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Skout Epoch

  • Last updated: 13/01/2025
  • Review
Skout Epoch

Before now, I’d never heard of Skout Airguns, but when I visited the ASI stand at a show, a very jolly Edward King greeted me and couldn’t wait to show off this amazing new rifle. It took a long time before I was finally able to get my hands on one, but, boy, was it worth the wait!

To new heights
In Skout’s words, “The Epoch is not just an air rifle; it’s a game-changer designed to propel you to the pinnacle of competitive shooting. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a rising star, this competition-ready masterpiece delivers unmatched power, precision, and adaptability.”
This pretty much sums up this rifle perfectly. It has obviously been designed for competitive shooting, and the price tag reflects this, along with the weight. However, you all know me; I rarely shoot competitions, so I spent my precious time with this rifle both on the range and in the field. Well, in a few barns and yards specifically, taking on a massive rat problem. Needless to say, it performed exceptionally well.
The build quality is like nothing else I have ever seen before. This truly is one of, if not the best-made rifle I have ever seen, and I’m not the only person to make that comment, as Terry Doe has said exactly the same thing.
In the realm of precision shooting, where every fraction of a millimetre counts, the Epoch stands tall as the embodiment of perfection. The tolerances of the machined components are unbelievable – we’re talking fractions of a fraction of a millimetre. Everything fits together on the Epoch in a manner that I just haven’t seen before. It’s as accurate a build as you’re ever going to get.

Technology rich
Let’s talk about the tech, shall we? First of all, I recommend that you read the accompanying instruction pamphlet from cover to cover, and also watch the many YouTube videos that Skout has produced. It just makes life easier in the long run, while getting to know this rifle inside out.
With fully customisable shot cycles and pre-fire sequences, multilingual voice feedback, OLED data display, and a commitment to lifelong software upgrades, the Epoch is technically brilliant. It’s a bit like a sat-nav unit at first because it actually talks to you! Being a hunter, though, I immediately switched the rifle into Hunting mode, which kills all the voice commands.
The first thing the rifle says to you when you turn it on is “Welcome to the EPIC experience,” not “EPOK” as I and many others thought the name was pronounced! The OLED display tells you everything you need to know, like what mode you’re in, battery percentage, and also what you’re doing in regard to programming.
Don’t think for one second that you need an Einstein-level IQ to work this rifle–you don’t. You just need to know which buttons to press and what they do. It took me all of 20 minutes to get every feature of this rifle ingrained into my brain, and I was working it in complete darkness in a matter of hours.
As far as battery life goes, you’ll get thousands of shots from the Epoch before having to recharge the internal battery, which is a good thing, because the one feature I don’t like is the fact that you have to unscrew the side plates on the pistol grip to access the charging port. I can see why they’ve done it, but a simple rubber-covered plug on the base of the grip would make life a whole lot easier. While I’m on the subject of rubber, the only other gripe I have is that there’s no fill port cover either. It’s a protruding male nipple type that a 1/8” female Foster probe attaches to in order to fill. I know it’s designed for big bore benchrest shooting, where competitors often sit at the bench with the rifle permanently hooked up to a 7 litre tank of air, but a simple push-on cover wouldn’t go amiss here.

Great capacity
The carbon air bottle attached to the airgun is 0.5 litres, and it has been tested to over 6000psi. Indeed, the pressure gauge goes up to 6000psi, but Skout does stress that it shouldn’t be filled to more than 4350psi. That’s going to mean a lot of shots at sub-12ft/lbs!
Skout doesn’t say how many shots you’re going to get, but I’d guess it’s well over 500 in both .177 and .22. There’s even a bleed valve that can be used to depressurise the bottle completely, should you need to.
This rifle is twin-regged, with both High Pressure (HPR) and Low Pressure (LPR) regulators. For us sub-12 users, we don’t need to touch either of them, but for anyone shooting FAC, you’re going to have endless hours of fun tuning this rifle even further.

Silence is golden
The factory-integrated sound moderator is meticulously designed to harmonise seamlessly with the Epoch’s valve system. This innovative feature is all about making your shooting experience as quiet and hassle-free as possible.
What sets this sound moderator apart is that it’s not just an add-on, as it’s custom-designed for the platform. This ensures a perfect fit and the performance that you expect from a top-tier shooting system. It really is quiet, too. I have been shooting rats in a barn, one after the other, and I’ve made multiple shots frequently without spooking the other rats in the vicinity.

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How many!?
Everything about this magazine is magnetic, and I love it! The self-aligning and retaining magnetic design is engineered to optimise feeding using both pellets and slugs.
Boasting a durable aluminium and polymer construction, the magazine is built to withstand the rigours of shooting, ensuring lasting performance. It’s a real doddle to use, too. Simply pry off the top cover via the small lip provided, which is held in place by three super-strong magnets. Next, rotate the inner core twice, and then drop your first pellet in nose-first to lock it in place. You can then fill the remaining 35 slots with pellets – yes, this magazine holds a whopping 36 shots in .177 and 30 in .22! When you’re finished, just hold the top over the magazine, and the magnets will automatically snap it back into position.
Loading the magazine into the rifle is equally satisfying. Pull the cocking lever back, slide the mag in from the right-hand side, and more magnets snatch it from your hand, locking it in place with a very solid ‘click’.
As you would expect from a rifle of this quality, the side-lever operation is smooth and quiet, and it cycles through the magazine effortlessly.

