Blackwolf Blackwolf and Sub-MOA Barrels Review

[Franklink]

As part of the SubMOA testing project, I've had two more of their barrels for about 7-8 weeks now.

The difference between the second set and the first set was that they ran the second set through the automated polishing machines for a lot longer. Of course the big question being, would that extra polishing make a difference in accuracy/precision.

Due to work schedule, my knee injury, and general timing, comparing the less polished to the more polished barrels ran parallel to the addition of the plenum stuffer and transfer port restrictor.

The last 6-8 100 yard EBR cards that I've shot with pellets (and shared here) have been from the more polished 1:22 barrel. Those scores have been hovering around 230, which is quite a bit better than the 205 average I was getting with the first/less polished 1:22 barrel. And that coincides with the plenum stuffer and TP restrictor being utilized. So, since we changed two variables at once, was the massive improvement in 100 yard scores due to the barrel swap? Or the flow restriction devices?

To answer that question, I swapped back to the less polished 1:22 barrel that I started this journey with, the one that was averaging 100 yard scores around 205 for the first two-ish months of this project. BUT, I left the plenum stuffer and the TP restrictor in place. I shot two 100 yard cards last night. One with AEA 22.07s at 970fps, and one with JSB MRD Shallows @ 930fps.
The AEAs scored a 227, and the MRDs scored a 234, the highest 100 yard card I've shot to date from the Blackwolf. To repeat, that 227 and 234 last night was with the first 1:22 Sub-MOA barrel, the one that was only averaging scores around 205, before the flow restricting devices.

Conclusion: @Arzrover was spot-on in his early hypothesis that the Blackwolf HiLite was overdriving .22 pellets, even heavy ones. That excess air was creating instability in the pellets somewhere, either from blasting the skirts into obturating in an undesirable way when the air pulse hit them, or turbulence at the muzzle as they left the barrel, or some combination of the above and maybe even other bad juju of too much air. In other words, the accuracy issues I was struggling with early on, when trying to shoot .22 pellets, were related to the excess air flow.

Here's that 234 from last night from the first/less polished 1:22 barrel. Even the five shot sighters group was probably a 46. The wind got away from me a bit on the bottom left group, but it was a easily accounted for after those two shots got pushed left. The only seven in all thirty shots was that first shot, in the sighters group. Other than the one sighters 7, we ended up with 18 tens, 5 or 6 9s, and 5-6 8s. Depending on plugging.

Pretty freaking cool to have pellets track so properly @ 100 yards. Wind and operator inputs should be the only thing making the pellets NOT hit that 0.475" 10 ring, and it's cool when you get the experience a gun/pellet combo that put you back in the driver seat, instead of frustratingly watching flyers that weren't your fault.

Oh yeah, nearest weather station shows I had sustained winds from 9-12mph during this 234 card. Which agrees with what my wind ribbons were doing.

 

[Solo1]

Well done! Interesting indeed! Please when you get to it try removing the plenum reducer and keep the port restricted and shoot a card to see which has more effect.

 

[Franklink]

I seem to be having enough daylight in the evenings after work to shoot a couple cards, when I get the motivation to make it happen.
I shot two cards last night, using the JSB .22/28.55 Grands.

I went back to the second 1:22 SubMOA barrel, the one that was run through the polishing machine more. The first 1:22 and the first 1:16 went to another tester. I realized I didn't point this out yet, but in my notes on each of the targets I've been using the following designations to specify which barrel they're from. Either just a "1:22" or a "1. 1:22" or "2. 1:22." The first two of those will be from anything shot from the first 1;22 barrel. The "2.1:22" will be results from the more polished barrel, the "2" noting that it's 2nd one that I was asked to test. I've been using the same designation for the 1:16 results, although I've shot the 1:16s much less than the 1:22 twist rate barrels.

Still using the TP restrictor, plenum stuffer, and the blue spring.

This first card is kind of messy. I was using various power wheel settings, between 14 and 20. That hammer spring tension was producing 910-920fps with the Grands.

