Yep, I am alive and good to see you guys are, too
Anyhow, a few thoughts from me even though I haven't tinkered with my airguns for a while (but that's going to change very soon. Stay tuned, haha).
As some of you may remember, I made a Mirage out of an Evo handle so have a bit of hands-on experience with it.
I too was initially impressed with the MIM stainless steel trigger and line release but they are honestly not great. I now think they are bling only in order to sell guns.
Why? Because they have too much friction as they come. I polished the parts and it helped a bit but not for long. If you like to run your shooting line just a tad tight, the friction is real. The plastic-on-plastic of the Salvi Predathor is much, much better in this regard. The circulating line release itself is also super simple and while you sometimes get the trigger "stuck" in an in between position on the line release you soon learn to check for this before loading the shaft. I still like it more than the steel line release of the Mares.
Also, while it's true that the Force's barrel sits higher in the reservoir than on a Predathor, I personally think
it's more important how low the barrel sits in relation to the grip. Granted, it's nice that the sight line over the top of the barrel is close to the shaft but it's the barrel height in relation to the grip that governs how recoil affects the shot which starts mattering when you really power these things up and use heavier shafts.
All that just to say, that I am OK with a concentric barrel
IF the grip is higher. But it's one of the things that is a let down on the Salvi handle. It's so, so low even when it didn't have to be. The Force/Evo handle has a higher grip in relation to the barrel plus the barrel sits higher in the reservoir, so it wins out on that one.
One thing I actually like about the Evo/Force handle is that it has a very functional safety. It's rather smart. It pokes your hand when it's on, but it "disappears" in the off position, so you get a very tactile confirmation of its position.
As for the Mares piston, I am not impressed, either. I had one like that on my first Seac Hunter, I think. But like Tomi says, it's prone to corrosion - judging from Pete's experience it sounds like the older ones of this design were better made.
I think it's a plated steel and I suspect what happens is that the plating gets attacked by salt water in front of the o-ring and then it basically chips off under the o-ring and makes a path behind the o-ring. The ad says something about it being "hand turned case-hardened steel" which may or may not be the same as what I called "plating".
Honestly, overall, it looks like yet another minimum facelift with parts from the bin. Yes, a few new molds, but that's it.
