One previously-unseen new product to appear at Extreme Benchrest 2017 was the Daystate 308.
This bolt action, single shot PCP air rifle was being described as a “concept rifle”. Terence Logan, Daystate’s Sales manager told Hard Air Magazine Publisher Stephen Archer all about it…
Obviously Daystate sees the big bore market growing in the USA. So the Daystate 308 has been produced to gauge reaction and explore the market.
As you would expect from such a product at an early stage of development, there’s much about this big bore PCP air rifle that is still subject to change. But Terence told me that the company currently has the Daystate 308 running at a best fill pressure of 240 Bar – that’s 3,500 PSI – giving four shots per fill.
At that pressure, Daystate is seeing Muzzle Velocities of over 970 FPS, firing 115 Grain lead bullets, he says. That’s in excess of 240 Ft/Lbs of Muzzle Energy.
Terence explained that, as part of the company’s product pipeline, the Daystate 308 concept guns (they have two prototypes) are to be tested for best performance. Other steps would be redesigning the stock and action to look “more like a Daystate”. You can expect that Daystate would also develop branded ammunition for the 308 to offer best performance, as they do for their air rifles.
The Daystate 308 concept is likely to take a couple of years to bring to production. But much obviously will depend on customer demand.
In developing the Daystate 308, it’s no secret that the company is partnering with a specialist big bore airgun manufacturer. This makes a lot of sense and is the same development model used by Daystate to produce the Tsar Field Target rifle. In the case of the Tsar, of course, the partnership is with Ataman.
Although Terence didn’t specifically say so, word on the street is that Daystate may be working with Dutch big bore specialists Beaumont in developing this new air rifle.
Terence also told me that Daystate plans to make a number of product announcements at the 2018 SHOT Show and that it’s likely that the Daystate 308 will be shown there too.
As with any successful company, Daystate allocates development and manufacturing resources based on the value a new product offers. So the 308 will be competing with other secret Daystate product concepts for management attention and funding, he says.
So, if you like the sound of the Daystate 308, tell the company! If you’re in the USA, tell Airguns of Arizona and they will forward that interest for you.
Terence also complimented Extreme Benchrest, saying that Daystate considers this a key event in the US airgun calendar. And he hinted that the company could reveal other concept products here in future years…
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