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This .30 caliber air rifle is the little brother carbine to the longer Magpul PRS-stocked version with minor give ups for the benefit of the lighter weight and portability in the field. It’s a tactically-styled beauty that is all business with obvious AR-15 DNA, it is no wonder that the grip and “Fixed Carbine” stock are Magpul MOE on the Magnon. Therefore, modding is the name of the game for those that want to swap parts with aftermarket AR-15 compatible components.

Thin and sporty and lightweight, the Magnon is one of several models of PCP air rifles produced by American Air Arms out of southern California. A small company started by an engineer who is an avid airgunner and airgun hunter, Tom Costan, they produce limited numbers each year. This smaller yearly output is a causal effect of the company’s mission and extreme quality. Their mission is to design and create airguns that meet specific vision, purpose and performance goals and are almost 100 percent American made. Except for the barrels, grips and bolts, all other components are designed, manufactured, and assembled in-house, allowing AAA complete control over quality. The outstanding fit and finish makes it easy to see the company is meeting its lofty goals. This airgun exudes quality with the main chassis parts and many components being made from the highest-grade aluminum and finished in matte black. The Magnon model weighs in at a mere six pounds without optics, thanks to the weight-saving benefits of a titanium air reservoir. The 250cc reservoir was made slimmer and thinner without sacrificing structural strength or safety.

Overall, the EVOL Magnon reaches a length of 32.5 inches with 15 inches of that being the shrouded, rifled steel barrel and an additional 5.75 inches for the housing containing the forcing cone air stripper which helps reduce the report. The EVOLs were built from the ground up around the available diabolo pellets and the barrels are optimized at the power levels and caliber weights to provide the best accuracy. The muzzle end is threaded to accept the proprietary air stripper unit (which will not fit other makes of airguns) and the breech end is threaded to screw into a massive lug as part of the breech block. Combined with the shroud, this produces a tensioned barrel system, far superior to barrels secured by set screws and Lock-Tite™. In combination with a chamber insert system that ensures consistent transition of pellets into engagement with the rifling, the result is a high level of accuracy due to the consistent repeatability.

Taking a tour starting from the top – the upper picatinny rail is a two-section design that spans the magazine slot with a 2.5-inch rear section and 3.25-inch section in front for a total of 6.25 inches for mounting optics. Additionally, the upper rail incorporates a 40 m.o.a. incline to aid the long-range shooter. An all-metal, 9-round, self-indexing rotary magazine is included with the Magnon, and next up is the buttery-smooth side lever that gives good mechanical advantage for cocking the heavy hammer spring (which is adjustable). The cocking lever is held closed until needed by a neodymium magnet. Sorry lefties, but this one is not swappable. Underneath the barrel is the 14-inch titanium air cylinder incorporating a black (nice touch) QD foster hose fitting on the right side, just opposite of the easily readable one-inch, color-coded pressure gauge marked only in PSI. A fill is to 4000psi. Beneath the air cylinder is a sturdy 10.25-inch picatinny rail to which I immediately attached a UTG folding bipod with extendable legs and 360° swivel capability.  Between the bottom pic rail and the trigger guard sits the regulator pressure gauge. Factory set for optimized results, it is user adjustable and will require a YouTube search for instructions. Just above the pistol grip in a convenient location for either-handed shooters is the ambidextrous safety switch. A sliding switch, it is easily engaged by pressing upward to “Safe”, which blocks the trigger movement. Next comes the curved metal trigger blade that has been left in the white as a nice contrast to the all-black finish. A sweet, adjustable two-stage match trigger, the sample gun had more takeup than I like, but the second stage broke like glass at a feathery 11.3 ounces out of the box.  In order to adjust the trigger, the lower must be separated from the upper and an easy-to-follow YouTube video by Tom Costan is on the web. Lastly, there is the Magpul MOE fixed stock. It provides a 14-inch length-of-pull and incorporates a hole where a QD swivel for a sling can be attached.

The EVOL comes with a three-year warranty that is transferrable. AofA is an authorized repair facility for the entire AAA line so you’d be in good hands should you need warranty service.

