And now for something completely different.....
Let’s take a break from the pcp stuff and replicas and look at something more unusual and less mainstream so to speak, but by no means less interesting. I’m quite looking forward to this one.
Today it’s the turn of a target focused pistol, it’s the Zoraki HP-01 from Atakarms, and from the first time of firing this I’ve named it the Zocracky because this has such a satisfyingly sharp crack to it. As always let’s take a walk around first shall we.
The stats, this is 31.3 cms long and tops the scales at 1.1 kg.
It is all black apart from the seemingly out of place bright silver coloured two stage adjustable trigger and auto safety. It has the very typical shape of a target style pistol to it and sports a very ergonomically shaped grip, which is, in this version, very much right handed. And this really does fit my hand beautifully from the thumb cut away, to the palm rest and even the finger shapes in the front of the grip. The Palm rest is adjustable if you have broader hands. Working our way up this time, the trigger does have that seemingly out of place bright finish to it, but has a multitude of adjustments to it, including up, down turning to left or right, forward and backwards and of course pull weight. This was set at 1.3 lb straight out of the box and was very easy to use and get used to. Infront of the trigger is an automatic safety that not only locks the trigger, but blocks it too, this can very easily be pushed forward with your trigger finger to drop into fire mode.
Incidentally all the tools required to make these adjustments are in the rather nice heavy duty shaped, foam filled box that is also supplied, along with a small bottle of oil and something I always like to see, a test paper to show this has gone through a quality control and pre delivery check, something that is often lacking in some, very much more expensive guns supplied by the high end companies.An interesting point here to note is this is a Turkish company, but the quality control check had been completed by a german company in Germany.....
They claimed this was firing at 177 meters per Second, so we will put that to the test later. It also has a picture of the target results, and naturally we will check that out also.
For a target gun I would naturally expect to see open sights fitted, which indeed this does have, and they are adjustable, the rears are adjustable for elevation and windage, and the front has a choice of post sights, one higher than the other, to make the choice simply turn the post forwards or backwards with your thumb or thumb nail. Nice idea. That said about the open sights, this does appear to have a bit of a weaver rail on the top and a picatinny rail on the bottom, one can only assume for alternative sighting choices, I wouldn’t have thought these would be allowed in competition, but this does open the options and choices for people looking for this pistol, and surely that simply opens up the market for them to more potential purchasers.
Time to talk about the power of this pistol now I suppose, because this is a pump pneumatic, which means there is a choice on power levels, the more you pump, the more power this will kick out, this usually works, but of course upto a point, certainly here in the U.K. because of our 6 ft/lb maximum laws. The action is started by firstly releasing the top of the gun, by lifting the two locks on the top rear, and you will need to lift both of them together, to get this to open. Once open pull all the way forward and then with fingers out of the way and with the palm of your hand push it all the way back home, then repeat up to 3 times, the more pumps the more power. It should be noted you need to drop in your pellet before closing it up for the last time. This is done directly into the back of the barrel. Incidentally you can pump is as often as you like, but once it is upto it’s maximum power level, the excess air pressure is released and not useable. Looking on the bright side, it will give you that workout you keep promising to take if you choose to keep doing it..... Once pumped up and pellet on board, your ready to go, simply release the safety and fire away.
So let’s take a look at the power levels shall we..
After 1 pump, this was showing
377 fps which is 2.66 ft/lb or 3.61 joules.
After 2 pumps it was showing
503 fps which is 4.74 ft/lb or 6.43 joules
And after 3 pumps it was showing
558 fps which is a legal limit kissing 5.84 ft/lbs or 7.91 joules.
Yes I did try it with more pumps, but the valve did release the excess pressure, so no more power. So converting that to m/s to check the pre delivery document equates to 170 m/s, so yes, with a lighter pellet it will easily achieve the claimed figure. I was using JSB .177 8.44 grain pellets to obtain these results, this is also available in .22 calibre incidentally.
I feel I should point out, because someone is bound to ask, can it be used for vermin control? My opinion is no, it really isn’t suitable, and I feel that for vermin control, you really need a higher power rifle. Apart from the power thing, a rifle is always more stable to ensure a cleaner shot too. Well power test done, what about target work. Time to put this in the indoor range out at 10 metres, using standard domed pellets, no fancy flay heads or the like.
What about putting this is Mrs AAR’s hands and see how she does then!
Well, to be honest apart from a couple of wayward shots I would say she was just about as tight a group. She’s pretty much a natural, just need to get her breathing right and get her to take her time. She never fails to amaze me really for a non shooter..
What do we think then?
It has a retail price of about £270 U.K. and if you compare that to some of the higher end Co2 replica pistols, then I really think this represents good value. Now the co2 replicas are terrific fun to shoot and own, but sometimes you actually want to take the target work a little more seriously and for similar money you could have one of these in your collection, not a bad idea, considering that the power levels can be changed and this could be suitable for smaller distances or places you don’t want to risk any damage, and since we’ve experienced lockdown, this may become more Important at some point in the future, who knows? It has been great fun and very rewarding and I defy anyone to not have some fun with this, and maybe fun with a slightly serious edge to it.
watch the full review here:
https://youtu.be/AcCt2Eg_6JU
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