Kral Puncher UNICA review

The quality of air rifles coming out of Turkey in recent years has been nothing short of astounding, and in the case of Kral, that is in no small part due to the continued input from its UK distributor, Range Right. In fact, it was the latter’s idea to get Kral to produce its first-ever regulated PCP rifle. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Once you open the lid of the box to reveal the prize inside you’re greeted instantly with a rather magnificent view of the genuine Turkish walnut stock. I could tell in an instant that this recently shaped wood was thirsty, and was crying out for some TLC and a drink of pure walnut oil. After a liberal splash, an hour of soaking and then a quick buff up, it really did the trick and allowed the wood to shine. I’m most impressed, it’s a beautiful piece of wood, especially for an “off the shelf” rifle.

The ergonomics of the pistol grip and scalloped design of the cut-out thumblehole stock and ambidextrous cheekpiece are superb, and there’s a very comfortable, gently sloping thumb rest position atop the pistol grip.

It’s a chunky piece of wood that has been carved out beautifully, with bumps and recesses in all the right places — the stippling effect on the underside of the fore grip and pistol grip is some of the best I have seen — and there’s plenty of grip at both ends.

I particularly like the way they have carved the fore grip. It’s gently fluted downwards, starting off thick and chunky at the top, and finishing with a thinner, curved base which feels really nice in the palm of your hand. As you pull back to the rifle’s centre of balance, the fore grip gets wider again just in front of the trigger guard, and it all feels nicely balanced when taking shots from a standing position.

How do you fill up the Kral Puncher Unica?

Inside the box you’ll find a couple of plastic bags which hold two magazines, an optional Picatinny rail and stud screw for attaching to the forend of the stock, plus a single shot tray, some spare O rings and the fill adapter.

The fill port is located at the end of the 330cc air cylinder behind the pressure gauge. It’s housed underneath a twisting shroud, which simply rotates on the cylinder to reveal the port. The cylinder has a maximum fill pressure of 200 bar, which gives around 100 shots in .177 and 120 shots in .22.

On the top of this rifle there is an 11mm rail and 22mm Weaver rail for your scope mounts. One word of warning when it comes to mounting your scope, you will need high or adjustable mounts because the top of the magazine protrudes above the top of the scope rail.

Underneath on the front end of the fore grip there is a brass screw hole neatly set into the wood. You can either use this for attaching a bipod, or you can screw the supplied Picatinny rail into it to house bipods and other accessories.

Rotary magazine system

Kral utilises a rotary magazine system that requires the cover of the magazine to be wound all the way clockwise until it locks in place, then drop a pellet in to lock the spring in place. Make sure you put your finger over the back of the hole or your first pellet will drop straight through.

Now you can turn the magazine cover anti-clockwise and drop the remaining pellets in. It sounds complicated, but having had plenty of practice it was very easy to load. Incidentally, you get two magazines supplied with the rifle, which hold 14-shots in .177, 12 shots in .22 and 10 shots in .25.

The loaded magazine can only be inserted into the breech in one direction, from the right-hand side, sliding to the left, and once it is in place it stays there until you pull it out to remove it.

One thing that I really like about these particular magazines is that once you have cycled through all of the shots, you cannot push the side-lever back to “dry cock” the rifle. Instead, you have to physically remove the magazine first, and then either reload it or close the breech and dry-fire. There is also a single shot tray included in the box, for those who like to load one at a time.

Biathlon-style side-lever cocking mechanism

The biathlon-style side-lever cocking mechanism on this rifle is great. It’s light on the pull and can easily be performed without having to raise your cheek from the comb, allowing for much more accurate, speedy shooting.

The trigger is superb, too. The curved blade has two-stage adjustment, and I found that I didn’t need to touch it because the “factory settings” were perfect for me. Pull-wise, it was set reasonably light at a tad over 8oz. You can also adjust the height of the blade on the trigger post, too.

The safety lever is housed in a recess directly above the trigger unit and immediately behind the thumb rest at the top of the pistol grip on the stock. It’s a manual safety, so you have to reset it once you cock the rifle if you don’t intend on taking your shot straight away.

There’s a power adjustment knob just in front of the side-lever, which comes set at “max”, but can be dialled back down to make the rifle output around 8ft/lb. I can see this coming in handy at close quarters in, say, a barn whilst hunting rats, or indeed just for some practice shots in your back garden.

The Kral-built barrel is fully shrouded, rifled and choked, and I was impressed with the sound dampening from my initial 12 test shots. There is a screw cap at the end of the barrel, which can be removed to reveal a ½in UNF male screw to accept a moderator. The end of the barrel is banded to the end of the cylinder to help give added stability.

What is the Kral Puncher Unica like to shoot?

The folks at Range Right also sent me one of their Konus Diablo 6-24×50 scopes with this rifle, which sits on top of the Puncher UNICA perfectly — it’s almost as if they were made for each other.

I’ve had loads of time to get acquainted with this rifle and scope combination, spending a few hours in my back garden on my homemade range, then down at my local range on numerous occasions.

I found the Puncher UNICA to be extremely accurate, and with the best part of a tin of pellets put through the barrel, it didn’t miss a beat. The model I had on test was a .22, which is always out of my comfort zone being a dedicated .177 PCP shooter (although most of my trusty springers are .22). I had no problem punching 5p-sized holes through paper at 30 metres, and it didn’t take me long to work out my holdover positions thanks to the ½ Mil-Dot reticle on the Konus. I was pinging the knockdown and spinner targets with ease, all the way out to 50 metres.

I put two strings of 10 shots over my chronograph using 15.9gr RWS Superfield pellets and averaged 570fps with a variation of just 7fps, which is testament to Kral and how well its first regulated rifle performs.

Although the shrouded barrel is relatively quiet, I would definitely add a moderator for out in the field when hunting, and even back garden plinking.
This is a fantastic rifle for the money, and if like me you have a bit of a walnut fetish, you’ll simply adore this stock. Make sure you take plenty of care with it from the get go, giving the stock a light oiling as soon as you get it.

I’ve got to say a huge well done to the gunmakers at Kral, along with the technical input from the team at Range Right. As a club range rifle it’s top notch, and as a hunting tool it’s going to appeal to a lot of shooters. As far as aesthetics go, they don’t come much more pleasing to the eye from a long rifle.

Kral Puncher Unica Technical Specifications

Manufacturer: Kral
Distributor: Range Right
Type: Pre-charged, multi-shot
Max fill pressure: 200 bar
Stock material: Turkish walnut
Stock type: Ambidextrous
Cocking: Side-lever
Trigger: Two-stage adjustable
Safety: Manual
Calibres: .177, .22 and .25
Shots per fill: .177 (100), .22 (120)
Overall length: 1,050mm (41.3in)
Barrel length: 580mm (22.8in)
Magazine capacity: .177 (14), .22 (12)
Weight: 3.9kg (8.6lbs) unscoped
Energy: Ave 11.47 ft/lb (FAC models are available)
Variation (10 shots): 7fps
Price: £550
Website: range-right.co.uk