Posts Tagged ‘M1911’
Colt 1911 Special Combat CO2 BB pistol: Part 3
by B.B. Pelletier
Colt’s 1911 Special Combat BB pistol is a knockout for looks!
Happy Independence Day!
Happy Fourth of July to my U.S. readers! And to everyone else, happy Wednesday!
Today, I’ll look at the accuracy of the Colt 1911 Special Combat BB pistol. We discovered in the velocity test that the pistol doesn’t quite reach the velocity advertised. That made it possible for me to start using and testing the new Winchester Airgun Target Cube that serves as a BB/pellet trap. We also learned that the pistol shoots at dramatically different velocities in single- and double-action. Naturally, I looked at both modes in this test.
The test
I shot the pistol at 16 feet (as close as possible to 5 meters — the international BB-gun distance) from a rest. A fresh CO2 cartridge was installed at the start of the test and was used for the entire test.
The first 10 shots were to ascertain how the sights were set. Also, I knew from the velocity test that this pistol needs a couple shots to “wake up” the valve and get up to its top velocity. So, the first 10 shots were just sighters.
I discovered the rear sight needed some elevation. Happily, the sight is completely adjustable, but the direction for a vertical increase isn’t clear. The straight arrow doesn’t tell you which way to turn the screw. Fortunately, the sight works like most other rear sights, and a counterclockwise turn provides elevation. There seemed to be no click detents in the adjustment, so I watched the orientation of the screw slot.
First up were Daisy zinc-plated BBs, and 10 were loaded into the stick magazine. Then, I fired the pistol single-action, using a 6 o’clock hold with the sights. Yes, at just 16 feet from the target, I could hardly miss, but this was a test of the pistol — not of my shooting ability.
Ten Daisy BBs went into a group that measures 1.58 inches between centers. It proved to be the best group of the entire test.
Ten Daisy BBs made this 1.58-inch group at 16 feet.
Next, I loaded 10 more Daisy BBs and shot them double-action at a fresh target. As expected the group opened up. This time ten went into a group measuring 2.606-inches between centers. Although, the double-action trigger-pull is relatively light, it stacks at the end and is difficult to control. Nevertheless, this accuracy is minute-of-pop-can at the same 16 feet.
Ten Daisy BBs fired double-action made this 2.606-inch group. A stacking trigger-pull was the culprit.
RWS BBs
Next, it was time to try the RWS BBs. Though they appear to be even smoother than Daisy BBs, I find the two brands about equal in most guns I have tested. The first ten were fired single action, making a group that measures 2.369-inches between centers. That is nearly as large as the Daisy BBs fired double-action!
Once during the 10 shots, there was a double-feed, and two BBs went down range together. This never happened again, so I don’t think it’s a problem. And, if the wide shot from that double-feed was eliminated, the remaining 9 BBs made a group measuring 1.668 inches between centers — much more in line with what the Daisy BBs did.
The RWS BB single-action group looks large because the hole at the upper right is one of two that went down range together. Take it out, and the group is much closer to the single-action Daisy BB group. Overall group measures 2.369 inches, but 9 shots went into 1.668 inches.
On double-action, I was able to see several of the BBs as they went downrange. They seemed to all be curving to the left — almost as though the gun had a Hop-Up that wasn’t quite adjusted. This reminded me of the gun’s airsoft heritage. Ten shots landed in a 2.128-inch group, besting the single-action group, but only because of the double-feed while shooting single-action. This group also bested the Daisy double-action group
Ten RWS BBs went into 2.128 inches shooting double-action.
Winchester Airgun Target Cube
I used the Winchester Airgun Target Cube for this accuracy test. It’s a new combination BB/pellet trap that I’ve been eager to include in my testing. The trap is a cube of dense foam that has a metal plate inside. Shoot at it on one side, and you’re just shooting at foam, unless you chance to hit the edge of the metal plate. That’s the side for velocities below 350 f.p.s. Orient the cube the other way and the plate’s in the middle. That’s the side for velocities above 350 f.p.s.
The paper targets were all taped to the front surface of the cube. The solid backing of the cube helped define the BB holes a little. And as light as the cube is, it never moved when hit. The sound when hit is quiet, but it’s noisier than a Quiet Pellet Trap.
Daisy markets this cube and says the side of the cube that’s rated above 350 f.p.s. is good up to 1,200 f.p.s. for .177-caliber pellets. I won’t be testing it at that speed. Several shots in the same place might blow through the metal plate inside the cube, and I’m not a testing laboratory for Daisy or anyone else. I’m interested in how many practical shots we can expect from this trap, so I plan to keep a record. Hopefully the number will be in the thousands, like other commercial BB traps.
