Before I begin today’s report, here’s an interesting tidbit of news. The Georgia senate has passed legislation (SB 301) that will allow residents to use legal silencers while hunting game. This curious legislation is the first positive thing on silencers that I’ve seen. Does it mean that we are about the see a change in the public attitude toward silencers in general?

Today’s report
You’re on the couch, watching a typical “shootemupski” flick and the gang-banger bad guys in their wife-beater undershirts and black doo-rags are all shooting their Glocks with limp wrists and the guns rotated 90 degrees to the left, so the shells eject out the top instead of the side. You suppress a quiet snicker, knowing that this is inherently wrong, but you chalk it up to Hollywood.

What else do you know about the mistreatment of guns? That’s any gun — air-powered or firearm.

What about the guy who opens his revolver to check that it’s loaded, then closes the cylinder with a quick flick of the wrist? Back in the 1950s, the gun magazines were all loaded with warnings not to do this because of what it does to the crane. The crane is the arm that swings out of the revolver and holds the axle on which the cylinder turns. How many times have I watched a vintage black-and-white murder mystery in which the bad guy did just that to his revolver? It works in the movies because they can shut the camera off and switch guns after they bend the crane. In real life, it’s so damaging that the fit of the crane is the first thing you check whenever evaluating a used double-action revolver.

This Ruger revolver’s crane is made from steel. It’s the part that allows the cylinder to swing out to the side of the gun for loading and unloading. If it can’t take being flipped shut without bending, imagine what will happen to a softer metal airsoft revolver crane!

Mark your territory!
Here’s one all the Bubbas do to their guns. They mark them with their Social Security account numbers etched into the steel with an electric engraving pen. When asked why they do it, they always answer, “It’s mine for as long as I own it, and after I’m gone I don’t care what happens to it.” The sad thing is, when Bubba dies, he stays dead for a long time! So, that beautiful Winchester Model 1873 rifle he inherited from his grandfather in 1954 now sits in some gun store in Ft. Worth marked at $1,875 instead of $3,500, because his SS# is engraved on the frame!

Think this makes it a bargain? Think again. Anyone who buys a gun marked this way just bought it for the rest of his life, because no one else will touch it. If you want to buy a real nice Winchester 1873 lever-action rifle that has someone’s SS# engraved on it, just contact me and I’ll give you the details. It’s been in the same place for at least the past seven years.

Will someone please take the engraving pen from Bubba? This pristine Remington 03A3 rifle from World War II lost a third of its value because he marked the receiver this way.

Custom woodwork
I was once stupid enough to go “all the way” for you here in this blog and “inlet” the stock of an Air Venturi Bronco for the slide of a peep sight. I put quotes around the word inlet, because it really isn’t the right term. “Splinter-out” would be more exact, I suppose. My woodwork was approximately the same level of quality that you’d get from a rabid beaver. Pole-climbers leave smoother wood behind them.

Look, Edith, I made this for you at summer camp! Some people should not be allowed to use tools, and I’m one of them.

Soldering with the starz
I’ll never forget back in the late 1990s when big bore airguns were just starting to be the rage, and the Farco Air Shotgun from the Philippines was the current rage. One “boutique” customizer hopped up his Farco up by switching from CO2 at 853 psi to air at 3,000 psi. But the steel screw that was the safety lug on the gosh-darn bolt kept digging a channel back through the brass receiver when the gun fired. Our “hero” built-up that area with a mound of lead solder. I am not kidding — there was a lump of solder there that was an inch deep!

Think it kept him safe? Well, it’s just about the same as sealing the leaks in your car’s engine block with candle wax. All I remember was that his gun was incredibly loud when it fired and nobody would stand within 20 feet of him when he shot it.

“Sometimes, things break off”
When I was in high school, a friend’s father had a double-barreled shotgun with Damascus-twist barrels. I was reading Guns & Ammo magazine at the time and about every third article had a warning about shooting smokeless ammunition in guns with Damascus-twist barrels. So, when his dad pulled out the shotgun to shoot it one day, I cringed and ducked behind a car. His dad said, “Aw, it’s okay. Sometimes things break off, but I still shoot it.” Sure enough, he shot it once, yelled, “Oww!” and stopped shooting. I heard the metal bounce off the car body, after it sliced through his cheek.

Drop-free magazines?
Sometimes the product name, alone, is enough to cause problems. The so-called “drop-free” magazines that some airsoft guns have is one example. The term drop-free was created to describe the type of magazine that is released from a semiautomatic pistol like the Colt M1911A1 when the magazine release catch is pressed. That’s opposed to the type of mag release that’s found on a Makarov or a Ruger Mark II that’s located at the bottom of the mag floorplate and doesn’t allow the mag to clear the gun even after it’s pushed. With that kind of release, you have to actually pull the magazine out of the frame of the gun.

A drop-free magazine will actually drop free of the gun when it’s released, but nobody would actually do that unless they had the base of the magazine protected by a rubber bumper to soften the shock of landing on the ground. IPSC shooters use them on their magazines because they have to reload as fast as possible.

But airsoft shooters who pay $129 for their entire gun do not have the optional rubber bumper on the bottom of each magazine unless they buy them and install them! The fact that the gun they buy has a drop-free magazine design does not mean that they can drop the magazine on the ground. It just means that it follows the drop-free magazine design that the auto pistols have.

Getting the lead out!
How many stories have I heard about airgun repair stations that have removed dozens of pellets from an airgun barrel during a repair job? And AirForce told me they once got a rifle back with jammed pellets and burst firecrackers in the barrel!

Pellets are not croquet balls and airguns are not croquet mallets. You can’t move one out of the barrel by smacking it with another one.

If you think it’s bad for airguns, just try it with firearms sometime! Better yet — don’t! Back when I was a lot younger and less patient, I was fast-firing a .45-caliber Generation II Colt Single Action Army when I had a squibb round. That’s a round without powder where the primer alone drives the bullet up the barrel partway. Without thinking, I thumbed off the next round that did have powder, driving both the first and second bullets out the barrel. It also split the barrel along nearly the entire 7-1/2″ length, with a swelling at the point where the first bullet was stuck.

This is what happens when your trigger finger works faster than your mind. This Colt Gen II SAA barrel is split from the muzzle to the threads. The other bullet did come out, though.

I knew something had gone wrong because the gun recoiled about three times as hard as normal, and my shooting partner caught the ejector housing in his stomach. No real injuries other than pride and wallet, but it was a life lesson whose tuition has just been paid.

I could go on with stories of people who felt the need to refinish a collectible airgun and destroyed its value. Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt — especially if the gun is painted like so many vintage Crosman guns were. But just don’t buff off the blue of a Falke 90 and expect anyone to appreciate your work. Some things are better left as is, unless you are a most careful worker.

This was supposed to be a Friday blog, but my schedule changed at the last minute and bumped it to today. Please feel free to talk about it all weekend anyway.

I’ve noticed that a lot of you are responding positively to the fundamentals that have come out in some of the recent reports, so I thought I would do a few more important ones for you, starting with scopes. This will be a series of bite-sized reports.

My experience shooting the Conquest with a 4x scope at 50 yards last week and getting great groups prompts me to want to share a number of scope evaluation tips with you. And, as always, I expect the comments from our readers are going to be even more interesting than the reports.

What magnification (power) to choose?
Starting with the Conquest accuracy test, it’s obvious that you don’t need a lot of magnification to shoot well. I normally use more than just 4x for a gun as accurate as the Conquest, but not on all rifles. As a scope increases in power, it also gets longer and heavier, so a compromise between power and size is usually best.

I have some 3-9x scopes that have unusually clear optics and thin reticles that I enjoy using. Of all of them, the one I like the best is not marked in any way. I think it’s a Leapers, but there are no identifying marks that reveal who the manufacturer is. The optics are clear and the crosshair is thin and sharp. This is often my go-to scope to use for a quick test.

My favorite power combination is probably a 4-16x. I find it packs the most power into a convenient package without the scope becoming too long and heavy. Given today’s optics, a good 4-16x isn’t much longer than a 3-9x from a decade ago.

But you don’t need even 16x to shoot accurately. That is what the new airgunner must understand. I have a .250 Savage centerfire rifle that shoots 10-shot groups smaller than one inch at 100 yards nearly every time. The scope on that rifle is a vintage all-steel Weaver V9 W, which means it is a 3-9x variable that has a wide field of view. The objective lens is only 32mm, so it isn’t as bright as some modern scopes, but it has a super-fine reticle with a tiny dot at the intersection of the crosshairs. If I ever find another scope like this at a gun show, I am prepared to buy it because the combination of power, optical clarity and crosshair size is ideal for this rifle. I use this rifle for prairie dog-sized targets out to 300 yards. That’s good enough for me.

Another rifle that shoots small groups is a custom No. 5 SMLE that I’ve converted to .219 Donaldson Wasp. The scope on this one is another one that’s vintage and all-steel — a Redfield 2-7x variable with what appears to be a 28mm or 30mm objective. The crosshairs are even finer than those of the vintage Weaver, and the dot at the intersection is also smaller. This rifle should be good for prairie dogs out to 300 yards, as well, but I feel the power of the scope limits the range to 250 yards for targets so small. Coyotes to 300 yards are possible because they’re much larger. So, I’m saying that a 7x scope works well at 250 to 300 yards, but the maximum effective distance depends on the target — at least for me.

It might be an ugly rifle, but this .219 Donaldson Wasp can shoot. It has a custom Shaw barrel of my own design with a faster twist. And the little Redfield scope is plenty good for what I want to do.

Going the other way, I absolutely love Leapers’ line of long eye relief scopes that produce 1.5-4x. These scopes may not make the target appear large, but they can’t be beat for clarity. For value, I don’t think the Leapers 1.25-4×24 long eye relief scope with the one-inch tube has any equal. It’s currently priced at only $85, which is very little for such a great sight. It would be ideal on big bore airguns of all kinds, as well as powerful springers that won’t be shot past 50 yards — rifles like the Beeman R1 in .22 caliber, for example. Yes, the parallax is set at 100 yards, but I have found that when the magnification is this low, it doesn’t matter where the parallax is set. This scope would be ideal on a New England Firearms (NEF) single-shot rifle in .45 Colt or .44 Magnum or on any small carbine in a pistol caliber.

What about more powerful scopes?
There are a FEW applications for the scopes with power up to 32x and more. Field target competition is one such game — not because of the additional aiming precision, but because that extra power helps you resolve small objects out at 55 yards, so you can determine ranges with the parallax adjustment more precisely. When you can focus on very small objects at long distances, the scope helps to determine the range to them. And long-range target shooting is another time when a higher-powered scope is needed. When you’re going for the absolute best group that can be fired from a gun, the scope must be powerful enough to reduce the aiming error to the smallest fraction of an inch.

Talk all you want about big scopes. Try carrying around one like this for a couple hours! A Daystate Harrier is dwarfed by this monster Tasco Custom Shop 8-40×56.

HOWEVER — and this is the whole point of this discussion — it doesn’t take the Hubble Space Telescope to shoot good groups at 50 yards. As you clearly saw in my report on the Conquest, I did it with only 4x. Consider that when thinking of your next scope. You can have a handy package that carries easily and handles rapidly or you can mount the biggest bragging-rights scope money can buy on your air rifle and then suffer for it.

Clarity
Clarity goes hand-in-hand with accuracy when using a scope. In fact, I think clarity is the single most important attribute a scope sight can have. There are technical means of determining relative clarity in scopes. The most common one is determining how many line pairs the scope can resolve in a standard test. Clarity is actually a statement of the scope’s ability to resolve an image. When we say clarity, we mean resolution.

I am not an optical engineer, nor am I qualified to discuss how scopes are tested. And the subject is so technical that even if I could discuss it, not everyone would understand what I was saying. I’m going to reduce the resolution/clarity question to something we can all understand.

I have a simple test I use to subjectively determine the relative clarity of a scope. All I do is point the scope at the roof of my neighbor’s house about 25 yards distant and look at the shingles. If the shingles appear sharp, with the vertical joints well-defined and the abrasive particles standing out clearly, I know the scope is clear. If any of the image is muddy, even after the scope is adjusted for that range, I know the scope is not as clear as I would like it to be.

I developed this test a couple years back when I pitted a Hawke scope against a Leapers scope of the same power and specifications. Until that test I thought nothing affordable could ever beat a Leapers scope; but in that test, the Hawke scope emerged as the clearer sight. It was also more expensive, but it didn’t cost twice what the Leapers did, as I remember. The shingle test is a good one for any scope you intend using for target shooting or hunting, as nothing in the field will exceed the fineness of the image the shingles can give.

If you don’t have access to shingles, anything with a fine grain will work just as well. Old wooden fences are another way of testing the resolution of your scope. Just be sure to always test every scope at the same distance and using the same object, and your test will soon become very refined.

When you buy a scope, you usually can’t perform the test I just described. You have to take someone’s word on the clarity. But I have a couple tips about that.

1. Multi-coated optics on inexpensive scopes are usually not as clear as single-coated lenses. Leapers has used a single coating of emerald for as long as I’ve known them, which is why they’re as clear as they are at such a low price. You might give up something else with single-coated optics, such as five minutes hunting time in the morning and evening, but that depends on what kind of coating it is.

This deserves an explanation. While multi-coatings can be applied to make optics perform their best, the hype of multi-coating is too powerful to be overlooked by the marketing departments of many manufacturers. Therefore, the cheap scopes are multi-coated without regard to light transmission or any other enhancements. As a result, these multi-coated optics are much like airguns that shoot over 1,000 fps — lots of hype but you’re giving up accuracy. On the other hand, expensive multi-coated optics deliver superior performance.

2. The objective size doesn’t matter as much as you think. You don’t always need the 56mm objective to see clearly. The quality of the lens material and the optical coating(s) matter more than the objective size.

3. A 30mm scope tube will be noticeably clearer than a one-inch tube, if all else is equal.

4. You can live with a lower-power scope if it’s also clear, but a high-power scope that doesn’t focus or is unclear is the worst headache imaginable.

The bottom line
Considering just these two subjects — power and clarity — shop for a lower-power scope with a 30mm scope tube and a single lens coating. From what I saw in the Leapers booth at this year’s SHOT Show, there will soon be a flood of very clear scopes at good prices (but not cheap!) hitting the market this year.

Price
Stop shopping for scopes by price, alone, and then condemning your rifles, pellets and the entire hobby of airgunning when things don’t work out! Most cheap scopes are cheap for a good reason. I understand trying to buy the best scope you can afford, but stop focusing on the price so much.

Cheap scopes aren’t usually that much worse than more expensive scopes. I say “usually” because I’ve seen a couple brands that can be counted on to be bad. But cheap scopes don’t pass through the quality controls that most of the more expensive scopes do. You’re far more likely to end up with a lemon if you buy the rock-bottom scope.

And this final tip is worth the price of this entire blog: Most combos (rifle and scope for one price) that are put together by manufacturers are put together by their marketing departments to get rid of the cheap scopes nobody will buy! However, when a combo is put together by a dealer, that usually isn’t the case. Pyramyd Air has put some very decent scopes on some of their combos because they realize their customers really care which scope comes with the gun. The more the combo costs, the better the scope will probably be.

But watch out for those manufacturer combos!

Today’s report is a guest blog from our favorite Russian reader, duskwight. Some of you know that he’s fabricating a dual-opposed recoilless piston air rifle for himself that will function similar to a Whiscombe. He jokingly calls it the duskcombe.

If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email us.

Take it away, duskwight!

Oiling and greasing your springer
This report only concerns springers and is meant for those who perform their own service. This is a collection of things taught to me by other very experienced airgunners, and things I learned from my own experience with springers.

Why?
Every springer is an air-compressing mechanism made mostly of steel. This is the key that defines everything about your springer’s need for lubrication. So, there are three areas to be addressed:

1. Your springer must be airtight everywhere except for the barrel channel.

2. Your springer works under a significant amount of load and its parts are prone to mechanical abrasion.

3. Your springer is made of a metal that’s prone to corrosion if it contacts water, acids or humidity.

Proper lubrication will address all of these concerns.

Degrease first
Zen monks say, “Forget what you have learned and learn again.” To lube your springer correctly, you need to remove all the grease first, especially if your gun is new.

Airgun makers prefer to be on the safe side and usually put lots of grease on guns to make their products corrosion-proof for storage. Sometimes, they think that their customers are a bit irresponsible and will never again service their springers. This holds true for every airgun maker – IZH, Gamo, Air Arms, RWS/Diana rifles, as well as the makers of Chinese and Turkish guns.

But the simple truth of this is that no matter why they do it, you need to correct it. Be your own gunsmith. I also noticed that production means reduction, or simplifying things. Makers prefer to cut their expenses even on grease, so they use the same cheap grease for the whole rifle. Not only is that wrong, but it’s also where you can gain the advantage by doing it right.

Things you’re going to need
Tools to disassemble/assemble your airgun.

A cleaning rod, a set of brushes, and cotton wads or patches.

A wooden stick — 1/2-inch thick 1-1/2 feet long, or something similar that’s not made of steel.

Lots of cloth (cotton is the best, nylon is the worst).

Solvent: Here you must be careful to not use anything that will dissolve the synthetic seals in your springer. Many modern gun solvents are made expressly for synthetics because of the proliferation of synthetic gun parts these days, so take some time to acquire a safe solvent.

[Editor's note: The next step involves disassembly of your airgun. Do not attempt this unless you know what you are doing. Disassembly can be dangerous and can also void any warranty on your airgun, so know what you are doing before taking this step.]

What comes next?
Time to disassemble your rifle. I hope you know what to do and how to do this, and remember that springs are springy and steel is a bit harder than the flesh. Here’s a tip: Place all the parts on the same surface in the order that you have removed them. That will ease the assembly process.

Inspect every part. In most cases, you’ll see a thick cover of grease or a thick film of oil on each of them. That’s when the cloth comes in. Wipe every part. Do not try to wipe it dry, just wipe it. That will leave the right amount of oil on the surface and in the pores of the metal. That’s more than enough lubrication. You’ll probably see an oily shine on the surface of the metal parts.

Pay special attention to the trigger assembly. Sometimes, manufacturers fill it with grease. That’s not proper. Wipe all the parts, and what’s left would be enough for a very long time. Some users just dump it into acetone assembled. Well, that’s also a solution, but then you have the problem of lubricating it properly afterward.

A price on Mr. Diesel’s head
The piston and compression chamber that the piston rides in are a completely different matter. They must be as close to greaseless as possible.

You probably know the German surname Diesel — that’s the guy who invented piston engines where the fuel/air mixture ignites when pressure goes very high. It’s the simple physics of the fuel/air mixture igniting from the heat of compression. The diesel effect is good under your car’s hood, but not inside your rifle. Oil fumes and dispersed oil are an excellent fuel for dieseling. All it brings is trouble — burnt seals; deafening sound; overstressed and broken springs, mounts and sights; even damaged barrels, not to mention lots of smoke, bad smell and soot. In short, diesel is a killer.

[Editor's note: By dieseling, I believe the author refers to detonation, which certainly does all the bad things he says. All spring-piston airguns that shoot over about 600 f.p.s. will diesel to a certain extent; but if you aren't hearing any explosions and see only a little smoke, the diesel effect won't destroy your gun.]

Take the piston and remove the seal. Space between the piston head (“mushroom”) and the seal is an excellent reservoir for oil. And the most common place where this nasty guy diesel lives. You’ll probably see that seal’s surface is covered with grey/black oily residue. This is due to your rifle being dry-fired or test-fired at the factory. Check the seal. It must not be cut or melted. If it is, install a new one and take care of all the edges around its circumference. A very fine file or scraper will remove any burrs or extra material.

Take a fresh piece of cloth and thoroughly wipe the piston and the seal with solvent to dry it. If the seal material allows it, wipe it with a cloth wetted with solvent. Then wipe the piston. I prefer acetone; it dries very quickly and leaves no spots.

Now for some inside work. Take a long wooden stick and wrap some cloth on its end. You can use your cleaning rod, but a stick is less prone to bending. Apply a few drops of solvent and use it to clean the inside of the cylinder. The compression chamber must be dry metal — oil and grease have no place inside (for now).

And some finishing touches if you have a rifle with a fixed barrel that cannot be removed. If you’ve got a cleaning rod long enough, use it to clean the barrel by accessing it through the cylinder. Some manufacturers put grease into the barrel, some sort of technical petroleum jelly most times. The barrel also deserves a solvent wash, as the diesel effect can happen inside the barrel, as well.

Alright, the gun is clean. Now we’re ready to lube.

Dos and don’ts of lubricating
Use petroleum-based oils and greases for this lubrication. Do not use silicone-based lubricants for metal parts. Silicone-based lubes are for plastic parts that have low levels of load. Steel lubricated with silicone allows a hard steel part to eat into a softer steel part.

There are also reports that silicone-based lubes can decompose inside the compression chamber and give you a fine SiO2 (silicon dioxide) on the inside walls. SiO2 is basically sand. I don’t know if these reports are credible, but I prefer to stay on the safe side.

Do not listen to the hype about “Teflon coating” or “liquid Teflon” or “contains Teflon.” From a chemist’s and physicist’s point of view, they’re nearly worthless. Stick to tested lubricants, and you’ll be okay.

Do not use organic (vegetable- or animal fat-based) lubes. They tend to decompose and produce weak acids.

Placing the lubricant
Things you’ll need:

Cloth (cotton is the best, nylon is the worst).

Toothpicks to apply the lubricant. I use small flat screwdrivers; they work like little shovels .

A cleaning rod and set of brushes and patches.

Three different types of lubricant are all you need to keep your springer going.

First, some oil for the seal and piston. By “some,” I mean a single drop. I would say that full synthetic motor oil (the real stuff now, not just petroleum that has synthetic oil added) is the best among those most easily available. A quart will last for tens of thousands of jobs. Take an assembled piston. Put one drop of full synthetic motor oil on your fingertip and just rub it over the seal and piston front. That will do the job for years.

Now install the piston in the cylinder. If your rifle is properly tuned, it might give a very light diesel with very light white smoke on the first one or two test shots but no more. Always load the gun for test shots and shoot it into a pellet trap. It’s very convenient to store and apply this kind of oil in a single-use syringe.

Let’s use something for the mechanical parts. This is the second type of lubricant we’ll be using. I’d say the best for this purpose is oil jellified with lithium salts. I’m not sure if there are the same markings and names in the U.S., so let’s describe it. It’s somewhere between jelly and soft butter spread, yellow-orange semi-transparent, with a distinctive petroleum smell. In case it’s doped with MoS2 (molybdenum disulfide), it’s often deep blue with a greenish hue. MoS2 is great, as it reduces friction but simple lithium jelly is more than enough to maintain your rifle. Use it wherever friction occurs. Apply a thin (very thin!) coat onto any joints (cocking lever assembly, barrel joint, etc.) rails and cogs (Whiscombe and IZH-60/61 rifles).

[Editor's note. In the U.S., we have white lithium grease, which the U.S. Army recommended for lubricating guns like the M1 Garand. It has many automotive applications, where there's heavy metal-to-metal contact and wear, so I think this will serve the author's intended purpose. There's also red lithium grease and general-purpose lithium grease. I would go with the white lithium grease for this purpose.]

Mainspring
I’m not among those who cover mainsprings with heavy tar-like grease. This substance is an invitation to Mr. Diesel, as well as a dust trap. A good plastic (e.g., Coke bottle side) piston shim to reduce the space between the piston and mainspring and a properly fitted spring guide will kill the twang, and wiping the spring with a lithium grease cloth is more than enough.

You can now finish assembling your gun. Check if everything is correct and check for 2-3 “spare” parts on your table. Test how it cocks and then make some test shots…of course, no dry-firing. Your airgun now works as it should, plus all the internal parts are lubricated with the correct substances.

But what about the third type of lubricant? What’s that used for? That’s easy. The third type is the preservative oil you’ll use to clean and wipe your beauty after you use it. I like using Ballistol. It should be applied only outside and for the barrel’s interior. Some people also use Ballistol spray to wash trigger assembly parts when degreasing. Well, that doesn’t do any harm, plus it lubricates the parts at the same time.

How often should I lubricate?
You should not lubricate your springer very often. It mostly depends on how you use your rifle. Hunters and outdoorsmen must clean and lube their rifles more often than backyard shooters. Pistons and seals should be lubed only once in 4-5 thousand shots, together with mainspring maintenance.

[Editor's final comment. Duskwight wrote a much longer report than what you see here. I condensed it and removed references to certain things that are not accepted in the U.S., such as using gasoline for cleaning parts. I also removed a couple references to types of materials that our readers probably are not familiar with.

Bear in mind that duskwight is in the middle of building a recoilless dual-opposed spring-piston air rifle that will work on the same principle as the Whiscombe, but will be entirely different in design. He's contracting for each part to be made to his specifications -- so this man is light-years ahead of most of us when it comes to spring-piston airguns. He's also writing from the viewpoint of a different country, and he isn't even writing in his native tongue!

I don't know about you, but I learned something in today's report. The bit about using pure synthetic automotive oil as a piston seal lube was brand new to me. I think we owe duskwight our thanks for sharing his experience with us.]

Part 1
Part 2

The Evanix Conquest has features that set the bar very high for air rifles.

The cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, because today’s title tells you what my big news is about. And I tied reader Kevin to this report because he owns an Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle that hasn’t given him much joy. Today, I’ll show you the most astounding shooting I’ve ever done, but I’ll also address a mechanical concern and how it was corrected! This will be a report to remember, and here we go.

The Conquest is a very different air rifle. It took me two separate reports just to get through the general description because there are so many differences and unusual aspects of this airgun. The action is operated by a battery in the same way that an AEG airsoft gun operates, so I had to show you all of that. And, as I predicted, the forums are full of discussions about upgrading the battery pack — discussions among shooters who haven’t even seen the gun, yet. My advice it to see it and shoot it, first. It might just be good enough as is.

The rifle shoots both semiauto, which very few pellet rifles do, and full-auto, which only one other CO2 gun (the Auto Ordnance SMG-22 belt-feed carbine) currently does. Until this test, I had a lot to say about the wisdom of providing a full-auto mode — likening it to a shopping cart with wheels rated to 200 mph. That’s my way of saying, “Who needs it?” Today, I’ll eat those words. Stick around.

Posting backwards?
Also, I am reviewing accuracy out of the usual order. Normally, I look at velocity first and accuracy afterwards. Several readers have commented that they do it the other way, because who cares how fast certain pellets will go if they aren’t accurate?

Believe it or not, I put a lot of thought into doing a review in the order I usually do it. When I review velocity it’s not to correlate it with accuracy, but rather to show the power potential of the powerplant. I do understand the readers’ viewpoint that only accurate pellets are interesting; and like everyone, else I do tend to shoot only the most accurate pellets. But when I do the velocity test, I’m separating the power question from accuracy. I want to know what the gun is capable of doing as far as power is concerned, then in a separate test I want to discover what its accuracy can be.

Yes, I’ll recommend shooting the most accurate pellet, but if it only produces 20 foot-pounds while the most powerful pellet produces 25 foot-pounds, I want to show that the gun is fully capable of producing 25 foot pounds. Who knows if there will be a new pellet in the future that will be able to use all the power the rifle has and be accurate at the same time? So, my test will have demonstrated the peak power potential. If you look back at my discussions of accuracy and power in many past tests, I think you’ll see this has always been my thrust.

Today, we’re looking at accuracy first, because I had the opportunity to get to the rifle range on a dead-calm day. I could not let such an opportunity pass. So, today is accuracy day, and velocity day is still to come for the Conquest.

A couple corrections
During the time I was examining the rifle for this report, Edith wrote the most comprehensive airgun manual I’ve ever seen. She wrote it for both the Conquest rifle and the Speed, and we had to operate the gun extensively to check facts for her manual. Several things I initially told you have been changed as a result of this more detailed look.

1. The batteries need at least an 8-hour initial charge before the first use.

2. The magazines hold only 10 rounds instead of the 12 rounds I told you (with all double-mags holding 20). That holds true in all three calibers (.177, .22 and .25) but not for the 9mm, which is yet to come.

3. There was a problem with the magazine sticking in the action that was corrected by lubrication. Let’s look at that right now.

Magazine sticking problem
When I first examined the gun, I noticed that sometimes the magazine would not come out of the action when it was supposed to. When this rifle fires, the bolt passes through the magazine and pushes the pellet into the breech just before an air blast propels it out the barrel. If the bolt doesn’t retract all the way after the shot, you can’t remove the magazine because the bolt will still be inside.

Now I know what the plastic window on the right side of the receiver is for! Use it to access the bolt, so you can lubricate it properly. Then, it’ll retract and the gun will run perfectly — or at least mine did.

The bolt has two diameters — a large rear section and a narrow front section. Both diameters must be lubricated, because they pass through different passages in the receiver.

Use an oiling needle to get oil onto both diameters of the bolt. The larger black steel portion on the left looks oily in this picture, while the smaller silver portion on the right, to the right of the hook-like part in the middle of the window, looks dry. That’s because the surface is too smooth to see the oil. It’s there. I used bike chain oil, but Pyramyd Air used FP-10, and both products did the trick.

Once I lubricated the bolt with the oiling needle, it worked fine and there were no more sticking magazines. But if you do encounter a sticking mag, the recommended solution is to pull the trigger and hold it back for a few seconds after the rifle fires.

A great day at the range
Well, it was a great day for shooting the Conquest. The morning was foggy, where not a breath of air could be felt. I shot the entire test in the most perfect conditions imaginable. And all shooting you are about to see was done at 50 yards.

Accuracy
The rifle comes without sights, so I mounted a Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12×40AO scope on low two-piece rings. I then sighted-in the rifle with Beeman Kodiak pellets.

The first four rounds got me on target, and then six more went into a group that measured 0.811 inches between the two widest centers. If I accepted 5-shot groups as standard, my job would already have been done, and the Conquest would be a very accurate air rifle. But that’s not how I roll, as you know, so I reloaded the magazine and shot a full 10-shot group.

Ten Beeman Kodiaks went into 1.241 inches at 50 yards. That’s okay, but not great. Time to try the next pellet.

Ten shots into 1.241 inches isn’t the level of accuracy I’d hoped for, even at 50 yards, so I decided to move on. However I note that the 21.1-grain Kodiaks do feed smoothly through the magazine. Length is not a problem.

The trigger and what it feels like to shoot
Shooting these two groups (6 shots, followed by 10 shots) afforded me the opportunity to get used to the Conquest’s trigger. I remember saying that a rifle at this price has to have a perfect trigger. Well, the Conquest trigger is far from perfect. But then I thought of another semiautomatic air rifle — the FX Revolution, which I’d tested a couple years back. It also has a less-than-desirable trigger that slaps you back through the trigger blade every time the rifle fires. In comparison, the Conquest trigger is less annoying. Instead of breaking like glass, this trigger has a rocket-push feel to the release. It’s difficult to describe, but you feel the movement of the bolt through the trigger blade.

But the magic of shooting a semiauto with almost zero recoil allows every shot to go where you want, and soon you forget the trigger. Knowing the rifle will stay exactly on target — and all you have to do is pull the trigger for another shot — builds your confidence like you wouldn’t believe!

JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy
Next, I tried the 18.1-grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy pellets. In many rifles of this power, the 18.1-grain Jumbo Heavy JSB is the most accurate pellet, but not this time. In the Conquest, 10 JSB Jumbo Heavys made a group measuring 0.958 inches between centers. That’s not bad, but it’s still not the best the rifle can do.

Now this is more like it! Ten JSB Exact Jumbo pellets in 0.958 inches at 50 yards. This kind of performance is very credible, though not as good as the Conquest can shoot.

JSB Exact 15.9-grain
The next pellet I tested was the JSB Exact 15.9-grain dome. JSB calls this one a Jumbo, but I find that confusing with the Jumbo Heavy, so I make an exception by referring to this one by its weight. Over time, I’ve found this pellet to be the most consistently accurate .22-caliber airgun pellet.

Now, that’s a group! Ten JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes made this 0.547-inch group at 50 yards. This is fantastic performance. It is accuracy rivaling some of the finest semiautomatic rimfire rifles — after they’ve been accurized.

The 15.9-grain JSB Exact shot many groups between 0.50 and 0.75 inches, time after time. It was so dead-reliable on this perfect day that I would have picked it over all other PCPs for a benchrest match. But there’s one dynamic you do need to watch.

Other pellets tested
I also shot the .22-caliber Crosman Premier and the heavy 28.4-grain Eun Jin dome. Both groups were about the same as the Kodiaks, and I did not pursue them beyond a single group.

Shot count
The Conquest holds a lot of air, so the tendency is to keep right on shooting for magazine after magazine. If you are shooting spinners at 35 yards you’ll get away with it, but out at 50 yards things start to look different. That’s why I test at that distance with super-accurate PCPs like the Conquest.

I noticed that the first three 10-shot groups were all very tight. The group of JSBs going into 0.547 inches, shown above, was the first group fired on a fresh fill of air and also the best group of the test, but let’s take a look at the fourth group fired on the same fill with the same pellet.

This group of JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes was the fourth group on the same fill. It measures 1.267 inches between centers. Three 10-shot groups are the limit at 50 yards when the best accuracy is required.

That fourth group is approximately the same size as the group of Beeman Kodiaks I showed you first. While it’s a good group, it’s not representative of this rifle’s true capability at 50 yards. What this means is the total shot count you’ll get on a fill with this rifle depends on what you’re shooting and how far it is. If you want the absolute best the rifle can do, refill the gun after 30 shots. But if you’re hunting squirrels at 35 yards you can go to at least 40 shots, if not more.

This 10-shot group of JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes measures 0.760 inches between centers. There were many groups like this, and I would say this is representative of what the rifle will do all the time under good conditions with this pellet.

Full-auto
Of course, semiautomatic is only half of the game with the Conquest. I had to fire the rifle on full-auto, even though I was scoffing at the thought. Why would anybody even do that, I wondered. Well, the first group I shot answered my question.

The big surprise!
When I looked through the scope after the burst was finished I couldn’t tell if all the pellets were in the group or not, so I checked it with my new super-sharp spotting scope. What I saw caused me to jump up and down and pretty much stop the shooting on that range.

I am fortunate that my shooting buddy, Otho Henderson, was there to witness what happened. I had told him the Conquest was a full-auto gun; but until you hear it rattle the shots off, it doesn’t sink in. Seeing me this hyper after looking through the spotting scope, he knew something was up because I don’t even crack a smile unless a group is really astounding.

We both walked down to the target to examine what was a single ragged hole at my exact point of aim. I had used a 12-inch by 12-inch paper target, stapled to a 24-inch by 48-inch cardboard backer that had no other holes in it close to this target. The other target on which I’d been shooting semiautomatic groups was 12 inches above this one, so it was clear that all 10 shots went into the same tight group.

The first full-auto group from the Conquest measures 0.568 inches between centers! Never in my wildest imagination did I think this rifle could ever do something like this on full-auto!

Now I know what many of you are thinking. This was a fluke. You’ll never do it again. I thought the same thing, so I shot a second full-auto group for you.

Ten JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes went into this group measuring 1.001 inches between centers. I would expect this to be more representative of a full-auto group at 50 yards. Even so, it’s fantastic!

I’m guessing that this second group is closer to what the Conquest will do on full-auto at 50 yards most of the time on a perfect day. But since 90 percent of all the air rifles in the world can’t do as well shooting their pellets one at a time, it’s still pretty amazing.

In fairness to Mac, he did predict exactly such a thing when we were still in Las Vegas. He once owned a .22 rimfire semiauto that would occasionally dump its whole magazine; and he noted that when that happened, the group was always smaller than what he could shoot pulling the trigger each time. Apparently the gun takes care of business before the shooter can screw it up. I didn’t believe him until this happened.

All the good was used up!
Following the Conquest test, I went over to the 100-yard range and proceeded to shoot my old Ballard with the new bullets and loading techniques. Nothing worked, and the best I could do was shoot 4-inch groups! Then, I tried a 30-30 that had shot a half-inch at 50 yards the time before and it, too, shot four-inch groups. So, all the accuracy for the day was used up by the Conquest.

One last thing
Perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier, but I thought it would be a nice surprise here at the end of the report. I had mounted a 4-12x Bushnell scope on the Conquest for this test, but in doing so I failed to notice exactly which Bushnell it was. When I got to the range and tried to adjust the power ring, it wouldn’t budge. I had mounted a broken scope on the rifle, so the entire test had to be shot at 4x!

I doubt that mounting a 32-power scope would improve the groups all that much, simply because these groups can’t be improved much more than they are right now. But please feel free to imagine what might have happened if the scope had been better.

We look at velocity and power potential next, but at this point in the test my mind is already made up. The Evanix Conquest is a most worthy precharged pneumatic air rifle. It has a number of interesting deviations, some of which, like the battery, will turn off some shooters. But other features, like the full-auto capability, are surprisingly more effective than you might imagine.

As I look at these results, I’m reminded of two weeks ago at Las Vegas, when I pounded a 200-yard metal silhouette with the 9mm Conquest that’s still in development. Who knew these guns could be this accurate?

It was a very good day for the Evanix Conquest!

Announcement: Allen Baltzer is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card! Congratulations!

Allen Baltzer is the Big Shot of the Week. Here he’s shooting his Umarex SA177 CO2 pistol.

Before I begin today’s report, I have to tell you that this coming Monday I will show you something truly astounding. I tested an airgun at the range yesterday, and the results were so surprising that I had one target witnessed. But I told the guy who signed it to never speak of it, because people will think he is a liar—just like me.

That’s coming Monday. Now, for today.

Lately, I noticed that my viewpoint on air guns and firearms in general has taken a new turn. I now find myself wanting to trim down my personal collection of airguns and firearms and to devote more time to fewer guns. If a gun isn’t interesting, I don’t have time for it. I’ve always been driven by the clock, but recently it’s become very pronounced. If a gun can’t justify itself, in terms of shooting fun or value, I don’t need it.

That’s not what things were like back when I started out in the shooting sports in the 1960s. Skipping over my youth and going right to early adulthood, it was in my early 20s when I was in college that I got interested in firearms, mostly because of my job at Frontier Village amusement park. Back then, I wanted to try everything, sometimes just to see if it was really all that people said or wrote about it, and other times just because I was fascinated. I wanted to try a .375 Holland & Hollandto see if it would knock me down (it didn’t) and a .458 Winchester Magnum for the same reason. The .458 was sobering, but I was a reloader at the time and soon found that a certain lead bullet and a small charge of a certain smokeless powder gave spectacular results at 100 yards. I never shot a full-bore .458, again.

Then, I got commissioned and went to Germany with the Army, where I became interested in airguns through the writings of Robert Beeman in the first edition of Airgun Digest. Ironically, I was stationed in Erlangen, a city near Nürnberg and the home of the airgun manufacturer, Bayerische Sportwaffenfabrik (BSF), though I was unaware of that fact while I lived there. Instead, it was in the walled city of Rothenberg on the Tauber that I found and bought a Diana Model 10 target pistol. That pistol turned out to be so sweet-shooting that it changed my outlook on airguns forever.

Beeman was telling me in Airgun Digest about the guns I was probably passing in the night without actually seeing, and there I sat in Germany, pining for the day when I could return home to California and visit the Beeman store to buy a German air rifle! Talk about irony!

I did return to San Jose in December 1976, and the first thing I did was drive up to see the Beeman store in Santa Rosa. I bought a Feinwerkbau 124D after considerable angst deciding between it and an HW35 Luxus. It was my Christmas present to myself.

After that, it was a slow but steady ramp-up to full-blown airgun collector status, which happened around 1990. At that juncture, I wanted one of every airgun that existed, and I had no idea what existed. We didn’t have the Blue Book in those days, so my education was one of trial and error while reading everything about airguns I could find.

For the next 10-15 years, I was an active collector; and because I was also writing about them, my finds provided the perfect research material! When I discovered the Crosman 600 pistol, for example, I didn’t just want one — I wanted all three major variations! I met the movers and shakers among the American airgun collectors. Even though I made some costly mistakes, my lucky finds overshadowed them, keeping me on an even financial keel.

But about a year or so ago, the thrill of finding new guns left me, or at least it greatly diminished. Instead of many new guns, I found I am now more interested in fewer guns with which I can spend more serious time. The Ballard probably pushed me in that direction and made it easier to get rid of other guns I once thought I would never sell.

I do still have some items of interest, but now they tend to be the more important pieces that will also cost more, like the vintage 10-meter rifles I’ve been testing. The number of new guns I buy has dropped, and the pace of acquisition has slowed, but the enjoyment level has increased. I can see a day coming when I will own only a handful of guns, but enjoy the shooting sports immensely. Many of my friends are doing and feeling the exact same thing, so I believe this has to be linked to our age.

I still understand and appreciate the raw desire a person new to the hobby can exhibit for a certain gun, however. That comes through loud and clear even when the gun in question isn’t my taste. I can certainly understand how it can appeal to others.

I think there are “seasons” to an airgunner’s life, or journey through this hobby. At different times different things will be of primary importance. This might be related to the chronological age of the person, rather than to their level of experience. In other words, two 50-year-olds are more likely to view things the same, despite one of them being an experienced veteran and the other a newbie. I think this must be the case, because I’m also experiencing the same sort of thing in other areas of personal interest.

I read about Matt61’s broad firearms interests in the daily comments and am reminded of my own similar interests when I was his age. However, some of those interests, such as the fascination with the M1 Garand design or seeing beauty in the No. 4 Lee Enfield rifle, seem to be timeless — at least so far.

Many years ago, there was a book about maintaining Volkswagen cars titled,  How To Keep Your Volkswager Alive — A manual of step by step procedures for the Compleat Idiot by John Muir. We called it the idiot’s book, for short. The author rambled on about karma and stuff that a straight-laced Army officer shouldn’t have been interested in, but I was! There were technical illustrations throughout the book, but there were also lots of other drawings that looked like Grateful Dead concert posters.

The point is that even though Muir and I probably didn’t see eye-to-eye on many subjects and probably didn’t support the same political ideals, I have to acknowledge that he wrote the finest car maintenance book I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. I needed the info he was writing; but as an added benefit, he managed to put it into terms I could comprehend. Perhaps that made me an idiot, but I was so happy just to learn this stuff that I didn’t care what label I got.

Sometimes, it’s the subject (airguns in this case) that validates our interests and draws us together. But as we age, our outlook on many things changes. I still like airguns and shooting, but probably not in the same way that many of my readers do — especially if we are separated by several decades of life. So, I’ll continue to review and test airguns as I have all along, but please bear with me when I reflect on the world as I see it. It’s the same world that you see, only seen through older eyes.

Simple enough question, no? Maybe you get confused by certain air-powered tools or perhaps a slang reference to a paint sprayer, but most folks know exactly what you mean when you say airgun.

Think so? Think again.

The term airgun isn’t found in most dictionaries, yet. You’ll find your spell-checker wants you to write it as two words, but that’s not what today’s blog is about. I really want to know if you know what’s encompassed by the term airgun.

Some of you have already stopped reading to formulate an official-sounding definition that goes something like this: An airgun is any smoothbore or rifled gun that propels a projectile by means of compressed air. As you stand back to admire your work, it suddenly dawns on you that your definition doesn’t encompass any of the guns that are powered by CO2. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

Airguns, it turns out, can be a great many different things. Air is only one of their defining characteristics.

Carbon dioxide
Before we move on, however, let’s deal with the CO2 issue. Clearly carbon dioxide isn’t air. If you doubt that, try breathing it for 20 minutes, and then we’ll talk. I’ve had arguments at length with airgun collectors who were stubbornly opposed to labeling CO2 guns as airguns. While that’s a fun subject for two people to banter about as they watch the fireflies rise on a warm evening, it doesn’t serve a person who is drafting state legislation regarding new hunting laws!

So, are CO2 guns airguns, or not? Well — let’s see. They’re sold by airgun dealers, they travel under the same restrictions as guns that do operate on air, they use the same ammunition and they perform similarly. And, heck, there are even a few amphibious models such as Benjamin’s Discovery that operate on either compressed air or CO2. Wasn’t it Robert Kennedy who observed that if something quacks like a duck it probably is a duck? So, yes, guns that use CO2 are also airguns.

Green gas/red gas
Wouldn’t it be nice if it ended there? Well, it doesn’t. There are other propellant gasses that power guns that must also be considered, now that the door has been opened for CO2. I’m talking about green gas and red gas. The airsoft industry hates to admit it publically, but green gas is actually propane. A tiny bit of silicone oil is added to the gas to lubricate the gun’s parts as it functions, and they leave out the odor that’s added to commercial propane to identify gas leaks (real propane doesn’t smell like onions; it has no smell at all).

The same dealers who tell you green gas is special will even sell you adapters to fill your green gas guns from five-pound propane tanks, all the while backpeddling on admitting that green gas is propane! The Orient, where a lot of airsoft guns are made, is quite good at doublespeak!

Here’s where it becomes interesting. Green gas develops a pressure of around 115 PSI at room temperature. That’s plenty of push to propel a 3-grain plastic ball (they call them BBs) out the spout at a fairly good clip.

Red gas is more exotic. It has a higher vapor pressure than green gas, so the guns that use it require some modifications. If you read all the warnings, you’ll get the idea that red gas is like nuclear fuel, but for one thing. Some airsoft guns also operate on CO2, which has a vapor pressure of 853 PSI at room temperature, which goes way beyond the pressure of red gas. To operate on CO2, airsoft guns have to be modified even more, and this is done by restricting the gas flow through special valving that has very small gas ports. There you are. Guns that run on green gas, red gas and CO2, none of which is air — yet they fall into the airgun category because there’s no other category for them.

Airsoft guns do receive special legislation of their own because many are built to simulate firearms (called “real guns” by some folks), and they’re used in force-on-force skirmishes, with people shooting at each other. There are legal issues concerning brandishing in public and special markings on the guns that are not as applicable to the kind of pellet guns I generally write about. But airsoft guns are sold by the same dealers and often made by the same companies who make conventional airguns. Again, they quack like ducks.

Catapult guns
We’re not finished with the non-air powerplants, yet, Sparky. There are still catapult guns to consider.

Catapult guns propel their projectiles by means of a spring in the form of an elastic band or even a conventional coiled steel spring. If you think CO2 guns cause controversy among the anal airgun collectors, try raising this subject and see what happens!

The most common catapult guns are the Sharpshooter-series guns dating from 1923 and produced as toy novelties in the U.S. through at least the 1980s. These guns all shot .118 lead shot, which is more commonly known as No. 6 birdshot.

This Bulls Eye pistol was the first of many so-called Sharpshooter pistols powered by rubber bands. It fired No. 6 birdshot up to ~150 f.p.s. when multiple rubber bands were used.

In most airguns, the use of dropped shot (shotgun shot is made by either dropping it from a high tower so that it forms a ball as it solidifies or forced through small holes by centrifugal force) can be a problem, because of inconsistent size. The shot can easily get jammed in barrels when it’s oversized, which is why we seldom see real BB-sized shot (shot size BB is nominally 0.180 inches in diameter) used in antique BB guns. It simply isn’t regular enough. But catapult guns seldom use barrels. They usually place the shot to be fired in a shaped seat to hold it during acceleration, then release it cleanly at the end of the acceleration phase.

The Johnson Indoor Target Gun shot conventional steel BBs from a submachine gun-looking plastic frame. It used tubular elastic bands much like modern surgical tubing to launch a 5.1-grain BB at 100-150 f.p.s., depending on the strength of the bands.

The Johnson Indoor Target Gun sold for $15 in 1949. It shot steel BBs at 100-150 f.p.s.

But Daisy made a catapult gun that used steel springs. Their model 179 is a Spittin’ Image replica of a Colt single-action revolver that I reported in this blog some time back. Instead of just flinging the BB with the force of the spring, the spring in the 179 pushed a paddle that actually hit the BB like a croquet mallet smacks a ball. Instead of just pushing the BB out the barrel (and this is one of the few catapult guns that really does have a smoothbore barrel), it was whacked out like a line drive off a baseball bat.

Daisy’s 179 was an early Spittin’ Image gun. Production began in 1960.

Rigid airgun collectors are really challenged by catapult guns, because of the Daisy connection. They don’t want to include them in the body of legitimate airguns; but with Daisy being such a key player, they usually cave.

That sets them up for a huge disappointment when they suddenly learn that in the 1840s there was another catapult gun that launched lead balls of approximately .43 caliber with sufficient force to kill small game. The Hodges catapult gun is a long gun with no barrel but with all the Victorian styling expected of a naval weapon made in the 1840s. The thought among advanced collectors is that it was a foraging gun made for naval vessels. Except for the few parts that absolutely had to be made of iron for durability, the rest of the gun is fashioned from bronze and English walnut!

The Hodges catapult gun dates from the 1840s. It was a ship’s foraging gun that made little sound, yet could take game of reasonable size without alerting hostile natives. The Roman soldier statues at the front are for anchoring the elastic bands.

The Hodges ball carrier is pushed back until the sear hooks it. Then the elastic bands are stretched one at a time to increase power. This way, the shooter can build in a lot more power than he can possibly handle when cocking the gun.

The elastic bands were anchored at the forward end by two Roman soldiers cast in detailed bronze relief. I’ve seen two such guns — the one pictured here is in remarkable preservation and the other one has been restored to working order and shot by its owner, who reports velocities in the mid-400 f.p.s. range with 122-grain swaged lead balls.

Caps!
The next branch on the oddity tree deviates toward those guns that shoot BBs and shot by means of the power of an exploding toy cap. Wamo made a minimum of five different models, and new ones surface every couple years. The most recent I’ve discovered shoots potato plugs!

The Kruger ‘98 was a cap-firing gun that shot No. 6 birdshot. The same gun also shot BBs and was called just Kruger. Wamo (also spelled Wham-o) made them both.

The Western Haig used toy caps to launch No. 6 shot. It sold for $2.98 in the 1960s. Sold by the founders of Wamo under a different company name and only from a P.O. Box.

If a toy cap can launch a BB, what’s to prevent it from igniting a small charge of black powder? And who decides what’s “a small charge”? There have been .22-caliber, .36-caliber and even .45-caliber rifles made by Rocky Mountain Arms Corporation in modern times that operate by means of exploding caps igniting black powder. If you go back 100 years, there were some made then, as well. They’re clearly firearms when they use black powder, but what about those using caps only?

This .22 rifle from Rocky Mountain Arms Corporation uses toy caps to ignite black powder behind a .22-caliber lead ball. They also made this in .36 and .45 calibers!

As long as we’re talking about caps, what prevents someone from using percussion caps and even primers to propel pellets and BBs? Apparently nothing, because it’s been done. Are these all airguns, as well?

Not the end!
As you now can see, the question of what constitutes an airgun is far from clear. Once you accept any of these deviations, the rest will come streaming through the same loophole. For instance, is a gun that also launches an arrow then considered a bow? And if so, is it legal to use during bow season?

It is for reasons like this that Edith and I are sometimes so rigid and precise in our terminology — because you never know what’s waiting in the wings.

The FWB 300s is considered the gold standard of vintage target air rifles.

I’ve danced around writing this report for the better part of a year, and some of you have asked me when I was going to get around to it. Well, today is the day we’ll begin looking at Feinwerkbau’s fabulous 300S — considered by many airgunners to be the gold standard of vintage 10-meter target air rifles.

Today’s blog is an important resource for those who are interested in fine vintage 10-meter target rifles, because I’m going to give you the links to all the other reports I’ve done.

FWB 150
HW 55CM
Haenel 311
HW 55SF
Walther LGV Olympia
HW 55 Tyrolean
Diana model 60

There are plenty of vintage 10-meter rifles that I haven’t tested for you yet. The Diana 75, the Anschutz 380, the Walther LGR, the Anschutz 250 and the Gamo 126 all come to mind; but if you want to split hairs, there are numerous similar models like the Walther LG55 and the Diana 65 that also belong to a very long list of classic oldies. But the guns we’ve looked at thus far are a fair representation of the classic era of target air rifles. Today, we’ll look at the rifle many consider to be the pinnacle of achievement during that period.

History
You probably know the history, but if you don’t — first there was the FWB 110, a sidelever target rifle that recoiled! Yes, it recoiled. What’s more, Feinwertkbau didn’t make too many of them. The 110 is considered to be a very desirable airgun collectible today, and many advanced airgunners, including me, have never even seen one. According to the Blue Book of Airguns, fewer than 200 were made from 1962-1964.

The FWB 150 followed the 110 and introduced Feinwerkbau’s anti-recoil system. I reviewed the FWB 150 for you last June. I found it to be easy to shoot and compellingly accurate, but it wasn’t everything it could be. That honor awaited the 300S that I’m reviewing for you today.

The FWB 150 is the predecessor of the 300S. It shares a more sporterized stock profile with the interim FWB 300.

A footnote deserves to be inserted here, as the first edition of the Beeman catalog, a collectible in its own right, also mentioned an FWB 200 model, existing at the same time as the 300. A short line in the Blue Book says the model 200 was similar to the model 300 but lacked the recoil-compensation system. Until I researched today’s report, the model 200 was unknown to me and I’ve certainly never seen one. Is it as rare as the model 110? Has anyone ever seen one? These are the curious things that pop up as we research this fascinating hobby, and they’re what keeps the collector in me in a permanent state of anticipation.

The model 300 was much like the 150, in that it has a single coiled, steel mainspring and a thinner, more sporterized stock, yet it was definitely labeled a 300, rather than the 150. You don’t see as many straight 300 rifles as you do 150 rifles these days. Perhaps that’s because when the 300S came out it overshadowed the 300 and drove it from the marketplace in fairly short order. The 300S was a very different gun.

If you’re like me, you never paid much attention to the difference between a 300 and the 300S. What’s in a letter designation, after all? A lot of things, as it turns out.

Let’s start with the mainspring. The 300S has two coiled steel springs that are wound in opposite directions. It’s said they cancel the slight amount of torque at firing, though I cannot say that I’ve ever noticed any torque in my 150. The RWS Diana 48 sidelever does have noticeable torque upon firing, and you’ll feel a definite rocking to the right after the trigger is pulled. Since the sidelever already unbalances that rifle, the feeling is magnified; but the 150 doesn’t have the same feeling. At least — my rifle, which was recently tuned by Randy Bimrose, doesn’t.

The 300S stock is shorter than the stock on the 300/150. It also has a more vertical pistol grip to enhance the offhand hold. A slight flare at the bottom might go unnoticed in the catalog photos; but when you hold the rifle, the pistol grip grabs you right back.

Anti-recoil mechanism
So, how does this rifle block the recoil? Well, for starters, it actually doesn’t! All the FWB spring-piston target rifles do recoil; but in the 150 models and the 300-series there’s a special system in the stock that isolates the shooter from the movement. A set of steel rails set into the stock allows the action to move while the stock remains still. The shooter doesn’t feel any recoil and only the slightest vibration in some guns. But you do notice the movement of the action, because of the eyepiece that’s close to your sighting eye. The movement is very short — on the order of a quarter-inch or so — but if you’re close to the rear sight you’ll notice it. A rubber eyecup helps take up the shock and prevent your eye from banging into the rear sight disk, and I find it necessary to use this accessory with this model rifle.

This system is called the sledge system, after the name for a dry-land type of sled whose runners make it easy to drag heavy loads. It’s completely different from the Giss anti-recoil system, in which a counterweighted piston actually has no discernible recoil.

This mechanism is very refined compared to a similar system found on the RWS Diana model 54 Air King. Of course, that magnum spring-piston rifle has to deal with three times the power in a rifle of similar weight, so it’s actually doing quite a good job of canceling the recoil. Still, when the 300S lever is retracted, there’s no “levering” of the action required at the end of the cocking stroke like you have with the Diana 54. The ratcheting anti-beartrap safety that prevents the sliding compression chamber from smashing your thumb during loading does not need a separate button to release the cocking lever after you’ve loaded. The only extra step the 300S does have is a small locking latch on the sidelever that unlocks the lever at the start of the cocking stroke. The 150 and 300 cocking levers both have an end section that pivots outward to unlock the cocking lever and achieve the same thing.

Press down on the cocking lever latch to release the lever for cocking and loading.

The sidelever on a 300S is also much shorter than the one on the 150, yet the cocking effort remains as light. Obviously, some geometry was changed when the model was updated.

Daisy gun
My 300S is a Daisy gun. While many were imported and sold by Beeman, many more came into the U.S. through Daisy when the company was trying to establish itself as a target gun company. The FWB name trumped the Daisy name, however, and a Daisy FWB is exactly the same as one from Beeman or one imported directly from Europe.

This 300S came from Daisy.

No piston seal
Another odd but not unique feature of these rifles is the lack of a conventional piston seal. Instead of a traditional seal, they use a metal ring much like those found on an automobile engine’s piston. These rings will last for millions of cycles, as some club guns have demonstrated, though other parts like the breech seal will eventually have to be replaced. And the coiled steel mainspring set needs occasional replacement, as well.

Many Webley pistols and a couple of the older Webley rifles have the same design, so piston rings are not unique in the airgun world. They are, however, features that are found only on guns of quality.

