Posts Tagged ‘overlever’
Cometa Indian spring-piston air pistol: Part 3
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Cometa Indian spring-powered air pistol is a powerful, big airgun.
Today, I’m testing the accuracy of the Cometa Indian air pistol. There’s been a lot of interest in this pistol, partly because it isn’t familiar to many of you — but mostly because of the power, the easy cocking and the value it represents.
I tested the pistol at 10 meters, using 10-meter pistol targets and a rested hold. For most of the shooting, my hands were forward of the bag, but I did do one experiment where I rested the pistol directly on the bag — and that I’ll address later.
This is a different air pistol
Before I start telling you about the results, I’d like to describe some things about this pistol that are different. For starters, the loading process is a bit fiddly, and I never quite got used to it. You have to put a pellet in the trough behind the breech, and I dropped more than a few of them during the 90-shot session. The rest of the cocking and loading process is learned very quickly.
The sights are different. The front sight is too tall for a 10-meter zero on a bullseye target — assuming a 6 o’clock hold that’s pretty standard. You’ll notice that all my shots are below the bull and there’s no elevation adjustment. I do like the image of the sharp front post against the rear notch, except for the top of the rear sight, which is angled up toward the center of the notch. That shape made it difficult to estimate where the top of the rear sight was when I shot, and I’m sure some of the openness of the groups was due to that. You’ll notice that they tend to be taller than they’re wide. If I owned this pistol, I would file the rear sight flat across the top and take the front post down a bit to bring the groups up.
The tapered shape of the rear sight makes it very difficult to determine where the top is located when sighting. If this were my gun, I’d file it flat.
The trigger-pull does you no favors when shooting targets. The single-stage pull is too long and hard for the best results. I would so much prefer a crisp two-stage pull with a glass-rod release. That means the sear releases suddenly, like the breaking of a glass rod under pressure.
The pistol twists to the right when it fires. At first I thought it was just me, but then I watched it and the pistol is torquing at the moment of firing. I chalk that up to the centerline of the piston being so far above the web of your hand holding the grip. The Mars pistol (a semiautomatic firearm from the early 20th century) had the same problem, as did the broomhandle Mauser pistol.
I’m not saying that any of these aspects of the gun’s performance is a deal-breaker, but a buyer should know they are there. All air pistols have their little quirks. This was just the first time I’d noticed these.
Accuracy
I shot over 90 rounds with six different pellets in this test. I did so because the Indian was a new design to me, and I wanted to get to know it better. I’d tested the gun for The Airgun Letter years ago, but I don’t remember a thing from that test.
In the entire test, there was only one pellet that I would call bad in this pistol. Our friend the H&N Baracuda Green refused to shoot well for me, giving a 10-shot group that measures 2.46 inches between centers.
H&N Baracuda Greens were the worst pellet in the test. Ten shots in 2.46 inches between centers. Notice the group is more vertical than horizontal — supporting the rear-sight comment.
RWS R10 Match Pistol pellets and RWS Hobby pellets turned out a couple of so-so groups that were right around two inches. I can’t swear that I wouldn’t do better if I shot either of these two pellets again; but I was so interested in finding a good pellet, that I didn’t spend the time to find out. Please bear in mind that it only takes a couple sentences to describe a 10-shot group, but it can take over 10 minutes to actually shoot one!
Getting better
The H&N Baracuda Match was next. While there was a lone shot that opened the group to 2.021 inches, 9 of the shots landed in 1.343binches. I think the smaller group is more typical of the accuracy we can expect from this pellet in the Indian.
Baracuda Match pellets tightened the group considerably. Except for the lone shot at the top that opened the group to over 2 inches, nine pellets landed in 1.343 inches.
The JSB Exact RS pellet was another goodie. Ten of them went into 1.655 inches. It was very encouraging to see at this point in the testing.
JSB Exact RS pellets made this 1.655-inch group that looks smaller than it measures. After the earlier attempts, this seemed like a breath of fresh air!
Seeing that group inspired me to try something different. I wondered if the pistol could be rested directly on the sandbag and still group. So, I tried two groups that way. The best of them measured 2.267 inches between centers, but within that group were eight shots measuring just 1.052 inches. I tried to better that with a second group, but that was as good as it got.
I shot two groups with the pistol rested directly on the sandbag. This was the best one. It looks good, but the two shots that went high are typical of this hold.