Nothing amazing on the first card. Some of the shots just didn't track well. The really low one on the bottom right hit where the paper curls up in my pellet trap, and so went through the paper a couple times. That shot was a pretty egregious flyer. With the flyer just being conveniently ignored, that 216 is a bit generous.


The entire second card was shot using a 12 on the hammer spring tension wheel, which coincided with only 890fps with the current muzzled configuration of the Blackwolf. This card was fairly respectable.

Conclusion
The way I've got the BW currently configured seems to best agree with pellets in the 20-25 grain range. I think these 28.55 Grands are a bit heavy for all the power reducing add-ons. There also may be some rifling/speed mismatches between these 28.55s and the 1:22 barrel and the speeds I was shooting them last night. The Grands have proven to be a very good 100 yard pellet for me from a slow twist (1:30) polygonal rifled barrel, going 950fps +. These SubMOA barrels have a unique rifling profile and it'll take some more testing to figure out if they can do better with Grands, or not. I'm curious how the 1:16 barrel will do with the 28.55 Grands. I'm also curious to see the effect of bumping the Grands up into the 950+ range from either the 1:22 or the 1:16 barrels.


I was surprised to see them doing better @ 890 than they were @ 920, given how faster seems better over the couple thousand of the Grands I've shot in the last couple years. But again, different rifling profile and trust rate.

Now, despite the 28.55s not doing as good as the 20-25grain pellets I've been shooting in the last few weeks, the Grands DID shoot a 228 last night, and had a 100 yard 5x5 average of 1.5." Both of which are fairly respectable.

 

[Franklink]

Left work a bit early yesterday for a PT appointment and ended up with some time after that for shooting.

I decided to break out the good stuff. I have a batch of MRDs that are exceptional. Theyre about 2021-2022 vintage. Which is supposedly a few years after MRDs were at their peak, quality-wise. But this batch is special enough that they typically get reserved for matches. Until yesterday evening.

Conditions were decent, but not amazing. I was shooting from a little after 5pm til about 535. So winds around 6mph. Weather station 3 miles away recorded 6mph sustained but I was seeing more variability at my house, timing my shots for what I liked, based on what the wind ribbons were doing.



I shot two cards with the special MRDs. Both @ 100 yards. And all sequentially, like this,


starting top left and going down that card like reading a page in a book, and then doing the same on the card on the right. I refilled between the third and fourth targets on the right page, because I could tell a had a really good card going, and because fps was starting to drop.

Here they are in more detail...


First shot was a bit low and left so dialed up and right and shot that 5 shot 0.875" group in the upper left. Them just went down sequentially. The seven on the middle right bull was the only flyer of the 61 shots session, and a minor one at that.

And then went right into the next one...


This one is really quiet special. Only one 8, out of 30 shots.

So, that's 12, 5 shot groups @ 100 yards that average just under 1moa. Big smiles.

As I've noted before, my benchrest mentality is....non-existent. I don't shoot 3-5+ sighters for every shot that "counts." I don't have sophisticated wind flags on ball bearings at 10 yard increments, just two ribbons (think surveyors tape) staked out, one @ 30 yards and one @ 100 yards. I'm not weighing and sizing pellets. I suppose it could be argued that I "sort" in a macro sort of way, by lot #s, not by actual sorting through each tin. What I'm getting at is that a true benchrest shooter, applying all that benchrest-typical process, could probably push this rig, in current configuration and with this batch of pellets, into the low to maybe even mid-240s.

 

[Centercut]

Nice shooting. 237 would win most big competitions, and over 240 is unheard of. I hope you bring that gun to Williams this year in July, looking forward to seeing how it/you do. Good reviews!

 

[Franklink]

Today was my first day off work since Jan 25th, and first time shooting since Jan 29th. Had a bunch of stuff that needed done around the house so didn't have much time to shoot. It was windy anyways so it wasn't too much of a heartbreaker. I did, however, have a chance to shoot 1, 100 yard card this evening.

