VALUE FOR MONEY
The Brocock Compatto is not a cheap air rifle at its selling price of $999.00. But, in the exclusive world of Western European PCPs, the English-manufactured Compatto is quite reasonably priced.
The Compatto’s trigger, action, light weight and handling are outstanding for any air rifle at any price.
Although the Compatto is a product of the Italian Dianna group that also owns Daystate, this Brocock is not a “Daystate lite” model and needs to be judged on its own merits. It has an unique “semi-bullpup” design that brings many benefits in compactness and handling, without incurring some of the operational issues that can be encountered with some regular bullpup designs.
Is it perfect? No. The Compatto has a few disadvantages, such as the relatively limited shot count that comes as a result of the small HPA tank (30% less volume than a Marauder, for example). But that small air capacity is one of the elements that drives such great handling. Swings and roundabouts…
The Brocock Compatto air rifle is likely to appeal to the airgun hunter and occasional Field Target or silhouette competitor looking for a quality European PCP that’s just a little different. If that describes you, this is certainly an air rifle to seriously consider.
HAM Test Rating
90%
Value For Money
Great handling, "different" appearance.
Best For
Small Game hunting and pest control.
Best Pellet Tested
Crosman Premier HP
Street Price at Time of Test
$999 + Scope
Caliber Tested
.22
RateAGun Score
Easy to Shoot
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SPEED AND ACCURACY
The .22 caliber Brocock Compatto air rifle tested by HAM showed a peak muzzle velocity of just about 1,000 FPS with light weight alloy pellets. Of course, muzzle velocity drops with increasing pellet weight. However, as with most PCPs, the Compatto produces higher muzzle energy (knock down power) with slower-travelling, heavier pellets than it does with faster, lighter ones.
These muzzle velocities are fairly typical for many .22 caliber PCP air rifles, making the Compatto a good hunting air rifle for pest control and small game hunting.
Although the Compatto benefits from the Slingshot hammer system, it’s not regulated. You can see the slight, but stead, fall in muzzle velocity from shot-to-shot in the test target Chrony prints.
The Compatto does include a three-step power adjuster on the right of the breech. However we left this set at full power when shooting the test targets for this HAM review.
Pellet
Average Muzzle Velocity
Average Muzzle Energy
Accuracy
Gamo Raptor Platinum 9.7 Grain
997.23 FPS
21.41 Ft/Lbs
Poor.
H&N Field Target Trophy Green 10.03 Grain
988.00 FPS
21.74 Ft/Lbs
Poor.
RWS Hobby 11.9 Grain
930.52 FPS
22.85 Ft/Lbs
Poor.
Crosman Premier HP 14.3 Grain
886.42 FPS
24.93 Ft/Lbs
Excellent. Best Tested
JSB Jumbo Exact 14.35 Grain
890.45 FPS
25.24 Ft/Lbs
Excellent.
H&N Field Target Trophy 14.66 Grain
886.78 FPS
25.55 Ft/Lbs
Excellent.
H&N Baracuda Match 21.14 Grain
782.80 FPS
28.71 Ft/Lbs
Excellent.
Accuracy of the Brocock Compatto tested by HAM was excellent with 7.9 Grain pellets and heavier. Best accuracy was achieved with Crosman Premier HP pellets, although the Baracudas, Field Target trophys and JSBs gave almost equally good results (barring one flyer in the JSB string).
Accuracy with lighter pellets was, frankly, poor. However, most purchasers of the Compatto are likely to be experienced airgun shooters who would never consider using lightweight pellets in an air rifle of this type.
TRIGGER AND COCKING EFFORT
Trigger pull weight of the Brocock Compatto air rifle tested by HAM averaged just under 1 Lb, at 15.6 Ounces. As usual, HAM tests triggers as received. We did not make any adjustments to the Compatto’s trigger and felt absolutely no need to do so.
This is a two-stage trigger. The first stage is incredibly light, and, although the second stage breaks at less than 1 Lb, it’s easy to find. Once the second stage is reached, a slight backward pull breaks the sear very crisply. This is a glass like trigger break that is very pleasant to use. In his test notes, HAM reviewer Doug Rogers summed it up well. “Trigger was very nice”, he wrote.
