AirMaks Arms Krait MKII review: the endlessly adjustable bullpup PCP on test

The AirMaks Krait has quietly built itself a loyal following among British airgunners, so when I heard there was a MKII on the way I was keen to get my hands on one. I finally managed it at this year’s British Shooting Show, where Chris Roberts of the AirMaks UK team pulled me behind a curtain on the stand and showed me the very rifle you see here. It is actually Chris’ own gun, now fitted with the new MKII internals, of which there are plenty.

As I write, the first MKII Krait rifles are on their way into the country, and there is every chance they will already be sitting in gun shops by the time you read this.

What strikes you first is the sheer scope of the range. The MKII pushes the Krait line-up to a remarkable 20 different formats, spanning the Krait, Krait-T, Krait Pro, Krait MKII, Krait MKII Pro and Krait Lite, each offered in Standard, Long, Long High Power and Extra High Power specifications. It is a lot of choice for one family of rifles.

Four models make up the MKII range for now: the Standard I have on test, plus the Long, Long High Power and Extra High Power versions.

My Standard test rifle is a .177 with a 400mm barrel and a 300cc carbon bottle. There is a 15cc plenum at the rear, but AirMaks has also added a 70cc pre-plenum ahead of the regulator, so in practice you have something like 370cc of air to draw on. That extra volume translates into roughly 10 per cent more shots than the original Krait, which for this .177 works out at around 275 per fill.

Every barrel length can be had choked or unchoked, all with a 1:17.7 twist, and each one uses AirMaks’ modular shrouded CZ barrel system. At sub-12ft/lb that shroud keeps the muzzle report impressively hushed, even before you thread a moderator onto the 1/2in UNF fitting.

I was pleased to see a scattering of small Picatinny rails, too. One sits ahead of the trigger guard for a bipod, and there are two more where the barrel meets the block, one on each side, ideal spots for an IR torch or a lamp, or both at once.

Prices are RRP at the time of publication and may have changed since.

What’s new inside

At the heart of the MKII is a redesigned block paired with a brand-new regulator that AirMaks has developed in-house, along with a fresh valve and an anti-bounce hammer arrangement. Both the regulator and the hammer spring are simple to adjust, and even the UK sub-12ft/lb guns can be tuned. A clicking wheel at the rear of the stock lets you dial the hammer spring in and out by hand, so there is no longer any need to go hunting for Allen keys.

Out of the box from Hawke Optics the regulator is set to around 70 bar, though you can take it anywhere between 50 and 110 bar. Better still, you can now make that adjustment with the rifle still charged, where earlier Kraits had to be emptied of air first. The hammer spring is yours to fiddle with as well, should you want to.

A cracking trigger

The adjustable trigger on this rifle is a real highlight. The blade has a gentle curve and is two-stage adjustable for both length and weight, and I like that it is fairly wide, so it beds down nicely on the pad of your finger.

Sitting just above and behind the trigger is a manual AR15-style safety lever, which can be switched from right to left with nothing more than a flathead screwdriver if you need it the other way round.

Chris clearly favours a longish first stage, and that is how this test gun came set up. The first stage travels to a crisp, definite stop, after which only the lightest touch is needed to trip the shot.

Adjust anything and everything

Every part of the new Krait MKII has been built to a genuinely high standard, with the machined components held to almost absurdly tight tolerances. The craftsmanship shines through the moment you pick one up, and the whole rifle is customisable straight off the shelf. The length of pull, for instance, is set with a pair of Allen screws that extend the butt.

The cheekpiece is new as well. Where before you could adjust it for height and cant, you can now slide it horizontally too, which makes getting your eye behind the scope so much easier. It is all handled by four flathead Allen bolts on two brackets, spaced 25mm apart. Set both screws to the same height and the cheekpiece rises or drops as one; back off just one and you can tilt it up at the front or the rear. To shift it fore and aft, undo the two countersunk bolts, slide it where you want it and nip everything back up.

On top you get an extended 250mm Picatinny scope rail with 20 MOA of gradient built in. While we are up there, a word of advice: go for medium or high mounts. The extra 6mm or so of height they give makes it far more comfortable to line your eye up cleanly behind the scope.

Filling is via a male Foster fitting on the right of the action. Clip on your female Foster whip and take it up to 300 bar.

Fresh grip and side-lever

The pistol grip has changed for the MKII as well. It is now a rubberised, ambidextrous FAB Defence grip that stands a touch more upright than the AR15-style grip on the original Krait, and I much prefer it. Moulded from reinforced polymer with a textured rubber coating, it feels lovely in the hand.

I have always rated the short-stroke side-lever on the Krait rifles. It cocks the action with a fraction over a 90-degree pull and almost no effort, then glides home with a muffled, positive click. The chunky 55mm drop handle feels great as you work it, and the whole lever swaps from right to left in seconds for left-handed shooters.

Clever new magazines

AirMaks has reworked its spring-loaded alloy magazines to take projectiles up to 14mm long. Each one now wears a magnetic faceplate that simply pulls off to expose the rotary drum beneath. It is a drop-in design, dead easy to load, and once you are done you press the faceplate back on and it snaps into place with a reassuring click thanks to some seriously strong magnets.

The .177 mag holds 18 pellets and the .22 holds 16, which is plenty for most hunting outings. It only feeds into the rifle one way, from right to left, dropping in with a positive click and locking home on a sprung ball-bearing.

There is an anti-double-feed system built in too, which rules out the double-loading that so many makers still seem happy to ignore.

How it shoots

As ever, I took the rifle down to my local club range to see what it could do, and it did not let me down. Why would it? Out to 30m it was pellet on pellet, and at 40m I was cutting groups off the bench no bigger than a fingernail. The back wall here sits at 53m, and even out there the Krait MKII shrugged it off, ringing the spinners at will.

This latest Krait is a genuine all-rounder. It is as happy on a club range, like mine at Range & Country in Sleaford, as it is out in the field accounting for rabbits. That comes down to how easy it is to use, how reliably it performs and how precisely it puts a pellet where you want it.

Hunter, club shooter or competitor, it is hard to think of much the AirMaks Arms Krait MKII does not give you.