This was the winds... Card shot from about 515-530.

Scored a 219 and the 6 group average was 1.6"/1.53MOA.

Given the fickle wind, and a sub par batch of MRDs, not too bad.

High point was a ten on the very first, cold shot (upper left bull). Gun had been sitting since the last time I shot it, exactly 7 days ago.

 

[Franklink]

Highly related, so sharing the link here.

F

Realistic Expectations

Feb 9, 2026

Based on some recent comments and conversations, it seems that many airgunners expect a gun to come out of the box performing at its peak potential. I understand the idea of "I paid the premium for a high-end airgun, the very first 5 shot group at 100 yards out of the box should be submoa." Or, the "there's no excuse for a new $2, 3, 4k etc airgun to not be able to shoot starling eyes at 100 yards right after I sight it in." In these discussions, we even see the warranty claims folks jump in and be upset that their gun doesn't shoot as good as so and so's gun, so they should be eligible...

• Franklink
• Replies: 122
• Forum: General Discussion

• 
• 

The targets in that link were shot with the BW.

 

[Franklink]

As requested (demanded?) I guess I'm going to move to the OEM Blackwolf HiLite barrel.

I tinkered with it a bit late last night.

I was surprised to find that it's a 6 land and groove, versus the more typical-for-Daystate 5 grooves. And it is undeniably a polygonal rifled barrel. It's this type of polygonal rifling, subtle lands without any sharp edges.

The barrel is 28inches long. And it's choked. It does have the usual LW tight section at the breech end, but where it loosens up after that is still giving some resistance to the projectile, so it's not over-bored. Crown looks good. 1:18 rifling, per the flagged cleaning rod method, so likely a standard 1:17.7" Lothar twist rate. The rifling engraving on pellets looks nice and symmetrical. In short, no red flags from the visual inspection.

@Arzrover recently reminded me that this particular barrel showed some promise when he had this gun for a week on its way to me. He said that was with MRDs in the 950-960 range.

I was disappointed to find that the BW was empty of air last night when I went out to the gun room. I didn't feel like tearing into it but suspect when I do that I'll find the leak is due to our experimental transfer port design. What was brought to me consists of a modified rear valve body, bored out to accept a forked transfer port support. The poppet/valve stem slides between that forked transfer port support, and the reduced transfer port "disk" sits on top of that forked support. What I'm imagining, is that the valve stem rubbing against the forked transfer port may have created some debris that worked its way to the sealing surface of the valve. @Arzrover shared some photos of an improved transfer port reduction disk that doesn't require modifying the valve the way the prototype that I've had in place requires. Regardless, I shouldn't have any issues getting the gun to hold air again, even if I have to go back to the non-modified rear valve body.

Anyway, I aired it up, and took a couple shots over the chrono (despite the leak) to see what the plenum reduction + transfer port restrictor + 28 inch factory barrel would do. Blue spring, reg pressure of 150 bar. 25.4grain MRDs are maxing out around 945fps, so the power restrictors are certainly doing what they're intended to do.

I'll share more as I get a chance to shoot it.

"Like, share, and subscribe!"
Just kidding.

 

[Danman]

(demanded?) I guess I'm going to move to the OEM Blackwolf HiLite barrel

Literally the only reason i'm here right now
Don't be shy about trying some slugs too! Do you think heavy or light choke? Im also surprised by the difference land/groove number!

 

[Franklink]

Literally the only reason i'm here right now
Don't be shy about trying some slugs too! Do you think heavy or light choke? Im also surprised by the difference land/groove number!

I'd rate it as a moderate choke.

Not extremely tight, but also not a subtle choke.

Very obvious when I hit the choke, and certainly takes more effort to pop through the choke, but not the really tight kind where you've literally got to tap the cleaning rod to clear the choke.

To really answer your question, I don't think it's too tight of a choke that It rules out slugs. It's slightly tighter than the .20 Ghost barrel that loves slugs so much.

