Precihole Minerva Air Rifle Review: A Closer Look at the Budget Springer

Precihole Sports is billed as India’s number-one airgun manufacturer. When you consider the size of the country and its airgun market, which is apparently significant, that’s no mean boast. Add into the mix Air Arms, as the newly appointed global distributors for Precihole’s hardware, and I think it’s safe to say we’ll be hearing a lot more about this brand over the coming years.

What Type of Air Rifle is the Precihole Minerva?

Looking at the Precihole brochure from Air Arms showing the models chosen for import, I have to admit to a little confusion, as there are actually two models with identical slimline sporter stocks, and very similar profiles: the Athena, which has a gas-ram power plant, and the near-identical-looking Minerva. The Minerva on test here is a full-powered, break-barrel, spring-piston rifle, currently available for around £200. It represents impressive value for money, so I was eager to give it a proper once-over.

What’s in the Box and How is the Build Quality?

Precihole takes no chances with their level of packaging, and the Minerva comes safe and secure, recessed into a cut-out of dense foam. Alongside the gun you will find:

 
• The standard security padlock
 
• A basic instruction leaflet that covers maintenance, safety, operation, and sight adjustment.

Out of the box, the Minerva feels solid and robust, and while the chemical bluing is a little dull (an obvious area of cost-saving at the production stage), everything looks and feels precise and well-machined.

How is the Design and Ergonomics of the Polymer Stock?

Precihole lists this model as an ‘elegant and ergonomic sporter’, and there’s no doubt that the sleek moulded polymer stock looks the part. I love the graceful fore-end with a subtle swell at the tip, and with the fore-end and pistol grip area sporting precise chequering, grip and looks are significantly enhanced.

The cheekpiece is well-defined, but I reckon it could do with being a bit higher. It’s perfect for use with the open sights that come fitted as standard, but with a scope bolted onto the dovetail rails, I found the cheek wasn’t as supportive as it could be. To be fair, this is a very common shortcoming on spring rifles, so I can’t grumble too much, especially given the low price.

What Sighting Options Does the Minerva Offer?

Open sights are here as mentioned, and to be fair, they work well. Up front, the hooded foresight is a moulded affair that slides over the barrel and is fixed in place with one central grub screw. This means it can be removed further down the line if deemed necessary. As for the rear sight, this is an all-metal design, so should last the course, and it offers fully adjustable, clearly numbered finger wheels for both windage and elevation. I’m pleased to say the adjusters follow logic too, as far as direction and movement are concerned, which isn’t always the case! The sight picture is precise, and all worked well on test.

However, if you get tired of the open sights, then fitting a scope up top is a piece of cake. I would always recommend the use of a one-piece mount with spring guns in the long term, just for peace of mind where scope creep is concerned, but with an arrestor stud anchor hole cut into the receiver, it’s an option to use standard ring mounts and an arrestor block. I actually forgot to use an arrestor block on test, but didn’t have an issue. However, over time, most scopes will move under recoil. All bases are covered with the Minerva in any case.

How Does the Precihole Minerva Handle and Operate?

With over two decades of experience in production methods, which also includes barrel making, Precihole unsurprisingly fits their own barrels to their airguns.

To cock the action, the Minerva requires a mild jolt to knock open the breech, then it’s fairly easy to cock the action. The stroke itself is super smooth, with no spring graunch, and inspecting the open breech, it’s hard not to conclude that everything again looks precise and nicely machined. Press home the pellet flush in the breech, and lock up the barrel.

One detail that stood out when I first saw this model was the beautifully shaped trigger blade. It looks sleek too, having been left ‘in the white’, unblued, so to speak. The combination of its near-straight profile and wide blade gives it an enhanced feel, and with the matching in-guard safety tab positioned ready, it all looks good. However, with the rifle cocked, the safety is automatic, and this is slightly irritating, given that the safety is too stiff to nudge off with the trigger finger. I found I needed to pinch the safety against the trigger guard, to take it ‘off’. No big deal, but a minor irritation as stated.

No mention of trigger adjustment was found in the leaflet supplied, yet I couldn’t resist a quick tweak of the large Allen screw positioned just forward of the blade. It didn’t seem to make a lot of difference, but all worked OK, and this trigger still has to be considered way above average for this grade of rifle. The first stage is reasonably light, and the final release is both crisp and predictable.

How Accurate and Consistent is the Precihole Minerva?

So, how does the action feel? Well, where my test gun was concerned, there wasn’t a hint of spring twang, and the internal set-up felt quite sophisticated. Yes, the shot is lively and there’s plenty of recoil, but the shot is a quick snap with no resonance. This is probably the result of a tight spring guide going about its business.

Accuracy-wise, the Minerva was tested first from a beanbag rest, then shot from an over-arm FT sitting position, allowing the action to do its thing, unrestricted. Springers aren’t overly keen on any rested position, but the Minerva returned some reasonable groups. The sitting position won overall, and 0.5” groups over 30 yards were achieved with relative ease. These results are not to be sniffed at. Groups off the beanbag, for the record, were only a fraction larger.

As for consistency figures over the chronograph, my example produced fairly textbook 10-shot strings. Air Arms Diabolo Field and the favoured Air Arms Diabolo Express posted a total velocity spread of 12fps and 15fps respectively. In the real world, that’s about as good as it gets, and, taken along with performance and feel in general, it was a satisfying finish to my experience overall.

Final Verdict: Is the Precihole Minerva a Top Budget Air Rifle?

On test, this Precihole Sports Minerva proved a worthy and highly capable spring-powered airgun. It’s fairly traditional in what it’s offering, and the finish is admittedly basic, yet its execution and refinement of design are well up to the mark given the asking price. So yes, it’s a cliché, but this really is a lot of rifle for the money; a versatile all-rounder, a general-purpose sporter, and more than capable of handling close to medium-range hunting duties.