Daystate Redwolf Safari .30 Full Field Review
Early this year Daystate released the top tier Safari line of high powered PCP rifles. The Safari model is similar to the standard Redwolf but has upgraded electronics as well as a one of a kind Italian produced stock. Beyond the stunning looks the rifles performance has been enhanced by the ART polygonal LW barrels.
DESCRIPTION
A bold challenge by Daystate that the new Red Wolf Safari high performance air rifle meets with ease. The new Daystate Safari GC2 power plant provides a massive power upgrade and faster speed of the action’s cycling rate. Each Safari has three individual power settings that can be selected by the shooter in seconds to satisfy any target or hunting requirements. The Red Wolf Safari’s LCD screen displays the state of air pressure in tenths of a bar, shot count, total shots fired, magazine counter and more. The heart of the water proof computer controlled system is the electronic MCT. This firing valve takes pressure readings from the carbon fiber air supply and relays to the system the air pulse required in order to give the maximum shots per fill for tight shot-to-shot consistency and bench rest winning accuracy.
The new Daystate A.R.T. barrel on each of the Safari rifles has been developed and tested to provide the best long range accuracy from an air rifle. This new barrel technology is the result of hundreds of hours in testing many different design specifications such as choke, spin rate, profile, lead in, ballistic coefficients etc. The large capacity battery powering the unit is conveniently stored in the grip for easy access and provides thousands of shots before a recharge is required from the included charger. There is no finer trigger on a sporting air rifle than the fully tune-able match unit on the Red Wolf Safari. The trigger can be set to break on a breath or set for sporting applications as needed. The action of the Red Wolf Safari features a left or right hand reversible, super glide side lever that requires almost no effort. The action is fast and positive and the new GC2 (or gun control unit) can provide the power required for speed competitions or a lighting fast follow up shot in the field. The Red Wolf Safari has a 10-shot magazine or can be used with the included single shot tray. The carbon fiber shroud system reduces muzzle report with minimal weight and adds to the impressive appearance of the air rifle. Each Red Wolf Safari is nestled into a unique Italian produced stock. This beautiful stock has a patented finish applied that is extremely rugged. The weather resistant process requires hours of hand labor resulting in a non slip surface that is durable and elegant. The stock has been crafted with a thumb up or around position and fine stippling on the grip areas. A soft touch adjustable cheek piece and three way adjustable butt pad complete the Safaris attention to detail. A five year transferable warranty comes standard. The Daystate Safari represents the absolute pinnacle in airgun accuracy, technology, performance and quality!
*The Red Wolf Safari can be further tuned with an optional Daystate programmer within the rifles limits. This feature is not for the novice as it allows each power level program to be manipulated to achieve the best speed and accuracy for a given pellet out of each individual rifle. A specialized Accuracy Research Team or A.R.T. tune is available as an optional upgrade this highly advanced custom work is performed by a specialist A.R.T member with many hours spent in shooting each rifle with software customizing and barrel conditioning. The A.R.T. tune is NOT required for match winning performance it is only for those desiring to squeeze every ounce of accuracy out of each individual rifle. Daystate has included the default program if the user wants to return to the factory settings.
| Caliber | .303 |
| Max Velocity | 900+ fps |
| Muzzle Energy | 85 FPE |
| Loudness | High |
| Barrel Length | 24″ |
| Overall Length | 45″ |
| Shot Capacity | 5 |
| Barrel | LW Polygonal ART |
| Front Sight | none |
| Rear Sight | none |
| Scopeable | 11mm dovetail |
| Trigger | Two-stage fully adjustable |
| Buttplate | Adjustable |
| Suggested for | Hunting/Target |
| Action | Sidelever |
| Safety | Manual |
| Powerplant | Pre-charged pneumatic |
| Function | Repeater |
| Max Shots per Fill | 35 |
| Body Type | Rifle |
| Fixed/adj. power | Multiple settings |
| Weight | 8.5 lbs |
| Cylinder Size | 480 cc |
| Regulated | Electronic |
Airguns Of Arizona sent the Daystate Safari and sponsored us to get out and bring this review to you. My first impression of the Safari was WOW, what a gorgeous rifle. The stock on the Safari is unlike anything I’ve ever seen on any PCP rifle.
The grain on the ambidextrous stock looks very similar to barnwood but with a much smoother texture. The process to produce these stocks is very unique and very much a secret to Daystate. I looked at the 24″ LW Polygonal barrel that’s carbon fiber sleeved for stiffness, very well done.
