Tag Archives: .22

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Reflections After Owning and Using an Edgun Leshiy 2 for Six Months

This is my last post about my Edgun Leshiy 2 in this series. I’ve now had it for just over six months (I bought it in February and it’s now September) and have some thoughts to share on it and the various accessories I stuck on it – some stayed on and some are now gone.

Engineering and Assembly of the Leshiy 2 Short Wolverine (REPR)

Let’s start with the core airgun itself. The design, machining and fitment of the base Leshiy 2 are superb. I’ve put hundreds of pellets through it and not one jam and it is definitely as accurate as I need in my 30-60 foot typical pest control zone. I don’t recall trying for anything further away as of yet.

The trigger is set and not adjustable but it is a very good trigger so no real complaints there.

The internal regulator is adjustable but you have to disassemble the rear buttstock to get to it. I wish it was externally adjustable so I could more readily fiddle with it. With that said, Edgun West set it to 130 bar and it works exceptionally well. It hits hard and is accurate.

I really like the trigger safety. The first airgun I had with a safety located where the trigger finger can easily get to it was a Hatsan Gladius. GIven the location of the safety on the Leshiy 2, I find it very fast and easy to turn the safety on or off or to check the status without needing to see it.

I really like the position of the safety. It’s the silver toggle switch right in front of the trigger and you can instantly turn it on, off or check the status all by touch.

At first, I viewed the folding rear stock as a space saving feature only. It’s actually a superb safety as well. If the stock is open, then there is no air supply to “fire” a pellet. As soon as I start heading to the house, I open the stock to reduce the odds of an accident.

One tip that I will stick here, the magazines come out really easy if you wiggle them ever so slightly clockwise and counter-clockwise. If you try to pull them straight out they can be really stubborn. Feeding is amazingly reliable so I wouldn’t want anything changed – this is just a tip to share with you.

You can see the rotary magazine. The .22 model holds eight pellets. You can see how many you have left right away – there are four in the magazine. Also, with the stock open, there is no air supply so the Leshiy 2 can’t fire.
The pellets are inserted from the rear and the black ring is magnetic. You put that on top of the rear of the magazine and it holds the pellets in place. So, no deformation of the pellet in the mag and they are securely held in place. It’s also easy to load or unload by removing the ring – I virtually never unload – I’m always loading them.

Comment on the Mini 2-3/4″ Picatinny Handguard

First off, this is M-Lok-ish. The slots are per M-Lok spec but you need shorter srews or you will dig into your suppressor or adapter underneath. I initially used a quality Magpul aluminum picatinny rail section and the screw dug into my Behemoth moderator and I gouged it when I went to remove the can. I wondered why the moderator wouldn’t turn and rather than stop and think I went “Mongo turn moderator” on it. Sure, it came off but I gouged the aluminum and it was bright and shiney, I used some Birchwell-Casey Aluminum Black to cover up my mistake. So, either buy their rail section or use your section but realize you will need to shorten the screws. I bought one of their sections.

This small handrail segment covers the barrel and elegantly fills the gap between the end of the Leshiy 2’s frame and where the Behemoth starts. The shiny silver you see through the slot is the trilug adapter for the Behemoth. Because the moderator is right there and the gap between the M-Lok slot and the adapter is too short, regular M-Lok screws will dig into the behemoth if it is installed so either buy their rail section or grind down your screws as needed. Also, you can’t tell it from this photo but the bottom rail was out of spec. The top wail was ok so I removed the button head hex screws and inverted the handguard to have the in-spec segment on the bottom.
This is an Edgun brand picatinny rail section. Note the really short screws.

Second, the bottom fixed rail machined in the handguard was not done according to the Picatinny spec probably in error. I could get a Holosun laser designator to mount on any rail execept for the bottom one. My solution was to remove the handguard and rotate it 180 degrees so the top rail that worked fine was in the position I needed and the out of spec section that was originally at the bottom was on the top where I didn’t need it. I mentioned what I had to do to Edgun West and they didn’t offer to replace it so oh well. Not sure why they didn’t offer unless it was a known problem. I had a workaround and that was good enough for me but I am passing it along in case you run into the issue – the handguard can be easily removed and inverted – it’s symmertical.

After I flipped the handguard I could mount the Holosun designator on the bottom an d the pressure switch went on the side rail section that is still open. We’ll come back to the Holosun a bit later.

Replaced the Behemoth With a DonnyFL Ronin

The Behemoth with extra sections installed (I think I had 4-5 modules installed towards the end) was really long and didn’t quiet the Leshiy 2 down enough for its size. Some of the noise is likely the air powered semi-auto action bleeding off air and not a moderator design issue. In watching videos of the reflex system Behemoth’s those things are amazingly quiet and I may experiment with one of those in the future but they are expensive and not something I need to do right away.

In search of a quick, I-have-no-more-money-for-this-project fix, I realized I had a spare DonnyFL Ronin moderator that I could use. The DonnyFL was threaded 1/2-28 so I had to get an adapter to convert from the Leshiy’s 14Mx1.0 thread to that. The Ronin was just as quiet and a heck of a lot shorter.

