Airtech Regal Has Returned ....and It's A Killer!

[pianoman 3,587]

FINALLY....

 

Carl has my .177 Regal ready.... and on Thursday I took the three-hour drive to Telford in the pouring rain to his place to pick it up. A nice cuppa and a long chat about what he's made, fitted, tuned and generally done to it and a proper test session on his benches has produced a stunning transformation with this rifle. And I mean the word STUNNING!

 

I cannot possibly regard this as a Daystate rifle anymore. Without getting into technical stuff I know sod all about anyway, he's taken the Harper valve out and binned it. And replaced it with an engine worthy of the rifles' beautiful looks. Fully regulated now, it's amazing for a fellow like me to see what a remarkable job Carl makes of his gunsmithing.

 

He is absolutely obsessive about perfection in everything he touches and makes. He showed me a complete Regal regulator he makes and how he mates it to the rest of the gun's innards. It's a little work of art these regulators. Made from aircraft aluminium, he filled mine to the limit of the cylinder , up to 210-bar and shot a ten shot string through his Chrono that didn't deviate a ripple. Then emptied it down to half the pressure and still, it shot without a murmer of deviation. In simple terms to me, I got what I wanted in the first place with a rifle of this quality and price-value.

 

Absolute single pellet accuracy with 11.65 ft/lbs of humane killing punch behind every shot.

 

He found, as with every Regal he's come across, that the barrel shroud is a poor fit and causing pellets to lightly clip the muzzle of the silencers I use. He cropped about an inch and half off the barrel and turned the barrel itself for any UNF threaded silencer. Recrowned and finished with a proper end-cap, he tested my A&M Marksman silencer and told me a lot about "Swept volumes and air stripping" but, the main thing was, that silencer is fine for this set up!

 

He even went on to fix the three magazines I have for it. A tiny pin in each had failed or fallen out and rendered them useless (More Daystate standard Production Quality!). He fitted a tiny bit of very fine solder wire, heated and fixed into place and sealed; and that was all that was needed to get them rotating and indexing pellets properly again.

 

He recommended Air Arms Diabolo Express 4.52mm from his tests and a tin has been ordered from an Ebay shop I use for ammo. Meanwhile I have about 5 thousand rounds of AA Fields in 4.51mm i know it likes and loded up with these for a test session when I got the rifle home.

 

A sweet single hole group at 35 metres on my garden range on the following fine Friday afternoon. Well, I had to have a trip out to the rabbits on one of my perms and away I went.

 

Dropped a rabbit, first shot, standing at 50-odd yards as I entered the field. It ran to the hedgeline as I walked through the gate and stopped to have a last look and listen. Fatal! It went over quick and didn't twitch. I found it with blood in its ears and a bloody splat behind its right eye.

 

I was almost dancing! This is more like it!

 

I went on to bag 8 more and a couple of woodpigeon at some pretty decent ranges over the course of the evening. I came away afterwards to a celebratory beer in the local pub and a happy smile on my face!

 

 

NOW...I know he's not exactly good at communicating with his customers and can drive you fecking mad with wondering when he's gonna be finished with your pride and joy.

 

But, you need to be prepared to fire a few emails off before you get a reply. He's a bloody obsessive who just loves, eats and breathes his work. And such people are not naturally good at PR and Customer Relations and communications for themselves.

 

I'm quite that way myself with my paintings, but I have the good lady Helen to answer most business queries and, I quite like customer contact anyway. He's not quite that good at promoting himself and I think, he sees customer queries as a necessary evil!

 

But I'll give the laddie his due.

 

If you can put up with his lack of communication without going mad ( I know . Not easy!) He WILL contact you when it's ready or likely to be in the end. And you WILL get an incredible job for your rifle out of him!

 

All the best and thanks for reading.

 

Simon/Pianoman

[David.evans 5,323]

Well woth the wait then simion ?

Enjoy your new rolls Royce mate , and go grt em

Atb

[Metalman2 45]

Yes Simon, I know EXACTLY how you feel, in my mind, Carl's work has never been in question, or his knowledge of air guns , it is just the uncertainty. ANY wait is acceptable providing you have some idea to start with, Carl knows his own failings, and will hopefully try and address the situation

Once he gets customer relations sorted, he will be a force to be reckoned with by any of the tuners, and I wish him well in that respect

 

Since my last post, Carl has been in touch, and hopefully I will soon get my R10,

 

Cheers Rich

[villaman 9,983]

A gun that works now because of someone who understands airguns unlike daystate !! . It really annoys me you pay very good money and then you need to spend X amount to make it how it should be .

Why daystate keep with this s**t harper valve ( not just my words but people who works on them ) instead of a proper reg ,god only knows .

Well Simon , sounds like a top gun now and Carl's work is second to none .

How many shots to a fill by the way ?

[philpot 4,991]

Well pleased for you Simon, now you have the gun you THOUGHT you had bought in the first place....................BUT BETTER.