Building airguns really is a labor of love for AAA and I imagine that is how they came up with the name for this model (read it backwards…).  In the next installment I’ll report my results behind the EVOL .30 and hope to include some long-range results using NSA slugs depending on the weather and ability to get to the range. In the interim, check out the EVOL lineup on the AofA website.

The eleventh Extreme Benchrest event has now come and gone. As always, it saw some spectacular shooting, combined with outstanding organization, dedication and prefessionalism by the whole Airguns of Arizona team.

EBR remains THE outstanding airgun shooting event of the season. Thanks to all the AoA folk who make this possible!

So – if you weren’t there (and even if you were), here’s a round-up of the 2022 event…

The overall winner was Jeffrey Hernandez – that’s him looking slightly “shell shocked” in our heading photograph above.

Jeffery placed first in the prestige 100 Yards Benchrest competition in Pro Class with a score of 229 7X. Congratulations to him for some outstanding shooting!!!

In the photograph at top, Jeffrey takes center stage in the top row with Nikolai Boldov (left) who placed second with 225 4X while Mike Bricker (right) was third in Pro Class with a score of 216 1X.

Below, Lauren Parsons was shooting a Daystate Red Wolf with this very stylish red anodized PRS chassis stock and matching 0dB moderator.

Competitors came from around the world to shoot at EBR. I personally spoke to shooters from Lebanon, Denmark, Great Britain, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Spain and more.

Representing the international contingent, we see Soren Drost from Denmark, below. Thanks also to all those who took so much time and effort to travel to Arizona for the event!

The Action Armour Steel Scramble was a new Course of Fire for 2022’s EBR. This was an exciting test of versatility, accuracy and speed, with shooting from a variety of positions.

The winner was Justin Welch (center), with Dave Thornton (left) second and Pete Papathemetrios third. Congratulations to all!

The Speed Silhouette is another exciting competition, with some real speed shooting taking place. Pro Class winner Tom Adams is always amazing to watch as he loads, aims and fires, seemingly all at the same time.

That’s Tom in action, below. If you look closely, you can see that he has modified the cocking lever of his Daystate Red Wolf for faster operation.

Below, another highly-successful Daystate Wolf Pack shooter – John Bagakis – has also modified his Red Wolf for rapid fire use in Speed Silhouette competition.

For Extreme Benchrest 2022, KalibrGun sponsored the very popular Extreme Field Target competition.

This is another tough competition with flat, long-range shooting being a major requirement from the competitor’s air rifle

And watch out for the cacti!!!

The big bore competition is a class that’s growing steadily, year-on-year. Below we see Tom Costan, owner of American Air Arms, competing with one of his own very fine airguns

And – of course – all the competitors receive a “Goodie Bag”! The Extreme Benchrest 2022 bag contained a huge amount of useful stuff, as we can see below…

See you at Extreme Benchrest 2023!!!

Before getting into testing results with the Byrna less-lethal projectile launcher, a couple of other background bits of information are in order. Two five-round magazines ship in the fitted, zippered case and additional magazines can be ordered through AofA. Each magazine floor plate has two slots where locking tabs engage. Forward thinking Byrna engineers had the clever idea of including orange colored locking tabs to replace the standard black tabs as a quick visual indicator of which type of projectile is currently loaded in the magazine. These locking tabs are quick to swap out and one extra of each color is contained in the kit. Caution: take care when handling the loaded magazines as it is very easy to move the bar that holds the rounds in the magazine, causing it to empty immediately and send you chasing after little round balls. Don’t ask me how I know this.