The Winchester Airgun Target Cube has its first 50 shots. Ten were from the sight-in.
The BBs all stayed inside the cube, but it’s too early to say how long this trap will last. As I use it, the tendancy will be to strike near the center of the cube, so in time we will see what effect that has.
What I like about this pistol
I like the trigger in both the single- and double-action modes. I like the adjustable sights, and I like the way the sights look when shooting the gun. I like the snazzy appearance of the gun and the way it is exactly the same size as a 1911 firearm. I like the drop-free magazine/CO2 holder. And I like the velocity that gives a lot of shots per CO2 cartridge. This gun is very quiet and only rates a two on the sound scale!
What I don’t like about this pistol
The accuracy could be better.
The bottom line
This BB pistol has to compete with many other 1911-style BB pistols that all offer a lot for the money. This one probably leads them all in looks, but it trails the field in accuracy. In the end, though, it’s more than accurate enough for a BB pistol.
Colt 1911 Special Combat CO2 BB pistol: Part 2
by B.B. Pelletier
Colt’s 1911 Special Combat BB pistol is a knockout for looks!
Wow! Today’s test is as different as any I’ve done! This air pistol surprised me completely, with results I’ve never before seen from any airgun.
The Colt 1911 Special Combat pistol shoots BBs, so a velocity test is going to be pretty humdrum. There are a limited number of different BBs to try, and they aren’t going to give fantastically different results like lead pellets do. So, usually a velocity test with a BB gun is a no-brainer for me. Shoot and record the numbers — plain and simple. But not today.
Both single-action and double-action
This pistol fires in both the single-action and double-action modes. For you newcomers, single-action is where the trigger performs the single functon of releasing the hammer to fire the gun. You have to manually cock the hammer before each shot — the trigger doesn’t do it.
Double-action, in contrast, is where the trigger both cocks the hammer and releases it, all in one smooth pull. So you just keep on pulling the trigger. As long as there’s ammunition, the gun keeps on firing.
Because the trigger is doing more for double-action, it’s always harder to pull in that mode than it is for single-action. So a semiautomatic pistol that has single-action operation will normally have the very best trigger possible. If a gun functions in either single- or double-action like most revolvers, the single-action mode will give the best trigger-pull. The double-action mode is reserved for when you want to fire a lot of rounds very fast.
There’s more to it than that, of course. Some semiautomatic pistols such as the Beretta M92/M9 fire either single- or double-action; but when they fire, the slide comes back and cocks the gun for the next shot. These guns are quick to fire the first shot, since you can carry them with a round chambered and just pull the trigger to get them started. They also have the advantage of switching over to single-action once they begin firing.
At any rate, when I have a CO2 pistol that’s both single- and double-action, I test it for velocity both ways. That often gives results that favor the velocity on one or the other of the two modes. But this gun was vastly different. It varies by about 100 feet per second greater velocity in the single-action mode. And there’s even more to report, so read my results carefully.
Single-action
I started out shooting the pistol with Daisy zinc-plated BBs in the single-action mode. The gun is rated to shoot at 400 f.p.s., so I expected something in that neighborhood; with BBs, there isn’t much variation between brands. So, I was surprised to see the first shot on a fresh CO2 cartridge register only 205 f.p.s. But sometimes pneumatics and CO2 guns need to “wake up” when they first start shooting after a rest, so I kept on shooting and watching the chronograph. The next shot went 203 f.p.s., but the one after that went 334, then 345, then 366 f.p.s. That last shot was as high as the pistol wanted to go.
My first good string of shots on single-action averaged 363 f.p.s., with a low of 360 and a high of 375 f.p.s. That’s good consistency, after the valve had woken up. I figured shooting the gun on double-action would give similar numbers. Guess again!
On double-action with the same Daisy zinc-plated BBs, the velocity averaged 252 f.p.s. The low was 224 and the high was 280 f.p.s. What a spread, and what a difference from single-action. Next, I shot two more shots single-action to see what had happened, if anything. They went 337 and 321 f.p.s., respectively. The gun was shooting slower, but it was still much faster in the single-action mode.
I then tried the RWS Match BBs that Pyramyd Air doesn’t carry. I’ve found them as accurate and precise as Daisy BBs, and sometimes they give slightly different results. This time in single-action, they averaged 319 f.p.s. with a spread from 280 to 344 f.p.s. In double-action, they averaged 240 f.p.s. with a spread from 227 to 250 f.p.s. And shooting single-action immediately following the double-action string gave me two shots at 324 and 302 f.p.s., respectively.
