The guys at The Shooting Party (TSP) have sealed a deal to import and distribute a new range of rifles from Turkish manufacturer, Niksan.
Over the coming months, you’ll see a selection of the range reviewed here in Airgun World and in our sister title, Air Gunner, and there’s something for everyone, from mid-range budgets to top-end. This particular rifle is a reasonably priced £799 model, and it’s packed full of features.
ABOUT NIKSAN
Niksan Defence is based in Turkey and entered the industry as a modest, small business in the 1970s. The company produced many types of hunting products especially shotguns, blank-signal pistols and fishing products, too. In the early 2000s, Niksan supplied parts to almost all the companies in the airgun industry, with the plastic injection machines acquired and the moulds it produced in-house. Most recently, the company is now producing outstanding PCP air rifles, including the Archero-S, Elf-S, Elf-W Bullpup and Ozark-TW.
INTERESTING DESIGN
Now, this is purely a guess, but I reckon the ‘TW’ in the name of this rifle stands for ‘Tactical Walnut’, seeing as how it has a synthetic tactical butt end to the stock and a Turkish walnut fore end. It’s an interesting design and I like the way it looks.
If we start at the butt end, this is an AR-16 type stoc, which can be adjusted for length of pull simply by pressing the small lever underneath to allow the butt to be moved backwards and forwards. This really helps to get the right fit, and it’s something we’re seeing more and more of on these types of rifles. There’s also an adjustable cheekpiece, which can be moved up and down by unscrewing the large, knurled knob on the side – again, allowing for perfect eye alignment.
On to the fore end then, and it’s a lovely piece of wood. Turkish walnut, no less, and it’s well-sculpted, to boot. The underside of the fore grip, which covers part of the bottle is smooth and feels great to hold, but be warned, there is no chequering on this part. There is plenty of chequering on the pistol grip, though, which is also neatly carved for a comfortable fit.
There’s a Picatinny rail supplied that can be screwed into the fore end for adding the supplied mono grip, which cleverly doubles up as a bipod at the push of a button.
The 425cc cylinder is a bottle-type, and that gives a great shot count with circa 300 shots in .22.
Immediately behind the cylinder, you’ll find the fill gauge mounted to the right-hand side of the stock. It’s very easy to read and is colour coded in yellow, green and red segments. When it comes to the fill port, that can be found on the opposite side of the fore grip. It’s a fully exposed male end onto which the female adaptor pushes. I did search around in the case to see if there’s a probe cover, but I couldn’t find one, and subsequent searches on various websites seem to confirm that there is no cover for this port. I’m not sure if that’s just an oversight, or part of the design, but I’d really like to see some form of cover to prevent mud and suchlike working its way in – I’m a classic case for putting the rifle down on the ground when running out to pick up shot quarry – and that’s when nasties can get inside.
As far as handling is concerned, the mix of synthetic and wood along with the large bottle really does just ‘work’, and the centre of gravity is smack bang where I’d like it to be – just where the bottle joins the block at the fore end of the stock. It’s a lovely rifle to wield when shooting freehand.
SIDELEVER ACTION
The block on this rifle looks and feels extremely well manufactured and it’s solid. It houses the sidelever action and there is a split Picatinny rail on top, one running the full length of the block, with another shorter rail in front of the magazine port. The drop-down arm on the lever is cylindrical and chequered for added grip. It measures 40mm long and is fixed with no rotation.
Inside the action, Niksan has also added an anti-hammer-bounce mechanism, which goes a long way to helping preserve precious air.
ADJUSTABLE TRIGGER
I rather like this trigger unit. It’s billed as ‘four-way adjustable’, which means it can be adjusted for length of pull, weight, height and even angle. A quick flick with an Allen key will have this trigger set up to your needs within seconds. Straight out of the box, it comes set with a short first stage, followed by a crisp release with zero creep. It’s very easy to gauge when this trigger is going to release, even with it being set at just over 1lb pull weight.
Another plus point is the manual safety lever system. It’s quite large and is situated at the top of the pistol grip within easy thumb reach. It’s positive and easy to operate whilst having the rifle mounted.
VARIABLE POWER
The Ozark-TW features a transfer port power-adjustment lever. This little silver-coloured lever simply pushes forward to take the rifle from max power to low power – roughly 11.4 ft.lbs. to 6 ft.lbs. It’s a nice touch for those who want to shoot in the back garden or over shorter distances when ratting in barns etc., on low power, especially on such a reasonably priced rifle.
A COUPLE OF MAG’S
I really like the mag’s supplied with this rifle, of which there are two self-indexing supplied. You get 12 shots in the .22 – the rifle on test here – and 14 in the .177. Loading the mag’ is easy, and something we’ve seen from other manufacturers. Simply wind the clear Perspex cover anticlockwise, flip the mag’ over and drop in a pellet, skirt first, to lock the mag’ in place, then flip it back over and continue to fill it by dropping the pellets into the recesses, nose first. It’s tried and tested, and easy to do.
Loading the mag’ is easy as well. It can only go in from right to left, rounded end first, sliding the groove into the recess in the action. There’s a strong magnet at the base of the mag’ that holds it all in place once in situ.
CONCLUSION
For £799 you’re getting a lot of rifle, plus a sturdy hard case and a couple of mag’s. The Ozark-TW seems extremely well built and I’m very pleased with the performance down range. The sheer adjustability and light weight makes it ideal for hunting, and with it weighing in at under 7lbs you’re not going to be regretting carrying it around a field or woods all day.
From what I have seen so far, there are some great rifles coming out of the Niksan factory in Turkey. I wonder what’s next on the list to review?
Tech specs
Model: Ozark-TW
Manufacturer: Niksan
UK Distributor: The Shooting Party
Type: PCP, multi-shot rotary mag’
Stock Material: Ambidextrous, synthetic
Cocking: Sidelever
Trigger: Two-stage, adjustable
Safety: Manual lever
Calibres: .177 (14 shots) and .22 (12 shots)
Overall Length: 970mm (38.18in)
Barrel Length: 550mm (21.6in)
Weight: 3.15kg (6.9lbs) without scope
Fill Pressure: 250 bar
Shots Per Fill: 300 (.177), 310 (.22)
Energy of Test Rifle: Avg 11.4 ft.lbs. over 20 shots
Variation (20 shots): 9fps
Websites:
www.shootingparty.uk or
www.niksandefence.com
RRP: £799