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Daystate Huntsman Regal XL

7K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  DrGunner 
#1 · (Edited)
I just delved into the world of PCP air rifles for the first time.
I joined the Airgun Nation & Gateway to Airguns forums looking for advice.
For several years, I have been using my old RWS Diana model 36 Springer in my backyard for silhouette practice, but Springers just are not ideal for offhand target practice. The Rifle weighs 10 lbs. 4oz., and the recoil makes it very difficult to watch your follow through in the scope. After getting much good advice from the helpful folks at those forums, I bought a Daystate Huntsman Regal XL in .177.
Gotta say, it's a beautiful, well made air rifle!
Everything about it exudes quality & class.
With a Sightron SII Big Sky 6-24x42 Silhouette scope, it weighs 8lb, 4oz. It has a 2 stage, 3 way adjustable trigger that has one of the crispest, cleanest breaks I've ever felt.
My NRA smallbore silhouette rifle is an Anschutz 1712- and I'm really pleased with how close the Regal feels to my 1712. I haven't had a chance to shoot it more than a few rounds, but the Daystates feature Lothar Walther barrels, so accuracy should be excellent- in fact, I have yet to see a bad review online.
I can tell already that this PCP is going to provide practice that is much closer to my actual rifle setup than the springer I've been using- In all the most important ways- ergonomics, weight, balance, trigger and accuracy.

Jim & Nancy at Precision Airguns & Supply in Michigan were very accommodating. I asked them to look through their current inventory and find me one with a nicely figured stock. The next morning I found an email with the following pictures, they were taken in fluorescent light so they actually don't do the stock justice, it is absolutely gorgeous. Try to find a Rimfire dealer that will do that for you!







Happy Camper here!

DrGunner
 
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#2 ·
DrGunner---VERY nice looking stock on that one for sure! The checkering job looks outstanding as well, seems very nicely executed (no overruns, etc). Post up some groups when you have a chance.

I have a lowly Hatsan 95 (.22 cal) with the "gas ram", purchased several years ago for backyard pest control mainly. Has a decent looking Turkish walnut stock, nice piece of wood, but looks like crap compared to the Daystate! But hey, for around $150 at the time, I can't complain. The Hatsan is decently accurate and hits very hard. Tough on the backyard critters...
 
#6 · (Edited)
DrGunner---VERY nice looking stock on that one for sure! The checkering job looks outstanding as well, seems very nicely executed (no overruns, etc). Post up some groups when you have a chance.

I have a lowly Hatsan 95 (.22 cal) with the "gas ram", purchased several years ago for backyard pest control mainly. Has a decent looking Turkish walnut stock, nice piece of wood, but looks like crap compared to the Daystate! But hey, for around $150 at the time, I can't complain. The Hatsan is decently accurate and hits very hard. Tough on the backyard critters...
Thanks for the kudos!
I wish you could see it in sunlight. The figure is deeper & more extensive than the pics show.
Yeah- their stocks are made by Minelli in Italy. Amazing what laser checkering can accomplish these days- the checkering feels sharp with Velcro like grip, especially the offhand/foreend.

It looks like a beauty. Your comment about Jim and Nancy at Precision Airguns and Supplies made me smile because I couldn't agree more. Since I live only 20 miles from their shop I've spent a lot of time there and most of my airguns, supplies, and accessories have come from there.
Yeah- I emailed 3 vendors asking for pics. Only Jim & Nancy replied, with pics- which felt like fate as they also had the best price. I ordered on Monday morning and the rifle was delivered Tuesday!!!

Jim was very helpful answering my many questions on the phone, as I'm a total NOOB to PCP Airguns.
Great folks to do business with, they'll get my return biz.

DrGunner,
I have the same Daystate as yours. Accuracy is better than I expected.
You may want to consider the Rowan single shot loader (better than the stock one) and the adjustable butt plate.
http://rowanengineering.com/products10.htm#wolveringloader

The H&N Baracuda Match 10.65gr and the JSBExact Monster Diabolo 13.43gr, are working best in mine.
Glen H
Glen-Thanks for the tip on the single shot tray, so far mine seem to be working out fine but I don't have many pellets down range yet so it's too soon to tell. I just happen to have both of those flavors of pellets on hand, a couple of tins of each as I already own two RWS Diana Springers. I also have the JSB in 10.34gr, Which are universally reported to produce excellent accuracy from the Regal.