I was concerned that the pistol seemed to be running out of CO2, so I fired it 20 more shots double-action with no BBs in the magazine, then I fired another shot single-action (with the RWS BBs) that went 321 f.p.s. So, it wasn’t out of gas just yet!
How many shots per cartridge?
At this point in the test there were 63 shots on the cartridge. I fired another 10 blank (no BB) shots double-action and then fired an RWS BB single-action that registered 335 f.p.s. At 84 shots, the gun is still going strong.
I next shot a single Daisy BB on single-action to see if there was still such a difference between the two brands. This one went 327 f.p.s., so both BBs are going about the same speed. The initial string of Daisys was just a little faster for some reason.
I shot another 10 blank shots double-action and then an RWS BB at 327 f.p.s. So, at 96 shots, the CO2 cartridge is still going strong. Then another 10 blank shots, followed by a Daisy BB at 323 f.p.s. That was shot number 107 on the cartridge.
Another 10 blanks shots were fired double-action and then an RWS BB went 331 f.p.s. That was shot 118. Then another 10 blanks, followed by a Daisy BB that failed to register. Then a second Daisy BB went 325 f.p.s. for shot 130. Then another 10 blank shots were followed by shot 141 — an RWS BB at 321 f.p.s.
My gosh — this pistol is starting to remind me of the AirForce Talon SS using the Micro-Meter tank! Another 6 blanks were fired and then the remaining gas spontaneously released from the cartridge. All gas was exhausted, and it was all over. This cartridge had maintained its velocity down to almost the end of the CO2 charge — something I’ve not seen in a long time. For the record, I got a good 140 shots from a single cartridge.
What about the large velocity variation at the beginning of the test? I think we can chalk that up to the gun breaking in. After several hundred shots have been fired, I think the gun will perform more consistently; but I’ll come back in a special test, after we look at accuracy, and rerun the velocity test again.
Trigger-pull
The double-action trigger-pull broke at an average 10 lbs., 6 oz. of effort. The range went from 9 lbs., 6 oz. to 11 lbs., 5 oz. The faster the trigger was pulled, the lighter it became. The pull effort increases rapidly (stacks) the further back the trigger is pulled.
The single-action pull was a very consistent 3 lbs., 7 oz. The second stage is very apparent (I mean there’s a definite hesitation of the trigger blade at the start of stage two), and there’s just a hint of creep in the second stage.
So far, this ranks as a very interesting BB pistol. The test pistol fell short of the advertised velocity, but delivered a huge number of good shots from a cartridge. I think the way it turned out was better than if the velocity had been higher and the shot count less, because high-velocity in a BB gun is about the worst thing you can have. Given the tendency for BBs to rebound with great speed, you really don’t want them going too fast.
Accuracy testing is next.
Colt 1911 Special Combat CO2 BB pistol: Part 1
by B.B. Pelletier
New Colt 1911 Special Combat BB pistol is an attractive CO2 gun.
I love my job! I love my job because I get to see, handle and test the latest airguns. Today, I’m starting to look at the Colt 1911 Special Combat BB pistol by Colt. Okay, we all know that Colt doesn’t really make this airgun, any more than Ruger, Remington and Winchester make the airguns with their names on them. But unlike most of the guns that carry those other manufacturers’ names, this 1911 was originally a Colt design. Designed by John Moses Browning, the M1911 pistol is one of the world’s most iconic handguns. It’s more than a full century old, yet more alive and vibrant today than ever.
This is one beautiful airgun! If it was a firearm, you would have to pay over a thousand dollars to get all the features this one has. Luckily, you’re an airgunner and can enjoy owning a BB pistol like this for one-tenth the price.
Let me start by covering all you get with this airgun. First of all, it’s double-action, so the gun fires with each pull of the trigger. That is important because, although the slide moves, the gun does not have blowback. So, the double-action trigger keeps you shooting as fast as you want. I’ll cover the trigger in a later report; but in both single- and double-action, it’s light and easy to pull.
The gun is all metal, so the weight feels about right. As far as I can tell, it feels just like a 1911 firearm when I hold it.
The sights are fully adjustable. The front post has a white dot and the rear notch is plain and square.
