Reviews

I’ve got attached to the latest BSA R10 Super Carbine test rifle. It’s a VC, but with a barrel reduced in length by 109mm, it’s dubbed the Super Carbine; it measures up around half a silencer shorter in the overall butt-to-muzzle department. It’s also the £799 Black Pepper version, which sports grey laminate woodwork rather…

Background to the Feinwerkbau 800x FT In the early 2000s, when Field Target and Hunter Field Target became increasingly popular in Europe, manufacturers of precision 10m match air rifles  started to produce 12 ft-lb rifles in order for shooters to compete in these disciplines. Prior to this, British manufacturers like Air Arms would dominate the…

    The Zbroia Hortitsia comes in two versions: the 330/180 and the 450/220, which is the one seen here. The company’s designation refers to the barrel length in millimetres followed by the cylinder capacity in cubic centimetres, with the longer model costing an extra £30 at £589, but delivering a higher shot count of…

Background to the VW Golf Estate Alltrack TDI 4Motion The Volkswagen Golf needs little introduction. It has been at the forefront of hatchback sales since, well, forever, partly down to the legendary GTI. In the early 1990s, VW decided to stick a boot on it and the Golf estate was born. (Read more reviews on…

The Walther Rotex RM8 runs an eight-shot, rotary magazine made of CNC-machined aluminium. It’s driven by a side-bolt that automatically cocks and loads a pellet directly into the choked, 500mm Lothar Walther barrel. (Read this review of the Walther Rotex RM8 Varmint Ultra Compact.)  Buddy bottle air supply Indeed, the Walther Rotex RM8 also sports…

The Sauer 202 attracted a loyal following from the moment it first appeared in the early 1990s. It was designed as a lightweight hunting rifle and came in a number of models to meet the varying demands of hunters. These included traditional walnut furniture as well as tough synthetic stocks intended for hard use in…

The Daystate Red Wolf hit the scene in a storm of publicity, and a blaze of colour, in the shape of the special-edition Serie Rosso variant in 2018. Cradled in a dazzling red and grey high-gloss laminate stock with natty red embellishments to its action and a flash carbon-fibre barrel shroud, the Rosso is certainly…

British and Commonwealth forces were armed with one of the best bolt-action battle rifles of the first half of the 20th century – the Lee-Enfield. Although the rifle is still in use in some parts of the world today, it’s more closely associated with the First and Second World Wars, with the most iconic of…

Almost two years ago, I was approached by the Editor of Shooting Times to write gun reviews. Those two years have seen the shooting industry face disruption and challenges not witnessed since the war years. There have been winners and losers in the gun trade, so I wanted to highlight what is, in my opinion,…

For a long time, a small group of established manufacturers have dominated our sport: companies whose reputations date back decades to when springers where the only game in town, joined by those who led the PCP revolution. Today, the world is much smaller and the increasing popularity of airgunning, combined with the wealth of information…

Where do I start with this stunning, 100% English-made beauty, the Longthorne Valhalla? My full-time job, as a lot of you know, is being a shooting coach and my part-time job is reviewing guns. How lucky am I? The gun I tested here is a Longthorne 12-bore, 32in barrelled, sidelock. What is a sidelock, you…