by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
Kral Puncher Breaker bullpup with synthetic stock.
This report covers:
- The big question
- Description
- Synthetic stock
- Single shot tray
- Fill
- Adjustable power
- Discharge sound
- Sights
- Bipod mount
- Evaluation
Today we begin looking at the Turkish-made Kral Puncher Breaker precharged pneumatic (PCP) repeater. The one I’m testing is a .177, but they also come in .22 and .25 calibers. In the caliber I’m testing the magazine holds 14 pellets. The price is the same for all three calibers, at $500, which pits this rifle against the Benjamin Marauder.
The big question
Okay, let’s address the big question that’s on every reader’s mind. Where do they get these outlandish names?!!! Puncher Breaker? Are they kidding? It has to sound better in Turkish, don’t you think?
Description
Kidding aside, the Puncher Breaker Silent Synthetic is a bullpup with a sidelever action. A walnut stock is also available for more money. I tested the full length Kral Puncher Pro for you last year, and the action of this rifle is not much different. However, the rest of this bullpup differs quite a bit.
It weighs just 7.4 lbs. which is light for a repeating PCP. The bullpup design shortens the overall length to just 29 inches, putting all that weight into a small package. A shooter who is unfamiliar with bullpups might think it feels heavier. But trust me — it is light.
Despite the short overall length, the barrel is still 21 inches long. That means we should see good power from this rifle. It is advertised to have 18 foot-pounds in the .177 caliber I’m testing. That would be a 10.65-grain pellet (H&N Baracuda Match) moving 872 f.p.s. I can’t compare this rifle to the Puncher Pro I tested, because that one was a .22.
Kral included a test target that was fired with this rifle. On that sheet they included the velocities of each of the 6 pellets fired, and they ranged from 948 to 960 f.p.s. They don’t mention the weight of the pellet they used, but the graph in the manual says it was a 7-grain RWS pellet. That would be what I would test it with.
Synthetic stock
I chose the model with the synthetic stock for testing because I tested the walnut stocked model of the Puncher Pro. We saw how nice the woodwork was on that one (the Turks do fantastic woodwork!), plus the walnut version of this bullpup weighs almost a whole pound more, at 8.2 lbs. I wanted the lighter weight.
The synthetic stock has an additional advantage. It has a compartment for a spare magazine inside the front of the forearm. Push a spring-loaded button for access. You don’t get that on the walnut gun.
A handy compartment at the front of the forearm holds a spare magazine.
Single shot tray
The rifle comes with a single shot tray that converts the action to single feed. I will try it for you and see how easily it works. If it works well, I may do some accuracy testing with it installed. Maybe a comparison group with the single shot tray against the best magazine-fed pellet?
Fill
The rifle accepts a standard 200 bar/2900 psi fill. That means it’s going to be fairly easy to fill, although because it is a repeater I think you will shoot it a lot more than you might shoot a single shot. I recommend filling from a tank and not a hand pump. Not that it isn’t possible to fill from a hand pump — you’re just going to be filling it a lot, I think.
The Puncher Breaker fills with a proprietary probe. There is no standardization — you must use Kral’s probe or one of identical size. But there is something you need to know about this probe. Kral has been shipping their probes with a set of clear o-rings that are slightly too small to seal the fill port. They sometimes work but usually they don’t. Pyramyd AIR sends black o-rings in the parts with the rifle to replace the clear ones, and they seal well.
Kral o-rings are too soft to seal, plus they are a bit undersized. They often tear like the one shown. Replace them with the black o-rings that come in the package.
Adjustable power
Power is adjustable via a knob on the right side of the action. There are 5 white marks to indicate power levels, but there are no detents. You can adjust the power anywhere between the minimum and maximum settings. I will test this feature for you in a meaningful way, but nobody will ever live long enough to test every pellet at every possible power setting. Once I establish the parameters of the power range, I will be going for the best accuracy.
The power adjuster has a knob to adjust on the right side of the receiver and this indicator on the left side.
