Daystate Pulsar

A Bullpup rifle is a design that locates the magazine and action behind the pistol grip and in essence does away with a separate butt. The upshot being a long barrel in a short and compact overall package. Many armies use them today, but it’s not just the military that’ve taken a shine to them!

Back In The Day

I’ll never forget the first time I shot Bullpup air rifies; back in the 1990s and they were generally conversions of standard configuration PCPs. I had a go with several examples and liked them as they balanced well due to the rearwards weight distribution, so handy for standing shots. Back then they never really seemed to take off, being a little bit ‘niche’; maybe because they weren’t generally factory-made items, with less than perfect trigger linkages. Daystate made the SR92 many years ago but only a handful were made, even though it was really nice.

Bang up to date is Daystate’s latest Bullpup the Pulsar! However, its looks make it a real Marmite gun, as you either love or hate it! I love it; the action and trigger are electrically operated, so there are no convoluted linkages to worry about. In fact, the futuristic action is the perfect partner for a Bullpup!

 

Space Age Styling

Seeing as the Pulsar’s stock is what actually makes it a Bullpup, I’ll start there. There are two versions available, differing only in materials used, as styling is the same. I’ve handled them both and they each have features I like. The laminate is a combination build, which also incorporates synthetic inserts. The fully synthetic version I have on test at the moment is the one I’d go for!

Starting in the middle, there’s a hand-filling, pistol grip, the base is hinged and there’s a small compartment, ideal for carry pellets, sadly a spare magazine doesn’t quite fit. Moving forward, the ballistic nylon forend has finger grooves either side and stylish cut-outs to show off the air cylinder and shed a bit of weight in the process. The underside has a Picatinny rail, which allows for accessories like bipods, vertical grips and lights. In the nose of the forend is an integral laser. More of that later, but Daystate do seem to have thought of everything!

 

Control

The left rear of the butt has a window, through which can be seen the all important display screen. It’s this alone that stops the Pulsar’s stock from looking exactly the same on both sides and is ambidextrous apart from this one detail. The underside of the butt curves down to meet the height-adjustable rubber, butt pad and the length of pull can be adjusted courtesy of optional spacers. There’s no actual comb, instead there’s a separate, curved cheekpiece fitted to the top of the action, it can be moved front to back and is secured by a couple of discrete grub screws. The rear portion has a tactile, rubberised finish and I really like what Daystate has done for the furniture!

 

Electronic Brain

Being a top-end Daystate, the gun is electrically controlled! The internal electronic valving and regulator system is the latest version of the patented Steve Harper system known as Map Compensated Technology (MCT). This Gun Control Unit (GCU) produces amazing shot to shot consistency and uses very little air compared to a more conventional set up and the end result is a very accurate and quiet rifie. The Pulsar’s electronic ‘brain’ allows the owner to set the power to three different levels to suit the situation it’s being used in. I settled on full power, which is ideal for longer-range pest control and target shooting. The test gun was producing 11.6 ft/lb with the 8.44-grain Sovereign ammo and 11.4ft/lb with 8.64 grain Kaisers; so spot on power-wise, with excellent shot-to-shot consistency.

The power setting and reservoir pressure are displayed on the screen and it is also used when programming the shot counter, laser ON/OFF and low-pressure warning. Damned clever these Pulsars! The trigger release is also controlled electronically, so it’s the perfect system fora Bullpup, as no physical linkages means no drag or friction in the shot release process. It’s almost as if the bullpup PCP has been treading water, biding its time, until this system was invented!

 

Versatile Power Source

Power comes from 6 x alkaline (non rechargeable) AA batteries housed in the rear of the butt and can be accessed by removing a single Allen bolt and sliding the butt from the action. Other batteries can be used, such as disposable and rechargeable Lithium types, Daystate’s own Lithium unit and a high-capacity 9 volt PP3 cell. This system obviously allows the user to always have power on tap but also to fine tune the weight and balance of the rifie itself; very neat!

The rest of the action is Daystate’s usual high quality but the rear turn bolt has been eplaced by a side lever cocking system. As there’s not a conventional hammer to pull back against spring tension, there’s very little effort required to cycle the action and it actually feels a little odd to begin with but in a good way! I guess I’m just not used to such luxuries! When the rifie is cocked, a red LED lights up at the rear of the action and goes out when the shot is taken again very clever.

