by B.B. Pelletier
The Evanix Conquest has features that set the bar very high for air rifles.
Today is a second look at the general characteristics of this new Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle with thumbhole stock. I was surprised that a couple of you criticized the woodwork in Part 1, so today I’ll show you the butt of the rifle I’m actually testing. Neither FX nor Daystate has anything on this stock — it’s that good. Criticize the real faults all you want, but let’s evaluate the rifle on its merits and not on where it was made.
Since I have to show a lot of details, much of today’s report will be pictorial. The captions have as much info as the text, so be sure to read them.
Fully ambidextrous, the Evanix Conquest rifle stock is a thing of beauty. The woodwork is perfect, and the wood itself has deep, rich grain. The red switch at the upper left is the power switch for the gun.
Electric action?
Yep! Like an AEG airsoft gun, the Conquest is run by an electric motor that’s powered by a battery in the butt. Before you start asking all those voltage and amperage questions, this rifle works exactly the same as an AEG. Add amps, and the charge lasts longer. Add volts, and the motor turns faster. And also like all AEGs, there’s only so much room for the onboard battery.
According to the manufacturer, one charge is sufficient for about 500 shots, but that’s a variable that depends on many things. Cold weather decreases the number. As the battery loses its charge, it heats up, which is undesireable. And I would expect that full-auto fire would use up the battery faster than semi-auto because the motor runs longer in that mode. I’ll try to give you an estimate of how many shots I get on a charge when I know something. Thus far, I’ve shot the gun about 35 times and everything is fine.
I charged the battery pack for 8 hours before my initial use. The batteries do not come precharged.
The batteries fit into the butt, so the rubber buttpad must come off first. The batteries use single-wire connectors — red to red and black to black. From what I see, there’s just enough room in the butt for the wiring and the battery that comes with the gun, so I doubt battery upgrades will be possible, as space is a concern.
The buttplate comes off with a single slotted screw to reveal the battery compartment.
The battery pack is connected to an adapter to connect to the charger, but it connects straight to the wires when installed in the gun.
Once the battery pack is installed and the reservoir is filled, the gun is ready to fire. Turn it on with the red switch at the upper left rear of the receiver, insert a loaded magazine and you’re ready to go.
Magazines
The .177 and .22 versions of the rifle have 12-shot magazines. The .25-caliber rifle has a 10-shot mag. All versions of the gun also have optional double mags available, but I mistakenly wrote in Part 1 that they come with the gun — and they don’t. They must be ordered as options. So, this .22 rifle would have a total of 24 shots when the double mag is used. However, after the first 12 shots, the mag has to be slid over to the left to index the second mag. So, it’s really 12 and 12 — not 24 without stopping.
The back of each magazine has two holes through which pellets can be seen. The hole on the left is where the pellets are loaded. There’s a coiled wire band spring that runs around the circumference of the drum to hold each pellet in its chamber until the bolt pushes it into the back of the barrel. When you drop in a pellet, the head stops on this band. Like all circular magazines and clips with this feature, you have to press in each pellet past the retaining band. Nothing works as well as a ballpoint pen. If the magazine didn’t have this band, pellets could vibrate out of their chambers and jam the action — especially with the vibration of firing full-auto.
This is the back of a single 12-shot magazine. Pellets are loaded through the hole on the left. Note the black tab that sticks down at the top of the middle hole. This is used to release the magazine spring when you want to unload the magazine, or any time you want to reverse the direction of the chambers. When the magazine is loaded, a ratchet catches it at every empty chamber, and this tab gives you control over that ratchet. When the mag drum is not under spring tension, this tab does not appear.
I’m going to show you loading in detail because it’s very important to the gun’s operation. Everything I say about loading a single magazine applies to a dual mag, as well, because it’s just two single mags stuck together.
Here a JSB Exact 18.1-grain pellet has been dropped into the loading hole. Notice that it has stopped on the wire band and isn’t in the chamber all the way.
The tip of a ballpoint pen is used to seat the pellet past the wire band and into the chamber. Once seated this way, the pellet is secure from vibrating out.
And this is what a properly seated pellet looks like. This is a large JSB pellet, so you can see there’s plenty of room for big pellets in this mag. Now, rotate the mag drum one click counterclockwise and load the next chamber.