Discharge sound
The barrel is shrouded but there are no baffles inside the shroud. The end cap is shaped to strip off the excess air, so we will see what the discharge sounds like. The title of the gun is Silent. Let’s see if it is.
Sights
Of course the Puncher Breaker comes without sights. The scope base on the rifle is permanent and only accepts Weaver-type scope mounts. I have a new Weaver mount to show you, so perhaps I will use it on this rifle. Whatever I use has to be tall because of the bullpup design.
Bipod mount
The forearm has a threaded brass boss that accepts a short Weaver rail for mounting a bipod. The rail is provided with the rifle. I may mount one for the accuracy test, though I do like sandbags better for stability. I’ll have to think about that, because bullpups and bipods don’t go well together, except in the dreams of mall ninjas.
Evaluation
I really like the small size and light weight of this Puncher Breaker Synthetic bullpup. Of course there are key things to establish, such as discharge noise, shot count, power and accuracy. If it holds up, this may be an exciting alternative to consider for those who are looking to enter or to advance in the precharged world.
All I want to know is does the power adjustment stay set without detents. Or does it creep off of the set point.
BB
I guess I’m jumping the gun so to speak.
Guess we need to wait till you shoot it.
Just for info purposes. My front AO scopes will drift off of their setting. The sidewinders don’t do that. And yes that is on pcp’s as well as springers.
GF1,
The knob is stiff so the adjustments stay put.
B.B.
BB
Good to know.
B.B.,
Looking forward to the accuracy test comparing not only the different pellets performance, but also how big a difference in accuracy comparing a single shot tray vs a magazine fed group.
Siraniko
PS. Last sentence, first paragraph of the section Description. “However, the rest of this bullpup idiffers (differs) quite a bit.”
Siraniko,
Got it. Thanks,
B.B.
B.B.,
It’s 12 below zero outside here right now, so I thought I’d warm up my fingers by typing a comment before going to bed.
This is much less ugly than the H.R. Gigeresque (although I like Giger’s work) Hatsan BullMaster. It actually is similar in appearance to Hatsan’s Gladius. It’s difficult to tell how lefty-friendly this might be, but it appears O.K. for a sidelever bullpup, anyway. And it does have a simple, graduated power adjustment feature, which I like.
B.B., some of these bullpups seem only moderately smaller than traditional air rifles. And while this one is not heavy, they are usually about the same weight as their traditional PCP counterparts. To what do you attribute the fascination / appeal? I don’t get it. Is turning in the woods/brush so difficult that the ungainliness of these things is worth it? Can’t hunters simply keep their rifles steeply angled towards the ground as they navigate through vegetation?
Or, is their weight distributed that much closer to the shooter’s torso than a long gun? That might improve leverage, stamina and steadiness for offhand shooting, I suppose.
Michael
Michael
I would think that’s the case.
The closer in to the truck on a fork lift or tow motor as some call them. The more load it can carry easier.
So in other words yes. If the weight is kept in closer the easier it is to support.
GF1,
What about the squirrel?
RR
I guess your talking about that H&N pellet ad we was talking about yesterday.
The barrel definitely don’t stick out there on this gun like the gun in the ad.
Michael,
By moving the action to the very back of the stock you can have a longer barrel in package that is reasonably short. The longer barrel improves efficiency, thereby power.
Michael,
I’m not that fond of bullpups, so I guess the fascination is just that the design is different. However, this one is quite useable, so we will see.
B.B.
Well, it is something new. I like the scope rail in both form and function. As for the names? Who knows. It is kind of hard to believe that they ever ran that name past American marketing firms first. Then again, we don’t do a much better job either, other than we just don’t usually combine multiple ones in the same model. It would be interesting to know how they stack up to Hatsan in Turkey and have they been around awhile,.. just not here.
Chris,
I remember BB had two Kral air rifles on his table at the 2009 Roanoke Airgun Show. They were copies of the Gamo CFX with one having a wood stock and the other synthetic. They were very poor quality. Those were my first encounter with Turkish made airguns.
Chris
Did you find out about the Crosman stuff for Friday. Do they still offer it?