And the best
Then I tried RWS Superdomes. Many of you love this domed pellet, and I’ve been working it into more of my testing these days. The Indian seems to like Superdomes a lot. Ten landed in a group that measured 1.383 inches between centers.
RWS Superdomes turned in the best 10-shot group of this test. The group measures 1.383 inches between centers.
I shot the pistol a lot in this test, mostly because I was getting used to how it handles. As you can see from the groups I’ve shown, it has potential but I can’t say that it’s an accurate pistol. I think this is a gun you need to get used to, and it’s possible I haven’t found the shooting technique for it.
Overall observations
The Cometa Indian is certainly an interesting spring-piston air pistol. It’s well-made, heavy and exceeds its rated power. Yet, it’s also the all-time easy-cocking spring gun champ! Shooting, however, reveals some differences that the buyer needs to know. The pistol is somewhat hard to load, torques in the hand when fired and has a heavier trigger than you might like. However, those are small considerations in light of all the power and the build quality. If you like spring pistols, this is one to consider.
Cometa Indian spring-piston air pistol: Part 2
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Cometa Indian spring-powered air pistol is a powerful, big airgun.
Lots of interest in this Cometa Indian air pistol! Some of you know it already, and many more are interested in the light cocking effort. How can “they” make a gun that shoots 500 f.p.s., yet cocks with just 7 lbs. of effort? Well, today we will find out if it really does shoot that fast.
The cocking lever
Blog reader Wulfraed was puzzled by what appear to be a lopsided cocking lever. I told him that it’s really two-sided and I would show a picture of that in this report, so here you go.
The cocking lever does have two sides, as you can see. Only the right side extends back a little farther to provide a place to grasp the lever at the beginning of the cocking stroke.
On to the test
Okay, let’s get to the velocity. The first pellet I tested was the RWS Hobby. I used it both because it is a very light pure-lead pellet, and also because it’s an accurate pellet in many airguns.
Hobbys averaged 538 f.p.s. in the test pistol, so the claim of 500 f.p.s. has been vindicated. In fact, it’s conservative. The spread was from 533 to 542, so a 9 f.p.s. range. At the average velocity, Hobbys generated 4.5 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
I found that seating the pellets was difficult unless I struck the back of the breech with the heel of my hand to close it after loading. Then, every pellet seated fine.
Next up was the RWS Superdome. This is a medium-weight, .177-caliber pellet that I expected to go slower. But it didn’t go that much slower! The average was 491 f.p.s. with a spread from 488 to 493 f.p.s. That’s a spread of only 5 f.p.s. At the average velocity, this pellet generated 4.44 foot-pounds of energy.
I did have a little excursion with this pellet, however. If you refer to Part 1, I showed you a picture of the open breech, in which a small o-ring is seen around the bolt probe. I lubricated this with one drop of silicone chamber oil and immediately got an increase in velocity. Then I got three detonations! The fastest went 673 f.p.s. I then had to dry off the probe and shoot off the oil until the pistol settled back down, again.
So, I advise against oiling the bolt probe of this pistol. Maybe put some silicone grease on the o-ring — but keep it light!
The last pellet I tested was our new friend, the H&N Baracuda Green. We know this is a very accurate pellet, and I wanted to see what a lightweight pellet would do in the pistol. Actually this pellet weighs 6.48 grains and the Hobby weighs 7 grains, so it shouldn’t be that much faster. The average was 568 f.p.s. with a low of 564 and a high of 575. The spread was 11 f.p.s. The muzzle energy averaged 4.64 foot-pounds. Of the pellets tested, this is the power champ by a slim margin.
Trigger-pull
The single-stage trigger breaks at 4 lbs., 13 oz. on my electronic gauge. It’s still creepy and may be a factor in the accuracy test.
From the comments that have been made, I’m anticipating a good accuracy test for the Indian. Someone said that his out-shot an Umarex Colt M1911A1. If that’s the case, this could turn out to be a wonderful air pistol. Accuracy test is coming soon!
Cometa Indian spring-piston air pistol: Part 1
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Cometa Indian is a large spring-piston air pistol that is incredibly easy to cock.
Want something new and different? Here it is. The Cometa Indian, offered by AirForce International, is a spring-piston air pistol with great power and a low cocking effort. They advertise the velocity at 492 f.p.s., which, of course, we’ll check. But the cocking effort I can tell you right now is just 7 lbs.! That’s right — seven pounds!