The magazine body has a small key or shelf at the bottom edge of the front side. This fits into a mating groove in the front of the receiver notch and prevents the mag from being incorrectly inserted. The front of the mag has a spring-loaded ball bearing that indexes the mag in the receiver. It’s important that the mag is indexed properly, because the bolt moves by electrical power and could damage the mag or the gun if not aligned with the hole that runs through the magazine.
Here’s the front of the magazine. There’s just one hole where the pellet can be pushed out of the mag and into the breech by the bolt. Notice the small shelf at the bottom of the mag. This is a key that prevents the mag from being installed incorrectly.
This picture shows the receiver slot that accepts the magazine key. You can also see the hole in the front of the receiver above the barrel that indexes with the magazine ball bearing.
Warning
Because this gun fires electrically, DO NOT stick your fingers into the receiver magazine notch at any time. Every time the gun fires, the bolt first comes forward to push the pellet out of the magazine and into the breech. If your finger is there, the bolt will go through it like a nail from a nail gun! Never put your fingers into this opening, no matter where the safety and power switch are set. For this reason, do not let children or anyone who’s unfamiliar with the rifle handle it.
The mag is installed. Push it in from the right side of the receiver until you hear the ball bearing click into the hole in the forward part of the receiver notch.
The double mag is two single mags joined together. In operation, you exhaust one side first, then slide the mag over to the other side — pushing from right to left. In .22 caliber, this mag gives a total of 24 shots.
Fill procedure
I mentioned the fill coupling in Part 1. Today, I’d like to show you the available space where the gun is filled, which is why it has to be a proprietary quick-fill device and not a standard Foster fitting. Besides the fill connector, the pressure gauge is also in this space, which is tucked out of sight in a slot under the forearm.
This macro picture shows the fill port that accepts the quick-disconnect adapter. The manometer reads in bar for the first time! Although this looks like a lot of room, my thumb is just as wide as this slot.
Summary
Well, that was a long introduction, but a gun this novel warrants it. I probably have still not told you everything you wish to know about the gun, but we have both the velocity and accuracy tests yet to come, so there’s more than enough time. Ask your questions, and I’ll attempt to answer them as we go.
That’s not a new multi-pump. It just has a new dress to wear to the party. From the way you were talking, I was expecting one designed to be more powerful than the Benjaman / Sheridan class. Since you seem to have a way of communicating with them, suggest they take the Katana and make it a multi-pump. I will take one of each caliber.
As to the wood on this one, my beef is with the square cut notches for the switch and the safety and no rounding off of the top edge of the stock. It does seem from your photos that the fit between metal and wood is pretty good around the action. How is it around the tank?
I think the action is a bit over the top, but I can see where it could be a selling factor to some. Let us wait and see if it is all gimmick or if it can really do more than just rattle.
RidgeRunner,
The wood fit around the tank looks fine to me. I don’t care for the design of the tank — looking removable but not really designed to remove, but Theoben and BSA did it more than a decade ago, so I guess it has been accepted.
B.B.
Hi,
Since the gun cocks and fires in the samer movement, i am guessing it cocks first and then fires.
Doesn’t this give a delay between pulling the trigger and the actual shot when firing in semi-auto?
Xytras,
I will comment on the trigger in the next part. It is definitely different.
B.B.
B.B.
Does PA/AV plan to stock replacement battery packs and chargers?
twotalon
TT,
Yes. Extra battery packs are coming.
Edith
Edith…
I hope they plan to have spare chargers too. Proprietary power systems have some potential problems.
Speaking of potential problems….
Who will be the first to hook up a power cord and strap a motorcycle battery or garden tractor battery to their belt ? That’s like the guys who fudge in more batteries in their metal detectors to get more “power”…..and smoke their voltage regulators.
twotalon
If I ever get one of these, that would be me…. I was already counting cells and mentally fitting it with a li-poly pack….. 🙂
/Dave
/Dave…
Playing games with power sources can be dangerous. Who knows…some fool may decide to see if he can plug it into the wall and fire off a mag in .001 sec.
Aside from extreme ignorance or stupidity…
The batteries that come with it (if engineering is right) should not toast the electrical mechanism. The internal resistance of the batteries should limit the current, along with the internal resistance of the motor.
You want smoke? Try too much voltage from a high current capacity supply.
twotalon
/Dave…
Another possibility…
Let’s rig it up to run off the charger. Run an extension cord out the back door. Save the battery pack for hunting.
Smoke the charger. It won’t handle the load.
How about a battery charger for your car. Plenty of juice to run the rifle or quick charge the battery pack….
