Parker Hale Dragon Mk1 (pics and review)

Parker Hale Dragon Mk1 (pics and review) 

With thanks to Tom.

He says:

With the ill fate that befell the Webley Paradigm, the Dragon holds the somewhat sad title of being the last production “full power” SSP to grace the market. But if this truly is the last of its kind ever to enter serial production then boy did the type go out with a bang! And what awaits is a rifle that truly exudes British style and over-engineering.

I do however feel the need to put a disclaimer at this point. This is MY rifle, not that the others I’ve reviewed weren’t, but in the sense that this rifle was my first SSP, and this absolutely is the rifle I enjoy shooting the most, and the one I always reach for. It feels ‘right’ to me. I love this rifle not like one might love a family member, but more like how you love having limbs ???? It’s incredibly accurate, and will hopefully only leave me when pried from my cold, dead hands! With that said, I’ll try my best to ensure an unbiased review.

As always we’ll start with the aesthetics. With walnut and blued steel aplenty, an overall streamlined silhouette with a low barrel and slim breech, and some features that you would typically find on an old sporting stock, it’s obvious where the inspiration for the looks came from. The quality of finish is good all round too, with a nice feel to the chequering and a great, deep colour to the bluing. There’s not a single piece of plastic in sight anywhere, and the only bit of aluminium externally is the breech block (here’s that over engineering creeping through). The linkages associated with the lever/piston travel have large holes cut into them in an effort to reduce weight, but this really is a love it or hate it scenario visually.

But the lever aside, there’s no denying Parker Hale didn’t skimp on the details. The lever and bolt handle are fully knurled and there isn’t a screw in sight, with Phillips and Flat heads being eschewed for hex headed bolts. The trigger guard is blued to the same standard as the rest of the action. And the stock is well thought out with a prominent Schnabel forend tip.

I’ve seen a few different layouts for the chequered panels on the stock, but the overall shape seems to have remained the same throughout production. The overall layout of the rifle is the standard barrel and breech over cylinder design as featured on most PreCharged rifles, complete with a side mounted lever for priming the action.

The handling of the Dragon is rather pleasant, and I find it very stable on aim. The lever is rather weighty though, thanks to all that steel plate in its construction, and while I don’t find an issue when closed I have heard that some do notice a slight imbalance in the rifle. In my opinion the levers weight is only noticeable when opened, and you can definitely feel all that steel when it’s so far from the centre of the action.

However, the pros of this lever design far outweighs the cons, and the trade off for this extra bit of weight is a superb performance of the closing stroke. Thanks to the geometry of those linkages, the lever only opens around 110 degrees, as opposed to the almost 180 degrees of the JB1 and Mohawk, meaning you don’t need long arms or an adaptive hold to complete the cocking stroke. The sliding pivot point also changes the leverage ratio throughout the stroke too, with large piston travel and low advantage during the low pressure stage, and a reduced rate of piston travel but a much better advantage during the higher pressure stage when it’s needed to overcome the compression pressures! There’s a reason this system was used (albeit much in a smaller form) on the Olympic match SSPs too.

While I prefer a vertical grip, the sporting rake on the Dragons grip is perfectly functional with a pleasant palm swell. The cheek is perhaps a touch low for my liking, and I would always rather see adjustment options in the back end than not, but perhaps I’m wishing for too much here. The recesses in the forend just forward of the trigger are a very nice touch, and definitely aid with foreword hand placement. The rear of the stock is a particularly slim design also.

In terms of use and operation, the Dragon follows closely in the footsteps of the Titan offerings being a simple open/set/close loading procedure. Whilst I love the self setting valves of the Genesis and the “Match” SSP offerings, the Dragon is hardly cumbersome in use. Most also have an auto-set safety catch, which is a feature missing on most other Single Stroke rifles, although there are some earlier examples where this isn’t present.

Using the lever on the Dragon is by far my favourite of the bunch, the whole thing oozes quality thanks to its all steel construction, and that clever sliding pivot as mentioned before makes the opening arc much easier to manage than the long throws of the Mohawk and JB1. To begin, keep hold of the “belly” of the rifle with your non dominant hand, and a small round button is pulled back to unlatch the lever, which locks in on itself. Once free, the lever is opened to roughly 135 degrees. Then a button situated at the front of the trigger guard opening can be pushed up into the action to set the valve pin, once a click is heard, the lever can be closed and the rifle is now primed. The handle at the end of the lever steps away from the action, so whilst you should still be mindful in use, the risk of crushed fingers is greatly reduced. My earlier point about the sliding pivot point means that in my opinion the Dragon is the nicest “full power” SSP to sit with all day, and the pressure build up through the closing stroke is well handled.

