ON TEST: SMK TH208
TOP VALUE THUMBHOLE Tim Finley reviews another Chinese performer from SMK
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aspire to keep the cost down of the guns I review, if I can, because value for money is the real aim, sorry for the pun. So it’s hard to ignore the SMK brand of rifles from Sportsmarketing. They’ve been going strong for years and it’s fair to say they were the first to recognise the full potential of the manufacturing might of China. I really liked the XS20 Custom I tested a few magazine issues ago, and this month it’s back to another break-barrel, spring powered rifle from SMK. From the outset, this is a real adult’s gun and a top performer.
out of the rear action cap when the rifle is cocked. The position is very well thought out as it makes it easy to use for both right-handed and lefthanded shooters. It has an S on both sides of the button/safety catch which can only be seen once the safety is applied. Pushing the
button back into the action hides the S and makes the rifle ready to fire. For added safety, the shooter can pull the safety catch back out manually at any time to reapply it, and the button has a groove in the top in order to help you grasp it. There’s a ribbed surface on the back of the safety to give an anti-slip surface for the finger or thumb when pushing the button back into the action.
BIG BEAST With a 19-inch (485mm) long barrel and a large wooden stock, the TH208 is not a small airgun. The TH in the model number points to the fact that it has a thumbhole stock. The 208 series of action is well used by SMK and I can see why, they’re very solidly built and nicely finished. The stock is an ambidextrous sporter style, with a dark brown stain, and fitted with a thick rubber butt pad. The length of pull is adult-sized too, being a full 370mm (14½ inches). You’ll also see there are laser-cut, chequeringtype s on each side of the stock’s fore end. The steel barrel is fitted with a slim-looking muzzle weight, which really does set off the look of the gun. One thing to note is that the gun cannot be fitted with any form of open sight. The screw holes on the top of the breech-block are capped off on the TH208. It’s an ‘optical sight only’ gun, which is not a bad thing as open sights are a lot
LONG LEVERS
harder to shoot accurately at any sort of range. This is a long-range airgun: over the chronograph with 14.3 grain .22 pellets, the test rifle produced 11.5 ft.lbs. of energy. Shot-to-shot variation was under ten fps. Springpowered airguns tend to be very good over the chronograph if they have any quality about them and the TH208 certainly has that. The break-barrel system has a ball-bearing catch and it needs a tap on the barrel to break the lock. The fit in the breech jaws is
good and the end of the barrel is sealed with a black ‘O’ ring.
AUTOMATICALLY SAFE The rifle is fitted with an automatic safety catch, which comes on as the rifle is cocked. At the risk of repeating myself, never, ever take your hand off the barrel when cocking and loading a spring-powered, break-barrel air rifle. The safety on the TH208 is at the very rear of the action, being a rectangular plastic button which pops
The rifle is very easy to cock, relative to its full power levels, and this is because of the leverage gained by the 480mm long, heavy barrel and also the articulation on the cocking arm. It’s not fitted with an anti-bear trap system, so it can be de-cocked if necessary. Fitted with a scope, the rifle weighs in at 4.25 kg (9lb 5oz), so it is a heavy gun. The stock has a large 50mm (two inches) diameter aperture forming the thumbhole, and is sculpted for both left and righthanded shooters. There’s no option for having the thumb in the upright position, but I found the stock comfortable to use, as did my lefthanded mate. I use him to ascertain if a gun is really ambidextrous, and the TH208 ed the test. The thumb is prevented from going upright by a top bridge section of the stock.
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ON TEST: SMK TH208
A recoil arrestor block is useful and welcome.
The breech is well made and locks up well.
GIVE ME STRENGTH This is to add strength, and it has a raised cheekpiece on both sides of the butt and a thick, ventilated rubber pad moulded with dimples and the trademark ringed target logo of Sportsmarketing. The logo is also picked out on the surface of the steel action cylinder just in rear of the breech. The front stock screws are of the Posi-drive type. The design of the stock is a bit of a compromise, being that it has to fit left-handed and right-handed shooters, but it does give a natural and unstrained position for the trigger hand. I fitted a 3 - 9 x 40 SMK telescopic sight for range testing, and noted that the 100mm long scope rail, machined into the top of the action, had an arrestor plate fitted to its rear, to stop scope creep. The 145mm-long, 24mm-diameter muzzle weight is held on to the barrel by two Allen screws on the underside of the weight. These
The thumbhole stock offers excellent trigger control.
are set radially on the circumference of the weight. It gives the TH208 the real look of a custom spring rifle, although why it needs a muzzle weight on such a long barrel is a bit of a moot point.
NEW AMMO Shooting the gun from the classic field target sitting position, I set a test card at 25m and with the new SMK Black pellets, proceeded to impress myself with how accurate the rifle and pellets were. SMK had sent the three
they tend not to deform as much as pure lead pellets. They have already been a huge hit for SMK and following my range testing I can see why. I set test cards out at 25m and started with the round heads. Roundheaded pellets are suitable for all shooting situations and SMK have sensibly marked the tin up with the ‘ALL ROUNDER’ banner. From the sitting shooting position I shot a 19.9mm five-shot group, which I was pleased with. I didn’t expect the same
25m, I expected the flat-headed pellets to be worse than the roundheaded ones. On to the pointed ones, marked up as ‘HUNTING’ - and more shocks. They came in at 20.4mm, making them one of the most accurate pointed pellets I have ever shot. Sold in tins of 250 for £4, they represent great value for money and superb performance down range, where it counts.
QUALITY This is a quality-made and very accurate rifle. The alloy trigger blade is predictable in operation and has a pull weight of 1.6kg, so it isn’t at all heavy, again helping with the TH208‘s range performance. You cannot fail to be impressed with the gun when you shoot it. I would struggle to cart it around all day out hunting, but that really is the only downside to this gun. Costing less than £150.00, it takes some beating in value for money. ■
“THEY CAME IN AT 20.4MM, MAKING THEM ONE OF THE MOST ACCURATE POINTED PELLETS I’VE EVER SHOT”
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different types of Black .22 pellet they sell. There’s a round-headed version, a flat-headed and a hunting pointed version. They are called Black due to their colour. SMK have designed the pellets themselves and the addition of graphite particles gives them the dark hue and also means
level of good performance from the flat or pointed pellets.
BACK TO BLACK The flat version of the Black is marked up as ‘TARGET/CO2’. I shot a 20.2mm five-shot group, four of them were within 11.6mm. Out at a full