Smoke.
twotalon
/Dave,
Li-Ion batteries require a “smart” charger, one that will shut off when the battery is fully charged (it reads the voltage which is differrent from lead-acid or alkaline batteries – 1.25v versus 1.5v for the latter per cell). Responsible vendors will not sell you Li-Ion loose batteries unless you show them you know what you are doing and/or have a charger made for li-ion. To overcharge this battery could cause it to catch on fire or worse.
Fred PRoNJ
Darn it – forgot the capcha and had to retype!
Fred,
When I forget, I just hit the back arrow of my web browser, and it takes me back to the reply where my original comment still exists.
Victor
Victor,
when I do that with Google Chrome, my comment is gone and I have to re-type. Sometimes my funny comments get better, other times not. For instance, the original response to BB started out as, “Danke, Herr Jaegermeister”. Instead, I typed “Thank you, ….” . Not as funny, darn it.
Fred PRoNJ
DANG, I forgot the Capcha again!! Where the heck did I put that Ginko Biloba or whatever it’s called. I forget….
Understood. I’m using Firefox.
It’s hard to tell from the photo, but this battery pack appears to consist of 8 sub-c cells (plus I don’t know if they’re ni-cads or nickle-metal hydrides). In either case, you can make your own battery packs with ni-metal hydrides that pack double the storage capacity of these babies – 3,000 milli-amps versus the 1500 ma rating IF they don’t pack enough charge for users. I’ve done that for my battery powered screwdrivers and drills and the power difference and length of charge is very noticeable plus it was a lot cheaper than a replacement battery pack from Stanley or Husky or Makita. However, I doubt that Evanix would do issue a battery pack that was not sufficient for the intended use.
Fred PRoNJ
Fred,
You can see on the website that they are nickel-metal hydride. There is a closeup and on a hi-res screen you can read the print.
B.B.
You can actually count 7 of them in the picture BB took for this report 😛
J-F
BB, I own the Hatsan AT44/AirVenturi Halestorm/Hammerli Pneuma which uses these mags: /product/mag-22-cal-10rds-fits-halestorm-pneuma-nova-bt65sb-at44pa-rifles?a=2764
They can sometimes be a hard to load because of the O-ring that keeps the pellets in place, the pellets kinda stick to it when loading(especially wadcutters) I was wondering if you (or anyone else) think a coiled wire band spring like the ones that come with the Evanix could be use and if so where they could be obtained.
J-F
J-F,
Of course those rubber bands are simple large o-rings, and as such are easy to obtain. But the wire coiled bands are purpose-built, I believe. Maybe some reader can shed some light on this for us.
B.B.
Aside from the possible issues with the electronics of this gun I have another reservation about it and other magazine fed PCP repeaters. I wonder how much damage is sustained by the pellets as they are loaded into magazine by the operator, and if they are damaged when the gun loads them into the barrel? It would seem to me that accuracy could suffer as it does with many repeating semi automatic .22 RF rifles.
Robert,
There is no damage when loading the mag. As for the bolt, we’ll know that in long-range testing, I guess.
B.B.
Wow, I used to fantasize about semi-auto (not to mention full-auto) pellet guns. Am I right that this is the first of the breed? So, the electric motor cycles the action and the air propels the pellet, right? If this has the accuracy of other pcps, this will be quite something. And it is nice to see that my hard won knowledge about batteries and charging from radio-controlled flying has an application. 🙂
Does anyone know how to access Tom’s Picks on the PA site? I couldn’t find a way to do it.
Victor, I believe that you were describing the Magnus effect the other day, but like you said, I don’t think it would be nearly significant enough to account for what I saw. I was thinking more along the lines of simple geometry. Could a severe cross-wind deflect the bullet so much that its increased distance of travel to the target would give it time to drop the amount I saw? Probably not, and the wind was not that strong anyway. This will probably be another one of those mysteries. But on the subject of the Anschutz and sighting, here is another mystery. The directions for my mammothly expensive aperture sights are in German. T and H for the elevation and L and R for the windage. I’ve figured out that T corresponds to “up.” Mnemonic “top”. But L seems to move the bullet right and R moves it left!? Do L and R correspond to German words that mean the opposite of what I would expect? Or did my super-expensive sight get assembled backwards? But at least it works well, so this is more of a curiosity.
