Reximex Pretensis-K review: a walnut-stocked PCP carbine that gives more rifle than its £615 price

I didn’t get to review the original Pretensis rifle, due to it being reviewed by other staff members at the time of its release, so I was really keen to get my hands on this latest carbine model to see if it lived up to its big brother’s reputation. The original Pretensis has certainly made a name for itself over the years, with pinpoint accuracy and exceptional build quality at an affordable price being the key selling points. I’m pleased to say that this latest incarnation is every bit as good as its predecessor, if not better.

Reximex Pretensis-K specification

Price is RRP at the time of publication and may have changed.

A beautifully marked Turkish walnut stock

This rifle has a beautifully marked Turkish walnut stock, one of the nicest I’ve seen if I’m honest. It is sanded and obviously has some oil already rubbed into it, but you can still feel the texture of the grain when you run your fingers over it, which helps with grip. For those who like to tinker with oils and waxes, you’re going to love working on this stock to bring out its natural beauty.

The fore-end is slim, which allows for a comfortable pinch grip, and it’s quite long too, so you’ll find a comfortable spot no matter where you prefer to place your leading hand. There are deep flutes either side of the fore-end, which add to the overall aesthetics while giving functional finger and thumb resting places. At the end of the fore-end there’s a removable Picatinny rail underneath for adding a bipod.

Is the Pretensis-K cheekpiece adjustable?

Yes – and one of this rifle’s major selling points for me has to be the adjustable wooden cheekpiece. It’s actually cut away from the stock itself, not an ‘add-on’, so you get the grain running perfectly from the cheekpiece back into the main body of the stock. Hats off to Reximex for doing this. A quick fiddle with the two Allen screws using the Allen key provided allows you to alter the height to within fractions of a millimetre to achieve the perfect line of sight through your chosen optics.

Staying with the stock, there’s ample chequering on the pistol grip and Reximex has left room up top for those who like to shoot thumb up. It has also included sling studs already screwed into position for those who want to use a sling, which is yet another attention to detail you don’t often find on rifles of this price. At the rear end of the stock you’ll find a rubber butt pad, which is fixed in place and sits well in your shoulder.

Regulated power and shot count

The regulated air cylinder holds 130cc of air up to 250 bar pressure, giving around 90–110 shots in the .22 model I tested, and is situated directly under the 420mm-long floating barrel. You can see the regulator pressure gauge on the right-hand side, situated at the rear of the air cylinder. It looks as though it has been set to 100 bar on my test rifle.

There’s a colour-coded fill gauge on the end of the cylinder, which is really easy to read. Filling up is a doddle and it’s a simple case of pulling off the fill port cover on the end of the cylinder to expose the fill port, then inserting the supplied fill probe. Reximex also supplies a female Foster adapter with the rifle, just in case your whip doesn’t have one on the end to accept the male fill probe, which is a really nice touch.

As far as barrel crack goes, this rifle has a respectable bark, but slapping a moderator on will quieten it all down. The end of the barrel is ½in UNF threaded for adding a moderator for this very reason.

Eight-step power adjustment

On the top of the action, immediately in front of the magazine loading port on the right-hand side, you’ll find a power adjustment lever. This has eight stepped adjustments to increase or lower the power output as you see fit. The .22 test rifle sent to me came set for a consistent 10.9ft/lb on maximum power, but you can adjust it to lower the power to around 5.5ft/lb. It’s a very handy feature for those who shoot over shorter distances, in gardens or barns.

How good is the Pretensis-K trigger?

This rifle features a four-way-adjustable unit. It’s a two-stage trigger and you can adjust it for pull weight and length, but you can also adjust the height and angle of the trigger blade itself, which is a rather comfortable curved blade. It comes set with a reasonably long first stage before coming to an abrupt halt. The second stage has absolutely zero creep and with just under a pound of pull until the break it is easy to anticipate.

As far as safety is concerned, there’s a very positive push button housed above and just behind the trigger, which is cut into the walnut stock. I really like this one – it looks smart and there’s a real positive, loud ‘click’ when operating it. Not so great for hunting scenarios, but it does the job really well.

Loading the magazines

You get two magazines in this package, plus a single-shot magazine. The .177 magazine holds 14 shots, while the .22 version holds 12 and the .25 holds 10. They’re really easy to load. With the clear plastic cover facing you and the two straight edges of the magazine facing bottom right, simply wind the clear cover all the way round clockwise and drop your first pellet in the hole to lock it all in place (make sure you have a finger at the rear of the hole to prevent the pellet falling straight through). Then it’s just a case of rotating the clear cover anti-clockwise and filling the rest of the slots with pellets. The magazine can only be inserted into the rifle from the right-hand side, and it takes a bit of working out the first time, but once you suss it out it’s a simple operation.

A smooth side-lever action

As far as cocking the rifle goes, the spring-assisted side-lever is pulled just past the 90-degree position to cock. I must mention at this point that you can also de-cock the rifle by holding on to the lever, pulling the trigger and gently returning the lever to its start position. It’s a silky-smooth operation, and the lever, trigger and safety are all in such a position that you don’t have to pull your head away from the rifle in order to shoot it repeatedly. If we move up to the top of the action itself, you’ll find a generous split Picatinny/dovetail rail for mounting your optics.

How accurate is the Reximex Pretensis-K?

After a few different pellet tests I settled on the .22 JSB Exact Jumbo 15.89gr pellets, which gave readings between 548fps and 556fps over the chronograph for a peak of 10.9ft/lb. With the scope zeroed I was easily hitting 5p-sized groups at 30m from the bench, and pushing it out to 40m saw very little change in that grouping. Even the spinners at 50m were no match for this combination, thanks to the onboard ballistic calculator.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• Beautifully marked Turkish walnut stock with a slim, long fore-end
• Height-adjustable cheekpiece cut from the stock itself
• Sling studs fitted and a removable Picatinny rail for a bipod
• Consistent power: 548fps to 556fps over the chronograph
• Eight-step power adjuster down to around 5.5ft/lb
• Four-way-adjustable trigger with zero creep on the second stage
• Female Foster adapter and a single-shot magazine supplied
• Can be de-cocked safely using the side-lever

Weaknesses

• A respectable bark until a moderator is fitted
• The loud click of the push-button safety is not ideal for hunting
• The magazine loads from the right-hand side only and takes some working out the first time

Verdict: buy with confidence

The quality of workmanship, combined with the meshing of brains from both Reximex and the good people at Range Right, has resulted in a fantastically functional and extremely good-looking rifle that is going to appeal to a wide variety of shooters, from the weekend clubbers to the four nights a week pest controllers out there. To put it simply, you are getting way more rifle than I would expect for the price tag.