Taurus Raging Bull 8.375" - Marushin
I'd been after an 8mm gas revolver since Marushin announced the Anaconda. My concern was that the grips are designed for a right handed shooter (with a thumb rest on the left). I've seen revolvers like this and they're not ideal for left handers like myself. I also dithered over whether to get the silver (would it disappoint?) or go for a heavier, black revolver.
As time passed, they released the Ruger Super Redhawk (which never really figured in my decision) and then came the announcement of the Raging Bull. At first I really didn't like it, it looked totally over the top, but gradually I warmed to it and decided that if I was going to go for an airsoft hand cannon, it might as well be the biggest!
In the Box
You certainly get your money's worth with the Marushin Raging Bull.
As well as the expected gun, manual, little bag of BBs (around 50 of the big 8mms) and allen key, you also get a scope mount, 6 of the big 8mm cartridge shells and a special loading tool for pushing the BBs into place. There's also a little key for the hammer lock (a trademark Taurus feature)
First Impressions
At first I had a lot of problem with my Raging Bull not releasing gas, but (as you can read on the Resources page, Marushin provided great customer service to quickly resolve that.
The Raging Bull 8.375" is a beast of a gun. The silver finish is good, replicating a matt stainless, rather than chromed, finish and the trademark rubber grip looks good, with its red rear panel.
Closer Look
At lot is made of the Marushin 8mm revolver range's ability to generate 1J of power on Green Gas (HFC22), but this really isn't that amazing when you think about the fact that the 8mm BBs are .34g (at least). My calculations (See the Resources page for my calculator) suggest it's only around 250fps, whereas it would need to be 330fps with a .2g 6mm BB. This resulted in, I'll be honest, a bit of disappointment when I got it working. It's not bad, but the BBs just don't scream across the room as you'd like (or most GBB/NBB 6mms do). Addendum - I found that the power using American Eagle Winter gas is much better with a very impressive (to the eye) increase in FPS over 134a, but the big BB doesn't penetrate Coke cans at 5 metres.
However, once you get past that you get a great looking gun for your money. The rubber grip is excellently replicated (although being a hollow three part moulding, it does "squish" together a bit until you've used it a fair amount) and it comes with a nice heavy metal sight mount which you can mount a scope or red dot sight on.
The finish is, I think, excellent. It really looks like matt stainless steel to my eyes and the (licensed) Taurus trademarks are all deep and correctly sized, whilst the Marushin ones are shallow and unobtrusively small - just as it should be.
The 8mm BBs are loaded into (very expensive - £20 for 6!) brass shells, but it's great to hear them chink out as you press the extractor and they are a hell of a lot better quality than real casings!
I've seen some concerns expressed about the reliability of the 8mm revolvers, especially with HFC22 gas, but it should be noted that the Raging Bull has a separate gas pipe to lead gas from the reservoir in the grip to just behind the hammer (basically where the firing pin would be), unlike the 6mm S&W and the Anaconda, which (from the pictures I've seen) have the gas pipe molded into the frame. I wouldn't recommend HFC22, but the Raging Bull seems better developed than some of the other 8mms.
Shooting Impressions
BBs used in this test are the .34g 8mm ones.
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I carried out my standard 5m test, but initial results were terrible!
Three BBs were on target, another two went right and I couldn't ascertain where the 6th was! The three on target were two near the centre in a 4cm (1.5 inch) diameter and one on the right of the target (which was actually about the same distance from one shot off the target, forming a second group).
I was amazed at how poor the Raging Bull results were and decided to try again.
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Firing double action, I achieved better results than before, with all 6 shots on target, but still widely spread left to right, although within a 6cm (2.5 inch) high band across the target. This grouping is shown in red on the target.
I then fired single action and produced the more closely grouped black grouping. 4 of the 6 shots are within 6cm (2.5 inch) diameter, low and to the right of the aim point, whilst the other rounds are low, but in line (a group of two 5cm (2 inch) diameter) and high to the right. The 5 low shots are within a 9cm (3.5 inch) diameter, which I think is as good as I can get without a lot of practice.
The Raging Bull's spongy grip and notchy trigger led to disappointing results, even in single action, which is a shame, as this makes the included sight mount pretty redundant, except for visual impact.
Conclusions
This a lovely gun to get out and fiddle with - it feels heavy in the hand and the shells are a work of art (at a price!).
It's not a skirmish pistol and, frankly, is a bit disappointing in terms of power and accuracy - Hopefully, someone will think about power valves for these guns sometimes, but as a collector's display piece, it's a gem.
Weight : 940g
Realism : *****
Quality : ****
Power : **(*** with AE Winter Gas)
Accuracy : **
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