Target Sports

AIR RIFLE REVIEW: LIKE A DREAM

Created on 14th May 2009

CHRIS SANDERS thinks Norica's Dream Hunter will give established springers a run for their money

NORICA HAS enjoyed a niche market among plinkers in the UK and Europe for many years and has also impressed with some full-power rifles, namely the Norica West and Marvic Gold. These two rifles clearly illustrated that the company could power-up when needed. Now distributed in the UK by Highland Outdoors, both companies have decided to bring to the UK more adult-orientated rifles, most suited to hunting. The Norica Dream Hunter I've been testing has proved an interesting model - but can this foreign import cut it in a market that's already well catered for?

First impressions

On first inspection the Dream Hunter makes a big, brash and bold statement, but that's no doubt precisely as Norica intended. It's a rugged-looking, spring-powered synthetic-stocked no-nonsense Sporter, that's built like a Sherman tank.

A closer look soon reveals that not only is the stock very well-designed for the action, but the metal work is also surprisingly well-finished. Another major feature of this rifle is that the attention to detail far surpasses the price tag. The stock screws have neat disc-shaped covers and there are small cosmetic flourishes and enhancements at various areas on the rifle. The most evident of these is the silver-etched image of a shooter on the air cylinder, just below the rear sight on the left-hand side of the rifle. There's also the company insignia on the stock, directly above the trigger, which shows on both sides. These are aesthetic additions and don't actually help the shooter draw a bead on the target. That said, it's nice to see the company has made an effort with this rifle, but this doesn't necessarily mean it is any better than the comparably-priced competition. Credit where credit's due, though - they've managed to incorporate these nice cosmetic touches without the rifle looking too garish.

Look past the cosmetics and it's good to see everything looks well put together and as it should be. There are no cheap and cheerful plastic bits: virtually all the main features are manufactured from metal. This includes the rearsight, the raised hooded foresight, the trigger, trigger guard, latches and catches. The breech cover, which I'll look at in more detail later, is made from strengthened ABS. Just picking up the rifle confirms this is a man-size gun - no introductory-level rifle here.

Stock

I don't need to mention the name but there's another well-known Spanish gun manufacturer which knows a thing or two about synthetic stocks, so it's no surprise that Norica has designed and produced a very respectable one for the Dream Hunter's underlever action to sit in. The fully-ambidextrous Monte Carlo-design cheekpiece is of medium height, with a very comfortable, cushioning ventilated black rubber butt pad that shows its worth in use. The pistol grip is comfortable to hold and the forend is flat-sided in profile and relatively lengthy. Apart from that, as features go there isn't a lot more to say about the stock except that there has been a rather strange scale-like chequering applied to both pistol grip and forend. This has been done via a clear transfer which fits into indents in the areas on which it is found. This is unusual, maybe, but it does offer some extra grip and it both looks and feels like it's going to stay put.

The Dream Hunter is surprisingly well-balanced even though on first inspection it gave the impression that it might feel somewhat unwieldy. I'm glad to report that it actually handled beautifully.

Cocking and loading

Although the cocking procedure may be a traditional underlever, the breech mechanism for loading isn't. On first inspection the lever appears to be sized in direct comparison to the barrel. However, it's actually 14" in length. The strong articulated linkage arrangement makes cocking the Dream Hunter quite easy. The only thing I noticed was that the underlever doesn't swing down through a very large arc of travel when it is unlatched from the ball catch that holds it in the closed position.

The only automatic action that happens when you cock the rifle is that the trigger safety mechanism is engaged. There's no sliding breech opening as on some of our better-known UK-manufactured rifles. Instead, you have to pull back a lug on the right side of the breech cover, freeing it to be lifted over on its hinge to the right to allow direct barrel loading. Once you've thumbed a pellet into the roomy breech you must bring the ABS cover back over to click it down into the original position.

