Airguns of Arizona Blog

Talking with a Champion: Paul Cray – Part II

2010-02-08T01:13:00.004-07:00

JE: Any other practice routines?

PC: Especially when shooting at 12 fp, I spent a lot of time practicing for the wind. I bought a wind gauge, got a piece of thread, put it on the muzzle, and tried to correlate the movement of the thread to the speed of the wind. With 12 fp, the wind becomes a serious consideration for almost every shot. I also focus on having a positive attitude when I’m about to take a shot and fine-tuning my natural point of aim.

JE: What’s the most difficult thing about field target?

PC: I think it’s shooting sitting for 10 lanes and then having to shoot offhand with no warm-up.

JE: Does the Anschutz butthook help?

PC: Yeah, it does. It helps me mount the gun the same way each time.

JE: What about your shooting routine? Do you intentionally trigger shots or are you surprised when they go off?

PC: Well, when I’m shooting offhand, I intentionally trigger the shot. I pull the trigger as fast as I can as soon as I see that sight picture I want, but when I’m shooting from a sitting position I try to go for the surprise. But when you’re shooting 12 fp in the wind and you’re also against the lane timer, sometimes you don’t have the luxury of waiting, so when you get an opening, you take it.

JE: Is there one thing that’s a key to your success?

PC: Consistency, that’s it. You have to practice until everything you do is consistent, shot after shot.

JE: How much do you practice?

PC: I shoot 10,000 to 12,000 pellets a year.

JE: What advice would you give newbies?

PC: Pick a rifle that you like and fits your shooting position and learn how to shoot it. Spend a lot of time with it, get into position, test for the pellets, get your scope set up and shoot a whole season before you change anything. Realize that you will have bad days, and when that happens, it doesn’t mean you need a new rifle.

JE: Anything else?

PC: Realize that what you do in your back yard, while it really helps, doesn’t necessarily translate into a match. In a match, you have the pressure of competition, and that is going to mess with you. That’s why new shooters need to shoot a season or two before they can make informed decisions about making changes. They should learn to read the wind by shooting on windy days. The more you shoot, the more you recognize the nuances of what’s going on. There’s no substitute for trigger time, and no substitute for competition experience.

JE: Is there anything more new shooters need to do?

PC: Yes. Mental preparation is extremely important. There’s lots of good material out there. Read what the Olympic champions have written about proper trigger technique and breathing. You also need to take a Blood Oath: no desperation shots. Don’t pull the trigger because you think you’re running out of time or air or steadiness. Pull the trigger when you know it’s right. Concentrate on the center of the kill zone, not the size of the kill zone. That’s where the focus of your attention should be. If a small kill zone is going to freak you out, you’re concentrating on the wrong thing.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Talking with a Champion: Paul Cray – Part I

2010-02-01T01:59:00.002-07:00

Paul Cray is arguably one of the best field target shooters on the planet. In 2004 and 2005, he won the US National Piston Division Championship with a score that was within spitting distance of the highest PCP Division scores. In 2007, he won the US PCP Division Championship and the World FT Championship. In 2009, he won the International Division (sub 12 foot-pounds) at the US FT Championships.

The first time that I met Cray was at an offhand field target match at the Eastern Field Target Competitors Club in Wappingers Falls, NY. He is a tremendously nice fellow, and he agreed to an interview on his secrets of success.

JE: How did you get started in field target?

PC: My first match was that offhand match where we met in January, 2002. I live about 10 minutes away from EFTCC, so it is very convenient for me to compete there.

JE: What equipment do you use?

PC: In piston class, I shot an Air Arms TX-200, which I got from Jim Maccari. All the internals – the seals, springs, and lubes –are Jim Maccari. Jan Kaner tuned the gun and also did the stock. In PCP class, I won the US and World Championships with a USFT rifle. Now that I’m shooting in the 12 fp class, I’ve switched to a Steyr LG110 FT.

JE: How is your Steyr set up?

PC: I’ve equipped it with the same butthook that I had on my TX-200, and it’s set up with the same length of pull and scope height as my TX. I’m using a knee rest from my USFT, and I’m shooting 8.4 grain JSB pellets with 4.52 head diameter. I don’t lube the pellets.

JE: That’s it?

PC: I used to weigh the pellets, but I stopped doing that. It didn’t seem to have an effect on accuracy.

JE: What about your scope?

PC: I use a Nikko Sterling 10-50 x 60 sidewheel scope with extended wheel. (Now, I’m sponsored by Nikko Sterling.) It’s so huge, I call it “the Hubble,” and I generate the ballistic data by physically shooting at targets at various ranges. I zero my setup at around 27 yards. I also have a scope level on my rig. I look at it before every shot.

JE: Do you use any other gear?

PC: Yes, I use a shooting glove for offhand and kneeling shots. I used to shoot with it all the time but quit using it for the sitting shots because it didn’t seem to make a difference. In addition, I wear a Creedmore shooting coat for the entire course.

JE: What’s your practice routine?

PC: I practice quite a bit, shooting at paper, establishing my natural point of aim. I have a target at 30 yards, with multiple kill zones. I try to go through the act of sitting down and see that the gun is naturally pointing on target. You can use your strength to move the gun on target, but as soon as you pull the trigger, the gun is going to point where it “wants” to point. So I don’t even look through the scope until I’m relaxed. I make a conscious effort to relax, and if the crosshairs aren’t in the kill zone, I move my leg or adjust my bum until they are. Then I make sure I am relaxed again and make sure the scope is on target.

JE: Do you exercise?

PC: Yes, I have an exercise bike that I ride a couple of days a week to get my heart rate down. I’m also doing a lot of running and playing soccer, which helps endurance and heart rate.

Special thanks to Bridget Cray for taking the pictures of her dad!

Part II next time.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Talking with a Champion - Steve Ware

2010-01-25T01:49:00.007-07:00

Steve Ware has won three IHMSA (International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association) International Championships – one in production air pistol and two in unlimited air pistol.

I’ve never met Steve face to face, but we’ve spoken numerous times over the telephone and via email, and Steve graciously agreed to let me quiz him about his adventures in air pistol silhouette.

JE: How did you get started?

SW: In 1986 I was living in Findlay, Ohio. One day I was reading a shooting magazine, and they had an article about handgun silhouette. It intrigued me. I thought of it as a kind of “organized plinking.” There was a silhouette club in Lima, Ohio, so I decided to check it out. I liked what I saw and decided to go the next match with a High Standard Double 9, which is a double-action 9-shot .22 revolver.

JE: How did you do?

SW: I knocked down two out of 40 targets, so I had no place to go but up!

JE: What happened next?

SW: I started to get involved and began building a silhouette handgun collection. One of the things I like most about this sport is you can get as addicted as you want – you can buy and shoot one discipline or you can build a bunch of different guns and shoot several disciplines. I started 25 years ago, and I’m still doing it. One of the reasons is that pistol silhouette shooters are among the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I’ve often thought that if I ever went blind, I’d still go to the matches because of the great people.

JE: How did you come to get involved in air pistol silhouette?

SW: I had met Mike Kelly who was IHMSA’s Alaska State Director at the time online and he was interested in promoting air pistol. So he and I got involved in writing the rules for air pistol silhouette, and the IHMSA Board of Directors approved them in 2001. One of the key notions behind air pistol silhouette was to keep it an everyman’s sport, so that people could get involved for very little money, and one of Mike’s best ideas was to create a production class that was based on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Pretty soon after that Mike became the first person to shoot a 40/40 with an air pistol, and he did it with a Crosman 1377. He did it because he wanted to prove that you could shoot a good score with a $50 pistol. Incidentally, he did it by zeroing the 1377 at 10 yards and then figuring out how many pumps you would have to add to hit the silhouettes at the longer ranges.

JE: So when did you start shooting the air pistol discipline?

SW: By the time the air rules were approved, we had moved to Oregon. I asked our local club if they were interested in shooting air, and they said sure, so now there are six or seven of us who regularly compete in air pistol at our club. I see it as a way to grow the sport. The Boy Scouts set our targets for us, and periodically we’ll have a barbeque for them, and let them shoot airguns. We’re building the next generation of shooters.

