A Technical Obsession

The editor examines the process and results of hi-tech prototype creation

Before we get into the full fascinating facts of this month’s editor’s test, we need to establish something. The rifle you’re looking at within these pages and on the cover of this magazine is not the finished article; it’s a late-stage, pre-production prototype of Air Arms’ latest field target competition supergun, the XTi 50. Even that name has yet to be nailed on, and the same goes for that ‘disruptive’ stock pattern, but what we have here is close, possibly very close, to being the desired result, and I’ll bring you the full production model as soon as it’s signed off. For now, my intention is to let you into the world of hi-tech airgun development, where quite a few surprises await, and my use of the term ‘fascinating’ is well and truly justified.

THEN AND NOW

Next, I’d like you to thumb forward to page 34, where you’ll see a magnificent collection of Airmasters rifles from the 1980s. In their time, these guns were the very bleeding edge of field target rifle technology, and as a super-keen shooter who used one, I can distinctly recall more than one observer declaring this level of FT hardware ‘over the top’, ‘not in the spirit of the sport’ and most commonly ‘out of reach for most shooters’. There were further accusations that such technology would kill FT by pricing people out of the game, leaving the rich folks to claim the silverware.

THE TECHNO-GAP