Jim looks back over some of the Brocock/BRK rifles he hunted with in 2025, and explains why this is currently his favorite premium-level brand as a hunter.
I am fortunate to hunt extensively over the course of a year, and get to try several different guns, sometimes my own rifles and sometimes loaners. In the past, I found myself hunting mostly, at least in the context of British/European guns, with models from Daystate, AirArms, and FX. Then a few years ago, an acquisition brought Brocock and Daystate under the same ownership structure. It also saw design and manufacturing resources aligning, and in my view, was the beginning of a new era for Brocock. They had always produced compact little guns that were barebones but workmanlike, at a budget-friendly price point, but outside of pricing and being compact, they were a fairly basic design…. But nothing wrong with that, they were still very nice compact small game guns..
But not that long after the merger, Brocock came out with the Compatto. I was in the UK visiting family shortly before the introduction of this innovative semi-bullpup, and my brother-in-law and I were invited to stop by Daystate for a tour and to see this pre-released rifle. and I was in love! I got to shoot it on their range and found the design perfect for my style of hunting, and the performance to be outstanding. The Brocock Compatto soon became one of my primary small game guns for several years.
Flash forward to 2025, and as we come towards the end of the year I wanted to look back on some of my experiences hunting with Brocock/BRK rifles this year. While I did get out with the Compatto and Bantam a few times, I want to look at a few of the newer rifles that include the standard Sniper, the Sahara, the Sonoran, and the Ghost.
My Sniper XR Commander is a .25 caliber rifle that I used on rabbit and squirrel hunts, long-range prairie dogging, and even took a small hog with it. It is a full-sized rifle, a modular design that provides excellent accuracy and more than enough power for small/medium game hunting and long-range shooting. Mine has the desert sand finish and the 23” barrel options with the 480cc CF bottle up front. The lever action has a good tactical feel and cycles rapidly and smoothly, and the trigger is truly outstanding. I was sent this gun as a test sample and liked it so much I bought it, and with the number of guns in my collection, this is about the highest praise I can give.
The Brocock Sahara XR in .25 caliber is a semi‑bullpup PCP air rifle with also in a sand‑colored finish. It has an adjustable thumbhole stock, which is a comfortable gun to shoot in the field. It shares many of the features and technologies of the standard Sniper platform, but the power has been significantly ramped up in this gun. I used this gun mostly for small game and predators, and had a lot of success with it on both using pellets and slugs. The Sahara is more compact than the Sniper XR, but weighs a bit more, and carries well on the shoulder.
I had made a joke when reviewing this gun that my only major criticism is that it was not a .30, so of course, when the .30 caliber version of the Sahara, called the Sonoran, was announced, I started wrangling to get one. This rifle was a collaboration between Airguns of Arizona (Brocock importer), BRK (Brocock’s rebranded label), and Sub-MOA (precision barrel manufacturer), and they did a great job. The Sahara was a step up in power from the Sniper, and the Sonoran is a step up from the Sahara. And Ill say right here that all three are absolute tackdrivers once you find your preferred projectile and get dialed in. The stock of the Sonoran uses the same furniture as the Sahara, but leverages a 25” 15mm diameter barrel fabricated by Sub-MOA. I have used this gun on predators, javelina, feral hogs, and think it is one of the best all-around mid-sized game and predator airguns on the market.
All of the guns based on this platform offer consistency and a high shot count achieved with the HUMA regulator, and one of the best triggers to be found on a production air rifle.
The other Brocock/BRK rifle I used this year was the BRK Ghost. This is a departure from the other rifles discussed to this point, with a different design language, though there is some shared technology. While the Sniper is a tactical rifle, the Sahara and Sonoran are semi-bullpups, the Ghost is a straight-up bottle-forward bullpup design. This gun was released before the Sonoran, and was the first .30 caliber offered by Brocock. While this gun is a modular design and has caliber kits for .177, .22, .25, and.30, I have never felt any desire to move away from the .30. I used this gun extensively for long-range prairie dog shooting and have taken several predators, and hogs with it as well.
Of the rifles used in 2025, there are many that I liked a lot. When you review guns, you have to look at them in the context of targeted user groups. If I am thinking in terms of budget, I have one set of favorites. If thinking in terms of precision, some other brand will be ranked higher, etc. But I can say that, if my budget allowed it, my favorite of the premium-level guns for field work these days would be Brocock/BRK. Across the company’s product portfolio, based on design, quality of manufacturing, feature set and functionality, they are my favorite premium level brand overall.
I find all of the Brocock guns have a high degree of ergonomics and usability designed in. The HUMA regulator, the company’s proprietary air management system, is easy to adjust and does a superb job of generating consistent accuracy and power. And the responsiveness and tactile quality of the triggers reflect the competition legacy and know-how of the Daystate engineering team. I am not a competitive shooter, and don’t see how anything could be improved on these guns that would provide improved performance for me as a hunter.
Quick update: Hi all, hope you’re all having a great hunting season! I was in Texas for a couple weeks for javelina, hogs, predators and rabbits, then to Northern Wisconsin for snowshoe hare and squirrels. Going back to WI next week for the second year of Airgun deer hunting, then on to Texas, Indiana, and S. Dakota, with a few days in Puerto Rico, then scooting over to Vegas for the SHOT Show. Busy time of year, and there will be a lot of content so keep checking back!
Also just posted a video from a recent night hunt for hogs with the Western Airgun Sidewinder, take a look!
