Some high-power airguns feel like they’re forced to the limit and working beyond their comfortable capabilities in order to churn out maximum muzzle energy, while others just seem to be able to generate hefty output on tick-over. The gun featured here falls into the latter category; it produces big power levels but still retains confidence-inspiring finesse.
BRK / Brocock revealed the updated Sniper XR2 at the British Shooting Show earlier this year. A few months ago they were kind enough to send me an FAC-rated Hi-Lite model in the handsome Safari livery to put to the test, and I have been having a brilliant time with it.
Prices for the Sniper XR2 start at just over £1,000. Being a high-power Safari version with the Hi-Lite carbon bottle, the gun featured here retails for around £1,350. That is high-end money, but it delivers performance that more than matches the outlay.
The BRK Sniper is a semi-bullpup airgun, which means the barrel is set quite far back but not as far back as on a full bullpup. It still makes for a comparatively compact set-up though and, even with the relatively long barrel on this model, overall length is only 1025mm before you fit a silencer. It’s not too heavy either, and the test gun tips the scales at about 3.5kg unscoped.
Below: The BRK Brocock Sniper XR2 is a semi-bullpup airgun with serious power potential
I am a big fan of the Safari stock option on Daystate and BRK airguns – it looks great and functions brilliantly in the field. It is made from poplar, which is lighter in weight than walnut and beech and, apart from having a really nice rugged appearance, it’s rough-cut finish is very grippy in the hand. I love its dark tones, which help to keep it inconspicuous in the countryside.
The fore-end of the Sniper’s stock has panels of stippling and incorporates a useful underside picatinny rail for accessory attachment. It has a nice forward sweep, which gives it some extension, although it is still fairly short. That said, if it’s too short for your preferred hold position, the bottle makes for a perfectly comfortable hold point.
Moving back along the ambidextrous stock, you have a nice steep pistol grip which has a large thumbhole cutaway behind it. The grip is adorned with stippling and is very thoughtfully profiled. It’s nice and steep, very comfortable in the hand and has a deep groove that steers you trigger finger instinctively onto the blade.
Adjustable stocks enable you to tweak fit to suit your proportions, and there is a good amount of adjustment on the BRK Sniper XR2’s handle. First up, you have a height-adjustable cheekpiece. Just slacken off the locking screws and you can shift it up and down into your desired position. This stock also has a height-adjustable butt pad – and, between those two features, I was able to get a very good fit with perfect eye/scope alignment.
Below top: The forend is stippled and incorporates a Picatinny rail
Below bottom: Equipped with adjustable cheekpiece and butt, the Safari stock is extremely adaptable
The metalwork has a black anodised finish to shield it from dirt and the elements – it’s very tidy and a very good match with the smoky tones of the Safari stock. The high-power review gun has a fairly long barrel – a high-quality 600m tube made by Lothar Walther – there is also a 430mm barrel option which delivers more compact handling. The Sniper’s chunky full-length shroud does provide some sound suppression – but the FAC gun still had quite a snap to it. That wasn’t a problem though, as it has a half-inch UNF thread for silencer attachment.
You have real versatility when it comes to scope mounting. The test gun was equipped with a two-piece Picatinny rail on here. However, beneath them are dovetail rails, which can be utilised if you want a really low mounting option. The Picatinny setup gives a total of 220mm clamping space between the two rails, which straddle the magazine. I actually only needed to use the front section, and could even have removed the rear section to save some weight.
The BRK Sniper XR2 has a great trigger mechanism. It incorporates a fully-adjustable match-type blade which I really like. The two-stage mechanism is also adjustable. As ever, I tested it on its factory setting. I would say the break point was probably a bit heavier than I would usually go for, but I would also say that its current set-up is probably what most people would expect and want on a high-power airgun. First stage weight and travel felt good to me and there was a very obvious stop point before a crisp, creep-free second-stage break.
There is a paddle-type safety catch just in front of the trigger blade. It’s nice and positive but also quiet. You push it from the left side to the right when to make it safe, then push it back from right to left when you’re ready to take the shot.
Below top: Mat found the trigger a little heavy on its factory setting, although it can be adjusted and its release was still crisp and predictable
Below bottom: Scope mounting is via a two-piece Picatinny rail which sits on dovetail rails, which can also be used
The Sniper XR2 runs the tried and tested BRK / Brocock self-indexing flip-front magazine which is quick and simple to reload – plus you get a single-shot tray. Calibre options are .177 with 13-shot magazine, .22 with 11-shot magazine and .25 with ten-shot magazine. The high-power model featured here is .25 calibre.
That magazine is driven by an excellent sidelever action which incorporates a nice chunky dropdown handle. The handle can’t be reversed for lefthanders – as a righthander, I found it to be very comfortably positioned for intuitive operation and, as I would expect from BRK / Brocock, extremely smooth to operate. This is a slick and reliable mechanism which you can rely on to deliver fast follow-up shots when needed.
Below top: The Sniper XR2's gate-fronted magazine is renowned for its simple and dependable operation
Below bottom: The chunky sidelever sits behind a three-point power adjustment dial
A real standout feature of the Sniper XR2 is the amount of quick-access tunability it affords you. The original power dial which adjusts the transfer port has three stop points to shift power in fairly large increments; running 34-grain pellets, I was getting 37ft/lb on the lowest setting and 55ft/lb on the highest. The great thing with this new model is you also get a 13-stop wheel at the rear which gives you a lot more precision for fine-tuning power output – a great feature for tweaking muzzle velocity to suit specific ammo.
The Sniper XR2 also boasts a Huma regulator and advanced valve and hammer design. The result is very consistent shooting. Even when running at 55ft/lb, variation was staying within six feet per second over a ten-shot string. Regulator pressure is shown on the top of the two gauges on the right side of the stock, while the bottom gauge shows overall pressure in the bottle – a 480cc carbon bottle on the Hi-Lite model. Maximum fill pressure is 250 bar and from that the test gun was delivering about 45 shots at full 55ft/lb output – sub-12 models can do up to 460 shots at full output. When it’s time to refill, just snap the magnetic cap off the inlet in the belly of the forend and snap on the supplied Foster connector.
Below top: The new 13-point power wheel enables fine-tuning of muzzle energy
Below bottom: The Sniper XR2's inlet is shielded by a neat magnetic cap
I paired the review gun with a pretty large scope: the MTC King Cobra 8-32x50 F1 – and that is because you really need a decent scope with high magnification to take advantage of this high-power airgun’s long-range performance. On my usual test range, I actually ran out of distance, but I can tell you it was still grouping very well at 40m. Out where I had more range, I managed a ragged single-hole group shooting off the bipod at 60m and made absolute mincemeat of reactive targets at that range and beyond.
The BRK Sniper XR2 is a simply brilliant airgun, and the high-power Safari model is just on another level. It makes easy work of churning out high power levels – feeling like it’s cruising at 55ft/lb – and the increased adjustability means you can set it up to do exactly what you want at whatever power level you wish. This is a precise and dependable high-power airgun that should lend itself brilliantly to long-range pest control and I would imagine that its many fine attributes also make for a great shooting machine at sub-12ft/lb.
MAKE: BRK / Brocock, England
MODEL: Sniper XR Hi-Lite (Safari edition) FAC
PRICE: From £1,040, £1,352 for model featured
LENGTH: 1025mm
WEIGHT: 3.5kg
POWER: 55ft/lb
SHOTS PER FILL: 45 for model featured, up to 460 at sub-12ft/lb
Article first published July 27th 2026