JE: How did you come to win your first Championship?

SW: 2002 was the first year that air competition was offered at the International Championship, so I went and won the product class with a Daisy 747. It just shows that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to compete on an international level.

JE: What other air pistols do you shoot?

SW: I have two IZH-46s and a Mac-1 LD and a Crosman 2300S. They are set up for various air pistol silhouette classes.

JE: How often do you practice?

SW: Well, you could say that I don’t practice at all. Here’s my theory on practice: any time you’re pulling the trigger, and you’re not in a life and death situation, you’re practicing. I’m the match director at our local club. As a result, I shoot 3 0r 4 matches a month for a total of 6 or 7 different guns shot, with at least 45 shots for each gun. Do the math, and that works out to over 300 shots a month.

JE: What advice would you offer to newbies?

SW: My best single piece of advice for anyone interested handgun silhouette is don’t be intimidated when you go to the range and see somebody shooting a $2,000 gun. You don’t need that to be competitive. Shoot what ya brung, and talk to lots of silhouetters. We share our secrets. Talk to other shooters at the match, try lots of stuff, and find what works for you. New shooters need to attend matches regularly so they are around shooters who can offer them advice and to get the basics down before venturing to the range by themselves to practice.

JE: What about those silhouette positions? I see people lying on their backs to shoot pistol . . .

SW: Yeah, that’s the Creedmoor position, and many silhouetters shoot from it or some variation of it. One of the big mistakes that beginners make with Creedmoor is that they don’t put their elbow on the ground, their wrist against their hip, and the barrel against their leg. You need all three points of contact to get really steady. It’s a very steady position, and I can actually shoot better groups from a Creedmoor position than I can from a bench.

JE: So what’s the bottom line on air pistol silhouette?

SW: Knocking something down is more fun than putting holes in paper.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Hey, this is nice – the HW97 Thumbhole

2010-01-18T01:35:00.002-07:00

The Weihrauch HW97 is one of the world’s classic underlever spring-piston air rifles. It has been around for a number of years and has a devoted following who think very highly of this German made tackdriver.

For a while now, I’d been hearing rumors that there was a factory thumbhole version of the HW97, and recently the good folks at Airguns of Arizona sent me a sample in .177 caliber to check out. I can tell you straight up that I really don’t want to send it back.

Before we get into the particulars of the HW97K (the K stands for Karbine) thumbhole, I should explain that several years ago, I owned a Venom-tuned HW97K with the standard stock. It had “stout” cocking effort, a very quick firing cycle, and was very accurate if you did everything just right. But I had never shot an untuned HW97, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the fresh-out-of-the box HW97KT (the T, of course, stands for thumbhole).

According to the factory specs, the HW97KT is a tenth of an inch longer than the HW97K, and the HW97KT weighs 9.37 lbs, compared to 8.8 lbs for the HW97K, but there are lots of other differences as well.

Starting at the aft end of the HW97KT, you’ll find a soft rubber recoil pad. In the center of the pad, there is a screw. Loosen the screw, pull the pad back a bit, and you can move the butt pad up and down to fit your anatomy. There is a metal plate attached to the recoil pad and another metal plate on the buttstock. Each has metal teeth that engage with each other when the screw is tightened so that the adjustable butt pad will not slip out of its intended position.

The stained beech stock is truly ambidextrous. There is a slight cheek swell on either side of the buttstock and a modest cheek piece. Below that is the thumb hole. Forward of the thumb hole is the pistol grip which has stippling on either side. At the top of the pistol grip are grooves on either side of the stock to accommodate the shooter’s thumb and forefinger.

Moving forward again, you’ll find the metal trigger guard, inside of which is the Rekord trigger and trigger adjuster, both of which are gold colored. Forward of the trigger is the forestock which is laser checkered on either side. The end of the forestock is swept backward slightly, complementing the sleek looks of the the thumbhole stock.

The cocking lever protrudes from the forestock, the free end of which is captured by a latch that is attached to the muzzlebrake/silencer at the end of the barrel. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find the receiver and the silver colored breech plate. Moving aft again, there are scope dovetails on top of the receiver with sockets for anti-recoil pins toward the back of the receiver. At the extreme back end of the receiver is the small push-button safety.

Overall, I’m very impressed with the fit and finish of the HW97KT. The stock looks very streamlined and purposeful, and the finish on the metal is what you would expect from an adult precision air rifle in this price range.

To ready the HW97KT for shooting, press the small black button just under the muzzlebrake. This releases the cocking lever. Pull the lever down and back until it latches. This cocks the action and also slides open the breech plate, exposing the breech. Thumb a pellet into the breech and return the cocking lever to its original position. Take aim at the target, click off the safety, and ease the first stage out of the trigger. Squeeze just a bit more and – tunk! – the shot goes down range.

I really, really liked shooting the HW97KT. The report was remarkably subdued – not dead quiet, but certainly low enough to keep the peace with the neighbors. I could hear just a touch of vibration when the shot goes off, but I couldn’t feel any of it through the stock, so basically the vibration becomes a non-issue for me. I particularly like the fit of the stock for me, and I found it very easy to shoot this gun well. At 13 yards, I was easily able to shoot ragged one-hole groups where all the pellet holes overlapped each other. It strikes me that this is an air rifle that, with the addition of your choice of scope, could easily be campaigned in field target competition.

The powerplant in the HW97KT is identical to the powerplant in the HW97K, and typically should deliver around 850 fps with Crosman Premier 7.9 gr. Pellets. The HW97 is also an incredibly accurate air rifle. A few years ago, Brad Troyer sent me a target he had shot at 50 yards from a sitting position with his HW97. The five pellet holes I saw there could be covered with a dime.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The collectors – Mike Driskill

2010-01-11T01:24:00.002-07:00

Mike Driskill grew up in a small town in east Tennessee. His grand mother had a Daisy Model 25 that she bought in 1947 to chase the squirrels off the birdfeeder. Driskill remembers pinching “the bejeezus” out of our fingers on this classic whenever he went to visit her. Eventually, young Driskill had his own airgun, a Benjamin.

But kids grow up, and as Driskill moved into adulthood and a career as an architect, he didn’t pay much attention to airguns.

“I’m not really sure when I became a collector,” Driskill says, “but I remember clearly when the resurgence of my interest in airguns happened. In 1985, our firm did a big project as a joint venture with another firm, and I spent almost a year working in their offices. Most of the guys were shooters, and there were a lot of shooting magazines around. In one of them, I saw an ad for a Beeman catalog, and that got me interested in adult precision airguns. The gun that captivated me in it was the HW 35. The beautiful lines just sucked me right in. I’ve owned three of them and now have a mid-70s Bayern-stocked HW 35 Luxus that is a real beauty.”

Over the years, Driskill has bought and sold over 100 airguns. Now he owns about 45 airguns, 90% of which have been built between World War II and the 1980s and are medium power springers. He also owns some high powered airguns and some CO2 powered airguns.

“Over time, you develop a taste for what you like,” he says. One of the things that influenced Driskill greatly was the articles of Ladd Fanta, an airgun dealer in California. He wrote several articles in the 1970s that extolled the virtues of the Diana 27.

“He got me looking at that class of gun, based on his comments on how nicely they handle and how easy they are to shoot well, and it doesn’t hurt that they are a lot cheaper than the new ones,” Driskill says.

The Diana 27 was made in many variations from WW I to the 1980s, and now Driskill owns six different examples of the 27 in different forms, including five major generations of Diana 27 actions. He is interested in not just collecting the guns, but the history of how a particular model has changed over the years.

The photo below shows (top to bottom) four distinctly different generations--the original "Millita" style gun (this one dated 1926); a Nazi-era "DRP" marked, ca. 1935 rifle with its marvelous striker-type adjustable trigger; a first-generation post-WW2 rifle from the late 1950's; and the classic modern gun from 1981 with RWS markings.