GF1,
Nope. Back to work. Might call Fri.. I still need to decide which direction I am going first, but that call might factor into that. No rush on this end.
Chris
Yep. Let me know what they say.
BB,
Yesterday we were talking of Victorian era style air rifles and this morning one popped into my head, the Modoc. I thought you had a review of it so I dug around and only found a Part 1 from back in November of 2015.
/blog/2015/11/the-modoc-big-bore-from-air-ordnance-part-1/
You never gave us a follow up and it slipped my mind or I would have worried you silly about it. Do you happen to still have it tucked away somewhere or did it go back already?
RR,
The gun failed in a most dangerous way. I decided that the developer did not know airguns and I would not do any more reports on a gun that could injure the user.
I suppose I need to explain the problems.
B.B.
Please explain, I’ve been interested in this pressurized cartridge concept,was that part of the problem?
Codeuce,
If the pressurized cartridge opened before the breech was closed, as it did, then you could take the entire multi-ounce cartridge in the gut. That would be bad.
The concept was flawed. I don’t know if they have fixed it, but I won’t test it again.
B.B.
B.B.,
Yikes! Hey, Brocock made the concept work, so something else had to be the issue with the Modoc.
Reading that reminded me of air guns that use the CO2 Powerlet as the round. I winder if technically speaking, these aren’t rocket air guns.
Michael
Coduece,
Please post a link to your website or its name. I thought I had it booked marked but can’t find it.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim,
Sure Jim I’m more than happy to it’s http://www.airgun-1.com
BB,
I think I can already picture the issue. I can see opening the breech on a “live” round and having it discharge. It could be as bad as a leaky valve on a muzzle loader. I had a discussion with Lloyd this past year concerning big bores and the danger of having a bolt action similar to the Marauder. with the high pressures the locking pin may come loose or shear and the bolt come out the end of the action and burying itself in your face.
Perhaps you should give serious consideration to a blog about flawed designs for airguns. It could be most informative, most especially to the newbies. These episodes show much thought must go into the design of an airgun and also that care must be used when handling them.
RR,
I have been struggling all day with how to approach this. I think “flawed designs” is probably the best way to go.
Thank you,
B.B.
B.B.
If the o-rings are such a problem, why wouldn’t Pyramid Air just swap them out to begin with?
Seems like they are asking for good guns to be sent back to them.
-Y
Yogi,
As far as I know they are doing that now.
B.B.
They are swapped out now. Have been for a while. Not sure how long BB has had the gun he is testing, but all of the Kral PCPs do go through the tech dept. at PA where the o-rings on the probes are swapped out. It seems on our last shipment, Kral actually changed to different o-rings which appear to be better quality and sealing properly, so that is a plus. But we are still checking them before they go out the door.
BB,
I would like to see the shot tray against magazine shoot out, if it ends up looking worthwhile, and if your taking votes. I keep hearing that a tray is more accurate and I don’t doubt that it is on a gun like the stormrider that feeds so crappy from the mag, but my other guns seem to feed smoothly enough that I can’t imagine that they damage the pellets in any significant way.
P.S. Under “Desciption”,4th paragraph, 2nd sentence, there is an extra “the” after the number 6. In the 3rd sentence the word “so” is not needed.
Halfstep,
Fixed the second “the.” The word “so” is correct. What was missing was a comma.
Thanks,
B.B.
Halfstep,,
Shut my mouth! There was a lot wrong with that sentence!
Fixed it. Thanks,
B.B.
Good morning and Happy New Year!
I see that the Kral Puncher Breaker comes with one of those three-hand magazine (one to hold the magazine, one to manipulate the cover and one to load the pellets).
I am trying to understand why this type of magazine is so popular. I have one on my FX Royale and while it is manageable, I really don’t care for the design.
By comparison to the robust metal magazine for my HW100s or Dominator 1250, the plastic magazines are overly complex (too many moving parts, subject to failure and jamming), awkward to load, and not field serviceable.
I would never consider carrying my FX magazine in my pocket the way I do my Weihrauch and Walther magazines as bit of lint or dirt could incapacitate it. I made a special magazine carrier out of a pellet tin to protect it.