The grip sports rubbery inserts having a “honeycomb” design which feels good in the hand. The grip is hand-filling however, when practicing with good technique even those with small hands should have no problem operating the device. Being a double-action only trigger, it is recommended that the first joint of the trigger finger be placed on the trigger to facilitate firing, as would be done with a revolver. A loaded chamber indicator on top of the unit pops up slightly if a projectile from the magazine is pushing against it. Once the magazine is removed, if a round is still in line with the barrel, simply pressing down on this loaded chamber indicator will release the ball out through the magazine well. Do not attempt to insert a fully loaded magazine if there is still one round in the breech or it can cause a jam. The safety lever disengages the trigger when activated, yet the trigger doesn’t feel that much different making it good for dry-firing practice while not activating all of the internal mechanisms. The unit also has a three slot picatinny rail located on the underside in front of the trigger guard for attaching lights or lasers as you may desire.

A big selling point to the Byrna SD (other than it’s less-lethal aspect) is that it can be stored with both a CO₂ cartridge and loaded magazine in place so it is instantly ready for action since the cartridge is not pierced until it is taken off safe and the trigger is pulled fully. As with any CO₂ powered airguns, the Byrna SD should never be stored with a partially used CO₂ cartridge as this will deteriorate the seals. Besides, if you are going to depend on this unit in an emergency, you’ll want a fresh, full cartridge in the device. The User Manual also states not to leave a loaded launcher in temperatures below 20 degrees F or above 120 F.

To keep the Byrna SD in good working order, after every 500 shots the mechanism should be oiled. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using special oiling cartridges that oil and cycle the mechanism at the same time. There is also an optional oiler kit to accomplish this maintenance task. Please contact my friends at AofA for further information.

The Byrna SD was fun to shoot and provided good accuracy out to the suggested 60-foot range. Of course, it’s very heavy double-action trigger, non-adjustable sights and smooth bore do not promote pin-point accuracy which was as expected. However, a dog or man- sized target at that range is easy to connect with, especially since the launcher can be fired as quickly as the trigger can be pulled. I did find my sample launcher shot high and to the right. Keep in mind when shooting the gas projectiles that they will be affected by the wind. Safety glasses are always recommended anyway when doing shooting sports and especially so with the Byrna. The report of the Byrna SD is fairly loud and sharp, so if practicing indoors hearing protection would be a good idea, as well as a backstop that will alleviate the practice projectiles bouncing back toward the shooter.

My results were as follows:

Shots per 8-gram cartridge averaged19. Once the pressure was too low to discharge a round, there was still enough CO₂ in the cartridge so that care should be taken to slowly remove the cartridge cap and control the release of remaining gas.

The Kinetic Projectiles, weighing 44.6 grains averaged 285.9fps at a mile above sea level on a 90-degree day. The Eco-Kinetic biodegradable rounds weighed 47.5 grains and averaged 279fps. The trigger pulls averaged 10 pounds, four ounces after the initial pull that pierces the cartridge and fires the first round. That first pull exceeded the 12-pound limit of my trigger gauge.

The warranty provided on the Byrna SD is one year to the original purchaser. Of course, should the user attempt to take it apart or use non-Byrna projectiles will void the warranty. The kit also contains a nicely done color User Manual that is very clear and easy to follow, although for us older users a larger type font would be appreciated. Also in the kit is a wallet card that indicates the Byrna SD is “Not a firearm under Federal Law” on the front and that it is TSA Approved on the back.

All of this protection and peace of mind comes at an MSRP of $399.99. The .68 caliber projectiles can be purchased in plastic bottles containing 95 rounds. The Eco-Kinetics run $34.99, the Kinetic Projectiles at $54.99 and a Professional Training Projectile runs $79.99. The chemical agent projectiles only come in the five-round tubes and cost $34.99 for the Byrna Max or $29.99 for the Byrna Pepper Projectiles. A 10-count package of 8-gram cartridges lists at $19.99. Please check them out by clicking on the active links or connecting with the fine folks at AofA.

I have been using the Labradar Doppler radar system for airgun testing for some time. With experience, I’ve learned some useful Labradar tricks and tips. Labradar is not difficult to use, but this experience may be useful to those of you just starting – or thinking of buying – Ladradar.

If you’re interested in determining the Ballistic Coefficients of your pellets and slugs, or understanding the performance of your airgun downrange, this is the way to go…

First a reminder. The primary benefit of using Labradar is that it is able to record the velocity of a projectile at multiple distances downrange.

