Manufacturer:- www.daystate.co.uk
Retail Price :- £1500 due to the laminate stock. Standard price £1220
Intended Purpose :- Pre Charged Pneumatic (PCP) Air Rifle
Power :- Compressed Air
Caliber :- 4.5mm / .177
Length in mm :- 1041mm / 41 Inches
Total Weight :- 4220g / 9.303 Pounds
Total Weight with Leupold MK4 Scope :- 4815g / 10.615 Pounds
Weight Stock :- 1510g / 3.329 Pounds
Weight Action With Scope:-
3265g / 7.198 Pounds
Safety :- Manual or auto safe in single shot software mode.
Action Finish :- Black painted air Bottle. Anodised barrel shroud,Black anodised breech block and filler.
Barrel :- Lothar Walther
Air Bottle Capacity :- 400cc
Stock :- Gary Cane Laminate as fitted to limited edition Timberwolf models
Charge pressure :- 200Bar
Includes :- Fill Adaptor, Instruction book, Isolation keys, plug in charger.
Options :- Silencer Adaptor
Warranty :- 3 Years
Scope :- Leupold MK4 3.5-10x40mm LR/T Illum TMR Ret :- Weight 21oz / 595g
A few pictures of my Daystate Airwolf MVT. A big thank you to Dave and Tom at www.guns-n-stuff.co.uk for supplying the rifle along with great service.
This is now my second of the Daystate MVT technology based rifles. It was ordered after I received and shot my Grand Prix in August 2008. I had to wait a while to get it, but have now been shooting it for a few months now and thought it was time to add to my reviews section.
The following is the technical aspects of the rifles technology and you can skip this bit if you have read my Grand Prix review as both rifles use the same method of electronic control.
A brief explanation of Daystate's CDT (Capacitor Discharge Technology) should really be given here for those not already familiar with previous rifles in the companies history. The MK3 was the previous design and it was different because it used an electrical solenoid to strike the air valve instead of using the spring system that pretty much all of the rest of the worlds PCP air rifles use.
Using electronics to control the amount of energy into the solenoid (via voltage and pulse length) you can control how hard the valve is struck and also how quickly. This gives a degree of control over the air release that is simply not possible on a conventional spring hammer design. It also allows the use of an electrical switch on the trigger instead of a traditional sear system.
Some people don't like the micro switch trigger of the Daystate electronic actions, but I think it works brilliantly. I use a PC for 40 plus hours a week at work and am pretty used to clicking the mouse button. The feel on pulling the trigger on the MK3 is pretty similar.
Other features of the electronics are things like a built in shot counter, Magazine counter, and the ability to adjust the power level (Down from factory set sub legal limit).
More Details on the older MK3 can be found in my previous review here.
So how can changing the electronics from the MK3 to the MK4 make such a radical change in the technology of the rifle?
For a start it is the addition of one (or two depending on version) very important sensors to the MK4 rifle that has made such a leap forward. Along with a new Harper air valve on the rifles mechanical design.
Previous rifles were either Regulated (FT, RT and FTR) plus the odd special request. Or not regulated
Regulated rifles have a mechanical regulator that transforms the cylinder pressure (200 Bar or so) down to a lower pressure behind the air valve. It maintains a constant regulated pressure across the whole of the fill range or typically 225bar down to 100bar. This result in a good shot to shot consistency for 120 plus shots or so.
The non regulated version still has excellent shot to shot consistency. But will follow a power curve over the whole fill. First shooting slightly under power then moving into the sweet spot for the majority of the fill then again shooting slightly under power as the air pressure drops to 110bar or so.
Daystate noticed that the non regulated sport version would actually out perform the regulated ones because of the faster operating times of the solenoid and very fast air blast caused by the higher operating pressures of the non regulated air in the cylinder.
So how do we get the best of both worlds?