Here’s the Behemoth and I think I added one more section after this was taken. Note, that was the Midas Tac scope that was subsequently returned when it failed during early testing of the Leshiy
With the Ronin, the Leshiy 2 is 17-1/2″ folded and only 29″ overall. The body of the Ronin is 6-1/4″ and you can’t see the thread adapter. By luck it fit really nice relative to the handguard.

There was a second benefit to the move to the Ronin moderator – it stays put. The trilug system the Behemoth uses does not secure the moderator in a very firm “it’s not going to move easily” manner. The trilug system was meant for easy and fast installation and removal of the moderator.

My use case is different – I store the Leshiy 2 folded in a Savior gun case with the moderator attached and pull it out to use as needed for rapid pest control use. I found out the Behemoth could come loose from repeated insertion and removal from the case. I don’t want to take the time to install the moderator every time.

For me and my use, the use of a standard threaded mounting method worked out better. When I need the Leshiy 2 for pest control, I can grab it out of the case and not worry whether the Behemoth is coming loose or not.

If you need an airgun with a rapid takedown moderator, I don’t think you’ll find a competitor to the Behemoth. If you want compact, you might want to do some experimenting. If you need it to be as quiet as possible, do some digging before you buy. I watched a video of a .30 Leshiy 2 with the reflex version of the Behemoth and it was amazingly quiet.

Last comment – when I need the shot to be really quiet, I use my .25 FX Impact Compact Mk II with a Behemoth moderator. That combination is amazing.

The 300cc @ 300 bar carbon fiber air cylinder was worth it

I am very happy with the bigger carbon fiber bottle on the rifle. It still balances and handles nicely – but it has 123% more air than the original resevoir. I fill it direct from the GX CS4 compressor so I can top it off at 300 bar.

The original reservoir is at the top and the new larger carbon fiber bottle as at the bottom.

American Defense AD-Recon-30-Std mount worked great as usual

As usual the American Defense mount has been superb. It returns to zero when you remove and then attach the mount to the Leshiy 2 plus it holds the scope securely – two thumbs up. Definitely my favorite quick detach single piece scope mount.

Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 4-20×50 Scope has been great

After a bumpy start with the Athlon Midas Tac, the Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 4-20×50 Mil-Dot scope has been great. It has reliably held zero despite many magnification changes. I’m pretty happy with it and have no plans to change at this point.

The Holosun Green Laser Designator was removed

I’ve seen so many gun magazine photos with laser designators that I figuredit was time to try one. I did some research and ordered in a Holosun LE117G green laser designator. The LE is the better made law enforcement model.

So, I mounted it on the bottom with the pressure pad switch on the right side rail where the finger tips of my supporting hand could actuate it and sighted it in at 12 yards.

It looks great right? Oh wow – look he has a laser designator on a high-end air gun… well, I tried to find a use for it other than tricking out the gun for photos and I couldn’t – not really. I am so used to scopes at this point for precision work that I am bringing the rifle up and lining up the reticle. If I turn on the laser, it sits at a different height and shows a different point of impact than the scope as I move away from the point of impact I zeroed them both in at – 12 yards.

It looked slick but didn’t help me with precision shots plus it was adding weight and taking off space so off it came.

The LE117G is now sitting on shelf for potential use in the future. I’m not saying it’s bad – I’m just saying it didn’t fit my planned use for the Leishey 2.

Switched from JSB dome to hollow point pellets

I was talking to another Leshiy 2 owner and he recommended that I try the JSB 15.89gr Hades hollow point pellet. He was having great success with it at close ranges – I think he said he was using them up to 25 yards – but the Diabolo domed pellets were better at a distance.

Well, I ordered in a couple of tins and sighted the Leshiy 2 in using that ammo at 12 yards. It’s definitely accurate enough for me at my close range pests and it does appear to do the job faster. There is a different impact sound when a Hades pellet hits a squirrel though I can’t quite figure out how to describe it.

JSB is my favorite pellet company. Normally I swear by the 18.13gr Exact Jumbo Heavy Diabolos but the Hades have impressed me so far. The Leshiy 2 has no problem feeding them and accuracy has been just fine.
Here’s a close up of the Hades (left) vs. Exacts (right). The Hades pellets have an interesting head design – slightly domed but with the reliefs in the top to aid with mushrooming.
Eight rounds (one magazine) of Hades pellets at 12 yards easily fit in a one inch diameter circle. I was using a Bog carbon fiber Death Grip tripod to hold the Leshey so there was a bit of movement due to my tremor.

Last Batch of Photos

Here are some more photos of the Leshiy 2 as currently configured:

Summary

I use this airgun a few tmes every week – literally. It’s gone through hundreds of pellets and a lot air. Along the way, it has dispatched quite a few squirrels.

If you are looking for a semi-auto airgun that is very well engineered and made plus modular and can change as your needs change – I don’t think you are going to find anything equal too or better than a Leshiy 2.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Upgrading the Leshiy 2 to a 300 Bar Carbon Fiber Tank

When I bought my EdGun Leshiy 2, I was trying to keep the costs down so I decided to start with the standard air reservoir. In talking with Brian at Edgun West, filling it to 250 bar would yield about 28 shots before the pressure would dip below the regulator’s 130 PSI setting (the regulator is adjustable but Edgun West set it for me at 130 psi to optimize my use of the 18.13 JSB Diabolo Exact pellets). Well, in testing the Leshiy 2 before I gave up on the Athlon Midas scope, that thing could fire .22 pellets fast – it also used air fast as a result.

