Summer Photo Competition

Our summer photo competition is here. Email your photos in to us at info@adifferentcalibre.co.uk. We have a Crosman air rifle up for grabs along with some runner-up prizes.

Diffcal Staff Airgun

Often we get asked what guns we use ourselves. Being able to have anything we like we soon gather a rather large collection of both airguns and firearms.

Today's latest addition to Stuart's armory is the Samyang Sumatra 500. Just to be a bit different he has gone for the .25 version as at shorter ranges (rats and pigeons) it delivers more of a thump.

These are available in the long 500cc rifle version that Stuart has gone for or if you prefer a shorter version we also have the Carbine Stinger in stock. These are all available in .177, .22, and .25 calibre.

Prices start at £560 for the carbine and £620 for the 500cc long rifle. All have the underlever 'winchester' action and have 6 shot magazines. These have open sights, but also a standard rail for a scope. We can also fit an additional silencer to them if required. See our website for details. www.diffcal.co.uk

Different Calibres -Big Bore Air Rifles UK

Big Bore Air Rifles in the UK

www.adifferentcalibre.co.uk

There has always been the debate among air-gunners as to what is better .22 or .177.
.177 has a flatter trajectory, .22 is harder hitting... etc etc. Yawn.... We hear it everyday. Most of the guns we sell are actually in .22 which seems the norm for our local area with only a few shooters prefering the .177. But I'm not here to debate this any more.... Our shop name is now truely a description of what we have in stock. You want a .357 or .50cal airgun. No problem we have them, (or at least will make you one).

Our biggest bore air rifle is the Samyang Dragon Claw. This is a .50cal single shot monster

 

 

It handles both pellets (if you can call them that) or solid lead musket balls. It throws these out at 230ftlbs of pressure (compare that your standard 12!) at over 600fps. The pellet weight is 225grains! That's heavy even for a traditional rifle!

We really do like this gun in the shop!

Notice we have removed the cocking lever for "Safety Reasons"......


Just in recently is the Benjamin Bulldog .357

This thing looks like a 'rail gun'! It has a completely minimilistic design with sharp angled shrouds covering the internals. It has a 5 shot rotary magazine with a side lever bolt action.
It fires the .357 pellet from Nosler which is plastic ballistic tipped. These are 145 grain pellets coming out at 200ftlbs and 900fps! Price is £1299

We have sold a few of these already to customers (Who must have a firearms license) for the purpose of vermin control.

Next in our arsenal is the Sumatra Carbine. Also known as the Stinger.

Styled much like the Dragon Claw, this rifle has an under lever action with a rotary magazine. This is available in .22, .25 and 9mm! It has a very interesting engraved section on the metal. From customers who have had these we can say that it's accuracy is exceptional.

Some people like it, some don't! That's all I can really say about the styling on this one. Prices start from £560 for the carbine version. There is also a bigger rifle version available for £625,
One of our members of staff has the 500cc version in .25 and uses it for pigeon and other pest control.


The BSA R-10 MK2 is a very popular air rifle and most seem to go for it in .22 calibre. I have a suspicion that this is because no one realises that it is actually available in .25! We are so used to having only the two 'usual' calibres in the UK that we don't even consider the others.

 This fully regulated air rifle is one our best sellers, starting at £780. You get 8 shots in the rotary magazine for a .25 and this one doesn't need a license. In fact most .25cal guns are fine for UK use at sub 12ftlbs limits especially at short ranges for knocking over rats etc.


The Daystate Wolverine is available in a multiple of calibres. We have the .22 in the shop for display, but we can get the .303 version in if you have a licence. One of our customers uses his for rabbit control.

 The one shown is the 'C' cylinder version, but bottle versions are also available.

We will be adding more to our big bore airguns if there is demand. Come in and have a look. In 12ftlbs (UK legal no license) we reckon you can use up to 9mm with out any issues.

Hatsan Breaker 900X Air Rifle review

Hatsan Breaker 900X Air Rifle Review

www.adifferentcalibre.co.uk 

The Hatsan Breaker 900x is a basic spring, break barrel air rifle. This has been brought in by Edgar Brothers specifically for the UK market and is a great option as a budget airgun. We are selling these at £99 as a wood alternative to the BSA Hornet. Both are cheap air rifles but well made for the price. We won't be stocking the cheaper alternatives that are on the market as the quality isn't there and we get too many returned for repair.

It is full powered at 11.5ft/lb (unlike many budget air rifles) and is available from us in .22 calibre. Whilst made in .177 as well, we think that the .22 is a better performer for the price. (a more stable shot it seems).

It has a fully ambidextrous stock and includes a very efficient moderator to reduce the noise down to minimal levels and also includes open sights, which is unusual for a spring rifle with moderator.

We have been impressed with the quality of the wood on these, which for a budget air rifle is excellent and is a bit darker and more 'traditional' than the pictures we looked at initially. 

