Kral Demon

For any sport to flourish, new blood needs to be nurtured and encouraged. In our world, that means creating the right environment for the airgun shooters of tomorrow to come through the ranks. Entry level airguns of course, play an important part in this, but I would always recommend avoiding the dirt cheap fare. Rifles exist in the £30-£60 bracket, but believe me, you really do get what you pay for - and with some badly finished sharp edges to be navigated, possibly a lot more than you bargained for too!

The rifle on test here by contrast, is a good example of just what is available at the lower end of the market, for just a little more cash; and it’s comparatively civilized nature lifts it well above some of those bargain basement atrocities.

Take a look at the spec of this rifle, and then check that price tag again, and you just may notice an involuntary shaking of the head.

Fixed Barrel

Kral are a relatively new name to the world of airguns, and the Demon is their spring powered fixed barrel under-lever model. The spec sees a rotary breech included in the design, along with fibre optic open sights, and a black composite sporter stock. If the black look doesn’t appeal, then two other variations exist, in the form of traditional wood or camo finish.

For the test though, we have the super trendy ‘Tactical’ black, and first impressions are of a reasonably well finished, solidly made rifle, with some interesting features as standard.

Taking Stock

Any evaluation of this rifle has to mindful of the asking price, and since that currently sits at around £129, some cost cutting exercises are inevitable. Metal finish is one area which can be highly labour intensive, and this Kral keeps finish to a basic level. That said, the blueing is reasonably even, if a little dull, and given this rifles role in life, perfectly acceptable.

The stock is a little plasticky and shiny in appearance, yet the moulding and configuration is sufficiently good to keep this rifle firmly in the ‘good looking’ category. It’s maybe not so tactile and a little harder than some, yet, save for a cheek piece which is a little too low (a common failing on many spring powered rifles) everything else feels about right. I say low, yet this relates to scope alignment. For open sight use this is spot on, and with the highly popular fibre optic variety fitted, any novice shooter has plenty to ponder. Learning the ropes with ‘irons’ is always recommended to teach some basic principles of marksmanship at the outset in any case, and fibre optics just make the whole deal that bit more enjoyable. The design sees a small red fluorescent filament forming the bead on the fore-sight, and two green fluorescent rods, one either side of the notch on the adjustable rear sight unit. By making use of all available ambient light, the picture appears to light up, making for easy sight/target acquisition.

Scoping Up

An additional feature of note with this rifle has to be the neat arrestor block , which comes included as part of the deal. Spring guns can often impart a fairly sharp two way kick to any glassware fitted, with the result that the scope or mounts want to keep moving under recoil. By clamping the arrestor block just behind one of the mounts, any problem of ‘scope creep’ should be eradicated, so for peace of mind, it’s an excellent inclusion.

With glassware in place, my next task was a quick power check, and with the Demon proving a little pellet fussy, I ended up with the usual suspects in the form of JSB’s- in this case Air Arms Diabolo’s. These posted highly consistent 10 shot strings, and with a variation of around 8fps, the power plant proved well up to the task, if a tad too close to the limit for comfort.

Cocking the Demon requires the long under lever to first be unclipped and then drawn all the way down until the trigger and piston click and engage. The lever can then be returned and fastened at the muzzle - a task which is slightly irritating given the design of the lever clip; with the spring loaded clip having to be consciously pulled back each time rather than just returned under pressure. That minor gripe apart, the smoothness of the action, and modest cocking effort required, meant the session was off to a good start.

With the action cocked, the small rotary breech, (near identical to the BSA RB1 design) can then be slid open to the left, allowing a pellet to be chambered into the opening. With the breech then closed manually, the rifle is ready to go. At this stage, making sure that any pellet is fully inserted into the barrel; this is of paramount importance, since any protrusion is liable to be guillotined by the sliding breech in the process, and a pellet with a damaged ‘skirt’ will never give its best.

Performance

Whilst accuracy from this Demon won’t set the world on fire, given its general remit, groups of around 1.25inches, recorded using JSB’s at 30yds, are fair. OK; the trigger is fairly crude, and despite a labelled diagram in the instruction leaflet to the contrary, I just couldn’t find the adjustment screw!

The action goes off with a fair twang and plenty of resonance through the stock too, yet despite all this, I was left thoroughly enjoying myself.

For what the Kral Demon is; a slick general package, laid out in a solid workhorse of a rifle, offering any newcomer to airgunning a well balanced rifle that looks and handles like a rifle costing considerably more than the asking price. Oh, and if your still unsure, a 3 year warranty is thrown in for good measure.

PRICE: £129 approx