The Leishy 2’s stock air reservoir is a slick aluminum tube that forms the lower portion of the butt stock assembly and holds 180cc of air at an impressive 300 bar (4,351 PSI) working pressure. Because my GX CS4 compressor can actually go to 400 bar, I was topping the Leshiy 2 off directly at 300 bar. Even so, I went through the air fast. In an earlier post I mentioned I made it about nine days before I decided to order the 300 cc @ 300 bar carbon fber bottle upgrade. That meant about a 40% increase in air volume.

The air reservoir is the lower tube on the buttstock. It holds 180cc of air at 300 bar. There’s also a Holosun green laser designator added under the barrel but that’s another story for another day.

Installing the Bottle

The Edgun West team assured me changing the barrel was very easy and something I could do. I’m going to tell you the same thing – it is very easty and something you can do.

Make sure the Leshiy 2 is cleared. One of the cool things about it is that when you fold open or remove the buttstock, the weapon is safe – there is no air supply but you must get to that point first. Make sure the weapon is safe while you handle it up to the point of opening the stock – remember – it is a semi-auto. Also, don’t forget you are working with high-pressure air – be sure to degass the weapon and don’t force things apart – odds are something doesn’t want to move or turn because it is pressurized. I’ll show you how to de-gas the gun below.

Let me step you through the process of changing the air cylinder. First and foremost – read the instructions they include with the tank. If their instructions differ from mine – follow their’s or contact them and confirm.

I don’t have photos of it but lift your rear buttstock assembly off the hinges so you can easily work on the air cylinder.

Use a 4mm hex wrench to slightly open the bleed screw. When the air stops coming out, check the gauge. I had to open the screw a tad more a couple of times until the gauge read completely empty. Tighten it again when you are done.
Folks, make sure the gauge is at zero before you proceed. As mentioned, I had to loosen up the screw a tad bit more once or twice until it fully went to zero. There is a detent ball under the screw so I didn’t want to back the screw out too far and lose it. Patience and caution are a good combination when working around high-pressure air.
Next, remove the brace. This entails removing the screw shown above and pulling the brace off the end of the original air reservoir. It actually is not attached to the tube above it.
I’d recommend putting the spare parts in zip lock bags and labeling them in case you need them in the future.
Next is to insert the fill probe into its respective hole. This will prevent internal parts from turning when we remove the existing cylinder and install the new one. Do not forget this step – you need to make sure these internal parts are supported and stay properly aligned.
The existing air reservor came off by hand easily. If it doesn’t you first should confirm the cylinder is not pressurized.
Ensure the fill probe is still installed. Use a 24mm wrench on the flat spots of the “fill tube coupling” to remove it.
Once the coupler is removed, you will see the threaded post the new carbon fiber bottle will screw on to. Make sure the O-ring that was under the coupler is still there. If you lose it or damage it, it is a M18x2.5 buna 70 o-ring. Buna is the type of rubber and 70 is the hardness – just FYI.
Thread the bottle on square – you want the threads to mate properly and not be cross-threaded. You are just going to hand tighten it. Note the fill probe is still there to keep things from turning and the o-ring is on the base of the thread.
That’s it. Everything is done by hand. The o-rings are sealing the mating surfaces so you don’t want, or need, to crush them.

Filling and Testing

I am very cautious and don’t make apologies for it. First, I put 100 bar of air pressure into the tank and watched the gauge for 30 minutes. Actually, I walked away, did other things and came back. The pressure didn’t change and the bottle looked okay – no cracks or bulges. I then added another 100 bar and did the same – it held and no visible defeects showing. I then went up to 300 bar and waited – again, it held and no visible problems.

Why do I do step up the pressure? I would rather know if there is a problem with the tank or o-rings before there is a ton if air pressure. You don’t need to be scared of the pressure but you should respect it. Never forget that.

I Installed the Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 Scope

As I mentioned in the last post, the Athlon Midas Tac scope died and I ordered an Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 4-20×50 scope. It arrived and I installed it.

It was cold outside so I comandeered our kitchen island to install the scope. My wife was asleep so I got away with it. I’m used a Weaver reticle leveling system to level the rifle and then the scope.

I used the same American Defense AD-Recon-30-Std mount to hold the scope and more sighted it in.

Testing

I sighted the Leshiy 2 in using my JSB Diabolo Exact Jumbo Heavy 18.13gr pellets. This time around, it was awesome. I sighted in the scope at 12 yards and put pellet after pellet into dime sized groups comprised of 8 pellets per magazine. Wow!!

Photos

Okay, after sighting it in I needed to take some photos to show off the Leshiy 2 and here they are. If you click on one, the slide show mode will open and you can use the controls to move around.