Glad to hear from another owner reporting better than expected accuracy. Question: what pressure do you fill your rifle to?
And how far do you typically see the pressure dropped before you need to refill?

I know it varies quite a bit from rifle to rifle, but I'd like to get an idea so that I can calculate how many times I will be able to fill mine from a 90CI 4500 psi carbon fiber tank.

I also owned a Regal for a couple of years. Very nice shorter-style rifle. Like every PCP I've shot, they are very accurate. I bought mine from Airguns of Arizona. I also participate on Airgun Nation. Learned a lot there, even more than here, because I was so new to PCP when I joined AGN.

Here's my Steyr Hunter Scout Auto 5 (.22). The semi-auto feature (5-shot bar mag) is so fun! This is a Gary Can custom stock. I like the stock but wish I had kept the shorter (walnut) that came with it, such lighter.

I squirrel hunt a bit with it. I shoot it indoors at my home during the winter.
I looked at Airguns of Arizona- but I got mine for $150 less than their price & was able to pick one with pretty wood. Kind of a no brainer.

Gary makes some beautiful exotic designs.

You have VERY nice rifles, Sir! Thanks for sharing-

DrGunner
 
#3 ·
It looks like a beauty. Your comment about Jim and Nancy at Precision Airguns and Supplies made me smile because I couldn't agree more. Since I live only 20 miles from their shop I've spent a lot of time there and most of my airguns, supplies, and accessories have come from there.
 
#5 ·
I also owned a Regal for a couple of years. Very nice shorter-style rifle. Like every PCP I've shot, they are very accurate. I bought mine from Airguns of Arizona. I also participate on Airgun Nation. Learned a lot there, even more than here, because I was so new to PCP when I joined AGN.

Here's my Steyr Hunter Scout Auto 5 (.22). The semi-auto feature (5-shot bar mag) is so fun! This is a Gary Can custom stock. I like the stock but wish I had kept the shorter (walnut) that came with it, such lighter.

I squirrel hunt a bit with it. I shoot it indoors at my home during the winter.
 

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#9 ·
Mine is also non regulated. It's the XL/ 18FPE version. Larger tank-
It's easy to tell the difference. The original non-XL has an air tank that ends within 1 inch of the stock and is 12FPE. The XL version has an extra 6 or 8 inches of tube sticking out under the barrel. Would you happen to know what pressure your rifle is at when you finish your 40- 50 shot string?

An estimate will do.

Thanks for the 411...

DrGunner
 
#22 ·
Just caught this- Thanks, brother~ I appreciate it. Away for the weekend and haven't secured an air source yet, so it's in the safe for now. I'll post results back here when I've shot it.

:bthumb:
 
#11 · (Edited)
Nice Daystate. Especially nice.

I bought my Huntsman XL from Precision also and they are good people.

Enjoy that airgun. In spite of the price they don't come much nicer.

David
Thanks for the kudos. In many firearm purchases, we buy things and we are disappointed or at least only mildly satisfied that we got what we wanted. In this case, I am more than pleasantly surprised with what I received-So far it has exceeded my expectations in every conceivable aspect. The only thing left to prove here is accuracy and I'm pretty confident it will do fine there, especially since I really only intend to use it from my back porch at 25 and 50 yards.

Agreed. Price right now is $999, only at PA&S. Shipping was $30, but I got mine the next day. I spent the last two months drilling people with questions, trying to keep my investment between 500 and $700 for the rifle. But I finally bit the bullet and bought this one, it was the stock that sent me over the edge. Now that I have it in hand, I would put the fit and finish on par with my Anschutz, they really are that well-made and worth the money if you want a quiet backyard & all around hunting rig. The power output of the 22 caliber's is strong enough to take down raccoons and such without a problem. Kind of nice that it comes with its own silencer and since it's not a firearm, it's legal.