Secondly, its accuracy is not dependent on light conditions or being exactly parallel to photo electric sensors – which can result in false readings. Both these things make it different from a traditional chronograph.

Generally I have found that Labradar performs better than the manufacturer claims. However, there are obviously some limitations to using it. We’ll cover these below.

I first published a post on using Labradar back in 2019. This post updates that with some additional tricks and tips. The current model being sold is the Labradar Lite. This is identical to the original version I have, except for the lack of Bluetooth functionality (which I don’t use anyway).

Labradar calculates FPS by recording radar waves as they bounce back to it from the pellet. For this reason, the radar waves can bounce back from a wall, ground or ceiling. That will cause incorrect FPS measurements. So…

Labradar cannot be used indoors. It’s best used outdoors in a “open field” environment. However I have found that it does work well in a covered shooting range, even if located next to a vertical post or other roof support.

Also, it works best set on a shooting bench or tripod. Don’t sit low to the ground.

Often, I’ll mount the unit on a small tripod and place that on the shooting table.

In order to work with an airgun, Labradar requires the use of an additional-cost microphone. This is supplied with a mounting bracket and plugs into the Labradar box. This microphone should be positioned just a little behind and to the side of the muzzle for correct operation.

I always use the foam wind guard that’s supplied with the microphone.

Before first use, you’ll need to set the Labradar unit to recognize the microphone as it doesn’t do this automatically. (Set the Trigger Source to “Trigger” instead of “Doppler” in the setup screen.

Use the sighting notch at the top of the unit to point Labradar in the correct direction – at the target, that is. This is pretty primitive and I experimented with using a short length of drinking straw in the notch as a “peep sight”.

But a little experience made sighting easier to do and the straw sighting system was discarded.

My testing has found that Labradar gives valid data at different ranges depending on the size and type of pellet or slug.

For .177 caliber, I obtain good results out to 35 Yards. Some pellets record out to 40 Yards as a maximum. That’s with lead pellets.

Generally, I cannot obtain valid data from alloy pellets in .177 caliber, however. That’s a limitation, although not a big one for most people.

In .22 caliber, I have had good success out to 50 yards, even with alloy pellets. Larger calibers record at longer distances, however 50 yards is the maximum I generally use. My Labradar is set-up to display FPS at the muzzle and at 10-Yard increments out to 50 Yards downrange.

The unit’s screen displays data from the last shot. V0 represents Muzzle Velocity (941 FPS) in this case. V10 means 10 Yards, V20 is 20 Yards, etc. The pistol icon means that it’s set-up to record relatively low Muzzle Velocities between 246 and 1,722 FPS – ideal for airgun use.

Another huge benefit of Labradar is that it is able to record and store data onto a SD card. You don’t have to write it down or type the FPS numbers into a computer.

However, I do make written notes of the shot FPS data at the time of testing. That helps when analyzing the data later when multiple different pellets are being tested.

I use SD cards previously used for digital cameras but replaced by higher capacity ones. As Labradar is generating data only, the file sizes are small and pretty-well any old SD card will have plenty of capacity.

The card can then be read using a PC. It appears as a .CSV file that can be opened, manipulated and organized using Microsoft Excel. Here’s how the raw .CSV file displays…

The columns headed Ke are an automatic calculation of Kinetic Energy using the Projectile Weight input by the user. Because I’m constantly testing different weight pellets, I make Kinetic Energy calculations in templates set-up in a spreadsheet (rather than resetting the Labradar unit each time) and so use only the first seven columns of data.

Unfortunately this Labradar output is next to impossible to open using a Mac 🙁

As I use Apple computers, I find it necessary to load the .CSV data into Excel using a PC. It’s then saved as an .XLS file and exported to a Mac. The Mac is able to read the .XLS file and I then manipulate the data using the Apple Numbers spreadsheet program.

Trust me, that’s the easiest way to use Labradar data on Mac!

