At Extreme Benchrest 2025, Daystate Wolf Pack shooter John Bagakis was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about his air rifles.
John is one of those outstanding shooters who is extremely versatile. Sure, he may not win every time (who does?), but he is ALWAYS in contention for a top place in every discipline he shoots in every airgun shooting competition he enters. And that’s going back to Extreme Benchrest in 2017 when he burst into the airgun world with second place in the 100 Yard Sportsman Class.
So 100 Yard Benchrest? Field Target? Speed Silhouette? Big Bore? John is always there among the top shooters. That takes real skill and a level of versatility that is attained by very few other competitors in the competitive airgun shooting world.
For example, at Extreme Benchrest 2025, John placed first in the Extreme Big Bore Open Class (with an Air Force Texan). He also won the Extreme Class of the Extreme Field Target event (Below) with his Daystate Red Wolf.
So I asked this tough competitor to fill me in on the Daystate air rifles he uses to such effect.
John Bagakis And His Daystate Red Wolf
Over the years, John has most often been seen behind his Daystate Red Wolf air rifle. To me the Red Wolf is synonymous with him, particularly as he has modified the guns with his own, unique cocking handle and breech changes.
John’s regular air rifle is a .25 caliber Red Wolf HP. For many years it wore a red laminate stock, but it now sports a bright red Daystate GP (Grand Prix) chassis.
This Red Wolf is used for Speed Silhouette and Extreme Benchrest. John also used it for 100-Yard Benchrest, before acquiring the Daystate Blackwolf we’ll talk about later in this post.
Amazingly, John’s .25 caliber Red Wolf still uses its original barrel. He explains that it likes a diet of original 33.95 Grain JSB King Heavy pellets.
However it does have a couple of upgrades installed by fellow Wolf Pack member Glenn Horner. The carbon fiber barrel shroud is filled with silicone and functions as a harmonic moderator. Plus, there’s an Impulse Air moderator fitted at the muzzle end.
John tells me that this gun has been amazingly reliable for him over the years. The only parts he has needed to change have been the breech O ring and the valve a couple of times.
The only other major change to the gun has been a change of the PCB circuit board in 2024. Not because the first one failed, but because the newer board has a faster cycle time – John was out-running the old board’s reset rate in blazing Speed Silhouette action!
At the time of writing, John’s gun shows a 2,663 shot count on the new board. Estimating his annual round count at about 4,000, he makes a grand total of around 30,000 shots on this Red Wolf and it’s still working just fine!
Other mods are the charging adapter that John leaves permanently-mounted on the gun. This allows for easier, at bench, fills of High Pressure Air than is possible with the deeply-sunk location of the standard male quick disconnect.
Plus he has attached some RAW weights to the chassis. John says that this makes the gun feel better to him, with less “impulse” or “bounce” when fired.
Oh, then there’s the scope! John has an Athlon Cronus 4.5 – 29 x 56 scope fitted to this gun. An Accutac bipod provides support at the front end.
When I asked what John likes best about the Red Wolf, his reply was immediate. “Oh I love the electronic trigger!” he replied. “It’s amazing!!!”
In fact, John actually has a second Red Wolf in .177 caliber. This is used for conventional – that is not Extreme – Field Target competition. Here John values the gun’s capability to have three pre-set electronic programs.
He explained that he has the programs set to provide a choice of muzzle velocities: 920 FPS, 950 FPS and 980 FPS. He uses the appropriate power level dependent on the characteristics of the range he is shooting.
John Bagakis’ New Bench Gun. It’s A Daystate Blackwolf
This gun – serial number BW241005 – is actually an early prototype Blackwolf, John explained to me. Currently he’s having a lot of success feeding it with 33.95 Grain AEA pellets and using Monster Design magazines. John has mounted an Athlon Heras 10 – 50 x 60 scope on this baby.
This is also a chassis gun and John uses the RAW weights with this one, too.
As this is a relatively new gun for John, he has some thoughts for customizing it in future. Currently John’s Blackwolf has a similar barrel treatment to that of his Red Wolf.
Sure, it shoots well right now, but he’s toying with the idea of converting it to .30 caliber in future and installing a SubMOA barrel. Also, he’s interested in exploring the benefits of a shorter barrel – down to 23-Inches from the current 28-Inch length.
He’s also thinking about installing an Artcise ARCA-compatible front mount – a suggestion from fellow competitor Cameron Kerndt. (That’s just one example of the friendliness and helpfulness of the close-knit airgun community that John loves so much).
So what does John like about the Daystate Blackwolf?
He likes the power and the adjustable hammer spring capability. He also likes the trigger, although obviously it’s very different to the electronic job on the Red Wolf. He also values the extra air capacity provided by the HPA bottle and is achieving around 50 consistent shots per fill in the current configuration.
John also feels that the Volumax plena on his gun are beneficial in enabling that shot count and power combination.
John Bagakis Hunts Too!
And John hunts with airguns, too! He has recently returned from the 2025 Pork Slam Airgun hunt at Ted Nugent’s Ranch.
Included is the pig John harvested using is Airforce TeX REX .50 Cal. shooting a Mr Hollowpoint 385 Grain Hollowpoint bullet at 920FPS. Below we see John with Ted.
I’d like thank John Bagakis for taking the time to share details of his competition air rifles with us. One thing’s for certain, you’re going to see his name on the leaderboard many more times in the future!
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