Look out – Steel Storm!
B-r-a-a-a-p!
The Steel Storm packs a lot of rapid-fire fun into an air pistol.
The thing in my hand chattered off six shots faster than I could blink, faster than I could think.
Holy BLEEP, I wasn’t expecting that.
I squeezed the trigger again. Braaap. Six BBs punctured the target with the speed of a lightning stroke.
Braaap. Like Dr. Jeckyll’s potion, I could feel the object in my fist working a change within me. Sure, I was gripping it, but it was definitely exerting some sort of power over me. I was beginning to like this power in my hand.
Braaap. A fiendish chuckle issued from my lips, and I began to look for things I could shred.
At the back edge of the lawn I found a tall weed, and I didn’t like the way it was looking at me. Braaap. It won’t be doing that again for a while.
********
Normally, I think of myself as a mild-mannered marksman who enjoys the challenges of shooting well and who prefers slow accurate fire over a torrent of projectiles. The Steel Storm from Umarex, however, has opened my eyes to the pleasures of an area of airgunning I hadn’t considered before: extreme rapid fire.
The Steel Storm Tactical BB gun is really an air machine pistol. About 15 inches long and weighing about 2.7 pounds, it is powered by two 12-gram CO2 cartridges and can fire either single .177 BBs or six-shot bursts.
Made mostly of matte black engineering plastics, the Steel Storm looks like an elongated brick with a pistol grip attached. The aft end is squared off and unadorned. On the left side, a couple of inches from the end, is a rotary switch for selecting single shot mode or six-shot burst. Forward of that is a slide switch that can “safe” the trigger.
The magazine drops out the the pistol grip to reveal a holder for two 12-gram CO2 cartridges.
Below that is the pistol grip that houses the twin CO2 cartridges. A button on the left side of the grip near the trigger guard releases the CO2 carrier, and another button on the “heel” of the pistol grip allows the CO2 magazine to be removed completely.
That long slot above the trigger is for the BB magazine and BB follower.
Forward of the pistol grip, the black plastic trigger guard surrounds a black plastic trigger. Moving forward again, the underside of the Steel Storm is fitted with a Picatinny rail for mounting a flashlight, laser, or other accessory. Above the Picatinny rail on the left side is the BB magazine with a sliding BB follower. Forward of that, the muzzle is surrounded by a short, fat cylinder that looks like it could be fitted with an ersatz “can.”
Above the muzzle, at the top front edge of the receiver is the front post-type sight. To the rear of that is another Picatinny rail, running all the way back to the fixed, notch-type rear sight. Finally, at the top rear edge of the receiver is the cocking lever.
Here's the small hex wrench inserted into the righthand piercing screw.
To ready the Steel Storm for shooting, put the action on SAFE, drop the CO2 magazine out of the pistol grip and remove the front cover. Inside the front cover, you’ll find a small hex wrench tucked into a small compartment provided for it. Use the hex wrench to turn counterclockwise the two piercing screws at the bottom of the CO2 magazine.
Put one CO2 cartridge in each of the slots (having anointed the small end of each with one drop of RWS Chamber Lube), and turn the piercing screws clockwise until the cartridges are pierced. Replace the hex wrench and front cover and slide the CO2 magazine back into the pistol grip until it clicks in place.
The front sight pulls back to open the loading port for the BB reservoir.
Next, pull the front sight back toward the rear of the receiver to open the loading port for the BB reservoir chamber. Pour in up to 300 BBs and slide the front sight back to its original position. Next, slide the BB follower toward the muzzle and lock it into place. Now shake or rock the Steel Storm until 30 BBs load into the BB magazine. After that, gently release the BB follower.
Pull the cocking lever all the way back and release it. Put the selector on single shot or burst. Move the safety to FIRE. Squeeze the trigger and let’er rip. At 4 lbs. 13 oz., the shot goes off, launching RWS Match Grade Precision Steel BBs at about 420 fps.
Here's the Steel Storm with a Walther Shot Dot green dot sight mounted on the top rail.
At seven yards, I found the Steel Storm would put at least some of the BBs from a burst through the side of a soup can. I shot it only a few times in single shot mode, mostly when I was adjusting the Walther Shot Dot green dot sight I mounted on the top rail. I also tried the FLR 650 flashlight/laser combo on the bottom rail and found that the combination of the green dot and red laser made a neat sighting duo.
The Big Fun with the Steel Storm is the burst mode. It made me feel like a ten-year-old boy on the first day of spring, ready to go out and conquer the world, or at least the neighborhood.
Is this rapidly firing BB gun actually good for any practical use? Perhaps for shooting mice or rats in a warehouse.
But really, after you fire that first burst, you won’t care . . . you’ll just know that it is fun.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
The Daystate Air Ranger – Part II
in Airguns
as air rifle, Daystate, pcp, pellet gun, review
To ready the Air Range for shooting, you first have to load the magazine, and, fortunately, it is one of the easiest loading magazines I’ve seen in a long time. Here’s the drill: hold the magazine so that the side with the multiple holes is facing toward you. Insert a pellet, nose-first, into the first pellet bay through the large hole at the bottom of the magazine. You will probably have to use something to push the pellet fully into the pellet bay. I used a ballpoint pen with the point retracted. Rotate the silver part of the magazine counter-clockwise until it clicks and the next empty pellet bay is visible. Insert the next pellet into that bay, and so forth. Just keep doing that until the magazine if full. It’s quick, easy, and straightforward.
