I realize Steven Archer has already provided his thoughts on the new Daystate Delta Wolf in his July posting. Additionally, a background blurb was posted in March. Yet, as I have been provided with a loaner Delta Wolf in .25 caliber by the great people at Airguns of Arizona for articles in other publications, it seemed prudent not to let this opportunity go by.
Anyone following the storied history of the maker knows they’ve been at the PCP game over 40 years. PCPs are all they make and the Delta Wolf is the culmination of their years of experimentation and experience at building some of the finest air rifles out there. And, while Delta Wolf is a nice, strong name for this new airgun, if Daystate had me working in their marketing department, I’d have pressed for the name “Sans Kitchen Sink” model because they’ve thrown in everything but the kitchen sink!
Just to recap, in case you haven’t read the aforementioned posts, the Delta Wolf is an ambidextrous bullpup design sporting AR styling. It is the world’s first all electronically operated/controlled air rifle. That means the trigger control, hammer strike and dwell time on the valve are all controlled via a built-in computer and settable/programmable by the end user through an on-board touch screen. Air pressure is controlled by a Huma regulator that is easily adjusted by the shooter. The Delta Wolf is relatively light at 8 pounds and adding the new MTC King Cobra FFP 6-24x 50mm scope added another 1.8 pounds. Its picatinny scope rail is reminiscent of the carry handle on the original M16s with a built-in 3 degree slope and it is adjustable forward and back if the eye relief isn’t quite right. It uses an all metal flip open, easy-loading rotary magazine that has strong magnets to hold it in place. The magazine holds 10 rounds of .25 and easily accommodates long skirted or polymer-tipped pellets and slugs. Magazines can be inserted from either side of the rifle and that feature lends itself to another nifty trick of the Delta Wolf; two mags can be inserted – one on each side. Once one runs dry, the other can be pushed into place to continue shooting. Those Daystate engineers really had their thinking caps on!
Additional cool features include a metal trigger shoe that is adjustable vertically and for cant. It is connected to a fully adjustable match trigger which was breaking out of the box at a hair-trigger 6.9 ounces according to my trigger gauge. The cheekpiece is adjustable forward or back and the rubber buttpad can be adjusted vertically. The 480cc carbon fiber wrapped air reservoir is removeable and safe working pressure is 250 bar. An ambidextrous safety lever that will feel familiar to AR users also controls turning the LCD touch screen on if it has gone to sleep. Filling is accomplished from the bottom of the rifle via a male nipple that is protected by a neat little magnetic cover plate. The long, female quick-connect needed is provided with the rifle. The cocking handle is large, easily manipulated and smooth as butter. It is also easily swappable to the other side. A true carbon fiber barrel shroud surrounds the 23-inch German-made barrel optimized by Daystate A.R.T. – Accuracy Research Team – efforts, to give unparalleled results. The muzzle is threaded, yet requires an adapter in order to use a DonnyFL, 0dB (Zero decibel) or other suppressor. Since this thing is capable of launching heavy pellets at supersonic speeds, sound suppression might be a good investment if you are going for the upwards of 100 foot-pounds this beast is capable of.
The Delta Wolf is available in three other calibers: .177, .22 and .30, or the barrels can be purchased along with matching bolt probes and magazines and swapped out easily making this a most versatile platform.
Several factory settings are permanently stored in the onboard computer with the capability of user-input settings that can be saved in the Advanced Mode of operation.. Additionally, AofA pre-programs five settings in each rifle that goes out with one having the clever acronym WARP – With All Reserve Power – as in warp speed, because it maximizes the Delta Wolf’s tuning automatically. How? By using the chronograph that is built into the carbon fiber shroud! Yep, the Delta Wolf has an onboard chronograph, but you can’t tell it’s there. The velocity of each shot displays on the LCD screen as long as the unit is turned on. The results are not recorded or reviewable as the info is used by the computer to calculate consistent shots based on the user input. Still, it is a built-in chronograph! How cool is that?
Everything is powered by a rechargeable Li-Po battery held in the buttstock. It can be recharged using the supplied USB–C cable and any cell phone portable charging pack, wall charger or computer. Lastly, a Bluetooth module is incorporated to provide for future additional features and updates.
As you might have surmised, this kind of bleeding edge tech and engineering does not come cheap. AofA is the exclusive U.S. distributor for Daystate and Delta Wolfs are shipping now for $3395 as fast as they can get them in the door. It includes a 5-year warranty in the U.S., and comes in a nice, hard-side padded case with the aforementioned quick-connect fill adapter and 0-round magazine, a charging cord and package of O-rings. This new Delta Wolf air rifle has now set the bar for others to follow.
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