The breech is a simple bolt setup with a knurled end instead of the usual bolt handle. This keeps any extra metal away from scopes or lever handles and leads to a streamlined look. Simply rotate and pull back to expose the breech, then push forward and rotate back after loading a pellet to lock down, an action anyone that has shot a PCP will be familiar with.

With the rifle charged and loaded, a small blade in front of the trigger acts as the security latch, this can now be pushed forward to bring the rifle live. It’s within reach of the trigger finger and reasonably sized so no fumbling around necessary! The triggers when setup correctly are sublime, with a light first stage and excellent break point on the shot. It’s very important that the triggers are setup correctly as the sears directly effect the valve system, so now mine is set I don’t go playing around with it.

While Parker Hale released a lot of accessories back in the 90s, only one to my knowledge was specifically for the Dragon, and that was a moderator. A slim design, the Dragon needed a dedicated unit due to the parameters surrounding its muzzle thread. The barrel is too slim to support the standard 1/2” UNF thread so instead uses a 10x1.5 metric pitch, and the low bore line doesn’t leave much room between the barrel and cylinder which means the threaded portion of any mod must be a very small diameter for the first 20mm or so.

Around 2000 Dragons were produced by the end of its life span, and no review would complete without mentioning that the 200 of those were the Dragon FT model, which whilst very similar mechanically is a very different beast in the shoulder! You can consider this review a “2 for 1” because we’re going to dive right into this too…

Operationally and internally the Sporter and FT rifles are the same, with the Sporters being .22 and the FT’s being .177, from here on out though the changes start to mount up.

The most obvious difference is the stock, the classic lines of the Sporter replaced by an aggressive walnut target layout on the FT. A much deeper forend leads to a vertical grip which has a positive or “reach forward” rake, this feels great during standing shots and really reduces tension on the wrist. For a rifle marketed as “FT” though, it would have been nice to see adjustability in the cheek and butt, but the stock is still obviously target based through and through.

The action is also longer on the FT, and I’ve tried to show this below with a photo of the 2 rifles side by side. This was necessary to get the extra air to compress behind the .177 pellet, which requires more of a push to make power than .22 due to its higher velocity at a similar power. The lever is also elongated to deal with the extra stroke length.

What does this all mean in the end? The FT is a noticeably bigger (and heavier) rifle, and whilst .177 is my preferred calibre, I just find the smaller Sporter that bit more pleasant to use. It’s the Sporter that I reach for on a day at the range, and also the one that puts the biggest smile on my face. Both however are wickedly accurate, and as consistent over the chrono as any regulated PCP. I know that’s a bold claim, but I’ve seen the numbers and I stand by it.

I did however at the start promise and unbiased review, and that’s what you will get, so what let’s the Dragon down? To sum it up, the internals. The Dragon when running correctly is a delight, but is much more complex inside than other SSPs. Brittle valve pins, complex seal stacks, and a fiddly trigger sear arrangement all add to the fun and games that is servicing a Dragon. Add into this the fact that the bolts holding the breech and trigger pack to the cylinder need to be at just the right torque for everything inside to play nice and you have a rifle that has probably made many a gunsmith swear in frustration! The barrel also has a known weak spot near the muzzle thanks to a machined groove that is hidden by the front barrel surround. This usually isn’t too much for a problem, but if a mod is fitted and the muzzle receives a knock it can result in a bent or snapped barrel tip.

In short it is not a gun that I work on myself, instead opting to send it to Keith Wylde in Rotherham for any routine check ups. Keith is the go-to man for Dragons since the sad passing of the “Dragon Wizard” Adrian, and what Keith doesn’t know about these rifles isn’t worth knowing. It really is a rifle that benefits from being setup correctly, but once it is it’s truly a joy to use for fans of SSPs.

To conclude, I’ve waxed lyrical about this rifle, and spoken about some of its flaws (no one’s perfect haha!), but would I recommend it? The answer is a resounding yes, even if taken on as a project they are good enough in the end to warrant all the hard work and setup time! The trigger is to die for, the accuracy and consistency superb, and if nothing else it’s a great piece of British designed engineering. You’ll turn a few heads with that lever setup too.