Trigger
When the 150/300 was new, American airgunners were not used to light target triggers as a rule. They were accustomed to a 3-lb. pull being considered light. So, when they encountered the FWB trigger that releases at ounces rather than pounds, they were astounded. In fact, if they’d been accustomed to shooting the older target rifles from the 19th century, like Ballards, Maynards and Winchesters, all of which had fine double-set triggers, they would have been less impressed.

The 300S trigger has a nominal pull weight ranging from 3.5 oz. to 17.7 oz. (an optional trigger spring boosts that range from 10.6 oz. to 52.8 oz.). In target rifle terms, even the lighter range is not very light, though I find it just right for me. The trigger on my rifle releases at a satisfying 4.4 oz. It’s a two-stage pull with stage two being very definite. With practice, you can get on target and “think” the trigger off as the sight picture becomes perfect.

The 300S trigger also adjusts for position, cant and first-stage travel — all things that the 150 trigger does not do. Although the 150 trigger is just as light and crisp as the one on the 300S, you can’t reposition it. It’s also curved like a sporting trigger instead of straight like the target trigger found on the 300S.

The trigger of a target air rifle has no lower limit, the way a target air pistol does. In the ISSF rules for air pistols, a match pistol trigger must break at more than 500 grams (17.64 oz.). This is done in the interest of safety, as the muzzle of a pistol is too easy to move while on a firing line. But a rifle like the 300S is more obvious and easier to control, so there’s no lower limit. Some target air rifles today are releasing at less than 50 grams (1.76 oz.) of force.

Stock configuration
The stocks of the vintage target air rifles show a fairly broad latitude of design, but they stop short in a few important areas. Tyrolean stocks are not permitted in World Cup and Olympic matches, nor are butt hooks. Today’s rifles are studies in ergonomics applied against these rules. Today, a 300S looks fairly normal to eyes that are accustomed to wild aluminum stocks with numerous adjustments; but when it was new, it seemed to push the envelope of possibility. I suppose it’s equivalent to how the finned cars of the late 1950s appeared when they were new compared to how we see them today.

Sights
Another drastic measure was taken at the World Cup level in the realm of target sights. For a brief time, the tube-type rear aperture sight was used, but complaints that it gave an unfair advantage caused a ruling that it was no longer permitted. This is very odd, since tube-type sights have been in use since at least 1776 and were in widespread use in target matches throughout the 19th century. But the ruling was made, and today’s rear sights cannot use tubes to enhance the sharpness of the sight picture.

FWB target rear sights looked as exotic as a Rolex watch when they were new in the 1970s. Today, they seem almost simple, but they still do the job. The click detents are nowhere close to the thousandth-inch measurements of the Vernier scale peep sights I showed you recently; but since you’re shooting 10 meters instead of 1,000 yards, they’re more than adequate for the job.

Unfortunately, these rifles were also sold without sights for a slightly reduced price, and many buyers mounted short scopes on their 11mm sight dovetails. While they may have been pleased with the gun that way, they created a shortage of sights for the future that is difficult to resolve. Until five years ago, you either had to install a hoplessly crude rear sight made either in Spain or China and live with the problems of adjustment backlash, or you had to pony up almost as much money as you paid for the entire rifle just to buy a set of precision sights.

AirForce corrected that lack for you with their adaptive rear target sight that fits most 10-meter guns. For about a third of what a German rear sight costs, you get a unit that’s the equivalent of the vintage FWB rear sight; and as a bonus, it looks at home on any rifle. An additional feature that never seems to get mentioned is this sight can be removed from its base and installed in a standard one-inch scope ring — multiplying the possible applications greatly.

The front sight looks more conventional and is of the globe design with replaceable inserts. On the 300S, it’s part of a larger aluminum barrel sleeve that makes it proprietary. When the globe on an Anschütz or Weihrauch target rifle slides onto a dovetail, this globe actually fits only the 300S barrel.

The front sight on this HW55 attaches to two dovetails of standard width. All Weihrauch rifles that have dovetails can use this sight.

The FWB 300S front sight globe is integral with an aluminum sleeve that fits over the barrel. It’s either this or nothing!

The front sight is pinned to the barrel through the sight base. On some versions of the 300S, like the Universal and the later Match, this pin is at the bottom of the barrel. On my rifle it’s located at the top.

You may have also noticed that the 300S has a blued barrel sleeve that’s slenderer than the one on the 150. Only toward the end of the barrel does it swell a bit. That’s because the 300S barrel is longer than the one on the 150, so there has to be less sleeve material to balance the weight correctly.

But the real test of this airgun comes with shooting. I’ve already shot this rifle several times, so I know what’s in store. You should feel eager expectation for the next two installments, because this rifle wants to shoot!

On the heels of yesterday’s blog about what people expect after making a purchase, we noticed that there was a lot of interest in the product reviews on Pyramyd Air’s site. Edith (for those who don’t know…she’s my wife) will address those questions and give you some insight into how reviews (good, bad & ugly) are handled. As long as she’s at it, she’ll also give you the scoop on customer images.

If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email us.

Take it away, girl!

One of most time-consuming jobs I have at Pyramyd Air is reading customer gun reviews. When the review process was originally created, it was easy to handle. Now, it doesn’t take long before I get a huge backlog if I decide to skip a day or a week.

While I read the gun reviews (airsoft guns & airguns), Laura Nelson takes care of the accessory and ammo reviews. She’s located in Iowa, and we were lucky to get her when Pyramyd Air bought our her former employer…Airgun Express (for you newcomers, Airgun Express was Pyramyd Air’s closest competitor at the time). Elise Vendetti works the customer-submitted images. She’s located in Cleveland at Pyramyd Air’s headquarters and has been with the company for a little over two years.

What we hope you’ll write in your product reviews
The purpose of the customer review is to give others a full evaluation of your experience with the product. While we’d like to think everyone will be pleased with their purchase, that doesn’t always happen. Plus, there are hiccups with shipping that are out of our control…especially when it comes to product damage during transport. Still we want to know all of it. Roses, thorns, warts and troll dung…we want you to tell other customers what you found when you got your gun, how it was packaged, how it shot and if it met your expectations based on what we have written on the product page.

When we devised the format for reviews, we wanted to know what you liked, what you wanted to see improved and any other thoughts you might have about the product. The original space allotted for the reviews was unlimited because we wanted to encourage sharing and full disclosure from end users. Before I knew it, I was reading as many as 10,000 words in some gun reviews! To save my sanity, text boxes are no longer unlimited. For some people, there wasn’t enough room in the “what’s good” text block…and others found the “what I’d like to change” text block much too limited. Surprisingly, the shortest reviews — the ones that have “everything” and/or “nothing” written in all the boxes — are declined. That’s not information about the product. We want details.

Why we decline reviews
Within 24 hours of approving or declining a review, an automated email goes out to tell you the status of your review. It includes the name of the product, and a link to the product where the review is listed.

If your review was declined, you’ll get the product name and web link plus a list of reasons that your review may have been declined. Here are the reasons:

1. Negative review of a product purchased from another source.
2. Does not own or use the product.
3. Includes links to non-Pyramyd Air sites.
4. Provides maintenance, repair and/or disassembly instructions that may not be safe or accurate.
5. Mentions or suggests removing or concealing the orange muzzle of an airsoft gun.
6. Mentions or suggests adding a silencer to a pellet gun or BB gun or mentions the use of the same (except for silencers that are integral to the gun as originally manufactured).
7. Unhelpful terms, foul language or negative remarks about other reviews or reviewers.
8. So short that it doesn’t provide helpful info.
9. Written in cryptic text message format.
10. Includes incorrect statements about the product.
11. Tasteless or unsuitable screen name.
12. Includes inappropriate uses or prey for the product or overly graphic descriptions of kills.
13. Mentions a competing merchant or that it can be bought cheaper elsewhere.
14. Unrelated to the product.

Note that there are 14 reasons. It has always been my belief that if 10 Commandments were enough for God, then that’s enough rules for anything I do. So, I came up with 10 rules that would prevent a review from being approved. Well, it worked for several years until some customer reviews forced 4 additional rules to be created.

Here are the guidelines for images and videos. If yours has any of these, it won’t be approved:

1. Does not own the rights to the submitted items.
2. Inappropriate or has inappropriate elements.
3. Suggests or shows removal or concealment of the orange muzzle of an airsoft gun.
4. Suggests or shows a silencer on or for a pellet gun or BB gun (except for silencers that are integral to the gun as originally manufactured).
5. Unrelated to the product.
6. Poor quality (blurry, too dark, etc.).
7. Mentions a competing merchant or that it can be bought cheaper elsewhere.
8. Includes inappropriate logos or text.
9. Shows a hunting scene.
10. Shows a person’s face or a recognizable person.

For each review, image or video that’s declined, we record the reason. I don’t want to bore you with reasons for declining things, but here are examples of reviews that forced me to decline them:

1. The person doesn’t own the gun, but he’s written a complete review of it. He’s never shot it but “knew” what to expect and decided to cut to the quick and get the review out of the way to benefit others who may not know as much.
2. A rant about FedEx (we also had rants about UPS when they had Pyramyd Air’s shipping business).
3. Reviews that are a love story about a buying experience with Pyramyd Air. People read reviews to get product info. The reviews that are “love letters” are copied and sent to a customer service supervisor, who will contact you and tell you that your review is being declined and why. We don’t want to erase that smile, so we go the extra mile.
4. If you wrote an honest review that brings out a large number of negative points about a product or state the product is not worth buying, we’ll check our system against the email address and/or name you used to post the review to see if you bought it from us. If you didn’t, then the review is declined.
5. The worst reviews are the ones for which I’ll probably need therapy: shooting at inappropriate critters (usually with underpowered guns) and then describing the agony of the dying or injured animal. For me, the worst ones are the grandfathers who are teaching their wee little grandchildren…tomorrow’s shooters…how to shoot with a Red Ryder and using the neighborhood birds, squirrels and pets as targets. After reading such reviews, it takes a while before the screaming in my head stops!
6. Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring,” probably didn’t envision airguns as being the death knell of birds, but the number of youthful shooters (as well as some mature adults) who have just gotten a powerful breakbarrel air rifle who shoot at federally protected migratory birds is staggering. Who uses an airgun to shoot at owls? Kestrels? Canadian geese? Pelicans? Woodpeckers?

The largest number of declines are people who went to the local sporting goods store and bought a gun and didn’t like it. Because their retailer doesn’t accept customer reviews, they assume they can post it on our site. If you spend your dollars with another business, don’t come on our site to complain about your purchase.

What is enough power for hunting?
I’ve mentioned that people use underpowered guns to shoot at critters. I see on Crosman’s site that they recommend some pretty low-powered guns for pest control. We don’t allow that on Pyramyd Air’s site.

A few years ago, I had to come up with a minimum velocity that a gun had to meet in order to accept it for shooting critters. I selected 800 fps in .177 and 600 fps in .22.

Those numbers are very significant. By picking 800 fps in .177 caliber, I’m omitting the BB guns that are reputed to shoot at 755 fps. These are not only inaccurate guns, but they’re probably not shooting that fast all the time. So, if you mention in your review that you dispatch mice, rats and chipmunks with your 2100B rifle, you’re going to get gonged. Can you use such a gun to kill a small rodent at 10 yards? Probably with ease. However, the other people who are reading your reviews will see only 2 words: kill and 2100B. They won’t care about distances or projectiles. I’ve seen it too many times to ignore it.

Picking velocities has been very hard on many customers who swear that their BB and pellet guns are real killers. I prefer to take the high road and not encourage the use of these guns across the board for shooting at animals. If you want to hunt, please get an accurate gun…and not a BB gun.

I hope this has helped some of you who may have had a review, image or video declined and didn’t know why. If it happens to you, please write to our sales department and ask for an explanation. They’ll ask Laura, Elise and me for an explanation that will be passed along to you.

Today’s blog is targeted toward our younger readers — I think (and hope!). Edith has been reading hundreds of Pyramyd Air customer gun reviews for the past week, trying to get caught up with a huge backlog. She has encountered several dozen complaints that should never have been lodged in the first place. They’re complaining about a product being exactly what it’s advertised to be, instead of what the buyer really wanted!

Think about that, because it’s also something that I encounter quite often in comments from new blog readers. A guy orders something and is then put off when it arrives, because it is exactly as advertised instead of being the fantasy he concocted while shopping. I’m using the male pronoun purposely because this is a trait I see only in young men.

It may not sound like anything worthy of discussion on this blog, but I believe this is at the root of a lot of potential new airgunners being put off airgunning forever. If that’s true, it matters a lot, because it will keep this hobby from growing!

First example
To keep from embarrassing anyone, the following customer complaint is fictitious, but it is no more bizarre than many of the real ones I have read.

This Crosman 2100B is a piece of junk! I wish it was a breakbarrel and instead of 650 f.p.s. would shoot 1,200 f.p.s. with .25 caliber hunting pellets. The only thing I like about it is the price. Keep that.

To me, this review was obviously written by a very young man, someone probably under the age of 18, and this is his first experience with buying something for himself. The complaint is a thinly disguised plea for life to conform to his imagination, rather than the harsh reality that it is. I think this is what happens when too many video games have instilled the false belief that things always turn out for the best. After all, didn’t the magic scorpion turn into the Jewel of Osiris when he poured the Potion of Hope on it?

If he really wanted what he said, why didn’t he buy an AirForce Condor in .25 caliber? It might not have achieved quite 1,200 f.p.s. with .25-caliber hunting pellets, but it would have come closer than any other pellet rifle on today’s market. Of course, it also wouldn’t have been a breakbarrel, but do you know what that means? The young man telling himself a second lie. This one is that spring-piston guns can achieve similar velocities as precharged guns, because he can’t stand thinking about the extra expense and added effort that goes into owning and using PCPs.

He told himself all these falsehoods for one reason. Money. He hasn’t got any. The Crosman 2100 was all he could afford, but the dream rifle that doesn’t exist anywhere is what he really wants — or thinks he does.

Without analyzing the young man’s desires, let’s move on. There are plenty more where this came from.

Second example
I get this next one a lot. It starts out as a question from a new reader and it more or less goes like this.

I am new to airgunning and am considering buying my first air rifle. Can you please evaluate the following guns for me and give your reasons for what you say about each one?

Remington Vantage air rifle
Gamo Varmint Hunter
Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo
Walther Talon Magnum

When I see a list like this, I immediately know what’s happening. You probably do, too. This young man wants “The mostest, powerfulest air rifle” he can afford. Notice that he didn’t put one RWS Diana rifle on his list, even though there are some like the RWS Diana 350 Magnum that are in the same power class. Every rifle on his list comes with a scope, which tells me he also thinks he needs a scope to hit what he shoots.

Has he ever read about the artillery hold — or even thought about it? I doubt it.

Does he read the description that says each of these rifles is hard to cock? No! And what’s more, that information wouldn’t mean anything if he did read it, because he has never held a powerful airgun in his hands.

For that matter, has he read and understood what each of these powerful air rifles weighs? Once again, the answer is “no.”

When we get a comment like this on the blog, all the veteran readers take turns trying to persuade the new airgunner to reconsider his choices. It’s extremely frustrating, because what normally happens is that he posts a second list a few days later. One or two of the original guns will be on the new list, and he will have added others — hoping that we will now see his point of view.

We continue to try to persuade him to rethink his priorities, but he’s in a group of young men that is much larger than just airguns. In the world of firearms, these same new shooters are buying S&W .500 Magnum revolvers and .338 Lapua Magnun rifles, or .44 Magnum revolvers and 7mm Remington Magnum rifles, if they have less to spend. They end up selling their new guns after fewer than 50 shots, convinced that shooting is a harsh and painful pursuit.

I don’t see any way to reach people with this kind of mindset, short of mentoring them one at a time. They don’t read, as a rule. Or if they do, they only read things that support their personal viewpoints. Many of these are the guys who are so vocal on the forums but have zero experience to back up what they say. If you watch the forums over a long period, you’ll notice that they come, are active and very vocal for a brief period, and then disappear forever.

If a young person shows up at my rifle range and wants to learn about shooting, he’ll be overwhelmed by all the voluntary assistance and mentoring he receives. It has actually happened a few times. But getting him to come is the hard part.

Third example
I once had to finish a gutshot deer for a drunken neighborhood man who had wounded it with a single barrel shotgun (in our suburban neighborhood where hunting was not permitted!). He shot it with only two rounds in his pocket and hadn’t the foggiest idea of how to finish the job. After the animal was dead I told the young man that it was time to clean the deer, so he whipped out a bowie knife and made for the throat.

“Whoa!” I shouted at him. “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m going to slit its throat to bleed it out,” was the reply.

I then instructed him in the correct method of cleaning a deer, by opening its gut and dumping all the intestines, organs and pooled blood out on the ground. Then I watched him squirm when I made him reach up and cut the deer’s diaphragm, so he could reach up even farther and cut the esophagus and windpipe, releasing the remainder of the internal organs from the carcass. You would have thought you were watching a teenage girl in biology class being asked to dissect a frog!

I could have done all this for him, of course, but he had just ended this deer’s life and I wanted the full impact of what he had done to sink in. Now, let me show you what this looks like among new airgunners who are making choices of what airguns to buy.

They buy an air rifle without sights, then complain bitterly that it came that way — without sights. Now they have to pay even more money for a scope!

Hello? Did you read the description that clearly said the gun has no sights?

Of course not. They were too busy daydreaming about making fantastic shots like the ones they see on the internet.

So, they get their new scopes and struggle through mounting them. Then they shoot the new gun for the first time and are bitterly disappointed because it doesn’t print the tight little groups they’re so used to seeing elsewhere.

Well, of course it doesn’t! All the while, they’ve been mixing the groups shot by guns like the Air Arms TX200 and the Air Venturi Bronco with the power of the mega-magnums, whose velocities have mesmerized them. They couldn’t find as many groups posted from the powerful guns, so they just assumed they were the same as the ones they did find.

Someone recently commented that I always tout the Bronco because of the royalties I must get from the sales. Edith set him straight right away. There are no royalties in airguns! This is not rock music, my friends. This is a little niche hobby that doesn’t gross as much as quilting or the Sno-Cone industry! I “tout” the Bronco for just one reason: It’s accurate.

At the end of the day, if someone buys a Bronco I know it’s going to be accurate for them — no matter what level of shooting experience they have. That’s so much better than listening to a bunch of whining and crying because the gun of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare in their hands.

The school of hard knocks
The bane of youth is that there is no body of experience to temper their desires. I went through it and so did most of you. We made a lot of mistakes that became the price of our wisdom, such as it is. It seems there’s no shortcut through this kind of learning, either.

Announcement: Mark Barnes is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card! Congratulations!

Mark Barnes submitted the winning Big Shot of the Week. This is the varsity air rifle team at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Photos by Earl “Mac” McDonald

Part 1
Part 2

You all seemed to enjoy hearing about the 2012 SHOT Show, even though I went into some pretty great detail, so today we’ll do Part 3. Hopefully, this will keep us busy this weekend!

More on Media Day
The Boulder City gun range, where Media Day was held, is a huge facility with dozens of individual ranges that stretch at least half a mile. Now that I’ve been there, I recognize the ranges in all the Pawn Stars episodes with shooting.

The thing that most impressed me were the long-range ranges (yes, that’s plural) that could easily have gone out for miles if the shooters so desired. As it was, getting distances of a thousand yards was a trivial task. Only on tank gunnery ranges have I seen the equal of this openness.

This is a small portion of the long-ramge ranges at the Boulder City gun range. The horizon is miles away, and the targets are out at a thousand yards for big rifles like the .50 BMG and .338 Lapua.

Safety first!
As the media representatives got off the busses and into the registration line, we were each given a range bag that included safety glasses and hearing protection. Mac and I brought our own electronic earmuffs to be able to hear, but the shooting was so continuous (10-50 shots each second the whole time we were there) that the earmuffs were permanently suppressed. We would have been fine with normal earmuffs, as that is how our electronics sounded all the time.

After a couple hours of what sounded like the biggest firefight ever fought, Mac observed that despite thousands of people shooting continuously there wasn’t one accident or even an unsafe act that we could see. Of course, each range was monitored by the company running it, and there were plenty of orange-vested range safety officers patrolling the line; but it was the shooters who made the difference. These were people who knew guns and also knew to keep their muzzles pointed downrange and their fingers off the triggers until it was go time. I used to run ranges in the Army; and in all my time at hundreds of ranges, I never saw anything as orderly and disciplined as this!

Here is one of dozens of handgun ranges that go out 50-200 yards. Notice the high berms between them. Look at the safety sign and the two range safety officers in orange vests. With thousands of people shooting and hundreds of thousands of rounds fired, there was not one accident or even an unsafe act observed! The red bucket is full of free water bottles packed in ice — provided all day long.

I avoided Media Day in the past when it was a small event; but after attending this one, I’ll make it my mandatory first stop at each SHOT Show in the future! Now, let’s go back to the show.

Umarex
At the Umarex booth, I was pleased to meet Anna Dalton, who works in the service department. She showed me around the booth and answered every question I had.

Besides the two PCP rifles and the Morph III that you’ve already seen, there were three interesting new air pistols on display. I’m seeing more and more air pistols these days, so something is definitely up.

The first of the guns is a low-powered breakbarrel modeled after the Browning Buck Mark .22 and called by the same name. The sign says it shoots pellets at 260 f.p.s., which some may scoff at, but I think there’s a real need for guns of this power. Just look at how popular airsoft guns can be, and you’ll realize that sometimes people just want something for plinking. The Buck Mark appears to be it!

The Browning Buck Mark breakbarrel air pistol appears to be a pellet plinker’s dream. Can’t wait to test one!

Another new air pistol from Umarex is the Browning Hi Power Mark III. This one is a CO2-powered BB pistol that mimics the firearm prototype exactly. It puts me in mind of the Walther P99 Compact or perhaps the Walther PPK/S.

Browning’s new Hi Power Mark III BB pistol is a new lookalike from Umarex.

I also met Janet Raab, the Umarex Director of Sales and Marketing for Competitive Shooting. Janet has a long history in competitive shooting and holds the Distinguished Rifleman’s badge. I’ll be talking to her about the Umarex and Walther competition models in the months to come.

On to Gamo
And here comes the part of the report I bet you weren’t expecting. Nor was I, until I walked into the Gamo booth and saw for the first time that they’re making a concerted effort to reach out to their customers with something other than velocity. Style is still their strong suit, but it appears they have discovered what the end user really wants and needs to know.

If you recall what I said in Part 2 about some companies were struggling to understand the customer, Gamo was one of them. But this year, I see signs that they’re getting it. Four educational displays in the booth impressed me the most.

This demo of the Gamo Smooth Action Trigger allowed me to cock and fire the trigger repeatedly. I don’t know if the trigger will feel the same with the full force of a mainspring on it; but if it does, Gamo has finally built a winning trigger!

Gamo’s Shock Wave Absorber buttpad absorbs the recoil force transmitted by the gun upon firing. Since Gamo sells some pretty powerful springers, this is welcome!

Gamo’s new Bull Whisper shroud is a fluted polymer barrel jacket that incorporates a baffled shroud to silence the muzzle report. It’s smaller and thinner than the current Whisper muzzlebrake.

Gamo is very dedicated to hunting, of course, so much of their emphasis is directed that way; but it looks like they’re now trying to educate their potential buyer as well as impress him with numbers. This is a significant new direction for the company that, if they follow it, will make Gamo a customer-centric business. Seeing the new trigger and the Bull Whisper shroud was exciting, because it means they’re talking about the customer in their design meetings.

Gamo’s Inert Gas Technology gas spring signifies that the company now thinks of their product in the same way that the shooters do. This bodes well for their future.

When Gamo decided to build their own gas springs many, including me, thought they just didn’t want others to modify their guns. The new trigger is the same sort of thing. But what I see now is a company that wants their guns to be as nice as they can make them. As far as I’m concerned, Gamo just threw their hat into the ring as a company that can innovate. I hope they’ll continue in this direction and build the kind of airguns that put fear into the other manufacturers.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any Gamo representatives in the booth to show me their new products this year. So, I took photos of some of the new rifles, and I’ll have to wait for the year to unfold.

These new breakbarrels were shown under the Bull Whisper name. Whether that is the name of the model or just the silencing technology wasn’t clear, but it was obvious there will be some new guns coming from Gamo this year.

Back to Hatsan USA
I went back to Hatsan USA several times during the show just to see more of the new rifles. Like Gamo, they have a new trigger called the Quattro and also a new shock isolation system; but unlike Gamo, they didn’t have the interactive educational displays to show them off. I’ll have to withhold my judgement on both items until I can test them on a gun.

Mac thought the trigger blade came up too far when it was pulled to the rear; but with the guns in the rack, it was impossible to tell for sure. Hatsan also has a new recoil pad that appears quite similar to the one Gamo is touting. I’ll try to get to one of them as soon as possible.

The underlever rifles I showed you back in Part 1 are apparently all from the Hatsan Torpedo line, which — as one reader mentioned — has a unique-looking breech. He likened it to an RWS Diana 46 breech, but I think it’s different than that.

It looks like the bolt goes forward in this Hatsan Torpedo to expose the breech for loading. I want to test one!

AirForce
I don’t have any AirForce pictures for you because I’ve been testing the guns for you all along. There’s nothing new gun-wise that you don’t already know about. In fact, my TalonP pistol test was in the SHOT Show issue of Shotgun News that was given out free at the show.

This is the last report on the SHOT Show. There is a thousand times more, but I think I got the airguns pretty well.

The last photo I took at the SHOT Show sums up business in Las Vegas this year.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Now that Vince has tuned the Sterling, it’s time to see how she shoots.

It’s time to see how the Sterling underlever rifle shoots. Benjamin put Lothar Walther barrels on these rifles, so I’m hoping the pedigree will show in today’s test. Vince got the velocity back up to a respectable level, as we saw in Part 3 (and Vince showed you what he did to the gun in his guest blog about the Sterling), so there should be nothing to prevent the gun from shooting its best.

When I went to mount a scope, I saw that the Sterling has two vertical holes that can be used for a scope stop. They’re located where the front ring needs to be, but with two-piece rings that presents no problem.

There are two vertical holes for a scope stop on top of the Sterling scope rail. They require the stop to be positioned forward, so I used the front ring of a two-piece ring set.

Since I wanted to give the rifle every chance to shine, I selected the Hawke 4.5-14×42AO Sidewinder Tactical scope for this test. This is the finest of all the scopes I have available for testing, so the Sterling is getting the absolute best of everything.

All shooting was done from a rest at 25 yards. I used my indoor range, so nothing got in the way of the Sterling this day. As usual, all groups contain t10 shots.

H&N Neue Spitzkugel
I thought I would give a pointed pellet a chance this time, as I seldom use them. The H&N Neue Spitzkugel (new pointed bullet) has a very shallow point and looks almost like a wadcutter at first glance. Pointed pellets are most often inaccurate, so I usually don’t bother with them, but it’s always nice to check from time to time to see if there have been any advances.

Well, 10 H&N Neue Spitzkugel pellets made only a mediocre group at 25 yards. With some breakbarrels, this would be pretty good, but I expect more than this 1.146-inch group from this Sterling. The shot at the left is a called flyer, resulting from an inconsistent hold — the only one of the test.

While loading, I noticed that the skirts didn’t always want to go into the loading trough unless I pressed them in with my thumb. The trough is probably on the small side for larger pellet skirts. This made me watch that the pellets didn’t flip backwards before the bolt pushed them into the breech.

Trigger
I also had plenty of time to observe the Sterling’s trigger. It seems to be a single-stage, but the pull is short enough. There’s some slight creep, but you need a target-shooter’s trigger finger to feel it. Overall, it was good enough for very precise shooting without disturbing the aim. If I pull the gauge very slowly, the trigger breaks between 2 lbs., 3 oz. and 2 lbs., 5 oz., which is plenty light enough for good work. I said it was 2 lbs., 8 ozs. in Part 3, but that was when it was pulled more deliberately.  I know Vince had a hand in making it so nice, because Sterling triggers have a reputation for being crude and not so good.

JSB Exact 8.4-grain
Next I tried some 8.4-grain JSB Exact domes. They’re at the upper limit of weight of I would choose for a gun of this power, but sometimes that’s a plus. Not this time, though, because 10 went into a 0.788-inch group at 25 yards. That’s okay for many breakbarrels — but from a fixed-barrel rifle that has a Lothar Walther barrel, I expect more.

Getting better but this 0.788-inch, 10-shot group is still not as good as expected for the Sterling.

Shot cycle and hold
The Sterling shoots with a very pronounced forward jump — reminiscent of spring guns of the 1970s. It feels like the stroke is long, and the piston is heavy. On the other hand, the rifle lies completely dead in my hand, so applying the artillery hold is easy. My off hand touched the triggerguard, yet I could still feel the cocking slot of the stock on my palm. That means the stock is cut far to the back, which means Vince did a wonderful job of deadening the powerplant to get the rifle as smooth as it is. I just wish airgun makers today would go to the same trouble instead of mounting everything in rubber to deaden the vibration that’s still in their guns.

Crosman Premier lites
Next up was the venerable 7.9-grain Crosman Premier lite pellet that often wins the race in these tests. This was the only pellet of the four tested that fit into the loading trough without a push, yet it was also the pellet that gave the most trouble by flipping backwards in the trough.

This time, I got the results I was hoping for, though the group is more open than I would have liked. Look at the group and read the caption, though, because you’ll be surprised where most shots went.

More like it! The group of 10 Crosman Premier lites measures 0.606 inches between centers, but the surprise is in the largest hole in the center of the group. Six shots went through that one hole! Now, we’re talking!

Scope not mounted perfectly
By this time, I noticed that I’d mounted the scope a little too far to the rear, and the high mounts I used were not needed. Repositioning the scope in lower mounts would make the rifle easier to shoot — though I don’t think it would affect the accuracy. However, if I were to keep a scope on this rifle (and it can’t be this wonderful Hawke, as I need it for other tests) I would remount whatever scope I used.

JSB Exact RS
The last pellet I tested was the 7.33-grain JSB Exact RS. You might recall that this pellet is one of Kevin’s favorites, and we have seen it do amazing things with some spring guns in the past. The report I did a while back on the Beeman R8 was the most dramatic example of the capability of the RS.

And it didn’t disappoint this time, either! Ten RS pellets went into a group measuring just 0.41 inches at 25 yards! That’s game, set and match as far as I’m concerned. The Benjamin Sterling has proven itself to be a very accurate underlever spring rifle that warrants special attention from shooters as well as collectors.

Ten JSB Exact RS pellets went into 0.41 inches at 25 yards, proving beyond a doubt that the Sterling can shoot!

Summary
This test series has been long and rewarding. Thanks to Vince, we now know what a Benjamin Sterling can do under the right conditions. I’m sorry this rifle is no longer available. Except for the lower power and stiffer trigger, it could hold its own with a TX200. When I usually do these reports on vintage airguns, we get to see a lot of warts, but the Sterling doesn’t have as many as I was prepared to see. Without a doubt, Vince’s work has a lot to do with that.

Photos by Earl “Mac” McDonald

Part 1

This is the second of my reports on the 2012 SHOT Show. There will certainly be at least one more after this, and perhaps even more, as there’s simply too much new information to pack into a single report.

The state of the airgun industry in 2012
Before I get to some specifics, I want to make a general observation. This year’s SHOT Show was different for me in a major way, because I saw for the first time that firearms shooters are beginning to understand airguns as never before. In the past, I always had to start my explanations with the cooling of the earth’s crust and then progress through the age of the dinosaurs because each firearms person I talked to thought of airguns as either toys or BB guns. This year, a lot of them were clued-in on what’s happening. They weren’t surprised by the accuracy we get, and they knew about big bores. A lot of them had some airgun experience and more than a few asked me the same kind of questions that I get from long-time readers of this blog.

That tells me the day of the airgun has finally dawned in the U.S. Instead of 25,000 to 50,000 active shooters (at best!), we will now see an influx from over 5 million active firearm shooters who are ready to augment their shooting experience with airguns. I’m already getting calls and emails from state departments of wildlife resources, asking about the issues of incorporating airguns into their hunting seasons.

It has been a long haul to get to this point, but we’re now seeing the start of the harvest of all the work that’s been done over the past 40 years — starting with Robert Beeman in the early 1970s. The job is now to manage this growth and provide useful information to the tens of thousands of new airgunners who are flooding in the doors.

Let me reflect on how the industry seems to be reacting to this trend. Some companies have been on board for many years and are poised to ride the new tidal wave of business as far as they can. Other companies are aware that airguns are very hot, but they’re foundering, trying to understand them. Let me say right now that it’s not as easy as you think!

The readers of this blog are among the most clued-in airgunners in the world. But they’re unique, and they do not represent the true market. The demographic of a new airgunner is a man (usually) in his late 20s to late 40s who is most likely a fan of AR-type rifles and Glock-type pistols. He wants repeaters, semiautos and he thinks that a five-shot group is the gold standard of any gun. Velocity impresses him, and he isn’t comfortable with the term kinetic energy.

Things like good triggers and good sights are not an issue with this customer until he experiences bad ones. His ARs have decent triggers off the rack, and he can choose from many drop-in triggers that are much better. When he encounters a spring-piston gun with a horrible trigger that cannot be easily modified, he’s surprised.

He does not use the artillery hold, and he equates all airguns to be alike in terms of performance. When he learns about precharged guns, he’s put off by the additional equipment he must buy. Spring-piston guns seem the best to him for their simple operation, and he doesn’t appreciate the fact that they’re also the most difficult airguns to shoot well.

That’s the customer who’s coming to airguns today, so that’s the person airgun manufacturers have to deal with. If you have wondered why many of the new airguns are what they are — this new-customer profile is the reason.

Okay, I’ve talked about those companies that get it and those that are struggling to understand. There’s one more type of company out there. I like to call them the “gloom and doom company” or the “zero sum company.” They’re firmly entrenched in the 1970s and cannot take advantage of this new windfall of business. They either fired their engineers years ago or they let them all retire, and now they couldn’t build a new airgun to save their lives. As far as they’re concerned, there are only 25,000 airgunners in the United States and it’s the NRA’s responsibility to identify and train them so these companies can sell them some guns.

They think of marketing in 1950’s terms, when a simple paint job and some sheet metal was enough to create a new product. Their “secret” business plan is to buy guns made by other manufacturers and have their name put on. If you’re a collector, better buy up the guns these guys sell because in 10 years their name will be a memory.

That’s enough of the big picture. Let’s see some more products.

More from Crosman
Many of you saw the list of new Crosman products Kevin posted last week, so the few that I show here are by no means all there is, but they’re the highlights. Crosman had about half the new airgun products at the entire SHOT Show.

New tan M4-177 and carry handle
The M4-177 multi-pump that I recently tested for you is going to be very popular this year. Crosman is also offering it as an M4-177 Tactical air rifle with a new carry handle that replaces the rear sight for improved sighting options. I think this gun will be in their lineup for many years to come.

The M4-177 now comes as this tactical model in tan with a carry handle.

I mentioned to Crosman’s Ed Schultz that this rifle looks like the A.I.R.-17 of the 1990s, but done better. He said he always wanted to update that design, and that is exactly what this is. So, what he said next came as no great surprise.

I shared my thoughts on a 2260 made as a multi-pump in .25 caliber, and Ed told me that was how the rifle was originally created (not in .25, however). The CO2 version was an afterthought that got put into production, while the multi-pump version languished in the Crosman morgue. I told him that I thought the time was ripe to bring it back as an upscale hunting rifle, and he seemed to agree. We can only hope.

Carbon fiber tank
As Crosman extends their capability into PCP guns, they know shooters are always looking for better options for their air supply. Besides the new butterfly hand pump I showed you last time, they’ll also be adding a long summer-sausage black carbon fiber tank with increased capacity over their current tanks. This is a 300-bar tank that has 342 cubic-inch capacity. It comes in a black nylon carrying case with sling for field transport.

More air for you! New Benjamin carbon fiber tank will help you take your PCPs further afield.

Benjamin Nitro Piston breakbarrel pistol
The Benjamin NP breakbarrel pistol certainly has people talking on the internet. This is the first commercial gas spring application in a pistol, I believe. The most distinctive feature is a cocking aid that can either be detached or left in place while shooting. That reminds us that this pistol is going to be hard to cock, but I’ll test one for you so we’ll all know just how hard.

New Benjamin Trail NP pistol is a breakbarrel with a gas spring. The cocking aid can be detached or left in place while shooting.

Crosman 1720T PCP pistol
Everybody was ready to jump down Crosman’s throat for creating the 1720T PCP pistol. They wondered with the .22-caliber Marauder pistol and the .177-caliber Silhouette PCP pistol already selling, why was this one needed? As Ed Schultz explained it to me — this one is for field target. It’s a .177 (naturally) that produces just under 12 foot-pounds through a shrouded Lother Walther barrel. It can be used for hunting, but field target was its primary purpose. They worried about the shot count with the Silhouette; but with this one, power was the criterion. Look for about 800 f.p.s. with a 7.9-grain Premier. And the trigger is the same as the Marauder, so excellent operation there.

The new Crosman 1720T PCP pistol is meant for field target competition. It will also work well for hunting.

Crosman MAR 177 PCP conversion
The Crosman MAR-177 PCP conversion is another new product that has a lot of people talking. This AR-15 upper converts your .223 semiauto into a .177 PCP repeating target rifle. Because it’s on an AR platform, almost everybody expects it to be semiautomatic — including those who should know better. This rifle is a bolt action that cocks and loads via a short pull on the charging handle.

This conversion is an Olympic-grade target rifle for a new official sport that Scott Pilkington and others have been promoting for several years. It will take the U.S. battle rifle back into the ranks of target shooting. However, the look of the gun has many shooters totally confused. I was even asked at the show if I thought Crosman should have come out with an “everyman’s” version of the gun first. That would be like asking whether Feinwerkbau missed the boat by not first making their 700 target rifle in a $300 version for casual plinkers.

The MAR-177 PCP conversion is an upper for your target-grade lower. Plan on investing about another $1,000 in a good lower if you hope to compete.

Crosman TT BB pistol
It’s all-metal and a good copy of the Tokarev pistol. The weight is good and the gun feels just right. This will be one to test as soon as possible.

Crosman’s TT Tokarev BB pistol is realistic and looks like fun.

Benjamin MAV 77 Underlever
The Benjamin MAV 77 underlever rifle is going to force Crosman to recognize spring-piston air rifles instead of just calling them all breakbarrels. This is the TX-200 copy from BAM that was once sold by Pyramyd Air. When the quality dropped off, it was discontinued. Hopefully, Crosman will watch the quality on this one.

They didn’t have a firm retail price yet, but hopefully it’ll be significantly under the TX. Otherwise, why buy it? I may test one for you, but I already know that BAM can make a great rifle when they want to. I think it all comes down to price.

Benjamin MAV-77 is an underlever spring-piston rifle that looks and, hopefully, performs like an Air Arms TX-200.

TR-77
The Crosman TR-77 is a conventional breakbarrel spring-piston rifle in an unconventional stock. It’s different enough that I want to test one for you. It appears to be a lower-powered rifle that probably sells at a bargain price because it’s branded under the Crosman banner rather than Benjamin. Mac photographed one in a sand-colored stock for you.

Crosman TR-77 breakbarrel in a sand-colored stock also comes in black.

There was a lot more at Crosman that I could have mentioned, but now let’s go over to the Leapers booth.

Leapers
I’ve watched Leapers grow from a relatively small company back in 1998 to a major player — blasting past older, entrenched companies as they grew. This year, they were playing a video about the company on a continuous loop in their booth. I was impressed to see their plant in Livonia, Michigan, where they build airsoft guns, tactical mounts, accessories and scopes right here in the U.S. The plant is filled with many CNC machining centers and testing facilities to keep close watch over their products during development.

American-made
Leapers owner David Ding told me he wants to get control over the production process so he can assure the quality of all of his products. In keeping with that goal, I was shown the new scope line for 2012 that now offers locking target knobs on all of the upscale models. Many of them feature etched glass reticles that are amazingly crisp and sharp.

Scopes
Mac was impressed by the reticle on the new 3-9x Bug Buster scope. He urged me to look through it; and when I did, I saw that the reticle is now fine and sharp — not the heavy black lines of the past.

David Ding shows me the new 3-9x Bug Buster scope (not out yet), with target knobs and a finer reticle.

But scopes were just the beginning at Leapers. Next, I was shown the whole line of tactical flashlights and lasers, including some mini lasers I will test on my M1911A1 for you. These are all made in the U.S. now and have more rugged internals, adjustments and optics than similar products from the Orient.

UTG 555 Long Range Light
One item I hope Pyramyd Air will consider stocking is a fantastic 500-lumen tactical light for law enforcement. It can be mounted on a rifle, handheld or even mounted on a bike! It comes with rechargeable lithium batteries and a smart charger…and believe me when I tell you it turns night into day!

The UTG Long Range light can go on your rifle, held in the hand or even mounted to your bike! The rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack will keep it shining at 500 lumens for 1.5 hours.

Fast Action Gun bag
Not all Leapers products are for airguns. They also make tactical and law enforcvement gear that rivals spec-built equipment but sells at a fraction the cost. As a result, many of their customers are ordering straight from the front lines of combat and from law enforcement agencies all over the country to get the products that their own supply lines cannot or will not furnish.

One of their latest developments is a Fast Action Gun bag that lets the wearer walk in public with a substantial firearm hidden from view. A quick pull of a strap, and the bag opens to reveal the weapon inside.

Leapers owner Tina Ding models their new Fast Action Gun bag. Here, it’s concealed; but she’s just pulled it over her shoulder from her back, where it looks like a tennis bag.

And in less than a second, the bag is open, giving instant access to the tactical shotgun or submachine gun inside.

11mm-dovetail-to-Picatinny adapter
Leapers has an entirely new range of quick-disconnect scope mounts coming this year, but there’s another innovation that I think you’ll find even more impressive. It’s an adapter that snaps into a Picatinny scope mount base, turning it into an 11mm dovetail. So, your conventional air rifle will now also accept Leapers Picatinny scope mounts with this adapter.

11mm-dovetail-to-Picatinny adapter is small and doesn’t raise the mount at all! This will be one to test!

Leapers is still the company to watch because the owners want to build a lasting corporation here in the U.S. They’re poised to move to the next level of quality in their optics, which gives me a lot of hope for the future — they’ve always been receptive to the needs of airgunners.

Whew! That’s a lot of products, and there are still many more to show. As I said in the beginning, there will be at least another report.

Regular blog reader Vince is regaling us with another great guest blog about a gun he’s repaired…although this isn’t about the repairs he made. He never fails to inform and entertain! So, sit back, relax and enjoy!

If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email us.

Take it away, Vince!

Cabanas air rifle

So, where to begin? I don’t quite know how to write an introduction to the this gun simply because I know virtually nothing about it. In fact, everything I DO know will fill no more than a single paragraph on an airgun blog…and not a terribly long paragraph at that:

The Cabanas rifle was manufactured by Cabanas Industrias, S.A. in Aguilas, Mexico, and was imported and distributed through Mandall’s Sporting Goods of Scottsdale, Arizona. The release of these models may have been announced at the 1989 SHOT show, and this particular rifle might belong to the RC-200 family of airguns from that manufacturer.

And that’s it.

The Cabanas company IS relatively well known for making primer-powered guns in both .177 and .22 calibers. These were known for being as low-powered as an air rifle but less accurate, more prone to fouling than a regular .22 and yet classified as a full-fledged firearm in the eyes of the ATF.

In other words, the worst of all worlds. Little wonder they didn’t last.

Where does that leave this thing? Was it a last-gasp effort by Cabanas to salvage some workable market share in the United States before completely getting swamped? Cabanas went under in 1999. If this rifle does, indeed, date from 10 years prior, it hardly qualifies as a “last gasp.” But, no doubt, it was part of an effort to expand their US market. Given the dearth of information on these models, it wasn’t a very successful effort at that.

That is, if you define success only in a commercial sense. Because this particular air rifle is a very likeable gun. Before I get ahead of myself, though, let me introduce this particular example.

I first heard of this gun when blog reader Wacky Wayne mentioned that he had a certain type of “Cabanas” he wanted me to do something with. I asked him what in the heck was he growing in those raised flower beds of his! But after we cleared up THAT little misunderstanding, I said “SURE! I’ll work on anything!” A short time later, the Cabanas arrived at my doorstep. I worked it over, sent it back, he shoots it a couple of times and then sends it BACK to me to keep in exchange for some more work. Which means that this orphaned waif is now mine.

Wwhenever I see another air rifle, I’m always on the lookout for signs of cross-breeding or design commonality. Since this gun is from Mexico, my thoughts immediately turned to Mendoza. Those thoughts were reinforced the first time I broke open the barrel and compared it to its Mexican cousin.

Mendoza at the top, Cabanas at the bottom…kissing cousins!

The scope grooves milled into the spring tube are typical enough, but the gun’s potential Mendoza-ness was further reinforced by the presence of an oil hole.

On the other hand – the automatic safety is definitely un-Mendoza like (safety engaged).

Safety off

It’s kind of clunky, really. It seems a bit odd to have a large block of metal sliding back and forth like that, and it doesn’t work all that smoothly. And that’s AFTER messing around with it to improve the feel. Worst of all, it’s not resettable which, frankly, is inexcusable on a gun with a simple, direct-sear trigger like this one. Small matter, though. B. B. has talked me out of relying on safeties, and the more I shoot the more I’m convinced that they really are superflous annoyances for the most part. This safety is not a terrible bother to pop off, so it’s not a major gripe.

Otherwise, the gun seems well made, with steel for everything and no apparent chintzy compromises in the name of fads, mass-marketing, or penny-pinching. The Cabanas is a very solid gun.

The reddish stock, to my eye, is oddly evocative of something I can’t quite put my finger on. It sorta reminds me of the wood furnishings that might be found in a classy 1960’s bar or smoking room frequented by older, well-dressed men. Or something like that. Shaping and finishing does show a decent level of workmanship (if a bit blocky in shape), but the thumbhole is a bit small, I think. It’s marginal for me, I can easily see where larger shooters might find it genuinely undersized.

It’s a handy rifle at 6.50 lbs. Cocking effort maxes out at only about 20 lbs. (peaking right when the sear is engaged). Trigger effort (direct sear) is on the high side at about 7 lbs., but that’s really the only downside to shooting this gun.

The sights are low & relatively close to the centerline of the barrel.

I especially like the styling of that front sight — very sleek, the way it’s almost hidden by the muzzlebrake. But as for function? Middle-of-the-road, at best. The biggest problem was that at 10 yards, I ran out of height adjustment. It still tended to shoot low with the rear sight on the highest notch. The locking-screw type windage adjustment (a la Crosman 1077) is also a bit cheap but less of an issue. Sight picture is good, though, with the front blade sized well for the rear notch.

At this point, I’m ready to start shooting the gun, and y’all might be expecting what B.B. does…velocity tests followed by accuracy. I’m taking a slightly different approach and doing the accuracy test first, since there’s no reason to chrono the gun with pellets that shoot like poo. So, accuracy testing is up first.

Being a naturally boring person, I decided to run this test with a set of very run-of-the-mill ammo. Budget-concious pellets are definitely on the menu, and I’ll round it off with Premier 7.9 grains.

The pellets I used for the record.

Half the pellets are Crosman, beginning with the old Copperhead Competition wadcutters (shown upper left) that have been a staple of indoor shooting for 20 years or so. The pellets below that are Crosman Hunting Pellets, which are pointed – but not with the straight-sided cone common to pointed pellets. This one looks more like a Premier that’s told a lie or two to the pellet packer at Crosman. And despite the fact that they’re cheap — $14/1250 at Pyramydair. I find that in some guns they shoot about as well as doomed Premiers even at longer ranges. This performance starkly contrasts with the more expensive (and conventionally designed) pointed Premiers, which I’ve found to be absolutely horrible.

The next column shows the Premier Hollowpoints that I’ll be testing and an old box of standard doomed 7.9-grain Premiers. Generally, I find that the HP’s shoot just about as well, I’ll be curious to see if the same holds true here.

Next over, we have the new Gamo Match, which is no longer the Gamo Match, if you catch my drift. They changed the design of the pellet a year or two ago — and in my experience, not for the better. Below that is ANOTHER pellet that’s no longer the Gamo Match — the Daisy Precision-Max. I’ve generally found this to be also an inferior pellet, but a few guns do like them.

The last two are the RWS Diablo Basic (used to be the “Geco”) and the not-really-Beeman-because-they’re-made-in-China Beeman Wadcutters. The RWS pellets look to be very well made, and some guns just love them. I generally have a bit less success with the Beeman pellets — but it depends on the rifle.

Now, as to the testing procedure. I planned to put 5 shots of each pellet through the gun before shooting two 5-shot groups side by side. This will get the barrel “used to” the new alloy before shooting for the record, something that I’ve found to be significant. All shooting will be done over about 10 yards in my basement, so wind will be a non-issue.

I started rattling off groups using the open sights and immediately identify 2 problems. First, I’m tearing up the bullseye. While this sounds good, the fact is that I prefer to have the group OFF the bullseye, so I’m always sighting on a clean target. I don’t want to mess with the windage because there’s no easy way of setting back to exactly where it was, and I didn’t want to lower the sight because my target paper put the lower dots near the bottom of the trap. Second, my eyes have managed to get even WORSE than the last time I did any serious testing.

And then I found the loose stock screws. So, I threw out all the targets I already shot, tightened the screws, mounted a 3-12×40AO Centerpoint scope and dialed it in.

First up are the Crosman Wadcutters:

Don’t know what’s up here: .87″ and .40″? Not very consistent, is it? Well, we’ll see how the next pellets do:

The Crosman Hunting Pellets don’t disappoint and punch out passable .40″ and .38″ groups. Which, on balance, is a bit better than the Premier Hollowpoints:

…which came in at .45″ and .40″. The boxed Premier Lights, however, were the best of the Crosmans at .33″ and .35″:

The Daisy Precision-Max pellets didn’t live up to their name:

At .58″ and 1.06″ they did the worst average group out of this gun, although the new Gamo Match pellets were certainly vying for top dishonors:

At least they were more consistent at .80″ and .70″.

The real star in this gun was the RWS Basic (not an uncommon occurrence) which went into a pair of .33″ groups:

In my mind this just further confirms them as one of the best cheap pellets out there. Beeman’s best of .31″ was slightly better:

…but it’s worst of .53″ would seem to indicate that it’s not as consistent.

With the accuracy test over, I’m now looking at putting some shots over the chrony.

I know that this review isn’t really useful as a review for a potential purchase. Considering it’s rarity, you’re not very likely to find one in the used gun market. I’ve even wondered if this one was a sample for the importer, and that no others were even brought into this country. Next to this thing, the Sterling is as common as a Toyota Corolla.

Since all I’m doing is a curio writeup, I decide I’m only going to do one pellet to show the general velocity range of this gun. I decided to use the most accurate pellet of the test — the RWS.

Ten shots across the chrony yield the following results:

711
700
710
716
706
707
713
710
710
705

A 16 fps spread is pretty good, and the muzzle energy of 7.5 to 8 ft-lbs is sufficient for plinking out to 40 yards or so.

Overall, this Cabanas is an enjoyable, mid-range airgun that seems to be a bit easier to shoot and a little less pellet-fussy than my experience with that other Mexican brand. A better trigger (like, for example, the Mendoza unit) would make it positively delightful.

That wraps up the Cabanas. And, now, if I ever do a search on this rifle again I’ll probably get twice as many hits on it as I did before… because half of them will point me back to my own review! Maybe some day I’ll be able to dig up a bit more on this; and if ANYone has any more information on this pup, I’m all ears.

Part 1
Part 2

In Part 2, we learned that the peep sight has been around for a very long time. But following the American Civil War, the entire world became intensely interested in shooting for about 60 years, and target shooting was at the top of the list. World-champion target shooters were regarded like NASCAR drivers are today.

Because of all this interest, the common peep sights that were already at least 50 years old, and perhaps as old as a full century, started to change. By 1870, designers were innovating again. One of the most famous innovators, and the man whose designs are still impacting battle rifles 125 years later, was Col. Buffington of the Springfield Armory. In 1884, Springfield selected his sight for the U.S. .45-caliber, single-shot military rifle — the gun we call the Trapdoor.

The Buffington rear sight is both a peep and several different open notches. It sits 10-12 inches from the eye, yet is easily used with practice. Adjustable for both windage and elevation, it increases the accuracy potential by sharpening the sight picture.

As far as I know, the Buffington sight is the first use of a peep sight on a rifle that was intended for all combat troops. It worked so well at ranges of 500 yards and beyond that the American Army used it on all versions of the Krag and the M1903 Springfield, as well. Even though the peephole is located 10-12 inches away from your eye, it still works with precision.

The U.S. Army was so satisfied with the peep sight that they put it on the O3A3 Springfield of WWII, the M1 Carbine, the Garand, the M14 and all models of the M16/M4. It’s an easier sight to learn and far more precise than an open notch. Only in recent years have our Army and Marine Corps begun to experiment with optical sights, with the declination of the peep sight.

The refinement of the peep sight
But it wasn’t the Buffington sight that brought peep sights to their highest level. It was a challenge in 1873 that came from the champion Irish rifle team to any team of riflemen the Americans could put together for the championship of the world. No one, including the Americans, thought the Irish would lose the match; but just shooting against them was such an honor that we put a team together, built a thousand-yard rifle range and two firearms companies — Sharps and Remington — each built long-range target rifles for the team members to shoot.

The Irish shot Rigby muzzleloaders that were considered the most accurate in the world. No one thought a breechloader had a chance against them. And Rigby, himself, was part of the Irish team!

Until the year of the match (1874), there were no peep sights with vernier scales in the U.S. The best anyone could do was adjust their sights by 1/200 of an inch. At close ranges out to a maximum of 300 yards, that’s good enough; but when the distance is 800, 900 and 1,000 yards, the sight has to adjust in the thousandths of an inch. The way to do that was to add a vernier scale to the sight. So, both Sharps and Remington did exactly that.

A vernier scale is a scale of numbers that aligns with an index, making it possible for the naked eye to see measurements as small as one ten-thousandth of an inch, even though our eyes cannot actually see things that small. The vernier scale magnifies the final measurement for us through an ingenious scale of lines that are 10 times or 100 times larger than the measurement it’s measuring.

This closeup shows the Ballard rear peep sight from 1876. This is a common short-range (up to 300 yards) rear sight that’s adjustable to 1/100 of an inch, with care. There’s no vernier scale on this sight, so it has to be read directly. There’s a lot of interpolation required, and I have to use a jeweler’s loupe to read it that close.

This is a vernier scale on a peep sight. The offset index marks on the small scale align with the sight index marks, but only one of them is aligned perfectly. This allows you to “see” measurements as small as 1/1000 of an inch.

This Ballard front sight from 1876 uses an aperture! It was hand-filed to the correct size for the 20-rod (220 yard) bullseye target. It also works perfectly for a smaller 100-yard bull.

The results of the first international match at Creedmoor was a win for the U.S. team; but the score was extremely close, and the Irish team had fired one shot at the wrong target — losing the score. As far as the world was concerned, the match proved nothing about the superiority of muzzleloaders or breechloaders. However, the next year the U.S. won again in England, and this time the score was more conclusive. The breechloader had finally arrived on the target scene, and peep sights were accepted, though most shooters were using scopes if the rules allowed it. And the day of the precision peep sight with a vernier scale had finally arrived.

The American shooters positioned their rear sights on the heel of the butt, giving them the maximum separation of the front and rear sight, but requiring the shooter to lay down with his feet toward the target and balance the muzzle on his shoes. This odd position was given the name Creedmoor — after the range — and has every since defined that style of prone shooting.

Bottom line
Not every nation adopted the peep sight, and some who were as well-regarded as the Americans (namely the Swiss), shot very well with the older post and notch. They used it right on up through the 1960s. The US, Canada and the UK stayed with the peep sight on their battle rifles because it was quicker to learn, faster to use in battle and more precise.

Notice, also, that target shooters were using front aperture sight elements in the 1870s! Until a few years ago, I thought front apertures were an invention of the 1970s, but they’re at least a full century older. They came about because of changes from square targets to round targets around the mid-1870s.

Announcement: Timothy Burman is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card! Congratulations!

Timothy Burman is the Big Shot of the Week. He’s holding his HW97K in .20 caliber.

The day before the SHOT Show opened this year was a special day set aside for the media to sample all the new guns at a range in Boulder City. There were 1,200 official registrants and another couple hundred who got in after the registration ended, plus about 500 personel running the ranges. So, for 2,000 people, each of whom fired 100-1,000 rounds, there was a whole lotta shootin’ going on!

Only two air gun ranges were running — one by Crosman and the other was Pyramyd Air. At the Crosman range, I got a chance to sample the new AR-16 upper that converts your lower to a PCP target rifle. It has a Lothar Walther barrel and is a repeater that loads via the charging handle. Whatever sort of lower receiver you attach the upper to is what determines the kind of rifle you have, so the one that designer Scott Pilkington let me sample was quite nice.

But it was the 9mm Conquest (yes, it’s both semi-auto and full-auto) rifle that thrilled me most. Maybe it was because I was repeatedly hitting the silhouette target at 200 yards with a rifle the first time I fired it! That’s hard enough to do with a centerfire rifle right out of the box, but this gun did it the first time.