At the end of the barrel is a cap that hides the 1/2″ UNF threading for mounting a wide variety of moderators. My experience with the Polygonal barrels is they shoot both slugs and pellets very accurately. The Safari has a 480cc bottle that can be filled to 250 bar and and in .30 caliber should yield about 30 good shots on high power.
Moving back the Safari has a beautifully crafted sidelever that opens and closes very smooth thanks to the electronic firing system. The electronic guns have no spring that usually associated with firing the hammer to open the valve. The sidelever is also fitted with a small magnet that keeps it held closed and free from noise when walking around. The sidelever can be moved to the other side easily for left handed shooters.
The breech itself has a very nice finish as well as 11mm dovetail for mounting optics. I have mounted the Aztec Emerald 5.5-25×50 ffp side focus scope that works very well for hunting and is more than adequate for most target shooting applications.
The .30 caliber Safari comes with one 5 shot self indexing magazine, this magazine loads very easy and has a magnet that holds it snugly in place.
Out back of the receiver is the manual crossbar safety that can easily be used with thumb, very comfortable and easy to use. This safety is also used to wake the electronics from sleep mode, more on this later.
Moving down to the trigger we have a fully adjustable match grade trigger, one of the best I have seen. The trigger shoe can be fully adjusted as well to fit well to anyone’s shooting style.
On the left side of the rifle is an LCD display that will tell us the fill pressure and power level the rifle is set to. With the LCD we can check the health of the rifle as well as to easily tune the power level to suit various performance needs.
The fill port is located just under the rifle standard to all Daystate models as well as having a very nice magnetic dust cap.
The beautiful Italian made Safari stock has and adjustable comb cheek riser to further fine tune the rifle to it’s user. The fit and finish is astounding and the riser has a wonderful rubberized texture that feels nice when shouldered. The butpad is fully adjustable as well but found it to be just fine for my own preference. Just underneath the grip area of the stock is a small door that houses the battery to power the electronics of the Safari.
With a flat blade screwdriver the door can be opened to charge the battery with the included charger.
The wires have very little slack so it’s important to be careful with the wires, somewhat delicate connectors.
The battery should give well over 1000 shots to the gun on a full charge. To charge the battery fully takes about 45 minutes, I like to top it off before any major outing. The charger will have three lights that will turn blue when battery is fully charged, if the battery is low these lights will be red.
The Safari comes with a detailed manual that explicitly shows the charging process as well as all the rifles electronic adjustments. The Safari has 3 power levels that can easily be changed by the user and is explained in the users manual or in the video portion of this review.
The following day I loaded up the Safari and headed for the mountains to test the Safari at various ranges, and to set it up for several days of hunting.
The LW Polygonal barrels from my experience shoot both pellets and slugs very well so wanted to use my time to test both. I brought a variety of Nielsen Specialty Ammo slugs to test at long range as I felt the Safari was a worthy candidate to shoot them. The weather was very cold and windy and did not make for the best shooting conditions, I figured I would use the wind to my advantage. When testing I have found sometime wind can be a good thing, great way to practice. I set a target out at 162 yards and proceeded to shoot both pellets and slugs. After my first few shots I immediately fell in love with the trigger on the Safari, simply perfect for target shooting.
At these ranges I was not correcting for wind, I wanted to see the drift of both pellets and slugs. The goal was to find something with low wind drift. The 47 and 49gr NSA’s both shot very well, the 49’s being a bit heavier seemed to be my best choice for hunting.
I then put out a new target and tried the same thing with the 50.15gr JSB’s, the pellets drifted much more and were less predictable.
I now moved the targets into 100 yards and now tried to correct for the wind and to zero in the rifle producing some very good results with both pellets and slugs.
Nielsen Specialty Ammo 49gr HP 5 shots@100 yards
The Safari is a ridiculously accurate gun, the key is to keep the Polygonal barrel clean. Many standard LW barrels shoot very well but the Polygonal needs to be cleaned much more frequently from my experience. By this time the weather was getting very poor but I was not done as I wanted to see how the Safari performed at some extreme long range. Marley and I moved the Jeep to another spot that offered a better view for long range shots.
I set out a Gatorade bottle at 208 yards and wanted to see how consistently I could hit it. With my first failed shot I was able to correct enough for wind to connect with the bottle using the 49gr NSA slugs.
When shooting long range it’s important to find where you run out of scope adjustments. For extreme long range adjustable mounts are needed otherwise we will run out of elevation or be limited to lower magnification. My conclusion is the Safari in .30 shoots consistently and accurately out to 150 yards with ease. I was impressed with the Safari’s long range capability and I think with some different mounts the rifle is certainly capable of more. The weather was giving me the hint to pack up so before the snow we made our way back home. I was happy to get out and test the Safari and looked forward to getting it into the field for some hunting.
