Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

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Scarecrow3
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Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by Scarecrow3 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:34 pm

It has been a few months since Precihole launched their much awaited PX100 PCP rifles. In a country that still follows archaic Raj era laws and enforces the highly oppressive Arms Act, the launch of the first Indian made PCP should be a monumentally proud moment for us Indians. So it does come as a surprise to me when despite a few months of it's launch, no one seems to know anything about the gun. Having owned this gun for a few days here are my 2 cents.

Design and Ergonomics

Unless you've been living under a rock( or a pineapple under the sea) this is what the rifle looks like

Image

This is how the rifle looks with a Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12X AO scope

Image

And this is my attempt to show off in bokeh eshtylle

Image

This is not my first Precihole gun. I've owned an SX100 Orion before. Needless to say my expectation in the build quality, design and ergonomics department were sky high. The gun comes across as well built and sturdy with no loose or rattling parts and no components that could potentially break away if dropped or struck against a surface. The receiver and the cocking arm is made of aluminium while the pin that seats the pellet and
seals off the chamber is made of steel( i think).

Image

There area a few minor design hiccups though, nothing too major. For starters, the plastic ring surrounding the pressure gauge comes off with a little force and does not seat perfectly.
Image Image

Everything feels well seated and perfect except for two crucial( in my opinion) points. Firstly, the rifle is quite light as compared to the SX100 Orion. While this may be to the liking of some people here, personally i do not like it. i would have preferred if Precihole had added weights in the stock or used an all steel receiver. The low weight is simply not to my liking. For the record i'm 6'0" and a quintal in weight.

Secondly and most crucially, WHY IS THE BARREL SO GODDAMN THIN. I considered titling my review "RAGE AGAINST THE BARREL" for this very purpose since i could go on and on about it but thankfully reason took over. Now, i'm not asking for a bull barrel ( though it would've been nice) but a nice thick barrel akin to the SX100/NX100 series. This would've been nice as:

1) It would've addressed the weight issue a bit
2) We could mount the front dovetail adapter for the SX/NX/VX series rifles on this to be used for 50m FT shooting.
3) Improved accuracy (see below)

Now a long thin barrel as a higher tendency to vibrate than a thicker one of the same length, this is common knowledge. In air guns, barrel vibration doesn't really make that much of a difference from what i've read. Barrel harmonics are mostly for firearms. BUT, if one were to tap the barrel of the PX100 and hold a finger at another end, one can feel a distinct ringing throughout the length of the barrel. On the SX100 this was conspicously absent. Hence i wonder, WHY COULD WE NOT HAVE A THICKER BARREL? . The distinctive barrel ringing has led me to believe that unbalanced and poor quality pellets might not fare well in this gun at all. Also, the gun is LOUD. firing it in closed spaces( in my case, a hallway) will leave a ringing in one's ears. A barrel shroud would've been good

Loading pellets with a mounted scope is not a problem, i use a two piece mount of medium height and i have HUGE hands, yet loading pellets is fairly easy. Those with a 1 piece mount though might face a little problem.

Technology

As evident from the precihole page, the rifle comes with a choked barrel. For the uninitated, a choked barrel is one in which the last few inches of the barrel is slightly smaller in diameter, hence constricting the pellet slightly before it exits which leads to improved accuracy

Also, this one thing i wanted to point out. The rifle comes with an air pressure regulator which is not a very common thing in budget and mid range air rifles. What a regulator does it that it converts the high pressure of the tank into a steady preset pressure in it's own chamber. This exposes each pellet to the same pressure of air with every shot as opposed to a continuously dropping pressure for every shot in unregulated guns. Now this is a great feature with the advantages and disadvantages listed below.

Advantages:
1) Provides consistent velocity ( for tank pressure>regulator pressure)
2) The rifle is less likely to "pressure lock"

Disadvantages:
1) Regulators, even the very best ones have a limited life. The higher the difference in tank pressure vs regulator pressure the shorter the life of the regulator is deemed.
2) One of the simplest methods to modify the power of an unregulated PCP is to tighten the hammer spring or replace it with a more powerful one. The power gain is much less if a regulator is present as the regulator is also a restricting factor in the air flow.

Accuracy

Now, i'm not the best shot in the world hence take these results with a pinch of salt. Also i have no experince in using chrono connect so i cannot certify its accuracy though all distances and pellet weight inputted are correct AFAIK. I daresay in the hands of a true marksman with a benchrest , the groups would be half of what they are. All shots were taken in the prone position without any rest on 10m ISSF air rifle target paper. THe distance from the target to the rifle is approx 12m.

The first set is RWS R10 Match pellets (Wadcutters)
8 shots
Image Image

The second is Precipell Feild Target ( roundhead)
10 shots
ImageImage
The third is Precipell Sting ( pointed head)
8 shots
Image Image

Final Word
Overall the rifle has been a mixed bag. While Precihole sports has done a commendable job on the first Indian made PCP, the price tag of Rs. 30,000/- i.e. about $480 is on the higher side when taking Purchasing Power Parity into account. The fit and finish, power adn accuracy work well for the gun but the whippy barrel and lower weight work against it. SO, would i buy it if it were available for around ~18k : YES. Would i buy it if i could get a suitable foreign PCP (e.g. benjamin Marauder) for the same price : Probably not.