 

10 Or 1?

Feed is via a 10-shot rotary magazine, or from a single shot tray; both are supplied with the rifie and it’s nice to have the option, especially when shooting on the range. The mag is indexed by a small, air-operated pin, which will only activate the mechanism after a shot has been taken – no double loading with this multi-shot! The barrel is 17’ long but the baffied shroud makes it look longer; it’s very quiet as it is, but an auxiliary silencer can be fitted to the ½” UNF end cap for an even quieter discharge. A Huggett Belita moderator was included and its good looks and extremely efficient performance make it the ideal companion to this black beauty.

The two-stage electronic trigger unit I mentioned before is adjustable for first and second stage but it was set perfectly from the factory, so I left it alone. If I’d wanted to adjust it, the action doesn’t have to be taken out of the stock and even though it’s simple to do, it’s nice to be able to leave it fitted. The curved steel blade is very comfortable but a straight; target-style version is also available as an option.

 

Wolverine!

The 40mm diameter air cylinder is like that used on the Wolverine and has a capacity of 300cc, that’s enough stored air from a 230 bar fill for 220-shots in .177 and 250 in .22, which is plenty for any situation! At the front there’s a ‘male’, Foster, quick-fill fitting (common to all Daystate rifies) which is protected by a screw-on cap.

An elegant scope rail is fitted to the top of the action and offers a 7” long dovetail for the purpose. It’s cut for 11mm mounts but I think that Daystate should make an extended Picatinny rail as an optional extra, as this would make mounting Night Vision optics easier. A very nice touch is the integral spirit level, extremely handy when initially mounting a scope and useful for stopping canting whilst shooting.

 

Un-boxing

A rifie this classy needs looking after and the gun comes in an ABS hard case, which has the foam insert cut for it to nestle into. An MTC Connect scope was fitted and really suited it, though I’ve seen a Pulsar with full-blown FT glass on board and it didn’t look out of place!

Initial testing took place outside and after a quick zero at 35 yards I preceded to hit pretty much everything I aimed at, which was nice! I was using the new Rangemaster Sovereign and Kaiser pellets, which both performed extremely well, providing Field Target level accuracy. Out at 55 yards and after taking 2-shots to get the aimpoint on the MTC’s reticle, I preceded to hit a 40mm target eight times out of eight; that’s good enough for me!

There were quite a few club members eager to have a go and all of them liked the Pulsar and what it offered. I did have a bit of a problem though, as when one chap had finished, he couldn’t get the magazine out! It later turned out to be a couple of loose screws that holds the indexing plate in the bottom of the magazine aperture. The mag later came out with a bit of wiggling and a quick spin with an Allen key sorted the problem for good. It’s not a design fault or anything, just sods law it happened when I needed to get plenty of pellets down the barrel!

 

Indoor Session

I later took the Pulsar to the indoor range at Pete’s Farm in Essex, where I fired around 700 pellets through it one afternoon. I could really get a measure of the accuracy on the windless range. The groups at 30 yards were a tiny ragged hole and even at 45 yards they were about 12mm. I’m sure I’d have done even better with a higher mag scope and less tired eyes. I can’t actually fault the Pulsar in any way, apart from the fact it made air rifie shooting rather boring- well, the accuracy was so damned good it made hitting even tiny targets rather predictable…

I usually hate standing shots but the stock nestles so well into your upper body (not just your shoulder) that it improved my performance no end in this tricky position. A later range session was just as enjoyable and at 25 yards I was hitting Aspirin-sized spinners time after time. I even started showing off by hitting them without using the scope, relying on that integral laser. This is a very handy feature, as not only can it be used for actually shooting targets, it can also be used as a rangefinder. With the dot zeroed in at say 35 yards, closer targets will have it appearing lower in the crosshair and higher beyond 30 yards. A bit of homework is all that is required to enable this system to be utilised in the field. The laser can be disabled if required but I’d leave it active, as it comes on when the gun is cocked and goes out when the rifie is fired; a handy cocking indicator but maybe not welcome on a target course due to the rangefinding capabilities!

Another sweet feature when compared to some other Bullpup PCPs is the location of the safety catch, which takes the form of a cross-bolt button in the rear of the trigger guard. So the firing hand does the job without breaking position, an issue on guns like the FX Wildcat and Evanix Rain Storm guns, as you have to reach back for that tiny lever!

 

Conclusion

Well, I’ve loved testing the Daystate Pulsar, as it really is a brilliant design, with a host of useful features. Yes it’s expensive, but there’s a hell of a lot of clever stuff going on inside it and the build quality is of course spot on. Bullpups, especially those with an electronic action, won’t be for everyone but I’m sure Daystate will have a steady queue of customers lining up to buy one.

Price RRP £1,595
Laminate RRP £1,995
Contact Daystate www.daystate.com