Posts Tagged ‘CO2 pistol’
Smith & Wesson M&P R8 BB revolver: Part 2
by B.B. Pelletier
Photos and test by Earl (Mac) McDonald, unless otherwise indicated
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.
Smith & Wesson M&P R8 BB revolver: Part 1
by B.B. Pelletier
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!
Smith & Wesson M&P 45 air pistol: Part 3
by B.B. Pelletier
Smith & Wesson M&P air pistol is highly realistic. It shoots both pellets and BBs.
Today is the day we answer the long-awaited question of how accurate the Smith & Wesson M&P 45 air pistol really is. Is it capable of shooting out a one-inch bullseye at 23-24 yards, as one owner claimed, or does it conform to what we know about this level of air pistol?
Two different types of ammo
For starters, this pistol shoots both BBs and pellets. Usually when a gun does that, it has to give something away for the compromise, because BBs are much smaller than pellets. They are also made of steel and cannot take the rifling; so when you shoot a BB, you have to shoot it as a smoothbore. I tried them first.
BBs — not that hot
As expected, eight BBs did okay at 25 FEET. Nothing spectacular, but eight shots did land in a group that measures 1.747 inchs across the two widest centers. That’s minute-of-pop-can accuracy, but nothing more. I shot Daisy zinc-plated BBs for this.
I did discover during this session that the sights needed a lot of horizontal adjustment. The group of BBs at 25 feet was slightly low and three inches to the left. I loosened a locking screw on the rear sight and slid it to the right to correct this, and it took two corrections to get it right. When the shots were centered on the bull the rear sight was noticeably over to the right.
Now, on to pellets
I had suspected that it wouldn’t be BBs that were so accurate, but lead pellets. So I was all set for a surprise when I shot them. The distance to the target was 25 FEET from a supported standing rest. I shot single-action and I can report that my eyesight has returned to about where it was in the past.
I shot many different types of pellets, but two stood out enough to be worthy of mention. The first were H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets. They shot to the point of aim and grouped well, though there was always one or more that opened up the group.
I actually shot several groups of this pellet, because they were teasing me with groups that were almost perfect, but never quite. Finally I came to the conclusion that we are seeing the best the pistol can do with the two groups I’ve selected to show.
Eight H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets made this 25-foot group, which measures 0.936 inches.
Another eight H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets made this 0.955-inch group. It’s very close to the other group and also to the groups not shown.
The other pellet that really did well were JSB Exact RS domes. I tried them because they are lightweight and very accurate in lower-powered air rifles, so I thought that might carry over to pistols.
Apparently, it does, because one of the many groups I shot at 25 FEET was the best of the session. Eight pellets went into a group measuring 0.928 inches.
Although this group is the smallest of the test, don’t be mislead by the appearance. There is a ragged hole at the bottom of the bull to the left of the number six that enlarges this group to 0.928 inches. That’s good, but not that much better than H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets.
Here is another target shot with JSB RS pellets that will fool you. It looks great, but a stray shot that cuts the five-ring (to the right of the dime) enlarges what looks like a tight group to 1.342 inches.
What is the conclusion?
Is the S&W M&P pistol capable of one-inch groups at 23-24 yards? Of course not. It would be one of the most accurate pellet pistols on the market if it were. But at 25 FEET it is more accurate than I expected. Especially with JSB RS domes and H&N Finale Match Pistol pellets. This gun wants to group.
I didn’t shoot at 25 yards because there is no point. It will probably group eight shots in the 3-5 inch range if everything is done right and the best pellets are used. I don’t think this pistol gives us any surprises other than it is very capable for a blister-packed air pistol.
At the price, I doubt you’ll find a more accurate pistol capable of shooting both BBs and pellets — and that says something. With Christmas coming soon, maybe this is one for your gift list.
Smith & Wesson M&P 45 air pistol: Part 2
by B.B. Pelletier
Smith & Wesson M&P air pistol is highly realistic. It shoots both pellets and BBs.
Today, we’ll look at the velocity of the Smith & Wesson M&P 45 air pistol. Of course, this pistol shoots both BBs and pellets, so we’ll have to look at the velocity for both.
Two different clips
I told you in Part 1 that the pistol uses two different clips — one for BBs and the other for pellets. It’s important to use the correct clip for each type of ammunition to avoid feeding problems and possible jams. I’ll start with BBs
BBs are pushed into the black plastic clip from the side that doesn’t have the ratchet teeth. The BBs are held in by pressure, alone, so loading them correctly is important.
Unusual stability!