Tom shoots the 9mm Evanix Conquest at Media Day.

The 9mm is not ready for the market yet, and I still have the .22 report to finish; but it’s being developed, and we already know that it works. As it gets closer to being a reality, I’ll get into the particulars — but at least you know it’s coming.

The show started the next day, and I saw a number of interesting new things right off the bat. I’ll start with Hatsan USA. The company has stepped out on its own and will do business under the Hatsan name from now on. The designs that have been driven by other companies will no longer encumber the Turkish designers. We already know they make great firearms, and we hope that will spill over into the airguns they bring.

I saw two new things that need to be tested. They offer a new Quattro trigger that’s extremely adjustable, according to president Blane Manifold, who referred to it as a match trigger. I’ll withhold judgement until the first test, but here’s hoping he’s right!

Hatsan’s new rifles carry their name. Hopefully, their features will be fresh and sharp.

They also have a shock absorber system (SAS) that they say will isolate the shooter from the powerplant buzz. I hope the guns won’t need to use it much because they’re inherently smooth to begin with, but again, only a test will tell.

Over at Crosman, there are so many new products that if I were to tell you all of them it would take more room than this blog can dedicate. But one new product caught my eye over the others — the new butterfly hand pump. Those who read my report of the Benjamin 392 pump-assist gun will understand that applying the same technology to a hand pump means easier pumping to maximum pressures.

The new hand pump looks like a radio tower when the handle is extended. The butterfly design amplifies your energy to reduce the effort required to pump.

The new pump is in development and, no doubt, will require more time before we see it for sale…but it is in the works. With Crosman’s stake in the pneumatic world, I think they need to fast-track this one!

At Umarex USA, there was another cornucopia of products, but once again something special caught my eye. This time it was two Hämmerli rifles — one a sporter and the other an affordable 10-meter target rifle.

Hämmerli’s sporter and affordable 10-meter target rifles will be the topic of our tests this year.

While there are many attractive attributes to these rifle, I do have a couple concerns for the 10-meter rifle. First, the max fill pressure is 300 bar, which is close to 4,500 psi. Not many U.S. shooters have air at that pressure. The guns can be filled to 200 bar, of course, but the shot count is reduced.

The velocity for the 10-meter rifle is 780 f.p.s. — way above what the other target rifles generate. I know Walther (Umarex owns both Hämmerli and Walther) would never dare field a target rifle that shoots that fast, so I’m curious to learn why they thought this one would be okay. Perhaps, it was just marketing copy written by someone unfamiliar with competition and was obtained with a non-lead pellet that would never be used in the real world. I certainly hope so — because in all other ways, this rifle has a lot going for it.

Another very interesting gun at Umarex was the Morph 3X — a BB gun that changes from a pistol to a rifle to a shotgun. I’ve got to test this one as soon as I can, because I’ve never seen anything like it. Okay — maybe in some cartoons or when the Joker pulls a revolver with a 6-foot barrel out of his waistband to shoot down the Batplane — but never in the real world!

Glenn Seiter of Umarex USA holds the parts of the amazing Morph 3X — a one-gun-does-it-all for BB-gunners.

I’ll end this part of the report at the AirForce booth, with the Spin-Loc air tank attachment system. How many times have I heard people say they wish AirForce tanks had a pressure gauge? This is it, and it allows the shooter to index the tank in any position or rotation he desires. The tanks also have a new adjustable buttplate that allows you to not only adjust the rotation, but also the length of pull.

The new Spin-Loc air tank attachment system gives the shooter the in-tank pressure gauge shooters have been asking for.

On the opposite side of the tank, there’s a male quick-disconnet fitting, so the gun can be filled while still on the gun. This is another feature that’s been requested, and it makes sense to put it on with this new fill system.

I have taken a lot more pictures than I’m showing here, and of course there will be a more detailed report after I return from the show. I’ll try to make sense of some of the rumors you may have read. Til then, chew on these new toys and let’s hear what you think.

Some time ago, I sent my Sterling air rifle to blog reader and all-round nice guy Vince. He knows his way around old airguns and has worked his magic on this old one.

If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email us.

Now, here’s Vince!

I just sort of blunder in because I generally don’t look where I’m going. Like when B.B. attempted to test his unusual Benjamin Sterling underlever rifle and found he was rather perplexed about the ridiculous velocity variation he was getting — on the order of 50-150fps. I let it slip that I have a smidgen of experience with these somewhat oddball rifles, and next thing I know it’s on its way to me.

So, I wandered into another tear-up, beat-on and generally-trying-not-to-screw-it-up airgun repair. But even when I blunder thus, I do it slowly, so B.B.’s unfortunate rarity sat in my basement for oh, about 9 months or so before I finally got around to it. Heck, he could of had a baby in that time! Well, sorta, coulda — if you know what I mean.

By the time I finally got to look at this gun, all my hard-earned experience and knowledge from working on exactly two examples a few years ago had leaked out of my head. “No problem,” I thought. “If I figured it out once, I can figure it out again!” A little before Christmas, I finally bit into it.

Right! OK. Here we go. Let’s see. Lefty loosey. The gun starts to come apart in pretty much the usual fashion by removing the rear triggerguard and front stock screws located in the usual positions:

I’m pleasantly surprised to see those small, thoughtful gestures you should expect on such a high-class instrument of plinking. Like the metal bushings in the front stock holes that allow you to tighten those screws without squishing the wood:

After the screws are removed, the action simply lifts out of the stock. To get the guts out of the action, however, is a bit more involved.

The first thing I need to do is remove the mainspring, which on most rifles means compressing the rear spring stop and removing some pins. But this gun follows an old practice that you generally doesn’t see much of anymore — a threaded end plug.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a threaded end plug, although it IS expensive to manufacture and can lead to some interesting histrionics during disassembly. Problem is that you can’t just push on the end cap, remove the anchor(s) and release the pressure. You have to merrily unscrew it (which takes many revolutions) while applying enough pressure to keep the spring compressed and eventually prevent it from sproing-ing all over the place. This can be a bit tricky with a standard spring compressor (which I never use anyway), but no matter — I’VE GOT A PLAN!

First step is to loosen the spring plug with a screwdriver, like so:

We really don’t need to worry about the plug trying to escape until it’s at the last few threads. I continued to unscrew it until I can get a thin screwdriver all the way through it and put it on the floor, holding it this way:

This lets me put much of my weight (Anybody need any extra? I’ve got plenty!) downward while I rotate the rest of the action counterclockwise. My foot holds the screwdriver that keeps the plug from turning; and when the threads finally disengage, it’s easy to let the spring uncompress in a controlled fashion.

Especially when the preload is, oh — about 10 lbs, which it is on this gun — very anti-climactic. But no matter. The plug unscrews and the spring guts slide out the back:

Obviously, though, we haven’t entirely dismembered the rear of the rifle. There’s another threaded plug in the tube-thingee above the cylinder, which we need to remove if we’re going to take out the bolt and feed mechanism. There’s no spring behind it, so it just unscrew it without any drama:

Now, I remember a major boo-boo I made when I first worked on one of these. I have to pull off the bolt handle, but that won’t happen until the setscrew in the end of the bolt is loosened:

Finding that setscrew, by the way — AFTER trying to unscrew the bolt handle — means you’ve made a bit of a mess. But since we’re not repeating that mistake, the bolt handle unscrews and everything just slides out the back.

Note the itsy-bitsy o-ring circled in yellow.

The piston’s going to come out next, but there’s some stuff in the way — most obviously the trigger. It’s not modular like, well, most guns anymore, so it actually has to come apart.

First thing out is the sear pivot “A,” otherwise the safety lever “C” will fight until the cows come home. But once that’s removed, the circlip “B” and safety “C” pop right out:

Unfortunately, there’s also “D” in this picture, and I’m pointing it out because the OTHER side of this pin (which we can’t see because I forgot to snap it) contained a spring-loaded detent ball for the safety.

Notice that I said “contained.” So, I find myself singing (yet again) that ancient tune of the absent-minded tinkerer: “Where, oh where, did my detent ball go?”

Not a clue, but more on that later.

Pin “D” slides out, and now the trigger blade can be removed:

Best to grab those trigger springs before I lose them, too:

The cocking lever pivot comes out easily enough — first by removing the lock screw on the port side of the gun, then the pivot from the other side. After that, the entire cocking lever/cocking link assembly can be removed:

FINALLY, the piston slides back and out, and (disturbingly) the piston o-ring seals don’t look that bad. I say “disturbingly” because I was hoping to find an obvious reason why the gun was running so badly:

The Sterling is unique in several respects, but perhaps the most evident is the way the spring cylinder sits below the barrel and bolt tube. This does necessitate something of a convoluted air path (ensuring it will never become a “magnum” rifle), and it also means that there’s a seal between the tubes. Since B.B. was having so much trouble with this particular gun, it seemed prudent to replace it, which means they have to be separated.

Looking at the spring cylinder (from the muzzle), we can see two Allen-head screws. Back those out, and the spring cylinder just drops away:

The seal I was talking about is circled in yellow.

Unfortunately, that seal also looks fine. So far I’ve got this thing completely torn down, and I see nothing wrong.

Next, I inspect the spring cylinder, and I’ve got mixed feelings about peering inside. On the one hand, I hope I find something horribly wrong that explains the poor performance; on the other hand, I know that a damaged cylinder will be almost impossible to replace. Well, to my suprise and delight both hopes were fulfilled!

And what did I find loose inside that cylinder? Say “rubber baby buggy bumper” three times fast:

Since the Sterling uses o-rings as seals, there’s nothing but metal on the front face of the piston. That’s not good. When the piston slams home, a metal-on-metal interface doesn’t make for the gentlest of landings. This rubber bumper was somehow fitted to the front of the piston to cushion that shock.

And I really mean “somehow.” The face of the piston has no provision for a pin or screw or anything else that will actually hold this bumper in place, so I have no idea how it was originally secured. Or theoretically secured. Regardless, whatever Benjamin did obviously didn’t cut it.

Setting that aside for a time, I turned my attention to cleaning out the cylinder. I’ve come around to the general opinion that if the inside surface finish of a cylinder is good, there’s really no reason to do anything more to it.

First thing I did is scrunch up half a paper towel, jam it into the cylinder and push it all the way to the bottom:

I then squirt a generous amount of some sort of solvent down the cylinder and give it some time to soak into the paper-towel plug…

In this case, I’m using simple mineral spirits.

…and use “claw” to retrieve it while rotating it and moving it back and forth:

Repeat, repeat and repeat until it starts coming out clean. I follow that with a couple of dry ones to mop up the remaining solvent. Another peek inside the cylinder shows a nice smooth surface, so it’s ready to go.

Now, I’m back to that stupid rubber baby buggy bumper. I’m determined not to repeat Benji’s mistake, so I check with B.B. and get his okey-dokey to drill and tap the end of the piston:

Now all I need is a bumper. Using the original was out of the question; and since I harbor an odd desire to stick pieces of dead cow into airguns, I made one out of leather. I used a flathead machine screw to attach it to the end of the piston AND KEEP IT THERE:

The next issue is, of course, to find replacements for the seals in this gun. JGairguns.biz doesn’t show them; and if they exist anywhere else in the US, they managed to remain hidden from me. Besides, these are simple o-rings that I have to replace. How hard can THAT be?

Starting with the piston:

We see that it dispenses with a standard piston seal. Unfortunately, what it uses are not exactly traditional o-rings, either. First, they’re metric. And 2mm width has no decimal substitute. Second, they’re square in cross section. Two strikes and you’re out. I couldn’t find exact equivalents. So, round ones will have to do, and I ended up using size 2×19.5mm.

Finding a replacement for the itsy-bitsy bolt o-ring was also a bit tricky, but it turns out that a 1×3mm seems to be perfect:

Fortunately, the spring cylinder transfer seal is virtually identical to a common #106 o-ring. A little grease holds it in place for reassembly:

Now, the entire gun can start going back together. A process which, I’m sorry to report, I sort of forgot to photograph. But, no matter, really — it’s essentially just all the above in reverse order.

There are two home-made moly lubes I generally use for springers. The first is a mix of “tacky” grease and 25% moly powder, the second is a sticky chainsaw bar oil (30w) with about the same proportion of powder. I use sticky base lubes for two reasons: lube clinging to surfaces lubricates better; and if it’s clinging to surfaces, it isn’t atomizing and exploding.

The seal and the inside of the compression tube gets a light coating of the oil mix, while the piston and the cylinder behind it (after the piston is reinstalled) get a light coating of the grease. I use Maccarri’s tar on the spring — nothing heavier than that on a medium-powered gun.

And, so, the pieces start coming together…tubes, piston, cocking linkage, bolt — uh, oh. Right. I still have one little problem. That stupid safety detent ball the aliens beamed up. I need to replace it. As far as I can tell, it’s a 2mm to 2.5mm ball, and loose ball bearings aren’t exactly in stock at any of the local hardware stores.

This turned into one of those problems that I just NEW I could address with SOMETHING I had in my house SOMEWHERE. It took a couple of days, but I finally remembered some sliding door pullies I had laying around:

So I cut one apart…and am I gonna get lucky?

BINGO! Although, in all honesty, these balls were a smidgen too big — and I mean a SMIDGEN. I opened up the detent well by a couple thousandths, literally, and it fits like a glove.

It took a few dozen rounds for the excess lube to work its way out of the gun’s innards, but eventually it put down this string of velocity numbers with Crosman Premiers:

695
689
692
692
694
687
696
681
683
693
683
697

That’s a 12-shot average of 690 with a spread of 16 f.p.s (pretty close to B.B.’s subsequent 705 with a 14 f.p.s. variance), so we can safely say that the old Sterling is back up to snuff.

And that about wraps it up. I think the overhaul went fairly well; the only thing I’m tempted to be concerned about is the piston o-ring substitution. But considering how consistent it seems to be shooting now, I think my concerns are unwarranted. It appears that after an anxious 9 months, B.B.’s baby is finally ready to wail!

Part 1

Crosman’s 2100B is a full-sized, multi-pump that hopefully delivers power and accuracy with a few economic concessions.

Today, we’ll look at the velocity of the Crosman 2100B multi-pump, and a strange thing occurred during the test. Actually it was two strange things — one an amazing coincidence and the other just weird. Both relate to oiling the gun, and both will be informative.

First, the coincidence. As I was writing this blog (last week, because I’m in Las Vegas at the SHOT Show this week), I got a question from a reader whose 2100 wasn’t pumping air. I asked him if he had oiled the pump piston head like he was supposed to, and I directed him to the online owner’s manual that tells how to do it and to a blog I wrote years ago that tells the same thing. A couple hours later, I get a thank you message that he’s oiled the gun and it seems to be holding air.

So, there I am in my office pumping the gun and shooting it for velocity and I ask myself about the state of the pump piston head of the particular gun I’m testing. Sure, it’s brand-new, but that doesn’t mean that it has enough oil. I look, and the pump head appears to be dry. For those who wonder what I’m talking about, please read the manual.

Then, I recalled that someone had guessed that this rifle would shoot in the low 600s with lead pellets, because someone he knew had tested it. Lo and behold, it was shooting only about 622 f.p.s. on 10 pumps (which is the maximum) with Crosman Premier 7.9-grain pellets. Wow! He was right!

But, wait! The pump head was dry, so I oiled it with some Gamo oil for CO2 guns. The velocity jumped to 658 f.p.s. with the same pellets and 10 pumps. But after about 10 shots the velocity started declining again.

So, I oiled the pump head again — this time with Crosman Pellgunoil. The velocity jumped to 690 f.p.s. before sliding backward to the 620s.

What did I learn?
First, I re-learned for the umpteenth time how important it is to oil a multi-pump gun. That was all it took to fix the reader’s rifle! Second, I saw that the test 2100 rifle responds to oiling immediately, but falls off again almost as fast.

So, the published velocity of 725 f.p.s. can probably be achieved with real-world lead pellets for a brief time, but this test gun won’t hold that velocity very long. Maybe the material the pump head is made of needs a break-in period? I don’t know. What I do know is that I can change the velocity of this gun by 70 f.p.s. simply by oiling it.

It doesn’t end there, however. While that story was unfolding I was also experimenting with the speed of my pump strokes. Since the pump head seemed somewhat hard, I figured that faster pump strokes would build more pressure. And they did! I could increase the velocity by 10 f.p.s. at least, just by changing the speed at which I pumped. I’ve tried the same thing in the past with other multi-pumps, but this one is particularly sensitive.

I think the most representative method of testing this rifle for velocity is to let it sink back to its lowest velocity and stabilize there. That way, the velocity test will also represent the velocity at which the accuracy test is conducted, because I’m certainly not going to oil the pump head after each and every group! Undoubtedly, there’s sufficient oil in the gun right now because of the two oilings I mentioned.

Crosman Premiers
The first pellet tested was the 7.9-grain Crosman Premier. Since the 2100 is a multi-pump, I decided to test each pellet and BB at 5 pumps and 10. That gives us a good picture of what the gun can do across the entire range.

On 5 pumps, Premier lites averaged 540 f.p.s. when the gun was pumped fast. They ranged from 537 to 543; and at that velocity, they produced 5.12 foot-pounds On 10 pumps, again with rapid pump strokes, this pellet averaged 630 f.p.s. The range went from 628 to 635 f.p.s., and the average muzzle velocity was 6.96 foot-pounds.

JSB Exact 8.4-grain dome
Next I tried the 8.4-grain JSB Exact dome. On 5 fast pumps they averaged 526 f.p.s., with a spread from 517 to 531 f.p.s. The muzzle energy averaged 5.16 foot-pounds. On 10 pumps, they averaged 608 f.p.s. with a spread from 595 to 611 f.p.s. The average muzzle energy was 6.9 foot-pounds.

JSB Exact RS
For a light pellet, I tested the JSB Exact RS. The name of this pellet includes the word Match, but they’re domes, not wadcutters, and cannot be used in formal match shooting. At 7.33 grains, they’re very light, yet I’ve had some good luck with them in other pellet rifles.

In the 2100, 5 pumps gave an average 559 f.p.s. The spread went from 555 to 563 f.p.s. The average energy was 5.09 foot-pounds. On 10 pumps, the average velocity was 646 f.p.s., and the range went from 635 to 654 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the muzzle energy was 6.79 foot-pounds.

So, the reader who said the 2100 wouldn’t get to 700 f.p.s. was right. As long as you don’t shoot it immediately after oiling with Pellgnoil, it won’t shoot that fast. But oil it, and it’ll probably top 700 f.p.s. with lighter pellets.

On to BBs
BBs were next, and with them things are much more standard. Though there are subtle differences in BB brands, they don’t vary as much as pellets. We’ll now see if the advertised velocity of 755 f.p.s is reasonable. Since this is a Crosman gun, I tested it with Crosman Copperhead BBs.

BBs are loaded into the large reservoir, then the gun is shaken and they fall into the smaller spring-loaded magazine. Once the magazine is empty, you can shoot pellets again, even though there BBs are still in the big reservoir; if they aren’t in the magazine, they won’t load automatically.

On 5 pumps, Copperheads averaged 570 f.p.s. They ranged from 564 to 578 f.p.s. At the average velocity, they generated 3.68 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. On 10 pumps, they averaged 678 f.p.s. and ranged from 672 to 682 f.p.s. That’s an average muzzle energy of 5.21 foot-pounds.

So the bottom line is that the test gun doesn’t meet its advertised spec for velocity. It falls at least 73 f.p.s. short. It does the same with lead pellets, so I’m withdrawing my remark that the gun is suitable for light hunting. Clearly, it’s below the safe margin. Yes, it will kill small animals, but I could not recommend it for that task based on these results.

I also note that the barrel is starting to loosen at the breech. It rotates slightly at this point, and I’ll keep an eye on it. And the pump lever hits the gun with a loud slap on every pump stroke — there’s no cushioning material to deaden the sound.

I hope these results don’t disturb owners of this gun, because they in no way condemn it. The accuracy test is still to come, and we might get a big surprise there.

Blog reader Kevin Lentz asked for this report; but as soon as he posted his request, it was seconded by a couple other readers. The first time I did a report with this title was way back in 2007, and that was a four-parter. This time, I’ll hold it to just two parts to save some time, because there are a lot of new models coming out at this time of year. Kevin revised the categories just a little and I went with his suggestions.

Guns under $150: Air rifles
A couple guns that used to be in this category have fallen off the list, in my opinion. They did so due to major changes in product quality. Even at this low level, a gun has to shine to make the list.

Crosman’s 1077 is a wonderful 12-shot CO2 repeater. It’s accurate, reliable and a lot of fun to shoot. This budget rifle is accurate enough to benefit from a scope.

The Crosman M4-177 multi-pump is another wonderful value for the price. It’s accurate, has a tactical look and is very rugged. As a bonus, this is a five-shot repeater!

The Gamo Lady Recon makes the list for its accuracy, ease of operation and the fact that it comes with open sights. The plain Recon doesn’t have open sights and misses the list for the lack. This is a lot of youth air rifle for the money, but I suppose only girls will like it because of the pink color.

Stoeger’s X5 makes the list for accuracy and build quality. The one drawback with this one is the heavy trigger. But if you get past that, this is a lot of airgun for the money.

Daisy’s Powerline 953 TargetPro is a budget version of that company’s 853 target rifle. Though it lacks the Lothar Walther barrel, the 953 manages to do quite well with its domestic barrel. It’s a great way to get into target shooting without spending a bundle.

Buy the Daisy Avanti Champion 499 only if you like hitting what you shoot at. Billed as the world’s most accurate BB gun and the only gun used in the International BB Gun Championships (because nothing else can compete with it), the 499 is every target shooter’s dream. Sure, it’s a BB gun, but one that will put 10 shots inside Roosevelt’s head on a dime offhand at 5 yards.

And the winner among air rifles in this price range is the Air Venturi Bronco. It is, without question, the most accurate pellet rifle under $150, and it has the best trigger of the category as well.

What can I say? I love this air rifle.

Guns under $150: Air pistols
For informal target shooting, you can’t do any better than Beeman’s P17 single-stroke pistol. It’s a Chinese-made copy of the German-made Beeman P3 that costs many times more, yet the P17 holds its own on power and accuracy. A few of them have been known to have reliability issues; but if you oil yours with Pellgunoil, I think you’ll get past that. I’ve owned two, and both were perfect.

There used to be several different models of this next gun to choose from, but the last one standing is the Crosman 357W. A pellet revolver for under $50, this CO2-powered gun has inspired shooters for decades. It has the accuracy you want and ease of operation, plus it’s a pellet revolver!

Another super buy is the Crosman 2240 .22-caliber single-shot pistol. This gun is the direct descendant of Crosman pistols dating all the way back to the 1940s. It’s accurate, powerful and a wonderful value.

The Crosman 1377C is a classic multi-pump air pistol selling for half the price of most other pump guns. It has the power and accuracy to hold its own against challengers selling at more than twice the price. Plus, it’s the basis of many hobby airgunners’ projects.

The Makarov BB pistol is the best BB pistol in this or any other price category. It’s accurate, reliable and extremely realistic. If you like to hit what you shoot at and want to shoot BBs, this is the gun to buy!

If you want a fun, realistic BB revolver, they don’t get any better than the Dan Wesson BB revolver. I’ve linked to the 8-inch barreled gun, but all the barrel lengths and finishes cost the same and provide the same great service.

Guns $150-250: Air rifles
Not as many guns in this price category, because I hold them to a higher standard. With guns like the Bronco and the Beeman P17 out there, most higher-priced guns can’t deliver.

Hatsan recently decided to go it alone in the U.S., but I haven’t had a chance to test anything they offer. Back when they were making guns for whatever conglomerate financial organization owned Webley at the time, who knows what craziness they were forced to make? So, they should be given the chance to make and sell good guns on their own. Time will tell, but this year I have no information, so they didn’t make the list.

With all the product-cheapening that’s been going on, it’s been difficult to see that the Diana RWS 34P has progressively morphed into a fine air rifle. The barrel got better, the trigger did the same and the powerplant went from a cheap buzzy nightmare in the 1980s to a dream gun in 2012. Diana avoided the Gamo pitfall of going to more power, and, instead, they concentrated on giving us a great rifle with reasonable power and splendid accuracy. You do need to use the artillery hold to get it, though. This one deserves credit for being a wonderful air rifle. When I list the 34P, I’m actually including all 34 rifles.

Guns $150-250: Air pistols
Same thing goes for air pistols as for rifles. Too much competition from the lower-price category and not enough innovation and quality in this one.

I can’t say enough good things about the Smith & Wesson 586 4-inch CO2 revolver. It’s a “real” gun! Get one if you like fine double- and single-action triggers, smooth revolver actions plus stunning accuracy. The realism cannot be faulted. Same thing goes for the 6-inch barreled gun.

Some of you may remember my story about telling the then-president of Crosman why airgunners would drop $150 on a handgun he sold for $39.95. Well, he left the company, and the new management decided to build these modified guns themselves! The Crosman 2300S is one such gun. It’s based on the 2240 frame, but has a boatload of high-value appointments that are just what most airgunners want. Can’t beat it for the price.

I’m going to include the Daisy Avanti 747 Triumph Match, which is somewhat quirky and more than a little clunky, but it’s the lowest-cost real target pistol available. The Lothar Walther barrel is what makes it rank above the nearly identical 717. And, Daisy, could you please give this gun a couple more names? I can still pronounce it without taking a breath.

What’s this? I put the Beeman P17 on this list for under $150 and I’m also putting the Beeman P3 on the same list? Yep. This one is good, too. Better trigger than the P17 and just as accurate and powerful. Want a better gun? Get a P3.

Well, that’s my list. You might ask me what the criteria were to make the list. Simple. These are the airguns I can recommend and not hear anything bad about them. That doesn’t mean that everyone likes all of them. It means that the guns, themselves, don’t have any bad habits or features that make people mad at me for recommending them. Next time, I’ll do a $250-500 list and an unlimited one. You think I was picky today? Just wait.

A note from Edith: This is a G-rated site
Recently, I’ve noticed some acronyms creeping in that aren’t G-rated. If you have a budding young airgunner that you’ve encouraged to read the blog and the comments, do you want to have to explain to him what those initials mean? Probably not, so it’s best if we don’t use those colorful words/acronyms in our comments.

Also, when symbols have to replace letters in a word because the word is offensive, please don’t use that word…with or without symbols. I appreciate your help in keeping Airgun Academy a G-rated site and a place where airgunners of every age can comfortably ask questions and grow to love the shooting sports.

As you read this, I’m at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. I’ll be there all week. In fact, today is Media Day, where the media gets to go to an outdoor shooting range in Boulder City and shoot the guns displayed by manufacturers, importers and distributors. Since I won’t be monitoring comments much of this week, I would appreciate it if our regular readers would help answer them. Edith will still monitor all the comments but may not have a chance to answer many more than she already does.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Crosman’s new M4-177 is a smart-looking M4 battle rifle lookalike.

How many of you remember that I said I would come back to the Crosman M4-177 multi-pump air rifle and test it at longer range with a dot sight? Well, if everything went right, Mac and I are out at the range in Las Vegas at the SHOT Show Media Day today, but while we are seeing and shooting all the new guns you guys get one more look at this one.

As I mentioned in the last report, I mounted a dot sight on the rifle, to see how it performs at longer distance. I picked the 25-yard indoor range for this one. For the sight, I selected the BSA Optics red/green/blue dot sight that also has a laser and a tactical flashlight. It certainly looks right at home on this rifle, and the Weaver clamp fits the rifle’s Picatinny base. All I had to do was remove the open sights, front and rear, and put this one on the base.

The problem with optical sights on a multi-pump rifle is they get in the way of holding the gun during pumping. I had to hold the M4 at the buttstock extension tube because the sight sat right where I wanted to put my hand. Because of that, pumping was more difficult, and I wanted to pump the rifle 10 times per shot. So, I decided to shoot 5-shot groups until I found an accurate pellet, then shoot 10 shots with that one.

Accuracy testing
As I said, all testing was done at 25 yards off a rest. The rifle was pumped 10 times for every shot. Pay no attention to where the groups land, as I adjusted the sights several times to keep the pellets on the target.

I first tried the Crosman Premier Super Match pellet that had worked so well at 10 meters in Part 3. Once it was on target, I shot a group of 5 to see how they did. Unfortunately, at 25 yards, they didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. The group measures approximately 3.01 inches, but that’s not precise because the widest pellet didn’t land entirely on target. Suffice to say it was poor enough to disregard.

Crosman Super Match wadcutters didn’t give the performance I wanted.

I continued on, testing RWS Hobby pellets. They were better, with 5 going into 1.563 inches but not what I was looking for.

Next came 5 JSB Exact 8.4-grain domes. This was the first domed pellet I tried, and the group size shrank to 1.406 inches. The group was also very vertical, however, which leads me to an important point.

JSB Exact 8.4-grain domes did better.

By this point in the test, I noticed that this dot sight is not precise. The dot smears in all three colors at all three intensities. I’ve used quality dot sights that held the size of their dots very well, but with this one the dot smeared to the sides. I tried it both with my glasses and without, and the results were always the same. Maybe it’s me and not the sight, but I felt I wasn’t able to aim precisely enough with this sight.

The last pellet I tried was the Crosman Premier 7.9-grain dome. This one gave me 4 very tight shots, with No. 5 landing several inches away. Now, I had a quandary. Should I go with the JSBs or the Premier lites?

Four of five Premier lites made this tight group, but there’s that lone shot up to the left. What to do?

I decided to go with the Premiers, because of the tighter group of 4. So, I shot 10 more Premier lites at 25 yards.

And this is what I got. This “group” is pretty poor, and I don’t believe it represents what the M4 can do. It measures 3.358 inches between centers.

What now?
Well, I had been unhappy with the performance of the dot sight to this point. What if I replaced it with the original factory sights — a peep rear and a post front? Hey! Haven’t I read somewhere on the internet that those kind of sights can do a good job?

The dot sight came off and the factory sights went back on. It took 4 shots to sight in, and then I shot another 10-shot group. This time, the pumping was much easier because my hands could hold the rifle in the right places.

And that’s the same rifle, same pellet with factory peep sights. This group measures 1.546 inches between centers, with 8 of the 10 shots going into 0.923 inches. Clearly, the factory sights were better in this case.

Bottom line
Well, I’ve wrung out the M4-177 pretty thoroughly. It’s accurate and fun to shoot, and for my money you can use the sights that come with it. I know that the look of the gun begs for tactical accessories; but for me, accuracy is always the trump.

Announcement: Randy Stratman is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card! Congratulations!

Randy Stratman took this week’s winning photo.

I made a remark in a comment this week that surprised me. Blog reader /Dave asked me to approach Crosman about resurrecting the Sterling rifle and I told him the following:

I doubt anyone will ever make this airgun again. As well-made as it is, this would be a $500-600 air rifle.
It’s sad that it’s just too nice to be made today, but that’s probably why Crosman decided to drop it when they took over. After the initial 300 sold to enthusiasts, they would sell maybe 50 a year. They need numbers of a thousand or more.

I made that comment rather quickly after reading his request; but after I read what I had said, I thought about it for a long time. Is quality really that difficult to sell today?

You might argue that it isn’t and use any one of a number of products to support your point. Rolex has long been a name used to connote quality among watches, though there are other makers like Audemars Piguet and Patek Phillippe whose products are made just as well if not better. And in the world of automobiles, Rolls Royce is the name everyone thinks of when they think of the best.

I could go on, but I’m sure you see my point. So, why do I say it’s difficult to sell quality?

Because it can be.

It’s particularly difficult to sell quality when the brand name is either not known or when the name has been used to brand similar products of a lower quality to benefit from the marketing cachet of the original good name.

What’s in a name?
Take the name Luger. The name Luger was never officially applied to the handgun we all call the German Luger. Lugers weren’t called Lugers — they were the model P08. But the Stoeger Corporation purchased the rights to the Luger name in 1923 and has used it ever since. Ask any gun collector whether a Stoeger Luger is a real Luger, and you’ll get a laugh. Yes, the guns they sell are legally Lugers, but no firearms collector categorizes them that way.

Here is another example. In the 1960s and ’70s, Daisy was very interested in getting into formal target shooting in a big way. One thing they did, and it’s a mistake that a lot of companies make, was to import FWB target rifles with the Daisy name imprinted on them. Those guns sold — not because they said Daisy on the outside, but in spite of it. The Feinwerkbau name was so well-known in the world of target shooting that it negated the Daisy name on the gun. To American shooters, the name Daisy is forever connected to inexpensive BB guns. Hence, the reason Daisy created their Avanti line — to distance their own name from target guns.

Back to quality
But this report isn’t about brand names — it’s about quality and how difficult marketing it can be. Let me illustrate the problem with a couple hypotheticals.

Let’s say Crosman decides to remake the Benjamin Sterling. This time, they’ll “do it right.” They won’t just use a Lothar Walther barrel — it will be a match-grade Lothar Walther barrel. And yes, there is a difference. They have the Sterling drawings, and they decide that much of the gun can be made on a CNC machine — lowering production costs in the end. They currently own several CNC machines, but all of them are operating at full capacity, so this project requires the purchase of a new six-axis, dual-spindle machine that can handle all the machining operations. It will cost them $330,000.

They’ll make the trigger on an EDM machine that they are using only 75 percent of the time, so figure $5,000/month for that. They calculate that the special dies they will need for various small parts like the sights will cost $115,000. The time spent inputting the drawings into the CAD software and debugging each routine will cost another $50,000. And so on. Let’s say that after the miscellaneous tooling gets added in, the cost is up to $600,000. That’s just for startup.

Now, let’s build the gun. The barrels will cost $71 each, unfinished. That’s the price when you buy 1,000 at a time and guarantee at least 5,000 per year. Finishing adds about $8.50.  The other raw materials for the action will cost $86, and the additional processing costs on all of them will add $157. The walnut stock blanks will cost $27 each, and the processing costs for shaping, inletting, checkering, sanding, sealing, staining and finishing will bump that up to $49. Add all the material costs together and the labor required to assemble, test and package each rifle and the number comes out at $401 delivered to the loading dock. Crosman adds their markup on top of that, and their top-tier distributors are able to purchase the rifle for $512 (I’m being extremely conservative — they would want to make a lot more than that for an expense this large!). So the lowest street price you will ever see for this new model is $635.

But this new rifle is wonderful! It’s easy to cock, smooth-shooting and has a delightful trigger. On top of that, the finish is flawless and the woodwork is stunning. It compares visually to the TX200, which is a simpler design because of not having the Sterling’s bolt. But the new Sterling is also 11.5 foot-pounds, at best. Think of an 8-grain .177 pellet traveling 800 f.p.s.

Why did they do that? Why would they build a marvelous air rifle like this and leave it anemic? Well, they tried to boost the power, but it required either a larger-diameter piston or a longer stroke. Either modification added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the development costs. You and I look at an extra inch of spring tube and figure five dollars, and maybe that’s all it costs to buy the raw materials, but the cost to redesign all the powerplant parts that have to be changed to accommodate the extra inch is what the manufacturer has to think of. The piston, piston rod, cocking lever link and perhaps other parts all have to be changed just to accommodate the extra inch. And they need a new longer stock blank to hold the longer action, so all that work must be redone, as well. And all those parts have to be entered into CAD software and input into various CNC routines and then debugged, etc.

Now Crosman tries to market this beautiful new air rifle and what happens? They’re met with a hailstorm of criticism on airgun forums all over, telling them what they should have done. And people are leaving snide remarks that say, “If only they built it this way, I would buy two!”

TWO? With over half a million dollars of development costs and a large part of their engineering time invested, they really need to sell more than just two. Or two hundred, or even two thousand.

Before you manufacturing guys jump down my throat, I’m aware that the whole purchase cost of the new CNC machine doesn’t have to be paid off the first year, and yes, they will probably schedule the machine to support other product lines at some point. But when you’re standing before the CEO pitching your “great idea,” these are the kinds of things he’s going to want to know.

Quality lesson two
There’s a better path to quality, however. Let’s say you have a company called Mendoza building airguns for you, and let’s say their guns have some important features. They have accurate barrels and wonderful triggers. One day they send you a rifle that looks like it was designed by Pablo Picasso on an acid trip. But take the barreled action out of the stock, and you have a nice youth-level rifle for a very affordable price.

You get a custom stockmaker to build you one custom western-looking stock for the rifle that you then send back to Mendoza and say, “Make them like this.” You also ask them to leave out the fiberoptic sight elements and eliminate the oil hole on the side of the spring tube. You keep the name Bronco, and add a bucking horse to the spring tube. A new model is born.

This “development” cost only a couple thousand dollars (because of a consulting trip for the designer and several iterations with the manufacturer sending samples back and forth), and you’ve got a spring rifle for older youth and adults that can sell at an extremely competitive price. Why was this so easy?

Mendoza was already making good barrels. They already had a wonderful, if somewhat quirky, trigger reminiscent of the Savage Accu-Trigger. They had superior metal finishing on their existing guns, so nothing had to change. The modifications you made didn’t disrupt their business in a major way. The biggest thing that changed was the stock, but you worked with them to accommodate their existing plant, tooling and personnel. So, after getting a commitment to purchase X-hundred rifles per year from Pyramyd Air, they began production of the new Bronco.

The lesson?
The lesson is that you don’t ask Rolls Royce to make shopping carts and don’t ask McDonalds to cater the Oscars. Quality is hard to sell, but not impossible. If you spend the time and money to build and promote a high-quality product, people will buy your Rolexes. But if Rolex starts making pastel plastic fashion watches tomorrow, or if they outsource their main watch models to China, I give them one year before their name is utterly destroyed.

As a final note, you younger readers may not believe what I am about to say, but when I was a kid in the 1950s, the term Made in Japan meant something was cheap and worthless. When Japanese cars first hit the U.S. shores, they were too small, underpowered (remember the Subaru 360?) and had the dark cloud of Made in Japan hanging over them.

This past Christmas, my gearhead brother-in-law was so proud to show off his new/old Lexus—a 12-year-old creampuff sedan he recently acquired, which his wife wrested away from him the day he got it. This guy who used to restore vintage ’50s T-Birds and Vettes as a hobby now refuses to drive anything that isn’t made by Toyota.

It’s possible to go both directions on the quality highway. Going up can take decades. Going down happens overnight.

Part 1
Part 2

The Mayhem .45 Sport Tactical air pistol is a big, heavy airgun.

Well, it all came down to accuracy, and the Mayhem .45 Sport Tactical air pistol has it in buckets. However — and it’s a big one — the trigger is so hard to pull and it’s also double-action only that it creates a problem shooting the gun accurately. If this had a single-action trigger, I bet I could shoot half-inch groups with it — especially at 15 feet. But I’m getting ahead of the story.

The first BBs I used were the RWS BBs that I’ve mentioned in the past. They seem to group just as tightly as Daisy’s zinc-plated BBs, and I wanted to give them a chance in this pistol.

I started the test at 15 feet, and the nature of my range dictates a one-hand hold at that distance. I didn’t expect very much until seeing the BBs all go to the point of aim. However, I wasn’t able to hold the gun still enough to pull the trigger, which requires over 12 lbs. of effort, and still keep the pistol steady.

At 15 feet, the pistol shoots to the point of aim, but the heavy trigger-pull caused it to move around more than a little. This 10-shot group measures 1.468 inches between centers.

Since it shot so straight at the close distance, I decided to back up to 25 feet and try it. Normally, I don’t shoot BB pistols that far back, but at that distance I could use a barricade rest and this pistol might surprise me.

Barricade rest
A barricade rest is a very steady hold for a handgun — especially an air pistol that doesn’t recoil. I grab onto the barricade, in this case a door jamb on my right side, with my left hand and rest my right (shooting) hand on top. Then, I lean into my hands to further steady myself. This eliminates the shakes and allows for a good arm’s-length sight picture.

The Mayhem trigger-pull is so heavy that, after the first group at 15 feet, I had to pull the trigger with my middle finger because my index finger was out of strength. The BBs also went slightly higher at 25 feet.

A fair group from 25 feet with a BB pistol. There are 9 shots in 2.192 inches.

After this group, I reloaded the magazine with Daisy zinc-plated BBs for another try. My trigger finger was giving out at this point, so this was the last group I would be able to shoot with any accuracy.

This time, I gave it my best for 10n shots. From where I stood, every shot looked like a perfect release; but when I walked to the target, I saw that the group was more spread out. Ten shots went into 1.873 inches.

The final group of Daisy BBs did best at 25 feet.

Summary
The Mayhem BB pistol has several things going for it. It gets an incredible number of shots per CO2 cartridge, yet the velocity remains high. The BB magazine is very easy to load and manage. Accuracy is also well ahead of many BB pistols.

On the down side, the sights aren’t adjustable. As we see from this test, it would have been nice if they were.

But the trigger is the biggest sticking point I had with this pistol. It’s double-action only, so there’s no possibility of relief from the excessive pull. I’m usually pretty neutral when it comes to triggers. I shoot so many airguns that I can adapt to just about anything. But this one is too much even for me. I know I could have shot better with a trigger-pull half as heavy or with a single-action pull.

Part 1

The Evanix Conquest has features that set the bar very high for air rifles.

Today is a second look at the general characteristics of this new Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle with thumbhole stock. I was surprised that a couple of you criticized the woodwork in Part 1, so today I’ll show you the butt of the rifle I’m actually testing. Neither FX nor Daystate has anything on this stock — it’s that good. Criticize the real faults all you want, but let’s evaluate the rifle on its merits and not on where it was made.

Since I have to show a lot of details, much of today’s report will be pictorial. The captions have as much info as the text, so be sure to read them.

Fully ambidextrous, the Evanix Conquest rifle stock is a thing of beauty. The woodwork is perfect, and the wood itself has deep, rich grain. The red switch at the upper left is the power switch for the gun.

Electric action?
Yep! Like an AEG airsoft gun, the Conquest is run by an electric motor that’s powered by a battery in the butt. Before you start asking all those voltage and amperage questions, this rifle works exactly the same as an AEG. Add amps, and the charge lasts longer. Add volts, and the motor turns faster. And also like all AEGs, there’s only so much room for the onboard battery.

According to the manufacturer, one charge is sufficient for about 500 shots, but that’s a variable that depends on many things. Cold weather decreases the number. As the battery loses its charge, it heats up, which is undesireable. And I would expect that full-auto fire would use up the battery faster than semi-auto because the motor runs longer in that mode. I’ll try to give you an estimate of how many shots I get on a charge when I know something. Thus far, I’ve shot the gun about 35 times and everything is fine.

I charged the battery pack for 8 hours before my initial use. The batteries do not come precharged.

The batteries fit into the butt, so the rubber buttpad must come off first. The batteries use single-wire connectors — red to red and black to black. From what I see, there’s just enough room in the butt for the wiring and the battery that comes with the gun, so I doubt battery upgrades will be possible, as space is a concern.

The buttplate comes off with a single slotted screw to reveal the battery compartment.

The battery pack is connected to an adapter to connect to the charger, but it connects straight to the wires when installed in the gun.

Once the battery pack is installed and the reservoir is filled, the gun is ready to fire. Turn it on with the red switch at the upper left rear of the receiver, insert a loaded magazine and you’re ready to go.

Magazines
The .177 and .22 versions of the rifle have 12-shot magazines. The .25-caliber rifle has a 10-shot mag. All versions of the gun also have optional double mags available, but I mistakenly wrote in Part 1 that they come with the gun — and they don’t. They must be ordered as options. So, this .22 rifle would have a total of 24 shots when the double mag is used. However, after the first 12 shots, the mag has to be slid over to the left to index the second mag. So, it’s really 12 and 12 — not 24 without stopping.

The back of each magazine has two holes through which pellets can be seen. The hole on the left is where the pellets are loaded. There’s a coiled wire band spring that runs around the circumference of the drum to hold each pellet in its chamber until the bolt pushes it into the back of the barrel. When you drop in a pellet, the head stops on this band. Like all circular magazines and clips with this feature, you have to press in each pellet past the retaining band. Nothing works as well as a ballpoint pen. If the magazine didn’t have this band, pellets could vibrate out of their chambers and jam the action — especially with the vibration of firing full-auto.

This is the back of a single 12-shot magazine. Pellets are loaded through the hole on the left. Note the black tab that sticks down at the top of the middle hole. This is used to release the magazine spring when you want to unload the magazine, or any time you want to reverse the direction of the chambers. When the magazine is loaded, a ratchet catches it at every empty chamber, and this tab gives you control over that ratchet. When the mag drum is not under spring tension, this tab does not appear.

I’m going to show you loading in detail because it’s very important to the gun’s operation. Everything I say about loading a single magazine applies to a dual mag, as well, because it’s just two single mags stuck together.

Here a JSB Exact 18.1-grain pellet has been dropped into the loading hole. Notice that it has stopped on the wire band and isn’t in the chamber all the way.

The tip of a ballpoint pen is used to seat the pellet past the wire band and into the chamber. Once seated this way, the pellet is secure from vibrating out.

And this is what a properly seated pellet looks like. This is a large JSB pellet, so you can see there’s plenty of room for big pellets in this mag. Now, rotate the mag drum one click counterclockwise and load the next chamber.

The magazine body has a small key or shelf at the bottom edge of the front side. This fits into a mating groove in the front of the receiver notch and prevents the mag from being incorrectly inserted. The front of the mag has a spring-loaded ball bearing that indexes the mag in the receiver. It’s important that the mag is indexed properly, because the bolt moves by electrical power and could damage the mag or the gun if not aligned with the hole that runs through the magazine.

Here’s the front of the magazine. There’s just one hole where the pellet can be pushed out of the mag and into the breech by the bolt. Notice the small shelf at the bottom of the mag. This is a key that prevents the mag from being installed incorrectly.

This picture shows the receiver slot that accepts the magazine key. You can also see the hole in the front of the receiver above the barrel that indexes with the magazine ball bearing.

Warning
Because this gun fires electrically, DO NOT stick your fingers into the receiver magazine notch at any time. Every time the gun fires, the bolt first comes forward to push the pellet out of the magazine and into the breech. If your finger is there, the bolt will go through it like a nail from a nail gun! Never put your fingers into this opening, no matter where the safety and power switch are set. For this reason, do not let children or anyone who’s unfamiliar with the rifle handle it.

The mag is installed. Push it in from the right side of the receiver until you hear the ball bearing click into the hole in the forward part of the receiver notch.

The double mag is two single mags joined together. In operation, you exhaust one side first, then slide the mag over to the other side — pushing from right to left. In .22 caliber, this mag gives a total of 24 shots.

Fill procedure
I mentioned the fill coupling in Part 1. Today, I’d like to show you the available space where the gun is filled, which is why it has to be a proprietary quick-fill device and not a standard Foster fitting. Besides the fill connector, the pressure gauge is also in this space, which is tucked out of sight in a slot under the forearm.

This macro picture shows the fill port that accepts the quick-disconnect adapter. The manometer reads in bar for the first time! Although this looks like a lot of room, my thumb is just as wide as this slot.

Summary
Well, that was a long introduction, but a gun this novel warrants it. I probably have still not told you everything you wish to know about the gun, but we have both the velocity and accuracy tests yet to come, so there’s more than enough time. Ask your questions, and I’ll attempt to answer them as we go.

Crosman’s 2100B is a full-sized multi-pump that hopefully delivers power and accuracy with a few economic concessions.

I’ve been reviewing some basic and even classic airguns and air rifles for the past month, and today’s Crosman 2100B multi-pump is one of them. It was initially my plan to get all these at least started by Christmas 2011, but I didn’t even make that date. Next year, I need to start in early October, because other things do get in the way.

I know many of you are 2100 fans because you’ve said as much in the comments.

I may be the last guest to come to the party where the 2100 is concerned. Only Crosman’s smoothbore 760 Pumpmaster is more popular; and, of course, with the release of the rifled M4-177 late last year, that will be a tough act for any airgun to follow.

Think of the 2100 as the 760’s older brother, though there are a couple very important differences. For starters, this powerplant is completely conventional. You can pump the gun and leave air in the reservoir without cocking it first. That’s a big plus in my book. And the piston stroke in the 2100 is longer than that of the 760, so the power is greater, as well. Best of all, the 2100 has a rifled barrel!

The power level is elevated over that of the smaller multi-pumps. Crosman rates the rifle at 755 f.p.s. with steel BBs and 725 f.p.s. with lead pellets. Naturally, I’ll test both numbers for you, and Crosman Copperhead BBs will be involved. So, this is a more powerful airgun than most of the others in its class.

Sights
The sights are a fiberoptic bead in front and a plain notch in the rear. The rear sight is adjustable in both directions, though the adjustments are crude. There’s an elevator wedge for elevation, and the entire sight can swing in either direction for windage. A screw then locks it in place.

The stock and forearm/pump handle are plastic, but the rest of the exterior of the gun seems to be metal. Only the bolt handle and barrel band are plastic, while the exterior of the barrel is jacketed in some metal around a soda-straw steel barrel. This barrel is rifled, as mentioned, yet the rifle can handle steel BBs if you’re so inclined.

Cocking
The bolt retracts to open a funnel-shaped loading port, similar to what we saw in the review of my vintage Crosman 2200 multi-pump rifle back in 2009. I’ll wait until I’ve loaded the gun several times before reporting on how easy it is to load. Naturally, this time, there are also steel BBs to be loaded from an internal reservoir, so I’ll cover that later as well.

The effort needed to cock this gun is considerable, and buyers should know that before they buy. This isn’t the gun to pick to train your 10-year-old. Think of it as more of an adult pneumatic. I compared it to my vintage 2200, which is much easier to cock, so there’s a possibility that this will wear in with time and use.

Most people love the 2100!
I looked at the owner reviews of the gun, and only one of them was really negative. Apparently, the buyer expected a $125 rifle for $60. He said the barrel is plastic, but it isn’t. It’s metal, but as noted, it’s just a jacket around a soda-straw steel barrel. He was terribly upset about the construction of his gun. So much so that he forgot to report how it shot.

There were 32 others, however, who gave the gun five stars, and I think what they say is a lot closer to the truth. I’ve tested Cannon multi-pump air rifles from Indonesia that are all metal and wood, but don’t shoot worth a darn until their valves are rebuilt by their owners. Even then most of them don’t even perform to spec, and only after they’re made to work at all do the owners discover that the barrels are often less than accurate. I expect more from this Crosman rifle and will be shocked if I don’t get it. A little plastic where it doesn’t matter (and, no, Michael…the one person who gave this a negative review, the bolt handle will not break when you cock the gun — even 10,000 times!) is not a detractor if the performance is there. That’s what this report will determine.

The rifle
Weight-wise, the 2100 is light, but not overly so. At just 4.8 lbs., it lays light in your arms but it doesn’t float the way many similar smaller multi-pumps do. For many people, that’s a good thing. The length of pull is an adult 13-3/4 inches that will work for older kids, as well. The molded plastic stock and forearm are both checkered with large, sharp diamonds that really do grip your hands. Overall, the rifle feels pretty good in the offhand position.

Pellets are loaded singly, but the BBs are poured into a 200-shot reservoir that’s accessed through a discreet hole in the bottom of the pistol grip. Just slide the grip cap to the rear and pour in up to 200 BBs. Pull the BB magazine follower to the rear and lock it in place, then, while holding the muzzle down, shake the rifle from side to move BBs into the 17-shot visible magazine on the left side of the receiver. Finally, release the BB follower. Every time you cock the gun, a magnet on the bolt tip will grab a BB until the BB magazine is empty. It’s possible to have BBs in the larger reservoir and not in the magazine and to shoot pellets single-shot without BBs getting in the way.

The 17-shot BB magazine is located on the left side of the receiver.

Trigger
I measured the trigger-pull with my Lyman electronic scale. The trigger is two-stage with a very short first stage. It’s not adjustable. Stage two breaks very consistently at between 4 lbs., 10 ozs. and 4 lbs., 12 ozs. — as long as the squeeze is slow and consistent. Yank the trigger, and the pull goes over 5 lbs. on the test gun.

Pump effort
I have to comment on the effort it takes to pump this gun, because it could surprise some buyers. Where the 760 Pumpmaster and its derivatives all pump easily, the 2100 does not. It pumps as hard or even harder than a Benjamin 397 multi-pump. I may need to measure this for you. I checked it against my 2200, and it’s close to the same effort for both, so this is probably not going to change.

Hunting?
Yes, and no. Yes to the five percent who can reliably hit a quarter at 30 yards offhand five times out of five. And no to the rest who can’t, but just want an extra-cheap airgun to do what it isn’t made for. And the five percent are also the ones who know better than to try to hunt with such a light air rifle.

Yes, this airgun probably has enough power to take very small game humanely at close range. Unfortunately, too many shooters will try to stretch the distance well beyond what the gun can reliably do. So, please, think of the 2100 as a plinker and not as a hunter.

Overall
This will be another enjoyable rifle to test, because it has so much going for it. No wonder it’s a classic — it feels and handles right!

Part 1
Part 2

The Sterling by Benjamin Sheridan is an air rifle not many have seen or even heard about.

Say hello to my little friend! We last saw this Sterling 11 months ago and discovered during testing that the velocity was very unstable. Variations of 61 to 147 f.p.s. were found in the 10-shot strings, even though the rifle had been recently tuned by reader Jim Grossman (Jim in PGH). Clearly, something seemed to be wrong. I stopped the test right there because I didn’t want to damage the mechanism, and I set it aside for later when I could I eventually look inside.

Well, our No. 1 tuner and all-around good guy — blog reader Vince — stepped forward and offered to have a look at it for me. He told me he’d worked on another Sterling, and I was relieved because I didn’t have to learn the complexities of yet another odd spring-gun mechanism. This one is odd because, in addition to the underlever that cocks the mainspring, the gun also has a bolt-action that opens the breech for loading a pellet. It’s quirky and unlike just about any other airgun you’ve seen.

Vince was as good as his word, and the gun is now back with me. I’ll let him tell you what he found inside and what he did to the gun at his convenience. I just want to get back to the original test.

An odd duck
The Sterling is an odd spring-piston mechanism, to say the least. As I said, it cocks via an underlever but is loaded in a trough on top of the action by retracting a spring-loaded bolt; so when the handle is lifted, it jumps back out of the way and exposes the trough for loading. The trough is sculpted to make it easy to roll in a pellet, so loading is a snap.

The Sterling bolt is spring-loaded to jump back and open the scalloped trough, which easily accepts a pellet.

The rifle was made both in the UK and in Racine, Wisconsin, by Benjamin-Sheridan before Crosman bought them. It’s a large, solid rifle that looks and feels like a magnum, though the performance is strictly under 12 foot-pounds. One attractive feature of at least the American-made rifles is the barrel from Lothar Walther. It should be fairly accurate.

The UK Sterling suffered from a lot of quality issues, the greatest of which were a very buzzy action, a trigger that tended to fall apart during use, sights that fell off and a rear sight that is apparently of very low quality. I can’t comment on the sights; because when I got the rifle, all that remained was the hollow shell of the globe front sight. Benjamin Sheridan was frustrated by front sights falling off, so they engineered a solid front piece that includes the globe for the sight within the same piece that serves as the catch for the underlever.

The front sight globe is made as a unit with the underlever catch.

Trigger
In the first part, I complained that the single-stage trigger was a little creepy. Well, either I was being overly critical or Vince did something. Although it still breaks at 2 lbs., 8 ozs., this trigger is now pretty crisp! I’ll learn more during the accuracy test, because that’s when I become intimate with the trigger. For now, I’ll just say that it’s a good one.

Cocking effort
The rifle cocks with 26 lbs. of effort, though it feels a little lighter. That’s probably because most of the effort over 20 lbs. occurs in the last 20 degrees of lever arc. There’s no anti-beartrap device. The bolt-action design keeps your fingers without one, so you can uncock the rifle at any time.

Velocity
When we last looked at the American-made (Benjamin) Sterling, I shot it with three different pellets to obtain the velocity/power rating, so that’s where I’ll begin today.

Falcon pellets
First, I tried the 7.3-grain Air Arms Falcon pellet. In the test done before this work, the pellet averaged 626 f.p.s., but the velocity ranged over 147 f.p.s. The average velocity equates to a muzzle energy of 6.38 foot-pounds.

With Vince’s work, the Falcon pellet now averages 754 f.p.s. — a 107 foot-second gain. The spread was reduced to 23 f.p.s., from a low of 738 to a high of 761 f.p.s. That’s quite stable — especially in light of the former test. The current muzzle energy is 9.22 foot-pounds.

JSB Exact 8.4-grain dome
The next pellet tried was the 8.4-grain JSB Exact dome. In the earlier test, this one averaged 597 f.p.s. with a 61 f.p.s. spread from 564 to 625 f.p.s. The muzzle energy was 6.65 foot-pounds.

In the current state, this pellet averages 704 f.p.s. with a 19 foot-second spread from 696 to 715 f.p.s. That is another gain of 107 f.p.s. And the muzzle energy increased to 9.25 foot-pounds.

You don’t normally see a heavier pellet making more energy than a lighter one in a spring-piston powerplant. It’s indicative of a heavy piston, which is perhaps the reason the rifle has a pronounced froward jump upon firing.