The area I had decided to camp had just received a good amount of rain and snow so getting there was somewhat of a task. The road going into the area was pretty awful to say the least, the Jeep mashed through it like a champ though. Most of the way to my spot was covered in snow, a beautiful winter wonderland. I drove to several spots before I settled in and decided where I would camp, definitely a change of scenery from a hot and dry desert. I found a spot that had a dry patch that was surrounded by Joshua Trees, really cool area.
Lindsey said I was completely crazy for wanting to “tent” camp in such cold weather, something I don’t often do. One of the things I enjoy about doing field reviews is sometimes it forces me to get out of my comfort zone. The plan was to arrive early to film some time lapse footage and to find a good location to camp. With the recent storm I had expected little to no animal activity but was hopeful to try bringing in some Coyotes. As the Safari’s firing system is electronic, cold weather and “electronics” don’t mix well from my experience. I figured this trip may be the ultimate test of the rifles “real world” durability and field use. Beyond hunting I wanted to film some survival type things to be used for another project.
The high of the day was 34 degrees with a low of 19 at night. Brrrrrrrr to the bone!
I filmed most everything and will enclose the review in video form at the bottom.After setting up camp Marley and I made way North to set out a caller. One thing very important to note about the Safari is it’s “sleep mode”. After 5 minutes the Safari’s electronics will shut down and can be”woke up” by turning the safety off. Sometimes when hunting I will not have the safe on, in this case the rifle will go into sleep mode and we forget. When the opportunity arises to take a shot we raise the gun, aim and pull the trigger only to find nothing happens. This happened to me and was frustrating, was my fault for having a bad habit.To solve this problem in simple I had to learn and remember to put safe on after taking a shot. Basically I needed to be in the habit of using the safety, something I should have been doing anyways.
The snow was pretty deep in some spots with a ton of Jackrabbit and Coyote tracks, pretty amazing these animals survive such a desolate area.
Marley flushed one Jack that was buried under the snow, they lay under the sagebrush with ears back. The snow falls and covers the brush almost like an igloo. I set up a caller and we concealed ourselves between some large Joshua Trees, this area looked like a good vantage point.
I ran the caller for a few minutes using Mouse Squeaker that has worked for me several times. Within about 5 minutes I spotted a large Coyote at about 145 yards, he finally made way over the hill and came into about 100 before stopping just behind a Joshua Tree. I had a great shot lined up but he quickly spooked down to the left out of sight. Tried the caller again but it never returned….uggggg/ was happy I at least called one in. By this time it was late afternoon so we headed back to camp to make a fire and get some grub, made some mac&cheese lol Dinner for the lazy as I call it.
It was nice to have a fire and enjoy the dead winter silence, well worth the trip just for that. That night was cold as predicted but we managed well with plenty of blankets. (Note) Bring extra socks!!! The following morning the sun did come out and brought enough to start melting the snow fairly quick.
Marley and I headed away from camp through the forest of Joshua Trees where I spotted several fresh Jackrabbit tracks as well as the yellow tinge in the snow. The Aztec Emerald 5.5-25×50 FFP scope works very well for hunting, I like keeping the scope set to 5.5 magnification when walking around. Staying at lower magnification gives a nice wide field of view and makes finding the target much easier.
We made our way to the edge of the forest where I spotted a fair sized Jackrabbit at just over 130 yards, made a great headshot that took it down clean. THWAAACK!!!
Marley sprinted out to recover and was excited as can be with her first kill of the trip. Thankfully I captured everything on both my large camera and Tactacam 5.0 with FTS mount.
I was so happy to have some success, really did feel like an adventure and was well worth a cold night. The Safari is a powerhouse of a rifle and gets out to range very well with pinpoint accuracy. After this trip I plan to do more cold weather camping, was very pleasant. Enclosed are my final honest thoughts of this rifle that I hope may help those thinking to purchase. I want to thank Airguns Of Arizona for outfitting me with this rifle and sponsoring Marley and I to get out and review it.
PROS
- Very well made
- Accurate with pellets and slugs
- Tunable(adjustable power)
- Good shot count
- Perfect trigger
- Powerful for long range
- Easy to cock
- Reliable Electronics
- Easy to fill
- Long battery life
- Comfortable ergonomics
- 5 year warranty
CONS
- Have to remove battery to charge
- Sleep mode( Takes some getting used to)
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Excellent