The Hatsan Breaker 900x air rifle also includes a vented recoil pad to the rear, 9-11mm dovetail rail to the top to allow for the fitting of a rifle scope.

Breaker 900X with a Gamo IGT below and Camo Rocket above

Out in the field, the moderator works surprisingly well (it was described to us as a 'muffler' rather than a silencer) and is on par with most other break barrels. The spring gives a bit of a kick back to it, and makes a 'twang' but I might be noticing this more due to the fact that I mostly use PCP airguns which are nearly silent once they have a moderator fitted.  At this price you can't expect too much!

It is fitted with the popular tru-glo sights, the same as on new Weirauch HWs which is a brilliant plus on this well engineered air rifle, however I would be keen to fit a scope to it and see how it performs at slightly longer ranges. The trigger is only single stage but is adjustable, but I haven't bothered to play with it as it seems fine out of the box for what I would use it for (targets and rabbits etc).

All in all a good piece of kit. I'll be using mine as a 'throw in the back' when out on other farm jobs in case any squirrels etc are out. (hooning around the farms with an expensive air gun isn't a good idea for me as I tend to chuck allsorts of junk on the trailer etc).

I am going to stick with the open sights for now as they are more than adequate. Although other users have opted to have a cheap 4x32 telescopic sight mounted.

 

I have tried BSA Storms, BSA Elites and Crosman Ultra Magnum pellets in this rifle and all perform as well as each other at 30 yards.  

Hatsan Breaker 900X with Hawke 3-9x50 scope.

We have taken some customers out on our demo model and everyone who has had a go on it likes the feel of it. On ours we have a Hawke 3-9x50 scope mounted but a simple 4x32 scope is also fine for the ranges you would shoot at with this air rifle.

The video review below is from The Huntsman Channel on YouTube. 

We have these in stock now for only £99. www.adifferentcalibre.co.uk

If you prefer a more tactical look, Hatsan also make the Striker Edge Sniper. This is also only £99!

 

Survival stuff part 1

We are slowly building up our survival kit in the shop, from basic bits such as whistles and glow-sticks to full on wilderness bivi kits.

These survival bracelets are now in stock. Made from paracord, they include a whistle. Unlike some places we won't be charging £20 for them either!

Maybe more for fun than anything else, but then isn't that what this is all about?

Too bright? We have them in camo green as well.

So what uses can we come up with for them when you are out in the field?

An emergency guy line for your tent or basha is my first thought especially if you are going to be doing some early morning shooting and want to be out in the field overnight.

It was also suggested that it could be used to make a bow to light a fire with, however I would think most of us these days have matches or a flint striker.

General lashing of things together? some sort of bipod for your gun?

Or turn your knife into a spear.......

Carrying some game rather than having a handful like this?

Any other ideas? Post in the facebook comments. www.diffcal.co.uk

Airguns in the garden

Review of the Gamo range of air rifles from A Different Calibre ltd. www.diffcal.co.uk

Ashley www.thegardenspider.co.uk

As a landscape gardener I often come into contact with 'critters' that my customers really don't want roaming around. Be it the odd pigeon, rat or rabbit I decided that I needed to be able to offer basic pest control. The amount of damage a couple of rats can do to a potting shed or the rabbits to someones veg garden should not be underestimated.

A lot of the work I carry out is in large rural gardens, and so an air rifle was the ideal choice. At the same time noise complaints from neighbours (and customers) was also going to be an issue. The Gamo range of air rifles seemed to provide a low cost option with their built in silencers. As much as I would like a PCP one (such as the Gamo Coyote) I couldn't justify the expense. From only £139.00 for a Whisper X, the classic break barrel design was the one to go for.

After holding a few of the airguns on offer, I decided that I quite liked the pistol grip style. Having only really ever used guns with 'sporting stocks' I was surprised at how comfortable this was. A synthetic stock is also going to be easy to clean rather than wood (gardeners get muddy!).

The options I considered were the Whisper X and the Whisper Fusion. In the end I felt that the Fusion with it's bigger sound moderation was going to be the better option for use where noise will be an issue. 

Gamo Whisper X

Gamo Whisper Fusion

.22 was the calibre I chose as this is more suitable for knocking over pests and I really don't want pellets drilling through and damaging fences etc. I left with a tin of BSA Storms to get me started.

The Gamo 4x32 scope seemed fine for my needs (cheap at £20) although the open sights seemed fine for day shooting, I was asked to go out in the evening with the guys from the shop, so would be better off with a proper scope.

I'm not sure how many of my customers are going to let me shoot the pests or if I will even get time when on a job to do it,  but either way it's an excuse to get a new toy, and I'm out with the 'Diffcal' lads tonight to shoot rats!

Ashley

www.thegardenspider.co.uk