "WOW" that was easy. TOO EASY! So i load another HP and take aim at the 2nd bottle dead center and let round number 2 fly. And fly it did and the results were the same as the 1st. Again, I was in awe with how easy the hits came from a gun i had never handled before. Plus, its a platform (BP) that i have never handled also. I then switched from HP to a FP bullet that was slightly heavier and asked Tom for the Holdover of that round. Tom assured me, "the same" and Tom was again, 100% right. Upon the 3rd shot, the bowling pin i aimed at flew down with more authority than if it was hit with a 308 big bore. Its slammed to the ground with a quickness. The shot was dead center of the bowling pin exactly where i placed the cross hairs. I then replied to Doug and Tom that shooting that gun at 80 yards could justifiably be called........BORING cause its too easy. But that my friends, IS GREAT NEWS! It was NOT this easy when i first modded my Sam Yang Recluse .357 and I shot out to 80 yards.
Without going into great details (Toms Job), I am over the moon impressed with the features on this gun. IT HAS MANY. From its Titanium air tube with pressure gauge, adjustable butt stock (ar15 style), under carriage (hidden) quick fill nipple, to its compact size to the dual fine adjustments on the output power, down to the overall LIGHTWEIGHT of the unit, this gun is going to impress a lot of people I believe. At one point before we shot the gun, Tom needed to Chrony it because he just put it back together since the shot show he attended. During the chrony session, we saw over 1000 fps with the 139 gr bullets. And Tom can verify this but, THAT GUN SEEMS CAPABLE OF WAY MORE THAN 1000+ fps with med-heavy 357 fodder. THIS WILL NOT BE A GUN PEOPLE WILL MOD.......LOL!
Stay Tuned for a thorough test at some point in the near future.
Just a little EYE CANDY from the short day:
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Stay Tuned!
Tofazfou