DrGunner
 
#12 ·
Very good price on that Regal! I don't recall exactly, but I think I paid closer to $1,200 about 4 years ago. Your experience should be wonderful. I never had a lick of trouble with mine. I just got itchy to try something else. Tried Wolverine and Air Wolf too. The shot count was super high on the Air Wolf. Finally didn't like the bottles, too bulky.

By the way, I bought both my Steyr's from an outfit in Norway (Krales). I saved several hundred dollars, almost $1,000 and the rifle arrived in 3 days. Took a week to get the Daystate from Arizona.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Very good price on that Regal! I don't recall exactly, but I think I paid closer to $1,200 about 4 years ago. Your experience should be wonderful. I never had a lick of trouble with mine. I just got itchy to try something else. Tried Wolverine and Air Wolf too. The shot count was super high on the Air Wolf. Finally didn't like the bottles, too bulky.

By the way, I bought both my Steyr's from an outfit in Norway (Krales). I saved several hundred dollars, almost $1,000 and the rifle arrived in 3 days. Took a week to get the Daystate from Arizona.
I looked hard at the Kral rifles. They're made in Turkey- and all have those beautiful Turkish Walnut stocks. The Kral "Puncher" series has a few sporter style stocks that would have worked well for my purposes, and most had much bigger tanks than the relatively small 162cc on my Daystate. So, shot count is very high. I joined Airgun Nation & GTA forums- got great help on both, although GTA seems more active and "feels" a lot like RFC.

I could have saved $400-500 and bought a Kral, but I was really surprised by how few people had anything to say about them. I want to say one or two people weighed in on each site, both describing Kral as "hit or miss" on accuracy.
I certainly didn't want something that performed like an OEM 10-22 that was going to take lots of work and tuning to shoot.
Funny thing is, when I first joined, several members recommended the Regal. Price then was $1200. I thought, "This is what WE do to people in the Ultimate 10-22 forum!!!! We enablers spend people's money!" But- at least they're happy in the end. So-2 forums, 3 threads, and dozens of responses and rifles priced and researched, I realized that those first guys were RIGHT. This was the perfect rifle for what I wanted. I just had to do the research to come full circle.
You do get what you pay for.

DrG
 
#15 ·
Glen- THANK YOU. Airguns of Arizona has great resources like a tank fill calculator.
Input your data, and it estimates the number of times you can fill your gun from an air tank. One of the moderators on the GTA site turned out to be local to me- lives 10 minutes away and we'd actually met & done business many years ago. He kindly hooked me up with a local source- a Paintball outfit that will sell me a 90ci/4500psi carbon fiber tank and regulator/gauge set with fill hose and adapter for $350.
I will then have free refills of the tank forever, or as long as they're in business.

I just ran the numbers through AoAs calculator- and starting at 4500psi, filling down to tank pressure of 3200psi... filling my 162cc rifle to 3200psi (Daystate lists P-Fillmax=3335psi) and shooting it down to 2000psi, I should get an average of 55.7 fills of the rifle per tank.

So, Averaging 40-50 shots per fill, @ say 50 fills.

I should get 2000-2500 shots per tank, if the calculator is right. I used 50 instead of 55.7 to allow for some loss here & there.

What everyone on the forums say about PCPs is true-
The capital outlay at first- rifle and air source- is expensive. After that, they are dirt cheap to shoot, especially if you have a local place to fill your tank.
Repurposed SCUBA tanks are useless for modern PCPs, with fill pressures above the 3000PSI max of scuba tanks. Plus- they're Heavy- because they're made to keep the diver neutrally buoyant.

Here's a link to Airguns of Arizona's tank fill calculator:

https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/Tanks/FillCalc.html

DrGunner
 
#16 ·
Gunner I apologize in advance if this is already been discussed as I have not read all the post In this thread.As you get into PCP you will need a good air tank to hold 4500 PSI. Check out Air Tanks For Sale.com a great source for tanks, parts and compressors. If finding someone that can fill your tank to 4500 psi you may want to consider a compressor that can do the job for you .This is a big expense ,but once you have this you will be totally independent of making your own air. If you end up getting a compressor one to consider would be the Carette 90 probably the best compressor for under $2000. I have one and can vouch for it they work great. Congratulations on entering the world of PCP air guns.
 