Summary

The Leshiy 2 is really cool. I’ll do one more posts with observations affter six months and how the gun is configured at this time. I have no reservations recommending it, that’s for sure.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Customizing the Leshiy 2 – Adding the Behemoth and Mounting the Athlon Scope

As mentioned in the last post, I had my various parts and it was time to start assembling them. In this post I’ll cover the Behemoth moderator and mounting the Athlon Midas Tac scope.

The Wolverine Short has a 250mm Walthar Lothar barrel. The four screws you see toward the front of the receiver are what holds it in place. Changing the barrel is just a matter of loosening those screws.

The Behemoth Moderator

Legal Disclaimer – I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Airguns aren’t covered in the Gun Control Act (GCA) so they aren’t regulated and the moderators that go on them aren’t. The minute you try and put an airgun or paintball moderator on a firearm, the ATF will consider it a supressor, subject to the GCA and you will be in a lot of trouble for an NFA violation. So, whatever you do, don’t do anything or have anything that will let you mount an airgun moderator on a firearm.

In talking with firearm people, the first thing they do when they see a moderator on an airgun is ask if it is a suppressor. Yes and No. Yes, they are designed to reduce the decibels and pitch of the high-velocity air to muffle the sound like a suppressor but they are specifically design for airguns.

You open up a moderator and you will see materials that can’t handle the heat and pressure of a firearm on purpose. For example, a Behemoth moderator uses felt inside – you don’t see exotic metals. They also use a different thread pattern to mount intentionally. A .22 firearm will likely be threaded 1/2-28 and an airgun is 1/2-20. In the case of a Leshiy 2, the thread is M14x1.25.

In short, at this time, we can run moderators on airguns and I am glad we can because I don’t want loud noises to scare the pests or any people who might wonder what the relatively loud “crack” sound is when I shoot. Note, if you aren’t familiar with precharged pneumatic (PCP) rifles, they can really bark. In general, the larger the caliber the louder they are.

Tucked in the handguard is the trilug adapter for mounting the Behemoth.

I run a Behemoth Trilug with extra baffles on the FX Impact Compact Mk II in .25 caliber and it has stunning noise reduction. I bought one for my Hatsan Jet II and was surprised that it didn’t reduce the noise as much so I went with a Huggett Standard Snipe and really like it. So, that’s how I wound up with a spare Behemoth sitting around.

I bought some spare baffles, which you can do as the Behemoth is modular, and started with four to see how it did for sound reduction.

Adding bagFFes is just a matter of unscrewing the Behemoth in the middle, putting a light bit of silicone grease on the new section’s o-ring and screwing it together. The cream color you see in the moderator sections is felt – this was designed for airguns.
If you are thinking that looks really long – it was really long. I was hoping to have it as quiet as possible so I sacrificed my hope for it to be really short. Given a choice. I’d opt for longer but quieter.

Mounting the Scope

When I buy rings or a scope mount, I buy the lowest option I can. I don’t like to have large distance from the center of the barrel’s bore to the center of the scope as that increases parallax and the amount of the point of impact will shift if the target moves closer or further away from the distance the scope was sighted in at.

This is to illustrate the difference between mounting a scope higher vs. lower. So the top blue line is a scope that is mounted further away than the lower scope symbolized with the green line. Look where the lines cross to the right this is where both scopes are sighted in at. Now look to the left and to the right and the gap between the bottom orange line – the change in point of impact is more dramatic for the scope that is mounted higher. Yeah, I’ll never get awards for my drawings but what I want you to take away from this slide is that lower is better when mounting a scope unless you have a reason you need to go with higher mounts such as clearing a rifle’s action, you want to see through the rings or shooting extremely long distances just to name a few.

With that said, I bought my American defense mount with a flat rifle top in mind and the objective lens housing clearing the top of the Leshiy 2. Now, with the Leshiy 2, I figured my mount as though the top were flat, such as with an AR. The way you determine the height of rings you need for a flat top is to get the diameter of the widest part of your scope – often times that is the objective at the front. Let’s say it measures 2.25″. We take half of that and we get 1.125″. Now rings measure from the center of the scope because most rings and mounts crade half of the optic in the lower portion. We need a ring or a mount just greater than 1.1″. Now if you plan to put a lens cap or something else that adds to the diameter, you need to increase accordingly. If you have a rifle where the barrel tapers down away from the receiver, you factor that in also.

The American Defense AD-Recon-30-Std mount raises the scope 1.472 inches – plenty for the scope with a diameter of 2.25″ that has a half-size of 1.125″. American Defense mounts are my preferred mounts hand down. Quality machining and finishing. The things are just rock solid.

Next, I loosely insert the scope in the mount so I can do some testing in terms of front-to-back positioning to get an eye relief that I like. The eye relief of a scope is how far your pupil is from the glass to get the correct sight picture. I like the scope to be placed so that when I shoulder the rifle, the optic is at the ideal location naturally and I don’t have to move my head forward and backward.

I loosely install the scope in the mount and then experiment shouldering the rifle to determine the placement of the mount and where the scope sits in the rings. The rings are snug enough to hold the scope but still let me move it.

