![]() The Dragon .50 caliber rifle is large. A handsome walnut stock is thin but deep, especially at the forearm, where the two reservoir tubes must pass. Leaper's 5th generation compact scope is a nice compliment to the rifle. Pyramyd Air adds another big bore to their lineup, the new Dragon .50 from Shin Sung. Shin Sung is the Korean airgun maker who gave us the powerful and accurate Career 707. They also gave us several variations on the Career rifle, in the form of a standard carbine and the Tanker Carbine that has a removable reservoir. In the big bore realm, Shin Sung created the Fire 201 .25-caliber air shotgun that was the most powerful air shotgun ever offered. That gun was eventually rebarrelled with a 9mm rifle barrel to become the first big bore rifle from Korea, and it's still very successful today. Later, they came out with the 9mm Ultra, a lever action repeater capable of several fast shots in succession. Now, they have the Dragon, and it's an exclusive from Pyramyd Air. The big rifle is a single shot bolt action in a conventional one-piece walnut stock. Pyramyd Air also stocks special .50-caliber lead bullets from Pelletman, and the bullets are just as exciting as the rifle, as you will see. The gun measures 40-3/4 inches overall, which is not too long, but the weight of almost ten pounds without a scope is a handful. The cross section of the gun is thin but very tall and it feels like a big gun when you hold it up to your shoulder. The barrel is a trifle under 23 inches in length and the line of the buttstock is very straight, due to a tall cheekpiece. The rifle comes without sights, so I mounted a Leapers compact 6-power scope in a set of B-Square fixed scope mounts. The mounts clamp right on to the 11mm dovetail base that comes with the rifle. |
![]() The Dragon has plenty of room for all three bullet lengths. A loading ramp aligns the bullet with the rifling as it enters the breech. All bullets fed smoothly during the test, as the breech is properly relieved to accept them. |
![]() At 25 yards, five 225-grain bullets cut a beautiful one-hole group. | ![]() At 50 yards, the 225-grain bullets begin to spread apart, but still offer fine hunting accuracy. |