Remove the regulator to get a higher operating pressure! But now we have a power curve problem. Not with the MK4 we don't. The MK4 now has an electronic pressure sensor fitted to the air cylinder. Now the electronic circuit can adjust the power to the solenoid to compensate for the change (Drop) in air pressure as each shot is fired. The power curve is effectively flattened electronically. With less moving parts it should be more reliable than the mechanical regulator as well.
Some versions of the MK4 electronics, specifically this Grand Prix along with the MVT Airwolf also have the additional sensor built into the muzzle of the rifle. This is a couple of light sensors that form a chronograph sensor to measure the pellet velocity as it exits the barrel. What good is that then? You can buy chronographs to test the power of your rifle anyway. This one is different though as it is also connected to the electronics and is able to offer additional adjustment to the rifles velocity.
All MVT (Mapped Velocity feed- forward Technology) rifles (GP and Airwolf MVT) also have the addition of a backlit 16x2 LCD display, mounted on the side of the breech block. So now we get to see some of this information that the electronics is dealing with for ourselves.
On turning on the rifle (By moving the safety catch to the fire position) the display lights up and shows the following information.
1.) Air cylinder pressure in Bar
2.) Battery Voltage
3.) Rifle set Velocity in feet per second
4.) Number of shots fired since last shot counter reset
Programming of the various rifle modes is similar in operation to the MK3 with a few important improvements.
The rifle power on the Grand Prix and Airwolf MVT is now set to the nearest FPS (above 400 and below the legal limit). Just set the exact FPS required on the display. Once set the rifle will now tune itself to your selected pellets with ten or so shots. So a 7.9 grain pellet would still be shot at the same set velocity as an 8.4 grain one, once the rifle has adjusted to compensate.
When a pellet is fired the LCD display will change to show the measured velocity of the last shot. It soon becomes very apparent how good the shot to shot consistency is. With a variance of around +/- 7 FPS (On a selection of un weighed JSB 4.53 Exacts)
A new design of air valve has also been developed for the whole range of Daystate rifles. It was mainly developed to ease the use of the new MK4 electronic actions with the mechanical design of the rifle. The ordinal valve did not have a very linear response over the pressure range and this has been altered in the new design to allow far better integration with the electronics. The added bonus is the new valve is very efficient and allows the action to be fitted with a smaller air tube without compromising the number of shots.
Taking the action out of the stock reveals lots an lots of extra wires compared with the MK3. But everything is tidy and organised.
The front of the PCB no longer has the permanently soldered batteries my MK3 had but two connectors. One for the pressure sensor and the other for the now velcro attached battery pack. Now if it wears out it can be changed in a few seconds with no technical skills required. Plus they have a 9v batter adaptor for those times when you have forgot to charge it.
The rear of the PCB under the solenoid now contains and extra LCD driver and chronograph add on board. You will see a ribbon cable that goes to the LCD display along with three very fine wires that connect to the chronograph unit in the muzzle of the rifle.
The barrel shroud hides these wires, but they do exit the back of the barrel shroud and enter the corner of the action covered in some black protective tubing. Possibly the only thing that I would want to change are these visible wires. I assume it would require a reworking of the breech and shroud design to accommodate them?
Right you can rejoin the review now if you have skipped the technology bit above.
Gary Cane laminate stock.
When I first saw the gray laminate stock that Daystate fitted to the limited edition run of the Merlin I was amazed style of the design. The laminations show off every curve and cut of the stock in a way that does not have the same effect with a traditional walnut or beech material. I was tempted to buy a Merlin for that very reason, but the MK3 I was using was so good I did not really want to go back to a mechanical action.
I liked the limited edition Timberwolf design but was not so keen on the silver coloured action and bottle. (Same with my Grand Prix, I think it would look better in black) So I did not buy one at the time, even though I was pretty tempted to.
The Timberwolf stock is finished in a highly polished clear coat lacquer that has a mirror finish. Easy to keep clean with the application of a damp cloth. Then some car wax to keep it shiny. It's going to make me very careful not to scratch it though as a refinish will require the services of a car spraying company or similar.