I then put the rifle in my Tipton gun vise, leveled the rifle by placing a level on the picatinny rail of the Leshiy 2. I adjusted it until it was true. I then put a second level on the top scope cap and leveled the scope. The goal was to keep the Leshiy 2 level, the scope level and then confirm by looking through the scope that the reticle appeared true with the rifle – it did.

Lastly, I use a laser boresight to initially zero the scope. Since my desired zero was 12 yards, I used the laser boresight to adjust the elevation and windage of the scope accordingly. I do like laser boresights – in general they at least get you on the paper. Please note, there are and incredible number of variables thaat can and will affect where your pellets actually yet. A boresiht just gets you in the ballpark. You will still need to actually shoot the rifle and do the final dialing in of the scope.

Laser boresights can save you time and headaches by helping you initially dial in the reticle. The boresight projects a laser straight-ish ahead – just how straight it is depends on a number of factors but it tends to be in the ballpark. You project the laser and an object the desired distance away and adjust your elevation (up and down) and windage (left and right) scope knobs accordingly.

First Testing

Filling the Leshiy 2 with my GX CS4 compressor. The Edgun fill probe goes in a port near the end of the buttstock. The red circle you see at the rear is a cover that that is integral with the stock that rotates out of the way. The Leshiy 2 is sitting on a Savior case.

Okay, I used my GX CS4 compressor [click here to see all the posts I did about the compressor] to fill the Leshiy 2 and was super excited. I loaded it up with my favorite JSB Diabolo Exact Heavy 18.13 grain pellets, set up the range, started shooting and dialing in the scope … and the Athlon Midas scope broke within the first 10-15 shots – I was pissed. I was adjusting elevation and windage and all of a sudden a pellet went way off from the cross hairs, then so did another and so forth. No matter what I did, the reticle wouldn’t dial in. I guess the reticle had somehow become disconnected from the adjustment screws inside the scope. Argh!!

I’d only had the scope a short time. I ordered it on February 17th and returned it on February 27th. That same day I bought an Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 4-20×50. I seriously thought about dropping the Athlon experiment but read good things about the Helos BTR and went that route with “Once more into the breach dear friends” echoing in my head.

The Midas experience wasn’t good but guess what? I really like the Helos. It’s clear and has held zero with countless magnification changes over the months.

Changing topics, the one thing that kind of surprised me was that there was more noise than I expected. The Behemoth on my .25 FX Impact Compact was stunningly quiet. It dawned on me that I was hearing the air venting as the Leshiy 2 cycled the action. It was something that I would need to test more.

Summary

The Leshiy 2 was coming together nicely. To be clear, I never contacted Athlon about the dead Midas. I wanted it dealt with fast so I just did a return through Amazon and bought the Helos BTR Gen 2 scope.

The Behemoth Trilug did not perform the way I expected at all and I had four expansion modules in it total. The sound reduction is ok – just not as much as I had hoped for especially given how long it was. I did change to a DonnyFL Ronin eventually but for a different reason that I will tell you in another post.

In the next post, I’ll tell you about upgrading the onboard air reservoir to a carbon fiber tank.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Looking for a Wicked Russian Designed Semi-Auto Airgun? Check Out The Edgun Leshiy 2

Folks, in February 2023, I bought an EdGun Leshiy 2 Short Wolverine (REPR) from EdGun West. For those of you not familiar with it, the Leshiy 2 is a semi-automatic precharged pneumatic (PCP) airgun. I can sum up my feelings about it having used it for six months now in one word – “wow!” Now bear in mind, I had to buy this so you are going to get an honest review here.

I bought it for pest control with fast follow up shots in mind. When I went from single-shot pellet guns to bult-action with a magazine, that was an amazing improvement. Semi-auto thought, that’s a whole new game – your eye doesn’t even have to leave the scope and the follow-up shot is just a matter of pulling the trigger.

The Leshiy 2 is pricey but it has some amazing engineering in it and is built very nicely. Is it worth it – I’m going to say “Yes” at this point butt we need to view it as a tool and as such it excels at certain use cases but not others. So, what I want to do is to share my experiences for the last six months.

What you are looking at is an Edgun Leshiy 2 Wolverine Short with a REPR valvle. That means it has a 250mm (9.3 inch) barrel, an upgraded Edgun Carbon Fiber air tank, DonnyFL Ronin airgun moderator, ADM scope mount and an Athlon Helos BTR Gen2 4-20×50 Mil-Dot scope. How I arrived at this current configuration has a story that I will share over the next few posts.

Some Background On The Leshiy 2

The airgun company “Edgun” was founded by Eduard Gafarov in Russia in 2005. His designs are unconventional and very interesting to say the least. I’ll let you Google some of his other airguns – I want to focus this article on the Leshiy 2.

The word “Leshiy” refers to a male forest spirit from pagan Russian mythology. Literally “He from the forest”. Wikipedia has more if you want to open tab to read more.

This is actually the second generation of the Leshiy. The first, which is still availble as the Leshiy Classic, is a single shot model. I first heard about the Leshiy 2 in 2021 when I was searching for a new pest control airgun and bought a FX Impact Mk. II Compact. At the time, I went with the FX because it was more affordable and I was a little bit leery of the relatively new Leshiy 2 design.

What Was My Use Case?

