Review by Airgun Shooter Magazine

Licensed to THRILL
.303 is a classic English calibre – but
who would have expected to see it
on a UK-made air rifle?
Clearly Daystate –
that’s what their new
100ft/lb Wolverine PCP
comes in… and JSB have
even manufactured a
diabolo pellet especially
for it! Nigel Allen gets
an exclusive few weeks
with the air rifle the whole
world is talking about…
B
ack in 2006, Daystate afforded me access
to a top-secret gun they were working on,
called Project Wolverine. I wasn’t allowed
to breathe a word of it to anyone. However, what
initially started out as an electronic-based rifle
has ultimately ended up as a fully mechanical
job – and even though the full production model
is totally different from the prototype I saw all those years ago, what
the Staffordshire-based gunmaker is finally delivering to the market is
a truly awesome bit of kit.
Of course, Daystate’s new Wolverine 303 has been exhibited
at a few trade and public shooting shows during 2012, so many
more shooters are now party to its existence – but no-one outside
of Daystate has yet had the privilege of spending any decent range
time with it… except me, that is. I’ve now put a few hundred rounds
through the gun which, I don’t mind admitting, made me feel a little
‘guilty’ when I attended Daystate’s official unveiling of the Wolverine
to the world’s media and selected invitees at the salubrious Greystoke
Castle in Cumbria in mid-July!
As has been the case with many of Daystate’s new models down the
decades, the Wolverine laughs in the face of ‘normal’. Their attractive
new model may appear to be a traditional air rifle on the outside, but
there are a few features that stand out, the most obvious one being
its power. At a tickle over 100ft/lb, the Wolverine 303 has a muzzle
energy more than eight times your conventional sub-12ft/lb, licence-
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Below: Former
world FT champion,
Stuart Hancox,
demonstrating the
Wolverine’s accuracy
at 100 yards
TEST: WOLVERINE 303
Left: The
Daystate Wolverine
– unveiled in July at
Greystoke Castle in
Cumbria
Above: Development
prototypes of the .303
free air rifle – so non-ticket
holders need not apply! Indeed,
while Daystate expect an interest from
shooters in the UK, the Wolverine is seen more
as an ‘export’ model. Unsurprisingly, the USA is its core
target market.
Interestingly, where most FAC air rifle users shoot around the 30 or
40ft/lb mark, the Wolverine is still two-to-three times more powerful –
which potentially extends its range as a hunting tool from the 60 or so
yards most FAC airgunners claim as their effective range, to 100-plus
yards. I could group the Emperors within a 40mm circle at that distance
– although such ranges obviously bring the shooter’s own ability into
play moreso than when shooting over ‘normal’ airgun distances; being
a good shot at 100 yards is significantly more difficult than putting
pellets on their mark at, say, 40 yards.
But it’s not impossible. Daystate invited former World FT champion,
Stuart Hancox, to demonstrate the Wolverine at Greystoke Castle, and
his ability to flatten a standard, 40mm-kill knockdown over 100 yards
– even from a standing position! – demonstrated to everyone just how
devastatingly accurate this rifle is.
Airgun ‘tradition’ has also been discarded in the Wolverine’s calibre
– and its model suffix of 303 gives an early clue. Forget .177, .22, .20
or even .25 – Daystate’s new rifle is delivered in the good old British
bore of .303 calibre! Actually, the barrel itself is slightly sub-size, at .30
calibre – and there’s a quite a story to tell, too.
Project Wolverine originally began with a .30 calibre, brass-lined barrel
of Steve Harper’s, the engineering talent behind so many of Daystate’s
PCP models. Steve hand-swaged .30 calibre pellets (from a.25 pellet)
and this enabled Daystate to gather enough ballistic data to approach
Lothar Walther for the production of an air rifle barrel in .30 calibre.
While Walther had plenty of .30 calibre bores available, Daystate’s
brief required a whole new rethink. Daystate wanted their new rifle to
perform with conventional, waisted pellets – production versions of
which, of course, didn’t exist at the time! – rather than bullet-shaped
ammo, as had been the case when they’d developed their .25 calibre,
80ft/lb Air Ranger Extreme model a few years earlier.
There’s a reason why Daystate chose waisted pellets over bulletshaped slugs. They strongly felt that their high-power air rifle had to
be different from a rimfire – after all, if you have two rifles delivering
in the region of 100ft/lb, why would you choose the air-powered
one? However, the gathered data had confirmed that the in-flight
performance of a waisted air rifle pellet producing 100ft/lb at the
muzzle dropped off massively after around 150 yards; this, felt Daystate,
would be an important consideration to FAC shooters who didn’t want
the super-long ‘fall-out’ distances associated with rimfires.