So when the MVT version was announced I thought that I would try and get one at some point. After a chat with my friend Dave who just happens to be a RFD and owner of www.guns-n-stuff.co.uk in Lincoln, he suggested that he could ask Daystate if they had any Laminate stocks left over from the Timberwolf run. They did and they could do me a special order of the Airwolf MVT in the laminate stock.
So after a couple of months wait I took delivery of my shiny new rifle in it's Timberwolf clothing.
I have to admit that there were a few teething issues with this particular rifle! But as ever Daystate along with David Snook were very good at getting them resolved very quickly indeed.
I will describe the issues and what was done to resolve them.
From new the rifle would shoot perfect groups, (when the shooter could manage it. LOL) until it was put down and picked up again. But then it would shoot a group in a different place and effectively loose its zero. On cleaning I noticed there was some movement of the rifle barrel in the breech block. On further investigation I discovered that the two barrel screws on the top of the breech were not done up and allowing the barrel movement. Once tightened up the rifle now holds its zero perfectly.
There was slight damage to the very front of the breech housing from new. It looked like the breech corner had been knocked or dropped before assembly. No problem, Daystate replaced the damaged part on return of the rifle for the following software update.
Software update, my rifle had an issue where it would forget the learned velocity setting each time it was switched off. Switching it back on again resulted in the first five or so shots varying velocity as the rifle re-mapped itself. Not so good if you are shooting a competition with it. On return to David Snook the software was updated to an improved version where this is no longer able to happen. Something to do with the write time tolerances of the particular micro controller used, a rare occurrence that is now resolved. The new software also has a learn-n-lock feature which makes the rifle a lot less sensitive to velocity related power adjustments.
On return the rifle is now perfect and has now been in use twice a week for about 4 or so months without issue.
So back to the rifle. How is it to shoot? Good, very good indeed. Bottle based guns look like they will be very front heavy and uncomfortable to hold and use. Not so in this case, the Airwolf MVT balances perfectly with the 400cc bottle. Very nice to hold and shoot with. The laminate stock has a higher cheek riser than the walnut version. That helps with head position on the scope. Not quite as good as an adjustable version, but I have now got used to it and can match the scores I was shooting with my MK3 FT.
Bench rested in still conditions it will shoot very consistent and tight groups. Often hitting the same pellet hole or mark at 40 yards. I think my Grand Prix has the edge on it, but not by much, plus it could be the Grand Prix stock giving me a better head / scope position.
Pellet wise I have tried JSB Exact 4.52 and 4.53 and like most of my other rifles it seems to work best with one particular head size, in this case the 4.53s.
As expected with a bottle gun the shot count is more than adequate! The recommended fill pressure is 200bar and from this you will get over 350 shots. This is geat when you can have several days shooting up at the club without having to worry about filling up with air. Possibly the ultimate plinking rifle.
My rifle has had a couple of additions. First is a fully adjustable trigger as fitted to the Grand Prix, the second is a black neoprene bottle cover made by William on the Airgun BBS.
The bottle cover helps during the cold weather when the steel of the bottle can get unpleasant to the touch. It also protects it from getting scuffed of scratched while in use.
I tried the new Daystate Airstream MK4 reflex silencer on it the other day. It looks great but after measuring with a sound meter we got 80db with no silencer 79db with the Airstream and 78db with the Weihrauch, using my cheap Radio Shack sound meter. I think the standard baffles do a good enough job for most people. The silencers all make the whole rifle a bit too long and difficult to handle.
I've not used the 10 shot magazine as I don't hunt and with my 30mm tube scope and sportsmatch mounts it won't actually fit. But the magazine is no good for HFT use anyway so no problem.
If I did hunt I don't think you would want the shiny laminate stock on it anyway!
Anything I don't like?
Nothing at the moment, I really do think they have pretty much got everything right on this rifle, I find I am using it more than any of the others at the moment.
Thanks
Mark
