Precihole Minotaur air rifle review

There was quite a buzz when Air Arms announced its partnership with Precihole Sports. I can remember picking the rifles up at The British Shooting Show and getting quite excited about testing them, this Minotaur bullpup in particular. Now that time has come, and I have to tell you, it was worth the wait!

What is the history of Precihole Sports?

Precihole Sports was established in 2012 in Thane City in Maharashtra and has swiftly established itself as the number one airgun manufacturer in India. The company was formed when Dr Y.P. Shirsat, a prominent personality in target shooting in India, teamed up with India’s leading deep hole drilling manufacturer, Precihole Machine Tools. 

Precihole Machine Tools, with its engineering capabilities in precision component manufacturing, machine building and over 20 years of barrel making experience, was quickly able to augment Dr Shirsat’s expertise and develop products for production.

Even though a medical doctor by education, Dr Shirsat has been tinkering with engineer’s tools to develop various designs of airguns since his childhood. His dedication towards this sport is the driving force behind Precihole Sports. 

Being a professional shooter himself, he is able to identify and implement elements in the design that meet the needs of the regular as well as pro-level shooters. Precihole Sports is the realisation of Dr Shirsat’s dream of bringing world-class target shooting equipment to India.

A dedicated team of designers develops the product designs, mold designs, jigs, fixtures, inspection gauges and so on using the latest 3D CAD and CAE Technologies. For its products to come to reality, they undergo various precision manufacturing processes from CNC machining, sheet metal bending, injection moulding, metal injection, heat treatments, different types of chemical plating, welding and laser marking and so on, which are then finally assembled, quality tested and then passed for packing. 

Precihole Sports in partnership with Air Arms

It comes as no shock that the owner of Air Arms, Claire West, was keen to get involved with Precihole Sports. Its attention to detail, quality of production and willingness to work with a UK manufacturer makes it the perfect match for Air Arms.

I know that the R&D team at Air Arms has been working closely with the folks in India to fine-tune the airguns for the UK marketplace. I must admit, the build quality of the rifles that I have here to assess is superb, and that’s testament to both companies.

So why bring a range of airguns into the UK all the way from India? That’s a very good question, which I have in part answered above, however, there’s one chunk of the UK airgun market that Air Arms were lacking in and that’s the “budget” sector. 

The Precihole rifles and pistols fit into that slot nicely, with nearly all the models costing around £500! And, you can rest assured that Air Arms would not be associating its name with another brand if it weren’t absolutely sure of the quality and performance of said airguns. 

It’s a way for people to get themselves into the wonderful world of airgunning on a budget, but under the Air Arms family brand name, which as we all know holds a very firm reputation for all things good in our sport. 

Compact bullpup design

The first thing you’ll notice about this rifle is the compact bullpup design, complete with moderator. Measuring in at 752mm, the designers managed to keep the weight down to a respectable 6.2lb (unscoped).

When it comes to the thumbhole stock, I really like it. It’s ergonomically “right”, but it is also only designed for us right handers as far as I can tell – although it is billed as “ambidextrous” by Precihole. 

The truth is, it can be used by left handers, but because of where the linkage is, you have to move your cheek from the block when cocking to avoid getting a metal massage from the linkage.

There’s ample etched chequering on the slightly fluted forend grip, as well as the very comfortable pistol grip. It’s very well balanced, too, with the centre of gravity when scoped being just right. 

The synthetic polymer stock feels great to the touch, but there is no cheekpiece to speak of. I’m sure this is to keep costs down, but I did find placing my cheek on the anodised alloy block a tad chilly in the barn when I took this rifle out for a night on the rats. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely little rifle and perfect for most hunting scenarios, but it would have been nice to have even a cheap plastic cheekpiece rather than cold metal.

The Minotaur features an internal self-regulating valve system, which provides consistent muzzle energy across the entire shot string. This regulation ensures uniform shot velocity, helping maintain tight groups without the need for an external regulator. 

A couple of two-hour sessions on the range proved just how capable this little hunter is, and in no time at all I was confident enough to take it out hunting, after smashing 5p-sized groups at 30 metres consistently.

The 460mm-long barrel comes supplied with a moderator, which is attached via two Allen screws. It’s a decent unit and does a very good job of keeping the Minotaur quiet. While I’m talking about the barrel, you’ll notice that it’s quite thin, with an external diameter of just 12mm. Precihole Sports has been making quality barrels for over two decades, so they know what they’re doing, and this one is no exception.

