![]() The Evolution is available with several stock options, the standard beech, left or right hand walnut, and a recently announced thumbhole sporter. I am an engineer by trade so I could really appreciate that! The bluing on the test rifle was flawless and everything fit very precisely. The parts for all the Theoben rifles are machined on CNC machines but the final assembly and fitting are done by hand. The Evolution is a commercially produced air rifle that is actually hand built. From what I saw on the test rifle, they certainly accomplished their goals. The Evolution was first introduced in 2002 and was designed to be an entry level gas ram rifle that was built to the high quality standards of Theoben. Then in 2003, when Ben and David decided to sell the company, Martin and Jonathan Radford purchased the company and are continuing the great Theoben tradition. In 2001, the one time apprentice and then general manager Martin Rutterford became a junior partner. Theoben also makes the fine Rapid series precharge air rifles that spans a good bit of this history. It was at this facility that the Olympus, Fenman Profile, Sirocco 2000, Dual Magnum, SLR98, Crusader, and Evolution were and are produced. In 1995 they move to a larger facility in Somersham, which is just outside of St. ![]() They also produced gas ram conversion kits for a number of spring guns that were popular at the time. While in this facility Theoben produced a variety of gas piston rifles including Eliminator/Crow Magnum, Sirocco Grand Prix, Sirocco FT, Sirocco Countryman, SLR 88, HW90, Fenman, and Taunus. After about 18 months the company moved to a new facility on Stevenson Road and quickly grew to include some office space next door. They made about 400 Siroccos the first year and it was during this time that they employed an apprentice named Martin Rutterford. The made their first gas spring rifle, the Sirocco, at this facility. Theoben started in the corner of a factory owned by Anglia Circuits Engineering in St. It took a couple of more years before Ben and David officially formed Theoben on July 4th 1982. It did and after a few years of tests and prototypes he patented the original gas spring. He made a rough prototype for his spring gun to see if the idea would even work. The wheels began to turn in Ben's head and the idea for an air piston was born. While in the process of working on the rifle Ben noticed that the forks on a Suzuki GS1000 motorcycle were air assisted. The origin of the gas ram idea reportedly came to Ben Taylor one day when he was rebuilding a spring gun that he and co-founder David Theobald had built. This was accomplished by improving the seal material, moving the seal placement, and modifying the cone angles of the inertia weight to produce a smoother movement. The new HE gas ram is reported to improve consistency and reliability over previous gas rams. All this translates into quicker lock time and a shorter recoil period. It slides with the piston and helps to eliminate piston bounce. On top of this a patented inertia weight is used inside the piston. The overall affect is that all spring vibration, twang, and torque are removed from the shooting cycle. Their piston guns use a patented High Efficiency (HE) gas ram system that replaces the metal spring with an air spring. That changed recently when I had my first chance to shoot a Theoben Evolution.Ī good number of airgunners are familiar with the fine airgun line produced by Theoben. I have owned and shot a lot of untuned piston guns over the years and nearly every one of them suffered from spring twang and added vibration because of the loose manufacturing tolerance required for mass production. Nearly all benefit from a spring kit or a full out tune to reduce the vibration and recoil while increasing the power and lock time. ![]() A good tune is probably the most common upgrade performed on a piston gun. When a lot of guys catch the airgun bug they tend to fall into the deep morass of tuning and customizing their airguns.
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