Also , since we're a forum of enthusiasts, here is a picture of my 'other' collection
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Gurgaon/Delhi NCR people, a meet soon perhaps?
There are daggers in men's smiles.

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by odedratushar » Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:48 pm

Nice review ImageImageImageImage

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by maanbirsingh » Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:41 am

Hi Scarecrow,
Nicely written review and good groupings (Specially since you are shooting without a rest).. thanks for sharing.

Regards,
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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by GNV » Fri Aug 04, 2017 9:50 am

Nice write up Scarecrow. Even though I received my Achilles a few days ago I was unable to test it much due to continuous rains in my place. I am doing it whenever possible. My UTG 3-12 x 40 IR AO scope looks too big on Achilles so fitted my UTG 3-9 x 32 AO on it and after shooting several different pellets at a single shoot and see target offhand to see their POI and also to get familiar with the gun, I zeroed my scope at 15 yards with JSB 8.44 grn pellets. The results are good.
WhatsApp Image 2017-08-02 at 17.42.03.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2017-08-02 at 17.49.34.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2017-08-02 at 17.51.49.jpeg
air pressure was 150 BAR when these groups were shot.

These are the last two 5 shot groups shot when zeroing the scope from a crude rest under the fore end. This is my first shooting day with this gun. In both groups first 4 shots are pellet on pellet. When I shot the second pellet I saw the same hole and I was wondering how could I miss the entire target at that range. The third shot result is the same only then I realized that the pellets are going into the same hole. 4th shot same. Then excitement rose with hear beating fast and 5th shot landed a couple of mm low.
The same thing happened with the second group. So I decided to pack up and leave.
A week ago scarecrow emailed me asking me to start the thread first in my name and then he would add his views. At that time I had not received the gun and anyway my review would take time because I wanted to cover everything chrony results, accuracy tests at various ranges with different pellets etc. I wanted to do the entire review in one single post. Actually I was waiting for his thread for the past week.
Anyway with rains becoming a major factor I could not do the entire testing in one single day. So from now on I'll post my findings on daily basis.
Thank You Scarecrow.

GNV

Added in 9 minutes 29 seconds:
Yesterday it was raining continuously and was confined to my home. So made a basic shooting stand for my Achilles. It is stable and would work great for a PCP. I made it to fit Achilles and me specifically. I'll have the FX magazines today.
WhatsApp Image 2017-08-03 at 19.09.13.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2017-08-03 at 19.10.18.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2017-08-03 at 19.25.48.jpeg
I'll post my views from the beginning later this day.

GNV
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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by Basu » Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:41 am

Accuracy is phenomenal at 15 yds.
For power , I will wait for GNV's F1 Chrony result.
Chronoconnect results do not seem to be very convincing......

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by maanbirsingh » Sat Aug 05, 2017 2:31 am

Thanks for sharing GNV, great to see that the rifle is so accurate. One question though, I have the same Hill Pump as yours (ordered from the same place as you I think, since I paid the same amount), did you need any special adaptors to use the pump?
Looking forward to your posts as you share more results with your new PCP! Happy Shooting!

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by GNV » Sat Aug 05, 2017 1:22 pm

Precihole Fill Probe comes with a Metal washer you have to remove it and fit the probe to Hill Pump connecting Hose.

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by maanbirsingh » Sat Aug 05, 2017 5:01 pm

Thank you for the response sir, good to hear that no other special adapters needed.

Regards,
Maanbir

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by odedratushar » Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:56 pm

I have tested Precihole Achilles at 100 meter with Scope mounted 3-9x40 on it. http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/598723496cb ... WA0094.mp4

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by PRITAM PATEL » Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:51 am

from Chrono results in first post of this thread, I doubt this is a regulated PCP, extreme spread in each shot strings is way too much
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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by Scarecrow3 » Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:58 pm

PRITAM PATEL wrote:from Chrono results in first post of this thread, I doubt this is a regulated PCP, extreme spread in each shot strings is way too much
The precihole sports website mentions a regulator. Rest assured it is a regulated PCP. The velocity results you see are from the chrono connect mobile app and i think they're fairly off. Let us wait for GNV's chrony testing results.
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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by GNV » Thu Aug 10, 2017 3:53 pm

I chronographed my PX-100 Achilles using four different pellets.
Shooting Chrony Model: BETA. Distance from muzzle to chrony is 5 ft.
capture1.jpg
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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by Basu » Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:17 pm

That is pretty impressive !!

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by vishnuKartha47 » Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:55 pm

Wow Great gun. All the import hassles are over thanks Precihole for delivering us a PCP. SD less than only 7 FPS, incredible consistency. Thanks GNV.

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Re: Review: Precihole PX100 Achilles

Post by PRITAM PATEL » Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:55 pm

that is really impressive & & best bang for $$$
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