Reximex Regime Air Rifle Review from Just Air Guns.Â
REGIME CHANGE
Reximex Regime Air Rifle Review – We airgunners are, on the whole, a fairly simple lot. We just want a reliable air rifle that has just about everything – good looks, robust build quality, outstanding performance and plenty of all features. It’s not much is it?
And yet, it would seem that it is.
If that sounds like you and your quest for an air rifle, do yourself a favour and check out the Reximex Regime because, from what I can see, it seems to be close to the perfect rifle. OK, it’s not regulated, but I can live with that, especially as it carries a price tag of just £499.99.
Every other box is ticked though. And if performs as good as it looks…
Reximex Regime Apex PCP Air Rifle .22
Reximex Regime Apex PCP Air Rifle .177
Other Air Rifles from Reximex here…
STOCK TAKE
There’s no denying the Regime is a symphony of plastic, or to be kind ‘synthetic’ material. But there are bad plastic stocks – all hollow, scratchy and icky – and then there are good plastic stocks. This is most definitely one of the latter.
Give it a wrap with your knuckles and all you’ll get is sore knuckles. Shake it as much as you like and nothing rattles despite the stock being made of several screwed together sections. Of course, there is a moulding seam, but you’ll have to look hard to find it, and there are no sharp edges or burrs.
At 815mm long from butt to muzzle and tipping the scales at a little under 3.4 kgs, the Regime is compact and relatively light with a point of balance between the pistol grip and trigger guard.
There are plenty of features too. Unusually for a rifle at this price point, the solid rubber butt pad will adjust up and down to facilitate perfect shoulder fit and scope/eye alignment. In truth, the push-button mechanism is not the smoothest or most refined, but once set in the perfect position it locks up and you’ll not need to move it again.
The cut out will not only accommodate the largest hands, it also provides a useful carry handle. Like the rest of the rifle, the pistol grip is ambidextrous. Finger contours and plenty of stippling provide lots of grip. The generous forend, which will accommodate a bipod thanks to the provision of a Picatinny accessory rail, has more stippling.
There’s no cheek rest but the adjustable butt pad means you really don’t need one and eye alignment to a scope mounted on the 250mm long Picatinny rail is very comfortable. Somewhat confusingly, there are two bubble levels – on top of the butt and one on the scope rail. However, whilst they will tell you if you are aiming off the horizontal plane, neither will indicate cant.
TAKE AIM
I used to hate the triggers on Turkish rifles. Notchy, vague and unpredictable, I felt they always let down what were otherwise fairly decent rifles. Add that prejudice to the fact the Regime is a bullpup and therefore relies on a rod to connect the trigger to the release mechanism and let’s just say I wasn’t holding out much hope.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. To be fair, the triggers on most Reximex rifles I’ve reviewed have been fine and the trigger on the Regime is too. The post and shoe set up is very comfortable, coming at the end of a 380mm pull, with a defined stop between the two stages. The set up on the review rifle was fine for me, but if you like your trigger to be just so, adjustments can be made after removing the stock.
Forward of the trigger, the red safety catch is located within the moulded trigger guard. Whilst I prefer safety catches that are located somewhere else, there’s no denying it’s quick and easy use – simply push it forward with your trigger finger and you’re ready to go.
The sidelever or bolt on many early bullpups was often located at the very back of the action, necessitating a ‘finger in the ear’ cocking technique. Such contortions are not required on the Regime thanks to the lever being halfway down the rifle. It operates positively in two stages. As standard, the lever is located on the right-hand side, but it takes on a few minutes to swap over for left-handed cocking.
The cocking process cycles pellets through a magazine that takes 12 shots in .22 and 14 in .177. Owners of many other Turkish rifles will be familiar with the design that requires you to first rotate the clear faceplate clockwise. With your finger behind the hole, dropping the first pellet in nose first holds the drum in place so you can load the remaining chambers.
With the side lever pulled back, the magazine is inserted into the breech round end first from the right with the plastic cover facing you so you can see the numbers that indicate how many shots you have left. You’ll need to align a ridge in the back of the magazine with a groove in the breech. The slick sidelever and proven magazine work well and you’ll know when you’ve taken your last shot as the side lever will not return.
