The Shin Sung Career 707 .22 carbine has the potential to be the most powerful air rifle available. In the UK the transfer port fitted was only 1mm dia to meet the legal 12 ft lb legal limit. This is easily reached by removing the barrel and can be opened up without any special equipment. When I bought mine, as a kit of parts, the transfer port had been drilled out to 5mm, which would have given around 80 ft lbs. Coupled with the now banned air bullet, which was designed for the rifle, a lethal weapon could be produced. In Asia these weapons are used to shoot large tree monkeys. Having a Firearms Certificate, my Career is fitted with a 2.5mm dia transfer port, which rates it at 28 ft lbs and is a registered firearm.

I bought this rifle for it’s accuracy at range, safely dispatching a rabbit at 50 yards. While owning rimfire rifles, a couple of my landowners only wanted air weapons used on their land and having thinned out the rabbit populations to some extent, getting within shooting range was becoming more difficult. It has also proved it’s worth on roosted pigeons, magpies and crows,  being the safe option in an urban environment, as the air pellet quickly loses velocity and falls to earth.

There is a pellet stop for the magazine, which holds up to ten standard length pellets. If using a longer pellet, such as my preferred 21 grain Bisley Magnum, then the stop will have to be adjusted to suit and can be quite fiddly to get right. If it is too short, the loading pawl will cut the end of the pellet skirt off, jamming the gun, or if too long, the dome of the next pellet will be sheered off, jamming the gun. This has happened to me a few times, when carrying a mix of different pellets in my pocket. Once it happens, the scope rail has to be removed to release the cover and access the loading mechanism, which is a series of levers, operated by the under lever trigger and guard. This means, stop shooting and go home, as it is too complicated to carry out in the field, needing a number of special tools.

My 707 came fitted with a silencer, which screws onto a non standard 10 mm thread. Due to the 28 ft lb blast of air coming from the barrel, there is quite a crack, when the rifle is fired. I have mellowed this a bit by modifying the baffle shapes. With the pellet travelling at around 900 ft/sec, this does not worry the target, as it’s usually dead, but it can cause a bit of panic among the other ranks. A top quality Walther 3-9 x 40 scope came with the Career, the front parallax ring an aid when range finding and setting the scope sights. I focus, say on a barbed wire fence where you expect rabbits to appear, then read off the setting on the scope. If you have you have already done range tests over known distances against the scope parallax, you will have a good idea of how much hold over is required. With the Career 707 I did range test out to 70 yards and have had several kills at that range with the rifle rested.

The Career 707 carbine is a solid chunky rifle, which is easy to point and shoot, although my rifle only delivers about ten full power shots at 28 ft lb, before the  air pressure gauge starts to drop. On most outings this is not a problem, as shooting opportunities are limited on a two hour walk round. Once again, range tests can give a good idea of hold over required equated to air pressure on the gauge.