Is it hard to believe that heavier pellets typically produce less energy than lighter pellets in spring-piston guns? While this is not 100% the case, it’s probably the case 9 times out of 10. Spring-piston guns do not transfer their potential energy very well, and therefore lighter pellets that offer less resistance are usually slightly more efficient. In pneumatic and CO2 guns, the reverse is true: heavier pellets produce more energy most of the time.

Crosman Premier 7.9-grain lites
The last pellet I tested was the 7.9-grain Crosman Premier lite. In the first test, these averaged 580 f.p.s. with a 144 foot-second spread from 467 to 611 f.p.s. I tried flaring the skirts of these pellets to get a better seal in the bore, but the average velocity increased to only 584 f.p.s., while the total variation increased to 152 f.p.s.

In this test, Premier lites averaged 705 f.p.s., and the spread went from 698 to 712 f.p.s. — a 14 foot-second spread that was the tightest of the entire test. The gun now shoots 119 f.p.s. faster than before. The average muzzle energy is 8.72 foot-pounds — the lowest of the three pellets tested.

The evidence is overwhelming that Vince made some important changes to the Sterling’s performance. I’m sure his account of what was done will be of great interest.

Bottom line
My research into the history of this fascinating airgun revealed that very few airgunners who know about the Sterling are neutral about it. They either love it or hate it. Blog reader Robert from Arcade also expressed an interest in the design, as did a number of other readers, I believe. That’s why this test is so important. It’s been more than two decades since I read about this air rifle in the British press, and I have always wondered what the truth is. Now we can all find out together.

Announcement: Leslie Foran is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card! Congratulations!

Leslie Foran (aka Desertdweller) took this winning photo of his grandson Nicky Crocker shooting a Daisy 856.

Part 1

Today, we’ll look at peep sights. Do you think a peep sight is a modern invention? Wrong! Despite what Wikipedia says, peep sights date from at least as far back as the 1840s and perhaps even a half-century earlier. There were sights enclosed in tubes during the American Revolution (1775-1783), but those had not yet reached the full development of the sights I will discuss today. By 1840, peep sights were being offered by a great many rifle makers.

The first peep sight consisted of a round, flat plate with a hole drilled through its center. It was mounted on a threaded stalk; and when turned, it could be screwed up and down for vertical adjustment. One-half turn was all that was required, because the plate was the same on both sides. It was located on the tang of a rifle and was used in conjunction with a very fine front bead sight that was mounted atop a tall thin post. This early peep sight has been called a lollipop sight for more than a century because of the resemblance to that candy.

This lollipop sight is from a later schuetzen rifle, but it’s very similar to ones made before the American Civil War.

The front sight was so thin as to be fragile, and so was enclosed in a steel tube — or what we now call a globe. The earliest type of front bead was made from pig bristles that were touched on their tips by a red-hot iron. The heat caused the bristle to melt into a tiny ball that became the bead. The other end of the bristle was stuck in a small piece of soft pine and covered with shellac to hold it in place. The piece of wood was then attached inside the front tube, completing the sight. Later front posts were filed from steel, but they could never be as thin as the ones made from pig’s bristle.

This steel front post and bead is many times thicker than the pig’s bristle front sight mentioned in this report.

Using the peep sight
To use the peep sight, the shooter looked through the hole in the plate (the peephole) and focused on the front bead. The bead was then held either in the center of the target or just under the center, depending on the type of targets being used. An early target was a wooden shingle blackened by fire and scraped white in the center. This white spot was called the mark, and early target shooting was called “Shooting at a mark.”

You’ll notice that I didn’t discuss where the front bead is supposed to be positioned relative to the peephole. That’s because it doesn’t work that way! If you look through a peephole and keep both eyes open, your brain will automatically center the bead in the center of the peephole, because that’s the source of the brightest light.

From the shooter’s perspective, all he does is look through the peephole and put the front bead on the target. His eyes do the rest. That’s why the peep sight is so much more precise than sporting types of open sights.

When the front sight is a square post, it works the same; but you have to estimate the location of the middle of the peephole. On some sights with large peepholes, that can be difficult. It’s still many times faster than a post-and-notch sight set and at least as prercise.

This is what a square-post front sight looks like through a peep. The aim point is 6 o’clock on the bull.

The front aperture
Around 1874, a new type of front sight came into widespread use. It was an aperture atop a post, and the reason it took until 1874 to come into use was because most targets weren’t round until then. Most shooters shot at targets that were squares, so a round aperture wasn’t of much use. But when the American Standard target came into accepted use (the National Rifle Association lobbied for it), it brought the front aperture with it.

To use this type of front sight with the rear peep sight, you look through the peep and focus on the front aperture. Center the black bull in the aperture, and you’re done. As long as your front aperture is very close to the same size as the black bull downrange, all you have to do is align a series of concentric circles.

This is what you see through the peep sight when the front sight is an aperture and the bull is round.

Keep both eyes open!
It isn’t just a good idea to keep both eyes open when using a peep sight — it’s absolutely essential to their proper operation. I did a blog on this back in 2009 that gave you a quick experiment to conduct. If you do so, you will discover why you must keep both eyes open to use peep sights!

Quigley rediscovered
In what era do you place the movie Quigley Down Under? Be careful, because the rear sight on his rifle had not been used on an American rifle before 1874. That was the year the UK champion Irish Rifle Team challenged the US team to a match to decide the world championship. The US had no team at the time of the challenge, nor did we have any standard rifles that were up to shooting the 800-, 900- and 1000-yard distances involved. Even the rifle range known as Creedmoor was specially built for this challenge match.

To help the American team, both Sharps and Remington made special Creedmoor match rifles fitted with the very first vernier rear peep sights ever used in this country. They also had wind-gauge front sights to adjust for the drift and winds on the range.

When I return with the next section of this report, I’ll show you what an advancement this really was.

Announcement: Before we begin, I want to mention a correction I’ve made to the review of the Evanix Conquest. Apparently, the dual mag is not included with the gun. It was simply sent with the gun for testing. I’ve edited the review and noted the edits. The dual mags are available for purchase.

Part 1

The Mayhem .45 Sport Tactical air pistol is a big, heavy airgun.

Today, we’ll look at the power and velocity of the Mayhem .45 Sport Tactical air pistol. As you recall, this pistol is double-action only (DAO), which means the trigger retracts the striker before firing. So, the trigger-pull will never change as you shoot. It’s always going to be heavier than a single-action trigger.

Don’t confuse single-action and double-action with single-stage and two-stage. They describe entirely different things. Single-stage triggers are those that have no movement when the gun is cocked. You just pull until the gun fires. Two-stage triggers have a lighter first stage that stops at stage two, which then should break or release crisply when the gun fires.

The test
I always learn something from every test I conduct, and this time was no different. For the first time in my experience, I found a CO2-powered BB gun that needs a short break-in! I tested the gun with Daisy zinc-plated BBs. The initial shot went just 351 f.p.s., and I was stunned to see that it was 80 f.p.s. below the advertised velocity. But the next shot went 404 f.p.s., then the third went 373 and so on throughout the first 10 shots.

I saw a high of 429 f.p.s. around shot 10, but the average was far below that number. I reloaded the stick magazine and tried again!

The second time was similar to the first. Shot one went 399 f.p.s., and then the velocity dipped as low as 384 f.p.s. Shot six then went 423 f.p.s., which was the fastest shot in the second 10-shot string that averaged 407 f.p.s.

Then, the gun started performing better and better. The average of the third string was 427. String 4 averaged 421 and on and on until the 11th string averaged 408 f.p.s. That was the final string that made over 400, but there were still about 20 more usable shots left.

Yes, this pistol gave me over 130 shots on a CO2 cartridge! It was as close as I have come to cold fusion in quite a while. I almost had to break the velocity test into two parts because the testing was taking so long. Is that music to your ears? This is the ideal air pistol for those who lament the cost of buying CO2 cartridges.

The fastest recorded shot went 435 f.p.s., so the gun seems to be right on spec. I even got used to the DAO trigger and believe I can control it during the accuracy test.

The gun doesn’t seem to need much recovery time between shots to maintain its velocity. At times I was firing as fast as a shot every 5 seconds without hurting the velocity at all.

Yes, this pistol gave me over 130 shots on a CO2 cartridge! It was as close as I have come to cold fusion in quite a while. I almost had to break the velocity test into two parts because the testing was taking so long.

Magazine
I said in Part 1 that the magazine looked to be easier to load than most stick mags — now I can say that with confidence. The follower locks down in place positively, yet a flick of the finger releases it after the magazine is loaded.

Safety
The safety on this pistol is located on the right side of the frame and is one that requires a forward push on the milled plate to unlock the safety lever, which then moves up and down. It’s a design that requires some thought to operate, but it completely disconnects the trigger from the striker, rendering the gun incapable of firing.

The safety takes a bit of getting used to, but it works fine.

Made for a silencer
The Mayhem has deep roots in the world of airsoft. One of the ways you can tell is by examining the muzzle, which is threaded for a fake silencer. While it wouldn’t change the minimal report (the gun really isn’t very loud), it will probably appeal to many shooters. I don’t know that there’s an optional silencer for this handgun — yet; but if there’s enough demand, one probably could become available in the future.

The muzzle is threaded for a fake silencer.

This is the ideal air pistol for those who lament the cost of buying CO2 cartridges.

So far
All things considered to this point, the Mayhem has a lot going for it — especially the gas economy! But at the price, it’s going to come down to accuracy.

Part 1
Part 2

Daisy’s new Powerline model 35 multi-pump air rifle is designed for youth. It’s a smoothbore with several interesting features.

Today is accuracy day, and I know a lot of you have been waiting to see what this smoothbore Daisy Powerline model 35 multi-pump air rifle can do. Because it’s a multi-pump, I experimented a little with the number of pumps, but all groups were 10 shots at the stated distance.

Not a rifle
Before I start the report, here’s a little nomenclature lesson. Our UK readers should know this far better than our U.S. readers since they’re quite particular about calling guns exactly what they are. Americans, on the other hand, often refer to a long gun as a rifle, regardless of whether it is rifled or not. In this day, when there are no more buck-and-ball smoothbores or muskets to contend with, I suppose it’s understandable — but it isn’t correct. And, when we encounter a real smoothbore like this model 35 Daisy, we make the mistake of calling it a rifle. Heck, even Daisy calls it a rifle, but it isn’t. It’s a gun, by the strictest definition of the term. So, I’m calling it a gun — not a rifle.

Let’s begin the report.

Loading
I said last time that the pellets were prone to falling into the BB hole at the rear of the loading trough. Reader GenghisJan said he pushes the bolt forward to block the hole after cocking but not far enough to interfere with the skirts of the pellets being loaded. I tried his method and found that it works, but the loading area is still too small for me to roll the pellet in the way some other folks advised. So, I continued to let it drop over the receiver with the muzzle pointed straight down. That works for me nearly all the time.

Accuracy
I thought I would first test the gun rested at 10 meters. If it turned out to be accurate, I would then back up to 25 yards in a separate test. But if it wasn’t accurate at 10 meters (11 yards), there was no hope for it at the longer distance.

I used a 6 o’clock hold; and although the front sight has a white dot, I was able to mask it entirely by lighting the target brightly and shooting in a dark room. So, the maximum sighting precision was used on every shot.

Pellets were first, and the first pellet tested was the 7.9-grain Crosman Premier. I pumped the gun 6 times per shot because that seemed like a good place to begin.

The performance on target, however, is not very good. I’m not showing the customary dime next to the group because I had to photograph the first group while the target was still taped to the backer board. Not all 10 pellets remained on the target, and this was the only way to show the actual size of the group.

One of the 10 Crosman Premier pellets missed the target paper entirely (to the right). The black bull is approximately 1-3/16″ diameter (30mm), and this group is about three inches in width.

After that group, I thought perhaps my technique was bad or maybe the pellet was wrong, so next I tried the RWS Hobby pellet.

RWS Hobbys were no better at 10 meters! Another pellet missed the target to the right and this “group” undoubtedly measures in excess of 3″ across.

At this point, I examined the pellet holes and thought perhaps the pellets weren’t stable in flight. Each hole seems to have a tear to one side, as if the pellet passed through slightly off-axis. Next, I tried a different pellet and a different number of pump strokes.

Daisy Superior Match Grade pellets
Don’t search for these pellets online. The ones I have date back to the 1980s and have not been retained in the Daisy line. They’re starting to show signs of corrosion but haven’t turned white yet. I shot them on 5 pumps and, surprisingly, they turned in the best group to this point. They were grouped about 2-1/2″ above the aim point, however.

Ten obsolete Daisy target pellets made this group, which is the best one made to this point in the test. It measures 2.201″ between centers and stayed on the target paper.

The “accuracy” improvement is so minimal, though, that I don’t think anyone needs to mourn the loss of this pellet. It’s a lightweight wadcutter, if you want to experiment.

Like the first two pellets, most of the holes with this one also seemed to have the telltale tear on one side, so I thought 10 pumps might solve the problem. Would going faster make the pellet any more stable? Ten pumps did bring the pellets back to the aim point — sort of.

Ten pumps did nothing to improve the group of Daisy target pellets. In fact, one of the three pellets to the right (probably the one closest to the target) missed the target paper entirely.

Summary of pellet accuracy
Obviously, I’m not going to shoot this gun at 25 yards and risk putting pellets into the wall. We wondered how accurate a smoothbore might be, and I must say that I’m a little disappointed by the lack of accuracy seen here. I could spend a lot of time chasing after a better pellet, but that’s not time well spent.

On to BBs
BBs were next, and I moved in to 25 feet from the target. Eight feet less might not seem like a lot; but when you’re dealing with something as potentially inaccurate as a BB, it can be. Normally, I would have started with a shot from 12 feet just to make certain the gun was on target, but something told me it was. The first shot was from 25 feet. I shot in the offhand supported position, which means I braced myself against a door jamb.

I used Daisy zinc-plated steel BBs as the ammo, because I’m testing a Daisy gun and because I’ve found them to usually be one of the best BBs on the market. RWS BBs are just as good; but like I said, this is a Daisy gun.

This time, I used a BB-gun target, whose black bull is about the size of a U.S. dime. The normal distance for shooting at this target is 15 feet (offhand); so at 25 feet, I was under a slight disadvantage. The lighting was the same as for the 10-meter targets and the sights were just as sharp as before.

Ten BBs from 25 feet offhand supported produced the second-tightest group of the entire test. It measures 2.277″ between centers.

Don’t go making any assumptions about the four BBs that landed together just above the bull. They were shot and sighted exactly the same as the other 6 shots and are just a coincidence. This is where 5-shot groups tell you much less, because notice there’s a fifth shot in the black just below the group. I have no idea when that was shot in the series of shots, but some writers will make that the reality and explain away the other holes — or just not show them!

Wow! A little Photoshop fakery and this “5-shot” group looks like a winner!

Bottom line
I liked the Daisy Powerline model 35 until it came to accuracy. Then, it seemed to be an adequate BB gun, but not up to par with pellets. I guess those little spiral scratches in the barrel mean something after all!

Announcement: Some time soon, Pyramyd Air will change the log-in process for comments. I’m hoping it’ll be active no later than Thursday of this week. We’re getting hundreds of spam comments every day, and the blog now requires 24-hr monitoring to delete the spam so it doesn’t overwhelm the legitimate comments.

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a while, you may remember that we had a spam attack when we used Blogger software to write the original blog. We ended up tightening the comment process and stopped much of the spam. We’re going to use the same process for this blog. It involves entering a randomly supplied word when you log-in. If you decide to not log-in and just write your name anew every time you post a comment, you’ll have to go through the same process each time you make a comment. Obviously, logging in will save you time and effort. Thanks for your understanding.

Now, on to today’s blog!

The Evanix Conquest has set the bar very high for air rifles. It looks great, but let’s see how well it does in testing!

Well, new year, new gun. I’m surprised I haven’t been besieged with questions about this latest offering from Evanix — the Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle with thumbhole stock — especially, in light of the YouTube videos! What you’ll see on YouTube is a semiautomatic pellet rifle that is also capable of full auto! We’ll discuss that feature at length in this review.

The first thing you will note about the rifle is the price. This one is not intended for those just starting in airgunning. At $1,700 ($1,759 for .25 caliber), this rifle has got to be serious enough to hold its own in the world of pellet rifles. Here’s what I think that means.

What is has to be
The rifle has to be accurate. It cannot afford to be any less accurate than any high-priced pellet rifle or any lower-priced rifle, for that matter.

It has to be quiet. It must have the best sound reduction technology commensurate with its power level, which is advertised as 35.50 foot-pounds in the .22-caliber gun I’m testing for you.

It has to deliver a reasonable number of full-power shots. We’ll see what this one has to offer in the velocity test.

It has to be beautiful. It is, and I’ll comment on that some more in a little bit.

It has to have a fine trigger. It should be adjustable at this price; but if it’s fine, I really don’t need that feature.

It has to be reliable — as in absolutely and without equivocation. So, I plan on testing the sample rifle more than the average pellet rifle.

It should be straightforward, and I will comment on this today. I think the builders could have done things a little differently to get a better reception from the established airgun market — because that’s where all the sales will come from.

The rifle
Okay, when you open the box on this one, there are many surprises inside. The first is the need to charge the batteries for at least 8 full hours before installing them in the butt.

BATTERIES?

Yes, this rifle has an electrically driven action that runs on rechargable batteries. They drive the semi-/full-auto feature. Don’t complain about them, because in the world of airguns there’s only one conventional full-auto .22-caliber rifle and it isn’t for sale — yet (or perhaps ever)! That’s the M16 made by Mark D. (Doc) Schavone, and it shoots only round balls — not pellets. Then there’s also a belt-fed full auto .22 submachine gun made by Air Ordnance. The SMG 22 is full-auto and can be run on high-pressure air, but the primary fuel is CO2. When I tested one for Shotgun News last year, I found the air-powered version was slower than the CO2, which is odd, but there you are. At any rate, other than these two guns, the new offerings from Evanix are the only full-auto pellet rifles available.

There are actually two models, the Conquest I’m testing and the Speed, which is a lower-priced ($1,400) model that shares many of the same features, including the semi-/full-auto action. But I asked for a Conquest, because I know you guys want to see what is entailed in the best of the best, as do I.

Because the action is electrically driven, you don’t really have to cock the gun. The electronics do that for you. Personally, I plan to shoot the gun a lot more on semiauto than full auto, but I’ll put it through its paces on rock-n-roll to test the reliability factor.

You get quite a few accessories with the gun. For example, the battery charger comes with all the adapters needed for most national power grids. Naturally, you need to select only the correct one for your country and stick the rest into a drawer with all the other stuff you never use.

You get a selection of electrical adapters for the battery charger.

Here you can see the two switches that operate the action. The one in back is for “fire” and “safe.” The one in front is for “semiautomatic” and “full auto.” It is set to semiautomatic in the photo. Full auto is represented by the three dots seen at the bottom of the action.

Another feature I want to call attention to is the magazine. Each side of this two-sided circular mag holds 12 .22-caliber pellets, so this is a 24-shot rifle. Whether you get all 24 shots on a single fill remains to be seen. (edited 1/4/12: the gun does not include the 24-rd double magazine) In the video, they had the gun tethered to a scuba tank, but I’ll make this one perform on its own. In .177, the rifle is also a 12/24-round gun (edited 1/4/12: 12-rd mags only). In .25-caliber the numbers change to 10 and 20 (edited 1/4/12: 10-rd mags only).

With the rifle, you get one 24-round magazine, (edited 1/4/12: the 24-rd double-mag is not part of the package) two 12-round mags and a proprietary quick-disconnect fill probe.

You can also see a window in the right side of the receiver. I’ll have to find out it’s purpose, but I’m sure they put it it there for a good reason.

The woodwork is stunning! In fact, the rifle I’m testing (serial number 1111H012441) has even better wood figure than the rifle shown above. The stain is dark and rich, like a medium-dark chocolate. And the checkering on the grip (one panel each side) is flawlessly executed — as befits machine checkering. The stock is completely ambidextrous and needs no apologies. Since most of the high-end European air rifles get their stocks from Korea or Turkey, it doesn’t surprise me that this one is the equal of anything they produce.

This rifle is short and relatively light for an air rifle. It’s just 40 inches long and just a shade under 8 lbs. It’s ever-so-slightly longer than a carbine, which I think will appeal to hunters. So, is it a hunting air rifle? Well, with all the power on tap, hunting is what it will do well. At this price, it’ll probably appeal to a broader group of owners. If it’s as accurate as I hope, it could become another long-range legend. But that’s yet to be determined.

You also get a quick-fill adapter, and this one is proprietary. I wish they’d used the male Foster hydraulic fitting that has become the airgun standard all over the world, but they didn’t. Fortunately, their adapter works easily enough once you get used to it. Knurling on the part that moves to unlock the fitting would be an improvement, because there’s precious little room in the stock where the fitting has to be attached and detached.

The manometer (onboard air pressure gauge) reads in bar! Hallelujah! No more learning some other pressure quantification, this one is something we all understand. I filled the rifle to 200 bar, and the job was straightforward.

The barrel is fully shrouded, so I’m looking forward to a reasonably quiet operation. At 35 foot-pounds, it has to make some noise — but it shouldn’t be a bear.

I’m going to stop here, because there’s so much more information to cover that this introduction will take place in two parts.

Let the games begin!

Happy New year! I thought I’d review the best products I got to test last year. Some will be new, but others have been around a long time — I just got around to testing them.

Benjamin Marauder pistol
Back in January, when I was pouting about missing the SHOT Show, I had the opportunity to test the Benjamin Marauder PCP pistol. Actually, the test began in 2010 and extended into 2011, but it was such a good test that the pistol has to make it into this report.

Benjamin’s Marauder pistol, known as the “M-rod,” is a winner!

I even did an extra accuracy test because for the first one I mounted an old Leapers 6×32 scope that didn’t seem to give the pistol a chance to perform up to its capability. When I substituted a CenterPoint 3-12×44AO compact scope in the last test, the pistol showed what it can do.

The Marauder pistol is a .22 caliber with all the accuracy you could hope for. The power is great for this size airgun, and I strongly recommend attaching the standard shoulder stock extension that comes with the gun.

Beretta 92FS
The next great product of 2011 was the Beretta model 92FS air pistol with wood grips. I completed the test on this one in March. I was so impressed that I thought for a long time that Edith and I needed to get the firearm to go with it. In the end, we returned it because you just can’t keep them all; but while I had it, I thought it was a wonderful air pistol.

Hawke Sport Optics 4.5-14×42AO Tactical Sidewinder rifle scope
This one is not an airgun, but I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the finest rifle scope I’ve ever tested — the Hawke Sport Optics 4.5-14×42AO Tactical Sidewinder rifle scope. I’ve owned several Leupolds and looked through other premium scopes, but this Hawke has them all beat.

What’s so good about this scope? The clarity. It’s even clearer than my Unertl 6x that used to be a standard for target shooters. At 14x, it’s clearer than other scopes are at 32x. You have to see it to understand how that could be possible, but it is.

It’s very costly, though with the clarity it surpasses others of greater price. It’s the best I’ve ever seen.

Crosman Silhouette pistol
The Crosman Silhouette PCP air pistol is another pistol that made my list. I’d tested it the year before, but this one had some improvements, the most notable of which was the trigger.

The power is great, in the high 400s with medium-weight .177 pellets, but the number of shots on a fill reached 75, which is even more phenomenal. Crosman really did their homework on this pistol — refusing to let it alone after the initial offering. The result is that they launched an even better model in 2011 that will have airgunners talking for a long time.

Looking very Western, the Walther Lever Action rifle was one of the best airguns from 2011.

Walther Lever Action rifle
Walther already had a good lever-action air rifle, but last year they modernized it to accept the 88-gram CO2 cartridges, and the new Walther Lever Action Rifle is even better than before! I liked it so much that I did a special 4-part review on the gun and showed you accuracy you didn’t expect to see from this kind of airgun.

This rifle is pricy, but you get what you pay for. It’s slick, accurate and reliable. If you want a good lever-action pellet rifle it’s the only game in town. (My test featured the nickel version, but Pyramyd Air no longer sells it…but the blued version is still available.)

Crosman’s new M4-177 multi-pump rocks!

Crosman M4-177 air rifle
I would be remiss if I didn’t rave about the new Crosman M4-177 multi-pump air rifle. I liked mine so much I bought it! Does that tell you anything?

The gun is realistic, accurate and well-made. I bought one of the early guns that were mismarked, but Crosman begins shipping guns with the correct marking this month. I don’t know if Pyramyd Air has any of the mismarked ones left. However, don’t let that stop you — this is an airgun we can all enjoy.

MTM Predator Shooting table and Predator shooting rest
I use both the MTM Predator shooting table and the Predator shooting rest for almost all of my tests, if that tells you anything. But they’ve just been added to the Pyramyd Air product list and are now available to all of you. So, I included them in the 2011 list, even though I’ve had mine for several years. Both products let you make a firing line wherever you are, and that’s a necessity for someone who shoots a lot. I take mine to the rifle range and use the table in preference to the concrete tables on the range.

Dan Wesson BB revolver
We ended the year on a high note with the Dan Wesson BB revolver. When I reported on this novel new revolver, I said I was impressed by the realism they packed into the design. Twenty years ago, you just couldn’t get this level of realism in an airgun.

The one thing I failed to note in my report is the quirky way the safety works. Of course, a safety on a revolver is about as common as a unicorn horn; but if you have one, it ought to work right. This one doesn’t. You can put it on when the hammer is down and the action will be locked; but if the hammer is cocked, the safety does nothing at all. That’s dangerous, because there are new shooters who haven’t been properly trained and will test every safety in an unsafe way. This one will fire if they do.

Still, the gun is powerful, gets lots of shots and is quite accurate for a BB pistol. It’s also all metal. I don’t know what more you could ask for.

Summary
I reviewed many other airguns in 2011, including a host of vintage models that I won’t report in this list. These are the ones that stood out and caught my interest. You may have others, and now it’s your turn to comment.

Announcement: Dammion Howard is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Christmas Big Shot on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card plus another $50 in goodies!

Dammion Howard (left) shows off some new airguns he found under the tree this year!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Happy New Year from Tom & Edith!

One nice thing about watching a TV program is that it only takes an hour or less to view. You have no sense of the man-weeks of work that go into a short production on screen. Sometimes, the same thing happens in the world of airgun blogs.

I won’t say I’ve been dreading today’s report; but from past experience adjusting the HOTS on the Whiscombe rifle, I knew it might take longer than anyone could imagine to get a good result. It’s easy to say, “Adjust the HOTS for optimum performance with a certain pellet.” Actually doing it is where you discover if it’ll be easy or hard. The report I have for you today was very hard.

I allotted several hours to the actual testing and adjusting that would have to be done. And with my past experience with the Whiscombe, I knew shortcuts the average shooter wouldn’t think of. Let me lay the groundwork so you understand what’s happening in this process

The HOTS
The Whiscombe harmonic optimized tuning system (HOTS) consists of a weight that can be adjusted in or out along the axis of the bore. A jacket around the barrel is threaded to receive this weight. The threads on the weight are very fine, and one turn of the weight moves it a millimeter in either direction. One complete turn of the weight constitutes 1mm movement of the weight.

Besides the weight, there are two other metal parts. One is a short collar that locks the weight in position after it’s been adjusted, and the other is a much longer cover that encloses the entire HOTS from sight. This longer cap doesn’t need to be removed from the weight to make adjustments, just provide access room for the special wrench that moves the weight.

Here you see the HOTS mechanism. The threaded weight is turned in or out of the barrel jacket by the wrench. Once the weight is where you want it, lock it down with the knurled collar on the barrel jacket. Then, install the long cap, and the job is done.

Where to start?
The problem is always the same: Where do you start adjusting the weight? The simplest way is to start right where you are — with the HOTS in the last position it was set. Shoot a group at that setting and go from there. I had that data, of course, from the earlier part of this test, so that’s where I began. Because the last transfer port is still installed in the rifle, the Beeman Devastator pellet still develops about 772 f.p.s.

When I shot a group at this velocity in the earlier test, 10 shots went into a group measuring 1.073 inches between centers. I was looking for a group somewhere near that size this time, too. It might be a little smaller or larger; but if it was a quarter-inch group, there was a problem with the results of the last test. The same care was taken with each shot; to do any less would have skewed the results or made them unreliable at the very least.

The first group shot in this test, shot with the same HOTS setting, measured 0.953 inches between centers. That’s 0.12 inches smaller than the group from the last test. I would call that in the same ballpark and therefore a confirmation that the last test was sound.

Ten Beeman Devastators at 25 yards went into this 0.953-inch group with the original HOTS setting. It’s close to what the gun did in the last test on the same setting.

Adjusting the HOTS
Whiscombe says that there will be several sweet spots throughout a one-inch movement of the weight, which is approximately 25 full turns. He also says that one spot will be better than the others, and that’s the one to look for. He just doesn’t tell you how to find it, other than by adjusting the weight one turn at a time. But my experience told me that the sweet spot was probably not where the weight was at this time, so I turned it in (toward the receiver of the gun) four full turns and shot a second group. This is where my experience with the Whiscombe was supposed to pay off.

I wasn’t going to waste my time shooting 10 shots if the first 5 were spread out. Why bother? I wanted a tight group, and if inside 3-4 shots — or even 2, on one occasion — there was already a large separation, it was no use going further. I turned the weight in 4 full turns and shot another group. This group teased me with the first 5 shots in less than a quarter-inch, but the final 5 expanded that to 0.977 inches. Can’t be certain because of measurement errors, but no improvement at all.

At 0.977 inches, this group is slightly larger than the original setting. Obviously, the HOTS isn’t adjusted at this spot.

Next, I tried the weight 5 turns in from the start point. The group was worse. I backed out to 3 turns in and got about the same size group as with 4 turns in.

At this point, I experimented with some subtle adjustments on a half and then a quarter turn. At 3.5 turns in, I got a group that was slightly smaller than the one at 4 turns, but it had one called flyer. I tried another quarter turn in and got 4 shots in a group measuring 0.998 inches between centers. Obviously, I wasn’t going the right way.

No sense finishing this group. Four shots are already grouping 0.998 inches.

Okay, this wasn’t working. I adjusted the weight out in the other direction 9 full turns past the initial setting and shot another group of 10. This time there was some success, as the group measured 0.794 inches between centers. I wanted to call that the end of the test; but looking at the group, I knew it wasn’t enough of a difference to impress anyone. Even though it does show improvement over the baseline group, I would like to show a larger change since one of the Devastator groups in the earlier tests measured 0.616 inches. This group was too much larger than that. The gun should be able to do better if harmonics and not velocity was the main driving force behind accuracy.

This group is better than the baseline group, but it’s not as good as some groups that were fired in the big test. It measures 0.794 inches between centers.

By this time, I’d fired 49 shots in about 90 minutes. The test work had lasted much longer than expected, and I had to quit for the day.

A happy accident
The next morning, I was back at the bench and trying to complete the work. I figured I would adjust the weight out from the initial setting by a certain amount but as I tried to do that a happy accident happened. The front cover got stuck together with the weight; and by the time I noticed it, I’d already adjusted it 15-20 turns. Except, I had no way of knowing how many turns it was. I had to start all over, and this time from a random place that bore no known relation to the initial start point. Not that it mattered, except I didn’t want to waste all of the work from the day before.

I adjusted the weight at a point that looked to be well away from the initial setting. Then, I shot a group as a baseline. Or I should say I began to shoot a group. After 3 shots, I had a spread of 1.153 inches between centers — the largest spread of the entire test to this point. No sense finishing that one!

Past experience has shown that the sweet spots are often a couple turns in either direction. I guessed and turned the weight back in three turns from the starting point. And that was when it happened. The clouds rolled back, the angles sang and the rifle grouped like I knew it could. Ten shots went into 0.523 inches. That’s not only the best group of this little experiment with the HOTS, it also beats every group fired with the rifle during the main test conducted earlier.

This group of 10 was shot on the second day, with 3 turns in from the start point. It measures 0.523 inches and proves that the Beeman Devastator can shoot accurately at 772 f.p.s.

The results
With this kind of data in hand, I can say with some confidence that harmonics and not velocity is the main driver in how accurate a spring gun can be. I say this because the worst group shot during the velocity test was adjusted harmonically into the best group of the test with this pellet. There’s no chance in this group — it’s clearly much better than it was in the beginning.

Could the rifle shoot this pellet even better? Maybe. But it isn’t necessary to prove the point we were trying to prove.

Next, I want to adjust the rifle for Beeman Kodiaks at a higher velocity and test pellets straight from the tin against pellets that are sorted by weight. Today’s report should give everyone the confidence that, if a difference in accuracy is noted, it will be because of the pellets and not the gun.

The Mayhem .45 Sport Tactical air pistol is a big, heavy airgun.

If you liked the Dan Wesson revolver we looked at a couple weeks ago, here’s another realistic airgun for you — the Mayhem .45 Sport Tactical air pistol. This one is a semiautomatic pistol style, and the owner’s manual says that it fires semiautomatically. Without a 12-gram CO2 cartridge installed, all I could feel was a double-action-only trigger-pull, because every pull of the trigger was obviously also cocking the internal striker. So I installed a cartridge to see if it really is semiautomatic once charged.

Not a semiautomatic
Indeed, this is not a semiautomatic! When you pull or squeeze the trigger, you’re also retracting the internal striker against a powerful spring. A true semiautomatic would cock this striker spring for you by the action of firing. In a firearm, the moving slide would push the external hammer back until the sear caught it and then all you would have to do is squeeze the trigger a little each time to release the sear. That is the definition of semiautomatic. The exposed hammer you see on the gun is a solid cast piece that doesn’t move, so the real striker (the correct name given to a weight that is internal and doesn’t pivot on an axis, but moves straight back and forth to impact the end of the valve stem) is inside the frame of the gun and hidden from view.

Some people insist that double-action-only applies to just revolvers, but that is incorrect. Glock sells only firearm pistols, but they label their triggers correctly as double-action-only. The Mayhem trigger is also DAO.

General impression
The Mayhem is very large and heavy. The grip feels wide — like the grip on a double-stack firearm pistol in which the cartridges in the magazine are offset to accommodate twice as many in the same magazine height.

The entire exterior of the pistol is metal except for the grip. That’s where the weight of 2.29 lbs. comes from.

The sights are the fiberoptic type that I usually criticize for their lack of precision, but this is a BB pistol and probably capable of shooting to the same precision as the sights can control. So, in this case, the sights match the capability of the gun very well. There are no adjustments for these sights. The front is a red tube that is largely unprotected from impact and the rear is a curved green tube that appears as two green dots.

The entire top of the pistol is a stylized Weaver rail that Pyramyd Air calls an optics rail. Under the muzzle, there’s also a short Picatinny rail for accessories like tactical flashlights. Weaver bases will attach to Picatinny rails, but not vice-versa.

Looking down on the top of the pistol, we see the stylistic “Weaver” sight rail that extends the length of the gun. It should accommodate standard Weaver bases, but it has non-typical scalloped notches instead of the usual square Weaver notches.

Underneath the slide at muzzle, there’s a short Picatinny rail for tactical flashlights and lasers.

The whole plastic grip panel pulls back to expose the CO2 cartridge housing. Loading is quick and easy and the screw that tensions the CO2 cartridge does not show when the grip is forward.

The grip pulls back to expose the CO2 receptacle. The BB magazine is a metal stick-style.

The 19-shot BB magazine is a stick-type located in the front of the grip. It’s made of metal and better-made than 90 percent of the stick magazines I see in similar airguns. The spring-loaded follower pulls down and locks at the bottom so you can load the magazine with one hand. There’s a wide opening for loading the BBs. When you’re finished, push the base of the follower that protrudes through the bottom of the magazine, and it’ll unlock and spring forward to tension the BBs.

The slide doesn’t move on this gun, nor is there any blowback sensation. The trigger stacks toward the end of the pull, allowing you to control the gun for more precision. It isn’t as easy to control as a gun with a single-stage trigger, but you can learn to control this kind of trigger pretty quickly. I imagine a gun like this will be chiefly used for plinking at soda cans and targets of equal size, though I do plan to test it on bullseye targets.

Power
The power is rated at 430 f.p.s. Since this is a steel BB gun, there can be no confusion about what that means. Only steel BBs will be used in the gun, so any that I try should go approximately that fast.

Airsoft heritage
This is another air pistol that made the transition from airsoft. You can see that in several places, starting with the threaded muzzle that’s obviously meant for a silencer. A second clue are multiple references made in the owner’s manual, where the instructions refer to this as a “soft air” pistol.

There’s nothing wrong with transitioning from an airsoft gun, We saw that in the Dan Wesson revolver and liked it very much. But this pistol must stand on its own merit, so it’s going to be treated the same as all other BB pistols. As nice as it feels, I hope it does well!

Part 1

Daisy’s new model 35 multi-pump air rifle is designed for youth. It’s a smoothbore with several interesting features.

Today, we’ll look at the velocity of the Daisy Powerline model 35 multi-pump air rifle. You’ll remember from Part 1 that this is a smoothbore, and as such we’re going to be testing the accuracy with diabolo pellets. One reader asked me to test the velocity of the gun with round lead balls, so I did that, as well. There’s a lot to test, so let’s get to it.

Number of pumps
A multi-pump lets the shooter select the number of pumps for every shot — up to the maximum recommended number. In this case, that’s 10 pumps. I decided to test the model 35 on 5 and 10 pumps, just to simplify the test and to bound the amount of work to be done. Five pumps takes us to the place where the gun is shooting fast, but also where each successive pump provides diminishing returns. Ten pumps takes us all the way as high as the gun is recommended to go.

Crosman Premier lites
The 7.9-grain Crosman Premier pellet is a good choice for this gun if weight is the criteria. Because the model 35 is a pneumatic, this pellet won’t suffer like it would in a spring-piston gun of the same approximate power.

Five pumps
On five pumps, the velocity averaged 478 f.p.s. and ranged from 472 to 481 f.p.s. That gives us an average muzzle energy of 4.01 foot-pounds. This velocity should be okay for target shooting at 10 yards; but if I were shooting farther than 15 yards, I would probably pump it more.

Ten pumps
The model 35 is rated to develop 605 f.p.s. with pellets, but of course that would be with the lightest ones. I expected to see 550 f.p.s. with these 7.9-grain Premiers. They actually averaged 565 f.p.s. and ranged from 559 to 570 f.p.s. That’s a muzzle energy of 5.6 foot-pounds. I would have to say the gun meets my expectations when it comes to power.

Loading difficulties
I mentioned this in Part 1, and I’ll reinforce that now. This gun is very tricky to load with pellets. You must watch the large hole at the back of the short loading trough that’s there for BBs, or you’ll get a pellet stuck in it. I find it best to point the muzzle straight down and let the pellet tip over the edge of the receiver, where the nose will fall into the breech if you’re fortunate.

RWS Hobbys
Next to be tested were the 7-grain RWS Hobby pellets. You might think that these would be a lot faster because they’re almost a full grain lighter than the Premiers; but in a pneumatic gun, velocities don’t increase that fast.

Five pumps
Five pumps gave an average 495 f.p.s., or just 17 f.p.s. more than the Premier did at the same number of pumps. The range went from 492 to 503 f.p.s. The average muzzle energy was 3.81 foot-pounds.

Ten pumps
On the full 10 pumps, I expected to see the Hobby pellet approach 600 f.p.s., but it did not go quite that far. The average was 577 f.p.s., and the velocity ranged from 567 to a high of 586 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the muzzle energy was 5.18 foot-pounds.

BBs were next
Next up were steel BBs. I had to shoot either BBs or pellets. If there’s even a single BB in the gun’s internal reservoir, the magnetic bolt tip would attract it. I counted the BBs as I loaded the gun, because I didn’t want to have excess BBs remaining after this part of the test. Of course, I used Daisy zinc-plated BBs because this is a Daisy gun.

Five pumps
On 5 pumps, the BBs averaged 517 f.p.s. They ranged from a low of 505 to a high of 529 f.p.s. The average muzzle energy was 3.03 foot-pounds.

Ten pumps
Ten pumps bumped the average velocity to 616 f.p.s. — breaking the 600 f.p.s. level for the first time in the test. The velocity ranged from a low of 612 to a high of 619 f.p.s., so BBs were more stable than pellets in this gun. You don’t often see that. The muzzle energy was 4.3 foot-pounds.

Trigger-pull
The trigger-pull was noticeable throughout this test because it’s so heavy in relation to the overall weight of the gun. When a 9-lb. rifle has a 5-lb. trigger-pull, it seems right. On the other hand, when a 3-lb. gun, like this model 35, has a trigger that breaks at just over 6 lbs., it’s too much. It’s a single-stage and fairly free from creep, but the sheer weight of the pull is daunting. I think it’ll affect me during the accuracy test.

Round lead balls
I tried shooting some round lead balls in the gun because a reader asked me to. Since I will also shoot them for accuracy, I selected the largest lead balls in this caliber. Beeman Perfect Rounds, which were made by H&N and are identical to the H&N Rundkugel were the ones I chose. They measure 0.176-0.177 inches in diameter and weigh 8.3 grains.

Five pumps
On 5 pumps, these balls averaged 414 f.p.s. and ranged from a low of 396 to a high of 434 f.p.s. At that speed, they generate 3.16 foot-pounds.

Ten pumps
On 10 pumps, they average 504 f.p.s. and range from 480 to 522 f.p.s. They produce an average of 4.68 foot-pounds. With such a large velocity spread, I don’t look for great accuracy — especially at longer distances.

Evaluation so far
To this point, the model 35 is proving to be an interesting little pneumatic. The upcoming accuracy test of a smoothbore airgun is what I’m really waiting to see. Feeding with BBs was 100 percent positive, but with pellets it was difficult to load the gun. The lead balls loaded easily enough because they have no sharp shoulders like the pellets to grab things and turn them around. After all — they are balls — so who knows where the front is?

The trigger is heavy, but the sights are crisp. I’m looking forward to seeing what this little gun can do.

I will say this. The model 35 is very quiet! It has a No. 2 noise rating on Pyramyd Air’s site, and it deserves one. Only a Red Ryder would be reliably quieter.

Edith has been after me to write this report for over a year. I’ve been researching it and believe I can do it some justice, but this is a large topic. And it’s a fundamental one — like learning to shoot a handgun one-handed.

I’m going to make the case that the scope sight has destroyed the potential of more shooters than anything else. Not that scopes don’t work, but that they work too well. It’s my opinion that every shooter who is able (and that’s a lot more people than are willing to admit it) should first learn to shoot with open sights; because in doing so, they learn the fundamentals of breathing, trigger control, follow-through and perhaps many other basic components of accuracy as well.

History
There are several ways to go about this, and I’m going to present it in sort of a chronological sequence. The first guns had no sights at all, but that was okay, because they also were not at all accurate. Trying to aim one of them was almost a lost cause. I’m referring to the early hand cannons.

I see these guns coming to auction on Gun Broker from time to time, and the dealers sometimes list them as “target guns.” What a joke! These guns have wide, flared cannon-type muzzles, no sights and are the antithesis of a target gun. I think people list them that way because they have no notion of how a gun works, and the words they choose are for effect, only.

The first sights were nothing but reference points on the muzzles of guns. Sometimes, it was a raised bump at the top of the muzzle, and other times it was a groove or notch — just something the shooter could refer to when aiming the piece. The bead on a shotgun barrel is very similar to this kind of sight; and for the accuracy potential of the guns that had them, they were sufficient.

The simple bead is all the sight a modern shotgun gets. In essence, a shotgun is much like a musket of old.

The Kentucky rifle ushered in a new type of sight that, while not exactly new on the Kentucky, was certainly made famous by association with it. I’m referring to the low front blade that stood one-eighth inch tall or less and the wide rear vee that was equally low. These sights are so vestigial that they always look worn out to me, yet they’re capable of remarkable accuracy.

By the way, the term “Kentucky” is back in vogue for the types of American long rifles made from 1730 and afterwards — they have long barrels of relatively small caliber. Revisionist historians have tried to shove the title “Pennsylvania” down the throats of shooters and collectors for the past 60 years because most famous of these rifles were made in that region and not in Kentucky, which is just where they were carried and used. The term Kentucky rifle was originally used in Daniel Boone’s time because he explored the Kentucky region and both he and those who went with him carried this style of rifle. It was further popularized in a song during the War of 1812; and although it referred to a group of men in that song, rather than to their firearms, the name stuck.

The fine front sight blade on an early Kentucky rifle is so low that it appears to be worn out. It gave a fine aiming reference to good eyes.

An early Kentucky rear sight is a wide and shallow vee.

The early sights on a Kentucky rifle were low and fine. They gave a very small, sharp sight picture that resulted in extreme precision when good eyes were used.

Most shooters who see these primitive sights today think they’re not capable of accuracy, but history is full of anecdotes that prove otherwise. One of the more famous stories is the shot made by Daniel Boone during an Indian attack, when Boone shot a sniper in the forehead at a measured distance of more than 200 yards. It was a first-shot kill, and was apparently not considered to be that special, given the remarks that were made at the time.

A shooter with good eyes could “draw a bead” using as much or little of the front sight as he chose. Once a person became familiar with his rifle, sighting this way became second nature.

Paper targets found in the possibles bags of shooters prove these old rifles with their simple sights could often group their shots in one inch and less at 100 yards, though 60 yards was far more often the distance for a marksmanship contest. Because wood planks were the preferred targets of the 1700s through the 1860s, not too many original paper targets survive, though the older guns were often still being shot when paper targets came into widespread use after the American Civil War.

Kentucky windage
The term Kentucky windage stems from another special way the earliest type of sight was used. While the sights were often mounted on dovetails that could be moved left and right, it was much easier for the shooter to simply use a sight picture that compensated for the necessary windage. In other words, hold the rifle so the front sight appeared at different places on the rear vee. Since the need for windage changes with both the distance to the target and the wind, this is a very flexible way of doing it. The very fact that the term is “Kentucky” windage proves, yet again, that the popular name for the rifle was Kentucky and not Pennsylvania.

By holding the front sight to one side of the vee in the rear, the shooter controlled how far to one side the bullet went. This is called Kentucky windage.

Not made today
You’re not likely to see this early style of rifle sight today. The problem is that when Kentucky rifles are made new today, the makers almost never select the early primitive sights described here. Instead, they either use sights that are appropriate to rifles made at the end of the black powder era or they use sights that are even more modern, in the belief that they’re better and more appreciated by the customer. Perhaps they are, but only because the customer has little or no experience with the early, very primitive Kentucky sights.

Sights mature
The sights most often seen on guns we call Kentucky rifles are not the early Kentucky style, but the later plains rifle sights that most muzzleloading rifles had from about 1820 onward. The front blade is taller than the traditional Kentucky blade described above, and the rear sight is taller with a more of a buckhorn design. Many of these later sights are adjustable, or they have features like folding express leaves of different heights.

The American Civil War did much to mature open sights, but not the sights on the military guns. However, the civilian models evolved quite a lot — starting around this time; by 1875, they were as advanced as they would get for another 75 years.

After the American Civil War, front sights grew in height and gained some form like this one from 1867.

This post-1860 rear sight has two leaves for two different distances. Notice that the shallow vee has become a notch.

They also started to branch off into sporting sights and target sights. The sporting sights became more like the style that had been called target sights before 1860, while the target sights evolved into units capable of the greatest precision.

The driving force for this rapid advancement was a worldwide interest in target shooting. It exploded onto the American scene when, in 1874, the U.S. decided to accept the challenge of the Irish National team for the championship of the world. No one expected the Americans to make more than an honorable showing; but when the smoke cleared on the Creedmore rifle range, they were the new world champions!

The target sights they used were one of the special advantages they brought to the field, having increased in precision half an order of magnitude just for this match.

In the next report, I’ll show you how the sporting open sights continued to evolve plus what happened to the target sights.

Before we begin, I’d like to share my Christmas with you. I didn’t get any airguns or firearms this year, but I did get a wonderful reloading tool. It’s a Pope-style capper and decapper for priming and depriming cartridge cases while at the rifle range. You do that with the old-fashioned target rifles like my Ballard, and I’ve wanted to do it for a long time. But until I actually saw the tool and held it in my hands, I had no appreciation of how neat and handy it was!

This loading tool is a Pope-style capper/decapper. It’s cartridge-specific and very handy to use. This one is for .38-55.

This will help me shoot the Ballard in the style it was shot when the gun was new. It also eliminates a lot of extra clutter needed to load the rifle. I’m still waiting for a custom bullet mold that I’ll need before I start shooting the Ballard again (it’s on the way but didn’t arrive in time for Christmas).

Edith, however, did get a gun from Santa. It’s a full-sized Glock made of milk chocolate! It came in a pistol case and really looks the part. Edith calls it death by chocolate!

A chocolate Glock that came in a hard pistol case. Edith loves it! She also got a chocolate hand grenade. Death by chocolate takes on a whole new meaning.

I hope all of you will share your gun-related gifts with us in the comments. It’s like being invited to your homes for Christmas. Now, let’s get into today’s report.

As much testing as I do, I run into lots of airguns that are difficult to shoot. Spring-piston airguns are the hardest to shoot as a class of gun. The preponderance of them are breakbarrels; and of those, the more powerful ones are harder to shoot accurately than any other kind of rifle — firearm or air-powered. Naturally, I always begin by using the artillery hold, but often something more is needed to get the rifle shooting its best. Let me show you what I do when this happens.

Adjustments to the artillery hold
I’m assuming that ya’ll know about the artillery hold; for those who don’t, here’s a brief article and video that explain it.

Most of what I’m about to say is also in the video. If the normal artillery hold isn’t working, try resting the rifle on the backs of your fingers. This provides a narrower fulcrum and often removes some of the randomness you get from holding the rifle on the flat of your palm.

Whether the rifle is resting on my palm or the backs of my fingers, I usually start out with the rifle rested as far back toward the triggerguard as possible. If I can’t get accuracy there, I slide the fulcrum forward until the groups tighten. One word of warning about using the backs of the fingers: many rifles are heavy enough to hurt when rested this way. Though it may prove to be accurate, it may also be inconvenient.

Disregard the artillery hold
In very few cases over the years, I’ve found certain guns that needed to be held tight — like a deer rifle. These are extremely rare; but if all else fails, grab on for dear life and pull the stock tight into your shoulder.

Clean the barrel
This is an old standby that simulates breaking-in the barrel. And you only do it with steel barrels. Brass barrels should never be cleaned this way. Run the correct caliber brass or bronze bore brush loaded with J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound through the barrel 20 times in both directions. You need to use a solid or sectional cleaning rod for this, as a pull-through will take forever.

When cleaning rifles that have sliding breeches like the TX200 and the RWS Diana 48, you’ll want to use a pistol bore brush because they’re shorter. They will clear the breech of the gun when loaded from the muzzle, making the reverse cleaning stroke much easier. You really should use a brass pistol brush, because nylon pistol brush bristles aren’t stiff enough to properly clean rust deposits from a steel rifle barrel.

This works sometimes because barrels are either full of foreign material and dirt, or they’re actually rusted. Bluing solutions will cause a barrel to rust in storage and shipment. I used to clean all the Lothar Walther barrels at AirForce after they came back from the bluer, and you would be surprised at what came out! I always left them with a film of a commercial product called Rustlick that we bought by the gallon, yet sometimes even then they would continue to rust. You never can be sure without cleaning the barrel.

If you just shoot your gun when it’s new, eventually the pellets will clean the barrel for you. They’ll also remove any burrs that are standing proud of the rifling. But to speed up the process, nothing can beat J-B Bore Paste!

Tighten the stock screws
This ought to be your first step even before attempting to shoot the gun. But we forget or we grow complacent. Many of the newer guns are designed with stock screws that just don’t loosen as much as they used to, and some companies like Gamo apply Locktite to their stock screws. Still, give those screw heads a try.

This task goes much better if you use something like a professional screwdriver set. I owns several sets like this, and they’re in constant use at my house. You’ll find that one set will have that extra-narrow Phillips bit you need for certain jobs, while another will have the wide, fat slotted bit for those huge screw heads you sometimes encounter.

Tighten the scope screws
You would not believe how many times I’ve encountered loose scope screws! It happens on firearms as well as airguns. And it’s always a detriment to accuracy. To find out if the screws are loose, I do two things.

First, I grab the gun by the scope and shake it. If the mounts are loose, this will tell you immediately that something’s wrong. But to be absolutely certain, I do physically check every screw. I’ve had the embarrassing situation arise that after doing a big article that had an accuracy section, when I’m removing the scope I discover one or more loose screws. That always makes me wonder if the gun shot as well as it could have.

The place where this is especially evasive is on mounts that are adjustable. The adjustment screws that oppose each other (I’m thinking of the B-Square design now) are often not under tension. That can lead to a problem even when the mounts are tight on the gun and the scope is tight in the rings.

The breech
On a breakbarrel air rifle, the breech is the area of greatest concern as far as accuracy problems go. A pivot pin that’s too loose can cause groups to open up, and a breech seal that stands too high can cause inconsistent closing of the breech. In fact, this is such a sensitive area that I pay particular attention to it when setting up a rifle for accuracy testing. If the barrel wobbles on the pivot pin, as so many Chinese-made breakbarrels do today, there’s little that can be done (outside of major gunsmithing) to tighten the breech. A gun with a wobbly barrel is not going shoot accurately regardless of how tight it may feel.

Along that line, someone asked about the Whiscombe I shoot. It’s both a breakbarrel and an underlever. The underlever cocks the mainsprings, but the barrel breaks open for loading. John Whiscombe designed a very positive method of enclosing this breech so it cannot get loose while the gun is operated. That’s why this spring rifle shoots almost as accurately as a PCP.

Here you can see the Whiscombe breech broken open. There are two chisel detents holding the breech shut, and a bar welded to the underside of the barrel is clamped by them. Those chisels will be on top of the bar when the breech is closed. The barrel opens and closes independent of the rifle being cocked.

You also have to look at the breech seal. Not because the gun leaks air at the seal, because that’s relatively rare, but because the breech seal often stands so high that it doesn’t allow the breech to close the same every time. So, a flat breech seal is not as much of a problem as a tall seal might be. When this is the problem, and it’s relatively rare, then you need to reconfigure the breech seal, which can take some time. I don’t have a handy rule of thumb guide for this, but the height of the breech seal can affect accuracy when it gets too high.

Summary
These are the things I do when accuracy isn’t what it should be. As I said in the beginning, the problems happen mostly with spring-piston guns; and of those, the powerful breakbarrels are the worst of all. If a CO2 gun or a pneumatic is inaccurate I suspect the barrel before anything else; and if the gun is a cheap one, it may just not have a good barrel to begin with.

I used to oil my springers a lot more than I do today. I now think over-oiling the compression chamber leads to accuracy problems more than a dry gun.

There may be a few other tricks I know, but these are the ones that come to mind when I think about guns that are difficult.

Announcement: Kevin Currie is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Kevin Currie is shown shooting a tuned .177 Gamo CFX with his son and dog. He says his CFX is scary accurate!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

Merry Christmas!
For those who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas from Edith and me! This is our last opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas before Sunday, but I would like to hear on Monday from anyone who received an airgun, airgun-related gift or a firearm for Christmas. I’ll tell you what I got, too.

Today, we’ll look at the results of this test to see if there’s a direct inverse relationship between pellet velocity and accuracy. I’ll start with the results by pellet and see where that goes.

A word about the shooting technique
The first accuracy test I did was in Part 2 of this report. I found fault with that test, though, because of how I was shooting. I wasn’t using the scope level on the gun all the time, and I also wasn’t “seasoning” the bore by shooting several shots before starting a group. Some pellets seemed to need the seasoning, while with others it didn’t seem to matter as much. I reshot the entire first accuracy test and seasoned the bore for every pellet, plus I paid attention to the scope level.

The need for seasoning seemed to go away as testing progressed, but the scope level was always consulted for every shot. I know that the level improved the performance of every pellet that was shot. The jury is still out on the seasoning issue.

All the accuracy results seen here are not from the first time I shot the rifle, but the second. All were shot at the velocities indicated. Just the shooting techniques were adjusted as indicated.

Beeman Devastators
In this test, the 7.1-grain Beeman Devastator was the “little pellet that could.” From the start, when it was averaging 1,216 f.p.s., this lightweight hunting pellet produced 10-shot groups under three-quarters of an inch at 25 yards. That went against the popular belief that supersonic velocities are harmful to accuracy.

The Devastator turned in the following performance at 25 yards.

Velocity (f.p.s.)….Group size
1,216………………….0.743″
1,123………………….0.616″
973……………………0.724″
772……………………1.073″

Okay, you don’t need a graph to see a problem here! This pellet is obviously way more accurate at 1,123 f.p.s. than it is at 772 f.p.s. Theory says that shouldn’t be because the first velocity is breaking the sound barrier, which is where all the accuracy gremlins are supposed to live.

Looking at the group size in relation to the velocity, it appears that 1,123 f.p.s. is the most accurate velocity for this pellet in this gun. That would entirely negate the theory that velocity destroys accuracy. So, if there is such a relationship, it must be subordinate to and less influential than some other influence. I think that other influence might be vibration, but that’s just a guess.