For what I think is a first, I noticed no difference in velocity between single-action and double-action firing. Double-action is when you just pull the trigger to fire the gun. The trigger cocks the striker and advances the clip to the next chamber, so the pull is heavier though, on this pistol, it isn’t that bad.
Single-action is when you cock the pistol separately before the shot. That can be done by pulling back on the rear half of the slide. You won’t find it in the manual, but it’s there and the trigger becomes much easier to pull. Do it when you want to shoot accurately, as opposed to fast.
Trigger-pull
The pistol fires at between 5 lbs., 4 oz. and 5 lbs., 9 oz. on single-action and more than 12 lbs. on double-action. That may sound like a lot; but if you’re a shooter who pulls a lot of triggers, it isn’t so bad.
I shot Daisy zinc-plated BBs, because extensive testing has shown them to be just a little larger than Crosman Copperhead BBs and, therefore, more accurate and a little faster.
Eight BBs (what fits in one clip) averaged 345 f.p.s. As I said, it didn’t matter whether they were fired single-action or double-action. The spread went from 340 to 351 f.p.s., and I was allowing about 10 seconds between each shot. At the average velocity, the gun is generating 1.35 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
Now for pellets
When shooting pellets, we use the gray metal clip. Pellets are loaded from the side that has the ratchet. That’s just the reverse of the BBs. Load the pellets point or nose first and seat them so their skirts are flush with the clip so there won’t be any jams.
The first pellet I fired was the Crosman Competition pellets — a very appropriate pellet for a pistol like this. Eight pellets averaged 334 f.p.s., ranging from a low of 329 to a high of 348 f.p.s. The average muzzle energy was 1.96 foot pounds with this pellet.
Next, I tried RWS Hobbys, which are among the very lightest of pure lead pellets. They also averaged 334 f.p.s., but the range was much broader. It went from 316 to 344 f.p.s. I attribute that to the tight fit of the pellets. The gun was much harder to cock and shoot with Hobbys, as well, so they are not a good pellet for this pistol. At the average velocity, the muzzle energy was 1.73 foot-pounds.
Finally, I tried an H&N Finale Match Pistol pellet. They averaged 351 f.p.s. with a spread from 345 to 359 f.p.s. At the average velocity, they were producing 2.07 foot-pounds of energy, making them the clear leader for efficiency among the pellets tested. They also fit the chambers better, and I think that has a lot to do with how fast they went relative to the Hobbys.
How many shots per cartridge?
How many shots you get from a CO2 cartridge is always something buyers want to know. The M&P seems to be right in where all the other BB pistols are. I got 56 shots before the velocity dropped below 300 f.p.s. with Finale Match Pistol pellets. I shot a final clip of eight — making 64 shots in all. The lowest velocity I saw was 272 f.p.s. with Finale Match Pistol pellets. But you must remember that I was allowing the gun 10 seconds between shots to warm up. Shoot it fast, and you’ll drop below 300 f.p.s. sooner than I did.
Observations
So far, this pistol is doing well. But I’m still intrigued by that one owner who claims he can shoot one-inch groups at 23-24 yards. Part 3 should be very interesting!
Smith & Wesson M&P 45 air pistol: Part 1
by B.B. Pelletier
1
Smith & Wesson M&P air pistol is highly realistic. It shoots both pellets and BBs.
Today, I’ll start looking at the Smith & Wesson M&P 45 air pistol from Umarex. This is a CO2 pistol with a rifled barrel that shoots both BBs and pellets, so I know there will be a lot of readers who’ll like it. This type of air pistol is becoming more popular all the time, and nowadays a maker can use synthetics in their guns because the firearms they copy also have them.
The gun’s price is low; and according to the one review posted on the website, it’s also accurate. No, make that highly accurate, because the reviewer said he shot out a one-inch bullseye at a range of 22 to 24 yards. I find that difficult to imagine, because I would have a hard time shooting that well with a .22 target pistol, but you know I’m going to put this pistol through its paces. If it really is that accurate, this will be a best buy!
Secrets revealed!
The pistol is all synthetic on the outside. The slide is split in the middle and the front half goes forward to load the pellet or BB clip when the slide release located on the left side of the frame is activated. But a little secret that the owner’s manual doesn’t tell you about is that the rear half of the slide also moves. Pull is backward when you want to fire the gun single-action. The rest of the time, you can just pull the trigger and shoot double-action.
Read the manual
The two clips are not interchangable. The pellet clip is gray metal and the BB clip is black plastic. They are properly called clips and not magazines, because they simply hold the rounds and don’t have springs to move the ammunition in the gun.