 

[Franklink]

There have been some recent comments from folks interested in seeing some OEM results. So, I converted the Blackwolf into OEM form, which equated to pulling the transfer port restriction, plenum reducer, modified valve components, and swapping back to the 28" 1:17.7" polygonal rifled Lothar barrel mentioned in the last post.

The 28" barrel, and a 7" moderator create a VERY long gun. I noticed that the extra barrel length helped minimize the report of the rifle. The OAL would be pretty ridiculous for a walking-around rifle, but for use as a strict bench howitzer, it's more positive than negative. Also, I almost felt that I needed to push my targets out another yard, to ensure that I'm still at 50 and 100 yards.

All this shooting in this report is somewhat quick and dirty. The regulator pressure was kept at 150 bar for all of it. The only "tuning" I did was hammer spring pressure, swapping the spring a few times, and dialing in more or less hammer spring via the adjustment wheel. To do it right, there's way more to it than that. This is meant more as a representation of the initial stages of figuring out what the gun is capable of, and working towards optimizing that to what a potential owner wants out of the gun.


SLUG RESULTS

Red hammer spring ( the OEM hammer spring).
I shot my four heaviest on-hand slugs.
38.5grain Nische/Thomas = 920fps on MAX, but "10" @ 890 seemed more accurate. 72.4 and 67.7fpe, respectively.
40 grain Altaros ATP King = 915 on MAX, but "10" @ 885 were better. 74.4 and 69.6fpe, respectively.
38.5 grain Altaros ATP Long = 890 @ "4"
36 grain Corbin Hollow Point = 905 @ "4"

100 yards. Shot the slugs one morning before the winds kicked up, ie. fairly decent conditions.
General thoughts on 10 versus 5 shot groups is that we can divide by 1.2-1.3 to get an estimate of 5 shot group size. Reminder that the 8 ring has a 2inch diameter on these EBR practice targets.

Top is 2, 10 shot groups from the Nische/Thomas slugs.
Middle is 2, 10 shot groups from the Altaros ATP King slugs.
Bottom left is 10 shots from the 35.8grain Altaros ATP Long slugs. (I suspect barrel was getting leaded around here, based on results and all the lead glitter on the patches after cleaning the barrel afterwards)
Bottom right is 10 shots from the 36grain Corbin Hollow Point Slugs.
MOA coin in there for some size reference.

JSB .22/28.55 GRANDS

The heaviest quality .22 pellets that I keep around are the 28.55 grain Grands. So they were also tested in OEM form, 28inch barrel and red spring.
MIN hammer tension put them right at 1000fps, lol. (63.4 fpe)
MAX hammer tension (just for kicks and giggles) pushed them up to 1045. (69.25fpe)

The wind conditions this day looked like this, so pretty poor conditions...(gusts in pink, sustained just left of that in black)

This was the first attempt.

I've never shot the Grands that fast (haven't ever had anything that could push them to 1000fps) and I was surprised at how well they did. This next 6x5 was shot right after the one above.

And that one was even better! My wind was an almost 90 degree left to right, and it was requiring some serious faith in holding off the 0.2-0.6mils. But when the wind held consistent, even with those high wind speeds, they were settling in to where I wanted them pretty decently, a couple of flyers, but overall better than is to be expected from a pellet going 1000fps.


JSB .22/25.4grain MRDs

I ran some 25.4grain MRDs over the chrono with the red/OEM spring, just to see what we were getting. But didn't shoot any of them for accuracy testing (simply too fast).
MIN = 1040fps (61 fpe)
MAX = 1080fps (65.8fpe)


White Spring

I tried four different projectiles with the white spring.
JSB .22/25.4 MRDs
NSA .22/20.2s
JSB .22/18.13s
AEA .22/21.9s.