Time to accessorise
The Epoch platform embraces the industry-standard M-LOK system, a widely adopted and military-proven design that enhances the versatility of any firearm or airgun that it is fitted to.
With M-LOK, you gain access to thousands of accessories, making your set-up fully modular to meet your specific shooting needs. This system provides military-grade security, keeping your accessories firmly in place, even in the most demanding shooting scenarios. I suggest purchasing the Arca-Swiss rail if you’re considering adding a bipod or wanting to use this rifle for serious benchrest competition.

Let’s swap

This premium airgun features a unique interchangeable barrel system, catering to every popular calibre. Your gun comes perfectly configured for your chosen calibre from the factory, eliminating the need for extensive modifications. However, should you wish to change swiftly from .177 to .22 in under 60 seconds, it’s really easy to do. Simply push down the silver release lever on the right-hand side of the rifle, then push the silver knob on the left side into the up position. You can now unscrew the barrel and the barrel locking collar at the front end to remove the complete barrel set-up, then insert another.
While I’m on the subject of the barrel, which comes shrouded and with a removable moderator fitted, these nickel Teflon-coated barrels incorporate military-proven technology to enhance accuracy and reduce wear. The coating increases bore hardness and lubricity, surpassing anything currently available on the market. With extremely low lead build-up, reduced friction, and easy maintenance, the Epoch’s barrel delivers unparalleled performance and reliability. I’m sure the tech-savvy benchrest lot will put this to the test in the coming years, but speaking from my own experience of a couple of months of heavy usage, every single shot from this rifle has been on the money. It’s insanely accurate.
You can choose from a wide range of calibres, including .177, .22, .25, .30, and .35, allowing you to adapt your rifle to your specific shooting needs, including FAC. Obviously, the UK sub-12 models come in .177 and .22, but Skout has taken it a step further by ensuring that each pellet calibre is exact, offering competition-grade accuracy that’s second to none.


The perfect fit
The Epoch is completely customisable, straight out of the box, which is itself a custom-built Plano hard case, complete with a massive toolkit inside that contains Allen keys, a tub of grease, a segmented box of spare seals, a charging lead, and loads of other stuff.
To kick things off, you can adjust the length of pull by unscrewing the locking thumb screws at the rear end and turning the large, knurled knob. This gives you a good 25mm of extra length adjustment. Likewise, the carbon cheek riser can be adjusted by unscrewing the thumb screws on each side and pulling the riser up by up to six notches. The butt pad can also be adjusted by unscrewing the locking thumb screws on each side.

Adjustments galore
The trigger is also fully customisable and comes set extremely light for competition shooting. The ways in which you can customise the trigger are as follows:
Trigger Shoe: A lock screw in the side of the trigger shoe secures it to the trigger. The shoe can be adjusted up or down along the trigger and biased with a twist to the left or right, before being locked into place with its set screw. The trigger shoe may need to be re-centred to access some of the other trigger adjustment points.
Post-Travel: This adjusts the rear limit of the trigger’s swing. Ideally, the trigger should stop just after the trigger break (activation of the electronic microswitch) is felt. Turning the adjuster clockwise brings the post-travel limit forward, while counterclockwise moves it back.
Pre-Travel: This adjusts the forward limit of the trigger’s swing. Turning the adjuster clockwise moves the pre-travel limit back, while turning counterclockwise moves it forward. The pre-travel limit must be set far enough forward so that the trigger can reset after each shot.
Magnetic Return Force: Turning this adjuster clockwise brings it closer to the trigger return magnet, increasing the weight of the trigger pull, while turning it counterclockwise makes the trigger pull lighter.
As far as the electronic safety is concerned, in the Hunting mode that I have my test rifle set to, you must press the button immediately in front of the trigger so that it glows red in order to take your shot. Simply press it again if you don’t want to take the shot and the red glow will stop, and the trigger will be safe again – simples!

Conclusion
To sum up, then, the Epoch is not only insanely accurate and good fun to get to know, but it is also manufactured to a quality that is rarely seen in the world of airguns. It’s the kind of rifle you’d love to display on the wall to admire, yet also can’t wait to take it to the range and spend as much time with it as possible.

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gun
features

  • Name: : Skout Epoch
  • Type: : PCP
  • Calibre: : .177 and .22
  • Barrel Length:: 25” (635mm)
  • Overall Length: : 35.2” (895mm)
  • Weight: : 9.5lbs (4.3kg)
  • Energy: : 11.7ft/lbs
  • Price:: £2,700 (guide)
  • Contact:: ASI - www.a-s-i.co.uk
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