Another air rifle that has fascinated Driskill is the HW55, and over the years he has collected seven different samples, each of which is unique. “I’ve seen so many different variations of some of these airguns that I’ve begun to wonder if they ever made two that were exactly the same,” he says, adding, “The one gun that I’d really like to find is an HW55 with double set triggers . . . and Gaines Blackwell (a friend) has two!”

Below is a picture of Driskill's very first HW55.

Here's a picture of his HW55 T.

Collecting has changed a lot over the years for Driskill. When he first started out, in the pre-Internet days, there was a mailing list that circulated among collectors. If you had something to sell, you put it on the list, and maybe someone else who received the list would buy it and maybe you would buy an offering from someone else.

Today, Driskill combs the auction sites every day, reads the airgun classifieds, and attends the Roanoke airgun show. His biggest source of collectable airguns is the German auction site, which Gaines Blackwell suggested Driskill check into.

“I shoot everything I own on a regular basis,” Driskill says. “I do have some guns that are in extremely good condition, but most of my favorite shooters are not mint guns.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

More High Mileage Airguns

2010-01-04T01:29:00.000-07:00

Steve Mannie is a retiree living in Arizona, and he shares a couple of passions that most readers of this blog could identify with. First, he loves airguns. Second, accuracy is what floats his boat.

“Accuracy is my main magnet,” Mannie says. “First and last, I am concerned with accuracy and the repeatability of it. For other people, it would seem that speed is the main thing, but not for me.”

Back in 1996, Mannie bought a Daystate CR94, serial number 58. He tried it out and liked it so well that he bought another one; serial number 60 (only 60 CR94s were made).

Mannie has done some field target competition, but it is no longer popular in his area, so he scratches his itch for accuracy by shooting benchrest at 10 meters. “I usually shoot 2 or 3 sessions a day of about 35 shots each,” he says.

His CR94s are tuned down a bit for shooting indoors in a mobile home park and keeping the noise to a minimum. He has owned other airguns, but “I like shooting precharged pneumatics. They are very easy to use, very accurate and relatively quiet,” Mannie says.

Both of Mannie’s CR94s are scoped. He doesn’t prefer one over the other. “I can shoot either, because they both shoot exceedingly well,” he says.

One of his favorite targets is quarter-inch graph paper. He puts a tiny dot of ink in the center of every other square and then blows the dot away with a pellet. Mannie shoots at a pellet trap with “a quarter inch of steel at the bottom, with scrap paper in between.” He uses a SCUBA tank to charge the guns. Mannie reports that the tank “is very heavy to move,” now that he is 81 years of age.

Mannie relates that he is now on his ninth or tenth case of JSB Exacts that he has shot through these two guns, and before that, he shot case after case (after case) of Crosman Premiers through the pair of Daystates. Although Mannie has not kept exact count of how many rounds have gone down range from each gun, a conservative estimate would be that Mannie’s CR94s have launched at least 100,000 pellets apiece.

The CR94s lasted well over ten years before either required any service. About two years ago, one of the guns needed a reseal, and this year both are in for some additional service. Still, 100,000 shots apiece and over 10 years of continuous service stands as an impressive testimony to the reliability of the Daystate CR94s.

Mannie says, “I use them a lot and enjoy them, because if you select the right airgun, set it up as close as possible to your ideal, they are one of the most satisfying guns to shoot.”

Additional update: I heard back from Brad Troyer regarding his high-mileage HW97. Here’s what he had to say:

“I bought my first HW97 in Sept. of 1994 and have well over 100k pellets through it. I had it tuned in the summer of 1995 by Ken Reeves and at my first major FT match that I put on at the Port Malabar Rifle & Pistol Club a washer from the tune broke and I couldn't finish the match.

I had David Slade tune it after that and shot it for a lot of years on that tune. I started tuning my own rifles in the late 90's and have had a variety of kits in it. Most of the time I would shoot the kit for a period of time and then change or modify the tune for a variety of reasons. Right now it has a standard Beeman spring with a Macarri spring guide. It still shoots like a dream. I have had two springs fail in the rifle, as I remember it the first spring that came with the rifle broke and I had another factory spring break in the late 90s. The first spring broke, I think, because I was shooting Beeman Kodiaks in the rifle until I discovered Crosman 7.9 pellets.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The collectors -- Gaines Blackwell

2009-12-28T01:10:00.000-07:00

Gaines Blackwell grew up in the country on a large farm. He never had a BB gun. He was raised a hunter, and his family ate game often, but it was taken with firearms. The first thing he got to shoot was a 22 LR and then a 410 shotgun. For years, he taught architecture at a university. At 62, and living on 1/2 acre, he became interested in airguns and bought a Diana 48, thinking it shot an 8 grain pellet at about 900 fps, roughly 20 percent of the power of a 22 LR.

“That almost ended my interest in airguns,” Blackwell says. “I didn’t know anything about springers, and when I shot it, it bucked and kicked and rattled. What saved me is that I found the Yellow Forum and started to read. After two or three months, I bought a long stock R 7 -- used but fine for $200 -- and had it sent to Russ Best for a tune. I still have it, and it completely changed my views of airguns.”

He adds, “I read Mike Driskill's lucid posts and found a HW 55 M next, then a FWB 300S which started me on the path to collecting.” His interest grew in older German springers, and he developed a great network of friends all over Europe and even in Pakistan. He looked for earlier and earlier examples of HW' 55's and particularly Walthers.

“I liked their fit and finish and especially their size because they fit my frame,” he says. “It probably sounds ridiculous or even arrogant to some but I do don’t have a firm count how many guns I bought. I probably have 12-15 HW 55's and several dozen or more older Walthers, a total of about 65.”

Blackwell’s best find was a HW 55 DST (dual set trigger). He did not know they existed until he discovered one. Within a month he found another -- both from Germany.

He says, “To this day I now know of two others, one in the UK, the other in The Netherlands. My other more endearing find was a pair of HW 55's in a small German town. One was an "M", serial # 711, and the other a Tyrolean serial # 37363, both very early examples. I got them from the son of the original buyer who had shot and maintained them for 50 years with not a speck of rust and in perfect order. They are my favorite guns.”

What surprised me in talking with Blackwell is that finding a new-in-box example of a vintage air rifle is not his favorite thing. “New in box guns make me nervous,” he says, “I’m always afraid I’ll put a scratch on one.”

He adds, “I do not seek perfect guns, nor beautiful wood, though I have found both. I prefer well cared for well used original examples, especially showing some variation done by the factory. I search for parts to get all in good condition but rarely shoot anymore beyond keeping them lubricated and working.

“What I have enjoyed the most was finding guns – the thrill of discovering them. I used to hunt, via Internet, all over Europe, and 95 % of my collection was sent directly to me. I really enjoy my network of foreign friends which now transcends airguns. In turn I have sent many US collectable airguns overseas. Overall it has been a most satisfying hobby.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

So you want to shoot better

2009-12-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

Jamie Garrison has been a marine for 26 years and has taught at the Weapons Training Battalion at Camp Pendleton as well as both rifle and pistol teams. When I found out that he has taught marksmanship, I asked him how airgunners can improve their shooting.

“One of the biggest mistakes that brand new airgunners make is not truly discovering what they or their guns are capable of,” Garrison says. “The best way to improve yourself is to set your own expectations and then measure yourself against them. It’s not good enough to say ‘I can hit a soda can at X yards,’ because that is not precise enough.”

“To do that, you have to shoot on paper, preferably from a rest,” he says. “Get some targets with scoring rings, shoot ten shots at the target, and score yourself. Try different kinds of pellets, find which pellets the gun likes, then work on your technique to improve. Record those scores to measure your improvement”

He adds, “When I’m shooting from a rest with a PCP rifle, I put no pressure on the gun; I let the rifle do whatever it will. Don’t pressure the gun into position. If you have to ‘horse’ the crosshairs into the position you want, that will result in erratic groups. Adjust it on the rest so that it will just sit there, with the crosshairs exactly over the bull’s-eye with no effort from you.”

