Black Kat

My first introduction to an air rifle from The Prestige Airgun Co. Ltd was the KUB-SB which turned out to be a very nice surprise indeed. Here was a completely new company who in my opinion had got it ‘multi-shot right’ with the very first roll of the dice. Now having tested their latest release, the Black Kat, I reckon they’re not only living up to their name by surpassing many people’s expectations, but also definitely heading in the right direction. Granted, apart from the bull barrel, the action is almost identical to that used in their KUB series - so why would you consider this model over the original?

All Black

The Black Kat has more aces up its sleeve than Maverick, and they show cosmetically as well as in performance. First up is the radical, thumbhole stock design. Not synthetic as you first might suppose, it’s made of hardwood coated with a weather resistant, matte black acrylic finish. It boasts a high roll over cheekpiece that is both height and angle adjustable. The thumbhole has a thumb channel on the right hand side and the steep drop down pistol grip has finger ridges to offer a very assured hold. At the rear there’s a sliding rubber butt pad.

The forend is relatively chunky and tapers gently towards the rounded, semi-Schnable tip. Panels of skip-line chequering adorn both the pistol grip and forend. This design gives you total control over the highly efficient action and allows you to tailor it for your particular preference and scope used, so you attain proper head position for eye-scope alignment.

The lengthy air reservoir is quite wide leading you to imagine you’d get quite a lot of shots per charge and you wouldn’t be wrong. Once you plug in the probe fill adaptor into the inlet valve port at the front, a charge of 200-bar gives you approximately 100 full power shots in .177 calibre as per test rifle and 120 in the .22” option. On the underside of the stock almost at the mid-section is an air gauge to show the fill state at a glance - all neat and very practical.

Bull Horn Bolt

The action is similar but not exactly the same as the KUB series – for one thing the ball end of the bolt handle is made of polished buffalo horn. I know, I thought why? Well probably because they can and it’s certainly different! However the angle of the bolt handle engages nicely with your shooting hand, that makes this one of the smoothest and easiest rifles to cycle. Full marks there!

What is familiar is the ‘action and delivery’ system. The 10-shot, removable, alloy magazine is used in an identical action to the KUB. To fill the mag, pull back the cocking bolt and remove it from the receiver where it is held securely by two sprung centre ball bearings. This proved to be a simple and effective retention system that allows the feed drum to index precisely time after time. The 21.6” barrel is choked at the muzzle for added performance and features a full length 15/16” diameter shroud, which turns out to be a dedicated and remarkably effective primary silencer. It even has a screw cap protected ½” UNF muzzle thread for a secondary moderator if required. Further into the test I found this wasn’t needed, as the on-gun system is amongst the most efficient I have found on a production rifle. The Black Kat is actually manufactured in South Korea for Prestige and the spec indicates they know a thing or two about PCPs. 

Scoping Up

For the test I fitted one of the new versions of the adjustable objective, illuminated Walther 4 – 12 X 50 CI scopes. I soon set a 30-yd zero and began to enjoy what can best be described as a very enjoyable shooting experience. It was at this point, the rifle showed it’s likeness to the KUB series again, as the top of the action block is actually dual-grooved to accept the common 11mm and less usual 22mm bases.

The 2-stage adjustable trigger unit has a nicely curved metal blade that your finger naturally falls onto, making this combined with the ‘grip’ and ‘action’ one of the most appealing new multi-shot PCPs to shoot. With its sensibly sized manual brass safety lever at the top and right of the action, the Black Kat is in my opinion in a league of its own.

The rifle is as accurate as any PCP I’ve used and ragged one-hole groups at my set zero were soon achieved with quality ammo. This performance is not only due to the action but I’m sure the superb stock design. Weighing 8lb (un-scoped) the exceptional handling helps give the shooter a steady and comfortable shooting platform and in what you could term the middle weight class. Frankly I feel the Black Kat has few equals or rivals.

PRICE: £699