The additional benefit of the Weihrauch magazine is I can leave an empty spot so I can mount the magazine and close the bolt without having to chamber a pellet. Can’t do that with a spring-loaded magazine.
Just curious why rifle designers would chose such a magazine when a simple metal one would seem to be the more practical choice.
Hank
Hank,
They cost twice as much and this is a money game. People willing to pay for the HW 100 are willing to pay for those more expensive clips.
B.B.
BB,
Cynic!
B.B.
Understand the money game 🙂
For some reason I would have thought that a die-cast magazine and O-ring would be cheaper than an assembled housing, core, cover, spring, screw and O-ring.
Guess that instead of metal the magazines could be injection an molded polymer.
And yes, the HW100 is well worth the price. I can vouch for that as I have a .177 and .22 – awesome rifles 🙂
Hank
Hank
If I may, I don’t think BB was necessarily suggesting the magazine itself was more expensive, but what becomes more expensive and complex is the mechanism that drives such a magazine system in the gun itself. More parts (especially small ones) mean more assembly time at the factory and more care that needs to be taken, increasing the cost to the consumer.
Hatsan, Air Arms, the Ataman AP16, the HW PCPs all use a system where there is some part or combination of parts on the gun itself working to cycle the mag….when these parts break or malfunction, it’s a fair amount of work to replace or repair them in almost all cases. This is one reason we’ve seen so many manufacturers move away from this style system to a spring driven mag (BSA and Evanix are prime examples).
Just my .02 cents from having to repair a few of them. It’s way easier to say to a customer “It’s $20 for a new mag” versus “it’s $10 for an indexing post (air arms as an example) plus shipping, plus labor” or “$10 plus shipping for the part and a 1/2 hour or hour of your time replacing it yourself”. Or if we’re talking about sending out a warranty replacement or doing warranty work, it’s a lot easier for a distributor or the manufacturer to say “here’s a new mag under warranty” versus “send the gun in, wait a few weeks for us to get to it, but it’s still covered under warranty.”
Tyler,
You make a good point – it is better to move the complexity to a user replaceable inexpensive part than have it inside the rifle. Makes sense.
…You realize that now I have to go and disassemble the HW and FX to review the differences in the cocking mechanisms just to satisfy my curiosity 🙂
Thanks for posting!
Hank
Tyler,
Always great to have you jump in on a topic. There is nothing like getting the behind the scene’s scoop, at least behind the Pyramid Air scene anyways. Well others too,.. heck,.. you know what I mean! 😉 Thanks. Chris
Thought I would post a picture that might be of interest.
Over the weekend Chris USA and I were talking about target materials that would show clearer pellet holes for easier measuring of groups.
Chris commented on how nice the holes in aluminum cans were and got me thinking about the heavy aluminum foil tape that is used to seal the seams on forced-air ducting.
I shot a couple of pellets through a paper target backed with the aluminum tape and the results were very good. The domed JSBs left holes as clean and sharp as what you normally see from a wadcutter.
Think that this might be useful when evaluating tight groups as the paper around the holes is not shredded as badly.
For what it is worth…
Hank
Vana,
Super clean holes, very defined edges. That was a great idea.
Carl
Hank
I saw that yesterday. I’m going to give it a try. Got to get me some tape first.
Hank,
It would be interesting to see some shots through the front of the tape,.. as in,.. foil side to the shooter. You could still put a target on top I suppose. Still, awesome results and thank you for idea, work and posting results via pic.
For those laser shooters out there, the cheap, shiny scotch type tape works great. When the laser hits, the tape will light up like a Christmas tree. Just another idea.
Chris
Look at the picture on the right.
I think Hank stuck the peice of tape on a peice of paper. Then placed his paper with the target in front of the aluminum foil.
That’s what it looks like to me. He didn’t stick the tape to the back of the target paper.
Chris you and Hank correct me if I’m wrong.
GF1,
I stuck the tape to the back of the target and burnished it down firmly so it was smooth and well adhered to the paper.
