.22 Mutant Shorty…(Graphic…)

1st off, I want to thank all on this forum. This forum is one of the few with the most truthful, in your face, informative, knowledgeable, and helpful to people that just want to learn about & shoot airguns. Most of the time Im just a reader (lurker) on here, but I just wanted to share my thoughts & try to give feedback as I learn. To start, I’ve always wanted a regulated, short, multi shot, super accurate, & super quiet pup in .22 caliber. The result was a very accurate double tube LW barreled Prod w/ a TKO LDC which was not regulated. Sold her & now have the Shorty on hand. Living in Texas is a hot mess almost all day, & there are so many critters roaming around that owning an airgun is a must to take care of business quietly & effectively. This is my very first review & basically my very 1st real post of a gun on any forum so do bear w/ me. The Shorty is my 1st side-lever cocking gun, 5th regulated gun, 1st “match trigger” gun, and 1st “ok” furniture bullpup I’ve ever owned. I guess I will start with the not so greats. When 1st receiving the Shorty, everything looked sharp and up to par other than my shroud being scratched up like someone had taken a brio pad to her, some of the scratches were deep penatrating the black anodizing and showing the aluminum underneath. The entire gun was wrapped in thick plastic & double boxed during shipping so I’m not sure what happened to the shroud, maybe quality control or poor factory installation is at fault. I called Charlie from Georgia Airguns the very next day & he priority mailed me a brand new shroud & a free tin of JSB 14.3g pellets for free & I mailed him the original one back. I’m grateful for that act. Another minor hiccup was when I was ranging the Shorty with different pellets under a partly cloudy humid day at 85 degrees for 5 hours from 230pm to 730pm. I went to work after that sweaty experience and some of my coworkers asked if my wife had beaten me b/c I had a black bruise on my right cheek? I told them I wasn’t in any fights lately and proceeded to the restroom to checkout the bruise. It was the black anodizing of the metal cheek peice of the Shorty combined with my sweaty cheek oils that slightly marked my right cheek. I’m not sure what happened here, maybe the cheek peice was anodized incorrectly? I will probably fix this issue with some black c/f wrap over that area which is also good to combat the 20 degree temps we have down here. I can’t wait for the 110 degree weather to come, wrong, we’re going feel like the Texas armpit. Well, thats it for my minor issues. Now on to the positives. This bullpup has the bigger white face pressure gauge which is easier to read compared to my .25 Vulcan “glow in the dark” smaller gauge. Not to put my .25 Vulcan down, she still shoots amazing accurate ropes. I read the guages off my fill tank assembly anyways. All components seem solid, smooth, and precise on this gun. The 6″ shroud does a very efficient quiet job on fire report with 19g H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme, 18g JSB’s and is a tad bit louder w/ 13.4g Falcons (1 of the more accurate pellets), but overall this pup is my quietest .22 gun I’ve owned (Yes, she’s even quieter than my .22 Colibri). This is so far the ultimate “backyard friendly straight out of the box” gun in my opinion w/ no supertunes from anyone. Because I mainly hunt with my guns, I wanted to protect the shroud and fill twist cover from scratches and dents w/ black c/f wrap.

I wanted to see if she can be even more silent so I added a John Hagan LDC adaptor and a Donny Du 2 1/2″ Carbon Fiber LDC which makes the fire report a tad bit quieter.

I did notice something new while installing the JH adaptor, inside the round baffles were filled with glue and a green brio material (see picure).

I’m pretty sure it’s to further dampen report. Air fills are very simple, I fill to 250 bar and shoot down to 150 bar giving me about 3 1/2 to 4 magazines on a full fill depending on pellet size. This gun is shooting 845-849 fps with 13.4g Falcon pellets straight from the tin (no washing, lubing, sizing, weighing of pellets) which is giving me an easy 1/4″ ctc & about 21-22 lbs of energy. The paper target bulls were 1/4″ dots. The very smooth side-lever action looks very similar to a Cricket (which I’ve never owned) side lever, and it takes very little effort to pull backwards to cock the action. Forward loading a pellet is just as simple, as the pellet directly feeds into looks like a brass bushing w/ an oring inside of it. I shoot right handed & the cocking lever being on the right hand side is second nature to me when hunting, meaning I do not have to look at the cocking action while performing it, so I can keep my eyes on the critter. Feeling the pellet connecting with the rifling, instantly reveals a loose fit or an overly tight shot. Quality & trigger design is truely amazing on a pup of this class. The trigger action is very adjustable for many & has a superbly precise breaking point. This is my favorite trigger yet, 1st stage is set at 1/8″ & the 2nd stage is set to a release pressure of just 6 oz. Yesterday, I had a chance to complete an accuracy test w/ other pellets (18 different pellets) @ 30 yards & she did not disappoint. I hope the rest of these pics came up ok…

Over the initial 30 yards zero range, tight clover leaf clusters were easily achieved, with many c-t-c readings of a 1/4″. 50 & 100 yard results will come later when time permits. 5 shots per group and most were covered up by a dime easily. I was shooting off my Caldwell tackdriver front bag and a rear rest bag while sitting down. I’d say about 5 or 6 pellets were about 1/4″ c-t-c at 30 yards. Those 5 or 6 will be tested at 50 & 100 yards soon. Handling is excellent, being so small/light & shooting out of my truck window sill is my new favorite American past time as I mainly hunt w/ all my airguns. The black wood stock could be improved by maybe some checkering to the foregrip & trigger handle to improve overall grip. Or another option is an adjustable butt pad. As of right now, this is an awsome gun. The sheer smallness, as previously mentioned, has to be a major consideration for others. Other options for this pup would be a full Carbon Fiber shroud, to dampen report a tad bit more. For true engineering, a precise trigger & shot on shot shooting, this pup will take some serious beating. I bought the pup from Georgia Airguns from Charlie Frear and the entire 3 week wait was worth every minute. Charlie kept me updated and shipped me a shooter for sure to keep. I have no affiliation w/ Georgia Airguns. I received the Shorty with a very clean barrel (I checked) ready to shoot. Charlie gave me his tune sheet which showed me the JSB 14.3g (older grey tins) was her favorite pellet at 40 yards. Some furry friends came out to watch me yesterday morning while testing & I gave them a tiny gift. (H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme)

I received this pup 2 Thursdays ago and from what Charlie said it has a CZ barrel in her. I also took the barrel off to see if there were any CZ markings, & I did not find any. I did run 2 JSB 18.1g pellets through her w/ a wooden rod and compared the 2 pellets to my .25 CZ Vulcan barrel w/ Air Arms 25.4g pellets. The pellets from the Shorty .22 CZ barrel had less definite cuts on the pellets compared to the Vulcan .25 CZ barrel.

The Setup:
Gun: .22 Black Mutant Shorty
Scope: SWFA SS 3-15×42 FFP
Bubble level: SWFA
Scope Caps: Butler Creek
Scope Rings: A.R.M.S QD Low
Bipod Adaptor: Magpul Moe Composite 3 slot
Bipod: Atlas PSR Bipod
LDC: Donny Du 2 1/2″ custom
LDC Adaptor: John Hagan
Gun recommended to me by: DonnyFL

Most Accurate Pellets @ 30 yards so far:
1. Air Arms 18g
2. JSB 18g
3. Falcon 13.4g
4. JSB 15.8g
5. JSB 14.3g (older grey tins)
6. H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme 19g (I like heavier pellets)
7. H&N Baracuda Match 21.1g

Hopefully the wife, & 2 anklebiters will let me have some peace and quiet time to stretch her arms out soon enough.

Thanks all for viewing…