Crosman Premier lites
The 7.9-grain Crosman Premier lite was the next pellet I tested. Here are the results of all four tests at 25 yards.

Velocity (f.p.s.)…Group size
1,134………………….0.778″
1,057………………….0.754″
915…………………….0.747″
732…………………….0.593″

The Premiers did give a linear relationship between velocity and group size, though the two groups from the middle two velocities are so close in size that they could be the same. Measuring error is greater than the difference between these two groups.

The group at the lowest velocity is obviously the best of the four and by a wide margin. The data from this pellet isn’t clear as to what is causing the accuracy improvement. It could be either velocity or vibration. However, at 915 f.p.s., the pellet is going slow enough to be out of the transonic region, while at 1,057 f.p.s. it isn’t. I would have expected to see an accuracy gain at that lower velocity that’s greater than what we see here if the real problem is just velocity.

Beeman Kodiaks
Next, I shot the heavyweight Beeman Kodiak pellet. It proved to be the most accurate pellet of this test and the only one that turned in a group smaller than a half inch. Please bear in mind that these are all 10-shot groups and are about 60 percent larger than they would be if they were only five shots. I didn’t shoot 10 shots for that reason — but because, in doing so, I reduced the probability error significantly. In short, I can trust that the group sizes shown are closer to reality that if I had shot two 5-shot groups and averaged them.

Kodiaks shot tight right from the start, even though the first group of pellets was actually close to or just within the transonic range. Since I didn’t keep atmospheric data for each day I shot, I can’t say where the sound barrier was exactly; and the transonic region, which is 0.8 mach to 1.5 mach, is calculated based on that. In practical terms, I know that 992 f.p.s. is pretty darn close to transonic, because the sound barrier can be anywhere from 1,050 f.p.s. to 1,125 f.p.s. depending on the temperature and humidity where I shoot.

Velocity (f.p.s.)…Group size
992…………………….0.633″
937…………………….0.628″
819…………………….0.472″
658…………………….0.864″

However, the groups don’t seem to support the velocity/accuracy relationship very well. It’s true that the first and second groups are too close to really say which is larger than the other, but the velocities at which they were shot are very important. One borders on the transonic, while the other is probably slower than transonic.

But look at that third group! When the velocity averages 819 f.p.s., the Kodiak loves this rifle! Is that a velocity thing or is that influenced by the harmonics of the rifle at that power level? I’m inclined to think that it’s the latter, though we do not have enough data to prove it.

The last group is the worst, though the velocity is getting pretty low for a pellet this long and heavy. We don’t know much from these results, either. But if it does turn out to be harmonics over velocity, then this pellet is probably the best one for the rifle, and the Harmonic Optimized Tuning System (HOTS) needs to be adjusted for it at around 900 f.p.s.

Eun Jin
The 16.1-grain Eun Jin pellet is too heavy for the power potential of this air rifle. Although the Whiscombe JW 75 is a 30 foot-pound air rifle — that’s only in .25 caliber — when the heaviest pellets are used. In .177, it’s much closer to 20 foot-pounds and is, therefore, too weak to drive the 16.1-grain .177 Eun Jin fast enough for accuracy.

Velocity (f.p.s.)…Group size
726…………………….0.798″
687…………………….1.118″
618…………………….1.270″
501…………………….1.724″

Starting with the second group, I could tell that the Eun Jins weren’t going to do well. Like the Kodiaks, they’re also too long and heavy to make any conclusions regarding velocity versus harmonics. They just don’t give enough speed in this rifle to properly examine the velocity question.

A different look at the data
The “sweet spot” was different for every pellet. Each pellet had one velocity at which it grouped the best; disregarding the actual velocity, it went like this:

Fastest was best—>Eun Jin
Second fastest was best—>Devastator
Third fastest was best—>Kodiak
Slowest was best—>Premier lite

That, by itself, is a pretty good indicator that supersonic speed isn’t a problem, since the Devastator was supersonic when it produced its best group. One thing you cannot do is compare the group sizes…one to another…between the pellets. Let each pellet stand alone because there are far too many variables to make a cross comparison like that.

Was the Whiscombe a valid testbed?
Some thought the Whiscombe was the wrong gun to use because it’s so inherently accurate. I disagree. I think its accuracy makes the results all the more valid. Besides, controlling many of the magnum breakbarrel springers is too difficult and gets in the way of testing. They require perfect hold technique for every shot. The Whiscombe is much easier to control, which takes that variable out of the equation.

Some felt that only a pneumatic should be used since harmonics seemed to be causing accuracy errors. Well…that was the point of testing! Now we know a little more about how the pellets respond to supersonic speed, and it seems to me that it doesn’t matter as much as many, including me, have believed. People don’t just shoot PCPs. I do plan on testing this same sort of thing with a PCP whose velocity I can control over a wide range, and those results will also be interesting — but they don’t negate the value of testing a springer.

I used the Whiscombe for this test because, even when I altered the velocity, the harmonics of the gun remained the same. The powerplant always ran at full power, regardless of how fast it shot. And the barrel was always the same, too. The only thing that changed was the velocity.

What comes next?
I’m sure some of you will have additional interpretations to make about this test, and now is the time to make them known. My next step is to use the rifle as it is currently set up and adjust the HOTS to see what I can do to the size of the Beeman Devastator group. I’m thinking the HOTS can be adjusted to shrink it significantly. I have a procedure in mind to cut the time it takes to adjust the rifle because this can take hours if you aren’t careful! I’ll share that procedure with you in that report.

If I’m right about being able to tune the HOTS to get a small group at the average of 772 f.p.s., then the next thing I’ll do is shoot another group with the bubble level taped to hide the bubble. I won’t intentionally try to enlarge the group, but I just won’t be able to consult the bubble for every shot. That will result in another group that can be compared with the best group I’m able to shoot when the HOTS is tuned, because it will still be tuned for that group.

Finally, perhaps one additional test is needed. I’ll set the rifle to shoot Kodiaks in the high 800 f.p.s. range and adjust the HOTS for the best accuracy. When I get the best group, I’ll shoot one group of weight-sorted pellets against another group of pellets selected straight from the tin.

When all of this is completed, I should be able to state what I think are the most important components of accuracy. You’ll be able to see how much difference these things really have on group size. Most of you can’t adjust the harmonics of your spring guns, so you need to find the one pellet that shoots the best. Perhaps it’s time someone made a generic harmonic tuner for springers, again.

Daisy’s new model 35 multi-pump air rifle is designed for youth. It’s a smoothbore with several interesting features.

Daisy calls this model 35 an air “rifle,” but it isn’t a rifle at all. It’s a smoothbore. Now, I take exception to the misuse of terminology, but I haven’t shot a smoothbore pellet gun in so long that I welcomed the opportunity to try this one.

Also, this is a new model from Daisy. Normally Daisy makes new models by painting their older guns or laser engraving them with a name other than the base gun they come from. So anything that is really new from Rogers, Arkansas, like this gun, is worth a look.

The Daisy model 35 is a multi-pump pneumatic that shoots both BBs and lead pellets, though not interchangeably. You have to decide which ammo you want to shoot, because the loading methods are different for each type. I will cover that in greater detail in Part 2.

Pellets are loaded one at a time and when you shoot them the gun is a single shot. BBs are poured into an internal reservoir that holds up to about 50. They are then fed by manipulating the gun as you load it. A magnetic bolt tip grabs each new BB from the reservoir and inserts it into the breech.

One thing I noticed about loading is you have to be careful not to let the pellet pass into the hole at the rear of the loading trough. That’s where the BBs come from and the hole is large enough to accept the pellet. If it enters the hole it could get stuck, so I found it best to roll the pellet into the trough with finger pressure, so it’s controlled and doesn’t go near the hole.

It’s a smoothbore!
Because the model 35 is a smoothbore, we get the opportunity to see how diabolo pellets perform when they are not spinning. A lot will depend on the length of the pellet, as longer pellets should tumble more than shorter pellets.

I read the customer reviews and several mentioned that the gun is difficult to scope. Scope??? This is a smoothbore gun and people want to scope it? The open sights that come on the gun are adjustable in both directions, and although they are not adjusted by precision detents and knobs, they are everything that’s needed to shoot well and have a good time. Forget the scopes for this gun, because multi-pumps are not suited to them.

Youth gun
This gun was undoubtedly made for youth. Daisy’s Powerline label applies to guns of a certain muzzle velocity and it is supposed to be for children 16 years and up, but in all other ways, this is a kid’s gun. Having a short-stroke pump makes it easy to pump to the maximum of 10 pumps, for which you are rewarded with a muzzle velocity of 625 f.p.s. with a steel BB and 605 f.p.s. with pellets. We know nothing about what pellet was used to test it, but Daisy must have used their own zinc-plated steel BBs for the BB velocity test. Therefore it will be very easy to compare the test gun to the advertised velocity.

As a youth gun the 35 is light, at just 3.1 lbs. And because there is no wood on the gun, that weight should not vary from one gun to another. The trigger is single-stage, which doesn’t appeal to me personally, but I think it’s the style preferred by more shooters. The pull is long and heavy enough to satisfy a lawyer, but it’s relatively free of creep. It isn’t crisp by anyone’s definition, but it is entirely usable and probably a good thing for youthful fingers. I’ll give you the pull weight in Part 2.

The sights are designed well and, as noted, they do adjust in both directions. Elevation is controlled by a notched elevator that slides in a slot in the rear sight leaf and windage is controlled by a screw that loosens to slide the rear notch in either direction. The front sight has a white dot , but if you light the target and keep the shooter in the dark the sight blade with appear square in the rear notch.

The front sight is a nice crisp post. You can hide the white dot with lighting, for better accuracy.

The rear sight adjusts in both directions. This photo also shows the BB loading door located on the left front of the receiver.

Maintenance
This is one of those pneumatics that looks like it cannot be stored with a pump in the compression chamber, because the bolt has to be cocked to charge the gun. Best to do it the way Daisy recommends. The pump head should be oiled, because it is just sealed by an o-ring. That makes the oil all the more important. There is a felt ring ahead of the o-ring that is accessed by opening the pump handle all the way, so it’s very easy to oil this gun. And the owner’s manual addresses this task very well

Lots of synthetic on this gun, as there must be at such a low price. What intrigues me is the nice adjustable sights and smooth bore. I’ll get a chance to see how diabolo pellets do when stabilized by just their high drag! I’m looking forward to it.

Part 1
Part 2

The IZH 53M air pistol looks like it stepped right out of the 1950s. It’s a modern breakbarrel with a retro look and feel.

Accuracy day for the IZH 53M air pistol, and it’s a day with some good surprises. I want to talk about how this pistol shoots, so I’m going to skip the drama of finding a good pellet, because of the three I tried, only one stood out. That was the one I played with the most.

The sights work fine!
No need to worry about the sights anymore. They shoot to the point of aim and have plenty of adjustment in all directions. They’re also very crisp in the right lighting, which is strong light on the target and the shooter in relative dark.

I did have some adjustment to do in both directions and can attest to the sights adjusting easily and accurately. The windage adjustment lacks any markings on the gun to tell you which way to turn the knob, but it’s clockwise to go to the right and counter-clockwise to adjust left. There are very crisp detents, and the increments of movement are quite small.

The elevation knob is marked but lacks the crisp detents of the windage, so it’s more of a guess. Since I wasn’t going for a score, I stopped when I had the pellets hitting inside the bull at 10 meters.

Trigger
You notice a trigger a lot more when shooting targets than during any other testing; so now that I have more experience with it, I’ll say this one is okay but not great. It feels a little too heavy for the absolutely best work and, being a single-stage trigger, there’s no feeling of control or precision. You just squeeze until the gun fires.

Accuracy
The first pellet I tried was the RWS Hobby that went so fast in the velocity test. Alas, this time they weren’t that good, giving me lots of vertical stringing at 10 meters. That can be caused by a limp wrist or weak grip on the gun, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case this time.

Ten RWS Hobbys made this 3.028-inch vertical string at 10 meters. This is not a good pellet for this pistol.

Next, I tried the Crosman Competition pellets. They grouped better, plus the group was more round and less vertical. That tells me that my grip on the gun isn’t the primary problem. About the time I switched to this pellet, I also started using my real competition shooting glasses instead of my normal prescription glasses. That did two things. First, it sharpened the image of the front sight, because the competition glasses have an adjustable iris to control the amount of light that passes through the lens to the eye. Second, the blinder on the competition glasses meant I no longer had to close my non-sighting eye. That cleared up the image of the sights and target and from that point on sighting was much more precise.

Ten Crosman Competition pellets made this 1.947-inch group at 10 meters. As you can see, it’s rounder than the group of Hobbys shown previously.

Then I tried a group of Gamo Match pellets, but that was a mistake. They shot all over the target, and I was afraid of missing the trap at 10 meters! After shot 7, I stopped and considered what to do next.

Getting better and better
As I shoot, I find that normally I get progressively better as the shots pass. So, the first group will be bigger than the next and so on. But there’s a downside to this. If the gun I’m shooting requires a lot of concentration, I’ll soon become tired and the groups will start to open up. It’s a fine line between getting accustomed to the gun and tiring out.

With the IZH 53M, however, the gun is so easy to shoot and the sights are so easy to see that I don’t tire as quickly. Therefore, instead of selecting another pellet, I went back to the Crosman Competition wadcutters that had already proven good and shot another group with them.

This time, I was definitely in the groove. Each shot felt the same and, what’s more, each shot felt right. When that happens you know you’re shooting to the best of your ability.

This group of Crosman Competition pellets showed the pistol’s capability the best. It measures 1.341 inches for 10 shots.

Summary
Well, that’s it for this one. The more I shot the gun, the more familiar I became with its operation and the better it seemed to shoot — with the right pellets. By the end of the session, I was sorely tempted to bring out my BSF pistol and do a comparison test. But that would not have proven anything, since the BSF is no longer made and the IZH 53M is so inexpensive. Best to just let the results stand as they are.

If I’d continued shooting the pistol, I might have found an even more accurate pellet, for this feels like an air pistol that wants to shoot! It’s an all-day airgun that you’ll enjoy for both plinking and informal target shooting.

The last word
I think the IZH 53M is a great value for the price. You get a lot of performance in this low-cost package, and it’s capable of plinking tin cans all day long.

Part 1

It’s been half a year since I did Part 1 of this report. I always meant to do today’s test, but other things seemed to crop up every time I was ready. I did make an excursion in another direction to test BSA’s 2×20 pistol scope using another mount on the Beeman P1 air pistol. Such is the tangled life of the airgun blogger!

New territory!
Today’s report takes me into fresh territory with my Slavia 631 breakbarrel rifle. I had earmarked it as a testbed rifle for testing the accuracy of lead-free pellets a long time ago, but the lack of a scope mount caused me to substitute the Whiscombe rifle at the last minute. You see, the Slavia air rifles all share a common problem when it comes to mounting scopes. They have dovetails that are among the very widest on the market. Most 11mm scope mounts will not expand wide enough to fit the 14mm dovetails (they are still called 11mm, which creates a world of confusion among buyers who try to scope their rifles) that are standard on all Slavia breakbarrels. Even for me — with a drawerful of specialized airgun mounts and prototypes — the Slavia remained a gun I could not scope until this new BKL mount hit the market.

Those dovetail grooves may be called 11mm, but they’re really 14mm apart. And that makes a huge difference. Almost no scope mounts will open that wide. Those three scalloped notches are for a specific type of scope stop that no longer exists in the U.S.

I’ve owned this 631 since back in the 1990s when I was still writing The Airgun Letter. I got it from Compasseco (now owned by Pyramyd Air) for a test and liked it so much I decided to keep it. Over the years, I’ve used it for other tests, such as testing the accuracy and penetration of round lead balls; but these tests were done with open sights. Today, I get to discover for the first time how the rifle shoots when a scope is mounted.

Just fit!
The BKL adjustable mount is a one-piece mount that just fits the length of the scope grooves on the 631. There isn’t a millimeter to spare on either end. As for the width, the fit is much easier, though I did have to spread the clamping rails to get it on the gun. For those who are unfamiliar with BKL mounts, they hold onto the airgun by clamping pressure, alone — there are no mechanical scope stops on any BKL mount. It’s often necessary to spread the mount base a little to get it onto the dovetails of the rifle. BKL has designed an ingenious way of doing this with the base screws applying reverse pressure to spread the base “jaws” just the right amount. It’s easy to do and takes only a minute or two extra. Once the mount is on the gun and the base screws are tightened, you have a scope mount that’s not going to move under recoil, no matter how severe.

Droop-compensating!
The second great thing about this new mount is that the rear scope ring elevates to compensate for barrel droop. Newer readers may wonder what droop is, so allow me to explain

The BKL is mounted on my Slavia 631 rifle. The mount is silver because it’s an unfinished preproduction model, not because it’s finished that way.

Barrel droop
Breakbarrel springers are notorious for having barrels that are angled downward from the sight plane. Because the manufacturers mount both the front and rear sight on the barrel, they remain in a fixed relationship that masks the droop or downward slant of the barrel. When you install a scope, it goes on the spring tube and the barrel droop becomes painfully obvious. You adjust the scope up as far as it will go to bring the strike of the round back up to the intersection of the crosshairs. Sometimes, you just barely get there, but other times you can’t even get that high before running out of adjustment. Either way, when a scope is adjusted all the way up as high as it will go, the internal springs relax and the point of aim starts moving all over the place. New shooters blame this on scope shift, but it’s really a different problem that’s completely correctable

You want to mount the scope in such a way that its vertical adjustment is about in the middle of the range or even closer to the low end. That’s where the droop-compensation scope mount, or “drooper” as it’s called, comes into play. With a droop-compensation scope mount you can slant the scope downward so it follows the line of the bore more closely.

And this new BKL is a drooper mount! But until I tried to sight in my Slavia 631, I had no way of knowing that it’s a breakbarrel with a droop problem. Once I confirmed that it is, I adjusted the rear of the BKL mount upward and got the scope dead-on at 25 yards! It took only one adjustment, and I had the scope back into the middle of its adjustment range again. Now, it was time to see how this rifle shot.

Twitchy
This is going to be a longer report, so I’m cutting to the chase right away. When I started shooting the 631 at 25 yards, I discovered that this rifle is twitchy. What does that mean? Well, if a breakbarrel is very powerful, it’s usually extremely difficult to hold for accuracy. It wants to spray its pellets all over the place — that’s what I call twitchy.

But lower-powered breakbarrel springers like this 631 aren’t usually twitchy. Usually, they lob all their shots to the same place. They’re also very tolerant of different types of pellets. But my Slavia 631 is none of those things. It’s twitchy. Allow me to show you what I mean. The first group I tried to shoot was with the Air Arms Falcon pellet.

This first target shot with Falcon pellets revealed a lot about the gun. Do you see that two pellets are close together in each of the three groups, but the point of impact moves? That’s due to very small changes in the hold. Four of the 10 pellets missed the target altogether!

The first group I attempted told me this rifle is twitchy. But sometimes that’s only with a couple pellets, so I pressed on.

Next, I tried shooting RWS Hobby pellets. They did better and were less twitchy but were not really that good.

Ten Hobbys went into a real group at 25 yards. It looks like only 6 shots landed because several went through the same holes. This is a better group, measuring 0.73 inches between centers, but it’s still not great.

I had to use every bit of technique, short of a scope level, to get that group. The differing points of impact were obviously the result of very subtle changes in the hold. This was obvious to me as I shot, because I was able to feel where the pellets wanted to go. But in spite of that, I did my best to shoot the tightest group I could.

I tried Crosman Premier lites next, but they were all over the place. Then, I tried the JSB Exact RS pellet that often proves best in rifles of this power level. This time, though, they were too hold-sensitive to do well.

Finally, I tried the BSA Wolverine pellet that’s also a medium weight JSB but is subtly different from the others of the same weight (8.44 grains). Like the Hobbys, I got a group of 10; but like the others, it’s interesting for being more of a cluster of several smaller groups.

Ten BSA Wolverine pellets gave this group, which measures 0.75 inches across. There’s a cluster of 6 in one hole, then 4 others below. The fourth shot lies between the two that are stacked vertically.

Bottom line
The BKL adjustable scope mount works as advertised. It’s easy to install and to adjust. And it has jaws that are wide enough for the widest 11mm air rifle dovetails. Just don’t try to use it on a Weaver base, because it isn’t that wide, nor is it configured for the proprietary shape of a Weaver dovetail. This mount is one elegant solution for a drooper.

The Slavia 631 is a twitchy breakbarrel that shoots at a mild level of power. If I hadn’t done this test, I never would have guessed that from the muzzle velocity, alone. That made me think of another report I can write — and probably should: What to do with a twitchy breakbarrel. It would be a collection of the tricks and techniques I would use when I encounter a twitchy breakbarrel. In my role as an airgun tester, I see a lot of them over time, so I’ve built up a bag of techniques I employ to deal with them when one comes along.

The 631 is also a great potential testbed for an adjustable muzzle weight to be used for tuning the harmonics of a spring gun. I’ll look into that.

Announcement: If you missed out on Pyramyd Air’s first shipment of extra Dan Wesson speedloaders with 6 extra cartridges, they’re back in stock.

Part 1

The IZH 53M air pistol looks like it stepped right out of the 1950s. It’s a modern breakbarrel with a retro look and feel.

Let’s look at the velocity of the IZH 53M air pistol. I wrote about what a nice, calm pistol this is in Part 1, and several readers responded to that. Many of you seem to like airguns that are well-behaved. I also made a comparison between this pistol and the BSF S20 that looks so much like a rifle cut down to fit a pistol grip. If you ever shoot that one, you’ll discover that it’s really a pussycat in lion’s clothing. Though it looks big and mean, it really shoots just as calm as you could hope for — like our test pistol.

Customer issues
Customers give the 53M four stars, and the chief complaints are that it shoots high and there’s no safety. Apparently, the sights have been changed, and we’ll find that out when I test the gun for accuracy. As for the lack of a safety being a problem, I respectfully disagree. I don’t think the pistol needs one. The shooter is the safety for any gun, and no mechanical device adds anything to improve safety.

If you want a safety so you can do things you wouldn’t do with the gun that are not on safe — DON’T DO THOSE THINGS! Don’t even do them with guns that have safeties and are on safe! I’ve had safeties fail so many times that I no longer trust them. If I have a gun that does have a safety, I’ll use it; but in no way will I behave any differently with that gun than I would if it didn’t have a safety. I guess I’ll go down swinging on this issue, but I advise all of you to never trust a safety for anything. Instead, control the gun so it doesn’t need one.

I looked at the advertised velocity and saw that it’s 360 f.p.s. But when I tested my sample pistol, it was much hotter. Someone complained that this pistol has BB-gun velocities, Well, they aren’t Red Ryder velocities! Let’s see what this gun can do.

RWS Hobbys
The first pellet tested was the 7-grain RWS Hobby. This is a wadcutter pellet (a sharp shoulder on the pellet head cuts clean round holes in target paper for ease of scoring) that’s one of the lightest lead pellets available. I would use only lead pellets in this pistol because of the power level. When a gun shoots less than 500 f.p.s., I don’t like to use synthetics or lead-free metal pellets since they don’t perform as well as they do in guns that are more powerful.

Hobbys averaged 409 f.p.s. and went from 391 f.p.s to 420 f.p.s. That’s a spread of 19 f.p.s. At the average velocity, they’re generating 2.6 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

Gamo Match
The next pellet I tested was the 7.7-grain Gamo Match. This is another wadcutter that, though it’s heavier than the Hobby, still went pretty fast. The average was 391 f.p.s. and the velocity range went from 384 to 399 f.p.s. The muzzle energy is an average of 2.61 foot-pounds. The total velocity spread was 15 f.p.s.

Crosman Competition
The final pellet I tried was the 7.4-grain Crosman Competition — yet another wadcutter design. These loaded easier than the first two pellets and gave an average of 389 f.p.s. That works out to a muzzle energy of 2.49 foot-pounds. The velocity in the string ranged from a low of 376 f.p.s. to as high of 394 f.p.s., for an 18 f.p.s. spread.

I tested these pellets because they’re the ones I intend shooting in the accuracy test. I wasn’t looking to show the pistol as a hot-rod, but the results speak for themselves. Also, because this is a springer, there’s always the chance that it will becomes a little faster after a good break-in.

Trigger
The trigger is not adjustable. The Russian-made schematic refers to a “trigger adjustment screw,” but in my gun the screw is only for securing the stock to the action.

Blog readerDerrick gave us a link to a blog he wrote on tuning the gun, and his photos clearly show a trigger travel adjustment screw that’s no longer in the current model. The sheet metal anchor is still there, but no hole has been drilled and tapped for the adjustment screw

The sheet metal anchor for the adjustment screw is still in place, ahead of the trigger blade, but the hole for the adjustment screw is not drilled.

I believe the trigger has been updated, but the schematic still shows the older design. So, I repeat what I said in Part 1 — the trigger is not adjustable. The trigger is single-stage and breaks cleanly at between 1 lb., 15 oz. and 2 lbs., 8 oz. That’s light enough for good informal target shooting.

Thus far
So far, I really like this air pistol. It seems to offer a lot of value for the money. If it proves to be accurate, it’ll be quite a buy!

Announcement: Mathias Moe Varga is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Mathias Moe Varga submitted the above photo of Miles Alexander Varga, who got in some shootin’ with his Crosman XT air rifle.

Today is Friday, and I’ve already written a couple reports this week that belong on a Friday blog, but a question came in from a shooter who will probably never read this report — yet, it was so intriguing that I wanted to answer it for you today.

This shooter owns a vintage Sheridan multi-pump pneumatic, and he’s been perplexed for years because .20-caliber Crosman premier pellets are not carried in stores. He remembers the old cylindrical pellets that used to come in the red and white tins and later in the yellow plastic boxes, but he doesn’t know if any .20-caliber pellets are still being made today.

This is the box that vintage Sheridan cylindrical pellets came in when Sheridan was still in business (before Benjamin bought them…and then Crosman bought Benjamin).

Vintage Sheridan cylindrical pellets. Notice the small driving band at the base, which engages the rifling.

Of course, they’re being made and in greater diversity than ever before. But you don’t typically find .20-caliber pellets at a sporting goods store, and they’re never found at a discount store. The best selection will be found on the internet.

His question made me think of this: Are today’s pellets better or worse than those of long ago? What I thought I would do today is find out which is better — the old pellets or the new.

I have been telling people for years that the .20-caliber Crosman Premier pellets in the cardboard box are noticeably better than the older cylindrical Sheridan pellets, but are they really? The only way to find out is to shoot some and see what happens.

Twenty-caliber pellets
I bought my Sheridan Blue Streak in late 1977, though I have also owned a vintage Silver Steak that was made between 1950 and about 1960. I no longer have that vintage gun, but the ‘77 Blue Streak is still here, so that will be the test bed.

I used to buy Sheridan pellets in yellow plastic boxes of 500. They were the only .20-caliber pellets on the market when I bought them, but Dr. Beeman changed that in the 1980s when he began bringing in European spring guns in .20 caliber. Twenty caliber still occupies third place out of the four smallbore airgun calibers (.177, .20, .22 and .25) in terms of popularity, and its position is currently being threatened by a resurgence of interest in .25 caliber. Both .177 and .22 calibers are so far ahead of these other two calibers that there’s really no comparison when it comes to sales and usage.

Beeman’s pitch was that the .20 caliber was a great compromise between .177 and .22, but that pitch never quite caught on. Many shooters felt the truth was just the opposite — that .20 was both more expensive than the .177 and not as effective on game as the .22. You can argue this all day long and never change anyone’s opinion, but the truth is that there just aren’t as many great pellets in .20 caliber as there are in .177 and .22.

However, if there’s even just one good pellet, maybe that’s all we need. And the Crosman Premier pellet may just be the one.

I thought I’d test-fire several groups with my Blue Streak at 25 yards. Because it’s a multi-pump that takes some time for each shot, I’m going to shoot only 5-shot groups, but I’ll shoot several with each pellet. I’ll pump the rifle 6 strokes per shot because I’m shooting at 25 yards. That should give me decent accuracy, though I’m only using the open sights that came on the gun.

As I write this, I’ve not yet fired the rifle, so I have no data to consider. I do think the Crosman Premier will shoot more accurately than the old cylindrical pellet, but we’ll have to test it to see.

Let’s shoot
It’s been about two years since I shot the Blue Streak, so I oiled the pump head with Crosman Pellgunoil before starting. Then, I fired a single shot at the bull 25 yards away. It hit within about one-quarter inch of the aim point, so I finished that group and changed targets for the next.

The first three groups are all Crosman Premiers. I think the groups speak for themselves.

These three groups of Crosman Premiers were easy to put side-by-side because they’re so small. They were shot in order from left to right. The groups measure from left to right — 0.749 inches, 0.911 inches and 1.088 inches between centers.

Next, I tried the vintage Sheridan cylindrical pellet. Once more, I verified that the first shot was close to the aim point, then no more checking.

First group of vintage Sheridan cylindrical pellets looks like I wasn’t trying! It measures 2.63 inches between centers.

The first group of Sheridan pellets looks like I wasn’t trying, but I assure you I was. I really gave each shot everything I had.

This second group of Sheridan pellets was better than the first, but still not good. It measures 1.66 inches between centers.

Group two was better but not really good. I was relieved to discover that the reason was the pellet and not me. However, it gave me an idea. After group three with the vintage pellets, I would shoot a fourth group of Premiers, just to see if I could still shoot. I thought I might be getting tired at this point.

The third group of vintage Sheridan pellets measured 2.133 inches between centers. It was in-between the first group and the second.

The third and final group of vintage Sheridan pellets confirmed that they’re not that accurate. It was in between the first and second group, even though I was doing my best to aim precisely.

Was I tiring out? I had to know, so I shot a fourth group of Crosman Premiers that had established themselves as accurate pellets.

This final group of Crosman Premiers shows that I was still shooting about the same as at the start of the test. It measures 1.106 inches between centers, which fits in with the first three Premier groups.

As long as I was shooting the rifle, perhaps I should shoot a group with one other pellet that’s given good results in the past. The .20-caliber Beeman Kodiak is actually a medium-weight pellet — at just 13.27 grains. I shot only one group, but it seems to confirm that this pellet is in the same class as the Premier for accuracy.

Five Beeman Kodiak pellets made this 1.143-inch group. It’s close in size to the Premier group and should be considered for this airgun.

An interesting pattern
When I took the last target down from the pellet trap, the pattern in the fresh cardboard that backed all targets was quite interesting. Though I made no attempt to mount each of the eight targets in the exact same place, the cardboard tells the whole story about where all the pellets went.

Here’s the history of where each of the 40 shots went. Though no attempt was made to position every target in the same relative position, I find this is an interesting record of all the shooting.

Final thought for the day
This was written and tested on a Thursday — yesterday to everyone who is reading it on the day it is first published. I had been planning on going to the range to shoot some firearms yesterday, but the weather wasn’t cooperating, so I shot at home, instead. I’d planned to shoot my .32 cap-and-ball rifle, and shooting the Sheridan was very similar. You have to take time before each shot to get the gun ready so you’re extra careful to make every shot count. Also, going at this pace calms you and soothes you. I felt wonderful after this shooting session. Contrast that to shooting some uber-magnum springer that cocks like the bow of Hercules! Give me the slow lane every time.

Announcement: Around 10 or 11pm tonight (12/15/11) Eastern time, the server for all of Airgun Academy (including this blog) will be restarted. Hopefully, it’ll be unnoticed and everything will march along just fine. If something does go wrong and everything goes offline for a while, please know that people are working on it.

Part 1
Part 2

Beeman’s RX-2 is a handsome air rifle. The brown laminated stock looks perfect.

Here we go! Today is accuracy day for the .25-caliber Beeman RX-2 Elite series combo air rifle. Before I start shooting groups, though, I thought I would adjust the trigger. In Part 2, blog reader SpringGunner commented that the screw inside the trigger blade is what determines the location of stage two. It’s a very small Allen screw, and the one in the test gun is so deep inside its hole that it can’t be seen.

I started by turning this screw counter-clockwise about a turn and a half, but all that did was lose the second stage for me. What I ended up with was a single-stage pull with lots of creep and an indeterminate and extremely light release. I came back clockwise on the screw about a third of the way and voila — stage two reappeared! When it did, I made certain that it was positive and repeatable before accepting the adjustment.

The trigger now breaks cleanly at 1 lb., 9 ozs. The second-stage creep is gone, and the trigger is much crisper now. While it’s still not quite as good as a Rekord, it is much better than I reported in Part 2. It’s more than adequate for hunting and occasional target work.

Sight-in
I noticed at sight-in that the rifle has a lot of barrel droop. Pyramyd Air had shimmed the rear scope mount, but I think I would want to use something like the BKL Drop Compensating mount to get the scope in the center of the adjustment range.

What’s in a name
And before I move on, I would like to say something about product naming and why it’s so difficult to find things on a website. BKL has named their mounts “drop” compensators, but the most common term among airgunners is “droop.” Some people think that spelling or naming a product doesn’t matter, but on the internet it matters a lot. When I searched for a BKL mount that compensated for droop, I entered the word droop in the search window and came up with all the drooper mounts except those made by BKL. Then, I happened to remember that BKL uses the term drop instead of droop, and I was able to find all their drooper mounts. [Note from Edith: I fixed it so a search for droop will now bring up the BKL drop-compensating mounts.]

Several years ago, I had an ongoing conversation with Crosman about the use of the term soft air for their airsoft line of guns. We went back and forth for five years about this until one day their VP of sales told me they just liked the term soft air better. So, I challenged him to do a Google search for airsoft and again for soft air. Soft air turned up just over three hundred thousand hits. Airsoft turned in over 15 million! Today they call all their current 6mm guns airsoft.

When the world is looking for something today, it uses an internet search engine. If you don’t call your product what everybody else calls it, expect to be excluded from the party. End of sermon.

Back to the RX-2
Sight-in went pretty quickly, and then I up to the 25-yard line. The first pellet to be tried was the Benjamin dome that did so well at 50 yards in the AirForce TalonP pistol test. But in the RX-2 it didn’t do as well. I tried a number of different holds, but the results were always the same — an open group. Since this rifle is difficult to cock, I decided to move on to the JSB Exact King.

Success with this new .25-caliber pellet was immediate. Among the four pellets I tested, the Kings were the best. The first group was very tight but had two pellets that went above the main group. I hesitate to call them fliers. They were due to a subtle shift in how I held the rifle, and the second time I knew the shot was going to move from the main group. I didn’t know that it would group with the other stray, but I must have repeated the same hold for those two shots.

Eight pellets made the lower group that measures 0.563 inches between centers. These .25-caliber pellets make huge holes and the groups appear larger than they are. Notice that the other two shots are also tightly grouped.

This target showed me two very important things about the RX-2. The first was that the huge .25-caliber pellets make big holes in the paper — groups that appear larger than they are.

The second thing I learned is that the RX-2 is very sensitive to hold. It doesn’t seem to want to be held as lightly as many other accurate spring rifles. But it does want to be absolutely “dead” weight in your hands. This means stretching the off hand out until the cocking slot is touching your palm. The rifle then sinks into your palm, and that pushes the buttpad back into your shoulder — you can’t avoid it. It’s a tighter artillery hold than I would normally use, but it works with this rifle.

More pellets tested
Next, I loaded some RWS Superdomes and noted that, of all the pellets I tested, these loaded the easiest. All other pellets were hard to push into the breech, with Benjamin Domes being hardest of all. But Superdomes went in rather easily.

Downrange, however, they scattered everywhere. No matter how I held the rifle, they never went to the same place twice. I was worried that I might shoot out of the pellet trap so I stopped. I think this pellet is better-suited to precharged rifles and not spring-piston guns — at least not the RX-2.

Then, I tried the H&N Baracuda pellet. These required a different hold than the JSB Exact Kings, but they showed some promise. However, as I was attempting to shoot a 10-shot group, I inadvertently held the forearm slightly wrong and blew the group with two shots. I think I got cocky because of the early success and didn’t pay as much attention to the hold as I should have. Instead of shooting another group of these, I opted for one more round of JSB Exact Kings, which had already proven quite accurate.

Five H&N Baracudas went into a nice cluster at 25 yards, then a small change of hold sent two pellets elsewhere. I decided to stop shooting this group and move on. The five closest holes measure 0.592 inches between centers.

When the hold is applied correctly, the pellets all go to the same place. Group of 10 JSB Exact Kings measures 0.622 inches between centers.

One more pellet you should try with this rifle is the H&N Field Target Trophy. I didn’t test them, but several readers mentioned that they are very accurate with this rifle. And, at just over 20 grains, they’ll also have good velocity!

Another observation is that the rifle is starting to cock smoother, if not exactly easier. I think the RX-2 might be one of those rifles that needs a good period of break-in, which I have not provided in this test. Certainly from what I read on the internet, the owners of the gun seem to like it a lot and are very faithful to the model. It may even be that breaking it in will show a gain in velocity over the numbers you saw in Part 2.

The bottom line
The Beeman RX-2 is a big spring rifle that has good power. In .25 caliber, it performed better than any .25-caliber spring rifle I’ve tested recently. Part of that is due to the excellent JSB Exact King pellet, but part must also go to the underlying Weihrauch quality.

The trigger can be adjusted to a nice crisp let-off. Don’t just use it as it comes from the box. Read this whole report and don’t be afraid to experiment.

I don’t know if all RX-2 rifles will droop like this one did, but you’ll want to keep it in mind. If you get one that does, there are drooper mounts that will fix the situation.

Lastly, the RX-2 is primarily a hunting air rifle. Buy it in a large caliber (either .22 or .25) but don’t think that you’ll be able to plink all day. This is a rifle you can leave cocked and on safe as long as you hunt without worrying about the state of the mainspring — and that’s the biggest advantage of a gas spring.

This subject came up as the result of a comment I made about choked and tapered bores. It turns out that gun makers were having this same discussion 140 years ago with pretty much the same results.

The best gun makers of the 1860-1910 timeframe (and Harry Pope for just a little longer) all either taper-bored their barrels or choke-bored them. I will describe each of these conditions in a moment. There really isn’t much difference between choke-boring and taper-boring, but the slight difference that does exist allows us to talk about each of them as a separate issue.

Most gun makers (or barrel-makers, because in many cases — like Pope, a man did not make the entire gun) did taper-bore their barrels. But that wasn’t what they called it, so the fact that they did it got lost because of the subtleties of the language.

What is a tapered bore?
A tapered bore is exactly what the title implies. The diameter of the bore gradually tapers down from breech to muzzle. The amount of the taper is slight — perhaps one-thousandth to as much as two-thousandths of an inch; but at the time this service was performed, the measuring tools needed to accurately measure it weren’t commonly available. So, most of the makers didn’t actually know how much they were tapering their bores — just the fact that they were.

What does this do?
Why taper the bore at all? Because there are advantages — the primary one being an increase in accuracy. The reasons for this increase are less obvious and not entirely understood — or perhaps I should say they’re not entirely agreed upon. We know taper-boring works, but exactly why remains something of a mystery.

One thing that we do know is that when the barrel squeezes the bullet down smaller, it prevents gas blowby, which is damaging to the bullet because it erodes the sides and unbalances it. But in guns that use black powder for the propellant, the hammer blow of the exploding powder actually squashes the base of the bullet outward to make firm contact with the sides of the bore. This is called obturation. A black powder rifle doesn’t need a choked bore to prevent gas blowby, because obturation already addresses it — as long as the bullet is fitted closely enough to the bore to begin with.

So tapering the bore must do something else, because it works for black powder arms just as it works for those guns that use smokeless powder that does not obturate the bullet. The theory that I believe is that a tapered bore grabs the projectile more firmly just before it exits the barrel. It stops any unwanted vibrations and sends the bullet on its way with no instability. It ends any side-to-side play the bullet might have inside the barrel. Just because the base of the bullet has been squashed larger by the force of the exploding gunpowder doesn’t mean that the entire length of the bullet is equally in contact with the bore; but if the bore narrows down enough, there will be no doubt about it.

How they did it
Now that you know what a tapered bore is, let’s find out how the barrel makers managed to do it. Actually, the process is simple. If you read how gun barrels were made back in 1840-1910, you’ll see that they did it as a matter of course. They called it “leading the bore” and by that they did not mean lapping the bore, which is a similar but separate step that some but not all barrel makers did.

When they “leaded the bore,” a bore-cast lead slug that was charged with emory was passed back and forth through the just-rifled bore until it had removed a tiny bit of metal from the inside. To do this, they first inserted a long bore-fitting wooden dowel down the barrel. The front section was turned down much smaller than the bore.

The rod was entered from the breech and positioned with its end flush at the muzzle. The barrel was next heated until it was hot to the touch, then molten lead was poured down the muzzle until it pooled up flush with the muzzle. The lead was stopped from going down the bore by the bore-sized wooden rod that was not turned down, and it attached itself to the smaller diameter portion of the rod near the muzzle. When the barrel cooled down, the rod was pushed out the muzzle and the lead mass that was on the end was removed. It was then trued up at both ends, and the wooden rod was pushed out, leaving about a 1/4-inch hole down the center of the plug. A small groove was cut in the lead cylinder, then the cylinder was screwed onto a tool-steel rod that was called the leading rod. The lead plug was then rolled on a steel plate that had emory powder spread upon it. The leading rod was free to turn in its handle, so the lead plug could follow the pattern of the rifling.

The leading bolt after cleanup looks like this. It’s then screwed onto a tool steel rod that works it inside the bore. Image copied from “The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle” by Ned H. Roberts, copyright 1952.

At this point, the inside of the bore received a light coat of fine oil, such as sperm whale oil. The emory-charged rod with its lead slug was then carefully inserted at the breech, making sure to engage the rifling exactly. The rod was then moved back and forth from the breech to within about three inches of the muzzle. By concentrating on the rear of the barrel and only going forward a relatively few times, they controlled the amount of metal that was being removed from each part of the bore.

Occasionally, the rod was partially withdrawn at the breech but never again fully removed. When it was exposed in part at the breech, more emory powder could be applied along with a little more oil. By never completely removing it, the lead slug always remained in the proper engagement with the rifling. When the lead slug wore down, the tool steel rod was screwed into it more, forcing the sides back out and into the bore of the rifle.

The rod was worked back and forth, with more time given to the portion closer to the breech and less as the lead slug approached the final three inches of the barrel. How long this procedure took varied with each maker, and probably with the type of material they were working with — i.e., soft iron, cast steel, compressed steel, etc. Undoubtedly, the exact process was a closely-guarded secret for each maker. But it did work, and what they got was a bore with a gradual taper from breech to a point about three inches from the muzzle. Since they never went past that point, that section of the bore remained a true cylinder and was the tightest point in the barrel. It was the choke point.

Since these are muzzle-loading arms and the muzzle is also the tightest point of the barrel, some of you may be wondering if the bullet wouldn’t squeeze down when it was initially loaded and then lose contact with the bore after passing the choke point. That’s exactly what happened, and it made the rifle much easier to load!

Remember obturation? When the black powder exploded, the bullet was upset by the force and enlarged to grab the bore tightly. TWhen it encountered the choke point, everything happened just as I’ve described above. This gave the bullet remarkable stability that had not been seen previously.

Many riflemen were no longer using patched round balls when this style of rifling came into vogue. They were starting to experiment with conical bullets, first with the sugar-loaf or picket-style, then later with the longer, heavier cylindro-conical shape.

The picket bullet or sugar loaf bullet (left) was an early first replacement for the round ball in rifled guns. It has a very short bearing surface that makes it easier to load, but also makes it susceptible to tipping inside the bore. It more than doubled the accurate range of the rifle but required extreme care when loading. The cylindro-conical bullet on the right has more bearing surface but also needs to be driven much faster to stabilize when fired from a barrel of a given twist.

There’s much more, but not now
Bullet shapes of the late 1800s are a fascinating study. For instance, were you aware that some expert riflemen favored a hollow-based cylindro-conical bullet as the most accurate type? For now, let’s leave the world of firearms and return to airguns because choking has a definite place there, as well.

The choked bore
I haven’t described the difference between a tapered bore and a choked bore, so here we go. A choked bore is really just a tapered bore with a short taper. In other words, the bore is parallel from the breech to the choke, and then in a short distance of less than a half-inch the bore tapers down to a smaller diameter that stays parallel until the muzzle. In firearms, this distance for the choked part of the barrel was about three inches, but in airguns it’s more like two.

Intentional versus random and accidental chokes
The only intentionally choked airgun barrels I know of are made for pneumatic guns. Let’s examine why. The pneumatic is much like the firearm that uses modern gunpowder. Instead of a sudden, violent explosion, smokeless gunpowder burns at a reserved rate of speed. When confined, this rate is extremely fast, but it still cannot be called an explosion. So, modern smokeless gunpowder does not deliver the same hammer blow that obturates bullets. Nor do pneumatic guns blast out pellet skirts into the walls of the bore, which is very similar to obturation in the airgun world.

Pneumatic guns release their air at a restrained rate that, while it sounds sudden to us, is really measured in milliseconds. A lot of air is released when a pneumatic gun fires; and though the pressure in the barrel continues to decline as the pellet moves down the bore, this pressure is still enough to provide continued acceleration all the way to the muzzle.

Because the air pressure is restrained in a pneumatic, the pellet skirt is not enlarged and pushed into the wall of the bore. But in a spring gun, it is. A springer releases just a tiny bit of highly compressed air in an instant. This rapid burst of pressure is enough to swell the skirts of some pellets, making them have better contact with the bore.

So, to better stabilize pellets in pneumatics and remove any variations they might have, a choked bore is ideal. Therefore, all of the finer precharged, single-stroke and multi-pump airguns have choked bores. You can feel this if you push a pellet from the breech to the muzzle with a cleaning rod. The pellet will encounter resistance about two inches from the muzzle.

But spring guns don’t need a choke, since the act of firing swells the pellet skirts. However, some spring guns do have the same resistance near the muzzle that is felt in better pneumatics. This is an accident of swaging-in the dovetails for the front sight attachment. Weihrauch guns that have front dovetails all have this and we have called it a choked bore. It’s really just an accident of the manufacturing process and is as random as can be. But it’s there and some shooters feel it helps accuracy. Even though the choke doesn’t wrap all the way around the bore, they feel that it still provides the same stability that an intentionally-choked bore does.

Here is the lesson
The point is, if a barrel is choked, is it more accurate? The evidence suggests that it is. If that is true, can a choke be added after barrel manufacture? The answer is yes! In fact this may prove to be the most cost-effective aftermarket adjustment that can be made to an airgun.

A choke can be added by rolling the barrel between three precision hardened-steel rollers, one of which is adjustable. By gradually increasing the pressure on the adjustable roller as the barrel is rotated between the three rollers, some compression of the steel is possible. This will affect the inside of the bore, reducing it in size. The worker would have to proceed slowly and watch the progress of the choke, because we are faced with the same problem that the 19th century barrel makers had — namely barrels made from different materials.

This device allows the controlled swaging of a round barrel. The adjustable roller located at 4 o’clock is gradually adjusted inward as the rifled barrel turns.

What we have learned today is that airguns and firearms are very much alike in how their barrels can be made to increase accuracy. I haven’t addressed modern firearms shooting jacketed bullets because they do not respond the same as lead bullets. So in this respect, airguns and black powder arms are the most similar.

The IZH 53M air pistol looks like it stepped right out of the 1950s. It’s a modern breakbarrel with a retro look and feel.

I finally got a “round tuit.” I said I would test the .177-caliber IZH 53M air pistol years ago, but something always came up. So, today, we’ll start a look at a gun that turns back the clock on airgun design.

This pistol is a throwback to Diana’s classic model 5 pistol, as well as several other less well-known air pistols of the past. I would say that it resembles the pre-war Diana 5, but some aspects are quite modern. However, from the standpoint of the spindly barrel and calm firing behavior, it’s closer to the pre-war gun than to the post-war pistol that ultimately morphed into a 700 f.p.s. powerhouse.

Quiet!
Is the the 53 calm and quiet? Most assuredly! It reminds me of a Diana 27 rifle that cocks with ease and discharges the same way. The noise level on the website says the pistol is a level 2, but that’s where a five-point numbering scale fails us. Because in my opinion, this is about a 1.2. This gun, combined with the AGE quiet pellet trap, is ideal for those who live in close quarters with thin walls separating them from their neighbors. Believe me, you’ll spend more time keeping the TV turned down than you will worrying about the discharge sound of this airgun.

The gun
The IZH 53M is a breakbarrel spring-piston air pistol. There are no unnecessary safety releases for the barrel — you simply cock it when you’re ready — just like back in 1952! There’s no superfluous automatic safety. The gun is ready to fire when the barrel is closed. All the safety there is has to reside in the hands of the person in control of the gun — as it should! There’s a good anti-beartrap device that prevents the curious from pulling the trigger when the barrel is broken open. If you want to see something flick up fast, buy a switchblade. Don’t play with a breakbarrel airgun that way!

This is what loading a breakbarrel air pistol looks like.

The grip is really a stock in which the entire action resides. In this respect, the gun is more like a BSF S20 pistol. The grip/frame is ambidextrous and made of a rough, black synthetic that grips your hand aggressively. The metal parts are not polished but appear to have been blacked just as they came from the tumbler, which gives them a rough satin finish.

Sights
Although the pistol has the look and feel of the 1950s, you can see the refinement that’s taken place over the years. For one thing, the grip has been changed to better fit all hands. And the sights! Well, what can I say except that they remind me of the good old days when the IZH 60 was made with a steel receiver! The rear sight is such a masterpiece of design ingenuity that I’m showing you a closeup picture. The windage adjustment has sharp, crisp detents to let you know exactly what’s been done. The elevation screw is quiet (has no clicks) and without detents, but it is positioned perfectly and works exactly the way you think it does. This sight, which is made of a combination of synthetic and metal parts, puts me in mind of the rear sight on a BSF S20 Target model that’s so finely crafted.

The rear sight isn’t just adjustable in both directions. It’s also designed to fit the gun and look nice. This is one you’ll be proud to own.

The front sight is a sharp post on a ramp; and because it’s so simple, it’s the perfect place to use synthetic material. It’s clever thinking like this that bespeaks the high level of engineering that must have gone into the gun.

Barrel
That leads me to wonder if the Russians have continued their quality quest over to the barrel. We know from examples of the past that the Russians know how to rifle airgun barrels. And the several times I loaded a Crosman Premier lite pellet to shoot the gun, I noticed that it fit the breech just like it would fit an FWB 124 breech. So, I’m hoping that the barrel on this pistol is everything the Russians are capable of making. At just $65, I don’t see how it could be. How can they turn out a gun that retails for so little yet has all these quality features and is accurate to boot?

Power
Here’s where the truth comes out. The gun cocks easily and is quite smooth when it fires. Therefore, it isn’t a magnum pistol. The advertised velocity is 360 f.p.s., but I’ll test it with real-world pellets so you know what to expect when you get it. But the point I am making is that, just like the Diana 27, that isn’t very powerful, neither is this pellet pistol. It’s just fun to shoot.

I’ve found over the years that the gentle airguns are the ones that live on in people’s memories and become classics. I’m talking about guns like the aforementioned Diana 27, the FWB 124, the Air Venturi Bronco – and perhaps this pellet pistol.

Trigger
The trigger isn’t adjustable, but it’s very nice just the same. It has a single-stage pull that I’ll tell you more about in Part 2. It’s very crisp for what it is and worthy of being on a gun costing twice as much.

Cocking and firing behavior
And that brings me to the cocking and firing behavior. Again, I’ll say more about this in the next report, but for now you should know that the gun fires smoothly and has little vibration. When you cock it, the mainspring sounds just like a vintage gun from the 1950s. It’s all scrunchy and spring-sounding, and it’s during this endeavor that you learn of the extra safety that’s built into the gun. There’s a ratcheting device that grabs the spring incrementally as it’s compressed; so if you were to let go of the barrel, it would not snap back. That’s where the 1950s are left behind and the Third Millenium design takes over. This device is quiet and unassuming — and unless you test for it by letting off on the barrel while cocking, you’ll never even know it’s there.

There isn’t a lot of time left before Christmas. If this model is of any interest, you’ll have to take a chance that it fits your needs. All I can say at this point is that I’m impressed!

Part 1

In Part 1, we saw seven airguns that copy firearms. Let’s look at some others, plus I’ll give you an appraisal of how one of them functions as a firearm.

This is such a fascinating part of airguns, and the time has never been better for collecting airguns that look like firearms. But lookalikes have been with us a lot longer than many suppose.

Hakim
The Egyptian Hakim 8mm battle rifle was an adaptation of the Swedish Ljungman 6.5mm rifle. It’s a gas-operated semiautomatic that has close-fitted parts (the Swedish heritage) and an adjustable gas port to adapt the rifle to different ammunition. It’s been called the “poor man’s Garand” and the “Egyptian Garand,” but its operational history tells us it was anything but. Where the Garand operated well in a dirty environment, the Hakim jammed quickly when sand was introduced into the mechanism. Not a gun for use in the desert!

In 1954, Egypt contracted with both Anschütz and Beretta to make a number of training rifles. Anchütz made .22-caliber air rifles, and Beretta made a 10-shot .22 LR semiauto. Navy Arms wound up buying most of the air rifles and importing them to the U.S. in the 1970s. They ranged from a few that had apparently seen little use to the majority that looked like they had been stored in a sewage ditch.

I acquired a Hakim air rifle through a newspaper ad. After discovering what it was, I went on a buying spree that netted me more than a dozen rifles over the next few years. I’ve cleaned and rebuilt them exactly as they came from Egypt, and I’ve also seen a couple that others have cleaned up and tuned. The least I’ve paid for one was $60 and the most was about $150, but the price has risen considerably since those days a decade ago. Today, a good shooting specimen should sell for about $250-300, while a nice one will command considerably more. But beware of the ones that have been reworked, because they’re out there. I see one on Gun Broker that has parts missing, and the starting price is about twice what it’s worth, in my opinion.

The Hakim pellet rifle was made by Anscütz in 1954.

The 8mm Hakim battle rifle is closely fitted and not suited to a dirty battlefield.

The Hakim action is based on the Falke 90 air rifle that I showed you last year. And the Falke 90 is based on the BSA Airsporter. The rifle is an underlever spring-piston action that’s loaded through a tap. And like the Falke, the Hakim is doing very well to make it into the mid-500s with medium-weight, .22-caliber pellets. They can be tuned to shoot faster, but in doing so you lose the calm demeanor the rifle was designed to have and get a bucking, snorting headache machine in return. It isn’t worth it, in my opinion.

Because it’s a taploader, the Hakim will do best with oversized pellets and with those that have thin skirts. I’ve always found RWS Superpoints to be the most accurate in my rifles.

As far as accuracy goes, I had no problem putting 5 shots into a dime at 10 meters. I never really shot the rifle at longer distances, but I think the accuracy would hold together out to 25 yards or so.

Ruger Mark II — Crosman Mark I
I don’t know very much about airguns, but I’ve been shooting and collecting them long enough that, to a newcomer, I can sometimes sound knowledgeable. Several times each year, I’m asked why no one has ever thought about copying the Ruger Mark I and II target pistols. Well, the fact is, they have! But not recently.

You have to go back to 1966 to see the first Crosman Mark I (.22 caliber) and Mark II (.177 and BB caliber) target pistols. They were single-shots and had the lines of the Ruger pistols down pat, as you can see in the photo. Both airguns were powered by CO2 and had remarkable triggers–but also high-quality, rifled barrels. With modern pellets, these guns can hold their own with a firearm Mark I or II out to 20 yards with no problem.

Ruger Mark II above the Crosman Mark I Target pistol. Both are wonderful target sidearms.

My own Mark I air pistol is a delight to shoot; and until I tested it against a Crosman 2240 a couple years ago for a Shotgun News article, I thought it was just about the most accurate pellet pistol I owned — other than an outright competition model. But the 2240 beat it fair and square, so I have to concede that.

Of course, many readers own the Ruger pistol and can tell you what a joy it is to shoot. For less than half what some .22 target pistols cost, the Ruger will keep up with all but the specialty Olympic models. In fact, I’ve gotten rid of Colt Woodsman and High Standard Victor pistols because my Mark II Ruger is everything I need.

Desert Eagle
Several years ago, I got the Magnum Research Desert Eagle .177 pellet pistol to test and ultimately kept it. I was impressed with the accuracy and the blowback action, though this air pistol does use a lot of gas when it shoots. But the thing that impressed me the most was the huge grip. I wondered for years what the actual firearm would be like.

Edith joined me in this curiosity, because she could see how large the grip is. It’s incredibly long front to back, so even though the magazine (of the firearm) is a single-stack design, the grip is still very large.

The Magnum Research Desert Eagle pellet pistol (top) is larger but lighter than the .357 Magnum Research Desert Eagle. The air pistol copies the current Mark XIX pistol, but my .357 is the earlier Mark VII, which accounts for the lack of accessory rails.

Then we happened to see not one but three Desert Eagles in a local pawn shop about six months ago. Edith got to hold the .357 (the other two were .44s), which was the only one I thought we might be interested in, and the salesman was surprised to see her one-hand the gun. Unfortunately, the price was too high and although we made an offer, they declined to accept.

Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago. We happened to stop by the same pawn shop and looked around, but saw nothing. When the salesman asked if we had found what we were looking for, I told him we were looking for a Desert Eagle but none were in the case. He asked us to wait a moment and brought out the very .357 that Edith had looked at previously. Someone had started buying it and didn’t finish paying for it, so it was for sale again.

This information gave us a tremendous bargaining position, because the gun had already earned the store some money. So I lowered my offer from several months earlier (they didn’t remember it) and stood firm. We got this gun!

Now, we have the firearm to compare to the airgun. This is the third firearm we’ve bought on the basis of seeing the airguns first. There was the Walther PPK/S BB pistol that turned into a .22 LR pistol and the Walther Lever Action rifle that became a Winchester 1894 .30-30.

Now that we had the .357 Magnum, I had the opportunity to dispel a rumor that’s very common — namely that a Desert Eagle pistol soaks up so much recoil because of its gas operation and its weight that shooting a .44 Magnum feels just like shooting a .45 ACP. Bull! Our .357 Magnum, which has considerably less recoil than a .44 Magnum, still has at least twice the recoil of a .45 ACP in a 1911 pistol! It’s true that it recoils less than any other .357 Magnum I’ve fired, but that’s not the point. The point is that the gun still kicks hard, and shooters need to know that going in. I did find it very pleasant to shoot about 30 rounds of full-power magnum ammo, which usually starts me flinching if I do the same in a revolver.

As for accuracy, that’ll have to wait for another day. The ammo I was shooting was not what is recommended for the firearm, and the best I could do was an 8-inch group at 50 yards. I know I can do much better than that when the gun does its part. We’ll have to return to this sometime in the future.

Cleaning firearms
I don’t have any place else to put this, so I’m adding it in to today’s post. If you dislike firearms talk, now is the time to stop reading.

For decades, I’ve stayed away from shooting genuine black powder because of the mess involved in cleanup afterwards. Just this past week, as I was reading Ned Robert’s The Muzzle-loading Cap Lock Rifle for the umpteenth time, I happened to pay attention to how he said to clean a rifle that’s been shot with black powder.

When you return home from shooting, boil water and remove the nipple of your rifle. If you have a patent breech, remove the barrel from the stock and stand it in a pail. Pour two quarts of boiling water down the muzzle while holding the barrel with a towel wrapped around it. It does get very hot! You will see particles of black soot coming out of the nipple hole.

Then, let the rifle stand until the barrel cools down to just warm. When it is cool enough to hold, run an oil-soaked swab down the bore several times. I used Ballistol on a wool mop, and it worked perfectly.

This entire process took about 10 minutes start to finish. The next day, I ran a dry patch down the bore and removed the excess Ballistol. No dirt came out! The rifle is sparkling clean. I even looked down the bore with a tactical flashlight, and all I see is clean rifling.

This process won’t work as well for a flintlock because of the small flash hole not draining water fast enough. But with a cap lock, this is the easiest way I’ve even seer to clean a rifle. My centerfire rifles take longer and are messier and more involved than this charcoal burner, which is a .32-caliber by Thompson Center! I’m going to stop shooting black powder substitutes and return to the genuine product, now that I know how to clean my gun so fast.

Marinate the barrel
The black powder process reminded me of another great cleaning tip I learned. If you don’t want to clean your gun right away, coat the bore liberally with Ballistol and let it sit and “marinate” for several days. Using this process, Mac and I have cleaned dozens of guns that hadn’t been cleaned in many years. Ballistol softens the residue and makes it come out with minimal effort when you finally get around to cleaning.

Get the rust out
Earlier this year, Mac acquired a Ruger Mini-30, which is a Mini-14 chambered for 7.62×39. The rifle appeared to be in excellent condition until you looked down the barrel. It was coated with red rust that even repeated soakings of Ballistol could not remove. What happened is that an owner unknowingly shot military surplus ammo in his rifle without appreciating that it is corrosive. It then rusts the bore within a couple of days.

So, I fired three rounds through the gun and then cleaned it. The bore came out sparkling — with no trace of pitting or frosting from the rust. When I finished cleaning the gun this time, you could not tell that it had ever been abused.

The reason I knew this would work is that I used to encounter a lot of GI 1911A1 guns back in the 1960s that had the same problem. Uncle Sam used some corrosive pistol primers in WWII, and that ammo was still available in quantity in the 1960s. The guns that shot it often had rusted bores. But shoot a couple rounds of FMJ through them, and they cleaned up just like it never happened.

Announcement: Joel Cole is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Joel’s winning photo is of his niece, Paysen. He was teaching her to shoot a Crosman 66 over Thanksgiving weekend.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Today, we’ll complete the testing of the four pellets at four different velocities in the Whiscombe rifle. The premise of this test has been to explore the effects of velocity on accuracy by shooting the same pellets in the same pellet rifle at four differing velocities. I will make today’s report and comment on how the test went, but this will not be the final installment of this test. There will be at least one more summary report that puts all the data into perspective. And if there are side issues to explore, maybe there will be more reports.

At this point, I think I know what I’m going to find when I look at all the data, but there have certainly been a few surprises in this test. And the surprises continue in today’s report. Let’s get right to it.

Beeman Devastators
This time, the Beeman Devastators were averaging 772 f.p.s. Since this is a very lightweight lead pellet, at just 7.1 grains, I would have thought this velocity would be about as ideal as it gets. The pellets thought otherwise. Ten shots went into a 25-yard group that measured 1.073 inches between centers. You’ll have no problem counting all 10 shots, because none of them seemed to want to go to the same place.

However, I do want to draw your attention to the upper right portion of the group. There are 5 holes in a much smaller group measuring 0.399 inches. This is what the best 5 out of 10 shots looks like, and it’s a temptation to say that this is what the rifle/pellet can do. Think not? Well, in a national magazine, a popular gun writer who traditionally shows three-shot groups when talking about accuracy, recently published an article about .22 rimfires in which all the groups were 5 shots — very uncharacteristic for him. But when he reported the group sizes, he twice mentioned the size of 4 out of the 5 shots in those groups! In other words, he couldn’t resist the temptation to make the gun sound better than it really was — even when the evidence was right out in the open. That’s why I most often shoot 10-shot groups.

Beeman Devastators did not stay together this time. This group measures 1.073 inches between the two farthest centers. But look at the much smaller group of 5 in the right-hand corner. They’re both legitimate and a fraud at the same time. They were legitimately shot by the rifle in this test, yet they do not represent the true accuracy of the rifle at 25 yards at this velocity.

Crosman Premier lites
Next, I shot a group of Crosman Premier lites. They did just the opposite of the Devastators — grouping the best they did out of all four tests. The group measures 0.593 inches between centers. That says a lot for this pellet, but perhaps not everything. The velocity at which they traveled was an average of 732 f.p.s. Is it the velocity or something else that makes them so accurate? We shall just have to wait and see.

Premier lites turned in their smallest 25-yard group of the 4 velocity tests. It measures 0.593 inches between centers.

All shooting was done with care
Lest you think I relaxed at any time during this test, I assure you I did not. Each shot was fired with the same care as all the others. The bubble level was consulted each time just before the shot was taken. I now have the trigger breaking at less than 8 oz., so it’s perfection. I’ve even concentrated on my hold to make it as much the same from shot-to-shot as I possibly could.

Beeman Kodiaks
Next up were the Beeman Kodiaks. These were the pellets that had proved to be the most accurate up to this point in the test. This time, however, they opened up to 0.864 inches between centers. You can see that 8 of the 10 shots are in a much tighter group, but let’s not go there yet. The group you see represents how well these pellets did at an average velocity of 658 f.p.s.

Until this time, Beeman Kodiaks had been the most accurate pellets. This time, they slipped to second place, printing a 25-yard group that measures 0.864 inches.

Eun Jin
We have long since passed the point at which the 16.1-grain Eun Jin super-heavyweight pellets are accurate; but just as the United Nations continues to grant its chairmanship to members of the smallest third-world countries, so we continue to shoot this pellet with each test — pretending that is has some part to play. Last time, Eun Jins printed some two-plus inches below the aim point. This time, with the velocity averaging 501 f.p.s., they dropped 6-3/8 inches! They were so low that I had to reorient a target to see them print on the paper.

The group measured 1.724 inches between centers. That’s larger than last time.

Ten Eun Jin pellets dropped more than 6 inches below the point of aim and made this 1.724-inch group.

The results
Like I said in the beginning, I’ll look at today’s results right now, but there will be another report dedicated to the entire test. I want to know what you readers think about this, because a lot of what I do ultimately comes from you.

What I see in today’s results sort of implies that accuracy falls off at lower velocities. Now, I don’t happen to believe that’s the case; but except for the Premier lites, that’s exactly what happened today. That suggests that something else is causing the larger groups. Perhaps vibration? Maybe that needs to be explored.

Looking at the Beeman Kodiak group, and to a lesser extent the Premier lite group, it seems like pellet selection might improve these two groups significantly. I shot all the pellets exactly the way they came from the tin or box. No special sorting technique was used. Would accuracy have improved if I had weighed these pellets and examined them critically before shooting? That’s a question so intriguing that I’m almost compelled to test it next.

On the other hand, no weighing or sorting will improve the groups made by the Beeman Devastators or the Eun Jins that much. They’re just what they are, as the openness of their groups suggest.

If I didn’t have a lot of experience shooting pellets at lower velocities, I might be tempted to make up some sort of explanation as to why they did so poorly. But I’ve shot other slower air rifles that exhibited excellent groups at 25 yards, so it seems like it must be something else. That’s where the thought of vibration comes in. With the Whiscombe, I can alter the vibration nodes with the Harmonic Optizmized Tuning System (HOTS).

That makes me think of something else. You know how we always say that to find the best pellet for a given gun you have to try them all? Maybe what you’re doing is finding the pellet that responds best to the way the airgun vibrates!

You tell me what you think I should do next. I won’t promise to do it all, but I will read with great interest what you have to say.

Today, I’m giving the floor to my wife, Edith. Over the years, we’ve noticed that many blog readers don’t always have the support of their spouses when it comes to buying airguns or even shooting in the house. How you introduce someone to shooting is very important. If you’ve done it wrong, initially, all may not be lost. Here’s Edith’s take on it.

Sharing airguns with your spouse

by Edith Gaylord

How many of you have a spouse who doesn’t want to touch your guns, may be afraid of your guns and possibly even suspects that your guns could cause harm even if no one’s holding/using/touching them?

Let’s see if we can turn this around for you.

The wrong way
Around 1970 (20+ years before I met Tom/B.B.), I was with a date at the dump in Orlando, Florida, holding a Ruger Mark 1 and shooting at a big pile of trash. The gun was simply put in my hand, and I was told to pull the trigger while pointing the gun at the garbage. While a rimfire pistol is relatively tame, it won’t seem that way to the shooter if it’s the only gun they’ve ever held and shot, they don’t know there will be even the slightest amount of recoil, and the report is sudden enough (not necessarily that loud) that it can startle the shooter. Because of this, I never picked up another gun until the early 1980s. I had no desire because my first experience was not one I wanted to repeat. There was nothing fun or even useful about it. (Most of you have also picked up on the other obvious problem–I was with someone who thought a day at the dump was a great way to impress his date!)

The next time I picked up a gun was when Tom taught me how to shoot with the Sheridan Blue Streak after we discovered we had mice in our house in Maryland. I wrote about that here.

Putting an airgun into the hands of a non-shooter should be preceded with a short discussion about what they should expect to feel or experience. Even if they’ve heard or seen others shoot, the lessons should be totally non-threatening and not loud, startling or sudden.

When Tom and I were first married, his young boys (who had shot airguns before) came out for a visit. We took them to an indoor firing range to pop off a few quick rounds. Standing in the store, outside the range and separated by several doors and lots of very thick glass, the youngest boy started crying because he could feel the reverberations of the report going through his body. It was terrifying because he didn’t know what was happening and wasn’t told what to expect. I took him outside the store so he’d feel safe.

So, what about you? Are you shooting your airguns inside, where every round you pop off makes a noise that punctures the still, silent air with an audible exclamation point that leaves an indelible, negative impression in the psyche of your spouse? If so, time to rethink — if you want your spouse to be supportive, instead of combative, about your shooting.

The right way
Let me start by saying that there is no one right way. Just like there is no one wrong way. I cited one way earlier. Both lists are endless. You have to know what’s holding back your spouse.

Did you spend a lot of money on guns and ignore the budget? Is the report from your guns loud enough or do they reverberate enough that it’s like having someone stand next to your spouse and yell in their ear every few seconds? It’s hard to concentrate on anything else when that happens.

People who’ve had terribly negative opinions about guns have done a 180 because someone took the time to figure out where things went awry. Think of yourself as a plumber looking for the clog that’s blocking the pipes. Dislodge the plug so your spouse can enjoy shooting as much as you do.

If you have a BB or pellet pistol that’s easy to cock, does not recoil, does not have blowback and is not loud, then start with that. It has to be so quiet that it doesn’t sound offensive or threatening. Anything that reverberates or shows force or power is likely to reinforce the negative point of view already held.

Single-stroke pneumatics, such as the Daisy 953, are a good choice. There are some spring guns, such as the IZH 61, that would also be quiet. While accuracy is important, it’s not our No. 1 concern right now. To a non-shooter, accuracy is a given. They will expect every gun to be accurate. If you can’t afford the finest single-stroke made, then start at the low end and be up front about the lack of accuracy. Explain that accuracy comes with practice, use and better guns. You can’t expect to get champagne flavor from a beer.

Paper targets=boredom
Punching holes in paper is not exciting or interesting to an unindoctrinated shooter. I have a paper punch in my desk drawer that punches holes. How is making holes with a gun any different, better or more exciting? Boooooorrrrinnng!

Shooting at things that deliver an immediate reward and instant recognition that you’ve hit the target are fun. While interest in paper targets may come, that’s not our primary object…which is to soften your spouse so they will not begrudge the time you spend shooting. You want your spouse to actually become interested in shooting or (at the very least) not roll their eyes every time you want to buy a gun, go to an airgun show or shoot a few rounds in the basement.

Whatever you use, do NOT shoot at things that require cleanup. Puhlease! If what you’re shooting is messy, you’ve just given your spouse another reason to dislike guns.

If you’re shooting at balloons with talc in them, either do it outside or put the balloons in a box that catches the talc. Or, you clean up the talc when the shootin’ is over. Spinners are fun and so are Necco wafers. Much depends on how accurate your gun is. If it’s way off, then you’ll want to opt for bigger targets so there’s some positive action from shooting the gun.

The train is in motion…don’t derail it
Once you’ve gotten past that awkward stage and your spouse’s attitude is starting to soften, don’t think you can skate to the finish line. Regular invitations to join you for a shooting episode would be good, but keep them short. Not because it’s boring but because you should always leave them wanting more.

Slowly, you can introduce guns with louder reports and more recoil, but don’t force the issue since each session may have to start off reacclimating your spouse to what’s about to happen. Ask if they want to continue to shoot the first gun. If they want to stay with that forever, at the very least you’ve changed your spouse from negative to positive. If they want to move on to something more powerful or more accurate, you should take it up in small steps. A child that takes its first steps today does not hike up the Washington Monument tomorrow.

Make it fun, non-threatening and something they’ll want to do again, and you just might hear less — or even no — complaints the next time you shoot because your spouse is right there with you. Obviously, it can be done because my initial bad experience was turned around by someone who knew how to do it right.

Two new airgun videos have been posted. Both are about cleaning airgun barrels, how to do it correctly and which products are safe for airguns. Part 1 reviews when you should consider cleaning, and part 2 shows you the mechanics of cleaning.

Now, on to today’s blog.

Part 1

Beeman’s RX-2 is a handsome air rifle. The brown laminated stock looks perfect.

Today, we’ll test the power and velocity of the Beeman RX-2 Elite Series combo air rifle. Remember, this rifle contains a gas spring instead of a coiled steel spring, so the cocking effort is entirely different. A gas spring doesn’t increase in effort as you advance through the cocking stroke. It starts out at the maximum force and maintains that same force until the gun is cocked. But the leverage of a breakbarrel rifle is poor in the beginning of the cocking stroke, so the gas spring feels like a lot more effort.

I measured the force needed to cock this rifle, and it came up an even 44 lbs. That was actually lighter than I guessed, but heavy enough that everyone will notice it. Of course, this isn’t a plinking rifle, so the effort it takes to cock it isn’t a problem. Hunters can cock their rifles and leave them cocked for hours while they hunt, because the gas spring doesn’t degrade from being compressed. Just don’t buy this rifle for its power without being aware that the cocking effort is quite high.

Pellets
Alas, this rifle is a .25 caliber, and that caliber has long suffered from a lack of accurate pellets. Shooters buy the .25 because it offers the heaviest pellets on the market, but they fail to realize that none of these pellets are particularly good. And when I say “good” I mean in comparison to what a quality .22-caliber pellet can do at great range. Almost anything will shoot well at 10-15 yards, but when the range stretches out to 25 yards and farther, most .25-caliber pellets can’t keep up with what a good .22 can do.

The H&N Baracuda (Beeman Kodiak Extra Heavy) was about the best pellet available up to the present time and they were only okay — not spectacular. However, this situation has recently changed. I asked for the rifle in .25 caliber because, during the test of the TalonP PCP pistol, I found two new pellets that are quite accurate.

The JSB Exact King pellet is a medium-weight .25 that delivers phenomenal accuracy at long distance when everything is done right. It weighs 25.4 grains, nominally, which puts it in the lightweight to middleweight range among .25-caliber pellets. That means it gives you the best velocity you’ll get from a superior pellet in .25 caliber. You can waste your time shooting sinker larvae, or you can pony up and buy the very best. As long as you’ve gone to the trouble to buy a .25-caliber air rifle, doesn’t it make sense to buy the pellets that make it shoot the best?

The other good .25-caliber pellet we have is the Benjamin dome. This one came out over a year ago, probably to support the .25-caliber Marauder, but the rest of the market also benefitted. I think it should be called a Premier, because when you stand it next to the other three calibers of Premiers, it looks very similar. But it has no special name, other than diabolo, which references the shape. This one weighs 27.8 grains, so it’s a little heavier than the JSB and definitely in the middleweight range. It offers reasonable velocity with good power — especially when used in precharged guns! It also happens to be quite accurate, which is a plus for the quarter-inch bore, so I definitely included it in today’s test.

I included the H&N Baracuda just because it was once the favorite. Who knows what it might do in this rifle?

Velocity
First up were the JSB Exact Kings. They averaged 556 f.p.s. and ranged from a low of 545 to a high of 560. That’s a span of 15 f.p.s., but it looks larger than it is. All but a single shot out of ten were at or above 551. At that speed, the rifle generates 17.44 foot-pounds at the muzzle. You may remember that the test certificate sent with the rifle had placed it at 17.4 foot-pounds with a lighter pellet, so this is pretty stable performance.

Next up were the Benjamin domes. They averaged 507 f.p.s. and ranged from 499 to 514, so again a 15 foot-second spread. At that velocity, they averaged 15.87 foot-pounds.

Finally, I tested the H&N Baracudas. At 31.02 grains, they’re definitely among the heavyweight .25-caliber pellets, though the bar has been raised to over 43 grains by Eun Jin. These pellets averaged 494 f.p.s. in the RX-2. The range went from a low of 487 f.p.s. to a high of 499, so the spread is 12 f.p.s. At the average velocity they delivered 16.81 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

Trigger
The trigger breaks at 2 lbs., 1 oz., which is more than light enough. My only complaint is that the second stage is so creepy. I went on the internet and attempted to find instructions on how to adjust this Elite-series trigger. Imagine a dark night with a train whistle in the distance and a lone dog barking! There are a lot of folks asking the same thing, but I’m darned if I can find any instructions on how this trigger works. Just a lot of plaintive inquires that date back to 2005.

So, I grabbed a screwdriver and found out how to do it on my own. The adjustment screw is the one in front of the trigger blade. When you turn it counterclockwise, the trigger-pull becomes lighter, and the first-stage travel length increases at the same time. I was never able to remove all of the second-stage creep, but I got about 75 percent of it out with 1.5 revolutions of the screw. The pull then registers 1 lb., 11 oz., which is too light on a sporting rifle, but it is safe and reliable.

The picture worth a thousand words. Turn this screw counter-clockwise to reduce the pull weight and lengthen the first-stage travel — clockwise to do the reverse. The length of the first stage is tied to the pull weight (apparently), so that’s all I was able to do.

What about the power?
Are you as surprised as I am that the velocity, and power are as low as this? The specs say it should get 725 f.p.s., but I don’t know with what. If Pyramyd Air tested it with the H&N Field Target Trophy pellet that weighs 20.06 grains and only got an average of about 626 f.p.s., what sort of trick pellet would get another 100 f.p.s.? I think what we’re seeing is the rifle’s true potential in .25 caliber.

This is not that surprising; because when a spring-piston rifle is upgraded to .25 caliber, the maximum power it generates often falls off. The RWS Diana 48, which generates 22 foot-pounds in .22, will make about 19-20 foot-pounds in .25 on its best day. That’s probably why they don’t make them in that caliber anymore. And other guns perform about the same. The only spring-piston air rifles that seem to perform up to spec are those that start out in .25 caliber, and they usually have a much longer piston stroke. Now you can see why I was so impressed with the power of the TalonP air pistol.

What’s next?
Don’t be discouraged with the RX-2 just yet. We still have to test the accuracy. If this rifle can lob them one on top of the other, we won’t care what energy it develops. As many have noted, a heavy .25-caliber pellet will buck the wind and deliver its payload to the target better than any other smallbore pellet around. So, let’s give the rifle the chance to perform.

This is a report I do every year to help wives and friends of airgunners with gift suggestions. There have been a lot of exciting new guns this year, and I’ll mention the ones I would pick, as well as a couple classics.

Dan Wesson revolver
One of the hottest, most desirable new guns is the Dan Wesson revolver. I’ve reported on the one that has an 8-inch barrel, but there are also revolvers with 6-inch, 4-inch and 2.5-inch barrels. These guns have the same mechanism and operate the same, but there are finish and slight design differences. Also, the shorter the barrel, the slower the velocity. They’re all priced the same, so ask your airgunner what he or she likes best and go for it. I haven’t seen a BB revolver this nice — ever! Be sure to also buy lots of CO2 cartridges and Daisy zinc-plated BBs so the fun will last. If your shooter doesn’t have a BB trap (a metal pellet trap will NOT work safely), get the Crosman 850/852 BB/pellet trap.

Crosman M4-177 multi-pump rifle
This is another new airgun that’s been a real doorbuster at Pyramyd Air this year. Crosman’s M4-177 multi-pump pneumatic rifle is based on their classic model 760 Pumpmaster; but unlike that gun, this one features a rifled barrel. When I tested it a week ago, it was surprisingly accurate with lead pellets. It’s also good with steel BBs, but BBs are never as accurate as pellets. Like the Dan Wesson revolvers, the M4 is selling fast, so order soon to ensure you get one in time for the holidays. Keep in mind that the gun you’ll get will be marked M417, which was the original name. Beginning in January, Crosman will start shipping guns marked M4-177, making the M417-marked guns collector items.

Beeman P17 pistol
The Beeman P17 pistol is a classic! It’s a Chinese copy of the German-made Beeman P3 pistol, but in all our testing, this one has proven to be just as accurate and powerful. The price is incredible for what you get. I’ve owned two and find them stunning in performance. If your airgunner is a target shooter or just likes to plink in the yard, here’s a gun for under $40 that will thrill everyone who shoots it.

Air Venturi Bronco
The three guns listed so far are ideal for use in the house, as long as there’s a safe range. They’re relatively quiet, and their power is suited to target shooting at close range. There’s one more pellet rifle to add to this list, and that’s the Bronco from Air Venturi. It’s super-accurate, quiet, easy to cock and built for older youth and adults, alike. The straight comb of the Western-style stock makes sighting with the open sights a breeze because the rifle comes up so naturally. The Bronco is one of those “heirloom” airguns that your kids will hand down to their grandchildren in time, yet it’s surprisingly affordable. There isn’t a spring-piston air rifle at twice the price that’s as nice.

Non-airgun stuff that most airgunners need
If you really want to surprise your airgunner, give something unexpected. Most of us begrudge buying airgun accessories, yet we tend to use them for decades once we have them. By giving them as gifts, you overcome the shooter’s reluctance to treat himself to something he probably really needs.

Shooting bench
All airgunners need a table, or what we call a bench, to support our rifles when we sight in. Most of us shoot off a bench more than any other way, and for those shooters this item is ideal. The MTM Case-Gard Predator shooting table is lightweight, sturdy and highly portable so your shooter can use it wherever he shoots. Indoors and out, this is a very handy accessory for the shooter who’s hard to satisfy.

Rifle rest
The MTM Case Gard Predator rifle rest is one of the better deals in the non-airgun category. It’s priced for just a fraction of what rifle rests normally cost, yet I have found it works better than many rests costing $200 and up. It’s lightweight, highly portable, adjustable and easy to set up. The one thing it does not do is absorb recoil. If your shooter needs something to do that, this isn’t the rest to buy. But for all other rifle rest jobs, this is a good one.

Pellet trap
Here’s an item that airgunners won’t usually buy for themselves, yet they all need one! It’s a pellet trap. There are many grades of pellet traps; but if you just want one trap that does it all, get this Champion heavy-duty metal trap. It’ll stop bullets from rimfire rifles that are far more powerful than the most powerful smallbore air rifle, so there’s absolutely no worries if your shooter uses a trap like this. I’ve shot through several lesser traps in my career, but my heavy duty metal trap has taken over a quarter million hits and still works like new. It was some of the best money I ever spent.

Stocking stuffers
We always need those gifts that cost very little but mean a lot, and with airguns there are plenty of them. I’m not going to recommend pellets, because they need to be ordered by caliber, and it matters greatly from gun to gun what you use. So, pellets are best left to the airgunner to pick.

Targets
Can’t have too many targets. We need them for both rifles and pistols. There are different sizes for each because of accuracy and aiming issues. For air rifles, I like the Champion 12-bull air rifle target. They come in a pack of 100, but I cut them up with scissors and get many times the number of targets from a pack. For air pistols, I like the National Target single-bull air pistol target. I buy several packs of 100 at a time, because this is one of the most useful targets I have. I can also use them for air rifles out to 100 yards.

I also like the novel Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C targets that turn from black to green when hit. They are fun at close range for testing action pistols and at long range, where they show the hits more vividly than any other kind of target. They’re pricier than other kinds of targets but are excellent for rewarding yourself when you want to have extra fun at the range.

Other stuff
I like the Walther CSL50 rechargeable flashlight. It’s main value is that it lives in your car’s cigarette lighter, where it charges when the car is running (and doesn’t when your car is off) and is always there to grab. It’s bright enough for any task and probably the first thing you’ll reach for on that dark and stormy night when things go bad. You don’t even have to be an airgunner to want this one!

If you want a conventional tactical flashlight, try the Walther flashlight. It puts out 60 lumens of light, which is borderline for night defense, but it will turn night into day for anything you need. You can also inspect guns with this light. I even use one of similar brightness for “painting” my photos with light. It runs on 2 CR123A batteries and lasts a long time if used sparingly. I get about a year’s use from a set of batteries in mine. Again, this is a gift you can enjoy even if you’re not an airgunner.

I shouldn’t do this, but I also recommend the Walther black tactical folder. I like knives. Although this isn’t exactly my classic style, I got it because I couldn’t say no. It’s the coolest looking folding knife I own — and as a collector, I own quite a few folders. It just feels good and substantial in your hand; and if your airgunner likes knives, I think this one will please him or her.

Well, that’s my list for this year. Of course, there’s a lot more, but these are the things I think are universal enough to please even the most jaded airgunner. If you don’t have other ideas, this will give you a place to start.

Before I start…today is the last day of Pyramyd Air’s weekend Doorbuster Deal on the Gamo Big Cat 1250 air rifle. Besides knocking back the price of the gun, they’ve also taken a huge discount on the Big Cat’s large pre-packaged deal. If this gun is on your “buy” list (for yourself or as a gift), this would be the time to get it.

Part 1
Part 2

The Dan Wesson CO2 BB revolver with the 8-inch barrel is a large, impressive, all-metal airgun.

I can’t report on this gun fast enough. The Dan Wesson revolver has taken off on afterburners at Pyramyd Air, now that people have seen it perform. Today, we’ll look at accuracy — the final question we had regarding this unique new revolver. You won’t be disappointed!

The Rob Speedloader
Blog reader Rob recommended a procedure for loading the speedloader rapidly by simple pressing it into a flat tray of BBs. I didn’t think it would work, but it worked so well that I’m loading the gun this way from now on. This is the fastest BB-loading system I’ve ever seen — commercial speedloaders included. The following two photos will show how it works.

First step is to fill the bottom of a pellet tin lid with a layer of BBs. Keep it to a single layer, so all the BBs are the same height.

Next, press the speedloader into the BBs. One push is all it takes and you don’t have to press hard. Each of the six cartridges will pick up one BB like this. Notice that the layer of BBs in the lid is diminished, and some are piled on top of others. Spread them flat again and you can load several more speedloaders before you have to add more BBs to the lid.

I reloaded the speedloader many times this way with three different brands of BBs, and only once did I come up with less than six BBs. That one time, I just pressed the speedloader back into the tin once more and the last cartridge was loaded.

Basic marketing
Now, however, I have to take Crosman and Walther to task for how they package their BBs. Some marketing committee seems to have decided that shooters want a BB container that releases BBs slowly, so both of these companies have designed a container that releases them haphazardly, instead. Only Daisy allows you to pour the BBs out en masse, and that’s too bad, because with this Dan Wesson revolver, people are going to want to shoot thousands of BBs. Marketing 101 tells us that if your product is cheap, you make sure people have unlimited access to it, so only the Daisy zinc-plated BBs support this style of reloading. The other two brands are difficult just getting six out of the bottle.

Accuracy
Here’s what we’ve all been waiting for. How accurate is this Dan Wesson? Because of the long barrel, I started shooting at 25 feet — like I did last week with the Crosman M4 BB gun. Longer barrels aren’t really any more accurate than short barrels, but you can’t deny that they look like they are!

From 25 feet, 12 Daisy BBs made this 1.622-inch group. Not too bad for a smoothbore!

After seeing this first group I decided to move in and shoot from my traditional 15-foot distance. First up were another 12 Daisy BBs.

Twelve Daisy BBs went into this tight group from 15 feet. It measures 1.019 inches between centers.

I was actually shooting a lot more than the targets reveal. I tried double-action, but I’m not steady enough for that yet. The red front sight glared too much until I turned off the overhead light and just illuminated the target. Then, the front post was dark and sharp against the bull.

Next, I tried Walther BBs, because in tests with other BB guns they’ve worked just as well as Daisys. This time, however, they surpassed the Daisys to turn in the best group of the session.

Twelve Walther BBs went into this 0.817-inch group at 15 feet. This was the best group of the session.

Finally, it was time to try Crosman Copperhead BBs. Though they usually don’t perform as well as Daisy BBs, in the test of the Crosman M4 rifle last week they were more accurate. In this test they put 12 into a group measuring 1.061 inches from 15 feet. That is so close to the Daisy result that I have to say they’re about the same.

Twelve Crosman Copperhead BBs went into this 1.061-inch group, which isn’t much different than the group the Daisy BBs turned in. When it’s this close, it’s too close to call.

Sights
The revolver appears to shoot to the point of aim at 15 feet. When I adjusted the sight higher to bring the BBs into the center of the bull, I ran out of elevation and the screw popped out. So, figure the gun will put a BB wherever the top center of the front sight blade is when shooting from 15 to 25 feet.

I found the sights sharp enough after adjusting the room lighting, but the front red ramp does glare and mess up the aim point more than a little. I have firearm handguns with this same flaw, so it isn’t confined to BB guns. It just seems that the people who make the guns these days don’t shoot them to see how they actually perform. If they did, there would be fewer of these bright, shiny ramp sights.

Number of shots
Well, this BB revolver just keeps on shooting and shooting. I figured that, at its higher velocity, it would run out of gas around 60 shots; but it was still going strong at 97 shots. I chonographed shots 108-113 and report them now.

Shot–>Vel.
108—>299
109—>298
110—>299
111—>303
112—> —
113—>301

Well, these velocities are well off the power curve we saw in Part 2, where the average for these same Daisy BBs was 466 f.p.s. But if you’re popping soda cans in the back yard, I don’t think you’ll notice. However, I did notice that at shots 111 through 113, the BBs were bouncing off the duct seal of the BB trap, so the velocity is getting into the “time to change cartridges” zone. For what it’s worth, that best group of Walther BBs was shot with over 80 shots on the cartridge, so the gun was still in the zone at that time.

The bottom line
Well, it’s official. In a couple days, I’ll submit this revolver to Tom’s Picks. It delivers on everything that’s promised and is a very good training gun, to boot. I may have to retain this one in my personal collection — just so I can come back to it from time to time. It’s all in the interest of science, you understand.

Announcement: Aaron Weinstein is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Aaron’s winning photo. He’s holding a GSG 92 CO2 BB pistol made by an airsoft manufacturer that now also produces realistic lookalike airguns.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

This is an exploration into the theory that high velocity reduces pellet accuracy when it reaches and exceeds the transonic speed region, or about Mach 0.8 to 1.2. We have thus far examined four different .177 pellets at three different speed levels, produced by shooting them in a Whiscombe JW75 spring rifle. Because all pellets have been fired in the same barrel and powered by the same powerplant, the conditions have remained the same, except for their velocities. That was altered by the use of air transfer ports of varying sizes, that passed the compressed air at differing rates.

In this fourth test, I’ll reduce the velocity of the four pellets even more, to as low as I am able to go with this rifle. Then, we’ll have four sets of groups to examine for each of the four pellets. While that isn’t enough testing to prove anything conclusively, it should provide a good indicator of what happens when pellets are both within and outside of the transonic velocity range. The current theory says that pellets are not designed for transonic or supersonic flight and will be less accurate at those speeds than they will at speeds that are less than transonic.

I’ll record the velocities of all four pellets today and then shoot them for accuracy in the next report. We’ll have at least one additional report in which all the results are compared and, to the extent possible, analyzed.

Pause to reflect
Before I start today’s test, I’d like to take a moment to reflect. Although what I’m doing seems normal, but in 50 years it may seem quite exotic. By using a handmade air rifle like the Whiscombe, it’s as if I were shopping for a violin on the streets of Cremona in 1710 and was able to sample the works of Antonio Stradivari as they came fresh from the maker’s hand. Or perhaps more to the point, as though I were able to buy a target rifle with all the supporting equipment directly from Harry Pope. From the accounts I’ve read, shooters who were able to do just that back in Pope’s time revered his rifles as much as today’s airgunners revere a Whiscombe.

What will readers of the future think about our familiar association with an airgun that, by then, will have assumed an elevated cult status? Indeed, it’s almost in that position today. It’s also the perfect tool for conducting the very experiment I’m now reporting, because it can do everything we need while avoiding bias.

Some readers have suggested that just the fact that it’s a Whiscombe brings bias to the table. They say that because this rifle is so well made, it doesn’t necessarily represent most airguns and may be able to tolerate and even ignore the physical constraints we’re testing. I disagree.

The most accurate rifle in the world is still subject to the laws of the physical world. A bullet or pellet in free ballistic flight doesn’t know or care what sent it on its way. If that projectile is unstable for any reason, it’s going to behave just like a top spinning on a flat table. It’ll wobble and move in the direction in which its instability forces.

In fact, because the Whiscombe is so accurate it should be even easier to see those natural laws in action — if they actually work the way we think they do — because the gun doesn’t have all the extraneous “noise” that normally accompanies a spring-piston airgun. By “noise,” I’m referring to the extra vibrations that influence a rougher gun at the moment of, and just after, firing.

Today’s test
The transfer port limiter I installed for this test is the same one that was in the rifle when it was sent to me. So, we should see a large drop in the velocities of all four pellets. Accuracy testing should then prove very interesting.

The first pellet tested was the Beeman Devastator. They averaged just 772 f.p.s. with this transfer port limiter. The spread went from a low of 767 to a high of 779 f.p.s., so 12-foot-seconds from low to high. At the average velocity, they were generating 9.4 foot-pounds. That’s a velocity loss of 200 f.p.s. from the last test, which should do something to the group size.

Next, I tried Crosman Premier lites. This 7.9-grain domed pellet was pretty accurate pellet in the last two tests, but this time the velocity dropped to an average of 732 f.p.s. That’s about 185 f.p.s. slower than last time. It will be very interesting to see what effect, if any, that has on their accuracy. The spread went from 726 to 736 f.p.s. and the muzzle energy was also 9.4 foot-pounds.

Next up were the most accurate pellets thus far — the Beeman Kodiaks. These averaged 658 f.p.s., with a spread from 655 to 661 f.p.s. That’s an extremely tight 6 foot-second difference between the slowest and fastest pellet in the ten-shot string! And they generated 10 foot-pounds on the nose! That’s more than the two lighter pellets, which isn’t supposed to happen in a spring-piston gun. But it’s exactly what happened last time, as well, so there is consistency.

The final pellet I shot was the heavy 16.1-grain Eun Jin dome. This pellet is really too heavy for the powerplant, when it is set at this level, but we want to see what happens to all pellets on all power settings, so we have to test this one, too. They averaged 501 f.p.s. and ranged from 499 to 504 f.p.s., a five foot-second difference. They weren’t too accurate last time, and I expect them to get worse this time. The muzzle energy was 8.98 foot-pounds, which puts it last in terms of power. That remains the same as it has been throughout this test.

This sets us up for the next accuracy test, which should be most interesting, given the great velocity reductions we’re seeing. But I wonder if people will accept the results, knowing that they were obtained with a Whiscombe. As I said in the beginning of this report, all I think the Whiscombe does is give us a clear picture of the results. But we shall see.

Part 1

The Dan Wesson CO2 BB revolver with the 8-inch barrel is a large and impressive all-metal airgun.

There’s no question that there’s a LOT of interest in this Dan Wesson revolver! The response we got from readers was enormous, plus Pyramyd Air reports the same level of interest from their customers. I’m always glad to be able to report on an airgun everyone likes, so this is getting exciting.

If you now go to the Dan Wesson page on the website, you’ll see three additional barrel lengths and two silver-finished guns. So, your choices are many. And if you decide to buy one, check out that “Click to save $8.00 more!” button, because Pyramyd Air has put together a great bundle of necessary stuff to accompany the gun.

I also happen to like the gun, as well as the whole Dan Wesson pistol pac concept. In fact, when Edith, who was unaware of the Dan Wesson history, saw the pistol pac in Part 1 of of this report, she had the same reaction as many readers. She agrees with me that this idea of a gun with many personalities is too good to let pass.

Good ideas
Some of you have wondered where I get all my ideas for airguns and new products like the UTG drooper scope mount base for older RWS Diana spring guns. Well, this is how it happens. I see something that was a great idea in the past, and I know it would be received the same way today; but the people making decisions in the airgun industry are not aware of what has gone before, so all I have to do is modernize the idea and take it to them. However, there’s a potential problem.

Take the Dan Wesson pistol pac idea as an example. When Dan Wesson designed it back in the 1960s, they did it the right way, so the customer would have a properly adjusted gun if he followed their directions and used all their tools when changing his barrels. Fast-forward to the Chinese breakbarrel rifles that have recently been made with interchangable barrels, but in the cheapest possible way. By their design, these rifles are doomed to failure, because they’re not good guns to begin with and their barrel-changing process is not fully engineered — at least not to the same extent that Dan Wesson engineered it.

So, as you can see, a good idea can be executed poorly and doom the outcome from the start. Dan Wesson did it the right way; and as a result, we remember them and desire their products. I have a related story to tell you about a Desert Eagle Magnum pistol, but that will have to wait for another day. Today is velocity day for the Dan Wesson revolver, so let’s get started!

Velocity
The first task is to charge the revolver with a CO2 cartridge. Of course, the tip of every new cartridge gets a drop of Crosman Pellgunoil to keep the inner seals fresh and sealing.

To load the cartridge, pull the grip panel straight back. It comes back and at the last instant flips up out of the way. The website doesn’t show this, so I took a picture to let you see how it works.

Pull the grip panel straight back, and it will flip up to expose the CO2 cartridge housing like this.

Loading BBs
Remember that speedloader I criticized in Part 1? A reader was kind enough to point out how it worked, and when I went to the owner’s manual I found that it’s addressed there, as well. It does work exactly as it should. When I told Mac what a mistake I’d made, he told me that he once bought a speedloader for a .357 revolver and for a year and a half had the same problem. He probably didn’t, but that’s what good friends do — they keep you from feeling like the dufus you really are.

I tell you this because the speedloader is an important part of loading the BBs. Oh, I’m sure you could load them singly and everything would still work just fine, but the manual wants you to put the empty cartridges in the speedloader first, then snug them down and load them that way. Since I was the one who lead you wrong, allow me to show you.

Insert six cartridges base-down into the speedloader. Notice that the speedloader spring is relaxed.

Push in on the back of the speedloader and twist to the right. You’ll hear a click — and the cartridges are locked in the loader.

Load a BB into the mouth of each cartridge. You have to push in the BB until it’s captured by the synthetic lip of the cartridge.

Insert the speedloader into the rear of the cylinder. When it gets to this point, it will push the cartridges forward into the cylinder with a click.

This is a unique way of loading BBs into a revolver. I’ve done something similar with an airsoft revolver years ago, but never before with steel BBs. I like the realism, and it compliments the realistic look and feel of this revolver. I think it helps make the Dan Wesson a winner!

Velocity
I first tested the gun with Daisy zinc-plated BBs. They averaged 466 f.p.s. The spread went from a low of 462 to a high of 470 f.p.s. That’s pretty tight. There was also no difference in speed between single-action and double-action. When the cartridges were ejected they were oily, so the Pellgunoil is moving through the valve as it is supposed to.

Crosman Copperhead BBs were next, and they didn’t do as well. They averaged 456 f.p.s., but the spread was much larger — from 445 to 471 f.p.s. That’s still pretty good, but not when compared to the Daisy BBs. Like the Daisys, the Copperheads were just as fast in single-action as in double-action.

The revolver is rated at 426 f.p.s.; and as you can see, this one is faster. So, it’s met and exceeded the advertised specification for velocity. I do want to caution all readers that a steel BB going over 450 f.p.s. is very prone to rebound from a hard surface. Wear safety glasses every time you operate this BB gun and make sure everyone in the area does the same.

So far
Well, I love the revolver thus far. If it also turns out to be accurate I’m thinking of making it one of my personal picks. I don’t do that for many airguns, but this one will have earned a spot if it can shoot a decent group.

Beeman’s RX-2 is a handsome air rifle. The brown laminated stock looks perfect.

Man does not live by bread alone — so today we’re having cake! Taking some time away from the BB guns, today we’ll begin looking at a Beeman RX-2 Elite Series combo air rifle. This rifle is built by Weihrauch and has a Theoben gas spring instead of a coiled steel mainspring. It’s still a spring-piston gun, but the gas spring changes some of the characteristics that I’ll address as this report unfolds.

I decided this time to treat all of us to a combo package instead of a basic rifle that I would then have to scope. Pyramyd Air mounted the scope for me and performed their 10-for-$10 test, which means they chronographed the rifle with 10 shots (actually 13) and included the chrono ticket inside the package. That way both Pyramyd Air and the customer know what the rifle can do at the moment of delivery. This service is included in the price of the combo package, so all you have to do is order what I did.

The RX-2 comes in all four smallbore calibers, but if ever there was a case for ordering the larger calibers, this is it. The power this rifle generates is lost on a .177 gun, because the bore is too narrow for all the air to flow freely. I went all the way and ordered a .25 caliber. I now know from testing the TalonP air pistol that there are at least two superlative .25-caliber pellets on the market, and I’ll test this rifle with several of the other premium brands just to make sure I’ve tested the right ones.

A long time coming
I’ve owned three Theoben gas spring rifles — four if you count the fact that I converted a .25 to .20 to get more accuracy. And I’ve tested many more Theobens besides those. So, you would think that the RX-2 and I were old friends, but we’re not. This will be the first time that I’ve ever shot this model. Back when it first came out as the Beeman RX in 1990, it was viewed by many U.S. airgunners as a “poor man’s Theoben.” It was priced at about half what a Beeman Crow Magnum (Theoben Eliminator) was selling for, and in my mind it didn’t hold the attraction of the pricier airgun.

But over the years, it evolved through the RX-1 (1992) model and finally into the RX-2 (2001)…and I still didn’t test it. I got questions all the time about the trigger, which is not Weihrauch’s fabled Rekord. Because the trigger must grab the gas piston at a different place, a Rekord will not work in this gun. So, Weihrauch replaced it with a trigger especially designed to work with the gas spring. I never knew how good it was and will only discover as this report unfolds. My test rifle is serial number 1817631.

There have been several stocks to choose from over the years, and the one on this rifle is a laminate. That adds weight to the gun, which the lighter gas piston counteracts to some degree, but in the end the rifle I am testing is slightly heavy — at 10 lbs., 15 oz. with the scope. I say “slightly heavy” because I’m used to the weight of magnum spring rifles; but if the heaviest rifle you’ve ever held is a Winchester model 70, this one will feel like an elephant rifle in comparison. At first, the weight seems oppressive, but wait until you’ve shot the gun a thousand times before wishing it was lighter. That weight adds stability that modern rifles don’t have. Sporting (hunting) rifles of a century ago weighed 10-12 lbs. as a rule, rather than as the exception.

Trigger
The trigger is entirely different than the Rekord. It is two-stage, and the triggerguard houses the release button of the automatic safety. The Rekord trigger has the safety release button at the back of the receiver. While the safety comes on automatically, you can take it off any time and put it back on without recocking the barrel, as must be done on all rifles having the Rekord trigger. Simply depress the lever in front of the triggerguard (so THAT’S what that lever is!) until you hear the safety click back on. If the click bothers you, such as while hunting, simply depress the safety button until you have pulled the safety release lever all the way, then slowly release the safety button and the gun will be back on safe without making a sound.

The RX-2 trigger is not a Rekord. However, it has an automatic safety that can be reapplied without recocking the rifle: simply pull back on the lever in front of the triggerguard.

I tried the trigger only a few times for today’s report, but that’s enough to tell me this is no Rekord. It is creepy in stage two. Whether or not I can adjust that out remains to be seen. The pull is set at several pounds of effort, so we’ll see if I can change that, as well.

Lock time
Everybody makes a big deal out of the quick “lock time” of this rifle, but all the reports I’ve read prove that the authors who say that don’t actually know what lock time is. The term lock time comes to us from the days of the flintlock, which has a definite time delay from the moment the powder in the pan explodes until the main charge explodes and sends the bullet out the barrel. If the delay is a long one, the shooter would develop a flinch — anticipating the force of the main charge and wincing in response before the gun fires. The result is a movement of the muzzle before the bullet exits, which throws the shot wide. If the gun was a musket that wasn’t expected to hit a man beyond 35 yards, it didn’t matter that much; but with the advent of the Kentucky-style rifle that was capable of very precise shooting out to much longer ranges, lock time became important. And the best gun makers soon learned how to make flintlocks that fired almost instantaneously. Hence, the real importance of lock time.

Today, many airgun authors are saying that this rifle has a fast lock time and is therefore more accurate. Hogwash! In a spring-piston rifle, the term lock time refers to how long it takes from the instant the piston is released by the sear until the piston comes to a dead stop. In that sense, the RX-2 does have a very fast lock time because a gas spring drives a piston faster than a coiled-steel counterpart. But it makes no difference to accuracy.

What they fail to appreciate is the fact that the pellet is still in the barrel when the piston comes to a stop. It takes the pellet several more milliseconds to traverse the barrel and leave the muzzle, and that happens after the lock is finished working. So lock time in a spring-piston airgun is meaningless. But follow-through, which is holding the gun on the target after it has fired, is all-important. If you can do that, you can forget about the supposed advantage of lock time. And the artillery hold is what helps you follow through.

Scope
There are no sights on this version of the rifle. The Elite series combo I’m testing comes with a Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12×40 AO scope mounted in two-piece rings. I’ll report more on the scope when we get to the accuracy test.

A Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12×40AO scope comes mounted as part of the combo package.

10-for-$10 certificate
As I mentioned, the test rifle was tested in the 10-for-$10 offer, and it was included in the package. So, I got a certificate telling me the velocity the Pyramyd Air technicians got from this rifle using H&N Field Target Trophy pellets weighing 20.06 grains apiece. The test gun ranged from a low of 618.07 f.p.s. on shot 7 to a high of 634.13 f.p.s. on shot 11. There were 13 shots recorded in all. So, the rifle I have generates about 17.4 foot-pounds as it comes from the box. That’ll change with each different pellet I shoot, but it gives you an idea of where we are.

The stock
The laminated stock is stained brown, setting off the black metal parts in an attractive contrast. Though the stock is made for right-handed shooters by virtue of the cheekpiece that’s only on the left side of the butt, the rest of the stock is uniform enough that the gun can also be shot by lefties. The pistol grip is cut-checkered on both sides, and the forearm is smooth.

The finish on the wood is transparent, allowing the laminated grain to show. It’s most attractive, and the brown color adds to the masculine look of the rifle.

The metal
The rifle is a Weihrauch, and that means that the metal parts are finished smooth with an even black finish. The polish isn’t high — just enough to promote pride of ownership, and there’s a contrast between the spring tube that’s polished higher than the barrel. A solid metal muzzlebrake provides a handy place to grab when cocking. The trigger appears to be gold-plated.

The benefits of a gas spring
Gas springs never take a set. They can continue to work at full power even when compressed most of the time. You know that from your experience with cheaper versions of them in the automotive world. So, this is a spring gun that you can leave cocked for many hours at a time without worrying about any degradation of power.

Gas springs also work well in very cold weather because they do not require the level of lubrication that a steel spring would need. Therefore, there isn’t as much grease to stiffen as the temperature drops — leaving the powerplant free to operate at its full potential.

Gas springs do not vibrate nearly as much as steel springs, so having one in a gun is tantamount to having a good tune. They do recoil quite quickly, but that can be offset by holding the rifle as lightly as possible, which is part of the artillery hold anyhow.

The small downside
The greatest fear with a gas spring is that it will develop a leak, leaving the owner high and dry. Where steel springs can be obtained through many commercial channels, gas springs are unitized with the piston and specific to the gun. If one does go bad, it must be repaired or replaced. Theoben gas springs have an enviable track record for reliability in this area, but nothing is perfect. The owner will find gas spring replacement easier than steel spring replacement in most cases; but as I said, he will need to find the right set of parts.

That’s all I’m going to look at for today, but I’ll return to this rifle soon for the velocity test.

Part 1
Part 2

Crosman’s new M4-177 is a smart-looking M4 battle rifle lookalike.

Here we are at accuracy day with the new Crosman M4-177 multi-pump air rifle that you steady readers also know as the M417. Speaking of that, Pyramyd Air sold out of their initial supply of guns and is now selling the second shipment of guns that are still marked M417. If you want one marked in that special way, the time to act is right now.

BBs and pellets
As you know, this multi-pump pneumatic will shoot both BBs and pellets, though not at the same time. Each type of ammunition requires a different loading procedure, so before you start shooting you have to pick one type. I decided to begin with steel BBs. I’ve been testing the gun with Daisy zinc-plated BBs, but during the velocity test I also tried Crosman Copperhead BBs. In the past, Daisy BBs have been more uniform and accurate, but in this gun the Crosman BBs are doing better — at least as far as velocity goes.

Sight-in
I decided to pump the gun five times for each shot. During the initial shooting, which I did at 25 feet, I found the gun shot very high and to the left. Elevation is adjusted at the front sight which, in this case, needed to go higher to bring down the strike of the BB. I had to adjust the front post an estimated eight full turns to lower the BB by the two-plus inches that were needed. The rear sight adjusts via a slotted screw on the left side of the sight, and to move the BBs by one inch required at least four full turns of the screw. As you’ll see, my final impact point is still off by a little, but it’s close enough.

I shot in the standing supported position, using a door jamb for support. While it’s not as steady as shooting off a rest, it’s much steadier than offhand. And the whole point of the test is to find out how well the rifle performs — not how good a shot I am.

Shooting for record
I shot 10-shot groups as always, and I think you will be glad that I did. The Daisy BBs went into a group that measures 1.594 inches between the two farthest centers. Throw out just one shot, and the other nine are in 1.046 inches. That’s very good shooting for BBs at 25 feet.

Ten Daisy BBs are grouped pretty tight for 25 feet. The center of the group is a little high and to the left, but I decided to leave it there.

Next up were the Crosman Copperhead BBs, and I wondered if they would also beat the Daisys at accuracy. After all, this is a Crosman gun!

Beat them they did, with a ten-shot group measuring 1.585 inches across the two farthest centers. This time, though, there was no single stray that enlarged the group, so in general, it was more evenly spread than the Daisy target.

Ten Crosman Copperhead BBs gave this well-distributed ten-shot group measuring 1.585 inches at 25 feet.

By this point, I was definitely in the groove, so I decided to keep on shooting at 25 feet. That’s arbitrary, I know, but I plan to visit this gun one more time, and perhaps then I’ll push the distance out farther.

The M4 on pellets
It seemed like the rifle enjoyed Crosman ammunition, so for the pellet test I used Crosman Premier Super Match wadcutter target pellets. I was still pumping the gun five times for every shot. I did not adjust the sights for the first group, and the results were so encouraging that I forgot to shoot the second five pellets. So, my five-shot group measures 0.449 inches between the two farthest centers. When I saw it I had to adjust the sights just a little more to try to center the group on the next and final attempt.

Five pellets went into this 0.449-inch group at 25 feet. Not a bad start!

The second time, I remembered to reload the clip after the first five shots, so this is a true 10-shot group with pellets from 25 feet in the standing supported position. This 10-shot group measures 0.519 inches between centers, so it’s ever-so-slightly larger than the five-shot group.

Ten pellets went into this 0.519-inch group at 25 feet. This is almost a screamer.

The sights
I find the peep sights on the M4 to be the easiest sights I’ve used in a long time. In fact they remind me of M1 Carbine sights. Yes, the peep holes are large, but that has nothing to do with their precision. All a larger hole does is pass more light, which decreases your depth of field. That makes it more difficult to focus on the front sight post and keep the bullseye in sharp focus as well. But you can light the range to compensate for most of that, which is what I did. The bottom line is that I like these sights a lot.

Trigger
The trigger, I don’t care for. It’s single-stage and has a long pull that, while at 3 lbs., 8 ozs. is not heavy, it’s also not light. It’s very consistent, though, I’ll give them that.

Bottom line
I resist the tempation of calling this rifle a tackdriver, but it’s surprisingly accurate. More so than any other 760-based rifle I’ve tested or owned.

We’re not done with this airgun just yet. I plan to mount a dot sight on it and give it one more accuracy test at a longer range. But from what I see thus far, it’s a no-brainer. This is one heck of a fine air rifle!

Photos and test by Earl (Mac) McDonald, unless otherwise indicated

Part 1
Part 2

S&W M&P R8 BB revolver. Photo provided by Pyramyd Air.

Today we look at the accuracy the S&W M&P R8 BB revolver offers. Because this is a BB revolver Mac tested it at 15 feet, but he also tested it at 25 feet as well. So we’ll get a look at what is considered to be a long distance for any BB pistol.

Oddly, Mac found the revolver more accurate when fired double-action and timed-fire. Timed fire means he got off all eight shots in about 20 seconds. It gets its name from a type of handgun shooting in which the competitors are given a certain amount of time to fire all their shots. So perhaps it is best understood as deliberate aimed fire, rather than slow aimed fire.

There was some question last time as to whether the velocity reported was obtained from single-action or double-action fire. Mac says it doesn’t matter because both ways produce the same results. The hammer on double-action releases at the exact same place as it does single-action, so the only real advantage is that in single-action you can slow down. However, that brings up a second controversy.

Several readers wondered about the high number of shots from a single cartridge. Mac advises that he charged the pistol twice and got the same results, so it isn’t s fluke. It really does get 120 good shots per cartridge, as long as the shooting is deliberate.

Many of you commented that the single-action trigger pull seemed very heavy, and at over nine pounds I guess it is. Mac says it doesn’t feel that heavy when you are shooting, but he does admit that the single-action pull is a bit stiff. He thinks that may be linked in some way to this action that is different than most other BB pistols he’s tried.

He felt the light weight of the gun did not hinder him while shooting, but adds that if he were keeping it, he would find ways to increase the weight. Putting lead in the cavities in the grip is one way to do this, and adding accessories is another.

During all the testing Mac used Daisy zinc-plated BBs.

From 15 feet Mac got an eight-shot group that measured 1.2-inches between centers. He shot this group single-action, using Daisy zinc-plated BBs.

The accessory rail under the barrel of the S&W M&P R8 revolver is the perfect place for a compact laser. At BB-gun distances, the dot would be easy to see. Also, Mac feels the extra weight would be nice.

Next he moved back to 25 feet and tried again. This time he tried it in both the single-action and double-action modes.

Shouting single-action the best Mac did was this two-inch group at 25 feet.

When he switched to double action at 25 feet the group tightened to this 1.85-inch size.