Garrison then squeezes the trigger between his forefinger and his thumb, which he rests on the back of the trigger guard. “The idea is to disturb the gun as little as possible and put no side pressure on the trigger.”

With springers, he uses a different technique. “I shoot springers off a bench the way I do hunting. More ‘deliberately’. I grip the pistol grip with just enough pressure to settle the gun into my shoulder, make sure I put no side pressure on the trigger, and just rest the forearm in my hand, with no grip or pressure applied. ”

“Bear in mind,” he adds, “that you may have to re-zero a springer if you have been shooting it off rests and then plan to shoot it offhand in the field. Due to the recoil generated, I’ve seen a springer’s point of impact shift several inches between shooting off a rest and shooting offhand, but PCPs will generally shoot the same point of impact whether you’re shooting from a rest or offhand. If you do your part of course.”

Garrison believes that two key skills shooters should practice are breath control and trigger control. “Over the years, I’ve learned that any breath in your lungs creates muscle tension that can disturb the shot,” he says. “So I recommend taking a deep breath – maybe even hyperventilating a little bit, although slowly and deeply – and then let it all out, but not forcing it out, until you come to your natural breath pause. That’s when you want to shoot. If you find you’re running out of air (some shooters will notice their vision starts to dim), lower the gun, breath some more, and start over again. No more than 10 seconds to break the shot.”

“When it comes to trigger control, it’s really a personal preference. So long as the trigger breaks, and the sights do not move, it works,” he says. “I do not truly squeeze the trigger unless I am bench shooting, but I don’t ‘pull’ the trigger either. I acquire the target and ‘mash’ the trigger – like I am compressing a ball of putty – straight back to the rear. One steady motion.”

Garrison says, “Like many instructors, I believe that shooting is 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental. Everyone has a natural wobble area. If you are shooting offhand, you have to allow the sights to settle into your natural wobble area and then begin the trigger squeeze. Your brain will subconsciously break the shot in the center of the wobble area.”

He concludes: “No matter what I am shooting, I always shoot at a particular spot on that target, whether it is the X ring on a piece of paper or a particular hair on a squirrel’s head. Too many shooters err by shooting at an area on a target and not a specific spot.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The Tracker’s Trick for Finding Lost Airgun Parts

2009-12-14T01:05:00.002-07:00

Since I was a youngster, wandering the fields of my Grandparent’s place in the northeast corner of Vermont with BB gun in hand, I’ve had a weakness for “tracker” lore. Whenever a cowboy movie would come on, and one of the Indian scouts would look at the ground and say, “White man come by here, two . . . three days ago,” I would eat that up with a spoon. Of course, it’s great fun to take the whole track reading thing to ridiculous extremes: “white man come by here, parts hair in middle, has 11 cents in pocket (two nickels, one penny), likes bluegrass music, is thinking about lunch” . . . and so forth. Nevertheless, when it comes to reading sign, I just think it’s cool.

About 30 years ago, I started to get more seriously interested in tracking. I found a book called “The Tracker” by Tom Brown, in which he claims to do some flatly amazing things in tracking. I’m not sure whether to believe all of Tom Brown’s exploits or not, but I can recommend his “Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking.”

If you are interested in tracking people, two books – both written by members of the US Border Patrol – are at the head of the class. Joel Hardin’s “Tracker – Case Files & Adventures of a Professional Mantracker” is one of the rare books that tells excellent true stories while teaching you at the same time. If you read Jack Kearney’s “Tracking: A Blueprint for Learning How” and practice everything that he presents, you’ll come out the other side of the process as a decent tracker.

I was so impressed with Kearney’s book that I called him one day to thank him for such a useful book. While we were chatting, he mentioned the usefulness of a bright flashlight for finding faint tracks. The gist of what he said is: shine the light sideways at ground level (if it’s during the day, you may have to shade the area with your hat or backback) and details that would otherwise be invisible will pop right up. At the time that we spoke, he mentioned that he was well into his 70s and taking several daily medications. “If I drop a pill,” he said, “immediately I turn off the overhead light, shine a light sideways across the floor, and the missing pill becomes visible.”

The same thing works if you drop a small airgun part. Check out the picture below. It shows a small screw on a wood floor with the overhead lights on.

The next picture shows the same area, with the overhead lights off, but illuminated strongly from the side with a flashlight. The screw is prominently visible.

And if you move your head to an oblique angle down near the floor, the screw becomes even more obvious (as does all the dust on the floor).

So there you have it: the tracker’s trick. The next time you drop a small part, kill the overhead lights, shine a flashlight sideways across the floor, and get your head down near floor level. Maybe that missing part will pop right into view.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Brocock Returns – Part III – the Contour

2009-12-07T01:15:00.004-07:00

When I spoke with Nigel Silcock, owner of Brocock Airguns, to find out how his company had scrambled back from the edge of oblivion after the British government banned their cartridge guns, he was forthright about their objectives: “We knew we had to come up with an action, a reservoir, and plan to produce a whole family of successful airguns.”

If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense: if a company can create one really good basic action as a base for their airguns, they can then fiddle barrel lengths, reservoir sizes, and valving to produce a wide range of air rifles and air pistols. And that appears to be exactly what Brocock has done and done very successfully.

The Contour is a compact air rifle that ought to put a grin on a lot of airgunners faces. When I first pulled it out of the box from Airguns of Arizona, I thought: “Whoa! I know a lot of hunters who would love to take this beauty out in the field.”

The Contour measures only 27.5 inches from end to end and weighs just four pounds. No, that’s not a typo; four pounds. I can’t think of any other precision air rifle that weighs so little.

Starting at the back, a soft rubber buttpad that is adjustable vertically is mounted on the skeletonized thumbhole wood stock. Moving forward, a cheek “piece” sits over a large cut out in the buttstock. Ahead of that is the thumbhole, which also has a spot for resting your thumb on the rear of the receiver if you prefer that position while shooting.

The pistol grip has checkering on each side, and “Brocock” is emblazoned on the bottom of the pistol grip. The trigger guard is comprised of wood, and inside the trigger guard is a metal trigger which is wide, slightly curved, and is apparently made out of a single chunk of metal. Moving forward again, you find a single Allen head bolt which secure the action into the stock.

Ahead of that is the forestock, which is checkered on either side. Beyond that, the air reservoir protrudes from the forestock. A threaded metal cap on the end of the reservoir protects a male foster fitting which is used to charge the reservoir from a SCUBA tank or high pressure hand pump.

Above the reservoir is the .22 cal barrel which can be fitted with a silencer where legal. Moving back, you’ll find the receiver, which has an opening in the middle for the breech and dovetails for scope mounting. At the rear righthand side of the receiver is a lever that, when pushed down, allows the bolt to spring backward and open the breech. At the extreme back end of the receiver is a knurled knob which is the aft end of the bolt.

Now, here’s where I get to tell on myself again. When I first shot the Contour, I didn’t read the manual. I just charged it up, pushed the lever that opens the breech, slipped in a pellet, and tried to shoot . . . but the gun just wouldn’t go off! Maybe it has a safety, I thought.

I ran to the basement, pulled out the manual and read. The Contour has NO safety, it clearly said. Then I realized that I had not cocked the action by pulling the knurled knob back until it clicks. I did that, and it shot just fine. In fact, my trigger gauge told me that 10.9 ounces of pressure takes the first stage out of the trigger, and at 2 pounds 4 ounces, the shot goes off.

With a 2900 psi fill, the Contour will deliver 21 shots with JSB 15. gr. pellets. High velocity is 678 fps, low 641, average 661, which is about 15.5 fp of energy at the muzzle. Shooting at 13 yards in my side yard, with Crosman .22 Premiers and a four power Hawke scope, I found that I could shoot the exact spot that I wanted. First I blew out the center of the target, then I concentrated on precision sniping the small fragments of bulls eye left around the center. This is the kind of accuracy that I really enjoy and that would give me confidence in making accurate, humane shoots for pest control.

