Dave Barham explains why the JTS Brawn bullpup air rifle is great to shoot and attractively priced
The guys at The Shooting Party (TSP) have just started importing this new rifle from American manufacturer JTS. Based in Katy, Texas, JTS Airguns was born from an idea among a group of airgun enthusiasts who wanted to take airguns to a new level. Their passion, expertise and experiences have all played a huge role in the creation of this high quality, competitively priced airgun. The new Brawn is sleek, extremely well priced and performs faultlessly.
I’ll kick off with the supplied magazine. No expense has been spared here, and you get two rotary magazines supplied along with a single-shot tray. Perhaps the biggest selling point as far as the magazines are concerned is their all-metal construction. These things are solid, and they perform extremely well.
Loading is easy. Simply drop in a pellet, turn the internal wheel anticlockwise to the next hole and drop another pellet in, repeating the process until the magazine is fully loaded. I have to admit that these are some of the best standard issue magazines on the market. You get 12 shots in .177 and 10 in .22 and .25 per magazine.
While we’re on the subject of shot counts, did I mention that this rifle is fitted with a regulator? Well it is, and the regulator gauge can be found on the left-hand side of the rifle just in front of the cheekpiece. This, combined with the 188cc, 220 bar air cylinder, gives 220 consistent shots in .22, with a rather healthy 150 shots in .177. Filling is via a Foster fitting hidden underneath a very solid screw cap at the end of the cylinder.
One thing you’ll notice from your first glance at the Brawn is the fill pressure gauge, which sits outside the cylinder facing back towards you. It’s a brilliant design that lets you see how much air you have left without even having to de-shoulder the rifle! It also saves having to look down the end of a barrel to check your air pressure – like you have to on so many cylinder-type rifles these days that have the fill gauge built into the end of the cylinder. It doesn’t get much safer than the set up on this Brawn.
The Brawn features a precision rifled, shrouded steel barrel, which is a few millimetres longer than most standard bullpup barrels at 437mm (most are 430mm). It features a rather generous 1/2in UNF thread at the end, onto which the supplied, dedicated JTS silencer can be fitted.
When it comes to noise output, I was very pleasantly surprised at just how quiet this rifle is without the addition of the silencer. This is mostly down to the barrel shroud, which does an excellent job of helping to suppress noise. Adding the silencer takes the rifle to another realm, it’s whisper quiet – very impressive.
And would you just take a look at that stock? It’s one hell of a piece of wood and is extremely comfortable to shoot with. It’s a hand-oiled piece of quality European beech, complete with a matching adjustable cheekpiece which compliments the thumbhole design beautifully. Beginning at the forend, which is really quite chunky, there is ample stippling to help with grip, plus a removable Picatinny rail underneath to house a bipod.
This “little” bullpup weighs in at 9.3lb unscoped, which is more akin to a heavyweight break- barrel rifle, but don’t let that put you off. When you pick the rifle up by its ergonomically sculpted pistol grip and raise it to your shoulder, you really don’t notice the weight at all – it is extremely well balanced, and that is a major factor in why this rifle has become so popular in the US. The centre of balance is the pistol grip, it’s very cleverly designed, but then I wouldn’t expect anything less from the bunch of hardcore airgunners who designed it.
Moving back to the rear of the rifle there’s a vented rubber butt pad, which sits nicely in your shoulder. Last but not least, there’s a generous Picatinny rail up top to house your chosen optics.
It’s well documented that some bullpup rifles suffer with clunky operation due to the complexities in the cocking linkage, but I’m pleased to say that this rifle isn’t one of them. It’s very smooth in operation, and the short-stroke, drop handle side-lever is very smooth in operation and requires minimal effort to cock. It is initially sprung, so when you begin to pull the lever back it pops out to the 45-degree mark, so that it only requires you to pull the additional 50 degrees back to cock it. Once cocked, the pellet probe slides effortlessly forwards to guide the pellet into the breech as the lever is returned with near silent operation – perfect if you’re going to use this rifle for hunting.
This trigger unit can be adjusted for both first stage take up and second stage sear engagement. You’ll find an Allen screw behind the trigger blade to adjust the first stage. Simply turn it anticlockwise to increase the length of the first stage, or clockwise to decrease it. It does come set fairly short straight from the factory, just so you know.
In front of the safety lever is another Allen screw, and this can be used to increase the second stage weight by turning it clockwise, or reducing the weight by turning anticlockwise. The second stage was set just right for me, and there is no detectable creep before the break.
As far as the actual trigger blade is concerned, which is metal alloy I may add (there’s no plastic on this rifle), it’s a rather interesting design which begins flat then curves aggressively towards the point. The face of the blade is also very clever in the way it has been designed. It feels just a few millimetres wide on your fingertip, even though it is a good 6mm or 7mm at the back of the blade. This is because it has been tapered forwards, and I really quite like the way it feels.
Now I’m not one to mince my words when it comes to safety lever placement, and a pet hate of mine is having said safety lever inside the trigger guard, but looking at the design of this particular rifle I can understand why it is in there. That said, it’s very easy to use – simply push forwards with your fingernail for “Fire” and pull back for “Safe”. It is quite handy out in the field when hunting, if you’ve settled down for a shot and something goes wrong and you want to make the rifle safe again before moving position.
After having had the pleasure of shooting the JTS Airacuda Max for many months prior to its release a couple of years ago, I have been itching to get my hands on this Brawn to see how it compares in terms of accuracy. The Airacuda Max is a lovely rifle to shoot, and extremely accurate, so my hopes were high for the Brawn.
Needless to say it doesn’t disappoint. It’s every bit as accurate as its older brother. I was easily cutting 10mm holes in paper at 30 metres with the .177 rifle I have on test here, and even pushing it out beyond 40 metres had me impressed. The 50 metre spinners didn’t stand a chance with the QYS Domed Heavy pellets I was using.
Yes, on paper it’s heavier than most, but does add to its stability in the field. And like I have already mentioned, the point of balance is absolutely perfect, even when scoped, so you don’t really notice the additional weight. I’d quite happily use this rifle for all manner of hunting situations, as well as for club competitions – no problem.
I have saved the best until last though, it retails for just £629. In all honesty, I was expecting it to be much nearer the £1,000 mark, such is the craftmanship, build quality and performance. The Brawn punches well above its weight and is worth every single penny.
Manufacturer: JTS Airguns
Distributor: The Shooting Party
Model: Brawn
Type: Multi-shot bullpup
Stock type: Beech wood
Cocking: Side-lever
Trigger: Two-stage adjustable
Safety: Manual lever
Calibres: .177, .22 and .25
Magazine capacity: .177 (12), .22(10), .25 (10)
Overall length: 838mm (33in)
Barrel length: 437mm (17.2in)
Weight: 4.2kg (9.3lb) without scope
Fill pressure: 220 bar
Shots per fill: 220 (.22) 150 (.177)
Energy of test rifle: Avg 11.4 ft/lb over 20 shots
Variation (10 shots): 7fps
RRP: £629
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