The backstrap ends in a wide beavertail extension that keeps the web of your firing hand safe from the slide of a firearm 1911. There is no grip safety (hurray!) but there is what is called a speed bump in the right place, so it looks like there’s a grip safety. No more worrying about how you grip the pistol — it’ll always work.
The safety, slide latch and magazine release button all function. The magazine is a drop-free design that holds both the CO2 cartridge and a stick BB magazine. The safety is for right-handed shooters, only, and the lever is of the flat wide design that’s currently so popular among those who carry the 1911. You can hook your thumb over the safety on the firearm, and the pistol will not flip up nearly as high in recoil.
The backstrap, or what would be the mainspring housing on the firearm, is of the flat 1911 design instead of the arched 1911A1 style. It’s crosshatched for additional purchase, though the metal surface on this air pistol is much smoother than it would be on a firearm. The front part of the grip frame is covered with square diamonds that run about 20 to the inch to give more grip there.
The grip panels carry the Colt logo in a plastic button, and they’re fully removable by the same two screws that all 1911 guns use. You would think the designers of this pistol did that so all Colt 1911 grips will fit, but alas, the screw bosses are set about one-eighth of an inch too far apart and firearm grips don’t fit! That’s like making an AR upper on proprietary pin centers so it will only fit your lower! The entire market for a 1911 is driven by aftermarket sources, ever since Colt lost their vision in the late 1970s and gave up the 1911 business they once dominated. Having a 1911 that doesn’t fit aftermarket grips makes no sense at all!
The slide has slanted grooves front and rear to facilitate gripping while racking the slide back. They aren’t needed on this gun, but they do give it a very tactical appearance.
There is a light rail/Picatinny rail under the slide and in front of the triggerguard for mounting a laser or tactical light. I’m guessing a lot of BB gun shooters are going to mount a laser.
The gun appears to be finished in stainless steel with black oxide sections, in a nice tuxedo pattern. And the backstrap, muzzle plug, barrel, trigger, slide release, magazine release button, safety and hammer are all chrome plated. That’s right, I said chrome — not nickel. It sounds horrible, but actually looks rather nice. It blends well with the faux stainless finish on the slide.
One criticism
The only thing Colt will take heat for is the presence of the CO2 screw head sticking out from the bottom of the magazine well. Why they couldn’t have just surrounded it with a brushed stainless magazine funnel is beyond me, because I know the air pistol fans are going to key on this one oversight.
This pistol is rated to shoot at 400 f.p.s., which makes it ideal for testing a Winchester Airgun Target Cube I just received. If there is one thing we need more of it is BB gun traps, so I look forward to the forthcoming test.
Such a striking BB pistol from Colt! This will be a pleasure to test.
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.
SIG Sauer P226 X5 BB pistol: Part 2
by B.B. Pelletier
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, I’m testing the velocity of this SIG Sauer P226 X5 combo BB pistol. There are several claims about this pistol that I was encouraged to check in my testing. I’ll hit all of them as I go through the gun for you, and perhaps I’ll bring in a few questions of my own.
Discharge noise
The first claim that some owners of the pistol had was it is very loud. I read that from a lot of test reports and owner reviews, so I was curious to see for myself.
In my opinion, this CO2 pistol is no louder than any other CO2 BB pistol of similar power. I just finished testing the GSG 92 a couple weeks ago, and it’s certainly every bit as loud as this one. That left me puzzled as to why so many reports of the gun’s loudness appear on the internet. It’s true that I’m older and have lost some of my hearing sensitivity, so perhaps there’s something in that. I remember many years ago when Jim Maccari said that gas spring guns all had a crack to their report that I was absolutely unable to hear. So, I conducted a small comparison test between the SIG Sauer P226 X5 and an Umarex Makarov.
To my ears, the guns were equally loud. The Makarov has a deeper report, probably because it lacks the blowback feature, so I can hear a difference in the reports, but one gun seems just as loud as the other.
At any rate, the SIG P226 X5 is not a loud air pistol, in my opinion, and I’m going to advise Pyramyd Air to change the noise rating from four down to three. Now, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. This pistol does make noise when it shoots. I’m just saying that it is no louder than any other CO2 pistol of similar power.
Lead balls?
Blog reader Jim asked if the pistol could use lead balls and how they might affect the performance. I normally don’t shoot lead in BB guns unless there’s a compelling reason to do so, such as the gun has a rifled barrel or, in the case of antique guns, a larger bore. Then, I’ll try lead balls instead of steel BBs. Fortunately, I’ve also collected and shot zimmerstutzens over the years, and I have a small stash of lead balls in some of the 30 different sizes they once came in. So, I can pick and choose my sizes to a certain extent.