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#17 · (Edited)
Supersharp- MAN, That looks like one heck of a compressor! Very nice.

It bears mentioning that my main activity is NRA smallbore silhouette, for which I just acquired an Anschutz 1712-. The PCP acquisition was to replace the old heavy weight and hard recoiling springer that I was using.
Currently, my backyard silhouette practice only comprises about 10% of my overall practice- perhaps 1 hour a week- although that'll likely increase now that I have a much better rifle.

I was just discussing in my last post, where I live, there are plenty of places where I can get a tank filled.

There's a local paintball outfit that'll do free fills on the tanks they sell indefinitely.
A 4500PSI, 90CID Carbon fiber tank, with slow fill regulator, gauges & fill line with quick connect foster fitting will cost $350.

The free refills will likely make that deal well worth it for me.

If I find my usage increasing to "compressor levels", I'll revisit this thread & likely contact you for advice.

DrGunner
 
#18 ·
Daystate

DrGunner congrats on your purchase. Like you I found myself going over to the dark side after 20 years of springers. For me the catalyst was the availability of $200.00 Chinese compressors. Living in a rural area with no dive shops close, kept me on the fence for a long time. Had always admired the Huntsman so when the Huma regulated version caught my eye, did some research and discovered the Yong Heng line of 4500 psi compressors. Ended up jumping in with both feet and bought the Huntsman Regal XL HR in 22 cal. along with the Yong Heng and a carbon fiber 74 cu. ft. bottle.

I get about 45-50 shots before the gun falls off the reg. and it has proven to be exceptionally accurate with JSB 18 gr. pellets. a 10 shot string over my chrono shows an average of 849 fps with a standard deviation 3ft/s and an extreme spread of 7 ft/second. This puts even good 22 rimfire to shame.

I am very happy with mine and expect to purchase another PCP in the near future. Please let us know how yours turns out accuracy wise, I`ll bet it is a burner. In my opinion, you bought one of the best looking, handling and shooting air guns on the market. Enjoy your purchase and congratulations again.
 
#19 ·
DrGunner congrats on your purchase. Like you I found myself going over to the dark side after 20 years of springers. For me the catalyst was the availability of $200.00 Chinese compressors. Living in a rural area with no dive shops close, kept me on the fence for a long time. Had always admired the Huntsman so when the Huma regulated version caught my eye, did some research and discovered the Yong Heng line of 4500 psi compressors. Ended up jumping in with both feet and bought the Huntsman Regal XL HR in 22 cal. along with the Yong Heng and a carbon fiber 74 cu. ft. bottle.

I get about 45-50 shots before the gun falls off the reg. and it has proven to be exceptionally accurate with JSB 18 gr. pellets. a 10 shot string over my chrono shows an average of 849 fps with a standard deviation 3ft/s and an extreme spread of 7 ft/second. This puts even good 22 rimfire to shame.

I am very happy with mine and expect to purchase another PCP in the near future. Please let us know how yours turns out accuracy wise, I`ll bet it is a burner. In my opinion, you bought one of the best looking, handling and shooting air guns on the market. Enjoy your purchase and congratulations again.
Thanks!!! You know, it's really good to hear that so many members here also have Daystate PCP air rifles. I'm looking forward to getting an air source going and sending some lead downrange, I literally have about 16 different varieties of pellets ranging in weight from 7 grains up to 13.65 grain. I was all set to buy a Yong Heng compressor when I found out about the local paintball shop and free air refills. How long have you had your compressor? Any troubles with it?

Regards,

DrGunner
 
#20 ·
Yong Heng

So far so good on the YH. I did upgrade my water pump to a Ryobi tile saw pump and I do use a frozen 2 liter bottle of ice when pumping up the tanks. I use Husky full synthetic compressor oil from Home Depot and watch the temp gauge when filling tanks. Once temps get to 59-60 degrees Celsius, I shut it down leaving the water pump running until temps drop to low 20 degree range then restart for another filling session. Extra filtering is mandatory to keep water out of the tanks and gun. I run one of the gold cyclonic separators and a secondary molecular sieve to help alleviate water issues. not as big a problem when filling the gun only but the tank fills condense quite a bit of water. Probably have almost as much in filters as the compressor but I like the peace of mind they provide. Also enjoy the independence of unlimited air.
 