As far as cocking is concerned, the Minotaur features a fluted side-lever, which is super slick and very easy to use. Pull it back to around 120 degrees to cock the rifle, then slide it forwards to push the probe into the magazine and gently seat your pellet into the breech. 

The entire operation requires very little effort, which is quite surprising considering the linkage involved with a bullpup rifle. It’s just testament to the craftsmanship and input from the Air Arms R&D team.

There’s an 11mm dovetail rail up top to mount a scope, which is itself mounted to a split dovetail rail underneath. I think it would be quite easy to purchase an aftermarket Picatinny rail that can connect to said split dovetails, for those who want to use one of the many nightvision units that all seem to require Picatinny mounts these days.

What type of trigger does the Precihole Minotaur have? 

This rifle has a two-stage non-adjustable trigger. Wait, don’t stop reading! It’s a very impressive unit. 

Set at the factory, the first stage is quite short, coming to an abrupt, noticeable halt with minimal creep for the second stage release. The gently curved, wide bladed trigger itself sits rather comfortably on the pad of your trigger finger. After just a few shots with this rifle you’ll understand what I’m saying. It’s a predictable, functional trigger unit.

There’s a manual safety button situated directly under the magazine port. It’s very positive and you push it to the right to make the rifle “Safe” and the push to the left from the opposite side of the rifle to “Fire”. 

It has to be said at this point that the safety is a hammer-blocking type. So when the rifle is cocked and you push the button to “Safe”, you can still pull the trigger and the hammer releases, it just doesn’t “Fire”. If you do this, you’ll have to pull the cocking lever back again and remove the magazine before pushing the lever back so as not to double load it.

Rotary magazine

You get one 10-shot rotary magazine supplied with this rifle, along with a single-shot tray. The magazines are the spring-loaded, clear cover type and easy to load. Simply turn the inner wheel one step anti-clockwise and drop a pellet in head first, and continue this process until it is fully loaded.

The loaded magazine is inserted from the left-hand side, and there is a moulded groove and lip to ensure it slides in securely. One great feature is that once you have fired off all 10 shots, you can cock the rifle again, but the lever will not return forwards, being blocked by the cover of the magazine, which tells you it’s time to reload.

Decent reservoir

The 450cc air reservoir is a tube-type situated directly underneath the barrel. At the very end of the cylinder there’s a barrel band to help secure the barrel in place, and it’s here that you’ll find the rotating fill port cover, which is made from a metal alloy, not plastic, and is cross etched to give better grip. It slides round smoothly with minimal effort to reveal the fill port. 

There is a male fill adapter supplied, which pushes into the female port under the cover nicely. Once full, you can rotate the protective cover back to cover the fill port.

Also, at the end of the cylinder you’ll see the fill gauge, which is colour coded and very easy to read indeed.

What is the Precihole Minotaur like to shoot? 

Although I first had to hit my local club range with the Minotaur to get it zeroed and become familiar with its operation, I was itching to take it out to one of my barn rat permissions, where I knew that it was going to excel. 

My hopes were extremely high given the build quality and Air Arms association, and I wasn’t disappointed. After a quick zero at 30 metres, I was punching 5mm groups into the paper targets with very little effort. I was soon pushing the pellets out to the 40-metre mark and having some great fun with the spinners and knockdowns. 

Then it was time to hit the barn, but not before re-zeroing at 20 metres, which is roughly the distance that I shoot most of the rats at this particular permission. As expected, the Minotaur performed perfectly, and it didn’t miss a beat. 

Is the Precihole Minotaur worth the money? 

My only criticism, as I have already mentioned, is the lack of cheekpiece to give some protection from the cold alloy block in sub-zero temperatures. Other than that, would I buy one? Hell yes, I would. For the money you’re getting a lot of functional rifle, and of course the legendary Air Arms aftersales service. 

Quality, affordable reliability and performance, plus a sleek, user-friendly design is what the Precihole Minotaur is all about. It’s the ultimate little hunter.

Technical specifications

Model: Minotaur

Make: Precihole Sports

Distributor: Air Arms

Type: PCP, multi-shot rotary magazine

Stock: Ambidextrous, synthetic

Cocking: Side-lever

Trigger: Two-stage, non-adjustable

Safety: Manual

Calibre: .177

Overall length: 752mm (29.6in) without moderator

Barrel length: 460mm (18.1in)

Weight: 2.8kg (6.2lb) without scope

Fill pressure: 200 bar

Cylinder capacity: 450cc

Magazine capacity: 10

Shots per fill: 80-100

Energy: Average 11.5ft/lb over 20 shots

Variation: 10fps over 20 shots

RRP: £529.99