The smallest balls I have available are 4.3mm in size, which is the No. 7 on the new ball size chart for zimmerstutzens. If you’re interested in learning more about zimmerstutzen rifles, I wrote a large article about them for the 1998 edition of Airgun Revue. You can read that article here. This ball converts to 0.1693 inches in diameter, and it weighs 7.2 grains.
Here are two sizes of lead balls I tried in the SIG Sauer P226 X5 pistol. The 4.3mm balls (left) are for zimmerstutzen rifles. The 4.4mm copper-plated balls are for various vintage BB guns that use lead balls…like the Haenel 310 and others.
The next convenient ball size I have are 4.4mm copper-plated lead balls that I bought in bulk many years ago so I’d have a lifetime supply for my Haenel 310 rifle. They also work well in the Mars-series of smoothbore BB guns, as well as the very fine Czech VZ 35 and VZ 49 bolt-action BB rifles. These are 0.1732 inches in diameter and weigh an average of 7.70 grains. They’re the balls I often use in older (1910-1925) Daisy BB guns that were made to shoot air rifle shot of 0.175 inches.
But this pistol doesn’t have a rifled barrel or an odd-sized bore, so why is Jim interested in shooting lead balls in it? Well, he shoots in his garage and he wants to avoid bounceback, which steel BBs are noted for. After examining the magazine and determining that it will feed the lead balls properly, I conducted a small test to see if they would work. Both sizes worked fine and I will report the results after the steel BB velocities.
Velocity test
I tested the gun with Daisy zinc-plated BBs only because extensive testing has proven them to be the most uniform and the largest BBs on the market today. Both uniformity and diameter are important to accuracy and velocity in smoothbore guns.
Thirteen BBs averaged 345 f.p.s. on a fresh CO2 cartridge. The range of velocity was larger — from a high (first shot) of 376 to a low (10th shot) of 321 f.p.s. This is way above the advertised velocity of just 300 f.p.s., which is something I also experienced with the GSG 92 pistol a couple weeks ago. These pistols are being reported by their manufacturers at lower power than they really have, for some reason. The muzzle energy of the average velocity is 1.35 foot-pounds. [Edith changed the Pyramyd Air page so it now shows 376 f.p.s.]
The 4.3mm lead balls I only shot three times, just to test the feeding. They went 324 f.p.s., 294 and 303 f.p.s. Let’s say they average 308 f.p.s. That gives us an average muzzle energy of 1.52 foot-pounds.
The 4.4mm balls I also shot just three times and they functioned perfectly. They went 295, 288 and 303 f.p.s. The average is 295 f.p.s. and the muzzle energy works out to 1.49 foot-pounds.
Blowback
This pistol has blowback and the slide is metal, so the impulse ought to be substantial. I can’t say that it is, however. You do feel it, but not as readily as the GSG 92, which seems to jump a lot more. Maybe that impression will change once I shoot the gun for accuracy because that’s when I really noticed the GSG 92’s recoil for the first time.
Compensator
As far as I am able to determine, the compensator does nothing. It’s just there for looks. That could be misleading, though. If the compensator works as it should, it could explain why I think the recoil is lower than it should be. The comp may be holding the gun’s muzzle down when it fires.
Trigger
The trigger continues to be delightful. It’s a two-stage unit with a definite stop at stage two. Then the stage-two pull-through is long, and you can feel the blade move, but it’s free from creep. Creep is the sticky start-stop movement some triggers have. It’s not a target trigger, but rather a good fast-action trigger that seems in keeping with the rest of the gun.
Performance to this point
Thus far I would say I’m still impressed by this pistol. While it isn’t as loud as some folks said, I don’t see that as a bad thing. And although the blowback recoil isn’t as prevalent as that of the GSG 92, it does recoil some and does represent the realistic feel of a small-caliber firearm. And that’s all I think blowback has to do, besides cocking the hammer.
It’s accuracy that I am most interested in, after hearing all the reports. That test will be next, and I’m eagerly awaiting it.
SIG Sauer P226 X5 BB pistol: Part 1
by B.B. Pelletier
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.
Blog reader Rob was the instigator of this test of the SIG Sauer P226 X5 BB pistol. He commented in the second report on the GSG 92 that this pistol was superior in all ways and asked me to test it. He elaborated to say that he shot his pistol at 25 feet instead of the recommended (for BB pistols) 15 feet.