And if you want to load your Contour and put it on safe for travel in the field, just press the bolt release lever, but this time, do NOT pull the bolt back to cock the action. Now, load a pellet, and close the breech again. Now you're set up to carry the Contour, loaded, but not cocked. When you want to make a shot, press the bolt release lever, pull the bolt back to cock the action, then close the bolt again. You’re good to go, quickly and easily, and with no fumbling for a pellet.

I think Brocock has another clear winner with the Contour, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott
-

Brocock Returns – Part II – The Grand Prix

2009-11-30T01:57:00.001-07:00

In last week’s exciting episode, we found out how Brocock airguns had nearly been put out of business when the British government banned manufacturing, selling, purchasing, transferring or acquiring any air weapon using a self-contained gas cartridge system. The ban ripped away half of Brocock’s business. Even worse, it was the most profitable half of the firm’s business.

But Brocock didn’t take the blow lying down, and they took decisive action when they saw storm clouds headed their way. One of the most decisive steps was to hire the chief designer for now-defunct Falcon Pneumatics to create a new line of precharged pneumatic air rifles and pistols. The first of the new line was introduced in January, 2009, and has been met with better than anticipated demand.

It’s easy to understand why; I’ve been testing two samples from the new
Brocock line of airguns, and I think they are just terrific. This week, we’ll be taking a look at the Brocock Grand Prix.

The Brocock Grand Prix is a precharged air pistol. Stretching 15.5 inches long and weighing 2.8 lbs, it is available with and without sights. The sample that Airguns of Arizona sent me was the “sightless” version, but was fitted with a Hawke Red Dot sight which appears to be a notch above the quality of a lot of other red dots I have seen.

Let’s take a walk around the Grand Prix. It Grand Prix has an ambidextrous wooden “stock” with checkering on either side of the pistol grip. The rear of the stock overhangs the pistol grip by about an inch, so that the pistol nestles comfortably into the web between the shooter’s thumb and forefinger. While scarcely a match grip, the pistol grip is contoured nicely, including a lip at the bottom to support the shooter’s little finger, and I found that it felt very comfortable in my hand.

Moving forward, the trigger assembly is surrounded by a wooden trigger guard. Inside the trigger guard is the trigger assembly. The metal trigger is wide, slightly curved, and appears to be machined out of a single piece of metal. Just forward of the trigger guard is a single Allen head bolt that secures the receiver into the stock. Moving forward again, the forend is flattened, which allows the Grand Prix to be rested easily.

Ahead of that, you’ll find the air reservoir which has a screw-off metal cap. Under the cap is a male foster fitting for charging the air reservoir from a SCUBA tank or hand pump. Above that is the .22 cal. barrel. The muzzle has a screw-off fitting which reveals threads for fitting a silencer where legal.

Moving aft, you’ll find the metal receiver, which has an opening for the breech in the middle and dovetails for scope mounting fore and aft of the breech opening. On the right side of the rear section of the receiver, there is a lever, and at the very aft end of the receiver is a knurled knob. Overall, I found the fit and finish of the metal and the wood on the Grand Prix to be excellent and very appealing.

To ready the Grand Prix for shooting, remove the protective cap on the foster fitting and charge the reservoir to 200 bar/2900 psi. Press the lever at the rear of the receiver down, and the knurled knob springs backward, opening the breech. Pull the knurled knob backward until it clicks, and you have cocked the action. Insert a pellet into the breech, push the knob forward until it clicks to close the breech, and you’re good to go.

On my Lyman digital trigger gauge, it only took 11.4 ounces to ease the first stage out of the trigger on the Grand Prix. At 1 pound 7.5 ounces, the shot went off. I found the trigger to be crisp and predictable. With a 2,900 psi fill, the Grand Prix will deliver 35 shots. With JSB 15.9 gr. pellets, the high was 570 fps, the low 519, and the average 543, which works out to about 10.4 foot pounds.

I tried shooting the Grand Prix from a Creedmoor position at 13 yards with Crosman .22 Premier pellets, and I found that several times I put pellets in the same hole. When I can shoot that well with an air pistol with a red dot on it, that puts a smile on my face.

The bottom line: it looks to me like the Brocock folks have hit a home run with the Grand Prix.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The Return of Brocock -- Part I

2009-11-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

It wasn’t so long ago that you could visit the Airguns of Arizona website, click on “Brocock” and view wonderful airguns like “the Cattleman” and the “Buntline Special.” These airguns used the Brocock air cartridge system, which consisted of a metallic cartridge, which was pressurized with air, into which a pellet was inserted. The air cartridge was then inserted into the Brocock airgun and when you pulled the trigger, the air would be released, pushing the pellet down the barrel.

Some years ago, I tried a Brocock western style revolver, and I wasn’t hugely impressed by the performance of the air cartridges, but I loved the fit and finish of the guns. Little did I know at the time, Brocock air cartridge airguns were doomed.

Here’s how it happened. On March 13, 1996, Thomas Watt walked into the Dunblane Primary School in the Scotland, armed with two 9 mm automatic pistols and two .357 magnum revolvers, and slaughtered 16 children and one adult. The following year, the government almost completely banned all private ownership of handguns.

In 2002, the BBC reported: “Figures from NCIS (National Criminal Intelligence Service) show that converted Brococks now account for 35% of all guns recovered by the police. When used legally, the airgun fires small pellets using a compressed air charge in a cartridge that is loaded into the pistol. But criminal gangs have been adapting the guns by fitting special steel sleeves inside the chamber of the gun, enabling live .22 calibre bullets to be fired. In October, Bradford taxi driver Mohammed Basharat was murdered with a converted Brocock pistol. This weapon had been drilled out to take more powerful .38 calibre bullets.”

You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure on what would happen next. This is from a police website in the UK:

“On 20th January 2004, it became an offence to manufacture, sell, purchase, transfer or acquire any air weapon using a self-contained gas cartridge system.

From 1 May 2004, it became an offence, punishable by a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, to possess a self-contained gas cartridge weapon without the necessary firearm certificate.”

With the stroke of a pen, a mature airgun technology that had at least 75,000 customers in the UK was wiped out. On the face of it, you would think that that is would be game, set and match for Brocock airguns. But it didn’t turn out that way. Starting January, 2009, Brocock has come back in grand style in both the UK and the US.

I spoke with Nigel Silcock, owner of Brocock Airguns to find out why. “When the air cartridge guns were banned, we still had 50% of our business left. The thing that really hurt, however, was that we lost the half of our business that was most profitable,” he says.

But Silcock and his team are no dummies. When they saw trouble brewing on the horizon for the air cartridge guns, they began looking are precharge designs. They brought out the Enigma, but according to Silcock, it never really took off.

“Then Falcon Pneumatics closed, and the guy who did their design work came to work for us,” Silcock says, adding, “He knew how to put these things together.”

“We knew we had to come up with an action, a reservoir, and plan to produce a whole family of successful airguns,” he says.

And indeed they have. Since the introduction of the first of the new line in January, demand has been twice what Brocock had anticipated.

Next time, we’ll start to explore this new line of airguns by taking a look at Brocock’s new Grand Prix pistol.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Everett's strange encounter

2009-11-16T01:47:00.000-07:00

After I posted the blog entitled “Telling on myself,” I received a response, in the form of a private email, and it's a doozie.

Everett Bosch wrote to me to relate the story of a strange encounter he had recently while airgunning. Everett is a Presbyterian Minister in the Town of Tracy, California. Tracy, Everett tells me, is situated about 60 miles east of San Francisco and about 60 miles south of Sacramento. It used to be a small farming town, but with the growth of the Bay area, has increasingly become a bedroom community for folks who commute to the Bay area.

But folks still farm in Tracy, and ground squirrels are definitely a problem for the farmers. Everett is an airgunner, proud owner of a scope .22 Discovery, and he likes to help people out by doing “pest control favors” while at the same time keeping his eye sharp.