One more observation
Mac also noticed that one of the chambers in the plastic BB clip seemed loose. He noticed that there was always one or more fliers in his groups and he thinks this may be the reason why.

Evaluation
Mac feels there is a lot to like in the S&W M&P R8 BB revolver. He likes the realism and the large number of shots he gets from a single CO2 cartridge. For the price he thinks it’s a pretty good buy.

Announcement: Guy Roush is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Guy’s winning photo.  He says it’s a “great gun and very realistic feel!”

Part 1

Related reports.
Crosman 114 — Part 1
Crosman 114 — Part 2

This report is getting convoluted. I’m reporting a device I found at the 2011 Roanoke Airgun Expo that allows the use of 12-gram CO2 cartridges to fill Crosman bulk-fill guns, but I used the Crosman model 114 rifle that already had two reports from 2009 before it broke and had to be resealed. So, the report is really about how this bulk-fill device operates on a Crosman model 114 rifle, but the performance of the rifle is also being examined.

Confused? Well, I will try to keep it simple from this point. Today, we’ll look at the velocity you can expect from a Crosman 114 when it is filled by this device.

The Crosman 114 is a .22-caliber, single-shot rifle from the early 1950s. The new bulk-fill device allows you to shoot it with minimal additional equipment.

Mike Reames, the inventor of the device, told me the CO2 in a 12-gram cartridge would not transfer entirely to the gun, so I should expect some gas loss when I disconnected it. There was a loss of gas as he said, so one of the things I want to determine is how many shots can be expected when the gun is charged this way.

When the gas and liquid flows into the rifle during charging, the CO2 reservoir cools immediately. That’s caused by the liquid CO2 flashing to gas as it enters the reservoir. When it does, it absorbs some of the heat of its surroundings — in this case, the metal reservoir tube.

One way to maximize the fill is to cool the gun before filling. When the CO2 enters, it encounters cooler surroundings; and when it flashes to gas, the pressure of the gas is lower. Since the CO2 cartridge is warm in comparison, it’ll have higher pressure and will push more gas and liquid into the gun. This is an old bulk-fill trick that I’ll try to see what difference it makes — if any.

Velocity with a regular fill
First, I filled the rifle in the normal fashion (i.e., at room temperature). The first pellet I tried was the Crosman Premier. As I test the gun, you must keep in mind that Rick Willnecker, who resealed it, has a policy that he will only return a vintage airgun to its specified power. While there are other repair stations that will soup up the powerplant, you can expect Rick to repair the gun so it will shoot like it did when it was new.

Crosman Premiers averaged 535 f.p.s. The spread went from 531 to 539 f.p.s., so a tight 8 foot-second spread. I have owned one other 114 that shot the same pellet 15-20 f.p.s. faster, so this is well within the ballpark.

Next, I tried RWS Hobby pellets. They averaged 549 f.p.s., but that number isn’t a good one. Because after only three shots, I could see the power drop in the traditional fall-off that happens after all the CO2 liquid has turned to gas. So, the rifle had come to the end of its useful charge. You can look at it in several ways, depending on what you’re doing with the gun, but there were anywhere from 13 to 20 good shots on a fill. If you were just plinking, that might stretch to 30 shots.

The first three Hobbys went 563, 558 and 558 f.p.s., respectively. The next one dropped to 551, which is still okay; but after that, each successive shot went slower. After shooting the string of 10 Hobbys, I fired a Crosman Premier pellet and got 499 f.p.s., so the rifle is definitely off the power curve.

The fill from a 12-gram cartridge is from 20 to 30 good shots. Compare that to 50-70 good shots that you will get when the gun is filled by a large bulk tank. I’ve always used the 10-oz. Crosman tank, so that’s what I’m using to get this number.

Chill out
It’s time to chill the rifle and check the fill afterward. I placed the rifle in a chest freezer and left it in there for about an hour.

Let me caution you that what I am doing is considered dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. I know that the entire contents of a 12-gram CO2 cartridge cannot possibly overfill this rifle’s reservoir; but if I filled the chilled gun from a normal bulk tank, it could easily be overfilled. The consequences of overfilling an airgun like the 114 that has no pressure release device is that if the gun gets too warm, the gas pressure inside can build to the point that the brass reservoir blows apart in a catastrophic failure. That happens because the cold gun accepts too much liquid CO2; and when it warms up, the liquid has nowhere to go. The gun needs space for the liquid to become gas, to relieve the pressure, which is how it normally operates. If you fill at room temperature, the physical properties of CO2 will take care of stopping the fill at the right spot for you; but a chilled gun will continue to accept more liquid than it should.

However, in this case, the quantity of liquid inside a 12-gram cartridge is less than the gun is built to hold, so all that should happen is that more of the liquid goes into the reservoir. The test for that is to see how many good shots we then get from a fill.

After taking the rifle from the freezer, a layer of frost formed on all the metal parts. The fill was far more complete this time, with just a small puff of gas as the device was disconnected. However, the gun was now very cold and would not perform well until it returned to room temperature, so more waiting.

Two hours later, I shot strings with both Premiers and Hobbys. The first string of five Premiers averaged 515 f.p.s., and I thought something had gone wrong. It ranged from 498 to 522 f.p.s. But right after it, I shot the first string of five Hobbys and they averaged 570 f.p.s., which is where they should be. They ranged from 568 to 574 f.p.s. Next was the second string of five Premiers, which averaged 530 f.p.s., so they were now in the ballpark. The range went from 524 to 534 f.p.s. Then a second string of Hobbys averaged 567 f.p.s. with a range from 564 to 571 f.p.s. That’s the first 20 shots from the gun, and all are good except for a couple at the start.

Another string of five Premiers averaged 523 f.p.s., taking the total to 25 good shots on this fill. However, I could see the power tapering off within this string, which ranged from 519 to 528 f.p.s. From that point on, the velocity fell off in a straight line, which indicates the liquid is used up. So, filling this way extracts everything the CO2 cartridge has to give, which is about 25 good shots. If you were just plinking in the yard, there are probably 10 more useful shots in the gun.

The 114 action
When the Crosman 114 was selling new, I was still a kid who knew nothing about genuine bolt-action firearms. If I’d ever seen a 114 back then, I would have thought it was a conventional bolt-action because that’s what it looks like. However, it’s far from conventional.

A bolt-action firearm has lugs to engage the receiver and lock the bolt closed against the thousands of pounds of force the cartridge puts on it. The 114 bolt hasn’t got any lugs. Instead, a single metal stud engages an inclined plane at the rear of the action to push the bolt forward as the handle is turned down. At the front of the bolt, a hemispherical enlargement mates with a socket in the breech. Contact between these two metal surfaces, controlled by how hard the bolt is pushing forward, seals the breech against gas loss.

This 98 Mauser (firearm) bolt has two lugs at the front that pull the bolt forward and lock it to the receiver.

The 114 breech. There’s a lot to see in this picture. First, notice the enlarged bolt face that mates with the breech to seal gas behind the pellet. The pin on the rear of the bolt below the handle fits into a socket with an inclined plane to push the bolt forward tightly. The knurled wheel beneath the bolt is the power adjuster that all these bulk-fill guns have; and note the rear peep sight that I’ll use for the accuracy test.

Trigger
The 114 trigger is single-stage and quite hard in the factory form. That can be altered with careful gunsmithing, but nothing can ever make it a great trigger. The simple design mitigates against it.

The safety is a standard crossblock pin that’s set into the stock. Punch in from the left to put the rifle on safe and from the right for fire. Back in the ’50s, this was a very common type of safety on inexpensive guns.

What’s next?
Now that I know the characteristics of the gun and how many shots I can expect, it’s time to test accuracy. I’ll use the peep sight that came with the rifle for this.

As far as the bulk-fill adapter goes, I have to say that it has fulfilled all expectations. In fact, I’m surprised that it works as well as it does — especially when the gun is cooled first. I don’t know if Pyramyd Air will ever carry it. If you want one, contact Mike Reames directly.

Part 1

Crosman’s new M4-177 is a smart-looking M4 battle rifle lookalike.

Before we begin, I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers. I certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope all of you do, as well. Now, on to the report.

This Crosman M4-177 multi-pump air rifle has proven to be one of the most interesting new air rifles of the season; and as a result, I’m looking at it a little more thoroughly. Today is the day we test velocity, and I have a couple other interesting things to share. One I’ll share right now…I bought the test gun. This is a neat rifle, plus this is a future collectible because Crosman will change the name stamped on the gun (from M417 to M4-177) by January 2012.

It’s a multi-pump
As a multi-pump pneumatic, the M4 allows the shooter to pump a maximum of 10 strokes, with the power varying with every new stroke. You probably don’t want to pump less than three times because the power is so low you risk getting a pellet stuck in the barrel; but from three to ten pumps, it gives you the ability to vary the power of the gun according to the situation.

How can you shoot BBs in a rifled bore?
The first question I’ll address is the fact that you can shoot both BBs and lead pellets in this rifle. It has a rifled steel barrel that will tolerate steel BBs without undue wear. Like you, I wondered what the rifling for such a combination gun must look like, so I took a reverse impression of the bore by pushing a Beeman Kodiak pellet from muzzle to breech. The rifling was engraved on the pellet, giving us a look at the bore in reverse.

This is what a Beeman Kodiak pellet looks like after traversing the M4 barrel. The lands that are shown as grooves on this pellet are sharp and high. They’re wider than the grooves.

Notice how much lead has smeared to the back of the lands and sticks out like a small tail as an extrusion at the rear of each channel. This is what barrel maker Harry Pope said was ruinous to accuracy, because it’s influenced by the expanding gasses at the instant the bullet leaves the muzzle. In other words, it’s the equivalent of a poor crown.

Now we know what the inside of the barrel looks like. Does Crosman harden their barrels to prevent wear from the steel BBs? I don’t know, but I would presume that the rifling button will work-harden the steel to a certain extent, and maybe that’s all it takes.

Shooting BBs in the M4
When you shoot the M4, you can choose between BBs and pellets but it’s a choice you must make. If you leave the BB magazine loaded and also shoot pellets, I would imagine there could be a double-feed problem. The BBs are picked up by the magnetic tip of the bolt, while the pellets are simply shoved out of the clip and into the breech when the bolt is shoved forward.

When I refer to the BB magazine, I do not mean the 350-shot BB reservoir. You can leave that full all the time and shoot lead pellets without a problem. I’m referring to the visible BB magazine that can be seen on the left side of the gun.

The visible BB magazine on the left side of the gun is filled from the internal 350-shot BB reservoir. The small switch at the right of this photo controls this magazine. Here it’s shown in the open position, so the magazine can be filled by holding the muzzle down and shaking the gun with a twisting motion. After the magazine is filled, push the switch to the rear to retain the BBs.

The instruction manual says to watch the tip of the bolt when feeding BBs into the breech. I found that to be impossible, because the 5-shot pellet clip blocks the view, and it must be in place to feed BBs. But you can watch the BBs move through the visible magazine window shown in the photo above and know for certain that a BB has been fed. Once I figured this out, there were no difficulties and feeding was reliable.

Velocity with BBs
I started with Daisy zinc-plated BBs because I’ve noted in past reports they’re the most uniform and usually give the highest velocity and the best accuracy. I decided to test the gun on five pump strokes and again on ten. That should give us an idea of what the gun can do.

On five pump strokes, the BB averaged 460 f.p.s., but the velocity spread was large. From a low of 451 f.p.s to a high of 483 f.p.s., the total spread was 32 f.p.s. Normally, I expect to see a 6-10 foot-second spread when shooting with the same number of pump strokes. However, I did see that the more I shot the gun the faster it went, up to a point. I think the pump cup needed to be warmed up through repeated use, even though I shot in 70 degrees F (21 degrees C) temperature, so it wasn’t too cold for the gun. The pump cup just needed to be flexed a bit to warm it and get it sealing all the way.

On ten pump strokes, the gun gave an average of 579 f.p.s. with the same BB. This time the spread went from 566 to 588 f.p.s., so it was still a 22 foot-second spread. Perhaps the hardness (durometer) of the pump cup material is causing such a large spread. That would probably make it a longer-lasting material, so there’s a tradeoff.

Okay, I guess it’s not fair to test a Crosman gun and not use their BBs, so I also tested some Copperhead BBs. On five pumps, the rifle averaged 465 f.p.s. with a spread from 459 to 472. That’s only 13 f.p.s., which is much tighter than the Daisy BBs.

On ten pumps, the gun averaged 581 f.p.s., so it’s also a little bit faster than with Daisy BBs. The spread went from a low of 574 to a high of 592 f.p.s., so a total of 18 f.p.s. The bottom line is that Crosman Copperhead BBs are more consistent in the M4. I guess I’ll have to try both in the accuracy test.

Pumping not that easy
I said in Part 1 that the M4 is easier to pump because the stroke is short. Well, after today’s test, I have to change that. After you pass five strokes, the effort required to pump increases; and by the end of the session, my left hand was hurting from the pump handle. Also, the gun makes quite a racket with every pump stroke because the handle slaps down hard when the stroke is finished.

Velocity with pellets
I tried only a single pellet in the rifle. I tried it on five pump strokes and on ten. The pellet I used was the Crosman Premier Super Match, which is a wadcutter target pellet that’s appropriate to a rifle in this power range. On five pumps, the pellet averaged 429 f.p.s. and ranged from 424 to 433 f.p.s. The velocity spread is much tighter when the projectile fits the bore better.

On high power the same pellet averaged 529 f.p.s. with a low of 508 and a high of 545 f.p.s. That’s a big spread for a pellet in a multi-pump rifle, so I don’t know what is going on.

What about lead balls?
I figured someone would ask about shooting round lead balls out of this rifle so I tried it. First, there was difficulty finding a ball that worked. Since lead balls aren’t magnetic, they won’t feed properly through the BB feeding mechanism, so they have to be treated like pellets and fed from the clip. That eliminates all round balls smaller than a .177 pellet because they won’t stay in the clip long enough to feed into the barrel. The only round ball that worked somewhat was a Beeman Perfect Round, which is no longer made, but is similar to the H&N round ball. These measured 0.176 inches, which is close enough that they stuck in the pellet clip — sort of. When I tried shooting them, the two that were outside the receiver fell out of the clip on the first shot, so they’re not really large enough to use in this gun.

On five pumps, the one shot I fired went 407 f.p.s.; and on ten pumps, the other two shots went 502 and 519 f.p.s. I do not recommend this ammunition in this airgun.

Impressions thus far
Today, I got past the appearance and had a good look at the functioning of the rifle. The fact that the clip has to be indexed by hand for every shot slows you down more than you might imagine. Like I said in the first report, making a multi-pump a repeater sort of misses the mark. The time that it takes to get ready for the next shot negates any speed the repeating mechanism offers.

My test gun is shooting slower than the advertised top velocity of 625 f.p.s. for this rifle. It’s close, at 581 with Copperhead BBs, but not close enough. Maybe the rifle needs to break in, or perhaps the 625 f.p.s. is what a lone maximum shot could potentially be.

I’m sure many of you have noticed that the podcast has not been updated since May. I apologize for that and hope to stay on schedule with a new podcast every month. Click to read the latest podcast.

The Dan Wesson CO2 BB revolver with the 8-inch barrel is a large and impressive all-metal airgun.

Several of you have mentioned wanting to see a review of this BB revolver, plus the customer reviews are quite good. And I also wanted to see how good it was, so everything came together today.

This Dan Wesson revolver resembles the classic firearm somewhat, but misses the mark of being a perfect replica. However, only a Dan Wesson nut would spot the flaws.

The cylinder latch is made like the one on a Smith & Wesson instead of the traditional Dan Wesson, which would be a flat button located on the left side of the crane. I never liked how that latch worked, which kept me from ever owning a Dan Wesson revolver, and the omission looks like an improvement to me.

It has a safety!
Flying in the face of firearm revolver design, but validating every female British mystery writer ever born, the Dan Wesson revolver actually has a safety catch. So, Agatha Christie was right after all. Pull the cylinder latch straight back and the gun is on safe. The trigger is blocked and the hammer cannot move.

Yes, Virginia, this revolver has a safety catch. Slide the cylinder latch back, and the action locks up.

This revolver comes in 2.5-inch, 4-inch, 6-inch and 8-inch versions…and some come in black and others come in a stainless finish (that Pyramyd Air is calling “silver”). Only the 8-inch version was available when I ordered, so that’s what I’m testing.

Let’s start off with some insight into the Dan Wesson revolver concept and the history of the gun.

Dan Wesson
Dan Wesson was founded in 1968 by Daniel Baird Wesson II, the great-grandson of one of the two founders of Smith & Wesson. His concept for revolvers was the modular approach, which in 1968 was quite new and innovative. And the hallmark revolver that company made was the .357 Magnum model 15-2, which in its highest form was sold in a “pistol pac” that contained the revolver, an extra set of grips, three extra barrels of different lengths that the owner was expected to install, a belt buckle and the wrench and feeler gauge for the barrel and shroud. When I was a young man, this was one of the most coveted handguns on the market and was revered for its strength, beauty and for the facility to change barrels and therefore also control the cylinder-to-barrel gap. The only real reservation I had, as I mentioned, was the cylinder latch that was hard to work and a deal-breaker for me.

The Dan Wesson name passed through a number of hands since the founder’s death in 1978, and today they produce several other models that are not as distinctive as this revolver system. So, the BB gun we’re now testing is supposed to copy the original firearm that had interchangable barrels, though this one does not.

The BB gun
Rejoice, fellow airgunners, for this is an all-metal revolver! You pay for that realism — and it’s delivered. Nothing on the outside of the gun but the grips is anything but metal. Still, the gun is very light for having such a long barrel. It weighs 2.29 lbs. or about a full pound less than a typical firearm with the same length barrel.

The cylinder is mounted on a real crane that swings out to the left side when the cylinder latch is depressed and the cylinder is pushed out. Twenty years ago, such realistic features were only dreams for airguns and even for some lower-priced rimfires. Since it does swing out, you’ll need to restrain yourself from flipping it closed like you see on TV, as nothing will ruin the mechanism faster.

This revolver has a real crane that allows the cylinder to pop out for loading.

The cylinder revolves freely when the gun is not cocked, being restrained only by a spring-loaded barrel that pops into a mating recess in the front of each chamber, just like the S&W M&P R8 BB revolver that Mac is testing for us. The bolt at the bottom of the frame comes into play only when the trigger is pulled, so the gun locks solid when fired either single- or double-action. In this respect, it’s not unlike a suicide special revolver of the late 19th and early 20th century.

The gun comes with a second set of six “cartridges” that hold the BBs and a speedloader to load them into the cylinder. The speedloader does not do the job like its firearm component. The cartridges are not held in the loader at all and will fall out if it is tipped past level, so it’s more for looks than for function. You can’t carry a loaded speedloader in your pocket the way you can with a firearm speedloader. However I did find it very convenient for unloading the cylinder, as all the cartridges fall back out into the loader when the gun is tipped up. Since there is relatively low pressure running through each cartridge, they do not swell when fired as firearm cases do.

The speedloader with six extra cartridges comes with the revolver. Also included is the accessory rail and installation wrench.

Sights
The sights are a post on a ramp at the front with a white dot in the top center and a traditional square notch at the rear. I find them easy to acquire, and good for precision aiming. I hope the gun is as accurate as most of the reviews claim. The rear sight is adjustable in both directions with a flat-bladed screwdriver.

Accessory rail
The revolver is also provided with an accessory rail that takes the place of the rear sight. You can mount a dot sight on your handgun with this rail.

Trigger
The double-action trigger-pull ranges from 10 lbs., 8 oz. to 11 lbs., 8 oz. and is stiff and creepy. It stacks towards the end. As I recall, the double-action pull of the firearm was also heavy and stiff. The single-action pull breaks between 7 lbs. and 7 lbs., 13 oz. and is reasonably crisp. Though it’s a trifle too heavy for the absolute best work, it’s very usable.

Manual
One look at the manual tells me this revolver was made by an airsoft manufacturer. The details are sparse and the print quite small, with line drawings to accompany the important points. Older owners will have to use a magnifying glass to read it, but I don’t suppose they’re the target consumer for this revolver.

What’s next?
Well, if I were Full Ruler and Controller, I would make up some sort of pistol pac for this revolver. That’s such a great idea, and you know that owners could never tolerate having an empty slot in a case for their favorite airgun!

Since the barrels cannot be changed, I would include a nice miniature holographic dot sight, two full speedloaders with six additional cartridges (24 cartridges in all when you include the ones in the gun), some kind of neat case for BBs, a belt buckle and safety glasses.

I’ll show the BB cartridges and how they’re loaded in detail in Part 2 when I test velocity. For now, back on your heads — the break is over!

Several of you have asked to see how I shoot; and with Christmas coming soon, I thought it was time to show you. There are several things I use that you may want to see under your tree this year. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, they’re still valid things for every shooter’s wish list.

MTM portable shooting bench
Edith and I campaigned to get Pyramyd Air to carry the MTM shooting table, because several readers said they would like to own one. It’s inexpensive and light (14 lbs., 9 oz.) and most of all — portable! I have different shooting ranges in many places, including a couple right here in the house. No matter where I go, indoors or out, this bench is what I use. Even at my rifle range, where the benches are made of concrete and are completely immobile, I choose to use this one and I’ll tell you why: Because I can put it anywhere I want!

Is it a bench or a table? Well, in shooting terminology, it’s always called a shooting bench, even though you don’t sit on it. But MTM chose to call theirs a table, so that’s what I will call it from this point on.

The MTM shooting table when it’s collapsed. It’s a small 14 lb., 9 oz. package that fits flat in the bed of a pickup truck, or stands on the floor of the rear passenger compartment of a mid-sized sedan.

The legs unfold in seconds and the table stands ready to shoot. With this table, you can make a range anywhere — indoors or out.

As long as I have this table, I can make use of almost any space as a range when I want to. If I show up at my club and find all the benches taken, I set this one up on one side of the line and, presto — there’s room for one more.

The table is very light, and the legs fold flat underneath the top for transportation. I did have to tighten all the nuts that hold the hardware together, but I probably set up this table about five times a week and have been doing so for going on two years, so a little maintenance is normal.

I don’t just use the table for benchrest shooting. When I want to shoot pistols it serves as a handy table for guns, ammo and any accessories I need.

If you want something to criticize, the table is a little wobbly. It isn’t steady enough to hold a spotting scope; but when I’m in position behind a rifle, I push against it and nothing moves. Also, I have to slant the table to the left to fit behind it, where a good shooting bench has a top designed with a cutout at the back to allow you to sit next to it. This one won’t support your weight sitting on it, so consider that before ordering. But the good points far outweigh the bad, and this is one of the essential pieces of equipment in my shooting kit.

I’ve had several shooters ask me where they could get a table like this, because at the range you have to use what they have. On our 100-yard range, the benches are all oriented wrong, because the 100-yard berm is angled off to the left and the benches were installed for the 200-yard range. Since most of them are cemented in place, the shooters can’t do much about it, but I can. And now anyone can, because Pyramyd Air now carries this shooting table.

MTM Predator shooting rest
Several of you spotted the MTM Predator shooting rest in my older reports and asked me about it. The truth is that I was ambivalent about this rest until I tried two more expensive ones, including a Caldwell Lead Sled. This one does everything they do except retard the movement of the rifle. If you need a rest to absorb recoil, this isn’t the one to choose; but if all you need is something to hold the rifle in place as you shoot, I can’t think of anything better. All the super-tight groups you’ve seen me shoot were shot from this rest or off a sandbag.

The MTM Predator shooting rest works for both rifles and pistols. It’s lightweight and quick to set up and adjust. Here it’s shown with the tail piece collapsed.

And here the tail piece is extended. It extends in seconds to accommodate rifles and carbines of different lengths. Or remove it altogether and the rest is for pistols.

A Savage 1920 bolt-action rifle lays in the rest. As you see, the butt is free to move and must be held against your shoulder. Slide the gun forward and back to lower or raise the sights on the target.

Some rifle rests hold the rifle entirely, with the butt held in a socket that takes all the recoil. I’ve used these rests and don’t care for them, because they push me to the side and make sighting more difficult. That’s probably why I like this MTM rest so much. With this rest, the butt of the rifle rests against your shoulder and you absorb all the recoil. And you have more control over the rifle.

Also, most high-end rifle rests have some lateral movement adjustment built in, so you can move the gun from side to side. The MTM rest doesn’t have this. If you need to move to the side, you simply slide the rest on the shooting bench. It’s so lightweight that it’s no problem to move — even when there’s a rifle on it.

If you’ve never used a rifle rest before, the main feature you’ll like is the elevation adjustment. Turning the adjustment wheel allows the rest to move either up or down in very small increments that equate to about one-thousandth of an inch. Combine the adjustment wheel with moving the rifle fore and aft, and you have very fine control over the elevation. And it’s repeatable! Shot after shot will be targeted on the same aim point once the rest is properly adjusted.

Turn the thumbwheel for vertical adjustment. The weight of the rifle will cause it to lower as you turn. The black thumbscrew is to lock the elevation adjustment.

New airgunners take note
A word to the new airgunners is required. If you shoot spring-piston airguns, you cannot shoot directly off a rest like this one and expect to be accurate. You need to lay the rifle on the flat of your hand and rest the hand on something to support the weight. The Shooter’s Ridge Monkey Bag Gun Rest would be ideal.

A stapler!
Pyramyd Air doesn’t sell these, but I carry one all the time and have worn one out over the past 40 years. You need the stapler to fasten your targets to the backers at the range. If you don’t want to walk an extra 200 yards and anger the other shooters, put extra staples in your pocket the moment you get to the range so you can load the stapler when it runs out — because it always happens when you’re downrange (think about it)! Forget the fancy electric staplers, because they don’t work as well on heavy wood and rubber backers as a manual model. Unless you have arthritis, use a manual stapler.

A stout stapler is a must. Forget the electric ones and just use one like this.

Binoculars
Believe it or not, there are times when a small pair of binoculars comes in very handy at the range. A month ago a buddy of mine bagged a large bobcat on our range because he was able to identify it under the trees while shooting with iron sights. In some countries like Germany, it’s considered extremely bad form to use a scope sight in place of binoculars. Think about it — under that scope there’s a firearm!

Well, that’s about it. These are the essentials I always take to every range. Of course, I carry insect repellant and hand warmers, depending on the season, but these four items are with me all the time. Other than my spotting scope, this is how I shoot.

Photos and test by Earl (Mac) McDonald, unless otherwise indicated

Part 1

S&W M&P R8 BB revolver. Photo provided by Pyramyd Air.

I overlooked mentioning the S&W M&P R8 BB revolver in the first report on lookalike airguns last Friday, but of course it is one, as well. I’m not familiar with the firearm M&P R8 revolver, so it was natural to think of this as a standalone model. But there is a firearm counterpart, if that is of interest to you.

I also neglected to mention the short Picatinny rail on the underside of the barrel near the muzzle. I suppose it is for mounting a compact laser with a pressure switch located close to the firing hand, though since most shooters use two hands to shoot handguns these days I suppose you could also turn it on with your non-firing hand.

Plastic fantastic
We heard a complaint about the use of plastic and I thought I would comment on that. Guys, I don’t like plastic, either, but more and more firearms are being made with at least some of it these days. You have to understand that when you get into this price range for an airgun, there are very few options. Basically it’s either plastic or zinc. The dies for these two materials are very expensive, so the maker has to calculate how many guns they think they can sell against the tooling costs to produce. And there are also short-run tools that are less expensive, but which wear out faster and long-term tooling that lasts longer but can cost many times as much as short-term tools. All of this is a gamble on how well the manufacturer thinks the gun will sell.

Then there is the general public’s acceptance of plastic as a legitimate manufacturing material. As crass as this sounds, if a manufacturer can sell a hundred thousand pieces of a product, the fact that it is criticized by a few hundred or even a thousand aficionados makes little difference. That is the reason there are so many firearms being made with engineering plastic these days.

And finally there is the fact that if the part is correctly engineered, plastic has few shortcomings and actually offers significant advantages, like strength and resistance to wear (over zinc), corrosion resistance, the ability to accept a finish more uniformly, and even things like providing a low-friction surface that doesn’t have to be lubricated to work well.

Don’t think that I like plastic in airguns. I’m simply acknowledging the reality that exists today, when our telephones are also GPS devices, televisions, alarm clocks and 157 other things. But the “buttons” that work them are mostly in software, and if they don’t respond you can be in a serious pickle. Also, you can’t repair plastic when it breaks. That is just one of the reservations I have about plastic guns.

Good reception
The overall reception of this revolver was positive and enthusiastic. Many readers commented on the realistic look. The manufacturer even went to the point of copying the V notch in the rear sight. The reason for this is that on the firearm the front Patridge sight has a white dot, so the BB gun has it as well. If you can see the dot, the V-notch is entirely appropriate, making the centering of the dot quick and easy. If you can’t see the dot, you just have to struggle to estimate where the sides of the front post are. Since most handgunners don’t shoot at targets (the assumption must be), this is a compromise in favor of rapid target acquisition.

Mac really enjoyed shooting his M&P R8. He was very impressed and tells me every time we talk. So my opinion has to be that this revolver is worth your consideration and the money, if you buy it.

Today is velocity testing day. I went to the manual to see how the 8-round clip is loaded and believe it or not, it doesn’t specify. However, the photo shows loading the BBs from the front of the clip, which is how many other similar BB pistol clips have to be loaded, and that is how Mac did it.

The clip is loaded from the front.

The loaded clip is inserted in the back of the cylinder. Notice the ridge around each chamber that helps seal the gas behind the BB.

Mac used Daisy zinc-plated BBs, because experience has shown they are the most accurate and the most uniform BBs on the market. Another BB that also works well and is actually finished even smoother than the Daisy is the Walther BB, but Pyramyd Air doesn’t carry them. Though these BBs are slightly larger than Crosman Copperhead BBs they usually get higher velocity and almost always the velocity variation of the shot string with them is tighter.

The 12-gram CO2 cartridge goes in the grip, like everyone assumed. Push in on a tab under the grip and the back opens to receive the new cartridge.

The back of the grip swings opens to accept the CO2 cartridge.

The screw that pushes the CO2 cartridge into the piercing pin is entirely concealed by the grip when it is locked closed. That satisfies those who dislike being able to see the mechanism. I am surprised no one mentioned that about the Walther PPK/S in the lookalike report, because it is the number one complain I hear about those replica air pistols.

Trigger pull
Mac measured the single action trigger pull at 9.6 pounds and the double action pull at 10.2 pounds. Remember that single action means the hammer is pulled back to the cocked position which also rotates the cylinder to the next BB, so when you pull the trigger all you are doing is releasing the sear to let the hammer fall.

Velocity
The temperature was 60 degrees F (15.6 C) when Mac tested the gun. That is close to the bottom temperature at which CO2 should be used. Because it is a refrigerant gas, CO2 will cool the gun as it is fired, thus decreasing the velocity on each successive shot. On a 60-degree day, there isn’t much ambient temperature to warm the gun back up again, so once it is cooled, it tends to stay there. Mac allowed a minimum of 15-20 seconds between shots for the gun to recover from cooling, but on this day, there wasn’t much recovery.

He fired a string of eight shots, getting an average of 359 f.p.s. That works out to 1.52 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. The low was 336 and the high was 379 f.p.s., so the spread was a bit larger than we normally see, but on a cool day that is to be expected. Also expect to see higher average velocity when the temperature warms up 20 degrees.

Remarkable!
What Mac noted that surprised him was the great number of shots he got from a single CO2 cartridge. After shot 120 the gun was still sending them out at 320 f.p.s., which is petty astounding. There are certain BB guns that get many shots from a cartridge, but their average velocities are always well below 300 f.p.s.. So the evidence points to the fact that the design (barrel mating with the cylinder and ridges around each chamber in the clip) is very economical.

So far
This pistol just keeps getting better and better, as far as Mac is concerned. It’s a delight to shoot and now we find that it conserves gas like a hybrid car. Accuracy comes next, and I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Announcement: Aliabas Abas is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Aliabas’ winning photo. Looks like he’s got a Gamo.

I had a different blog prepared for today, but I can’t use it because the products haven’t arrived at Pyramyd Air yet, and I don’t want to talk about something that you can’t get.

Yesterday’s blog got me thinking about lookalike airguns. I mentioned that Crosman had made the M1 Carbine BB gun that I love so much, and they made a host of others like the SA-6 that resembles a Colt SAA revolver, and the 38-T and 38-C revolvers that look something like Smith & Wessons.

Today, I want to talk about many airguns that are lookalikes. Some of these are airguns that are seldom seen, though they exist in quantity, while others are very unique. Let’s go!

Makarov
I owned a Makarov BB pistol before I ever bought the actual firearm. And the pistol I owned was made on a genuine Makarov firearm frame. Then, I got a Bulgarian Mak in 9×18mm that hasn’t jammed or failed to feed one time in close to a thousand rounds. It’s accurate and has a soft recoil.What a great gun it is!

Then to my surprise, Umarex brought out their Makarov BB pistol, and it turned out to be a superior airgun. If you ever saw the American Airgunner TV show, it was the Makarov that I used to teach Crystal Ackley to shoot. And after a single lesson, she started out-shooting Paul Capello, me and even a national silhouette champion — WITH HIS OWN AIRGUN!

Mak firearm at top, then the first BB gun Mak that was made on a firearm frame and the Umarex Mak on the bottom. When I put these away, I got confused and put the Umarex gun in my nightstand, where the firearm should be!

M1911 A1
I was a 1911 fan long before Umarex brought out their CO2 version of the Colt M1911 A1, which is why I got one to keep forever. The realism is astounding. Of course, today I could say the same about many new BB pistols, because the 1911 is one of the most-copied firearms of all time.

Taurus PT 1911 on top, genuine World War I 1911 in the center and Umarex Colt 1911 A1 CO2 pistol at the bottom.

PPK/S
The Walther PPK/S is the airgun that got me interested in lookalikes. I owned the Crosman M1 Carbine; but when I got the WaltherPPK/S, I decided that I also had to own the firearm, as well. So I got a .22-caliber PPK/S that’s a bit of a rarity on its own.

Both are genuine Walther PPK/S pistols. Top is a .22 rimfire. Bottom is a BB pistol.

M1 Carbine
I’ve owned three Crosman M1 Carbines. The first had a wood stock, which was only made in the first two years of production (1966-1967). Then I owned one with a Croswood (plastic) stock, but I let it get away. Then Mac gifted me the one I own today, which also has the Croswood stock and the original box.

I would own this even if it weren’t any good as an airgun because of the association with the military rifle, but the irony is that this is also one heck of a BB gun! It’s powerful and accurate and has fully adjustable sights. What’s not to love?

The M1 Carbine is so very popular that besides the 6 million that were produced during World War II, there have been millions more made commercially after the war. They’re still being made today! And some of these commercial guns are in calibers other than .30 Carbine. My .22 Long Rifle German-made Erma made for Iver Johnson is one such gun. So, here were have an original firearm, a copy that is also a firearm, as well as an airgun copy.

Genuine military carbine on top, then an Erma .22 carbine and the Crosman BB gun at the bottiom.

Walther Lever Action
The Walther Lever Action is a copy of the iconic Winchester 1894 lever action rifle that ushered in the era of smokeless powder for the maker. Except for the butt that is larger to house the 88-gram CO2 cartridge, it’s very similar to the firearm. Not only is this air rifle a close copy of the firearm, it’s also very accurate and a fun gun in its own right! While pricy, it’s worth it if you value the similarity to both the look and operation of the firearm it mimics.

A Winchester 1894 30-30 on top and a Walther Lever Action at the bottom. The firearm has a side-mounted scope, because it ejects empty cartridge cases straight up.

Daisy model 26
Not to be outdone, Daisy had its own lookalikes — starting with the 1894 lever-action and progressing to a copy of the BB gun you’re about to see. They copied the Remington Fieldmaster 572 — a slide-action (pump) — .22. Why they chose that particular model, I don’t think we’ll ever know. When I asked at Daisy, they told me that firearm was such a classic! Yeah! Like a Hudson Hornet is a classic car! Anyhow, they made a beautiful lookalike BB gun that was first marketed as the model 26 for reasons no one seems to know, and then as the model 572, which is understandable. The guns are identical, but the model change allows collectors to date their guns to a certain degree.

Daisy’s model 26 was the first copy of the Remington Fieldmaster 572. Daisy later changed their model number to 572.

Something really odd
Up to this point, you could buy any of these airguns or firearms within a couple of months of diligent searching here in the United States. Now I want to show you something that I bet you’ve never seen and were not even aware that it existed. Even advanced airgun collectors do not know about what you’re about to see.

In 1976, this country celebrated its 200th anniversary and the party was huge. I was in Germany at the time, so I missed it, but I see the reruns on TV all the time.

One gun manufacturer — called Ultra-Hi — had been manufacturing black powder guns in Japan and decided to make an airgun to commemorate the bicentennial. An underlever BB gun was made that looked very much like an 1840s caplock rifle. Airgun collectors know about the Pioneer ‘76 and consider it very collectible.

What they don’t know is that Ultra-Hi copied one of their own black powder rifles when designing this BB gun. Here, for the first time, you’ll see both the BB gun and the muzzleloading rifle it copied.

Here’s an airgun and firearm pair nobody knows about. The Ultra-Hi Pioneer ‘76 on top is a BB gun that is well-known among collectors. The Ultra-Hi .45-caliber percussion rifle underneath is the gun nobody knows about. Both guns have fake brass-colored plates where there should be patchboxes, and both rifles have stocks made from two separate pieces of wood to save money. The brass strip on both stocks hides that fact.

What comes next?
I made this Part 1 in case this is a subject that interests you readers. This is an area of airgun collecting that’s nearly ignored, because airgun collectors often don’t like firearms and firearm collectors don’t care for airguns, as a rule.

I’ll watch your reactions to what I’ve shown today to determine if it’s worth pursuing this subject any farther, but from the response to yesterday’s report on the Crosman M4-177 Multi-Pump Air Rifle, it looks like it might be.

Crosman’s new M4-177 is a smart-looking M4 battle rifle lookalike.

Today, I’ll start a look at an airgun that has many of us on this blog buzzing. The Crosman M4-177 multi-pump air rifle is a Crosman 760 Pumpmaster that’s been re-skinned to look like an M4 battle rifle. Crosman has a history of doing this. Back in 1966, they took a V350 BB gun and turned it into a very credible M1 Carbine. As a lover of that military arm, I feel that owning the Crosman BB variant is a necessity. Perhaps something similar will happen with this new M4 among the millions of black-rifle aficionados.

From this point on, I will refer to this airgun as the M4 for the sake of brevity. Being offered right before Christmas is sure to give a tremendous boost to the sales of this little dual-ammo airgun. In fact, Pyramyd Air has included it in their Christmas Gift Guide, which is found on the home page of the new website. The gift guide is only on the new website, so don’t look for it on the old site. It’s a fast and streamlined way for people to buy their special airgunners gifts this season.

So, what is the M4, really? Well, it’s a multi-pump pneumatic that fires either BBs or pellets through a rifled steel bore. I’ll be very interested to see how the accuracy turns out. The rifle comes packed in an attractive multicolor box with the sights removed. At just 3.75 lbs. and an overall length of less than 34 inches, the M4 is ideal for kids (of all ages).

The rifle is entirely synthetic on the outside, yet the dimensions are large and beefy. It doesn’t feel cheap. To their credit, Crosman put a thin soft rubber pad on the butt so you can stand the gun almost anywhere without it slipping to the floor.

Like the firearm, this M4 has an extending shoulder stock that collapses for transport. When it’s fully extended, the length of pull is one-sixteenth inch under 13 inches, so it’s very short. But the flattop action has a full-length Picatinny rail, allowing you to position the sights or any optional optics as far from your eye as needed; so the short pull can be overcome. The thin tubular extendable stock takes some getting used to for a cheek weld, but it isn’t that bad.

With the stock extended, the pull length is just under 13 inches.

The M4 shoots either BBs or pellets, but only one type at a time. There’s a 350-round BB reservoir in the receiver that holds the BBs. They’re poured in through an opening that’s exposed when a sliding cover, that looks something like the selector switch on a firearm M4, slides to the rear.

Swing the cover aside and pour up to 350 BBs in the reservoir.

Loading BBs
Loading a BB for firing requires the shooter to have the empty five-shot pellet magazine installed. BBs are transferred from the large reservoir to a smaller BB magazine that’s controlled by another button called the BB retainer button. This also requires shaking and twisting the whole rifle with the muzzle pointed down, because the BBs move into the magazine via gravity. From there, they’re picked out of the magazine one at a time by a small magnet on the tip of the bolt. It sounds involved; but like tying a half-hitch knot in a rope, once you get the hang of it, everything goes fast. The owner’s manual does a good job of talking you through the process.

Loading pellets
The M4 is a five-shot pellet repeater via a plastic clip that’s inserted into the right side of the receiver. The manual fails to describe this procedure well, but essentially the magazine has to be manually indexed for each shot. You can feel a hesitation when the magazine gets to the right position, but it takes care to do this. Blunder ahead and you probably won’t be able to push the bolt closed, as the chamber will not be in line. The magazine only holds the pellets in position for loading by the bolt; the gun doesn’t shoot the pellets out of the magazine directly. Since the pellets are loaded directly into the breech, there’s a chance of good accuracy. We shall see.

My objection is that the gun has a magazine to begin with, and I’ve objected to it ever since the 760 got one years ago. I guess Crosman feels the need to make their gun a repeater for marketing reasons, but the idea of a multi-pump that’s also a repeater is similar to putting belt-feed on a flintlock. There are still lots of other things that need to be done before the next shot can be fired!

Sights
The front and rear sights are adjustable. The rear adjusts for left and right (windage), and the front adjusts up and down (elevation). The rear needs a small flat-bladed screwdriver, which is as good a reason as any to carry a pocketknife with a screwdriver blade. The front sight requires the typical AR front sight tool, only this one is actually a small socket wrench that fits the flat-sided configuration of the front sight base. That’s so much easier to use than the real M4/M16 tool that requires a lot of downward tension as you turn. If you lose the tool — and what soldier doesn’t? — you can always screw up the tip of a bullet in one of your cartridges doing it the old-fashioned way, one click at a time. Oh, for the days of the Garand and sights that were easy!

The rear sight is adjustable for windage. It also has two different aperture sizes.

Front sight is adjustable for elevation. Both front and rear sights are removable.

There’s a Picatinny rail on the underside of  the forearm; but because the forearm is actually the pump handle and moves as you fill the gun, there probably isn’t enough clearance for mounting anything very substantial there. Certainly not a monopod or tactical flashlight, unless the latter is miniaturized.

How it pumps
This is what you’ve been waiting to see. I know, because it was also what I wanted to see. The pump handle is the entire forearm, and it swings down and forward just like any other multi-pump with an underlever. The 760 action is what I call a short-stroke action, which moves through a smaller arc than the pump handle of, say, a Benjamin 397. That made it a convenient platform for projects like the M4, because the pump handle doesn’t have to move that much.

When the pump handle is all the way open, there’s not much clearance for accessories on the rails under the gun.

The rifle pumps easily — just like the 760 it’s made from. When the gun first came from the box, I noted that although the action was generally well-oiled, the pump head itself was rather dry, so I put several drops of Crosman Pellgunoil on the pump head. The pumping force increased immediately. I would advise any buyer to do the same.

Ammo storage
Like the Crosman M1 Carbine, the new M4 also has a dummy “magazine” in the conventional place that can be removed and filled with BBs, pellets or even your lunch, if you eat light. As mentioned, the front sight adjustment tool is stored there, and there’s foam packed around it to prevent it from rattling. Since the gun’s reservoir already holds 350 BBs, I think I’d leave this one as it is. That will keep the extra rattles down as you move around.

The phony magazine is out and the front sight adjustment tool is shown to the right. This view also shows the old model name that may become collectible, if Crosman updates their mold.

What do you do with it?
The 760 is one of the quintessential BB guns of all time. And because it has a rifled barrel and can also handle pellets, it’s even more of a winner. Crosman says on the box that the gun is recommended for pest elimination, but I must take exception to that. This gun doesn’t have the power needed to dispatch any but the smallest (field mouse) pests, so keep it for informal target practice, plinking and fun. Remember to wear those safety glasses, because this is a BB gun, after all!

A modern collectible?
Crosman renamed the model right after it came out. It was originally called the M417, which they changed to the M4-177. But they didn’t remark the plastic housing of the gun, nor did they throw away the first boxes — so both the gun and the boxes are marked M417. If that changes, and it should, then the early few guns marked with the original name will gain some value. How much remains to be seen, but back in 1955 you could buy an uncirculated double-die penny for five dollars. They sell for $2,000 and up today — mostly up.

Where do we go from here?
The Crosman 760 is that company’s most popular airgun by a significant margin. They run two shifts a day just to keep up with demand. This M4 is going to increase them by some margin, and I know they hope it’ll be significant. Therefore, I want to put this gun under more detailed scrutiny than I normally do, since it’s arguably the most popular BB gun on the market — even taking the Daisy Red Ryder into account.

TalonP air pistol from AirForce is a powerful, new .25-caliber pneumatic hunter.

It was another calm day at the range last week when I tested the TalonP air pistol once again. This time, I had a couple special goals. One was to see if the new method of scope mounting recommended by AirForce owner, John McCaslin, would help me hold the gun better, and the other was to test the velocity of the gun with the most accurate pellets on power setting eight.

New scope mounting method
The scope has to be moved forward for increased cheek contact with the reservoir/tank. You know that I’m now using the optional shoulder stock extension that clamps onto the pistol’s reservoir. The way it clamps gives you a wide range of pull lengths. I need a longer length of 14.5 to 14.75 inches, so I have the extension way out at the back of the reservoir, but most shooters will slide it in a bit. John recommends that you adjust the stock first then position the scope where it needs to be for your eye. He recommended a BKL cantilever mount that pushes the scope forward. I used their BKL 4-inch one-piece mount with what they refer to as drop compensation, which actually means droop. Because the one I had on hand has one-inch rings, I had to say goodbye to the superb Hawke 4-14×42AO Sidewinder Tactical scope I’ve been using and substitute a Leapers 5th Gen 6-24×50AO scope. While it was entirely adequate, I have to observe that the Hawke at 14x was clearer than the Leapers at 24x.

The first time around, the Hawke scope was mounted on two-piece BKL mounts that were slid as far forward as possible. The image was still too close to my eye to resolve to full size, so I needed to move the eyepiece of the scope forward about another half-inch.

Using the BKL cantilever mount I was easily able to move the scope slightly forward to allow my cheek to rest comfortably on the reservoir when I sighted. As you can see, there’s still a lot of room.

With the cantilever mount moving the scope forward, the eyepiece was positioned perfectly for a good cheek weld on the reservoir. The ear protectors are for the firearms that are next to me.

Sight-in took longer because, at this rifle range, I don’t have the ability to place a small target at 10 feet. I have to mount all my targets at the 50-yard backstop. So, I mount a two-foot by four-foot silhouette target on the backstop with its plain, light backside facing me. Then, I place the sight-in target in the center of that, and usually I can catch the pellet holes somewhere on that huge piece of paper. You could use cheaper paper for this — just as long as it shows the pellet holes clearly. I’ve never used a scope collimator, and I don’t intend to start now. This is so much easier!

I hadn’t changed the power setting from the last test, so the performance went the same as before; this time, I cut off the fill at less than 2,700 psi. That allowed me to start shooting a group in three shots. As I learn this pistol, I’ll eventually learn exactly where to stop the fill so shot one is right on the money every time. However, as with most airguns — including springers — you have to “wake” the gun with a couple shots each new time. For hunters who spend hours between shots, this can be daunting; but very few guns will put the first shot in the same place as the others after a long period of rest. It’s true of firearms, as well, so I guess it should also apply to airguns.

How did it do?
Nothing really changed from the last time I tested this pistol. Now that I have the air fill down pretty well, I can even do “tricks” with the gun. Let me demonstrate with JSB Exact Kings and Benjamin domes.

50 yards: Five JSB Exact Kings in the hole below and two above. The five-shot group was 0.246 inches between centers. Add the other two shots, and the group grows to 0.577 inches between centers. Even that is better than most .25-caliber air rifles can do at 50 yards; but the point (trick) is that I knew those last two shots were going to stray, and I didn’t have to shoot them.

50 yards: Five Benjamin domes in the hole on the right and then I shot a sixth that I guessed would stray. Stray it did, but to the left this time, where in the last test Benjamins moved to the right. Go figure! The tight group measures 0.38 inches. With shot six, it opens to 1.059 inches.

Technique is important!
Lest a new airgunner buy this airgun and splurge on all the support equipment to operate it (basically just a carbon fiber air tank), and then buy the same exact pellets I’ve used in this test, only to be disappointed that he cannot replicate what I’ve done, allow me to show you how I’m able to do what I’m doing. It’s not a trick, but it does require an advanced shooting technique of which a new shooter is probably not aware. You will remember that I mentioned my intention to mount a scope level on the gun last time. I forgot to do that, but on a printed target there are plenty of references to help me control the amount of cant (the amount the rifle is tilted to one side) for every shot. So, for the two groups I’ve shown you thus far, I watched the visual cues as precisely as I’ve been watching the bubble level in the Pellet velocity versus accuracy test. Let me show you what it looks like when I ignore these cues and just shoot when I think the airgun is being held the same every time. I’m trying just as hard to shoot a good group, except I’m ignoring the one variable of cant.

50 yards: This is what you get when you don’t pay attention to cant when shooting an accurate pellet at 50 yards. Five JSB Exact King pellets made this 0.747-inch group. That’s still a very good group for a .25-caliber airgun at 50 yards, but it looks large in comparison to what I’ve shown you previously in this report.

Velocity
I tested the velocity of this pistol with several pellets back in Part 2. That was when we confirmed that the TalonP isn’t just capable of hitting 50 foot-pounds at the muzzle — it can actually shoot a string of 10 shots above that energy figure.

Today, I’ll give you the velocities of the two most accurate pellets. I’m doing this for one reason. The 43.2-grain pointed Eun Jin pellets that are required to achieve that bragging power are not the most accurate pellets in this airgun. The two I’m showing today are, and they’re best at power setting eight. This is a real-world look at what the pistol can pump out when it can also keep five pellets inside a wedding ring at 50 yards.

JSB Exact Kings
The gun was filled to 2,700 psi and shot over an Oehler chronograph. The average velocity of JSB Exact Kings for the five best shots was 875 f.p.s., with a low of 860 and a high of 892 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the muzzle energy is 41.66 foot-pounds. So the total spread of velocity for the pellet that would put five under a quarter-inch at 50 yards was 32 f.p.s., but you can see that it doesn’t really matter that much.

If I had included the very first shot fired after the fill, the velocity was 844 f.p.s. and the next shot was even slower, at 836 f.p.s. I got a total of 11 shots on a fill, the last of which went 841 f.p.s. I’ve shown you both last time and today that there are five screaming shots within this larger string that I know for certain will be accurate if I do everything right. Do you want to kill the woodchuck at 60 yards, or do you just want him to envy you?

Benjamin domes
I refilled the gun to 2,700 psi and shot a string of Benjamin domes. They averaged 877 f.p.s. with a low of 840 and a high of 902 f.p.s. That’s a 62 f.p.s. spread, yet you can see what they did on target. This pellet generates 47.49 foot-pounds at the average velocity. Looking at the total string, shot one went 783 f.p.s., and shot 11 went 827 f.p.s. Those shots are outside the string that gives the best accuracy, and you’ll break your heart by hoping to get them to go into that tiny little group. Take your five great shots, or think about buying a different pellet gun.

You won’t find another pellet pistol that will touch this one for power and accuracy at this range, and many pellet rifles will fall behind as well. The TalonP air pistol is not for everyone. It’s for the shooter who has the heart of a buffalo hunter. The one who knows exactly what his gun is capable of and is willing to invest the time and care to get it.

Airgun hunter, Eric Henderson, has already taken a prairie dog at 100 yards with the exact same pistol I’m testing for you. I’m not the only one getting these great results.

What I’ve done is take the time to decode the operation of the gun and find two good pellets for it. I’ve told you the best fill pressure, which is way less than what the factory recommends. I’ve given you the power setting, which is under the maximum setting.

The TalonP is a thinking shooter’s airgun. If you want the most accurate and most powerful smallbore air pistol in production today, here it is.

Photos and test by Earl “Mac” McDonald, unless otherwise indicated

S&W M&P R8 BB revolver. Photo provided by Pyramyd Air.

Mac’s back! As we enter the end of year season and approach the Christmas holidays, I want to review as many new guns as possible, while continuing to address my ongoing tests, so I asked Mac to give me a hand. Today, he starts with the S&W M&P R8 BB revolver.

I’m conservative, so whenever a company starts to use a model name inappropriately (in my opinion) it bothers me. When Benjamin used the name Super Streak for a breakbarrel spring rifle — where the name Streak has always been used only for Sheridan multi-pumps — it bothered me. When Smith & Wesson used their time-honored Military & Police (M&P) title to designate a semiautomatic pistol instead of a revolver, I was deeply concerned.

It seems the people in the marketing department that select these product names either don’t know the fine history of the company they work for, or they think the established name brings a lot of fetch with it. Of course it does, but look at what happened to the Weihrauch HW50 when the configuration of the gun was changed. Remember the lengthy conversations we’ve had on this blog and the lengths some people have to go to differentiate between the older HW50 and the one that’s now produced?

There’s still an M&P revolver, and today we’ll start looking at a CO2-powered BB gun by the same name. So, now you know what the M&P means, what about the R8? Well, it’s pretty simple. It’s code for a revolver that holds eight shots.

Mac was very impressed by this handgun. Even though it comes in a blister pack, it has many interesting features that are worthy of note. The first is that the cylinder is released from the frame to swing out to the left side of the gun just like the firearm it copies.

Though it comes in a blister pack, the M&P R8 has advanced features.

The cylinder swings to the side just like on the firearm. Photo provided by Pyramyd Air.

Gas control
Perhaps the most exciting feature of this BB revolver is the length to which the designers went to control gas. The pistol is powered by a conventional 12-gram CO2 cartridge that fits inside the Hogue-like grip. Normally a gun like this might give 50-60 good shots on a single cartridge. But this one has several features that more than double that number without sacrificing power.

Like a Nagant firearm revolver, this CO2 BB revolver mates the cylinder to the rear of the barrel to reduce gas loss when firing. The 7.62 Nagant moves the cylinder forward to seal with the rear of the barrel. The M&P R8 has a spring-loaded barrel (a soft, weak spring) with a rounded rear that rides over the mouth of the cylinder, popping into each chamber in turn when the gun locks up.

The rear of the barrel is rounded to move over the mouth of the cylinder as it revolves. The barrel is held in place by a weak spring, so it always pops back to this position, yet doesn’t hinder operation of the mechanism.

And the front of each chamber in the cylinder is shaped to receive the rear of the barrel to form a gas-tight junction. It really works, according to Mac.

Safety
Of course, revolvers don’t have safeties, except in cheap novels and the one exception that nobody ever hears about, but these days the transfer bar that connects the hammer to the firing pin only when it’s safe to fire is considered a safety. And this gas pistol has one! It’s not a bar at all, but rather a piece of thick wire that moves up when everything is right to fire the gun. It won’t prevent a fool from shooting himself or someone else, but they better not get me on the stand if that happens, because shooting this airgun requires a deliberate act!

This photo shows the transfer bar in position to connect the hammer to the valve stem that is analogous to the firing pin. You can also see the V-shaped rear sight notch that ought to be changed to a square one.

Sights
The M&P R8 has a decent front post and a ridiculous rear V-notch that’s better-suited to a .22 autoloading rifle. That kind of front sight needs a square rear notch, and I am surprised by its lack — especially given all the thought that went into the rest of the revolver! However, it IS entirely accurate, because the firearm has the identical rear sight. The front sight has an unnecessary white bead, but it goes away in the right lighting conditions and the post appears square against the target.

The manual says the sights are fixed, but Mac found that they are, indeed, adjustable. The rear notch can be slid sideways after the locking screw is loosened and actually be shimmed with paper for up and down adjustment. Had the makers put a spring under the sight, there’s even a screw that would allow vertical adjustment; so they’re selling themselves short by excluding it.

It uses a clip
Besides the cylinder swinging out to the side, this revolver also uses a circular BB clip. Only one clip comes with the gun; but as Mac reports, you could carry loaded clips easily and use them like a firearm revolver speedloader if you wanted. He noted while loading the one clip that one chamber always seemed looser than the others. We’ll see if that had any effect in the accuracy test.

This shot shows the circular clip out of the cylinder.

Robust action
Mac was particularly impressed by the robust appearance of the revolver’s action. The hand (lever connected to the cocking mechanism) that advances the cylinder with each pull of the trigger is metal. Mac noted that it didn’t appear to wear from his shooting test. He ended up firing well over 100 shots. Not showing even a shiny spot means the part is correctly hardened for the task it’s been given. While you shouldn’t expect a BB gun at this price to last forever, this is a good sign that it will shoot well for a long time.

Here you see the hand that advances the cylinder. Mac says it looks rugged.