If you look at the target face there is a single hole and a pair of touching holes (wanted to see how it would tear out) and then a pair of holes off target in the area with no tape showing how the target would look without the tape backing.
The right hand image is the back (taped) side of the target showing the holes being supported with the tape.
Hank
Hank
Ok thanks. So it did work good sticking the tape right to the back of your target.
That’s even better for me that it works that way. Then I can still use masking tape to hold my copier paper targets to my pellet stop/ target holder.
I’m going to try to pick me up some tape tomorrow to try it out.
I thought I would mention this here. You always hear of wrong things going on with items people get. Well this was good news.
Over the weekend the pressure switch on my NC Star green laser stopped working. So I emailed them asking if I could have the part number for the pressure switch so I could purchase a new switch.
I got a email today saying they don’t sell them. But a new pressure switch was on it’s way in the mail for free.
How’s that for customer service. And believe me I did thank them. And to top it off I got that laser back in 2008. And if I remember right from PA.
And Matt61 if your reading.
Some time back we talked about how this laser performed way better than another one I purchased later on at a different place than PA thinking it was the same. They had the same part number on the box. But found they were actually two different lasers over the weekend when I was trying to find a new pressure switch. The one purchased later on from another place is actually a smaller laser. And beyond me why I didn’t notice.
But here is the part number for the good one.
APRLSG
Here is the part number for the one that is not as strong.
APRLSMG
Yep the letter M made the difference.
But just thought I would let you know.
B.B.,
There some others who do reports on air guns, and they’re okay, but you are my go to person for learning about different airguns and other variables. There are air guns I decided against ever purchasing because of a test and report you published; the reasons vary and these same guns might be another person’s best buy. There are also air guns I do want to purchase and your tests and reports have helped me know what to expect.
I shot some more at 50 yards. Gamo Whisper pellets with the zinc layer did not fare well. Game Red Fire pellets fared worse. The interesting shots were with Crosman Premier Hollow Points. The group wasn’t great, but it was all to the left of center although the vertical was good. However, it helps to know the wind was variable from the north and north west. I was shooting to the south, so the wind factor may have been consequential. I will be shooting CPH pellets some more. I am also going to purchase a tin of the Benjamin .177 hunting hollow points and shoot a bunch of them.
Lastly, the current issue of RIFLESHOOTER has an interesting article that begins on page 64. The title is “Chasing Accuracy”. The author talks about rifle barrels, bullet composition, bullet weight, loads (which I believe is roughly analogous to fill pressure in PCP’s). Except the subject is firearm accuracy, it reads just like chasing accuracy with air rifles.
For most of us reading your blog, and for you, it is just COLD.
Happy New Year, everyone.
~ken
Ken
I use to like the Crosman Premiere hollow points over the standard Crosman Premieres. They do shoot pretty good. But I would get the occasional known flyers with them. And the Benjamin pellets seem to me to be the CPH in a different package.
The JSB pellets have not shown flyers like the Crosman Premieres.
Have you tryed any JSB’s just out of curiosity?
And what gun? I forgot.
Gunfun1,
I haven’t tried the JSB pellets, but I plan to get a short list together and purchase at least 5 different pellets to try out. Then maybe 5 more different pellets, depending on how things work out. Of course if something proves to work really well, then a reorder will be in order.
~ken
Ken
For some reason my reply came to me.
Read my recent reply about your gun and pellets.
Ken
Make sure you post a reply of what pellets you get.
And you still didn’t refresh my memory of what gun your testing. 🙂
Gunfun1,
I will post as soon as I have something new to report. I did shoot 40 of the Benjamin pellets. My accuracy was about the same as for the Crosman CPHP. My inspection of these and the CPHP with a magnifying glass offers no difference. Of course, I don’t know about the composition, but they seem to be identical.
The rifle I am shooting is a Crosman F4. I suspect it is merely a variation on a theme and uses the same power plant as several others, all based on the B19. I am sure I can switch barrels between the F4 and the Titan GP .22 with no problem. I don’t plan to, however. My one curiosity is whether turning the nitro piston 180 degrees has made any difference. The F4 has that and the new Titans do as well. This alone doesn’t make them NP2 rifles, but it may change the shooting characteristics of the rifle, hopefully for the better else Crosman fixed what wasn’t broken.