On a recent Friday afternoon, he decided to indulge one of his country boy pastimes by getting out his Discovery and going out west of the new Catholic Church site to help out a local farmer by reducing the severe ground squirrel-caused crop predation in that area. He walked about a quarter into the fields from where he parked his car and began to search for ground squirrels. As he searched, from time to time he would look toward the road.

After a while, Everett looked and saw two highway patrols cars some distance up the road from him. He figured they were doing “some sort of highway patrol stuff” and gave it no further thought. A while later, he looked again, and there were now four highway patrol cars at the same location. “Boy, something must be going on,” he thought.

He was about to find out that he was what was going on.

Having hunted for about an hour, Everett decided to call it quits.

As he walked back to his car, from the quarter-mile distant road, with its four Highway Patrol and now one Sheriff's patrol cars, came the loudspeaker command: “You in the field with the rifle... put the rifle down! Put your hands up! Start walking toward the road!”

Everett thought, “Oooh boy, I've done it now! I can see the paper now: ‘Local pastor arrested on terrorism charges!’ As I walked the very long distance, my hands slowly drifted downward a bit: ‘Get your hands away from your body! Lift them HIGH! When you get to the pole, a unit will meet you.’ The CHP car came to me, stopping about 15 yards away and the officers inside took over. One got out, standing behind his car door with pistol drawn and aimed carefully at me. The other said, ‘Turn around; keep your hands very high! Get down on one knee; now onto the other one; cross your legs over your ankles!’ At my age and with my extra-long feet, do you know how hard that is? I'm sure I detected the end of a laugh when I heard, ‘Don't fall over.’ The officer at my back proceeded to give a very thorough pat down, over, under, and around. He asked, ‘Is that a cell phone in the belt holster under the shirt?’”

Soon it became very apparent that the Everett wasn’t doing anything illegal. He was merely trying to help a local farmer with a pest problem. The responding officers even commented on his “impressive” air rifle.

Everett now has a written statement of release from custody by the investigating officer (though he said Everett was never in custody... whatever Everett was in, he was now released from it!). Apparently the local authorities had received three phone calls, not from the local residents, but from motorists on the highway, reporting “a man with a rifle.” The Deputy Sheriff said that it was just “Suspicious Circumstances” to which they had responded. Everett thinks maybe he'll have his statement of release framed.

He concludes: “You see, this is no longer the little country town called Tracy, occupied by farmer-types and mostly blue collar workers accustomed to 'gopher patrols'. It is now the city of Tracy owned by Bay Area people who call 911 out of fear of guys with rifles.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Telling on myself

2009-11-09T01:34:00.001-07:00

I collect stories. I particularly like true stories of things that I have actually happened to people. The incidents might be funny or strange or just mildly unusual, but I like them because they underscore how whacky real-life can be. I hope you will share some of your stories, but to get the pump started, here are a few things that have happened to me while airgunning.

A close encounter of the curious kind. Not long after I first began testing and writing about airguns, I was sitting in the front yard, shooting an HW97 with a huge scope mounted on it. I was concentrating on trying to complete a few shots in the fading light when my wife stuck here head out the front door to see how I was doing.

Suddenly she began laughing.

“What?” I said.

“You have an audience,” she replied.

“What do you mean ‘an audience’?”

“Very carefully, look to your right,” she said.

Slowly I turned my head and looked across the lane that divides our property. There, standing on a small ridge not 80 feet away, three deer were peering through the trees, intently watching me with all the curiosity of young children.

I wondered what they were thinking. We’re they talking in muffled deer whispers about me? “Jeez, Marge, do ya think he’s a good shot?” “I dunno. If he is, we better get oughta here.”

The buck stops here. One spring I was in the side yard, shooting at a bout 20 yards with a PCP air rifle with a high magnification scope mounted. As I peered down range for my first shot, all I saw was a blur. I tried twisting the focus ring on the scope all the way out. No improvement. So then I tried turning the focus all the way in the other direction. Still all I saw was a blur.

I lifted my head, looked over the scope, and found a beautiful 4-point buck standing between me and the target. He stood there looking at me. “Get out of here!” I yelled. No response. “Git! Shoo!” Nothing. Finally, I turned my back on the deer, whistled Dixie for a few seconds, and when I turned back, he was gone.

The awful truth about the common denominator. I usually shoot “Ok” most of the time, but every shooter will occasionally have an off day. One day, I learned that lesson Big Time.

I was testing a spring-piston air rifle that is known for its accuracy, but no matter what pellet I tried, I couldn’t get to group better than 1.5 inches at 30 yards for a 5-shot group. I came storming into the house using several of the more colorful short words to peel the paint off the walls: “Those blinkety-blink springers are more trouble than they are worth! Why, you’d be lucky to hit the broadside of a barn from the inside. It’s a wonder that anybody shoots them. You must have to be some sort of savant to get them to behave . . .” and so forth.

Teed-off to a fare-the-well, I grabbed my .22 caliber Career precharged rifle which was a known tackdriver. I charged back out to my range, put up a fresh target, and fired five shots for a group with the best pellet for that gun. I walked up to the target and found I had gotten the same result as with the springer.

“What, have all my airguns gone to blazes?” I asked the empty range. Then I realized that the one common denominator in this experiment was the nut behind the trigger: me. Some days, it’s just plain your fault that the shooting is not going well. Along those line, Brian Johnson, a very gifted shooter, once said to me, “When I miss, I assume it’s my fault, not the guns.” That’s excellent advice.

If you feel like telling on yourself, I’d love to hear your interesting airgunning story.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

How I got started in airgunning

2009-11-02T01:42:00.003-07:00

My very first airgun was a Daisy, but not the vaunted, legendary Red Ryder. Instead my first airgun was a Daisy Model 25.

It was Christmas. I was ten, sitting in the living room with my Dad. The opening of presents was over, and I was disappointed. I hadn’t gotten my BB gun. But, just like in the movie “A Christmas Story,” my Dad said, “Wait a minute, there’s another present over here.”

And he pulled a long, slim box from behind the couch. In it was my Model 25. It was beginning of many happy hours for me and my Dad.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Model 25, it is a pump action BB gun. Pump once for each shot. To load the Model 25, you unscrew the shot tube from the muzzle, push a slide down and lock it, and then carefully (very carefully) pour BBs into the tiny hole until the shot tube is full to the top. Then you have to screw the shot tube back into the muzzle, and the fun can begin. The Model 25 had a rear sight that could be flipped from a peep sight to a notch sight.

I don’t know how many thousands of BBs went down the smooth bore of my Model 25, but I can remember there were summers when it seemed I was at the corner store every other day buying another tube of BBs. I do know that eventually I became a pretty good instinctive shooter. I didn’t use the sights anymore; I simply looked over the top of the barrel and pretty much hit what I intended. I think, though, that if I could pop back in time, I would be astounded at how short the distances were that we normally shot at. I think that many of our shots were taken at 15-20 feet. No matter; we had lots of fun.

Eventually trigger seer became so worn that the gun was now on “full auto” – as soon as you returned the cocking pump to its original position, it would go off, whether you pulled the trigger or not. Nevertheless, I still have that Model 25. I can’t bear to throw it away.

I drifted away from shooting after that, concerned with the things that young men chase after. It wasn’t until four decades later that I got back into airguns again. A fellow writer was visiting from Scotland. On a whim one day we purchased a Marksman Biathlon Trainer, a rudimentary low-power break barrel springer with plastic match sights and .177 rifled barrel. Even though it had what a friend called “a seventeen-stage trigger,” I was astounded with how far it could shoot with a fair degree of accuracy. My Scottish friend and I shot up a couple of tins of pellets in a few days.

We knew nothing about trajectories, velocities, pellet selection, scopes, triggers or any of the other considerations that fill my head now when I consider an airgun. All we knew was that we were enjoying the heck out of shooting.

There was another thing that we did not know, although I know it now: that unobtrusive, unremarkable box that housed the Marksman Biathlon Trainer also contained the Seeds of My Doom. That’s right: my fate was written on the wall, if I only had sense enough to realize it. And here’s why: that Marksman box also contained a glorious, full color catalog from Beeman adult precision airguns.

