Page 6
Airgun Hobbyist
Although the zombie craze has cooled a bit, Crosman did
introduce a new pop-up zombie target along with a number
of other new items that are too numerous to mention here.
All of this combined to fuel an increase in US production
and the need to add to their workforce in New York, which is
good news for any company and our economy. Visit www.
crosman.com to see all of their new offerings.
Gamo Outdoor Sports
– Gamo’s introductions this year
include a second generation (G2) of their Whisper technology.
It features a new Turbo Stabilizing System that slows the
spring to a controlled stop, smoothing the aggressiveness
of the firing cycle. It is used in the youth model called the
Recon Whisper, a .177 synthetic-stocked break-barrel capable
of 750fps with alloy pellets. It weighs only 4 pounds and
comes with a green dot tactical sight. Retail is $119.00. The
Whisper G2 has an ambidextrous synthetic stock, comes with
a 4x32 scope and is available in .177 and .22. It will retail
for $269.00. Gamo also brought out a number of new items
in their many signature lines: Buckmasters, MRA, Bone
Collector, etc. Plus, there is the MP9 semi-auto BB/pellet
machine pistol replica that retails for $149.00 and a new
Laser Genetics green laser that can be seen out to 300 yds. It
contains a new laser diode that withstands zero degrees F, a
major concern with older green lasers. Understanding that
the first airgun was powered by human breath, Gamo also
unveiled the Primal Warrior blowgun, which takes blowguns
to a new, exotic level and adds to those already in their lineup.
Check out everything that could not be covered here by going
to: www.gamousa.com.
Hatsan USA
– Blaine, the CEO and President, provided Tim
and me with a little history as well as what’s new for 2014.
Hatsan is a Turkish company that had its start in 1975. The
head of the company did not even know airguns existed until
buying his first from a U.S. soldier stationed nearby. He soon
experimented with building airguns, formed Hatsan and is
now a major player. Once we stepped into the Hatsan USA
booth, both Tim and I simultaneously went for their new
Model 250XT pistol hanging on the wall. It is a metal CO2 BB
pistol resembling the Ruger .22 semi-auto. This Taiwanese
made pistol fires BBs at 430fps and will retail for $79.99. Tim
& I predict this will be a big seller for Hatsan. They are also
introducing their own line of pellets in 2014 called Vortex.
Hatsan worked with the pellet manufacturer to match the
pellets to their guns, so the Supreme
line is designed for Hatsan PCPs and the
Express line is designed for springers.
There is also a lead-free option and
all are available in .177, .22 and .25.
Additionally, 4 of Hatsan’s break-barrel
models are now offered with the new
Vortex gas piston. It uses air rather
than nitrogen and some models are even
user serviceable, which is welcome news.
This comes on top of quality initiatives
that went into effect this past year due to consumer feedback.
New manufacturing steps were introduced such as tumbling
internal parts, which reduces the sharpness of the edges,
making the firing cycle smoother and helps prevent internal
damage. On the PCP front, new “Quiet Energy” technology
was unveiled on select models. This new technology
reportedly reduces the sound signature from 113 db down to
83! If you are not familiar with this company, you owe it to
yourself to check out their website: www.hatsanusa.com
Leapers/UTG
– While not manufacturing their own line of
airguns (at least not yet!) this innovative accessory company
has something to offer everyone. New this year is the line
of ATAC scopes. Tough enough to use on spring powered
airguns with their unique bi-directional recoil, their 32 color
illuminated reticle helps to resolve an issue which I had not
considered until Tim mentioned people with color blindness.
You can dial the colors that work for you if you normally
don’t see red and green. Leapers scopes come with a lifetime
warranty as well. Leapers also introduced a number of other
items, as they do every year, including rails, bipods, lights/
lasers and tactical gear, most of them made here in the U.S.
(their UTG Pro Line). For more details on their huge line of
all things shooting, go to: www.leapers.com.
Remington Arms
– Exciting news coming out of this
respected firearms manufacturer is that after 85 years,
they are getting back into airguns! Yes, “Big Green” is back
into airguns in a big way. They hired a team of engineers,
product managers and marketing people in an effort to build
a contender in the industry. Remington’s first step was to
purchase SMK, the largest airgun importer in the U.K. and
rebrand it Remington Outdoors (U.K.). Next they approached
a Chinese manufacturer willing to work at the quality levels
demanded by Remington. These efforts led to the first models
available just before “Black Friday” last year: the Remington
Express and Express XP. These are break-barrel springers
in .177 modeled after the classic Remington 700. They sport
hardwood
stocks, 2-stage
triggers, and
come with a
4x32 scope.
The XP version
is more powerful and has a permanently attached sound
moderator. The retail on these rifles starts at $199.00. By
the time this issue is in your hands, there should be 5 new
rifle models available in .177 or .22, plus a BB firing copy
of the Remington 1911 .45 semi-auto. The rifles are the
Thunderbolt, a synthetic stocked break-barrel, also based
on Remington styling, the ThunderJet, the ThunderCeptor,
the XP Tactical ThunderJet and XP Tactical ThunderCeptor.
All will come with scopes and should retail in the $179 to
$359.00 range. Watch these pages for reviews once products
become available. In correlation with the airguns, Remington
introduced a line of steel targets that have multiple sizes of
kill-zones and are shoot-to-reset. These are very nice targets
and will retail in the $30.00 range. From examination of
these targets, they are quite a value for the dollars spent.
These items are new so the website did not include them yet.
However, by the time you read this you should be able to
check them out at: www.remington.com.
Remington Express
(Cont. from page 5)
Hatsan Vortex
Pellets