No tool, no firearm, no knife, no airgun does everything. You must think about your intended use – what engineers call the “use case”. You want to thing this through to aid you in your selection. If you don’t you risk buying something that doesn’t meet your needs.

For me and pest control, I needed the airgun to be:

  • Quiet – this was for residential pest control and I needed the sound signature to be as low as possible so the muzzle needed to be threaded and the bore reputed to be true to the threads and vice versa. Barrels that do not have their bores centered in their barrels will risk shooting their moderator resulting in poor accuracy and damage.
  • Compact – small enough to not attract attention and be maneuverable
  • Accurate within 100 feet almost always – it’s very rare that I shoot further and the bulk are between 30-60 feet. I needed dime sized groups or less within 25 feet.
  • Regulated – I’ve owned airguns both with and without regulators. If you want accuracy and consistency, then you really need a regulator that keeps the pressure relatively constant until the pressure in the onboard tank dips below the relator’s set limit.
  • Semi-Auto – I wanted a fast follow up shot but didn’t want to worry about batteries. I just didn’t see the point of full-auto unless playing around and this was for work.
  • Magazine Fed – I wanted an airgun where the magazines could be replaced when empty. Not all airgun designs support this.
  • Reliable – I needed an airgun I could count on that wouldn’t be jamming constantly.
  • Air Capacity – I am busy so filling up an onboard tank or reservoir isn’t in the top 500 task list of things I need to do so I wanted it to go at least 30-40 rounds before I needed to refill it.
  • Stopping Power – the targeted pests were mainly tree squirrels and ground squirrels. Anything bigger and I will get out my .25 FX Impact. This was a big deal for me. I didn’t want the constant over penetration I encountered with my .25 but I was also fearful that .177 might not hit hard enough so I went back to .22 caliber for this one.

For me the first three are critical and I call them my QCA criteria – Quiet, Compact and Accurate. Unless I have have a use case that requires a 100 yard airgun, I will view QCA as mandatory table stakes. If an airgun doesn’t have those three then they are not in the running.

In reading and watching reviews, it appeared that the Leshiy 2 more than met my needs. Given the Leshiy 2’s modularity, I could change it as my needs change. If I decided I wanted a different length of barrel or caliber, I could change the set up.

I Decided To Buy One

At the time, there weren’t many vendors carrying the Leshiy 2 and I had a bunch of questions so I talked to Brian Meckler at Edgun West. He talked me through the options.

One thing though – I already had one of the Behemoth moderators so they had basically assembled one of their Leshiy 2 Short Wolverine models with the REPR valve but without the Behemoth. I made it almost 9 whole days until I decided I needed the larger carbon fiber air cylinder and a spare parts kit called “The Drivetrain”.

It comes in a surprising small compact box.

I’d also ordered in an American Defense AD-Recon-30-STD scope mount. Folks, I pretty much swear by American Defense now. Their mounts are solid as a rock, repeatable zero and the quick release levers are superb. Take an AD mount and put it side by side with a cheap one – you’ll see what I mean real quick.

As time has past, the best way I can describe it is that airgun scopes are kind of odd ducks. Guys using them are way, way closer to their targets than a firearm shooter, need an adjustable objective that goes down to 10 yard/10 meters, and has quite a bit of elevation adjustment. I also like having an illuminated reticle for shooting pests in low light. Lastly, we want a lot of magnification with clear glass to shoot at relatively small targets.

For an optic, I went out on a limb and tried a new brand – Athlon. I spent some time reading on the airgun forums and their Midas Tac HD 6-24×50 scope seemed to have the features that I wanted at a price I could afford – I bought it for $650 off Amazon.

Here are the partsa – front row – the Leshiy 2 receiver group, the Behemoth moderator under it and the rear stock and air reservoir assembly to the right. At the top, we have the Athlon Modas scope on the left and the American Defense rings on the right.

So, the big day arrived and I had all of the parts – the next post will get into assembly. Everything was going well up to this point and the next post will get into assembly.

I do want to share something a bit out of sequence with the story – the Midas Tac was dead on arrival butI didn’t find this out until testing. I’m mentioning this early because I don’t want somebody rushing out and buying a Midas after just reading the above. In digging deeper on the Athlon line, I read comparisons of the Midas vs the Helos BTR Gen 2. Thanks to Amazon customer service, I returned the Midas Tac and changed to an Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 4-20×50 that I am happy with and am still running just over six months later.

Summary

Without a doubt, the Edgun Leshiy 2 is a novel airgun and one I like – I’ll tell you that right up front. I did learn a few things along the journey that I will share over the course of a few blog posts and the next one will be about assembling carbine.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Update on the Hatsan Jet II – It’s Pretty Wicked!

I wrote a series of posts about purchasing a .22 Hatsan Jet II right after I bought it in early January 2022. After shooting it for a month I have some feedback to share.

I’d guesstimate I have just over a 100 rounds through it. I’ve changed quite a few 7 round mags – that much I know for sure. The first thing I want to tell you is that the performance and reliability are surprising. It reinforces to me that Hatsan can turn out some great airguns.