Chrono #s for:

• MRDs
  • They maxed out at 900fps with the white spring. I tried to shoot a few but accuracy was poor here.
  • The MRDs are going to need the blue spring with this barrel and reg pressure (future shooting session). In my opinion, the red spring was too much for the MRDs, and the white spring wasn't enough.
• NSA 20.2s
  • MIN = 710
  • MAX = 1010
  • Tried these at various speeds from 710 to 1010 and there wasn't much there worth reporting on, generally poor accuracy. Not enough precision to bother with any further.
• JSB 18.13s
  • @ "10" produced 940fps- some acceptable accuracy here, groups @ 30 and 50 in a sec
• AEA 21.9s
  • @ "MAX" produced 985fps, groups at 50 yards here in a sec

This first one is all 18.1s.
Left column is 5 shot groups at 30 yards. Had a flyer there in the middle left column.
Right column is 10 shot groups at 50 yards. The shots hitting low and left corresponded with the 16-20mph gusts. An 18mph gust can take an 18grain pellet for a ride at even only 50 yards.

This last one is 4x 10 shot groups at 50 yards with the AEAs. The first group is top left. That first shot out by itself was the sighter, dialed right after that. You can see the barrel not liking the switch from quality soft JSB lead to the nearly-tin AEA alloy (can't hardly make myself call AEA lead). But once the barrel seasoned a bit the vertical of the next two groups was mostly within the 10 ring, which is 0.475." Horizontal dispersion is of course mostly the gusty conditions. The bottom right group I tried to hold for wind a little instead of aiming dead on, and the wind had switched around by then, so it didn't go well.

Summary/Conclusions/Opinions

The big question...Would I be pissed if I received this gun and these were the first groups I shot out of it? NOPE. There's enough promise in the above down and dirty, get to know the OEM Blackwolf, to work with.

And the "work" or rather optimizing/tuning that I feel needs to be done to get the most out of the gun in OEM form?

• The barrel needs polished. I cleaned it a couple times throughout the above shooting and it was glittered up with lead flecks each time. Incidence of flyers should go down after some polishing. And the cleaning interval should extend as well.
• OEM Blackwolf needs the spring kit for being able to go through the projectiles I went through above.
  • Red spring for 36+ slugs
  • Blue spring for 25.4 and 28.55 pellets, and likely midweight slugs, so blue for projectile weights in the 24-30ish grain weight range (this assumption is yet to be tested, but putting the blue spring in the gun and seeing how it does with the 28" OEM barrel and 25.4 and 28.55 grain JSB pellets is next on the menu)
  • White spring for 18-22grain pellets. And might even get away with going down into the 14grain weight, for a .22. Likely optimized by a lower reg pressure.
• The BW has adjustable: reg pressure, hammer springs, hammer spring tension. It's possible to get the same fps from multiple combinations of settings. High reg/low hammer versus low reg/high hammer for example. Figuring out which of those is best for the desired use is all part of the enjoyment of airguns.

It's not as pleasant to shoot without the experimental transfer port restriction and plenum reducer in place, more of a burpy report. BUT, it is much more amenable to large weight variations without the power limiting devices.

Yes the BW is an expensive gun. Some of that price is paying for the name. Some of that price is paying for the warranty and long-term service. Some of that is paying for the modularity and adjustability. Expect to need to experiment with all the variables to get it to peak performance. Most of the folks I've seen be competitive in the various flavors of competition are highly capable tuners. We throw that word "tune" or "tuning" around a lot in this hobby. And most of the idea behind "tuning" can be summed up as simply working through the variables to figure out which combination produces the best results.

Sweet gun.

 

[Billm]

You asked me to post my comment about the plastic used in the chassis version of the Black wolf. I’m not really sure wanted me to post. But, I do have a question about the plastic portion of the chassis. Is the plastic a cover plate or insert that is attached to the underlying aluminum chassis and more for aesthetics? Or is it actually a structural component of the chassis? If it is part of the structural integrity, is it pretty substantial as far as mass and strength?

