Here’s a hands on review on the NEW PRE-COMPRESSED AIR PISTOL by National Rifles, a division of IHP.
I had kept a tab on its development with Dr. Shirshat (the brain behind its design) from its inception. After a long wait I finally got the PCP air pistol by courier in a nice little camo bag. It has the serial number 004, and along with was a filling hose and an adaptor, which was pre-tested at the factory.
Here is an FIR
Externally it looks and feels the same as the CO2 pistol, IHP made and marketed; internally, the design and valve is different, robust and heavier. The filling is simple and straight forward done thru the hose and adaptor connected to a bulk fill air cylinder or a Gehmann pump at 150 bar. Be specific as to which type of filling hose you need while ordering as they cater to all sizes in BSP format. The tech guys at the factory said a 100 shots per fill. I got 80 without losing power.
Loading the pellet is by dropping a 4.5mm/.177 pellet in the port and closing the cocking bolt. My air-pistol had a sticky trigger but with a little fiddling on the Allen grub screws, I managed to sort it out and got used to the first/second trigger movement stages.
I feel a lot can be done on the grip that comes at a more comfortable angle than its CO2 predecessor. To start with, I did an over-all stipple job on the highly polished wooden grip with an adjustable shelf. This produced the desired grip on the air-pistol, although surely not comparable with a Nill-griffe or a Morrini.
A test on a beta CRONY showed a decent 484 to 506 fps over 60 shots – used 4.5 mm Match Finale flat head pellets which seemed the best fodder for the barrel. Free hand half inch groups were not at all difficult and once a hand rest was used, the 5-shot groups shrank to one hole of 8 to 10mm size, on a standard 10mt AP target.
The valve sub-assembly design is so critical which is how the good Doc has achieved pressure regulation without a regulator on this pistol. Since there is no muzzle brake or venting on the barrel, the muzzle flip needs getting used to.
Here is a pic with the pneumatic hose connected to the pistol
Of the two different hoses shown, the connected hose is for the Gehmann pump or to load from a compressed air cylinder, while the other can be used on a Gehmann pump or a Hill Pump (with suitable adapter).
Considering its price at roughly 11k (complete kit), at one eighth the price of a Lp10 or a Morinni, I would definitely say this is the right choice for beginners and a fun gun for plinking. I hear more improvements in performance on future batches are in line.Overall the air-pistol performed well within given parameters. I shall be testing out the next batch at the KSRA ranges, as a lot of members have lined up to buy this. If any of you folks get to lay your hands on one these air-pistols please share your experience and noted improvements.
...Shankar.