The manual safety is a “paddle type” that flips from side-to side. It’s inside the trigger guard, just in front of the trigger itself. This is a convenient location for the safety and it works precisely. However, it is not easy to operate with one hand.
The safety pushes to the left to disengage. This is easy and natural for right-handers, but not so for southpaws, who may find it necessary to break their hold on the gun to let off the safety. On the other hand, setting the safety is more difficult for the right-handed shooter…
Bolt operation of the Brocock Compatto is also easy and precise. The bolt cocks on opening, so the pull action is harder than the push, as is normal with clip-fed repeating PCP air rifles. There’s no binding or hesitancy, as is sometimes found in a bolt action and HAM tester Doug Rogers rated cocking as one of the easiest bolt actions he has ever used.
The unique semi bullpup configuration of the Brocock Compatto allows the bolt handle to be positioned well forward compared to that of a true bullpup action. It falls easily to hand and the HAM team agreed that it is conveniently located for rapid fire.
COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS
The main specific claim for the Brocock Compatto air rifle is that it has maximum muzzle energy of up to 27 Ft/Lbs in .22 caliber. The Compatto tested by HAM bettered that with heavy H&N Baracuda Match 21.14 Grain pellets, achieving an average of 28.71 Ft/Lbs for the shot string.
Shot count is specified as up to 30 shots per charge. In HAM’s shootdown test, undertaken with 14.35 Grain JSB Exact Jumbo Express pellets, shot 30 achieved 780 FPS. As shot 1 registered 912 FPS in this test, that’s a drop of about 15% and a fair point at which to add some more air to the Compatto’s High Pressure Air tank.
The HAM team’s conclusion is that the Brocock Compatto meets or exceeds the manufacturer’s claims for performance.
CONSISTENCY
Consistency of trigger pull weight is a definite strong suit for the Brocock Compatto air rifle tested by HAM. Pull weight varied by just 2.5 Ounces between the maximum and minimum recorded recorded under test. That’s practically perfect consistency.
Standard Deviation was also well controlled. All the lead pellets in the standard HAM test suite gave Standard deviations (the measure of shot-to-shot variation in the string) of less than 8.5 FPS, and this fell as low as 4.35 FPS when shooting the heavy Baracuda Match pellets. Given that the Brocock Compatto is not a regulated air rifle, this is a strong performance for consistency of muzzle velocity.
Accuracy was consistently good with pellets of 7.9 Grains weight and above. However, the Brocock Compatto tested by HAM obviously did not like light pellets, as you can see from the test targets. Don’t try using lightweight pellets in this gun at home, folks!
NOISE LEVEL
The Brocock Compatto is fitted with a Huggett sound moderator. This is effective at reducing the report of the Compatto to a backyard-friendly level and most users will be very happy with it. Subjectively, it seemed a little louder to the HAM review team than the Benjamin Marauder air rifle – our benchmark for quietness.
SIGHTS AND SCOPE
The Brocock Compatto air rifle tested by HAM was supplied with a Hawke Vantage 3-9 x 40AO scope, mounted with SportsMatch rings.
The Vantage is a mid-range model in the Hawke range. It features an etched-glass reticle and illuminated reticle capability. Image quality was very good and bright under test. This is a very good general purpose airgun scope that balances well and compliments the size and weight of the Brocock Compatto. With the SportsMatch rings, it fits well onto the Compatto’s unusual forward-mounted scope rail.
The mil dot reticle is clear, sharp and pleasantly thin and would be very suitable for general shooting use. The Adjustable Objective (AO) allows for precise parallax adjustment and the front, round the lens, adjustment ring is convenient for field use.
The red/green illuminated reticle worked well, illuminating just the central, Mil-dot portion of the reticle. But actually rotating the illumination control (the left hand turret on the scope) was incredibly heavy. There’s certainly no chance of this being applied accidentally when shooting!
Of course, no iron sights are fitted to the Brocock Compatto and almost no potential purchaser would expect there to be.
SHOOTABILITY
All the HAM testers found the Brocock Compatto air rifle easy to shoot.