#21 ·
So far so good on the YH. I did upgrade my water pump to a Ryobi tile saw pump and I do use a frozen 2 liter bottle of ice when pumping up the tanks. I use Husky full synthetic compressor oil from Home Depot and watch the temp gauge when filling tanks. Once temps get to 59-60 degrees Celsius, I shut it down leaving the water pump running until temps drop to low 20 degree range then restart for another filling session. Extra filtering is mandatory to keep water out of the tanks and gun. I run one of the gold cyclonic separators and a secondary molecular sieve to help alleviate water issues. not as big a problem when filling the gun only but the tank fills condense quite a bit of water. Probably have almost as much in filters as the compressor but I like the peace of mind they provide. Also enjoy the independence of unlimited air.
Sounds like you have it down to a science, my friend. I just added you to my contacts list, I hope you don't mind me picking your brain if I ever do go down that road. I'm reasonably handy and knowledgeable around compressors, have been running an 80 gallon 2 stage air compressor with air tools and paint sprayer for years, so I do have decent water separation equipment, but I'm sure it would not be adequate for these higher pressures. If I do get a compressor, I will likely just use it to fill the gun directly which would only take a minute or two run time.

Never ceases to amaze me how often on Forums like RFC that I find people who have abundant and useful knowledge about the exact topics I'm interested in. Thanks for weighing in with such a comprehensive explanation of your gear.
You might live to regret it as I will be full of questions if I ever do get a Yong Heng, lol.

Respectfully,

DrGunner
 
#27 ·
I started with a scuba tank. I had a shop, about 35 miles away fill fill it. That inconvenience caused me to be way to conservative with air. When my sone got his Wolverine I bought an Omega 4500 PSI tank.

The dive shop took most of the day to get to my carbon tank. Very inconvenient. So I broke down and bought an Omega Turbo Charger. Now I was self-sufficient. The charger was very good, easy to use, quiet enough for running in the house.

However, I didn't use it enough. I had to replace two very tiny, cork filters in the second year. AOA was very helpful in diagnosing and guiding my DIY repair of those. In fact, I only put 4 hours on the compressor in the nearly three years I owned it. I sold it to a fellow two states over about a month ago.

Now I'm going to see if I can find a closer fill source for the carbon tank.
 
#31 ·
I started with a scuba tank. I had a shop, about 35 miles away fill fill it. That inconvenience caused me to be way to conservative with air. When my sone got his Wolverine I bought an Omega 4500 PSI tank.

The dive shop took most of the day to get to my carbon tank. Very inconvenient. So I broke down and bought an Omega Turbo Charger. Now I was self-sufficient. The charger was very good, easy to use, quiet enough for running in the house.

However, I didn't use it enough. I had to replace two very tiny, cork filters in the second year. AOA was very helpful in diagnosing and guiding my DIY repair of those. In fact, I only put 4 hours on the compressor in the nearly three years I owned it. I sold it to a fellow two states over about a month ago.

Now I'm going to see if I can find a closer fill source for the carbon tank.
Yeah- it's the close and easy access to Multiple places to fill with plenty of Paintball outfits,A dive shop or two, and my local fire department is rather friendly as well. I would prefer to stay away from the expense and maintenance of a compressor if I can.

Tank fill issues have kept me away from the PCP's, hand pumps will work but a lunger like me would likely die before I got a rifle filled enough to do me any good.
Gerald - would you not have access to places to fill a tank? That's the way I'm going to go.

Wow, the Alpha Carette is down to $1300 from experthpa.com

I have a good dive shop 25 minutes from me who will do 4500psi, but may be compressor shopping next year.
Not a bad price for an excellent compressor, but certainly more than I want to invest at this point in the process.

Can't wait to get home and shoot it!
 
#34 ·
Well seems calling Paint Ball shops was the wrong move, dive shop in Burlington will will sell me an aluminum tank capable of 4500 psi for $260 and is happy to fill them no matter what you use them for. Guess I need to take another look at PCP's. :)
 
#35 · (Edited)
Gerald-

That's not a bad price for a new tank if it's got decent volume. Remember that you'll also need a "filling station", which is basically a pressure regulator with gauge and fill hose and quick connect Foster fitting to slow fill your gun.