Each clip is loaded differently; and even if you don’t read the rest of the owner’s manual, at least take the time to read how to properly load each clip. It’ll save you down time with the gun.
Each clip is for a different type of ammunition. Read the owner’s manual!
Sights are nice
The sights are tactical with three dots — one on the front post and two in the rear — one on either side of the rear notch. They’re bright yellow, and I find them quick to acquire.
The front post is also square in the rear notch, so it can be used with some precision if the lighting is right. That would be with the gun in the dark and the target brightly lit. There isn’t much room on either side of the front post, so you’ll have to work to keep a sliver of light on both sides.
The rear sight adjusts sideways for windage. A locking screw holds it in place.
The CO2 cartridge goes into the grip, of course, but the way it does is novel. You pull down on the front of what would be the magazine floorplate and the “plate” swings down, but the grip strap also swings up and away from the gun. The grip accepts the new CO2 cartridge, and the floorplate hides the CO2 tension screw.
The way the CO2 cartridge installs is a bit different!
The safety is a bar on the right side of the frame that gets pushed forward and up for fire and forward and down for safe. Pushing forward unlocks the bar so it’s free to move. On other pistols I’ve tested, this bar was hard to move; but on this one, it works as it should. On the firearm M&P, the safety is a thumb lever on both sides of the frame for ambidextrous operation.
This is a large pistol but not a heavy one. It weighs less than a pound and a half (24 ozs.), while the firearm it copies weighs almost six ounces more when empty.
A Picatinny rail is cast into the underside of the frame, so you can mount tactical flashlights and lasers. No doubt a great many owners will want to mount at least one of those on this pistol because of the tactical connection. Just make sure your holster can hold the accessorized pistol, as the extra light will add a lot of bulk in the front.
This looks like a good pistol. The trigger is light in the double-action mode and also in single-action. Of course, it’ll take an accuracy test to tell the whole tale. We’ll get to that after we look at velocity for both kinds of ammunition.
SIG Sauer P226 X5 BB pistol: Part 4
by B.B. Pelletier
The SIG Sauer P226 X-5 Open combo BB pistol comes as an adjustable-sight version for just a few dollars more than the same gun with fixed sights.
This is an extended report to cover the use of 4.4mm lead balls in the SIG Sauer P225 X5 Open combo pistol. I don’t know if you caught it, but while writing Part 3 we discovered that this pistol is also called the Open model here in the U.S., as it is elsewhere in the world. That has been corrected on the website and we will now refer to this model as the Open combo. It’s also called the X-FIVE and not X-5 or X5. However, that would involve correcting a whole bunch of links, and we’ve opted to not make those changes at this time.
I mentioned in the comments on Part 3 that I’d forgotten to test the pistol with 4.4mm lead balls, as I’d promised, so today’s report will cover that. However, while researching the material for today, I discovered some other related things that you may be interested in.
Why 4.4mm and why lead?
The reader who asked for this report shoots in his garage and wants to reduce the BB bounceback problem. Lead balls will certainly do that, but not all BB pistols are able to shoot lead. Some guns rely on the magnetic properties of the steel BB to hold it in place during the firing sequence, but this pistol isn’t one of them. It looked like it would handle lead shot just fine.
Another time we use a lead ball instead of a steel BB is when the barrel is rifled. The Russians did that with their Makarov BB pistol; and after I saw the rifling, I tested it with lead. EAA, the importer of the gun at the time (Pyramyd Air now imports all IZH-Baikal airguns directly from the manufacturer), was very adamant about not using lead balls when I reported it back in the late ’90s. They went to great lengths to disparage what I said about using lead balls in IZH BB guns with rifled barrels, claiming that the manufacturer expressly instructed them to advise using steel BBs exclusively. When I went to IWA (the European SHOT Show) in 2006 and spoke directly to the IZH engineers, they acknowledged that their rifled bores did work best with lead, even though they also worked well with steel.
Size matters, too
Another thing that enters into this discussion is the diameter of the ball. A steel BB these days measures around 0.171″ to 0.173″ in diameter. The Daisy zinc-plated BBs I used to test this pistol for accuracy in Part 3 measure 0.172″. They’re very uniform, which contrasts sharply with BBs of the past.
Lead balls that are 4.4mm should measure 0.173″ in diameter, so they would be one-thousandth larger than the Daisy BBs I just mentioned. And this, my friends, is why it helps to understand a little of the firearms world; because in a firearm that uses lead bullets, you usually want the ball or bullet to be at least the diameter of the grooves or one-thousandth of an inch larger. There are exceptions to that rule, of course, but I’m not going there today.
