When it comes to good-looking airguns, the Daystate Huntsman is difficult to beat. It strikes a wonderful balance between the elegance of a traditional sporter and the functional lines of a modern PCP. What’s more, it also shoots extremely well indeed.

But Daystate is never content to rest on its laurels after producing a top-notch airgun. The British airgun maker has a rolling programme that brings in constant tweaks and refinements to make its rifles even better, and the results are usually very impressive to say the least.

The Huntsman is no exception and has seen its fair share of adaptations over the years. The latest variant has been given the Safari treatment – a unique stock finish which has already been warmly received on models including the mighty Red Wolf. When I first heard about the new twist, I wondered if it was even worth attempting to improve the stock of such a handsome airgun. I can now say that it most certainly was.

Daystate airguns aren’t cheap, and the Huntsman Revere is a very refined piece of hardware. Nonetheless, I do believe that you really get your money’s worth for this one’s £1,220 retail price for the sub-12 version. Read on and I will explain why.

 

Daystate Huntsman Revere – key specs

MAKER: Daystate, England (daystate.com)
MODEL: Huntsman Revere Safari Edition
PRICE: Sub-12 (tested) £1,220, high power £1,370
TYPE: Multi-shot sidelever PCP sporter
CALIBRE: .177 (tested), .22 and .25
OVERALL LENGTH: 940mm
LENGTH OF PULL: 348mm
BARREL LENGTH: 430mm
WEIGHT: 2.9kg (without scope)
TRIGGER: Two-stage adjustable
POWER: 11.4 ft-lb (tested) and high-power up to 40 ft-lb

 

Taking stock of the Daystate Huntsman Revere

The standout feature of the Safari edition of the Huntsman Revere is without a doubt its stock, so let’s begin by looking at that. It is based on a finishing technique perfected by Breda shotguns – a business which has a close synergy with Daystate.

The result is quite a departure from what most of us regard as a standard wooden airgun stock, but most people seem to take an instant liking to it as soon as they see it, and then develop even more of a liking when they’ve handled it.

Rather than the smooth surface that most of us have grown to expect on a wooden stock, the Safari handle has a raised grain finish with a rough-cut look and feel to it. Thankfullly it doesn’t look unfinished, but it does have a very rugged air about it.

Apart from looking very distinctive, it also results in a very grippy stock, although Daystate has further embellished the Safari edition of
the Revere handle with patches of crisp stippling on both sides of the pistol grip as well as the underside of the forend.

Even in the wet this airgun sticks to your hands, and if you do lose your grip on it you will have to accept that the blame lies entirely with you.

The stock has been treated to what Daystate describes as an “ink” finish. The company is quite secretive about the actual process, other than to say that the final stage is done by hand.

It looks darker than a typical wooden airgun stock, and that definitely makes it less conspicuous in the countryside. The glare-free textured finish also does a great job of concealing bumps and scratches, which is great news if, like me, you subject your guns to the rigours of real field use.

Tweaks have been made to the proportions of this ambidextrous stock. The underside of the forend has been widened and adorned with grooves on both sides that make for a nice hold in your leading hand.

The widening of the forend also makes it easier to fit a stud for bipod attachment as there is plenty of material to drill into.

I like a stock with a steep pistol grip and a hand-filling palm-swell, and that is what you get with the Safari edition of the Huntsman Revere. You also get a nice adjustable cheekpiece with a black soft-touch finish. There is a lot of travel on it, 35mm precisely, and being able to tweak its height makes a huge difference when trying to achieve eye/scope alignment with a gun mount. I appreciate it on the Huntsman because the height of the magazine necessitates tall mounts to keep the scope tube clear.

Another nice feature of the stock is the soft recoil pad that serves as a very tidy cap on the butt. It is like the sort of pad you might find on a decent shotgun and, while the Huntsman Revere is a recoilless PCP, it’s nice to have it there as it makes for a very comfortable contact point.

Overall length from muzzle to butt (without a silencer fitted) is a compact 940mm and the Safari edition tips the scales at a very manageable 2.9kg (unscoped). Length of pull is 348mm and with a 3-10×40 MTC Mamba Ultra Lite mounted up, the point of balance fell about 90mm in front of trigger blade, which made for a very pointable and stable setup.

 

Features and function

As previously mentioned, this Safari edition is built on a proven action which, of course, is in its very latest guise. That includes a new version of Daystate’s renowned ART barrel which is even less pellet-fussy than previous variants.

That barrel is 430mm long on both sub-12 and FAC models, and sits inside an elegant full-length shroud with a matt black anodised finish. It is threaded to accept a silencer and I would imagine that anyone wishing to use this airgun to target live quarry will want to fit one to really mute the muzzle report for maximum stealth.