The Shroud Is True

I was a little worried about how true the shroud would be relative to the center of the barrel’s bore. In my Gladius, it was not. With the Jet II, it is. The way you can tell is that pellets are landing all over the place because they hit the adapter or somewhere in the moderator and spin out of control. In other words, accuracy is horrible until you remove the moderator and/or the adapter. The DonnyFL 1/2-20 male to male adapter screwed right and then the Hugget Sniper to it and accuracy was great.

Accuracy

Speaking of accuracy – I was very happy. Once I dialed in the scope I had no problem shooting 1/2″ 7 round groups using 18.13 JSB Exact Jumbo Diabolo pellets at 12 yards from a bench. To be clear – just me resting my arm on the bench. I didn’t have a true rifle stand.

That is 7 rounds of .22 18.13gr JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy Diabolo pellets at s12 yards. Ignore the blatant flier – that was my fault, not the gun’s or the pellets. I was firing supported from a bench but the Jet II was not in a bench rest. I’ll do some accuracy testing one of these days.

Now, another form of accuracy is to tell you about squirrells. I have cleanly dispatched 8 over the last three weeks. Distances vary from 12-16 yards.

The Jet II really likes these pellets. I really like JSB in general for all of my pellet guns.

The Charging Handle

In my first review I voiced a concern about the polymer charging/cocking lever. So far, it has worked just fine – no signs of any loosening or bending.

The cocking handle is doing just fine.

Air Use

I purposefully bought the Jet II due to the larger air reservoir than the Jet I. I could shoot two mags with no noticeable change in trajectory in my 12 yard test range shooting 18.13 JSB Exact pellets.

My usual approach is to shoot a mag and then top of the Jet II from my air tank at the same time I reload the pellets in the magazine. I have a spare magazine ready to go so if I was in a rush for some reason I know I have a little bit of buffer just in case I need it – I’m using the gun for pests and not target shooting.

I had it filled pretty close to the 250 bar max. What you see is the amount of air left after 14 shots (two magazines). I have not tried shooting more than two mags after refilling.

Snipe Moderator

I’m using the Hugget Snipe moderator and it almost makes the Jet II backyard friendly. It’s far quieter with it of course – I just wish it was quieter yet and will experiment some more with different cans.

The Hugget Snipe does a very good job. I wish it was even more quiet but that’s not really a negative reflection on the Snipe.
With the Snipe, the overall length is approximately 30″. From an overall length perspective, it’s a great combination.

Summary

At this point I am still very happy with the Jet II for it’s intended pest control purposes. It’s definitely effective and amazing for the price when you stop and think about it.

Here’s the listing at Pyramyd Air and I always recommend you use their 10 for $10 test service:

Hatsan Jet II 0.22

Hatsan Jet II 0.22

Hatsan Jet II Convertible PCP Pistol

Convertible pistol or rifle Includes removable synthetic stock PCP Two 40cc air cylinders fill to 3,625 PSI/250 BAR Shots at optimal velocity*: 48 (.177), 42 (.22), 30 (.25) Magazine capacity: 8 rounds (.177), 7 rounds (.22), 6 rounds (.25) Integrated manometer Max. velocity (lead-free): 810 FPS (.177), 700 FPS (.22), 611 FPS (.25) Max. velocity (lead): 788 FPS (.177), 700 FPS (.22), 608 FPS (.25) Max. energy: 9.7 FPE (.177), 15.6 FPE (.22), 16.5 FPE (.25) Length-adjustable buttstock Elevation-adjustable cheek rest Ridged rubber buttpad Flip-up fiber optic front sight Flip-up adjustable fiber optic rear sight 11mm Dovetail optics rail Picatinny accessory rail Barrel length: 7.9" Overall length (pistol): 15" Overall length (rifle): 22.8"-24.6" Overall weight (pistol): 2.4 lbs. Overall weight (rifle): 3.4 lbs.

* – within 85% of peak velocity.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

BNM Custom Airguns CP1002 Pistol – First Trigger Experiment and Match Grips

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I bought a cool CP1002 pistol from BNM Custom Airguns.  Now they focus on making exceptional breaches and that Tippmann stock adapter is very cool also.  In talking with Sergio, because there is such a strong aftermarket with businesses that specialize on certain aspects, he has not bothered with the trigger.  Now that makes sense – triggers are really something that an individual has to decide on – do they want one stage or two?  Long pull or short pull?  Light pull or heavy pull? and so forth.

After doing some reading, I decided to install a roller trigger, thicker sear and adjustable sear spring.  They were all available from Alchemy Airwerks on eBay so I bought them and a few other items to try in the future.  Now there are a ton of options and I’ll try some others as well but this was a first try and it did help.

Years ago, I bought a digital Lyman trigger gauge that I am very fond of.  You basically install a 9 volt battery, hold down READY to zero it and then press Ready again to take the measurement.  You do this by putting the black fitting on the feeler on the trigger in the same spot as you slowly pull the trigger with the gauge.  My readings were all over the place from 4lbs 2.8oz up to 5lbs 5 oz.  In other words, it was heavy and inconsistent.  Couple this with how thin the stock trigger is and it really makes for a poor trigger.