The R&D that went in to the barrel was immense. Unlike the existing
‘four’ airgun calibres, Walther’s technicians had minimal data to draw
on with regards to twist rates, rifling depth and land/groove ratios. But
after some considerable time, Walther came up with a choked bore
that was suitable for use with air rifle pellets – and it’s the only choked
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Above: Nigel gets to grips with
the Wolverine’s hefty, but wellbalanced, dimensions
Right: The chrono readings
revealed its high power output
across 10 shots
THE EMPEROR RULES
barrel in this calibre out there; live-round guns don’t require a
muzzle constriction.
Daystate then sent the new barrel to the Czech airgun ammo
manufacturer JSB. The brief was to design a conventional, diabolo
airgun pellet around it. To cut a long story short – which even
included them having to source a special supply of lead in order
to achieve the 50-grain mark – JSB finally came up with a round
heavy enough to withstand the air blast at the breech and remain
stable enough in flight for 100-plus yards. That pellet is now in
full production – called the Rangemaster Emperor – and is sized
at .303 calibre.
On the scales, the Emperor weighs-in at 50.15 grains – more
than three times that of a conventional .22 pellet, and more
than double the weight of the heavyweight ‘magnums’ that FAC
shooters favour. By comparison with ‘conventional’ airgun calibres,
it’s nothing short of a monster pellet… with, of course, monster
stopping power!
With the barrel and pellet sorted, the rest of the rifle – now
some way down the design road – could be refined. Everything
looks ‘oversize’ on the Wolverine – and it has to be, to cope
with the greater stresses that the mechanical components have
to withstand. Even the characteristic-looking breech of the
Wolverine is machined from a solid action chassis – yet despite
its dimensions, the Wolverine is anything but a handful to have
up against your shoulder. It actually weighs the best part of five
kilos with a scope on board, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near that
weight when you’re on aim – the balance is very neutral between
the hold-points.
BRAND: Daystate Rangemaster Emperor
MANUFACTURER: JSB, Czech Republic
CALIBRE: .303 (7.62mm)
TYPE: Waisted roundhead diabolo
WEIGHT: 50.15grains (3.25grams)
QUANTITY: 150 per tin
SRP: £10.95 per tin
The breech bolt
and safety are
fine examples of
Daystate's topclass engineering
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AIRGUN SHOOTER
The stylish walnut
sporter stock features
an ambidextrous
cheekpiece and heightadjustable butt
The Wolverine’s
trigger is
surprisingly
light and crisp
considering the
power of the rifle
Its Gary Cane-designed sporter stock –
the only guise Daystate are offering – is
fabricated out of walnut by Minelli, with an
ambidextrous, raised cheekpiece and a long,
gently rounded forend that sports beautiful
curves and a scalloped recess at its deepest
point, below the breech. Artistic panels of
stippling aid your hold at the pistol grip,
although those applied to the side of the
forestock are more for aesthetic purposes
than practical reasons, as you won’t want
your leading hand this far back. The butt pad
is, however, height adjustable to assist gunfit,
and there’s an integral manometer inlet into
the belly of the forend, between the one
stock-bolt and the laser-etching of Daystate’s
famous logo.
The metalwork ranks among the bestfinished I’ve seen from Daystate. The main
cylinder – a 40mm diameter, 300cc affair
which you fill to 250BAR (and refill at 200BAR)
– and barrel shroud above it are finished
in anti-reflective, matt black. It contrasts
beautifully with the titanium/magnesium
breech block, and high gloss of the stainless
steel bolt. A manual safety catch at the rear
of the action slides on to the left, and off with
a ‘click’ of precision, the like of which I’ve
never before felt on an air rifle. It’s resettable,
although for various reasons pertaining to
export territories, Daystate have designed the
Wolverine’s bolt such that, once open, the
trigger is rendered totally inoperative.
And how much effort is required to cock a
100 foot-pounder? Incredibly, not a lot in the
Wolverine’s case – you don’t actually tug the
bolt a lot more than you do that of a 12ft/lb
Huntsman. And there’s no heavy trigger to get
past to release the shot, either – it may have
a muzzle energy in excess of 99.99 per cent
of airguns on the planet, but the Wolverine’s
trigger breaks every bit as sweetly as that of
a sub-12ft/lb PCP. Fully adjustable and with
a let-off down to around 3lb, its curved,
stainless blade is a nice complement to the
grip and falls to finger perfectly, where it
breaks crisply and consistently every time.
While filling is completed via Daystate’s
usual snap-fit system, you’re going to find
yourself doing it a lot more often – but you
have to expect heavy air usage on such a
high-powered gun. According to my Skan
chrono, my test rifle was spitting out Emperors
at 100ft/lb, and it returned 10 usable shots
per charge. Unlike a sub-12ft/lb PCP, where
the sweet spot of the power curve is usually
Daystate’s snap-fit system
is once again in evidence,
but will require much
more frequent use!
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The Wolverine’s shroud
goes some way to
mitigating its report,
and has the option for
fitting a silencer
within 0.7ft/lb deviation, ‘usable’ at this power level spans around
3ft/lb total deviation. Daystate tell me that they’re currently working on
a couple of tweaks to the hammer and valve, and expecting finalised
production models to give in the region of 12 shots up to 110ft/lb.