Putting it simply, a 4.4mm (0.173″) lead ball should fit the bore of a given gun better than a BB that measures 0.172 inches. If the bore of the gun is very tight, the larger ball can cause problems since CO2 guns do not have the same level of propulsive force as firearms. There are limits to what they’ll shoot.
I know that most BB guns are smoothbores. This one certainly is. And I also know that the bores of these guns are slightly oversized to cut down on jams. You could live a lifetime and never see a BB get stuck in the bore of a BB gun if you live in the U.S. and use Daisy, RWS or Crosman BBs; but there are other places in the world where the tolerances of BBs are not held as tight, and you get them both oversized and undersized. Manufacturers allow for this by making their smoothbore barrels just a trifle larger on the inside.
In a nutshell, those are the considerations I took into account when deciding to test this pistol with 4.4mm lead balls.
Not all balls are the same
Sometimes I get surprised in the strangest ways. I already had a lifetime supply of 4.4mm lead balls that I purchased back when the Haenel 310 trainers were coming into this country in the mid-1990s. I wanted to make sure at that time that I wouldn’t be cut off, so I went a little overboard and bought a case of ammunition. Let’s call that 50,000 balls.
A few years ago, while walking the aisles of an airgun show, I saw some tubes of generic 4.4mm lead balls for sale. I picked up a couple tubes for various reasons, including today’s test. Little did I know until this very day, though, that those balls are not 4.4mm, but rather 4.25mm and rather slipshod at that!
Who cares? Well, 4.25mm to 4.3mm (if that is what they really are) measures 0.167″-0.169″ in diameter. Not only are these lead balls undersized, based on what I was told when I bought them, they’re also quite variable, which is the kiss of death if you want to hit anything.
The 4.4mm lead balls I bought at an airgun show (top) are actually a lot smaller than advertised. They’re really 4.25-4.3mm. Bottom picture is a copper-plated 4.4mm ball from the Czech Republic — and it’s right on the money.
The test
The test was 10 shots from 25 feet with a strong-side barricade hold. I’m grabbing the door jamb and using my left arm to support and steady my shooting hand. It’s the most accurate hold I can use for this test.
The eyes have it
One more variable was my eyes. Just the day before I tested this pistol I was at the rifle range with Mac and another friend trying out some different guns. Mac had just cleaned my clock by shooting a half-inch five-shot group of .17 HM2 from a single shot target rifle at 50 yards. I shot the same rounds from the same rifle into just over an inch.
My other friend suggested I put on my bifocals so I could see the front sight of the O3-A3 Springfield battle rifle I was about to shoot. I did and proceeded to shoot five .30-06 rounds into a group measuring 0.49 inches. I used the regular combat sights that came with the rifle and shot factory 150-grain Federal ammunition. This is the best open-sight group I have shot at 50 yards in many years, and it cemented in my mind the need to wear my glasses whenever I shoot with open sights.
The smaller group of five rounds (excluding the separate shot above the group) was fired from an 03A3 Springfield rifle at 50 yards with issue sights while wearing my glasses. The lone hole was the first shot, taken with the rifle’s front sight protector still on the sight. It hid the target so I had to guess where it was. The six holes in the bull were shot with peep sights on a .17 HM2, but I wasn’t wearing glasses.
For today’s pistol test, I shot the first 10 shots wearing my glasses. The results were not any better than what you saw in Part 3 with steel BBs.
Shooting the P226 X5 with glasses made the front sight fuzzy. The 25-foot group wasn’t a good one.
After seeing the group shot with glasses, I knew something was wrong. The front sight simply was not clear at arm’s length. I took off the specs and just used plain safety glasses for the next group. The results speak for themselves.
Without glasses, the front sight sharpened considerably, tightening the group. However, regular steel BBs made even better groups in this pistol.
Summation
This SIG Sauer BB pistol continues to delight me. This time, I learned a very important thing — don’t trust that something is what it is represented to be. If it’s ammunition, measure it.
This pistol offers the most realistic training of any air or BB pistol I’ve tested. While there’s always some training value for firearms with any airgun, with this one there’s quite a lot. This is an airgun I would recommend to my friends.
SIG Sauer P226 X5 BB pistol: Part 3
by B.B. Pelletier
Announcement: If you’ve been waiting for the Mendoza diopter sight to come back in stock, your wait is over!