Before you do anything, make sure the pistol is empty and that there isn’t any Co2 in it plus make sure the pistol safety is set to fire or you risk losing the spring and detent.  Notice that last part.  It’s a heck of a good warning to bear in mind – have it set to fire and protect it from being bumped.  That doesn’t always work out so well hence this post.

Second HUGE recommendation – Be sure to have one of the fuzzy work mats.  I’m not telling you this to be cool – they serve a real purpose.  The fuzzy surface cushions soft parts so they don’t fly away.  There is an unwritten shop law, the smaller the part, the further than darn thing will bounce never to be found or not without some monumental search with magnets, flashlights and a clairvoyant.

So here are the steps bearing in mind we really want to talk about the safety spring and detent:

  1. When you go to work on the trigger. you remove the right side grip plate and you are looking at a plate held in by 2-3 screws.  On my six month old 2240, it is three small 1/16″ allen screws.  Notice how I have the pistol up on wood blocks to ensure the safety is not pressed.  You absolutely want that to stay on the fire setting.
  2. When you do pull that plate off, be very careful to press the safety pin down.  It is made from cheap plastic and may pull out.  That is exactly what happened to me and the tiny detent ball and spring flew out.  Luckily the fuzzy matte caught both parts.  Click here if you need to learn how to reinstall the detent ball and spring – a new tab will open with a blog post I did about just that.
  3. Back to this story, with the plate off, you can see the trigger internals.  The big spring on the left is the sear spring, the plate at the top is the sear and then you have the trigger to the right.  I would recommend you take a quick photo with a digital camera or your phone so you can see how everything is oriented.  Out of habit, I always take photos now when I am working on complex stuff – guns, cars, etc.  This has saved my bacon many, many times.
  4. So my goal for this experiment was to replace the fixed sear spring with an adjustable one to lighted the pull, the thin sear with a thicker polished sear to improve consistency and the trigger with a trigger from Alchemy that both had a wider face to distribute load on the finger and a roller to ride the sear.
  5. Remove the existing parts.  I have big fingers so I use needlenose pliers on everything.  Depending on the angle, either long precision needlenose pliers or right angle pliers.  Do not lose your parts.  Put them in a cup or baggie for the future.  You will need to use the sear pin so keep it out.
  6. The new thick stainless sear was a tight fit on the sear pin.  I used a benchblock and hammer to gently tap the pin into the sear.  The pin should be sticking out equally on both sides.
  7. My next step was to use my Dremel with a rubberized polishing bur to make the trigger contact surface smooth and shiny on the sear before I installed it.
  8. I installed the trigger first by slotting it into the safety and putting it in the pin hole.  There was a spring washer on the original that I did not both installing.  I then installed the sear and the adjustable sear spring.  In terms of the adjustable spring, I overcompressed the spring to soften it and dialed the adjustment wheel down as far as it would go to lighten the load.  The first photo shows the original parts that were removed and the next two shows the new set up.
  9. Next, I used a pin point CLP applicator to lubricate the sear pin and hammer pin on both sides. This photo was taken when I had the grip frame off the gun.  You do NOT need to do that.  The main thing is the application of the CLP, or whatever oil/lubricant you want to use.
  10. I then put the plate back on the trigger group and function tested it making sure the safety worked, that the weapon fired and that bumping the gun didn’t cause an accidental discharge.
  11. Next, I bought custom target grips made on a 3D printer to fit my hand by PrecisionTargetGrips.com.  They are pretty interesting and really fill my hand.  I did need to use a chainsaw file on the right side to get the hole in the grip to match up with the hole in the grip frame.  I also needed to grind the screw down about 1/16″ so it would tighten all the way on that side.  The left  was just fine.  I liked the result but it is very different from what I am used to.
  12. Okay, the trigger felt better but what did the Lyman gauge show?  The average was 3 pounds 7.3oz and the highest I saw was 4 pounds 4.1oz. 
  13. So the next step was to test it at 25 feet.  I like Splatterburst targets – they are cheap and self-adhesive so I stuck an 8″ target up.  I went for the center first and had to get used to the new set up.  It was shot a 5 round group at about and inch.  The next 5 round set was at the bottom and it was around 3/4″ and then I shot the top and it was between 1/2-3/4″.  All were with the 15.89 JSB Diablos.

So, the experiment did yield a lighter and more consistent trigger.  The wider trigger face also made it more comfortable.  I used a MTM stand to hold the airgun while testing to have a steady platform by the way.  It reduced my tremor a lot and I am sure the weapon could have fired tighter groups if I had an even steadier stand.  For me, a heavy weapon is better as it absorbs my tremor more.  With a lighter gun, I really need a rock solid stand and bench to fire for accuracy.

All in all, I am very happy with the results.  I could lighten the pull up more but will stick with what I have for a while and see how it goes with pests.  I definitely recommend the BNM repeater.  Boy is it slick.

Next up in a few weeks will be installing a BNM system on my Crosman Custom Shop 2400KT.  I have the BNM parts on order, the 2400KT and am still deciding on the stock and scope.

2/25/20 Update:  I’m sad to say the website somehow lost the second post after this.  I tinkered with the airgun for a while and then sold it like so many of my projects.  

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.