Bottom Line
I guess Mac really likes this one. We’re going to be looking at a lot of new guns in the coming weeks, so it’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Before we begin today’s report, I want to reflect on a truth that helps explain why we’re sometimes dissatisfied with things when we get them. I was at the range last week testing some airguns, and I was using my Celestron 70C spotting scope, like I always do. This scope is good at 50 yards, but becomes marginal at 100 because it cannot resolve the smaller bullet holes. I don’t mean pellet holes, I mean .22-caliber bullet holes in the black bullseye at 100 yards.

A friend brought his Burris spotting scope to the range for me to compare, and the difference between the two was night and day. His scope was sharp enough to see small spiders walking on the target paper at 100 yards!

That same day, I shot a couple rifles my other friends had brought to the range. One of them was a fantastically accurate custom 6mm/.22 that can shoot a half-inch, 5-shot group at 100 yards. But it’s scoped with a BSA 4-24X scope that isn’t available at Pyramyd Air for good reason. It’s so dark and muddy that I couldn’t see the bullet holes as I shot this very accurate rifle. And I was shooting at a bright orange dot on white paper! I couldn’t see bullet holes on that! The scope was set at 16X because anything above that caused the image to go white from flare, and we were shooting in total shadow under a covered roof!

Another friend had a Lyman Super Targetspot scope that was 10X, and I could easily see all the holes his .220 Swift was making at 100 yards on the same kind of targets. So with six fewer magnifications, I was able to see the holes because of the superior optics. The Lyman scope is no longer made and a good used one will fetch about $800, while you can probably buy the BSA for under $200 all day long.

Back to the spotting scopes
My Celestron spotting scope has 30X, 60X and 90X power available. Where do I have it set? Between 30X and 60X, which is about 45X. Because anything greater than that muddies up the image too much — even at 50 yards. My friend’s Burris spotting scope only goes up to 45X maximum, yet it’s many times clearer than my Celestron. And I found on this day that only 10X was actually required to see .22-caliber holes at 100 yards on a light target. A black bull is probably harder to see with just ten power, but with 45 power it is easy!

So, I went home and researched that Burris spotting scope. It sells for about $175 at Midway, where the Celestron C70 Matsukov I have sells for about $80. But what good is it if it doesn’t do its primary job?

That got me thinking about shooters who purchase air rifles on the basis of velocity, alone, without appreciating all the other variables that come in the package. Things like smoothness, a good trigger and, most importantly, accuracy are pushed aside for velocity and low price.

I rant on about these things because they are also among my personal flaws. I’ve always tried to buy the cheapest of everything, and often the “mostest powerfulest,” too. So, I’m constantly drawn back to them whenever I find that I have made another dumb blunder.

On to today’s report
This was a day of great learning. When I summarize this series of tests, today will mark a big turning point, I believe. I learned a lot of things — all of which I will now show you.

Beeman Devastators
As always the first pellet tested was the lightweight Beeman Devastator. I’ve been amazed at the performance of this pellet from the start of this test, and last time I predicted that it would shoot even smaller groups this time.

Sorry, but that didn’t happen. The first four shots seemed to confirm the need to “season” the bore before shooting each new pellet. I’m showing that target here so you can see what I saw.

This sight-in target for Beeman Devastators fooled me. Shot one was the upper right. Shots two and three were in the same hole on the left and shot four was between that group and the first shot. At the time, I felt this was demonstrating the need to “season” the bore before shooting a group with this pellet.

This group of Devastators seemed to suggest that the barrel wasn’t fully seasoned yet. Group measures 0.956 inches between centers.

Shot one was the on at the high right, then the tight group of shots at the left were the next seven shots. Just when I was about to proclaim a universal law of bore seasoning had been discovered, shots nine and ten fell between the first shot and the group at the left.

Now, I was in a quandary. If the last two shots had strayed from the group in the same direction as the first shot, what was it telling me? Maybe the bore didn’t need seasoning. Maybe the Devastator just doesn’t like this velocity. Only another group would tell me for sure.

This second target of 10 Beeman Devastators shows that the barrel didn’t need to be seasoned. It simply isn’t responding well to this velocity. Group measures 0.724 inches between centers.

I believe that this particular velocity is one the Devastator pellet doesn’t like. As you know, I haven’t touched the Harmonic Optimized Tuning System (HOTS) on the barrel of my Whiscombe during this test. And I won’t. I don’t really care how accurate the gun is with a certain pellet. I was trying to see if there is a linear relationship between velocity and accuracy, and these two groups suggest that there isn’t. You’ll have to read the rest of this report to fully understand what I mean.

Crosman Premier lites
Next, I shot 10 Crosman Premier lites at 25 yards. This time, the target was very good, but the point of impact moved about a half-inch higher than last time. I was prepared to shoot four shots to season the bore, but the pellets kept going through the same hole, more or less, so I just completed the group without any seasoning.

This is a nice group of 10 Crosman Premier 7.9-grain pellets at 25 yards. It measures 0.747 inches and is actually slightly larger than the smallest group of Devastators. It’s almost identical to the last group shot during the previous test, so no big change in group size with this pellet.

The change of impact point was another big lesson this time. I’d seen it earlier, but not as dramatically as this time. The overall size of the group remained the same as before. That’s another indication that this is a barrel vibration issue and not one that’s driven by a change in velocity.

Beeman Kodiaks
The next pellets I tested were the Beeman Kodiaks, which have performed so well to this point. This time, the point of impact shifted up about three-quarters of an inch, but the group remained very tight. This time, 10 shots went into a group measuring 0.472 inches at 25 yards, which I believe is currently the best group of this entire test. Last time, they gave us a group measuring 0.628 inches.

Kodiaks continue to be the best pellet of the test. This group of 10 measures 0.472 inches between centers.

Eun Jin
And, now, it’s time to report the performance of the super-heavyweight 16.1-grain Eun Jin pellet. Last time, they made the worst showing and that continued into this test, as well. What was different was the fact that the point of impact dropped more than two inches with what was just a slight reduction in velocity.

I was aiming at the center of the bull above, where they impacted! This was a dramatic change of impact point from the last test. Group size for these 10 Eun Jin pellets was 1.27 inches between centers. That’s a little larger than last time, but the change of impact was far more noticeable.

What have we learned?
Well, nothing has been linear in this series of tests — the way I expected. But what the vibrations are doing seems pretty obvious. So, the next test is both needed, as well as anticipated.

Announcement: Miguel S. Manalac is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Miguel’s winning photo. Looks like he’s got quite a target range set up.

This blog started in 2005 on the suggestion of Edith. She knew I missed writing The Airgun Letter and she thought a weblog would be a nice way to replace it. She also felt it was a better way to address airgun issues than with articles, because a blog has a way for the readers to make comments. I’d already been writing articles for the Pyramyd Air website for many years when the idea of the blog first surfaced. Josh Ungier, the owner of Pyramyd Air agreed and the blog kicked off on the first of March 2005. The first report was called Hunt with the Sheridan Blue Streak air rifle.

The idea of the blog was that it would provide a way for people to ask me questions about the material in the report or about airguns in general. But I had some misgivings about that. When we published The Airgun Letter, we had a chat forum called the Airgun Forum. We identified it as belonging to The Airgun Letter and I assumed people would ask questions and talk about airguns there, too. Maybe then they would stop calling my house at 12 a.m. on Christmas morning to ask a “quick question.” To this day, I still wince at that phrase. But, boy, was I mistaken.

Instead, what we had was a continuous food fight/frat party with name-calling, hacking and the worst sort of behavior. It had Edith and I working 24 hours a day, every day, just to try to keep it civil. We actually took turns getting up at night all night long and looking at the forum. We had a lot of well-behaved readers, but a core of miscreants was determined to spray-paint their inferiority-complex-driven problems all over our wall.

The forum grew larger than any I have ever seen. We were getting 1500 comments every 24 hours. Our ISP used the enormity of our website to convince large clients they they could handle any load.

After putting up with this situation for too many years and watching the harmful affects on our lives, I finally decided to pull the plug, and to keep the hackers off-balance, I did it suddenly and without warning. Edith didn’t agree with the way I wanted to do it, but she did allow me to have my way in the end. Many readers felt betrayed by my actions and some still hold a grudge to this day. In retrospect, I may have thrown out the baby with the bathwater, because out of thousands of devoted readers we probably only had 50-100 real problem children.

As an amusing aside, after we shut down, several people tried to buy the forum from us, but we refused to sell. I warned them that running a forum was a thankless job, but they didn’t believe me. In fact, the Yellow Forum was born out of our forum, adopting the yellow background. Two months later, then-owner James Kitching told us that we were right about how much trouble it could be. His original plan was to have no moderation…it would be open to all comers. He finally told Edith that he couldn’t believe how some people were trying to destroy the forum, so he decided that critters who fouled their own nests would be banned from posting.

Back to this blog
I told Pyramyd Air that I would not use my real name in conjunction with this blog, because I didn’t want all the bad feelings that were associated with it. We structured the blog so I could see all the comments people were making; and on March first of 2005, we launched it.

And the crickets chirped! It took almost three years for the first comment to be posted to that first blog report. Of course as I continued to write more reports, the search engines started taking notice and the first actual comment was posted to a report that was made a little later than that first one. But as Matt61 noted, the early blog was a relatively quiet place.

A minor revolt
We did have a spot of trouble along the way. Disgruntled members of the old Talon Owner’s Group (ill-named, since all they ever did was complain about AirForce Airguns) tried to start a shouting contest on the blog and we shut down the comments for a day. Then, I wrote a blog titled How this blog works that explained the rules, and we opened up the comments once more. After that we found that registration was necessary for the old blog; but it isn’t for the current one, because the controls we now have are far more effective.

The man behind the curtain
If there is one thing that seems to hold true for all airgunners it’s curiosity. Within the first year, people started debating who B.B. Pelletier might be. Some thought it was me because of the writing style, but others argued that it couldn’t be because I wouldn’t dare show my face in public after the Airgun Forum debacle. I kept quiet on the subject. Dennis Quackenbush knew and so did Mac, but not too many others.

But the controversy grew and finally at the Daisy Get Together in August of 2007 Don Raitzer, an airgun collector I have known for many years, asked me outright if I was B.B. Pelletier. I answered him, “Gee, Lois, I’d have to be Superman to do that!” From the look on my face, he knew he’d discovered the truth. So, in a special blog titled Who am I? on October 18, 2007, I revealed that B.B. Pelletier is Tom Gaylord. If you read that report, you’ll see that I explained the reasoning behind the disguise pretty much as I have here.

By that time, the comments were starting to pick up. Some of the older reports already had over 100 comments and a couple went past 200. Back then, we had a different crew of readers such as Andreas from Cypress, Savagesam from California, Hernan from Puerto Rico, who I christened the CF-X guy, and .22 multi-shot from I don’t know where.

About that time, several of our current veterans joined us — like J-F, Derrick, Kevin Lentz and Wacky Wayne, who I don’t hear from as much as I’d like to. Somewhere in the mix, I lost track of Turtle and a few others. What does the term BFF really mean?

I got sick
Things perked along steadily until March 29, 2010, when I went into the emergency room with terrible stomach pain and vomiting. That started a long series of stays in four different hospitals, numerous operations and me not eating for three and a half months, all of which culminated in the removal of my gallbladder, spleen and a third of my pancreas. Oh, and I lost roughly 100 pounds. That’s what I remember.

What you remember is this blog soldiered on day after day. While I was out of my head, reading the acoustic tiles above my bed and watching ants crawl down the walls, Edith put out a daily blog from recycled Airgun Letter material, spit and polish. And my best friend, Mac, drove all the way out from Maryland (1,250 miles one way) to test guns, weigh pellets and take photos that kept us in fresh blog material for weeks.

So Edith and Mac worked; and when I came home from the hospital, I was given gifts. I always thought that was how life was supposed to be, except for the hospital part, of course.

I was finally able to start writing new reports on the blog again in June 2010, and by August I was almost back to normal — except that Mac was testing all the spring-piston rifles for me because I couldn’t cock them. The number of readers was still climbing, though we lost one or two when we refused to force those who commented to stay on topic. Apparently that bothers some people a lot, and a couple said they were leaving the blog because of it.

What I’ve found is that people like to talk to their friends about all sorts of things; and as long as they keep it clean, we have no problem with the topic. The comments are under the daily report that keeps us on track as much as we need to be. At least that’s my opinion. We may have lost a few readers, but I bet we got a lot more because this is the friendliest place on the internet to follow a hobby.

Today’s blog
I said we started in 2005 and that things were pretty slow back then. All that has changed today, and I think this is the largest and most active blog that’s dedicated to the shooting sports. We started out wanting to answer people’s questions about airguns; and though it has taken a while, I think we’re doing that today. Sometimes, we raise more questions than we answer, and that’s what keeps us going strong.

Several years ago, I allowed firearms to appear briefly in some of the reports, and I think that’s also progressing nicely. Firearms can teach us many things, as well as providing interesting contrasts with airguns. For example, in a firearm, the ammunition supplies the power behind the bullet, while in an airgun, it’s the gun that supplies the power.

Was Edith right that the blog would replace the articles in The Airgun Letter? She sure was, because I now write as much in three or four days as I used to write in an entire month. I feel so sorry for those guys who used to subscribe to the newsletter but think they’re too old to be on a computer, because I know how much they’re missing. And many of them are younger than me, but they just won’t do computers. So they miss the boat.

But for those who are with us, that’s a quick look at how this blog came to be. Maybe in another six or seven years, I will be fortunate enough to take another look at our growth.

Part 1
Part 2

The Haenel 311 is the world’s only bolt-action spring-piston 10-meter target rifle.

Today is accuracy day for the Haenel 311, and the day holds a couple surprises and should be a fun read. Because of the crude design of this rifle, I don’t shoot it that often and I forget just how well it shoots.

The 311 is a recoiling spring-piston air rifle and, as such, has to be held with the artillery hold for best results. I needed to be reminded of that.

Also, I tend to shoot smaller groups with the Ballard .38-55 rifle at 100 yards when I wear my glasses. But when shooting a 10-meter rifle I tend to do best without them. Since I haven’t shot at 10-meter targets in a while, that was another point that needed to be remembered.

Finally, the 311 rear sight adjusts for lighting conditions. But it only works if you remember to adjust it.

So the first few groups I shot were horrible because I held the rifle too tight, wore my prescription glasses and didn’t adjust the peep size. Then, I figured out all three things at about the same time and the rifle caught fire — at least with one pellet. And that was the other thing that surprised me in this test. The cheap eastern-European target rifle scorns high-priced target ammo from the best pellet makers. Instead, it loves the cheapest wadcutters on the market. I know that will disappoint many of you, but that’s how it is.

RWS Hobbys
I sighted-in with RWS Hobby pellets. Why a 10-meter rifle ever needs to be sighted-in is beyond me, because what other things would you do with them besides shoot them at 10-meter targets? Well, maybe not you. I guess I’m talking about me. Nevertheless, the rifle was hitting the edge of the bull when I started and required about 30 clicks of left adjustment to get the pellet close to the center. As I’m not really keeping score, I stopped when the first pellet was close enough.

Five RWS Hobby pellets at 10 meters. Not very impressive for a target rifle. This was shot when I was doing everything wrong.

And this is the very next group of Hobbys after I took off my prescription glasses and made the rear sight aperture smaller for greater depth of vision. This is still not a good group, but it does look better than the first one. Hobbys are probably not a good pellet for the 311.

H&N Finale Match Pistol
The next pellet I tried was the H&N Finale Match Pistol pellet. This pellet has always been good in my 10-meter rifles. Maybe it’s not the best in every rifle, but it’s among the top three almost every time. Well, I used perfect technique to shoot the group you are about to see.

H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets did this at 10 meters. It looks like a group fired by an Avanti 853 to me. It would be acceptable for a junior target rifle, but not for a precision-class rifle. The technique was perfect, so this is not a good pellet in my 311.

Gamo Match
I said I would try the new Gamo Match wadcutter in the 311, even though I didn’t hold out a lot of hope for it. As I shot the first group, I was holding the rifle in a good soft artillery hold and pulled the fourth shot. It was so obvious that I exclaimed, “Oh no!” aloud and Edith heard me in her office. You can see the results of pulling that shot on the target.

And that’s what it looks like when you pull a shot and are able to call it. The four are in a very nice group, however, so I decided to shoot another group using (hopefully) perfect technique.

Since the four shots were in such a tight group, I decided to shoot another group, and this time watch both my technique and the sight picture very carefully. Before I show you the group, I want to answer the question that some readers are asking right now. Isn’t this what I’m supposed to do every time I shoot? Yes, it is; and if I were a world-class shooter, I would be able to do it. However, that takes a state of concentration that I’ve never achieved. Shooters who compete will understand.

And there it is. This is the best 10-meter group I’ve ever shot with any target rifle. It’s so close to zero that I won’t even attempt to measure it. Five Gamo Match pellets went through that little hole.

I told you there were some surprises in today’s report. Will I ever be able to repeat that group? Probably not. Is the group representative of what the 311 can do? No, I don’t think that it is. Everything had to be perfect for a group like that to be shot — even from a rest at just 10 meters! But I was curious about the possibility of repeating it, so I shot another group of Gamo Match, just to see.

Here’s the very next group. I held just as steady and sighted just as well. This is probably representative of what the 311 can do with these Gamo Match pellets. This 5-shot group measures 0.163 inches between centers.

Wrap-up
So what can I say about the Haenel 311 target rifle? Well, it’s more accurate than its styling would seem to indicate, but it’s a crude rifle from the standpoint of ergonomics and powerplant operation. Yes, it can shoot alongside the FWB 300S, but it takes a huge amount of technique to do so. The 300S is easy to shoot, in comparison.

The Haenel has a heavier trigger than I like in a target rifle. It’s very positive, but I would like it to be a few ounces less and have a positive stop after the release.

All things considered, the Haenel 311 is a swell target rifle for just $59. That was all it cost when they were first available to American buyers. You’ll now pay $250 and up for the same gun, and I think that’s still a bargain.

For shooting while standing, this is a great and inexpensive way to go.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

For the benefit of readers who have landed on this article first, this is the sixth test in a series of reports designed to test how velocity affects accuracy. I’m using a Whiscombe JW75 breakbarrel/underlever rifle with a .177-caliber barrel installed. That way the same powerplant is being used for each test. I’m controlling the power of the gun by the use of different air transfer port limiter screws that allow less and less air to past through.

The Whiscombe rifle uses dual opposed pistons that come together to compress the air when the gun is fired. The rifle has no recoil and just a minor impulse that can be felt — yet it’s one of the most powerful spring-piston air rifles ever made. My rifle can produce over 30 foot-pounds in .25 caliber.

Four pellets were chosen at the start of this test and have been used in each velocity and accuracy test that’s been conducted. Two of them were supersonic in the first test and one remained supersonic in test two, while the other was still in the transonic region where wind buffeting occurs. It’s testing exactly what it was designed to.

Today, I installed a smaller transfer port limiter to slow down the four test pellets even more. This was the first time all four pellets were safely below the sound barrier, and the shooting was uniformly quiet. You probably should read the first five reports at the links provided above to understand all that’s happening.

Beeman Devastators
This 7.1-grain lead hollowpoint hunting pellet has been the biggest surprise of this entire series. Normally, these types of special pellets are designed for maximum mushrooming and are not that accurate — at least not in my experience. But the Beeman Devastator has proven to be the exception. From the start, when it was leaving the muzzle at an average 1,216 f.p.s., it was accurate. So far, we’ve conducted only two accuracy tests, so the results of this one should prove interesting. As I said, this was the first time this pellet has left the muzzle at subsonic speed.

The average velocity was 973 f.p.s., with a low of 967 and a high of 977. That’s only a 10 foot-second difference between the slowest and fastest pellet, which I think is amazing. Usually, a pellet this light will also have a much larger total velocity spread over a 10-shot string. At the average velocity, this pellet is cranking out 14.93 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. That’s down from the initial 23.32 foot-pounds it was making when there was no transfer port limiter in the gun.

Can you guess what this pellet will do in the accuracy test? I think it’ll be even more accurate than in the past. But who knows?

Crosman Premier lites
Crosman Premier lites were next. Initially, they were leaving the muzzle at 1,134 f.p.s. when there was no transfer port limiter in the gun. Today, they averaged 915 f.p.s. and the spread went from 911 to 919, for a super-tight 8 foot-second difference. At the average velocity, these pellets were producing 14.69 foot-pounds at the muzzle.

Any guesses as to what this pellet will do in the accuracy test? The difference between the first and second accuracy tests was very small, but we’ve finally gotten the velocity down out of the transonic region, where all the buffeting is. They didn’t break the sound barrier the last time; but at an average 1,057 f.p.s., they were well into the transonic range. There could be a happy surprise from the Premiers.

Beeman Kodiaks
Beeman Kodiaks averaged 819 f.p.s. with this transfer port limiter. The spread went from 817 to 824 for just a seven foot-second total variation across 10 shots. The muzzle energy was 15.2 foot-pounds. Notice that this heavy pellet is producing more energy than the two pellets that are lighter — something that’s not supposed to happen with a spring-opiston system.

I need to interject a word on Kodiaks. For some reason, their weights have varied widely over the past couple years. Where they had weighed 10.6 grains for several decades, someone decided to reduce the weight to 10.2 grains in 2010. Those are the pellets I have. But now I notice that the weight is back up to 10.4 grains. Obviously, someone is adjusting the weight of this pellet that was once considered one of the three most accurate .177 pellets on the market.

Kodiaks have been the most accurate pellets in both the previous accuracy tests (after I started using the scope level), but I don’t know if they’ll continue that trend at this new lower velocity.

Eun Jin domes
The 16.1-grain Eun Jin dome is really too heavy for the Whiscombe in its most powerful form. Certainly as the power is reduced, they become even less appropriate. In this test they averaged 618 f.p.s., and the spread went from 615 to 624, for an 11 foot-second total. At the average velocity, these super-heavyweights are producing 13.7 foot-pounds at the muzzle.

They produced the worst group last time, opening up from the group they had made with no transfer port limiter installed; and I predict this trend will continue in the next accuracy test. These are really best in powerful PCP guns — not in spring-piston guns.

What’s next?
Next, I’ll test the accuracy of these four pellets at 25 yards. I’ll use the same careful technique that I’ve been using so far to keep the results as free from bias as possible, so this should give us a good look at how velocity really affects accuracy — at least with these four pellets in this one gun.

You may not remember this, but at the beginning of this series I said that if the results of three velocity and accuracy tests seemed to warrant it, I could do a fourth test with the velocities cranked down very low. I’ll hold off on the decision to do that until I see the results of the next accuracy test.

Whether I do a fourth velocity/accuracy test or not, I’ll write a final summary report on all that’s been done in this test. If it seems worthwhile, I could do a second test using a Talon SS, so we can see the same relationship in a PCP gun. However, that hasn’t been decided, yet. We still have to get through this one.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

TalonP air pistol from AirForce is a powerful, new .25-caliber pneumatic hunter.

I had a perfect, wind-free day at the range for this report, and as a result I learned several very interesting things about the TalonP air pistol. There’s no substitute for a calm day when you’re trying to figure things out for an airgun.

The target was set 50 yards away, and I shot off a bag rest. I promised to show you how I hold the pistol when the shoulder stock extension is attached and I will, but John McCaslin of AirForce told me of a much better way to set up the gun. Since I didn’t try that this time, I’ll just show you how I held it for this test.

The butt is on my shoulder, which allows my cheek to touch the rear of the reservoir. My left hand is under the pistol grip for fine elevation adjustments. The bag I’m using is a large bunny bag (a sandbag that has “ears”) filled with crushed walnut shells that are as dense as sand but weigh only half as much.

This hold was stable, but I can see how the one John suggested will be even better, so I will show that next time. I have nothing but praise for the Hawke scope that is so clear I can see the pellets as they fly to the target. I think we need to add this scope to our stable of equipment, Edith.

I started this test shooting the JSB Exact Kings that were so accurate in the last test. They were still on the money — even better than before — but the calm day allowed me to see a dynamic I hadn’t see last time. The TalonP pistol can shoot a great five-shot group, but if you try for more shots, the pellets start to wander.

A new dynamic
As you know, I like to shoot 10-shot groups to demonstrate the accuracy of airguns. There are exceptions to that, of course. I won’t shoot 10 from a 10-meter gun because 5 shows all that I need to see. A big bore will also get 5 shots instead of 10, because there aren’t ten good shots in the reservoir. Well, that holds true for the TalonP, too.

I shot many groups that were astounding on this day, but only when they were 5-shot groups. When I tried to stretch them to 10, they always opened up. Before I get to that, though, I also discovered that this pistol doesn’t need a 3,000 psi fill when it’s shot on power setting eight.

If I filled all the way to 3,000 psi, the first shots were lower-powered. They would walk up the target in sequence until the gun came into the power curve, which was around 2,700 psi for this pellet on power setting eight at 50 yards. Then I always got an astounding 5-shot group. And then the pellets started wandering once again. Before I go any farther, look at a couple of these groups.

The larger hole to the right of the dime is four JSB King pellets at 50 yards. Shot five made the hole underneath the first group. But shots six and seven are above the dime and to the left. Those four tight shots represent the tightest group of shots I’ve ever made with an airgun at 50 yards. The group measures 0.159 inches and the 5-shot group measures 0.524 inches.

This group of 10 Benjamin domed pellets starts with a tight group of 5 at the left. The next five pellets walk to the right. The group of 5 measures 0.352 inches between centers.

Kevin suggested that I also test the Benjamin domes and Beeman Kodiaks. I found the Benjamin domes to be equally accurate in the pistol as the JSB Exact Kings, which is surprising because in an earlier test at 25 yards they were not as good.

The Beeman Kodiaks were not good in the pistol at any power level I tried, though I didn’t spend as much time with them as I did with the JSBs and Benjamins. In fact, I ran out of JSB pellets and had to order more to complete this test.

Some experimenting
I have said in the past that none of us have enough life left to throughly test even one AirForce airgun. The adjustable power, plus the ability to control the fill pressure, gives you an infinite variety of things to test with every good pellet you find. However, I do have an advantage, in that I used to work at AirForce and have tested hundreds of guns and thousands of valves during manufacture. So, I know a couple helpful things. Here’s one of them.

Sometimes, there’s a second power band located outside what you think of as the normal pressure curve. With a PCP gun that has a 3,000 psi fill limit, I find the bottom of the power curve is somewhere around 2,200 to as low as 2,000 psi. That’s for any gun — not just one made by AirForce. Of course, the AirForce guns have adjustable power, so you can do things — in that outside part of the fill curve — that aren’t possible with other PCPs.

I haven’t yet completed this test, but I just wanted to know if there might be another power curve below the normal pressure curve, so I kept on shooting JSB pellets with the gun set at power setting eight. As I did, the gun suddenly started to bellow a deep flat roar with every shot. I knew from past experience that this was what I was looking for. In fact, the pistol became so loud that I thought the end cap had fallen off, but it hadn’t. It was just the sound of the valve remaining open an extra long time and letting out a large volume of lower-pressure air. I didn’t get any good groups at this level; but with some lowering of the power setting, that might be possible. When I finished about an additional eight shots, the gun was down to 1,500 psi, which is way outside the normal curve.

On the TalonP, I find the best curve so far with the most accurate pellets to be between 2,700 psi and 2,200 psi. However, since I was trying to shoot 10-shot groups, the lower number isn’t correct, either. I didn’t have time to find out what the real lower limit was, exactly. The one time I checked it seemed to be around 2,550 psi, but that’s too rough to go by. Besides, it’ll be a different number on each different pressure gauge you use, so the number doesn’t really matter that much. You’ll have to find the number on your own fill gauge. If you do what I do in this test, you’ll find everything you need.

A big point
I’d like to stop here and mention that at no time have I brought a chronograph into today’s test. I did chrono the gun some back in Part 3, but that was before I knew how well it was going to perform at distance. Since there’s so much to do, I decided to set the chronograph aside until I find the best performance at 50 yards, then I’ll chrono just that. For those who own PCP guns but don’t yet own chronographs, this is something you should think about. It doesn’t matter how fast the pellets are going if they aren’t hitting anything, so find your most accurate pellets first and then chronograph them.

Something else
Knowing that the gun grouped 5 shots very tight with these two pellets, I tried a couple times to find the exact fill point for stopping to shoot 5 good shots. I could then shoot my 5 and refill for 5 more good shots. The ideal stopping point is located somewhere below 2,700 psi when the gun is set on power setting eight and shooting JSB Exact Kings or Benjamin domes, but I didn’t find the exact spot yet. When I shot the groups shown above, I had to shoot the first couple shots at a different target until the shots stabilized. Therefore, the number of good shots is greater than 5, since at least one shot and perhaps two were thrown away as I let the gun climb into the power curve.

I also tried shooting all the pellets, including Kodiaks, at power settings nine, ten and six. Those settings were not as good as setting eight when I filled to 2,700 psi.

This is the TalonP power adjuster I mention in the report. It appears to be set just under eight, as indicated by the center of the hex screw in the oval window. Forget the numbers on the wheel. Until you find the right setting in the oval window, they will just confuse you, and they aren’t that precise.

What’s next?
I now know the two best pellets for this gun. I have a rough idea of where the optimum power curve is located, so I won’t have to hunt for it as much next time. Also, John McCaslin has shown me a better way to mount my scope so I get a more positive spot weld (locating the cheek at exactly the same place every time so the maximum parallax is cancelled), and that may help me shoot the TalonP even better.

Here’s what I know so far. This “pistol” is the most accurate .25-caliber airgun I have yet tested. And I have one 50-yard group that’s the best I’ve shot to date with any airgun. That old one was five shots from a SCAN at 40 yards. There’s a heck of a lot of potential here. I can’t wait to get back to the range to try out all this new stuff!

Part 1

The Haenel 311 is the world’s only bolt-action, spring-piston 10-meter target rifle.

Let’s look at the velocity of my Haenel 311 target rifle. Because of the way it cocks, this rifle is low-powered. It isn’t possible to put a long-stroke piston or a stout mainspring in the mechanism when the rifle is cocked by pulling back on a three-inch bolt handle. You don’t pull it straight back, either. The base of the handle pivots like a fulcrum, and the handle rocks back to pull the piston into the cocked position. As I mentioned in Part 1, it’s so difficult to cock that the gun is destined for adults, only.

However, a short piston stroke and a weak mainspring combine to give very low velocity. Since this is a target rifle, velocity doesn’t matter. But this wouldn’t be the gun to choose as an all-day plinker. Get a Diana 27 for that, or any one of the Haenel breakbarrels. Save the 311 for its intended purpose.

If it sounds like I’m making excuses for the gun, that’s not what I want to do. I just want the reader to understand it in the right context.

Since this rifle has a leather piston seal, I dropped several drops of oil into the loading tap, then closed it and stood the rifle on its butt for several days before this test. For those who are new to airgunning, leather seals need lots of oil to do their jobs. Synthetic seals need a lot less oil, and it needs to be silicone chamber oil so it won’t detonate with the high heat it can generate.

In a rifle of the 311’s power, you can use plain old household oil for the seals, because the rifle doesn’t generate that much heat. But using silicone chamber oil won’t hurt anything, so that’s what I used. And there’s one additional reason for oiling the gun before shooting. The loading tap has to have some clearance to be able to move and do its job. When you oil the gun at the tap, some oil gets on the tap itself and helps to seal it when the rifle fires.

Velocity test
A note to the new reader. I test rifles with a range of pellets appropriate to that rifle. There will be a weight spread among the pellets I use, so you can gauge the power of the gun from what I use. But bear in mind that some pellets will work better in certain guns and the lighter pellet won’t always be the fastest. I also won’t test a gun with a pellet that I deem inappropriate for the gun, such as Beeman Kodiak heavyweight domed pellets for this target rifle. For a 10-meter target rifle, I’ll test with wadcutters since they’re the only pellets that are legal to use in a 10-meter match.

Let’s get right to it. The first pellet I tested was the Gamo Match wadcutter. This pellet used to be a viable and inexpensive pellet for target guns, but the design was changed a few years ago. While it’s still inexpensive, it doesn’t perform as well as it used to in many guns. Still, I thought it was worth a try.

This pellet averaged 462 f.p.s., but the spread was quite high — going from 439 to 479 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the rifle puts out 3.66 foot-pounds with this pellet. The wide velocity spread makes me think this one won’t be that accurate, but we’ll see.

Next I tried RWS Hobby pellets. At just seven grains weight, they should be among the fastest lead pellets in this rifle. Hobbys averaged 490 f.p.s. in the 311, and the spread went from 478 to 497 f.p.s. That’s tighter than the Gamo Match. At the average velocity, the energy developed at the muzzle was 3.73 foot-pounds. Sometimes, Hobbys are very accurate in certain guns and are worth trying in this one.

The last pellet I tried was the H&N Finale Match Pistol pellet. At 7.56 grains, you’d think they’d be slower than the Hobbys that weigh a half grain less, but these pellets averaged 492 f.p.s. in the 311, and the spread went from 480 to 501 f.p.s. They’re clearly faster and more efficient. At the average velocity, they produce 4.06 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

Seeing the efficiency of this pellet gave me an idea. What if I used a pellet seater to iron out the skirts of this pellet? What would happen to the velocity then? I say that because a taploader tends to allow some air to blow past the pellets before they’re blown into the bore. Enlarging the skirts is a possible way to minimize this.

I tried enlarging the pellet skirts with the ball end of a pellet seater. However, the results surprised me. Instead of boosting velocity, this knocked it back to an average 474 f.p.s. for the H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets. However, the extreme spread ran only from 472 to 478 f.p.s., so the overall velocity was a lot tighter from shot to shot.

The bottom line is that the Haenel 311 is a target rifle and nothing more. Because of the design, there’s no way to soup it up for greater performance; and as I noted in Part 1, this is a rifle you want to stay out of.

Next time we’ll look at the accuracy of this Cold Warrior.

… and laugh at the fool with too many! That should be the ending of the famous statement, as I discovered suddenly this week.

I live in Texas, which is a pretty large state as most of you know. However, unlike many other states, Texas has very little open hunting ground. Most of it is owned and posted. Just like in feudal Europe, if you want to hunt in Texas, you either pay thousands per year for a deer lease or you know someone who owns one and get an invite.

So, I got invited to hunt for mule deer this year on 45,000 acres of open country in the western part of the state. Knowing what a rare opportunity this was, I accepted and then thought about what gun I would use. I went to my gun closet and behold — there was nothing. Oh, there are plenty of suitable guns in the closet, but every one of them is in some state of setup for a different, arcane purpose. There’s my Ballard, which is deadly accurate at 100 yards, but which I haven’t begun to try out at 200 yards. The bullet travels so slow that unless I get it sighted in, shooting that far would be chancy. And, in western Texas, long shots are the rule. Then there’s the fact that I now only use a single cartridge and it takes the better part of five minutes to reload it; but, hey, the deer will wait, won’t they?

Then there’s a 30-30 bolt-action that would work except that it isn’t really made for these distances. Besides, I haven’t got an accurate load worked up yet. My M1938 Swede Mauser is right on at 100 yards, but I have such a pansy low-recoil load worked up that I doubt it will even go 200 yards.

On and on it goes. Nothing in my closet is quite right for mulies at 200-250 yards. So, I recently traded for a 1920 Savage in 250 Savage. I reckon I can also use it at my friend’s place in the Texas Hill Country, where whitetails abound. There, the land is so crowded with brush, that the longest possible shot is 100 yards, so no problem. All I have to do is cook up an accurate load and get it sighted in for about three inches high at 100 yards. That puts it dead on at 200.

This past Wednesday evening, my friend told me that hunting season opens tomorrow, and suddenly I find I have nothing to use. Nothing that’s sighted-in, and nothing that has a useful load cooked up. Oh, I could shoot my Garand, but I don’t have any softpoints loaded for it. I could borrow a rifle from my friend, but out of more than 50 centerfires in his closet, he also has nothing that’s sighted-in.

What we have are closets full of works in progress. Why is that?

Airguns are no different
Contemplating that thought causes me to shift over to airguns, where I discover similar circumstances. My Whiscombe is in the middle of a test, so it can’t be disturbed. My TX200 Mark III had its scope stripped off for the test of another airgun a long time ago and sits in the closet in forlorn anticipation of some day when I will love it again. My Talon SS is currently set up for the CB cap test I just finished and is probably the closest thing I own to something that’s sighted-in, but I would have to read the Shotgun News article I wrote with it to see where I last adjusted the scope.

I don’t have any airguns that are ready to go, either.

You see, my philosophy is, and I think I speak for all of us armchair adventurers now, that when the comet finally does crash into the Earth, ending civilization as we know it, there will be an announcement and plenty of time to get out to the range and sight things in.

All is not lost
All my .45 pistols are sighted-in and I have a handload cooked up for them that is so good it is locked into my Dillon Square Deal B press. A ton of lead, ten thousand primers and 24 pounds of powder stand at the ready for the day Edith and I have to shoot our way out the front door.

But I don’t have a hunting rifle! Plenty of potentials but nothing ready to go.

Oh, woe is me! Back when I was a lowly lieutenant in the cavalry in El Paso, I only owned one hunting rifle. It was a .270 Weatherby and was sighted-in and I had a good handload cooked up for it. When I went to Germany for four years and had to leave my guns at home, I bought a Sako Vixen in .222 Remington in Germany. Using factory ammo, I dropped 13 deer in 18 months of hunting.

Those were the days when I was young, stupid and broke. Now I’m older, still stupid and, thanks to Edith, have enough money to indulge many of my gun fancies. But nothing I own is sighted-in nor are any good hunting loads cooked up. Everything is a work in progress.

I think I know what’s happening. I think I acquire each new rifle in the hopes that it will solve all my shooting problems. It will get me invited to hunts, it will always be the right caliber for whatever I want to hunt, and it will remain permanently sighted-in with each and every imaginable load. And, after all, there will be time to get everything done before the comet hits.

I’m like the guy who buys the air rifle that comes with two barrels, hoping it will be the only gun he’ll ever need. But heck, my Whiscombe came with four barrels, and the one I need is never on the gun when I need it.

I can remember a time when I had my stuff together, as we used to say. I may have had fewer guns back then, but each was ready to go. Part of my problem now lies in the fact that I write about guns and, therefore, am always tearing things apart while searching for the next article. But both of my gun buddies — Mac who lives in Maryland and Otho who lives here in Texas — have the same problem I do and neither of them writes about guns.

I wonder if this is a normal kind of thing. As your acquisitions grow in number, does your familiarity with each diminish?

I can now understand why Imelda Marcos had all those shoes but nothing to wear.

Announcement: Ethan Harvey is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card.

Ethan’s winning photo is of his airsoft team. Looks like they’re ready for war.

If you’re a veteran CO2 user, the title of this report will confuse you, because bulk-filling and CO2 cartridges are two different ways of charging a CO2 gun. But, today, I’ll show you a device that lets you use a CO2 cartridge to bulk-fill a gun. And there’s a lot more to this story than just that!

Over two years ago, my good friend Mac traded or sold me a .22-caliber Crosman model 114 CO2 rifle — we can’t remember which. The rifle was in nice shape except that it didn’t hold gas, which is the kiss of death for a CO2 gun. No problem for me. I sent it off to Rick Willnecker in Pennsylvania to be resealed.

A couple weeks later, Rick called and asked if I would like to have the metal refinished, too. He said he had a friend who owed him a favor, and I could get the rifle refinished for nothing if I was willing to wait. I was in the middle of reporting on the gun at the time, but the work had stopped the report, so I figured why not? Little did I know that it would be two years before I would see this gun again.

Since the Crosman 114 was refinished, it looks like a new gun again.

If you’re interested in the first two parts of the report, they are linked below.

Crosman 114 — Part 1
Crosman 114 — Part 2

Back to today
Back to the main part of this story. At this year’s Roanoke Airgun Expo, I spotted a small device on Mike Reames’ table. It turned out to be a device that lets you charge a bulk-fill Crosman gun with a 12-gram CO2 cartridge. When I saw it I knew I had to report on it for you; and with the recent return of my now-refinished 114, I had the perfect test vehicle.

This device, made by Mike Reames, will attach to any fill port on a Crosman bulk-fill gun with an internal reservoir. It cannot be left on the gun when firing, though, because it will be hit by the pellet.

The bulk-fill device attaches to the rifle in the same way that the Crosman bulk tank did (read Parts 1 and 2 to see that).

Now that you have seen it you may be interested in where to get one of these. They run just over $30 with shipping, and I’m darned if I have the contact info for Mike. I thought I got it at the show, but a search has turned up nothing. However, I bet one of our readers has Mike’s info and can get it for us.

What is bulk-fill?
You probably know that most CO2 guns today rely on 12-gram or 88-gram cartridges to get their CO2. But it didn’t used to be that way. Back in the 1870s, Giffard of France made many CO2 guns that had a separate tank. When the gas ran out, you exchanged tanks; and they had it set up so you could mail them in.

Crosman made CO2 bulk guns starting is 1932 and continued building them until about 1955. Some of them had tanks that were separate, but others, like the 114 we are looking at today, had the reservoir built-in. In fact, when I initially had the idea for what turned out to be the Benjamin Discovery, I was thinking of a bulk-fill CO2 gun. When Crosman built the first prototype, they built it on the now-discontinued Crosman 2260 frame. Just the reservoir on the prototype was changed to hold the compressed air.

There have also been quite a few target rifles and pistols that operate on bulk CO2. For these, like the early Crosman guns, a separate bulk tank of CO2 is connected to the gun to fill it.

Back to this report. There was also a .177-caliber model 113 rifle that looks exactly like this .22-caliber 114. These were both single-shot, bolt-action guns that didn’t change substantially throughout the years they were manufactured, which was 1950-1955.

The 114 used to get around 70 good shots on one fill of gas when I filled it from a separate bulk tank. If you took the time to cool the gun before the fill, you could get even more shots than that.

A 12-gram CO2 cartridge doesn’t have that much gas inside it, plus some is lost when you make the transfer, so this isn’t the most economical method of filling the gun. It just lets you fill your guns without the need to own a bulk tank. Some people will like that, while others will complain that it’s costing too much to fill their guns. For them, I caution that what I’m showing today is not the best solution. However, if you’re like me and want to shoot your bulk Crosman guns occasionally, this is probably the most convenient way to do it.

Filling the gun
To fill the gun, simply attach the device to the fill port of the gun and insert a 12-gram cartridge. Screw down the top on the device, which pushes it onto the piercing pin and starts the gas flowing. With this device, there’s no way to stop the flow of gas; so when everything gets quiet, you know the gun has taken all the gas it will accept. If you dry-fire the gun one or two times at this point, you might get a denser fillbecause dry-firing lowers the temperature of the gun, causing more gas to flow.

Once the gun is filled, you just keep cocking and loading pellets and shooting until the power seems to go away. This is done by listening to the rifle’s report and is fairly easy to learn.

As far as shooting the 114, I was just about to get to that back in 2009 when the gun failed, and that’s where we are now. There’s a lot that needs to be tested on this rifle, but I’m going to end this tale right here. I’ll save the velocity testing, number of shots per fill, which in this case is also the same as the number of shots per cartridge, and accuracy for another day.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper IGT surprised B.B. by being difficult to group.

Before I start today’s report I have to share a concern. The other evening while we were watching TV, Edith suddenly suggested that I write an airgun blog for beginners. I thought about it, and I decided she is probably right.

Of course, this very blog is supposed to be for beginners, but I fear that I’ve wandered away from that objective. There’s too much jargon in the articles and not enough explanation. As far as the comments are concerned, I have no problems with what’s said because readers ought to be able to say almost anything. But the articles ought to be more informative and not require an airgun background to understand.

If you’re new to airgunning and have been struggling with this blog, please speak up now. I would like to hear your views on how we can make this blog better and easier to understand.

Okay, on to today’s report, which, if subtitled, would read, BB gets frustrated. I’ve tried to like this Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper IGT. I really have, and I did like many things about it. I liked the light weight, the ease of cocking and the lack of vibration when fired. I didn’t care for the scope Gamo sends with the rifle, but today was supposed to take care of that. But it didn’t work out that way. Instead, adding a better scope only demonstrated that this rifle isn’t going to shoot like it should, and I believe I now know why.

New scope
You’ll recall that I criticized the Gamo scope pretty severely, so for today’s session I mounted a Leapers 6-24×50 AO scope in the BKL 1-piece droop compensating mount I’m using to compensate for the rifle’s extreme droop. Blog reader Kevin has said that he wouldn’t buy another Leapers scope because of the way he was treated by the company in what should have been a warranty situation, and I have to agree with him on that; but their scopes are still a very good value for the money. This scope is one I’ve used several times before, and it’s never let me down.

I figured the first thing to do was to verify my zero after changing out the scope, and of course there was a lot of adjustment to be made with the new one. I have no idea what gun or mounts this scope was associated with last, so it will naturally be off unless I get lucky. But this wasn’t the day for luck.

After zeroing, the first pellet I tried was the 14.3-grain JSB Exact Express that looked so tantalizing in the last accuracy test. And this is where the frustration began. In the last test using the poor scope, I managed a 10-shot group that measured 1.267 inches between centers. I expected far better than that, now that I could clearly see the target. But after only seven pellets went into a group measuring 1.479 inches, I knew it was not to be.

JSB Exact Express pellets spread out so far that I gave up after seven shots.

I then changed to the heavier 15.9-grain JSB Exact Jumbo pellet. But another seven of those pellets went into a group measuring 1.427 inches, and I stopped wasting my time.

JSB Exact Jumbos weren’t much better, with seven going into 1.427 inches. I didn’t complete this group, either.

I was really frustrated, because nothing I tried was working. I would get two pellets in the same hole when I tried a new hold, and then the third would land two inches away. This was starting to get embarrassing! And I did try many other pellets, including some that are obsolete, like Beeman Silver Jets. Nothing worked. RWS Hobbys were so far off-target that they put a hole in the aluminum light fixture I use to illuminate the target. And Beeman Kodiaks, which I think are much too heavy for an air rifle in this power class, were doing the same thing as all the rest — grouping two tight and then throwing the next two several inches away. Then I shot another disappointing group of H&N Trophy Hunters.

Finally in desperation I shot a last group of Beeman Silver Bear hollowpoints that ended with the fourth shot. Why shoot any more when four shots already has you over one inch? Look at the group, and you’ll see what I mean.

When a group begins like this, why bother going farther? Four Beeman Silver Bears at 25 yards.

Now this is the point in many reports where I pull back the curtain and reveal the sunshine of a successful test. But not today. There is no joy in Mudville today. Oh, that’s not true.

I felt so bad about all the lousy shooting, and believe me, there’s more than I’m reporting, that I grabbed my tuned .177-caliber Beeman R8 and shot a final group of ten Beeman Devastators at the same 25 yards. This was to wash the bad taste of this test out of my mouth.

This group of ten Devastators came from my Beeman R8 at 25 yards. The group measure 0.5 inches on the nose, allowing for the built-in error.

And it worked. Apparently I can still shoot — even on a day when I can’t get the Gamo Silent Stalker Whisper IGT to shoot worth a darn. It just felt good to be able to say that.

So, what’s wrong?
I think I know why the Silent Stalker Whisper isn’t grouping, and there isn’t a darn thing I can do about it. Early on in this second accuracy test, I started grabbing and shaking things to see if anything was loose. When I came to the barrel, it shook from side to side. It wobbles on its pivot, and there isn’t anything I can do about it.

I see from examining the action outside the stock that a lot of thought went into this gun, but they missed a very critical point — the barrel lockup. If that’s loose and can’t be tightened, and apparently it can’t, then the rifle will never live up to its potential. It’s still a nice lightweight breakbarrel with smooth shooting characteristics, but it lacks the all-important accuracy potential shooters want.

The Haenel 311 is the world’s only bolt-action spring-piston 10-meter target rifle.

At the Roanoke Airgun Expo several weeks ago, I saw a Haenel 311 target rifle on one of the tables, which it reminded me that I’d promised myself long ago to give you a full report on this curious air rifle. Today, I’ll begin to fulfill that promise.

Back in the days when Edith and I published The Airgun Letter, we were contacted by a pawn shop that was importing target airguns from the former East Germany. We told our readers about them, and thousands of model 310s and 311s and a few 312 sidelevers were sold over the course of a few years. The prices were quite low. As I recall, the 310s went for $49, and the 311s brought $59. I bought several guns to test and as gifts, and the 311 you’ll see here is one of those purchased.

The 311 is unlike any other air rifle in the world. It’s a .177-caliber pellet rifle that uses an articulated bolt action to cock a spring that powers the piston. It appears similar to the Haenel 310 action except the 310 shoots only round lead balls fed from a magazine, while the 311 shoots standard diabolo pellets fed one at a time though a loading tap. The two guns are very different, except for their cocking levers.

Here the cocking bolt/lever has been lifted out of its stored position and is ready to be pulled back to cock the gun.

The rifle is sized for an adult, with an overall length of 43-7/8 inches and a weight of 7 lbs., 14 ozs. These numbers come from my rifle and do not agree with the information in the Blue Book of Airguns.

The stock is blocky and looks like it was fashioned from a two-by-six piece of lumber. The wood is tightly grained and may be beech, though I’m not certain. It’s stained with a thin orange color that does not penetrate the wood to any depth. The finish is a thin shellac that’s very prone to chipping and wear.

The pistol grip is hand-checkered with large diamonds in a very crude pattern. The work looks like it was done by a prisoner wielding a not-too-sharp jackknife. There’s no checkering on the forearm, but both sides have a long European-style finger groove.

The checkering is clearly hand-cut, and a rough job at that. Overruns and missed diamonds abound.

The metal is very well polished and finished with an even hot blue. You must appreciate that Haenel has a reputation as a fine arms maker, and this rifle is so out of line with most of what they made that it looks like a government job for sure. The rifle began production in 1964, which was at the height of the Cold War, so that assessment is probably right on the money. Production ended in the early 1990s.

The 311 is a 10-meter target rifle, but it is so different from any other 10-meter rifle that it’s very difficult to categorize. The cocking effort is very difficult — owing to the short cocking lever — so this is not a three-position rifle in anyone’s book. It’s meant for offhand shooting, alone. Even then, the shooter must take care where he points the muzzle while he struggles with the cocking lever. It takes 33 lbs. of force to cock my 311, and applying it through the 3-inch bolt handle isn’t easy. In the offhand position, I would shoulder the rifle and simply pull the handle back, using my shoulder to hold the rifle in place. It sounds easy, but after a couple shots you start feeling the strain.

Sights
The 311’s sights are very interesting. The rear adjustable aperture sight looks very similar to a Walther target sight of the same era. Though it’s designed for inexpensive production, you can see that the designers managed to make it quite precise. It has the swept-back look of the 1930s.

The adjustable rear aperture sight looks like something from a 1930s sci-fi movie. The design is simple but very similar to what Walther was making at the time.

As austere as this sight is, it still contains diopters (peep holes) of different sizes to accommodate different lighting conditions. That’s an advanced feature that you don’t expect to find on such a crudely finished rifle. And it doesn’t end there.

The 311 also has the provision for mounting an intermediate adjustable sporting sight on a base located at the end of the compression tube, just behind the loading tap. Most 311 owners have never seen this sight, but I was able to obtain one with my rifle, so I can show it to you now. This sight must relate to some sporting event the East Germans had for this rifle. The Falke rifle also had provisions for two different types of rear sights, so there must have been a good reason for them. I do know that many zimmerstutzens come with this same provision, and there’s a separate sporting match for the zimmerstutzen. It’s not too difficult to imagine that there was the same kind of match for air rifles that are equipped this way.

This adjustable sporter rear sight is an accessory few 311 owners have ever seen. It mounts behind the loading tap and is undoubtedly used in different matches than the target sight.

The front sight is a globe mounted on a tall stalk. It accepts different sight inserts, which would be necessary if the sporting rear sight were to be used. My rifle came with an aperture in the front sight.

The front sight is a globe with replaceable inserts that sits on a tall stalk.

Loading tap
The 311 loads through a rotating loading tap. That is a strange feature on a target rifle, because the shooter cannot insert the pellet directly into the rifling. The tap is entirely manual and separate from the cocking function, so it can be operated at any time.

The loading tap is manual and not connected to cocking the gun in any way.

One thing about a loading tap is that it requires a different procedure for oiling the piston seal. I put 5-10 drops of silicone chamber oil into the tap, then close it and stand the rifle on its butt for at least an hour. The reason I used 5-10 drops is in case the piston seal is made of leather. I use silicone chamber oil in case it’s synthetic. Talk about covering all the bases!

Trigger
The trigger is one place where the Haenel pedigree shines through. It’s a multi-lever unit that breaks cleanly if not crisply. It’s every bit as nice as the trigger on the Bronco.

Here’s a warning to all you would-be tuners. Years ago, I wanted to quiet the vibration of my 311 action, so I started what I thought would be a simple disassembly. When I got inside the trigger, however, the job proved to be anything but simple. I assembled the gun with the automatic safety out of whack and have lived with it ever since. The 311 is not the rifle to take apart unless you have a lot of patience and perhaps a spare rifle to look at when it’s time to put it back together.

As for power and accuracy — well, this is only Part 1. I’ll test this rifle completely in the established pattern, so you’ll get answers to both questions.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Today we look at the groups made by the four pellets used in this test at 25 yards when the velocity is diminished. Part 4 covered the velocity for each pellet, so go there to see where each one is.

If you like nice linear results, prepare to be disappointed. Today’s target do show changes, but they may not be in the direction you expect. Let’s get right to it.

First up were the 7.1-grain Beeman Devastator pellets. These pellets have been a real surprise in this test, because they have proven to be accurate at supersonic velocity and they are not sensitive to bore conditioning. Shoot one and it tends to go to the same place every time. They also do not show any first-shot tendencies that so many other pellets do. This is a real plus for hunters, who are always shooting the first shot. I will have to return to this pellet sometime soon and test it in other guns, because it seems to be a real winner.

Another fine 10-shot group of Beeman Devastators at 25 yards. It measures 0.616-inches between centers.

This group measured 0.615-inches between centers, compared to the first group in Part 3 that measured 0.743-inches. Obviously the slower pellet is significantly better, but because we only have two groups to compare it is impossible to know whether one will always be better than the other. The Devastator is still going out the muzzle at supersonic speed, even though it has been slowed by about 70 f.p.s. This is the second-best pellet of this test, just as it was in the first test.

All the shooting conditions are exactly as reported in Part 3. The scope level was used for every shot and the rifle was held in the artillery hold, with the stock resting on my hand at the same place every time. So the same care is being taken each time I shoot, and that won’t change.

Next I tried the 7.9-grain Crosman Premier lites. The bore was conditioned with four shots before shooting the group shown here, and as before, the Premiers did show some wandering in the first three shots. After that, they seemed to settle down, though as you will see, settling is a relative term.

Crosman Premier lites turned in the second-worst group of this test. Ten went into this group that measures 0.754-inches between centers.

This time the group size remained nearly the same, at 0.754-inches. The group shot when the gun was shooting them faster measured 0.778-inches, which is too close to call. Yes, the group fired with the pellet going slower is a trifle smaller, but it is really too close to say there is a difference that’s due to the velocity — especially given the built-in error in measuring groups that I have talked about.

The third pellet I tried was the heavier Beeman Kodiak. They turned in the best group of the test, just as they did the first time. And the ten-shot group measured 0.628-inches between centers, which is very close to the 0.633-inches of the first test.

Ten Beeman Kodiaks went into this group measuring 0.628-inches. It’s very close to what the rifle did in the first test.

I cannot say that the Kodiaks did any better this time than they did in the first test. Even though the velocity was slowed by 55 f.p.s., it doesn’t seem to make much difference at 25 yards. Maybe that’s just not enough of a drop to matter.

The last pellet tested was the 16.1-grain Eun Jin dome. These pellets were never in the transonic region, even with no transfer port limiter in the gun. So this time they were just going slower. And what a difference that made!

Ten Eun Jin pellets were all over the place at 25 yards. They made this huge group that measures 1.118-inches between the centers of the two pellets farthest apart. This is the worst group of this test and also much worse than the first test with this same pellet, when they grouped 0.798-inches.

Eun Jins made a bad showing at 25 yards with the transfer port limiter installed. As long and heavy as they are, I guess they need all the velocity they can get, to obtain the rotational speed required for stabilization.

What have we learned?
The first thing we learned is this probably was not enough of a velocity drop to matter, except for the slowest pellet. The next thing we learned is that the changes are not always linear. Although three of the pellets exhibit what I would call a linear relationship of accuracy to velocity, only one of them — the Beeman Devastator — shows any real improvement. And even that is just a very small improvement that could just be due to chance.

The next thing we learned is that some pellets need their speed to maintain accuracy. The big heavy Eun Jins do not like this lower velocity, and I will predict they are going to get even worse with the next velocity decrease.

The Crosman Premiers are still not performing well, and since they are still within the transonic region, there is good reason for that. I look for an improvement in the next test.

What all this tells us is that using very long heavy pellets in a lower-powered airgun is probably not a good idea. When the distance to the target increases beyond about 30 feet, you will start seeing these pellets spread out, where lighter pellets will probably continue to be accurate.