Airgunning

  Falcon FN19 Lighthunter .22 

Introduction

From the first time I saw a Falcon Lighthunter, I wanted one.  And after trying one from a fellow shooter (thanks Andries) at a Dutch FT shoot organised by the NFTI in Oostvoorne (the Netherlands), I decided it was time to order one.  Since I was looking for a pest control rig which was a bit beefier than my .177 rifles, I opted for a .22 FAC.  A 19 " version would still give me a reasonable amount of shots and as I consider airguns to be single shots by nature, an order for a single shot FN19 Lighthunter .22 FAC was sent to Blackpool Air Rifles. Three weeks later the rifle arrived at my office door (thanks boss).  

Not being famous for my patience, I ripped the paper from the box only to discover a cardboard box of a TX200.  Suppressing the upcoming urge to send a mail to BAR telling them they had sent me the wrong rifle, I opened the box, only to discover a second, smaller box containing the Falcon (OK Lloyd, you had me there for a moment, glad you didn't use a box of a Chinese B2).  This second box was filled with foam and the Falcon itself was rapped in "bubble plastic" (sorry, don't know the right word for it but you know what I mean, don't you), so as usually, the rifle was very well packed by the BAR staff (thanks Andrea).

First impressions
 

When I took the gun out of the box, I almost couldn't believe how light (I know, it's a lighthunter, but still...) and small it actually was.  The one I tried in the Netherlands was a 12" version which gave me the impression of having a pistol in my hands but also this 19" version is still a small framed gun.  The blueing of the metal seems good to me and at first sight the finish of the wood seems to be good too.  However when you start to look closer the finish of the wood could be better.  

Getting ready

Since I wasn't looking for ultimate pin point accuracy but for an easy-to-use pest control oriented gun, I decided to put my BSA Catseye 3.5-10x44 which I had lying around unused, on top of the Falcon.  I have never been very fond of this scope but I wanted a fuss free (read: no parallax adjustment, too much hassle when doing a pest control job, and suitable magnification), bright scope with a comfortable eye relief and field of view on the falcon. Believe it or not but the Catseye comes pretty close to this description.  No doubt there are better scopes out there, but for some reason, I like the Catseye on the Lighthunter; they seem to get along quite well.  

Just one more thing to do before I can get out and shoot the gun: get it filled.  I ordered the quick fill probe which is according to me indispensable. All you have to do now is open the filling port, insert the needle and open the scuba bottle.  Quick and easy.

I also attached the Falcon quick fill needle to a male Air Arms filling connector.  By doing so, I can use the filling set-up for my S400 also for the Falcon.  I just insert my Falcon needle with AA male connector to my filling set-up and attach it to the Falcon. Again, quick and easy: one filling set-up for both my PCP's.

Now that I have my combo together and filled the gun, it's time for some action.

Operation

It's remarkable how well the Lighthunter shoulders and balances.  Untill now, I always found a light gun difficult to shoot offhand since it is harder to keep a light gun steady.  Not so with the Lighthunter !!  The excellent pistol grip, balance and adjustable butt piece make the gun a delight to shoot offhand.  The standing and unsupported shots with the lighthunter are way better than with my other guns.

Loading and cocking the gun is a two-step proces, similar to the Hawk multi shot version. Pulling the loading bolt (the bold at the end of the action) backwards will open the loading area and allow you to insert a pellet in the loading port.  Pushing the bold forward again will insert the pellet in the breech.  At this moment the gun is loaded, but not cocked.  Cocking can be done by pulling the cocking bolt (at the right hand side of the gun) backwards.  Since my gun is FAC spec with a stronger hammer spring, cocking the rifle needs a firm pull (I haven't tried a 12 fpe spec gun but I assume the the cocking would be easier in that case).  The gun is ready to fire now.

The trigger can be adjusted for both length of the first stage and weight of pull, but it is necessary to remove the stock to do so. The trigger has no creep at all but the weight of pull was on the heavy side.  Having said that, it was not bad for a pest control rig and definitely manageable.  

The length of pull of the first stage is easily adjusted since you notice the change without having to cock the gun.  Adjusting the weight of pull is a different story.  At first it looked to me as if turning this set screw had no effect; I had either a heavy pull or the gun wouldn't cock.  After playing a bit with it, I noticed that the effective changes of the weight were withing about half a turn of the setscrew, going from the gun not cocking to a rather heavy pull.  Finding the right setting is therefor a bit delicate but it is definitely possible to set the trigger quite light.  I didn't set it too light however since this gun is going to be used in the field where I prefer a somewhat heavier trigger pull.

When I was preparing the gun for it's first shooting session, I had set about maximum preload to the hammer spring to test the maximum power of the gun.  With this setting H&N Field Target Trophy's (FTT's) were giving 922 fps (27.3 fpe) and H&N Baracuda's 794 fps (29.8 fpe).  I didn't expect this kind of power level so I was very impressed.  However after about 15 shots, the power fell rapidly so I decided to lower the power.  I was looking for about 22 fpe with FTT's but with as less preload on the hammer spring as possible, I still got 892 fpe (25.6 fpe) with FTT's and 747 fps (26.4 fpe) with Baracuda's.  Since I don't want to alter the hammer spring for now, I decided to leave the gun in this set-up. With these settings I get 27 usable shots (extreme spread 19 fps) for a 190 bar fill which is acceptable for my needs. 

I started testing the accuracy of the gun with FTT's because I really like FTT's; they shoot well in most of my guns, are medium weight and they are quite inexpensive over here.  When I start from scratch, I always zero my gun first at 15 m (16.5 yard) and the FTT's were giving one big ragged hole.  This doesn't sound too bad, but my S400 .177 shoots pellets through the same hole at that distance.  I extended the range to 25 m (27.5 yard) and groupings opened up to about 1.5 inch which I find pretty bad at this distance. As a comparison: my HW97K .177 loves FTT's and my S400 .177 does shoot them quite well (but not as good as AA Fields). Needless to say I was rather dissapointed in the performance of the FTT's in the Falcon.

So I switched to Baracuda's and all of a sudden I had one-hole groups (5 shots) at 25 m (27.5 yard).  The target below shows how good the groups are.  The overall diameter of the target is 2.5 cm (1 inch) so the groups are well below 0.5 inch (probably 0.2 - 0.3 inch ctc).

     5 shot group at 25 m (27.5 yard) with Baracuda's

I further extended the range to 30 m (33 yards) and I was still getting one-hole groups similar to the ones at 25 m.
 

     5 shot group at 30 m (33 yard) with Baracuda's

As mentioned before, the gun shoots Baracuda's at 747 fps in the present set-up.  To get a nice flat trajectory for long range shot, I would like to have a pellet which shoots accurate at about 850 fps.  I am waiting for some AA Fields now to see whether they perform well.  Being much lighter than the Baracuda's, they should be able to perform well and give a higher velocity.  More on this when I get a chance to test them.

Conclusion

So far I am really impressed by the Falcon.  Although some aspects of its build quality are open for improvement, it's still one of the best looking guns on the market. And it's a real performer since it handles, shoulders and balances better as most of the other rifles I have shot.  It's as accurate as any of my other guns which is even more impressive as it is a .22, has a simple, low magnification scope without parallax adjustment on it and the trigger pull isn't set match-light.  What could one wish for more on a pest control gun.

December 25, 2002 by Mario Severi