The SIG Sauer P226 X-5 combo BB pistol comes as an adjustable-sight version for just a few dollars more than the same gun with fixed sights.
Today is accuracy day for the SIG Sauer P225 X5 combo BB pistol, and it’s a big day, indeed, for this is a gun that was recommended by several readers — starting with Rob from Canada.
I was told three things about this air pistol. First, that it’s extremely accurate. Second, that it’s very loud; and third, that it has the greatest amount of blowback-simulated recoil of any BB pistol around.
I was further directed to specifically test the pistol that Pyramyd Air refers to as the P226 X5 combo, but which we know in Canada is called the Open pistol. That differentiates it from the standard version of the P225 X5 pistol, because that one lacks the compensator, the optical sight base and, most importantly, the adjustable sights.
Noise is about average
On the discharge sound question, my judgement is that this pistol sounds about the same as every other CO2 pistol in its power class. It might sound loud to someone who has nothing to compare it to, but I actually found it to be a reasonably quiet air pistol for a gas-powered gun.
Recoil is not the hardest
In the recoil test, the SIG Sauer P226 X5 doesn’t blow back as hard as the GSG 92 BB pistol. It does recoil, and the effect is realistic, but it does not have the most blowback I’ve seen in a gun of this class.
Accuracy is great
However, in a wonderful twist from the norm, the test pistol turned out to, indeed, be an extremely accurate BB pistol. It’s well ahead of the GSG 92, the Tanfoglio Witness 1911 pistol and the SIG Sauer SP 2022, which were all fine handguns.
It does not shoot better than the Umarex Makarov, however. I had to test that after seeing how well this pistol shot, and it did about as well. I’m getting ahead of myself. Here are the results.
First at 15 feet
The first test was offhand at 15 feet, just to see where the gun was shooting. I only shot five and then checked the target to see what kind of sight adjustments were needed. The first group was relatively in line with the center of the bull and hitting just below the point of aim. I used a 6 o’clock hold, so that put the shots below the bull. Nine clicks of elevation raised the point of impact about a half-inch.
The first five shots went low, then nine clicks up on the rear sight produced the second group of five. All shots offhand at 15 feet.
After the first two groups of five, I shot 10 offhand at 15 feet. The sights were raised another 6-7 clicks, or so. This group was also impressive and centered up a little higher on the target.
Ten shots at 15 feet were impressive. The rear sight was adjusted up for this target, as well.
This was impressive, because I was shooting offhand with a pistol for the first time in 18 months. The trigger is as nice on this BB pistol as the one on my Taurus PT1911 .45. Now, I was reasonably certain that Rob was right about the accuracy. I backed up to 25 feet and shot some more.
At 25 feet
Twenty-five feet was where Rob said he shot his pistol, and I was curious if it could shoot that far with reasonable accuracy. The first two 10-shot groups were pretty bad, and I was about to give up on the gun, but then I got out the Umarex Makarov to check myself.
At 25 feet I shot from a strong-side barricade position, and the Makarov front sight is so thin that I was seeing it as multiple images in my glasses. When I took them off, the image sharpened and the group tightened, so I went back and tried the SIG again without the glasses. This time it shot about as well as the Makarov, which is pretty good for a BB pistol.
Back at 25 feet, ten shots from a strong-side barricade position with the P226 went into a decent group.
The two shots low and to the right were made while wearing glasses. The rest were with the glasses off. Ten shots at 25 feet from an Umarex Makarov, also shot from a strong-side barricade.
But the SIG has a couple things going for it that the Mak doesn’t. First, because it has blowback, you always shoot single-action, and the trigger pull is far better. Of course, you can shoot the SIG double-action on the first shot, but why would you want to? The single-action trigger is so much nicer. You can manually cock the Mak hammer, which I did, but the SIG in single0-action still has the better trigger. Second, the SIG has adjustable sights. You can move the shot group anywhere you want within reason.
The bottom line
I’m going out on a limb and saying that this SIG Sauer P226 X5 combo pistol is such a fine shooter that you can even get maximum training effect for firearms from it. Of all the handguns I own, only a couple have better triggers than this one. Everything you need to do to shoot well, you can practice with this BB pistol. I’m going to add it to my Tom’s Picks page, because I think it’s a world-beater.
I got about 30 reliable shots per CO2 cartridge during this test. You would get a few more if you were just plinking, but there aren’t 40 shots available when the target is important.
Edith noticed how enthusiastic I seemed to be when testing this air pistol. It’s always a pleasure to test something that works as advertised and maybe even better than you thought it would. My thanks to Rob and others who asked for this test.