Rob is from Canada, where this pistol is also called the Open. That name does not carry over to the guns being sold in the U.S., but Rob assured me that the gun under test today is the one he is talking about.
Well, I’m a sucker for an accurate gun of almost any kind, so I took him at his word and today I’ll begin the test. I’m skeptical about the claimed accuracy but will be delighted to be proved wrong, as the world always has room for more accurate guns.
I read the owner reports on the gun, and one of them said he had heard that the compensator was supposed to be removable (the Pyramyd Air website makes no mention of that, so I suppose he read it elsewhere), but he could not figure out how to remove it. Well, I had it off within one minute of opening the box. It’s held in place by a simple Allen screw in the bottom. Once off, though, it reveals an ugly threaded adapter that I don’t want to show, so I installed the comp again.
The compensator does come off easily, though I don’t know why you would want to take it off. The sight rail comes in the package with two Allen wrenches to install it.
No Hop-Up
Pyramyd Air warns that the owner’s manual says the gun has a BAX Hop-Up adjustment and it doesn’t. This is one more case of an airsoft maker building a real BB gun that shoots steel BBs and not editing their airsoft manual. Hop-Up applies only to airsoft guns that shoot balls the Asians call BBs, but which are really 6mm plastic balls. Real BB guns that shoot real steel BBs (sized 0.171-0.173 inches) do not have Hop-Up. This is confusing to buyers and new shooters who are not aware of the discrepancy, and I wish the Asian manufacturers would get it right, but I suppose that’s never going to happen.
Lots of value
The best thing Rob did for me was to stress that this version of the pistol comes with a rail for optical sights, which I don’t use on handguns, but he also mentioned that only this version also has the adjustable open sights. When I checked both this and what I will refer to as the standard version of the P226 X5 on the Pyramyd Air website, I was surprised to find that he’s right. For just ten dollars more, you get an adjustable rear sight! The rail can be removed easily enough and, in fact, doesn’t even come installed on the gun when you get it, so there are no worries about taking off parts. Just take the gun from the box and shoot it. The rear sight adjusts in both directions, and the adjustments are fine, precise little clicks. A thin-bladed screwdriver is needed for both adjustments, as the screws have very fine and shallow slots.
The trigger is something I simply cannot overlook on a gun that is supposed to be accurate. It is two-stage, with stage one being very light and ending at an almost imperceptible stage two. Stage two is also light, and you can see the trigger moving, though I can just barely feel it move with my trigger finger — and I’m used to the fine triggers on 10-meter target pistols! What I’m saying is that this is one of the finest air-pistol triggers I’ve ever seen — especially on a gun costing under $500.
The gun is mostly metal on the outside, with the result that the weight is quite heavy. Pyramyd Air lists it as 2.66 pounds (2 lbs., 10.56 ozs.), but I weighed mine without the sight rail and found it weighed 2 lbs. 15 ozs. That’s 47 ounces, or eight ounces more than an M1911 firearm weighs! This is a heavy handgun!
The SIG dwarfs the M1911 pistol and weighs half a pound more.
All the controls work as they should, and the pistol can easily be disassembled by flipping up the disassembly latch. The safety is ambidextrous, with levers on both sides of the frame conveniently located for your thumb to operate.
The pistol disassembles like this in a few seconds.
There’s blowback, which means the slide comes back to cock the hammer for the next shot and also to impart a feeling of recoil to the pistol. I’ll have more to say about that in later reports.
Both the BB magazine and the CO2 cartridge that powers the gun reside in the drop-free magazine of this pistol, making it a heavy component. The mag holds 18 BBs plus the CO2 cartridge that one reviewer said gives three complete magazines of shots. That would be 54 shots (3 x 18), which is very good, considering the gas also has to operate the slide in blowback. Rob mentioned that his gun shot considerably faster than the rated velocity of 300 f.p.s., so I’ll be testing for that, as well.
Everything considered, I have to say that I’m impressed with what came out of the package. But that was not the question, was it? The question was: Is this pistol really that much more accurate than the other similar BB pistols on today’s market? I’ve provided test targets with every BB pistol I’ve tested to-date; and when I get a claim like Rob is making for this one, I go back and look at all the evidence. When I tested the GSG 92, I did that and found that the Umarex Makarov has been the most accurate BB pistol that I’ve tested to this date. Not the most realistic, perhaps, though it’s pretty good there, as well, but without question the most accurate. That’s the standard this BB pistol will have to better if I’m to declare it to be the most accurate BB pistol I’ve ever tested.
It should be an interesting test!