To insert the magazine into the action, pull the bolt back and slide the magazine in from the left side with the multi-hole face pointed toward the buttstock. Note well: when you pull the bolt back, pull it all the way back until it clicks. Why? Because it is possible to pull the bolt back far enough that you can insert the magazine but not far enough that the action is cocked.
That happened to me the first time I attempted to shoot the Air Ranger. There I was – the magazine inserted into the rifle, the bolt forward so that a pellet had been pushed into the barrel, the safety off, and I couldn’t get the rifle to fire! That sort of situation makes me very, very nervous. After a quick phone call to Airguns of Arizona, I was instructed to pull the bolt back fully until it clicked. Unfortunately, that also cycled the magazine again, so now I had two pellets in the barrel. That happened to me three times while I was testing the Air Ranger, and the only cure (besides prevention) is to pull the trigger, send two pellets downrange at the same time, and try again.
So, having inserted the magazine and pulled the bolt back until it clicks, push the bolt forward to slide a pellet out of the magazine and into the barrel. Take aim at your target, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger. On the sample that I tested, the first stage came out at l lb , 1.4 oz. At 1 lb, 12.7 oz, the shot went downrange – with a tremendous bang and crack.
Okay, I know that's not a dime, but I literally didn't have a dime in my pocket when I was taking the picture.
I had not realized it at first, but I was shooting the 50 foot-pound version of the .22 Air Ranger. The light JSB .22 Express pellets were clearly going supersonic. I emptied the magazine and loaded some JSB .22 Jumbo pellets. There was no more supersonic crack, but the gun was still loud, although significantly subdued compared to some other very high powered air rifles I have shot. Even though the Jumbo pellets were ripping downrange at around 1076 fps (41 foot-pounds), at 30 yards I was able to shoot a pretty shamrock-shaped group that you could cover with a dime.
The folks at AoA tell me that most of the guys who own the 50 fp .22 Air Ranger are shooting Exact 18 gr heavy pellets (1041 fps, 44 fp) or Baracuda Match 21.1 gr pellets (1000 fps, 47 fp). You can expect around 45 usable shots from a fill to 230 bar.
The bottom line: the 50-fp .22 Air Ranger is a big, hairy, powerful air rifle that, aside from being louder than your neighbors might enjoy, does many things well. If you need an air rifle capable of taking down large pests with a single shot, the Air Ranger has all the goodies, and it’s nice to look at as well.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
The 50-fp Daystate Air Ranger – Part I
in Airguns
as air rifle, Airguns, Daystate, pcp, review, trigger
The Daystate Air Ranger is a beautiful air rifle.
I guess the good folks at Airguns of Arizona got tired of my whining: “How come you never send me any of the really nice airguns, huh?” (The real answer is that they can hardly keep them in stock. Commander in Chief Robert Buchanan tells me that the most expensive airguns they stock are also their best sellers.)
So, to quiet me for a while, they sent me a Daystate Air Ranger. Not just any old Air Ranger, mind you, (It’s available in four different calibers: .177, .20, .22 and .25.) but a 50 foot-pound .22 caliber model.
My first impression of it is that it is just flat gorgeous. And this is not just an opinion of one – my wife wandered by while I was writing this review. She stopped. “Is that real wood?” she asked. “Yes,” I said. She said: “And a compass in the stock . . . ooh, I’m getting goosebumps!”
Okay, it doesn’t really have a compass in the stock, but the Daystate symbol — crosshairs through two concentric circles with stars around the perimeter – really resembles one at first glance. Even without a real compass, you’d have to be pretty jaded not to recognize that the Air Range is a nice looking rifle in a 40.5-inch, 8.6-lb package.
Starting at the back, you’ll find a soft rubber ventilated butt pad. Forward of that is the ambidextrous, oiled-walnut thumbhole stock. Moving forward again, just ahead of the thumbhole itself, the pistol grip is knurled on either side and finished on the bottom with a dark hardwood cap separated from the pistol grip itself by a thin white spacer. Above the pistol grip on either side is a shelf for parking your thumb while shooting.
Ahead of the pistol grip, a black metal trigger guard surrounds a silver metal trigger that is adjustable for second stage weight, trigger angle, and first stage travel. Moving forward again, the walnut stock overlaps the trigger guard somewhat. The forestock has a groove on either side that I found quite handy for pulling the Air Ranger down onto my knee while shooting from the sitting position.
Next, underneath the forestock you’ll find a single allen bolt that secures the action in the stock and black cap that can be slipped off to expose a quick fill fitting (a male Foster fitting) for charging the Air Ranger. Above the quick fill fitting on the left side is a gauge to show how much pressure is left in the air reservoir.
Beyond the end of the forestock is a 500cc non-removable air reservoir. Above the air bottle is the barrel, which has a full-length shroud. The aft end of the barrel attaches to the matte black receiver. The top of the receiver has dovetails fore and aft of the breech for mounting a scope. On the left side of the receiver, you’ll find the serial number, the words “Air Ranger” and the Daystate “compass” – all in white. (On the right side of the receiver, you’ll find “Air Ranger,” “Harper Patent,” and “Daystate England.) In the middle of the receiver is a slot for inserting a 10-shot rotary magazine.
At the aft end of the receiver, you’ll find a black metal righthanded bolt, and, to the left of the bolt, the rotary safety. Flick it up to fire and down to SAFE the action.
That’s all there is to the Daystate Air Ranger. Next time, we’ll see how it shoots.
Til then, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