Its compact size and light weight obviously play well here. The rig tested by HAM, including Hawke scope, weighed-in at just 8 Lb 12 Oz. The carbine-like overall length of 37.5 Inches (including the Hugget silencer) is short and the weight is concentrated comfortably to the rear of the gun. The Compatto is definitely not muzzle heavy and this means it can be brought to aim quickly and easily.
Shootability is enhanced by the good cheek weld obtained from the comb of the buttstock. This is a major contributor to consistent accuracy, as is well known. The ballistic nylon stock has a textured finish to minimize the chances of wet hands slipping unintentionally. Another aspect here is the excellent grip provided by the rubber buttpad, together with the range of vertical adjustment it provides.
The thumbhole stock configuration makes grasping the Compatto easy and natural with the trigger hand.
The HAM team also liked the Compatto’s 10-shot magazine (or clip). This was easy to load, easy to mount in the gun and performed faultlessly throughout testing. Made primarily of metal parts, it had a robust feel, something that’s absent from many other rotary magazines. There’s no shot count numbering system, but watching the red dot indicates when the clip is empty.
All this contributes to the Compatto’s outstanding low RateAGun scope of just 2.40. That’s one of the lowest RateAGun scores we’ve ever seen and confirms the great shootability of the Brocock Compatto air rifle.
APPEARANCE AND FINISH
The Brocock Compatto is a very distinctive-looking air rifle. The semi-bullpup configuration has a short, skeletonized, thumbhole stock with the trigger set well forward. In order to achieve the correct eye relief for a scope, there’s an unusual scope rail securely mounted to the breech, ahead of the magazine well.
An unexpected touch is the short, molded Picatinny accessory rail molded into the forend of the stock. This can be used for mounting a variety of useful accessories such as a laser, flashlight or bipod. However, note that long flashlights can dramatically reduce the forend grip positions for your leading hand, as shown in the photograph.
The black, synthetic stock has more prominent mold lines (and a flash point) than the HAM team would ideally like to see on an air rifle of this price. These imperfections are not bad and users will certainly ignore them after a short while, but they detract somewhat from the otherwise excellent quality of the synthetic molding.
There’s also a little flex in the front of the stock’s forend. It’s not much, but it takes away from the “rock solid” feeling otherwise given by the rest of this air rifle.
Metal parts are all black. There’s a variety of metal finishes on the Brocock Compatto but they actually blend together well and give an attractive, understated, quality appearance to this air rifle.
The adjustable rubber buttpad is very well finished and blends in well with the “multiple black” overall effect of the Compatto.
BUYING AND OWNING
The Brocock Compatto air rifle is available in the USA from Airguns of Arizona, together with a small number of other specialist retailers of high end airguns. So it’s easily available online but you’re very unlikely to see this air rifle in your local big box sporting goods store.
The owners’ manual provided with the Compatto is well illustrated and written with clear, simple instructions. It also includes a full parts diagram and good instructions on mounting and sighting-in a scope – an unusual addition. Trigger adjustment is covered in a minimalist fashion, too. There’s an appropriate caution (given twice, probably in error) about the use of hand pumps for charging the gun with high pressure air and the damage this can cause ANY PCP air rifle.
However, the manual is English-language only. That’s “English English”, by the way!
The maximum fill pressure for the Compatto is 2,900 PSI, possible with a hand pump, but easier with a tank.
Filling is made using the bundled fill probe. As usual, the HAM test team are not enthusiastic about fill probes and prefer a standard 1/8-inch quick disconnect for PCP air rifles. The fill probe of the Brocock Compatto tested by HAM needed a little care to achieve a good seal and – like most fill probes – requires an additional adapter to connect to the female quick disconnect standard on most HPA tank systems and hand pumps.
There’s a rotating cover that protects the fill aperture from dirt and unwanted stuff when the gun is not being filled.
And – we’ve said it before and doubtless will say it again – the HAM team is always really unhappy with pressure gauges in the end of the air tube. We find it unnerving to be almost looking down the barrel of the Compatto in order to accurately check the pressure gauge reading.
Warranty is two years, with support being provided by Airguns of Arizona in the unlikely event of a problem with the Brocock Compatto air rifle.
As the Compatto will obviously be used for hunting by many owners, HAM is disappointed to find that there’s no sling swivel studs fitted to the stock. That would make carrying in the field much easier.
TEST TARGETS
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