I used Airguns of Arizona's fill calculator and estimated that I will be able to fill my Daystate Regal around 50 times per tank fill from a 90 in.³ carbon fiber tank. Each fill should get me 40 to 50 shots in a decent velocity curve which is surprisingly flat on the Regal for an unregulated PCP. And it is QUIET!!!

I can't believe I finally corrupted you, my brother!

LOL

DrGunner
 
#36 ·
Well guys I am looking into one of them for me too...DrGunner's rifle looks too good for me just to sit back and not check it out...I have no clue about them but I am been looking at getting one for about 3 years now and the Daystate Huntsman Regal is the closest thing I have found to a real looking rifle...I am not much into the pub or tactical looks on rifles these days maybe in the future I might change my opinion. I have talked with DrGunner for advice and he has answered some of my questions through PMs.

I ask him how quite are they...my older brother has a springer and that thing is so much louder my Sheridan Blue Streak is. :eek: they are kind of spendy but they are worth it...I handled one at the SHOT Show back in 2018 and fell in love with the Huntsman Regal XL. Very nice rifle.

Time will tell...I had a 457 Lux on my to buy next list. ;)

Signalman :mad::):D
 
#38 ·
Neither could I, the only thing I could find that would do 4500 psi were carbon fiber tanks. Be careful buying on Amazon as well, most of them are for Paintball uses and will only allow 800 psi fill pressures from the regulator.

DrGunner

DrGunner
 
#39 ·
All I can do is relate what the Lady told me, I'll have to go and see I'm reckoning, I'd asked about Carbon Fiber tanks and she said they didn't sell them. Ignorance is bliss so I'm a blister on this subject at least. :)
 
#40 · (Edited)
Gerald- there's no doubt they MAKE scuba tanks capable of 4500psi. That's what many firefighters use, but they've all gone to lighter CF tanks.
My comment was incomplete- I was not able to find any 4500 psi scuba tanks at a reasonable price. Most I've seen that can handle that pressure were 5-$600 or more. That's why I said you had a good deal in that offer, and you should take it. Just remember to follow my advice about getting a proper filling station to attach to that tank.
 
#41 ·
Copy that Dr. :bthumb: Just consider this exploratory investigation at this point, I need to find someone locally to let me try one and I have a friend in Greensboro who may be just the guy. :bthumb:
 
#42 · (Edited)
Try before you buy is ALWAYS best. I have found the airgun community to be very much like RFC, helpful and generous with their time and loaning equipment. In fact, I got very lucky joining the GTA site. One of the moderators there contacted me via PM to discuss some things and it turns out he lives 10 minutes from me. I have accepted his offer to loan me a carbon fiber tank, which is a godsend since I won't be able to get my own for another three weeks due to a backorder. He's really a great guy and representative of the pervasive altruism that many members exhibit- even to total NOOB strangers like me!

Good luck, brother- keep us posted!

DrG
 
#43 ·
I was pretty active on GTA a few years ago, own several "okay" springers but the price of the PCP's sort of put me off at that time, right now I have a couple of more suppressors calling my name but I think I'll have to upgrade my trust as the rules have changed a bit...always something to spend the toy money on.
 
#44 ·
Well guys, it’s 39F here. Just got my Regal XL dialed in in the back yard. The dial in target is at 30 yards, since my bench position and my offhand spot aren’t at the same distance.
This thing stacks pellet on pellet shooting JSB Excact 10.34gr. Accuracy like this is pleasantly boring!
The lack of recoil in these PCPs is beautiful, as it leaves nothing to question- if I miss, its all ME.
This was my main goal in changing rifles for backyard practice. Thanks to the crowd on GTA & those on the AN forum, mission accomplished. And it’s SOOO quiet compared to my springers. What a joy to shoot!

Shout out to Tater from GTA forum for his generous loan of a CF tank to use, until our local supplier has more fill stations and I can get my own. Thank you, Sir!!!

DrGunner
 
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