The Regime’s barrel and shroud measure 645mm long. The shroud does a commendable job of reducing muzzle report. The full-length plastic stock covers all but a few inches of the barrel which adds to the stubby, almost futuristic styling. There’s no provision to attach a silencer, and to be honest I’d have no concerns about hunting with the Regime without one. However, if you want an ultra-stealthy approach, after-market adapters are readily available.
Like the barrel, the 310cc air cylinder – often the least attractive component on a rifle in my opinion – is largely swallowed by the stock. Rotating a collar at the end reveals a fill port to accept the provided probe. Markings on the cylinder suggest a 250bar fill although a more circumspect 200 bar is recommended. An easy-to-see manometer located between the breech and sidelever lets you know when it’s time to fill up again.
WHERE IT COUNTS
Compact, tactical looking bullpups like the Reximex Regime look their best with a suitably diminutive scope. I fitted an MTC Optics Atom 10×30 which suited the rifle perfectly and did nothing to upset its balance.
A long session on the range at Reading Air Target Shooting Club passed in the blink in the eye ad I poured several hundred pellets through the .177 test Regime. Like any unregulated rifle, there is a noticeable but easily managed power curve. A full magazine with a 200-bar fill showed a variance of 14 feet per second (FPS) over 14 shots, which translated to 10.55 ft/lbs. At 150 bar, the variance was 16 FPS for an average of 10.35 ft/lbs. The output at 100 bar dropped to 9.7 ft/lbs with a variance of 21 FPS.
A couple of run throughs was enough to indicate a sweetspot between 190 and 130 bar which produced 40 shots with an average output of 10.52 ft/lbs and variance of 14 FPS.
In terms of accuracy, the Regime’s barrel was not at all pellet fussy, returning 5p and 10p groups at 30 and 40 metres with Air Arms Diabolo Field, JSB Exacts and QYS Steamlined. If anything, the latter had a slight edge.
CONCLUSION
There was a time when, if you wanted a top performing air rifle the good ones cost plenty and there was everything else. The gulf in between was enormous. Thankfully it is closing rapidly. It’s true that the top-notch rifles are, on the hole, beautifully engineered and packed full of features many of us didn’t even realise we need.
However, they come at a price.
The reality is that the rest of the airgun world is catching up and, truth be told, put two shooters of exactly the same ability on the range – one with a £2,000 rifle and the other with one costing £500 – and you’ll be hard pressed to say who hit the better group.
Actually, that’s not quite right. The £500 rifle has to be the right £500 rifle as there are still plenty of pups out there. The Reximex Regime is made of the right stuff and is accurate, powerful and consistent enough to not be embarrassed by more expensive rivals.
ADJUSTABLE BUTT PAD
Rubber shoulder pad locks into multiple positions to fine tune fit and eye alignment
BUTT BUBBLE PAD
Located on top of the butt, a bubble level will indicate if you are aiming off the vertical plane but will not indicate cant
SCOPE RAIL BUBBLE LEVEL
A second bubble level on the scope rail is likely to be obscured by the scope
SCOPE RAIL
Plenty of room on the Picatinny rail to mount a scope of just about any size
DROP DOWN HANDLE TOOL
ADJUSTING POWER LEVEL
Unscrewing the side lever drop down handle reveals a small screwdriver so you can adjust power setting
AIR FILL GAUGE
Manometer indicates a charge of 250 bar, but we’d recommend 200 bar
SIDE LEVER
Side lever is slick and positive to operate and can be switched to right or left side
INSERTING MAGAZINE
Magazine slots into the breech from the right hand side and a counter tells you how many shots are left
REAR OF MAGAZINE
Magazine will only load if you align a ridge on the back with a groove in the breech
AIR FILL PORT
Rotating a collar on the front of the air cylinder reveals the air fill port
AIR BAFFLES
Shroud contains baffles to reduce muzzle crack, but there’s no capacity to attach a silencer. After market adapters are available though
SAFETY CATCH AND TRIGGER
Push the safety catch forward to shoot and back to make the Reximex Regime safe
REXIMEX REGIME IN PROFILE
The Reximex Regime – an affordable, accurate a full-powered bullpup
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Blog Author: Richard Sanders