Mike, my M1 had a complete accuracy overhaul, but the elements that bear on the disassembly are probably a modification to the gas system so that it can be adjusted for particular loads and a glass bedding. Anyway, when I received the rifle, I asked Clint Fowler if I could do a basic field strip and he said no. He said maybe I could remove the trigger group but anything else might disturb his modifications. With the weight of his experience and the six months of wait time and $1600 I’d dropped on this rifle, I wasn’t about to interrogate him. Besides, I don’t think a simple field strip would have removed the follower from the magazine which would have been required for cleaning. Fortunately, all is well, and the rifle performs fine with the recommended load just like Clint said it would. I believe I have an insight to the ammo sensitivity experienced earlier. 51.5 gr. of IMR 4064 is at the very limit of pressure for a 150 gr. bullet in 30-06, and the nature of the gas modification is to delay the retraction of the bolt until the bullet has left the barrel. So, this sounds to me like the gas system is being stretched to its limit for the hottest possible load. This apparently disabled it for any other load–even 51 gr. where it still jammed–but it works fine for the load it was designed for. I really had no idea what I was getting in to when I ordered this rifle, but it has been a useful education.
Matt61
Matt61, BB addressed this question several blogs ago. i just now tried to explain it for you and translate the letters with the word bei which means “to” in German, but I only succeeded in confusing myself. So, in essence the Germans are doing this backwards from everyone else. You turn the adjuster in the opposite direction from the arrow to move the POI. I have the same issue on my FWB sight I got from kevin. There, aren’t you happy you’re not alone or got a defective sight?
Fred PRoNJ
Fred,
This is where the English MUST be precise! Not “to” but TOO, as in more than enough. It makes all the difference in thew world when you understand it this way.
B.B.
thank you, Herr Jaegermeister.
What else gave me problems, besides having drunk jaegermeister, was finding the German words for the letters “T” and “H”. It seems the letter ‘H” can start either word for up or down in German so I gave up.
Williams’ Pear schnapps is much better.
Fred PRoNJ
Matt,
Yes, as I outlined in Part 1, this is a first. But there are other full-auto .22s — one that shoots only balls and the other that uses a plastic belt. This if the first one to use a magazine.
B.B.
Well, it is what it is. I’m a little surprised that it would be set up for a very hot 150 grain load when a match grade 168 gr. bullet very well could be the most accurate. Also, I think I mentioned before that IMR-4895 is the go to powder for an M-1. At least it’s the first one to try.
Mike
Non-standard Foster fitting + Gauge in bars = hard sell in USA
BB,
I really like the idea of the fill nipple being under the gun and near the gauge, as I have always found the ones near the muzzle a bit disconcerting. Is the actual size of the knurlless moving lock ring of the fill probe any smaller than a Foster? Unless it’s a lot smaller than a standard Foster, I agree, what’s the point?
The picture of the fill probe in Part 1 looks like it comes with some sort of hex adapter to make it 1/8 pipe or 1/8 BSPP? Can you shed any light on that? To me it looks like the hex adapter is almost as big as the probe.
Thanks,
Lloyd
Lloyd,
The movable collar is close to half the diameter of a Foster female collar.
B.B.
BB,
Wow, that is significant. Now that I have that scale in my head and can see what you mean about barely any finger room in that slot in the stock.
Thanks,
Lloyd
I think this gun would be more popular if the electric motor charged the reservoir instead of operating the action.
The reason a lot of people avoid PCP guns is the expense and inconvenience of buying, carrying, and using charging tanks. I think people prefer their guns to be self-contained units. I know I do.
It would seem to me that PCP guns should be less expensive than multi-pump pnematics, or even springers. They are simplier in construction and contain fewer moving parts.
What am I missing here?
Les
Les,
Perhaps tomorrow’s blog will address your question.
B.B.
Pretty or not:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537/thread/1270770489/Why+no+Daystate-
Just to clarify, the Daystate Huntsman Buckmaster SE
BG Farmer – I know you’ll love it.
Yes, that is a pretty classy rifle and I will buy one as soon as prescriptions for crack to treat myopia become legal. All it needs is a gold trigger and maybe a bigger scope, or is it just perfect the way it is :)?
Thanks for the laugh, hope you are well.
TT and Fred,
Thanks for the warnings. I already know the differences and dangers of using LiPoly, Li-Ion, NMH, NiCad, Lead acid, wall current, and etc. I was just joking… But, some one else may not know that you can burn your house down or stop your heart with such things, and may have mistaken my joke for condoning of these “shade tree” electrical modifications, which I didn’t mean to do. So, thanks for the thoughtful replies! 🙂
/Dave