Trigger and safety

The Dream Hunter has a much better two-stage adjustable trigger unit than I expected. It is slightly unconventional in looks, but not in operation. When you cock the rifle the trigger safety, positioned in front of the metal trigger blade within the trigger guard, automatically engages - a safe system. The trigger blade has a nice curve for trigger feel and it's good to see it sits within a roomy trigger guard. The slightly unconventional part of the unit is the automatic engaging trigger safety, which is more of a push-up square-shape ‘button' than the more familiar push-forward lever. The trigger unit was set for my preference but there's plenty of adjustment to set it to suit your own taste. In use it releases shots without a hint of creep, so this bodes well for the ‘nice price' Norica.

Accuracy and performance

There are no surprises with the open sights as they're the now-familiar Tru-Glo type. There is a hooded red fibre optic-enhanced foresight and a fully-adjustable green fibre optic-enhanced rearsight. Elevation and windage are altered by cross head screws. This is not very finger-friendly but once set they produced reasonable results at moderate and sensible open-sighted shooting range.

As Highland Outdoors has now taken on distribution of Nikko-Stirling scopes, I was pleased the company had sent one of these to pair it up with. The 3-9x42AO is one of the Gold Crown Air King range. It comes with a solid one-piece mount and flip-up amber lens covers as standard. The scope was much better than the one I used to have when I was a lad. Then again, with 40 years of air rifle optic manufacturing behind it the company has learned a thing or two in this department, and the scope was soon fitted onto the ample-length deep-cut dovetails cut into the top of the air cylinder. There's also a removable scope arrestor bar screwed onto the back of the dovetails so you can abut the scope rear mount to this to prevent the dreaded scope creep - thankfully, though, it won't be needed. Before moving on, I must say it was again nice to see Norica had proudly silver-etched the rifle's name forward of the dovetails on top of the air cylinder itself. They really must be proud of this particular model! I was swiftly starting to get to grips with the rifle as I zeroed it in. Now, size can be deceptive, because although the rifle measures 45.5" from butt to muzzle it only just tipped the scales at a shade over 8lb scoped-up.

Handling was good and the firing cycle was relatively smooth. Obviously there was recoil and report, but these were neither too disturbing nor unmanageable. The recoil was easily absorbed by the ventilated rubber butt pad. I used Norica's own Apache brand of surprisingly good-quality round head pellets. What became obvious when testing the .177 calibre rifle was the distance between my forefinger and the trigger blade as my groups at 25yd tightened to become a ragged ¾" hole. I did have to adapt slightly so the pad of my forefinger met the blade and on measuring I found the reach-to-pull to be 14.75". That's quite unusual as most UK-manufactured rifles have a reach-to-pull of approximately 13.75". Maybe they have longer arms in Spain, but you'll soon adapt to this as I did and after zeroing I didn't find that the Dream Hunter was troublesome for shooting at any angle.

Conclusions

There's no doubt Norica has produced a solid, reliable and accurate full-power hunting rifle in the Dream Hunter. The firm has also given it aesthetic features you'd expect to find on much more expensive rifles, such as the little rifleman etched into the action, cover caps on the stock screws and even a vented hood on the raised foresight - this not only looks stylish but also helps protect the relatively fragile fibre optic element. Norica clearly knows that looks as well as performance and functional features are what attract punters.

In summary, the Norica Dream Hunter is a very good value-for-money hunter which could give some already-established springers in this price bracket a real run for their money.

Technical specification

Model: Norica Dream Hunter
Calibre: .177 on test, .22 also available
Weight: 7.5lb
Length: 45.5"
Power Source: Spring and piston-powered
Loading: Underlever action with direct barrel loading
single-shot
Stock: Fully ambidextrous, synthetic sporter
Price: SRP £180
Distributor: Highland Outdoors 01858 410683

AIR RIFLE REVIEW: LIKE A DREAM

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AIR RIFLE REVIEW: LIKE A DREAM

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