Labradar can be powered using six common AA batteries. This does work, however my testing sessions often last several hours and this eats batteries fast! So, I prefer to power Labradar either by using a separate battery pack or, even better, using a cellphone power charger connected to a 110 Volt electricity supply.

With the rapidly-increasing interest in airgun BCs, for both pellets and slugs, more and more people are using Labradar to understand the performance capabilities of their airgun. And – of course – you can buy Labradar Lite from Airguns of Arizona. They have it in stock!

This post covers something a little different as it is about a less-lethal .68 caliber projectile launcher powered by CO₂. Resembling a modern semi-automatic firearm, it fills a niche between lethal means of self-protection and non-lethal.

Byrna Technologies, Inc. is a publicly-traded Massachusetts technology company specializing in the development, manufacture and sale of innovative non-lethal personal security solutions to Police, Government and Civilian buyers. They sell a variety of self-defense items and have a Law Enforcement & Private Security division dedicated to providing top-notch training to these groups. This training has received national certification from the International Assoc. of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards & Training.  The launchers have been purchased for use by school security professionals as well.

The Byrna SD (Self Defense) launcher can be ordered in two flavors, the Kinetic kit and the Pepper kit. Both come in a well-made zippered nylon case with padded compartments for the “gun”, an extra magazine, three tubes of projectiles, two 8-gram CO₂ cartridges and manual/paperwork. Everything you need to get started and be able to practice with the SD. This particular kit only contains what Byrna calls “Kinetic” projectiles. Two of the tubes contained hard plastic Kinetic projectiles and one contained their Eco-Kinetic projectiles which are biodegradable, leaving no trace. Obviously, in today’s climate, there are restrictive jurisdictions that regulate or outright prohibit an individual from possessing or using pepper sprays and tear gas. I received the SD Kinetic kit for review, and that probably was for the best as I don’t have a ready stable of volunteers to shoot OC gas balls at…

Byrna refers to this device as a “launcher” and “un-gun” as opposed to a “CO₂ gun”.  Its dimensions are: 5.62 inches tall by 7.25 inches long by 1.25 inches wide and it weighs in at a light one pound, ten ounces. An ambidextrous safety can be engaged at any time and disengages the trigger. They are made in Ft. Wayne, IN and contain 108 parts, so it is a pretty complex device. No user serviceable parts here and it voids the warranty if you take the Byrna SD apart. They also make a couple of rifle configurations however; this review is of the SD version of their pistol configuration.

This form of non-lethal self-defense tool is useful for deterring a threat from as far as 60 feet away. Initially, if you find yourself in a situation, simply presenting the Byrna SD might act as a deterrent due to its resemblance to a semi-auto firearm. Should the threat persist, pulling the heavy double-action trigger will pierce the CO₂ cylinder and fire the first round from the five-round magazine. Each subsequent trigger pull fires another kinetic projectile. If carrying an extra loaded magazine, pressing the magazine release situated behind the trigger on the left side – just like a majority of semi-auto handguns – allows for a quick swap. One 8-gram cartridge gives anywhere from 15 to 20+ full power shots before exhaustion. The SD can be effective against small aggressive animals as well (but I wouldn’t rely on it in grizzly country!). Like any other projectile launcher, plan to purchase extra CO₂ cartridges and ammunition so you can practice and get very comfortable with the SD before you actually carry it.

Available from AofA, the Byrna SD kit can be ordered in Gray, Orange, Pink, Tan and Yellow. While some states may restrict possession and use of the Byrna, AofA definitely will not ship to the 5 boroughs of New York City, San Francisco, and several other liberal antigun/anti self-defense enclaves. Refer to their website for the restrictions.

Not being a practicing attorney, I cannot speak to the legalities of purchasing and owning a Byrna launcher in any situation and neither can AofA. I can say, however, that it is not classified as a firearm in the United States. Due to that fact, it is possible for persons with a felony conviction to have airguns in a lot of places, however; for questions about purchasing this unit the best bet is to check with a lawyer and the police jurisdiction you live and work in.

More about how the Byrna SD worked for me in Part II next month.