 

[Franklink]

You asked me to post my comment about the plastic used in the chassis version of the Black wolf. I’m not really sure wanted me to post. But, I do have a question about the plastic portion of the chassis. Is the plastic a cover plate or insert that is attached to the underlying aluminum chassis and more for aesthetics? Or is it actually a structural component of the chassis? If it is part of the structural integrity, is it pretty substantial as far as mass and strength?

@Billm , when I shared that I was trying to link you back to where I went over the plastic section of the stock.

It doesn't look like a link, but you can click on it to take you to some detailed photos and discussion of the stock.

F

Blackwolf Post in thread 'Blackwolf and Sub-MOA Barrels Review'

Nov 12, 2025

I had to take another really close look to figure out what's aluminum and what's textured plastic.

• The rubber coated cheepiece is plastic with the aforementioned rubber coating.
• The buttpad where the rubberized nibs are is also plastic (this one was hard to tell).
• The adjustable hardware on both the cheekpiece and buttstock are metal.
• There are plastic bushings in the aluminum frame that center the steel rods on the adjustable portions.
• The midsection of the stock is plastic. This next photo is the best representation of how to show what's plastic and what's not. Red is...

• Franklink

• 

 

[Danman]

There have been some recent comments from folks interested in seeing some OEM results. So, I converted the Blackwolf into OEM form, which equated to pulling the transfer port restriction, plenum reducer, modified valve components, and swapping back to the 28" 1:17.7" polygonal rifled Lothar barrel mentioned in the last post.

The 28" barrel, and a 7" moderator create a VERY long gun. I noticed that the extra barrel length helped minimize the report of the rifle. The OAL would be pretty ridiculous for a walking-around rifle, but for use as a strict bench howitzer, it's more positive than negative. Also, I almost felt that I needed to push my targets out another yard, to ensure that I'm still at 50 and 100 yards.

All this shooting in this report is somewhat quick and dirty. The regulator pressure was kept at 150 bar for all of it. The only "tuning" I did was hammer spring pressure, swapping the spring a few times, and dialing in more or less hammer spring via the adjustment wheel. To do it right, there's way more to it than that. This is meant more as a representation of the initial stages of figuring out what the gun is capable of, and working towards optimizing that to what a potential owner wants out of the gun.


SLUG RESULTS

Red hammer spring ( the OEM hammer spring).
I shot my four heaviest on-hand slugs.
38.5grain Nische/Thomas = 920fps on MAX, but "10" @ 890 seemed more accurate. 72.4 and 67.7fpe, respectively.
40 grain Altaros ATP King = 915 on MAX, but "10" @ 885 were better. 74.4 and 69.6fpe, respectively.
38.5 grain Altaros ATP Long = 890 @ "4"
36 grain Corbin Hollow Point = 905 @ "4"

100 yards. Shot the slugs one morning before the winds kicked up, ie. fairly decent conditions.
General thoughts on 10 versus 5 shot groups is that we can divide by 1.2-1.3 to get an estimate of 5 shot group size. Reminder that the 8 ring has a 2inch diameter on these EBR practice targets.

Top is 2, 10 shot groups from the Nische/Thomas slugs.
Middle is 2, 10 shot groups from the Altaros ATP King slugs.
Bottom left is 10 shots from the 35.8grain Altaros ATP Long slugs. (I suspect barrel was getting leaded around here, based on results and all the lead glitter on the patches after cleaning the barrel afterwards)
Bottom right is 10 shots from the 36grain Corbin Hollow Point Slugs.
MOA coin in there for some size reference.

JSB .22/28.55 GRANDS

The heaviest quality .22 pellets that I keep around are the 28.55 grain Grands. So they were also tested in OEM form, 28inch barrel and red spring.
MIN hammer tension put them right at 1000fps, lol. (63.4 fpe)
MAX hammer tension (just for kicks and giggles) pushed them up to 1045. (69.25fpe)

The wind conditions this day looked like this, so pretty poor conditions...(gusts in pink, sustained just left of that in black)

This was the first attempt.

