The Walther Rotex 8 and Field Master Review

Well I simply don’t know where to start? You see as The Ole Hedge Creeper and as co-owner of The Countryman’s Diary Magazine I get sent and asked to try out all sorts of kit, also being an RFD (registered fire arms dealer) I also get sent all sorts of guns and ammo to try and give my verdict on.

Now not much gets me excited now days as I have either shot it fished it used it or in many cases helped develop it, But then came along the Walther Rotex 8 or R8 as its better known, I took a trip up to the Armex factory ( www.armex.co.uk ) in Birmingham just recently to see the factory and have a go on their awesome indoor air rifle range as well as have a go with all sorts of their guns too of course.

This was when I got to fire the R8 for the first time and boy oh boy did this little gun fire my excitement up, on the chronograph it was pushing out 11.87 ft lb with Air Arms field diablo 5.52  pellets (my preferred pellet in all my hunting guns) and on target they hit like a steam train in this sweet little gun, oh and by the way I don’t write a technical article it bores me to tears , I prefer to write an article and take you out hunting with me to the field so if you’re after a technical article you won’t find it here.

Now on the range I put the pitch black ( www.pitchblacknightvision.co.uk ) unit on the gun as a day or night scope it’s called the field master, After a fair while learning how to tune the unit in and get it zeroed with the gun Della from Armex and myself had a lot of fun both with the lights on and the lights off, Hmmmm shooting targets I might add before you get any funny ideas.

Well my time with Della and the gang at Armex drew to a close far too quickly as I had to head up to see my ole mucker in Rugby as I was deer stalking with him the very next morning.

My Ole mucker and myself headed out for a spot of lamping so I took the field master off the R8 and mounted as a hand held spotter, The field master is a brilliant spotter and allowed us to spot fox deer badger rabbit and hare without them knowing we were there, I put the Field Master on the R8 and shot a couple of rabbits with ease at around 25 meters.

What I will say about the field master it’s a great spotter out to 300m but in my opinion nothing is shootable until its inside 100m and then I personally would not shoot it until its inside 70m, The reason for this is there is not enough magnification for my liking so that I can 101% certain to put the bullet/pellet exactly where I want it, It’s a cracking bit of kit clear as daylight but for me the magnification lets it down for longer range shooting.

So I would say this, it is a brilliant bit of kit for air rifle or rim fire shooting at short to medium ranges for rabbit and rat etc, But as a spotter boy oh boy you can see eye shine at 300m at 200m you can identify the outline of the body of your target, But like I say the lack of magnification brings the shooting down to within the 100m range.

I bid farewell to my mucker in Rugby after a brilliant time hunting with him and headed back to my beloved Somerset, and my Young Sports who were eagerly awaiting my return like a bunch of young countrymen awaiting Santa Clause to turn up in the early hours of Christmas morning, I think the video that is accompanying this article does my return justice.

Well I arrived home to my country pent house apartment to the place being full of Young Sports all wanting to know what I had returned with for them to test out, I don’t know who was more excited me or the Young Sports and like I say I think the video does the un boxing of the Walther Rotex R8 the justice this great little gun deserves.

They nor I could wait to go out rat and feral shooting with it, So we mounted the night master on the R8 made sure of the zero and went hunting down the grain mill, The place was running alive with feral pigeons and rats and the Young Sports got right into them using the R8 night master combo, Again I think the pictures and the videos accompanying this article really does do this awesome little gun the justice it truly deserves.

A few days later whilst awaiting the delivery of a Hawk Scope from Deben (www.deben.co.uk) I arranged a bit of a plinking afternoon with my Young Sports in the back yard, They had a go with all sorts of air rifles from springer to gas ram and pcp, Then they had a shoot off with the old Diana junior 177 that they enjoyed immensely, the postman came and brought me my Hawk scope as this is my preferred make of scope on any air rifle as they do what they say on the tin.

I mounted the scope to the Walther Rotex 8 and also added what I consider to be the very best sound mod out there for any air rifle, And that is the Huggett ( www.huggettprecisionproducts.co.uk ) moderator range, not only are they stylish and enhance any rifle they are placed upon but they also literally whisper every shot from any air rifle weather  Fac or sub 12ft lb.

Scope and mod fitted time to zero and well what can I say a few pellets later I was literally whispering pellet on pellet at 30m without any effort at all, The Young sports took over and well what can I say but I think I have now lost that sweet little R8 to the kids as they won’t let me use it, Darn kids get all the fun eh.

That night I took them Hunting with the R8 Hawk Huggett combo, the Young Sports shot and I was re-assigned to being the lamp man, I tell you the wind was blowing a Hooley and there was rain in the air but still these Young Sports shot like pros with that sweet little gun, They put 5 rabbits in the bag before the weather forced us to call it a night, I am proud of each and every one of them and as for the R8 it performed like a dream proving this gun is right up there with the best of them.

My verdict on the Walther Rotex 8(R8) is it’s a cracking little gun great quality with a British designed stock made by Maneli that for the £419 price tag that could be easily double that, the metal finish is very nice and the action from loading to the trigger pullMaking contact with suppliers today negotiating a good price to stock my shop. to the shooting is as smooth as silk, I would gladly stand at any range or go hunting with this little gun with great confidence.

The model I have is in .22 my preferred calibre but I am told there is a 177 version coming out very soon as well as an fac version too, Now I look forward to getting my hands on those next, If you would like to get an R8 speak to your local stockist if you have trouble finding one call Armex on Tel: 01216434900 and they will point you in the direction of your nearest stockist etc.

As for the pitch black unit Mike Bell from Target Sports 4 Recovering Disabilities had this to say about the field master.

By The Ole Hedge Creeper

www.theolehedgecreeper.co.uk