When I looked at the beautiful metal and wood of those finely craft airguns, I was lost. I knew I had to find out more about them. And that was the beginning of the road that eventually led to me writing this blog.

That’s my story. How about posting a comment that tells how you got started in airgunning?

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Just how durable are those springers anyway?

2009-10-26T01:05:00.006-07:00

(An aside) Question: What's in the boxes?

Answer: a new shipment of goodies from IZH/Baikal.

Now, back to today's episode: I get curious from time to time whether one particular type of airgun powerplant is more reliable than another. As I explained in my “A Shooter’s Look at Airgun Powerplants,” each powerplant has its own positives and negatives, advantages and disadvantages, but if you are looking solely at the issue of reliability, which powerplant would win out?

I posted this question on the “Yellow” forum and got a wide variety of responses. Some people weighed in on the side of springers like the RWS/Diana 48. Others voted for the match rifles like the FWB 601 or FWB 300, while still others championed PCPs like the Air Force Condor.

In 2005, FT shooter Brad Troyer reported in his blog that an HW97 that he “bought over ten years ago has well over 100,000 rounds through it and it still shoots accurately.” I tried to reach Brad to find out the current status of that gun and whether it has been rebuilt at all, but I haven’t heard from him yet.

But then I got an email from an air rifle shooter that totally blew my socks off. He wishes to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, but he has given me permission to relate his story. The gist of his tale is that he went through an incredibly rough, grief-stricken period in his life, and he used airgun shooting as a kind of therapy to deal with the stress.

Here’s what he had to say: “Back in august of 2001 I purchased an RWS 350M from Air Gun Express. This was an early production .177 with the T01 trigger.”

“I shot 1 tin 250ct. of Crosman Premier Heavies through this gun 7 days a week for 3 years. That comes out to 273,750 rounds. Now admittedly I did miss a few days, but I also made up time by shooting two tins 500ct. on some weekend days. Even if we estimate for 200 rounds 6 days a week we end up with 187,200 rounds. This was my only air gun during this time frame, and the CPH were purchased at the local Wal-Mart as they were readily available.”

(Note: The place where he was shooting was at an elevation of over 5700 ft.)

He adds, “I sold the rifle in 2004 to a fella in Indiana fully expecting the gun was in need of a rebuild as the velocity was pretty punk by this time. The rifle was bone stock, No after market kit of any kind, no lube tune etc...When he tore the gun down the piston seal was torn, and pretty well fried. Here's the kicker !!! The breech seal was still solid (No leaks), and the spring was perfectly intact (No Breaks) although it was indeed crooked as hell, and pretty well shot.

“Nevertheless when you take into account that the gun was completely stock shooting at the very least 187,200 rounds of 10.5 gr. pellets over 3 years time, I find this pretty remarkable . The only real maintenance was religiously cleaning the barrel no less than once a week (CPH are high antimony, and typically Filthy as hell) and at high velocities they lead the hell out of the barrel in the worst possible way, and I'll bare witness to that for fact!”

He concludes: “I'm a Dyed in the wool Weihrauch man all the way...and have no predisposition to ever purchase another RWS rifle. I'm completely sold on Weihrauch's build quality and see no good reason to change that for anyone, but I'm forced to admit you would be very hard pressed to find ANY Springer that could repeat the experiment.”

All I can say to that is: “Wow!”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Some of My Current Favorites

2009-10-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

Do you ever play The Perfect Airgun Game? I sure do. Sometimes when I’m drifting off to sleep at night I think about what would be “the perfect” airgun. Of course, you don’t have to think about the whole idea for very long before you realize that what constitutes perfection depends a whole lot on what you intend to do with it – what the mission profile is. The airgun that is awesome for Olympic 10-meter shooting is going to be a lot different from the airgun that excels at long-range varminting, and very different from the airgun that is just great for family backyard fun.

I get to play with a lot of airguns, and over time I find myself turning to certain ones over and over again. So, here are some of my current favorites, and the reasons I like them. This list is drawn from currently available airguns that I have first-hand personal experience with.

Beeman R1 – This is a big springer that seems overbuilt for the job and shoots very pleasantly right out of the box. Lots of people hunt with them, and I have had good success shooting one (.177 cal.) in field target competition.

Beeman R7 – This diminutive, low-power springer is a favorite of many shooters because it is easy to shoot well. I have spent many happy afternoons plinking in the back yard with my R7. You can hunt small game with an R7, provided you keep the distances short and the shot placement precise.

HW35E – This springer is a classic in its lines, incredibly smooth performance and its barrel latch. If someone held a gun to my head and said, “You can only have one springer, choose!” I think the HW35E would be at the top of my list.

Crosman Nitro – The Nitro Piston Short Stroke rifle has a lot going for it: gas-ram powerplant, good accuracy, no twang or vibration, and you can leave it cocked, ready to deal with those Wascally Wabbits in the garden.

RWS 54 – In my view, this is the king of the long-range self-contained varmint air rifles. Its recoilless action shoots like a PCP and is satisfyingly accurate.

RWS LP8 – This springer pistol, with a red dot mounted, is currently my go-to pistol. It cocks easily and is great fun to shoot, but I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that any of the HW45 pistols or Beeman P-series pistols are just as much fun.

Single-stroke pneumatic pistols – I like the Daisy Avanti 747, the Gamo Compact, and the IZH-46M, and I can’t really pick a favorite among them. They are all accurate and fun, but if you want to mount a red dot, but Gamo is the easiest.

Crosman 2300S – This CO2 pistol qualifies for IHMSA “product class” silhouette competition (as does the Daisy 747). It’s wickedly accurate. Drop a scope on it, and you have an “instant” pistol suitable for pistol field target competition.

Wow, I’ve chewed up my space for this time and haven’t even gotten to PCPs!

How about telling me what some of your favorite airguns are, and why?

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

At Last – A Better Way to Package Pellets for Shipping

2009-10-12T01:38:00.000-07:00

The whole thing began a little ominously. I was chatting with Airguns of Arizona’s normally cheerful Greg Glover when he got serious on me: “I’m going to be sending you some pellets,” he said, adding, “You might want to have a camera handy when you open them up.”

Oh? Why? I wondered.

“Just open the pellets and let me know what you think,” Greg said.

After he hung up, I remembered that he had mentioned AoA’s quest for a better way to package pellets. They wanted to deliver pellets in as perfect condition as possible without going to stupid lengths like swaddling a single tin of pellets in a bale of bubble wrap. They were tired of tins getting beat up in transit, he said.

A day or so later I get an email notification from UPS that a package is en route to me from AoA. My fevered writer’s imagination goes into high gear. I could picture titanium clamshells lovingly cupping pellet tins centered in a nest of resilient elastomers. Or maybe some George Jetson/Star Wars combo based on hovercraft-anti-gravity tech. “May the Force be with your pellets.” Or perhaps pellet tins cast into a cloud of poly-something-or-other foam and protected by one of those cool metal cases the international couriers use (preferably handcuffed to the wrist to prevent lost).

So I was ready, primed for something spectacular, on high alert. I even put fresh batteries in my camera.

About a week after the email notification, our UPS guy drops off a thoroughly unremarkable package: a cube of cardboard measuring a hair over six inches on a side. (An aside: I’m convinced that our UPS guy has Ninja, or SEAL or SAS training; he can leave a package on our front stoop without setting off our security system – two dachshunds. These same two dogs will sound ‘all hands to battle stations’ if a butterfly so much as lands on our back deck.)

So I pick up the cube and eyeball it. Nothing obvious. Easy-like, I slide my Buck tactical knife out of my pocket, flick open the blade, and quietly slit the tape. The top two cardboard flaps part slightly. Other than that, nothing. No fweeeet or zeeeee as robotic extensors activate, no hum from gyroscopic stabilizers. Hmmm.