I've never shot the Grands that fast (haven't ever had anything that could push them to 1000fps) and I was surprised at how well they did. This next 6x5 was shot right after the one above.

And that one was even better! My wind was an almost 90 degree left to right, and it was requiring some serious faith in holding off the 0.2-0.6mils. But when the wind held consistent, even with those high wind speeds, they were settling in to where I wanted them pretty decently, a couple of flyers, but overall better than is to be expected from a pellet going 1000fps.


JSB .22/25.4grain MRDs

I ran some 25.4grain MRDs over the chrono with the red/OEM spring, just to see what we were getting. But didn't shoot any of them for accuracy testing (simply too fast).
MIN = 1040fps (61 fpe)
MAX = 1080fps (65.8fpe)


White Spring

I tried four different projectiles with the white spring.
JSB .22/25.4 MRDs
NSA .22/20.2s
JSB .22/18.13s
AEA .22/21.9s.

Chrono #s for:

• MRDs
  • They maxed out at 900fps with the white spring. I tried to shoot a few but accuracy was poor here.
  • The MRDs are going to need the blue spring with this barrel and reg pressure (future shooting session). In my opinion, the red spring was too much for the MRDs, and the white spring wasn't enough.
• NSA 20.2s
  • MIN = 710
  • MAX = 1010
  • Tried these at various speeds from 710 to 1010 and there wasn't much there worth reporting on, generally poor accuracy. Not enough precision to bother with any further.
• JSB 18.13s
  • @ "10" produced 940fps- some acceptable accuracy here, groups @ 30 and 50 in a sec
• AEA 21.9s
  • @ "MAX" produced 985fps, groups at 50 yards here in a sec

This first one is all 18.1s.
Left column is 5 shot groups at 30 yards. Had a flyer there in the middle left column.
Right column is 10 shot groups at 50 yards. The shots hitting low and left corresponded with the 16-20mph gusts. An 18mph gust can take an 18grain pellet for a ride at even only 50 yards.

This last one is 4x 10 shot groups at 50 yards with the AEAs. The first group is top left. That first shot out by itself was the sighter, dialed right after that. You can see the barrel not liking the switch from quality soft JSB lead to the nearly-tin AEA alloy (can't hardly make myself call AEA lead). But once the barrel seasoned a bit the vertical of the next two groups was mostly within the 10 ring, which is 0.475." Horizontal dispersion is of course mostly the gusty conditions. The bottom right group I tried to hold for wind a little instead of aiming dead on, and the wind had switched around by then, so it didn't go well.

Summary/Conclusions/Opinions

The big question...Would I be pissed if I received this gun and these were the first groups I shot out of it? NOPE. There's enough promise in the above down and dirty, get to know the OEM Blackwolf, to work with.

And the "work" or rather optimizing/tuning that I feel needs to be done to get the most out of the gun in OEM form?

• The barrel needs polished. I cleaned it a couple times throughout the above shooting and it was glittered up with lead flecks each time. Incidence of flyers should go down after some polishing. And the cleaning interval should extend as well.
• OEM Blackwolf needs the spring kit for being able to go through the projectiles I went through above.
  • Red spring for 36+ slugs
  • Blue spring for 25.4 and 28.55 pellets, and likely midweight slugs, so blue for projectile weights in the 24-30ish grain weight range (this assumption is yet to be tested, but putting the blue spring in the gun and seeing how it does with the 28" OEM barrel and 25.4 and 28.55 grain JSB pellets is next on the menu)
  • White spring for 18-22grain pellets. And might even get away with going down into the 14grain weight, for a .22. Likely optimized by a lower reg pressure.
• The BW has adjustable: reg pressure, hammer springs, hammer spring tension. It's possible to get the same fps from multiple combinations of settings. High reg/low hammer versus low reg/high hammer for example. Figuring out which of those is best for the desired use is all part of the enjoyment of airguns.

It's not as pleasant to shoot without the experimental transfer port restriction and plenum reducer in place, more of a burpy report. BUT, it is much more amenable to large weight variations without the power limiting devices.