Either way, it’s no plinking rifle – but, to be fair, you’d only ever be
considering the Wolverine 303 as a serious pest control tool, anyway.
Being a PCP, it is recoilless – but by comparison with a sub-12
pneumatic, it’s not quite as ‘dead’ in your shoulder. That’s because it
has to start a 50-grain pellet off on its journey down the barrel, and
you definitely feel some movement as a result. You also feel the ‘rocket’
effect as the high pressure air escapes out of the muzzle, behind the
pellet – and though some air is deflected back down the 24mm
diameter shroud to help dissipate this ‘dirty’ air, the Emperors break
out with more muzzle report than you’d get on a standard airgun.
It’s quite a crack, though Daystate are in the process of designing
a Wolverine-specific silencer to screw on to the 1/2in UNF-threaded
muzzle shroud.
Surprisingly, that rocket effect doesn’t have too much bearing
on accuracy – and Stuart Hancox actually printed a few sub-25mm
groups on Daystate’s 98-yard factory range! Because the Emperors are
travelling at 950 feet per second, they leave the 584mm-long barrel
after just two milliseconds, making the Wolverine a very forgiving
rifle to shoot. While I couldn’t match Stuart’s performance, I was able
to regularly print 30mm groups at 75 yards. And even in a gale, the
windage shift is a pleasure to contend with!
The five-shot magazine supplied with my test rifle wasn’t a fullproduction unit, so it will look a little different when it comes to market
– but based around the low-profile magazine system on the rest of
Daystate’s range, it won’t interfere with your scope, especially as the
breech block is a little higher than on other models.
The indexing system which drives the magazine unit is simply
ingenious – and patented because of it. It works rather like a firearm,
The bolt is nice and
easy to pull back,
offering little more
resistance than on a
sub-12 rifle
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AIRGUN SHOOTER
Daystate’s five-shot
magazine can be loaded
from either the left or right
The patented airactivated indexing
system – this pin
engages with the
magazine pawl
TEST: WOLVERINE 303
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS - AIR RANGER
ACTION TYPE: Mechanical ‘slingshot’
COCKING: Bolt-action, auto-loading 10-shot magazine
CALIBRE: .303 (7.62mm)
FILL PRESSURE: 250BAR, via snap-fit
SHOTS PER CHARGE: Usable: 10 (minimum) to 15 (maximum)
OVERALL LENGTH: 1,092 mm
BARREL LENGTH: 584mm
WEIGHT: 4.5kg (unscoped)
STOCK: Walnut, sporter, ambidextrous
TRIGGER: Two-stage, adjustable
SAFETY: Manual, slider, resettable
POWER: 100+ft/lb with Rangemaster Emperor (50.15 grains)
PRICE: £1,400
CONTACT: Daystate 01782 791755 www.daystate.com
in that it’s the shockwave of air, thrust backwards by
the main valve operation, which pushes up a small
pin from the base of the breech tray. In turn, this
releases the spring-operated pawl within the
magazine. When the bolt is next drawn back,
the magazine’s inner cassette is free to rotate
under spring tension, automatically aligning
the next pellet chamber with the breech –
and the probe then transfers the pellet into
the rifling upon closure of the bolt. Just as
cleverly, the indexing system stops working
when the main air tank falls below a certain
pressure to ensure you can’t get a 50-grain pellet
stuck up the barrel.
On the subject of the bolt, the great news for
southpaws is that it’s easily swapped from right to
left-handed operation in around two minutes, using just a
screwdriver and 5mm hex key. It’s something I’m sure all lefthanders will applaud Daystate for.
So, having read all this, you may be wondering why you’d choose
a 100ft/lb air rifle over a 100ft/lb rimfire – and at £1,400 for the
rifle, going down the live-round route would certainly be cheaper. But
I think Daystate’s original line of thinking for developing a waisted
pellet for the Wolverine, rather than a solid bullet, is the correct one.
The Wolverine comes with all the benefits of a rimfire out to 150 yards,
with added benefits of it being quieter and less restrictive when it
comes to considering the area beyond your target. I can think of many
areas on my own permission where I could never take an elevated shot
with a .22 sub-sonic, for example, but which would become far more
viable with a 100ft/lb airgun pellet.
While it’s clear the Wolverine will get the bulk of its orders from
elsewhere in the world, especially in markets where there are no
legislative restrictions on airgun power levels, I can also see this new
Daystate surpassing the company’s fairly meagre expectations on the
home front, too. Many UK gunmakers tell me that 10 per cent of their
rifles for the UK market are already ordered in FAC power guise, and if
it’s a powerful airgun that you want… well, you won’t be able to get
much more powerful than this! ●
Standard airgun pellets are dwarfed
by JSB’s heavy-calibre Emperor
.177
.20
.22
.25
.303
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