The breech block also has a black anodised finish and incorporates about 150mm of dovetail rail – punctuated by the magazine – for scope mounting and some very neat embellishment with Daystate’s logo and the Huntsman Revere moniker.

Also housed within the block is an extremely slick sidelever cocking and loading action. The sidelever has a long, sleek dropdown handle, which is perfectly positioned just above the trigger. The rearward stroke clicks back to cock the action and index the magazine, while the forward stroke probes the next pellet into the breech.

Positioned for right-handers, the sidelever can be swapped to the opposite side for left-handers. It is a simple operation that doesn’t need a gunsmith and shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to carry out. Many guns with ambidextrous stocks fall down by failing to offer a reversible cocking lever, so I am sure that left-handed shooters will really appreciate the feature.

That excellent sidelever drives the latest version of Daystate’s self-indexing magazine, which holds 13 pellets in .177 calibre, 11 in .22 and 10 in .25. Loaded by flipping open the rear gate and dropping pellets nose-first into the bottom chamber and then rotating to the next one to tension the spring, it is one of the best multi-shot magazines out there.

Apart from being very easy to load, it is pellet-friendly and extremely reliable – my only slight quibble with it is that it sits about 14mm proud of the scope rails, which tends to rule out the use of lower mounts, but that’s not a huge problem.

You will see in the photographs that the review gun was fitted with a blue magazine – it was a very early version and I believe the magazines will be black by the time these remarkable guns are rolling off the production line. A single-shot tray is also supplied.

Refinement is a key feature of the Huntsman Revere, and that is very apparent in its excellent two-stage trigger, which is adjustable for first-stage travel and second-stage sear engagement to tweak the trigger weight. Carried out with a 1.5mm hex key, it is quite a straightforward task and is clearly explained in the instruction manual.

Straight out of the box the setup was very good, with a light first stage that came to an obvious stop before a positive, creep-free second-stage break. The great trigger mechanism is backed up by a very well-designed blade.

Its gently sweeping curve nestles very comfortably into the pad of your index finger while the wide, flat face transmits plenty of feel.

A manual safety catch is positioned at the rear of the action – sensibly far away from the trigger but very convenient for easy operation with your thumb.

It is a rotary mechanism which you push down to the left to snap into the safe position and then flick it up with your thumb when you are ready to take the shot.

 

Power and performance of the Daystate Huntsman Revere

The Safari edition of the Daystate Huntsman Revere is available in power configurations up to 40 ft-lb. I was sent a .177 calibre sub-12 ft-lb model for review and it performed brilliantly in the consistency stakes.

This airgun is fitted with a Huma regulator so I expected good things – sure enough, consistency was within 5fps over a string of 10 shots taken with Daystate Rangemaster Sovereign pellets straight from the tin.

Muzzle energy was a responsible 11.4 ft-lb, which the Revere churns out effortlessly. Working from a full 250 bar fill, you can expect around 140 shots at that power level in .177 and about 20 more in .22, which I think is good for such a sleek airgun. Regulator pressure is displayed on a gauge on the underside of the forend, and the remaining overall air supply is shown on the gauge at the front of the cylinder.

Refilling with air is a very simple process. The collar at the front of the cylinder serves as a dust cap, and you rotate it to reveal the inlet. All you have to do then is push in the supplied probe after coupling it to your hose and you’re ready to go.

The Huntsman Revere has always been an exceptional shooting machine, and I think the Safari stock and updated barrel make it even better. Those latest tweaks work alongside the proven action to make consistent shot placement relatively easy to achieve.

On the range and in windless conditions, my groups were falling comfortably within 20mm from centre to centre at 40m, and it was almost pellet on pellet at 30m.

Printing such tiny groups from a supported bench is all well and good, but the Safari edition of the Huntsman Revere is even more at home in the field.

That purposeful rough-cut stock almost disappears into the woodland environment, and I had a terrific time stalking my permissions with this terrific little airgun. Being so lightweight, it is no burden to carry around the countryside, and the Revere’s nicely compact proportions mean you don’t have to be hyper-aware of bashing the muzzle.

In the field, I was able to fully appreciate what a versatile airgun this is; it is comfortable to shoot whether using prone, sitting, kneeling or standing stances. I managed to account for several squirrels and a bonus rabbit out on my rounds with the Safari, which left me in no doubt as to its suitability for pest control.

The Safari touch has, in my opinion, made the excellent Daystate Huntsman Revere even better. Its elegant sporter styling is a breath of fresh air in an age when too many shooters and gunmakers have become obsessed with tactical functionality, and the dark, rough-cut Safari finish adds a ruggedness that I think makes for a very handsome airgun. When it comes to combining looks and performance, this Daystate is at the top of its game.