Unless different pellets can make a difference (assuming other things are working well including the shooter) I am relegated to about 30 yards with the F4 (less with the Titan GP .22 I have; I wonder if different .22 pellets can help).
Stay tuned,
~ken
Ken,
Happy New Year to you. I just got in from a walk and you are right — it’s COLD!
B.B.
B.B.,
Just for reference for us that live up in the northern states,… just what is “cold” in Texas?
I know that I have seen snow down there in the last few years,.. which I do not recall in the past.
Chris
(By the way, for those that follow such topics,.. the correct term now is “Global Change” Not sure where the term Global Warming went, though the ice caps in the pole regions do seem to be doing something not so good. -New- luxury cruises through floating/broken ice? Yep, they got ’em. Then again,.. I think I saw a movie on that once. A bit fuzzy now, but I think that it did not end well.) 😉
Correction,.. “Climate Change”. 🙁 The word Climate eluded me at the moment of posting.
Chgris,
I was born and raised in Stow, outside Akron. I have seen 36 below.
But here in Texas when it gets into the teens like it has the last few days, that’s cold!
We don’t have to shovel sunshine! 😉
B.B.
Chris,
Cold is not one thing. You have no doubt heard the old saw about Southerners not being able to drive in the snow. Perhaps true, but we see so little of it. We see more ice (on bridges at least) but not much.
I lived in D.C. and in the Nashville area. Both got colder and more snow and ice than I ever saw in Southeast Texas. My wife if from outside Philadelphia so I spend quite a bit of time there, as well. In those places I was always ready for the weather (barring the kind of deadly blast that can happen along our northern border – in the contiguous 48 states – I realize there are yet colder places). I have also visited in middle Ohio and Meadville, PA in mid-winter. In all of those places individuals, municipalities and states expected and prepared for seriously cold and hazardous conditions.
Last winter, in the Houston area, I rarely wore more than my denim jacket for outer wear; sometimes I wore only a long sleeve shirt. That was mild, even for us.
This winter to have sub freezing temps that dip towards 20 degrees for 3 or 4 hours is a serious event. Plumbers get a lot of work. Hopefully, people ensured their outdoor pets have adequate shelter.
And of course, folks down here can drive in the snow … or rain … folks around Houston drive fast and laugh all the way to the hospital or morgue, regardless of driving conditions.
That, kind sir, is how I define “cold” in Southeast Texas, it is just a little different farther north and into the panhandle.
Stay warm,
~ken
Chris USA,
They have relabeled it to Climate Change as that those in other latitudes will not be experiencing the hot climate that we are experiencing in the tropics. We are getting more extremes regarding temperature. Either very cold or very hot. Right now it’s about 82°F where I am right now. Relatively cool but reaches 96.8°F at high noon. And this is our wet season. It has been relatively dry this wet season with only a few storms but we will be probably be paying for it in the coming year. A couple of years ago Hainan visited us and devastated an island much like how Puerto Rico got smashed. They are only getting back on their feet. Haven’t been shooting much because the father-in-law just had a stroke before the New Year.
Siraniko
Siraniko
The folks at Kral do sure seem to have a penchant for dramatic and outlandish names for their rifles. I bought a cheap Kral Safari Magnum springer on sale a couple of years ago. Have a look at what it is called on the box though! It is a crude springer; the build quality makes Hatsans look like Weihrauchs in comparison, the trigger is mushy, the safety catch failed within 10 shots – I had to dismantle the rifle to fix it. Oh, and the recoil is just horrible – this air rifle wants to shake your fillings loose! Amazingly though, the accuracy is not bad and the Safari Magnum/Rambo makes for a fine open-sights plinker out to about 40 yards, if you can get past the sheer nastiness of the gun. The sight radius is quite long and the front fibre optic bead is smaller than most, which helps with aiming small. I wouldn’t dare put a scope on it for obvious reasons.