I had been drooling and reading up on the Evanix models for some time. I always thought maybe someday but the price and use of the battery powered technology scared me. What made me take the leap was seeing they are no longer producing the full auto models and any left on the market are being snapped up. Figured it was now or never so...
Was not looking for pal rating making the quest even trickier but found Airgunsource had the Conquest in .22 in non pal and full auto!! I tell you I bookmarked that page and day after day would look it over, studied the pictures and dreamed. I finally made the decision and put in the order. It was to be sent Priority mail and should have been delivered within two days.
After days of impatient waiting and cursing the postal system who in reality were only one day late, my new best friend finally was delivered. In fairness to Canada Post, I have received many items faster than expected so I'm not going to be too hard on them, but man when you're waiting for something so exciting seems like forever.
So I unboxed everything, the guys at Airgunsource had already tested it for me as the charger was assembled (didn't include the adapters for other countries but I'm not planning on taking it out if the country anyway). I had already almost memorized the online manual so I knew I had to charge the batteries for 8 hours before I could even try it out! So I plugged in the batteries to charge and started to check out the rifle. My first impressions were very very good. The woodwork on the stock was as good as I had read about, beautifully finished, no blemishes at all. The barrel and action all looked to be quality as well. It is a medium sized rifle at 38" but not overly heavy.
After fondling it for a while I set about installing the red dot I picked out to go with the Evanix. I chose a Vortex Strikefire dot, after reading tons of good things about it. It was easy to install with a Weaver to dovetail adapter mount I had. The dovetail on the Conquest is well machined and there were no issues with leveling. I chose the dot as I'm not planning on long range shooting and it comes with a 2x magnifier that is detachable, and it's lightweight. I didn't want to throw a large scope on it increasing the weight to the point of it becoming unwieldy. (Think I'm used to the lightweight Brocock Contour)
After attaching the red dot I figured I'd try loading the mags. It came with 2 10 round mags. They are decent quality and following the instructions were easy to load my JSB Exacts Jumbos. Doesn't take long to load, but I already knew they be emptied a heck of a lot quicker than I could load them!
With everything else sorted out, and a little more fondling, I decided to try my hand at putting some air into the tank. I use a Hill mk3 hand pump which I really like. Up to this point I'd only filled pistols and my Contour so I couldn't understand what all the complaints were about hand pumping.... Now I know! I connected the included Evanix probe to a foster adapter and attached everything. The tank's gauge showed it already had around 75 bar probably left over from the testing done by the store. Figured I was moments away from a full tank... Nope. I'm not saying it was brutal or frankly overly tiring but it was a bit of a workout. I ended up pumping for about 5-6 min and stopped to let the pump cool as it actually heated up for the first time I had seen. After the break, continued my session and probably another solid 5-6 min later it was full at 200 bar. I didn't count but figure it was probably around 200 strokes or so?
Now that it was full, and after a touch more fondling, I waited for the batteries to charge.
That afternoon the charger indicated the batteries were fully charged and I connected them, re installed the rubber butt plate and was off to my garage to let loose (-30 with snow wouldn't make for a nice outdoor experience)
I loaded the mag, no issues. Turned on the power switch almost expecting to hear motors firing up or bells and whistles, but thankfully none of that happened. Now I was finally ready to see what she could do.
Shooting at 25 feet I pulled the trigger and off she went launching the first pellet down range with a loud crack. It is noticeably louder than any other gun I've owned. Not rim fire loud, just not quiet. I'll get out the db meter later... After firing a few and getting the scope aligned I loaded the second mag and flipped the switch to full auto - the moment I'd been waiting for. I squeezed the trigger and it spat out 10 pellets in a second! And incredibly all hit the paper target in about a half inch circle. This thing truly is accurate!
I was able to fire off about 80 rounds total before having to leave for work. I was thoroughly impressed. It had lived up to everything I had seen and read.
My only initial complaints are, after topping the tank off I've noticed the fill probe can be a little finicky and needed adjusting to ensure a perfect seal. Also the ergonomics of the thumbhole stock are not perfect. The thumbhole is cozy for my hand size, but it's the distance to the trigger that I find cramped. It should be another 1/2" further away for a comfortable grip and finger reach for me. As well I don't like the trigger blade itself. It has several different edges on it and doesn't feel comfortable. It's not a traditional blade found in the target guns I'm used to. I've already done some metal filing to shape the trigger a little more to my liking. I don't really like the red power switch that looks a little out of place, think they could have done a better job with it. I did color it black with a sharpie marker, leaving the "on" side red so when it's in the on position it looks more like a traditional safety "red is dead". I'll be using proper plastic paint to do a nicer job as I liked the way it turned out and I think will look better than the all red switch.
Other than those gripes overall I'm tickled. This is the most fun I've had shooting in a long time. I do wonder about the longevity of the internal gear system and electrical connections but figure it can be repaired if it ever needed. No reason for me to doubt that it will last many years to come.
Only had her for a couple days and these are only my initial impressions but at this point I would highly recommend this gun to anyone and can't wait for the weather to warm up enough for me to unleash it outside!
Attachments: |
image.jpg [ 147.11 KiB | Viewed 1717 times ]
|
image.jpg [ 122.02 KiB | Viewed 1717 times ]
|
image.jpg [ 127.59 KiB | Viewed 1717 times ]
|
_________________ Highlights - Evanix Conquest AA HFT 500, FX Dreamline, Diana Mod 70, HW44, FAS6004, some other goodies.
Last edited by fishguy on Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
|