Yes the BW is an expensive gun. Some of that price is paying for the name. Some of that price is paying for the warranty and long-term service. Some of that is paying for the modularity and adjustability. Expect to need to experiment with all the variables to get it to peak performance. Most of the folks I've seen be competitive in the various flavors of competition are highly capable tuners. We throw that word "tune" or "tuning" around a lot in this hobby. And most of the idea behind "tuning" can be summed up as simply working through the variables to figure out which combination produces the best results.

Sweet gun.

Lothar Walther barrels do love Jsb lead, Got any 25gr KO slugs to try out? I'd be curious!
Ive been thinking.....every airgun i bought, after careful review and lots of reading i knew exactly what ammo to start out with, and have always had good results right out of the gate.
Does Daystate (or AOA?) have a certain pellet/slug they recommend for this behemoth for best results? It ships with 3 springs so definitely out of the box it can shoot a large variety of heavy pellets and slugs.

 

[Franklink]

Lothar Walther barrels do love Jsb lead, Got any 25gr KO slugs to try out? I'd be curious!
Ive been thinking.....every airgun i bought, after careful review and lots of reading i knew exactly what ammo to start out with, and have always had good results right out of the gate.
Does Daystate (or AOA?) have a certain pellet/slug they recommend for this behemoth for best results? It ships with 3 springs so definitely out of the box it can shoot a large variety of heavy pellets and slugs.

I have not seen a recommendation for a particular pellet/slug from the Blackwolf HiLite.

 

[Billm]

@Billm , when I shared that I was trying to link you back to where I went over the plastic section of the stock.

It doesn't look like a link, but you can click on it to take you to some detailed photos and discussion of the stock.

F

Blackwolf Post in thread 'Blackwolf and Sub-MOA Barrels Review'

Nov 12, 2025

I had to take another really close look to figure out what's aluminum and what's textured plastic.

• The rubber coated cheepiece is plastic with the aforementioned rubber coating.
• The buttpad where the rubberized nibs are is also plastic (this one was hard to tell).
• The adjustable hardware on both the cheekpiece and buttstock are metal.
• There are plastic bushings in the aluminum frame that center the steel rods on the adjustable portions.
• The midsection of the stock is plastic. This next photo is the best representation of how to show what's plastic and what's not. Red is...

• Franklink

• 

Now it makes sense to me. I’m a little slow sometimes lol.

 

[Franklink]

Now it makes sense to me. I’m a little slow sometimes lol.

Not entirely your fault.

I could sure be doing it wrong but linking to a particular post like this is a bit clunky here on HAM. The link ends up not looking like a link, it almost seems more like a screen grab.

 

[Billm]

Not entirely your fault.

I could sure be doing it wrong but linking to a particular post like this is a bit clunky here on HAM. The link ends up not looking like a link, it almost seems more like a screen grab.

I actually read your comments and it slipped my mind I guess. I didn’t remember it, until I just reread your thread. I don’t know if it’s old age or too many times under general anesthesia lol.
It wouldn’t be a disqualifier for me. But, it doesn’t exactly support his comments about quality over Chinese, East European and Turkish airguns.
I sure wish I had made the trip to the British Shooting Show.

 

[Solo1]

Gee Cole it seems like it was actually a good thing that you went back to stock with no expectations yourself to see what would happen win or loose.

 

[Franklink]

I actually read your comments and it slipped my mind I guess. I didn’t remember it, until I just reread your thread. I don’t know if it’s old age or too many times under general anesthesia lol.
It wouldn’t be a disqualifier for me. But, it doesn’t exactly support his comments about quality over Chinese, East European and Turkish airguns.
I sure wish I had made the trip to the British Shooting Show.

Generally speaking (not just in regards to the stock), the Blackwolf is built much better than Chinese and Turkish airguns.

The quality level between the BW and airguns coming out of Eastern European countries is a lot more similar. That's mostly coming from my place of owing 3 Taipans and using them extensively.