The Indian is not a new gun. I tested one for The Airgun Letter many years ago, so it’s been around for over 10 years. But Cometa has never been represented well in the U.S., so we’re not familiar with it. For most of us, this is a new gun.
This is a very strange-looking air pistol, because the cocking lever that actually swings up, over and around the muzzle to cock the mainspring appears at first to be a sidelever. You have to see it function before you comprehend how it works. And it’s the enormous arc of the lever — more than 270 degrees — that allows the effort to be so low.
Let me talk you through the cocking and loading procedure, so the photos that follow will make sense.
Cocking and loading the Cometa Indian
1. Put the safety on safe by sliding the safety button forward. Most people will use the button on the left side of the receiver, but there’s also one on the right that works just as well.
2. Lift the cocking lever up. The breech will pop out to the rear under spring pressure.
3. Rotate the cocking lever up and around the muzzle and back down under the gun until it stops. There won’t be any audible clicking of a sear as this is done, but the sear will engage. The lever will spring back a little under its own tension and then hesitate, showing the piston has been trapped by the sear. At this point the cocking lever is free-swinging.
4. Put a pellet in the loading trough and shut the breech so the bolt probe pushes the pellet into the breech. The breech will not stay closed at this point.
5. Swing the cocking lever back around to the closed position as you press in on the breech. Release the breech with the cocking lever down and the lever will hold the breech in position. The pistol is now cocked, loaded and the safety is on. Take the safety off and the gun is ready to fire.
The first step is to apply the safety and lift up the cocking lever. The breech will pop open to the rear.
Swing the cocking lever up and over the muzzle…
… and continue around until the lever stops. The pistol is now cocked and ready for loading.
Lay a pellet in the trough and press the breech closed. The cocking lever will fall into place and be locked when the breech is released.
Does this sound complex? It is the first couple times you do it. Then, you get used to the procedure and it becomes easier and faster. You’ll be so astounded at the light cocking (if you’ve cocked other magnum spring air pistols) that you’ll delight in this gun.
General description
The Indian comes in .177 caliber, only. There are two versions of the gun. The one I’m testing is all black and the other one has a generous amount of satin nickel plating. I like black or blue guns over silver guns for their non-reflective properties, so this is the one I would have selected. This is serial number 1237-12.
This is a large pistol — approximately equivalent to a 1911A1 in size. The grips are made for right-handed shooters on the test pistol because it has a raised thumbrest on the left grip panel. I don’t see a left-hand model listed, but the grip panels don’t look too complex. It’s possible to make a set of neutral or left-hand grips with average woodworking skills.
The grip angle makes the pistol a natural pointer, and that’s always good! I would say the grip is a large size, as my medium-sized hands still have a lot of room around them.
The rear sight adjusts for windage. Loosen a locking screw and slide the sight to either side in a dovetail. The front sight is a squared ramp that fits the square rear notch perfectly. You can see light around the front blade and should have no difficulty holding this pistol on target.
The rear sight slides sideways in each direction for windage. A locking screw on top holds it in position.
This pistol is constructed of steel, aluminum and engineering plastic. Unless you look at each part and sample it, you won’t know what it is made of. I get the impression that some real engineers designed the gun and they used exactly the right material for each job. Most of you know that I do not care for the concept of plastic guns, and I’m telling you that the Indian both looks and feels right to me.
The test pistol weighs 2 lbs., 10.5 oz., which is a handful. It’s decidedly muzzle-heavy, which makes it hang stable for me.
All the parts are finished a uniform matte black. And I notice the same is true of the silver pistol — all parts are matched, except for a few that remain black.
The trigger-pull is single-stage, very long and somewhat creepy. It feels like the kind of trigger that will break in to become smoother, but I’m not making any promises because I haven’t tested one of these pistols long enough to know. There are no provisions for adjustments. I’ll report the pull weight in Part 2. The trigger blade is a stamped steel, rolled metal blade that’s fairly straight against your trigger finger. It has a thin, positive feel, like a target blade.
What’s next?
The only way to know anything about this air pistol is to test it. So that’s what I’m going to do, straight away. With the power of the Indian, it’s one more attractive choice for those wanting powerful spring-piston air pistols. I don’t want to make any direct comparisons, but this gun is challenging the Beeman P1 and the Diana RWS LP8. My job is to document its performance so you can make an informed choice.