 

Phil

[mark williams 7,553]

Good to hear you are sorted and happy Simon .

​

That was interesting about Carl recommending the AA Express, same pellet as JSB Express, I believe ?

 

I`ll stick with " Zee Germans" but Daystate open your eyes and ears to all of this.

 

 

atb mate.

[villaman 9,983]

Good to hear you are sorted and happy Simon .

​

That was interesting about Carl recommending the AA Express, same pellet as JSB Express, I believe ?

 

I`ll stick with " Zee Germans" but Daystate open your eyes and ears to all of this.

 

 

atb mate.

Mark ,somebody came on here saying he is trying to sort out the problems with daystate , has not done a very good job as he !!

[bigmac 97kt 13,787]

Once your on the dark side you can never go back

 

and now you have a proper pcp

 

ill be down for the hw80 and the hw77 and the hw97 in a few hours

 

atvbjimmy :thumbs:

[pianoman 3,587]

Helen has some dinner waiting for you then Jimmy. Roast Chicken for sunday dinner today!

I don't know yet what the full shot count is Mitch but, it's got to be a whole lot better than the 50-odd the the rifle could only produce at its sweet spot before.

 

You've all said exactly what I have felt since I bought this rifl, in the belief I was getting a truly beautiful hunting air weapon of performance. And it has turned outto be the biggest let-down disappointment in all my years of shooting air rifles. Cheap Hatstands perform better than this!

 

What made me persist with this rifle was the stunning good looks, barrel accuracy and trigger. The Daystate Regal was a pile of shit inside but, it has the potential to be a world class PCP rifle. That's what really angers me the most about Daystate's management. Utterly inept. Utterly typical of British bullshit business performance.

From what I was discussing with Carl, I get the distinct impression that Daystate's workforce are just screwing bits of ready-made components together from out-sourced makers and chucking them out like old bath taps. There's no gunsmithing craftsmanship or care, or love of a job really well done. Just low morale, clock in, clock out and pray for every weekend off in between one more week of monotonous, tedious fitting and passing on.

 

Surely there are good people there who must look at what they are doing and just shake their heads.

 

The barrel, trigger and stock are exceptionally lovely in accuracy, feel and looks. Then they just put shit into the innards of them and charge a bloody fortune.

British Leyland used to build their cars like that. Before the Japanese and the Germans came along back and wiped the floor with them. Goodbye British car industry!

 

What Carl's done is nothing that Daystate with their resources couldn't so easily do themselves. They should be building air rifles we can all enjoy and afford. And wipe the floor with foreign competition. But they won't. They have to be British and build it as cheap as possible and sell it as dear as they can.

 

All I can say for Carl is, he just needs to keep his customers in the loop with a bit more communication and he'll be flying. His work is brilliant and he's a thoroughly likeable and decent chap. If you are going to buy a PCP he can refine it and sweeten it beautifully.

 

If you buy a Daystate, you are going to need him!

 

Going out on the garden range chaps. See you later and thanks for reading my post.

 

Simon

[villaman 9,983]

Simon , Mine was never very accurate so you're lucky there

I might be looking for another then send it of to Carl , just a shame it has daystate stamped on them

[pianoman 3,587]

Hi there Mitch.

If you really want a Regal with performance to match, there is no other way to do it. I can't recommend Carl highly enough. He's done a marvellous job of mine.

 

I stuck with my Regal because I knew this rifle had amazing potential. Even though, almost at the end, I nearly wrapped the b*****d thing round a fence post in utter frustration of how utterly weak and flimsy-powered the thing was.

 

For a modest sum extra it has been well worth the headaches.

 

I'm seriously thinking of writing a letter to Tony Belas asking for an explanation why a fine and beautiful looking rifle with all it has potentially going for it, is being sent out worse than a cheap Chinese pile of shite with a price tag far in excess of its performance.

 

I won't write to the RSPCA complaining of dire cruelty to animals, albeit vermin, inflicted by such an under-performing, inhumane pest-control tool as Daystate are sending out. We've enough negative press for this sport to be going on with.

 

But the Daystate management should bloody well know!

[philpot 4,991]

I would save the time and paper Simon, do you really think TB doesn't already know !!!!!! Ostrich and sand spring to mind if you follow my drift.

 

Phil

[pianoman 3,587]

Yes. On reflection, you're probably right Phil.

[just-A-snap 1,269]

Sorry not commenting on your updated artwork posts Simon, locked out of facebook so not seeing anything. Not a great loss "facebook that is" not your posts, those I do miss.

 

All the very best to you and yours.

 

Renos

just-A-snap

[Badgerdaddy 24]

Hi Simon

I have a Daystate Regal and would like to be put in touch with this magician of yours who works miricals. I don't really have any problems with the gun but would like to get it tuned and this fella seems just the job.

 

Can you send me his contact details mate.

 

Many thanks