I lean over, spread the flap, revealing two more cardboard flaps. I spread these flaps to reveal a tin of JSB Exact Jumbo Monster .22 pellets nestled in the exact center of a square of cardboard . . . except that it’s not just a square of cardboard. It’s a whole stack of squares of cardboard that have a circle punched out in the center so the pellet tin can live there unmolested as the box travels through whatever horrors UPS subjects it to on the way from Arizona to upstate New York.

Underneath the tin is a square of cardboard and below that, another laminated cardboard hole containing a tin of JSB .177 Express pellets. Below that, the same thing again, but this time with a bigger hole to accommodate a tin of JSB .20 cal pellets (the tins are bigger, see?). One more layer down, I find a tin of JSB .22 Jumbo Express pellets, and below that, the bottom of the box.

The upshot of this is that four tins of pellets arrived in perfect shape, thanks to Airguns of Arizona’s new packaging scheme. And, if getting my pellets in pristine condition were not enough, my floor is not covered with those foam plastic packing peanuts that seem to cling to everything. Heck, you can even recycle all of the packaging when you're done with it. Is that neat, or what?

BSA Lone Star – Part II

2009-10-05T01:48:00.002-07:00

To shoot the Lone Star, make sure you have cocked the action by pressing in the cocking knob (see Part I), take aim, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger. The slack comes out of the first stage at about 10 ounces, and at one pound, ten ounces, the shot goes off. The trigger is adjustable for trigger weight and sear engagement after you have removed the action from the stock. But given how light and crisp the trigger is as set by the factory, I don’t see the need to fiddle around with it.

Now, I have a confession to make: prior to the Lone Star, I had never shot a .25 cal. airgun. My impression is that it is extremely easy to shoot well. The Lone Star is equipped with one of BSA’s match barrels, and the pellets simply go where the gun is pointed. Shooting tight groups is easy.

I’m also impressed that you can feel the recoil when the Lone Star goes off and the muzzle lifts a bit. The Lone Star will launch 30.9 grain Kodiak pellets at an average of 751 fps, delivering 30 shots from a fill with an extreme spread of 25 fps. But since there is no pressure gauge, you better keep track of your shot count.

The other thing that impresses me about the Lone Star is that it is LOUD. Not as raucous as a .22 cal. Sumatra, but this is certainly not the airgun you want to be popping off in a suburban neighborhood. You will, no doubt, attract unwanted attention.

The rear sight on the Lone Star is somewhat unusual, to my thinking. The elevation adjustment has the customary click-stops, but the windage adjustment has click-stops that are very subtle. The first time I adjusted the sight, I thought there were no click-stops; the second time, I could “sorta” feels the clicks. I tried the iron sights for a while, decided my eyes were no longer up to precision shooting with classic iron sights, and mounted a scope.

The scope I chose was a Hawke Airmax 3-9 x 40 AO. This scope has the Map 6 reticle, which has extra aiming points for compensating for the trajectory of an air rifle. Using free downloadable software, you can set up the Hawke scope so you know exactly where your aiming points are when you go out in the field. The Ballistic Reticle Software even has presets for various air and powder-burning calibers. I used Hawke rings to mount the scope. I like them because the anti-recoil pin can be easily screwed in or out, depending upon whether you need it or not.

I liked shooting the Lone Star with the Hawke scope. If I were choosing a hunting air rifle, it would be high on my list of candidates.

I felt the Lone Star and the Hawke scope were an attractive and potent combination, offering the ability to deliver a hard-hitting .25 pellet exactly where you want it, and it will certainly hold an inch at 50 yards. For some accuracy results at 50 yards, check out this video. If you want a hunting rifle that will dispatch your quarry with authority, the BSA Lone Star may be just what you are looking for.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

BSA .25 caliber Lone Star

2009-09-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

In the literature that comes with the BSA .25 cal Lone Star is a note that says, with typical British understatement: “Professional Hunting Rifle.”

And it truly is a professional hunting rifle, a big, hairy, powerful hunting rifle. Stretching 41.5 inches from end to end and weighing 7.8 lbs, the .25 Lone Star is capable of generating 35 to 40 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle and delivering a lot of that energy downrange while maintaining commendable accuracy.

It’s one of the few sporting precharged air rifles that is available these days with iron sights. I can picture an English gamekeeper carrying one of these as he goes about his normal duties. When he encounters a pest animal, pah-BOOM!, and it’s lights out.

At the rear of the Lone Star is a soft rubber butt pad emblazoned with the BSA “3-rifle” symbol. Moving forward, the right hand hardwood stock has a high comb and pronounced cheek piece. Moving forward again, the pistol grip is checkered on either side, and the end piece is stamped with the BSA logo. At the top of the pistol grip, just under the end of the receiver, there is a concave indentation for resting your thumb while shooting. The black metal trigger guard has the initials “BSA” on the bottom surface, and it houses and adjustable two-stage trigger.

Ahead of the trigger guard, the forestock is checkered on either side. At the end of the forestock there is a knob that we’ll get back to in just a bit. Above the knob is the air reservoir with a threaded end cap. Above the air reservoir is the barrel with a blade front sight mounted near the muzzle. The muzzle brake has a screw-off ring that allows a silencer to be fitted where legal. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find the receiver which has scope grooves fore and aft of the breech. On the forward part of the breech, the rear sight is mounted. On the right side of the breech, toward the rear, are a push button for releasing the bolt and, below that, a lever type safety (forward for fire, back for safe).

That’s it. To get the Lone Star ready for shooting, unscrew the end cap on the air reservoir, fit the filler probe to your SCUBA tank or pump, and charge the Lone Star up to a maximum of 232 bar. Make sure that your SCUBA yoke or high pressure pump has a pressure gauge, because there is no gauge on the Lone Star to tell you “when’s enough.”

To load the Lone Star, press down the “probe release catch” on the right side of the receiver; the bolt will spring backward, opening the breech. Place a pellet in the breech and push the bolt forward until it clicks. The Lone Star is now loaded.

You can walk around with the Lone Star, click off the safety, and squeeze the trigger, and nothing will happen. Why? Because you haven’t cocked the action. To do that, grab the cocking knob at the end of the forestock and press it back toward the pistol grip until it clicks. Anytime you want, you can de-cock the Lone Star by pushing in the cocking knob, pulling the trigger, and slowly releasing the cocking knob.

Next time, we’ll shoot the Lone Star.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The Incredibly Versatile Challenger

2009-09-21T01:39:00.002-07:00

Back in April, I had the opportunity to take a fast early look at Crosman’s new three-position, sporter level PCP match rifle, the Challenger 2009. I was impressed. Based on the Discovery chassis, the Challenger incorporates some goodies – notably the trigger – from Crosman’s Marauder air rifle and some of the Marauder’s tuning capabilities. The result is an entry level match rifle that does a lot of things well.

One of the things that slipped by me when I first looked at the Challenger 2009 is how incredibly versatile this air rifle is. To start, you can shoot three-position air rifle with it, and you can use it as an entry level rifle for shooting Olympic-style ten-meter competition.

But the Challenger also qualifies for the new competition developed by the Civilian Marksmanship Program, called National Match Air Rifle (NMAR). Shot indoors or outdoors on 10-meter ranges, NMAR events simulate highpower rifle shooting and are shot at reduced highpower rifle targets. There are two official NMAR targets. The AR-SR is an exact, proportionate reduction of the standard highpower rifle 200-yard short-range target. The AR-MR is a similarly reduced version of the 600-yard mid-range target.

Three classes of air rifles qualify for NMAR competition: AR Class, Match and Sporter. The AR class – or so-called “clone” rifles – are modified sporter or precision class air rifles with stock systems configured similar to M16/AR15-type rifles. The NMAR Match air rifle class includes any precision air rifle that is ISSF legal. The Sporter class includes air rifles of 7.5 lbs maximum with 1.5 lb minimum trigger pull. That’s where the Challenger 2009 fits in.

There are two basic courses of fire for NMAR. The standing course consists of two sighting shots and 20 shots for record on the AR-SR (200-yard) target in the standing position. The full course/half course consists of 20 (full course) or 10 (half course) shots each in the standing, sitting or kneeling, and prone position, fired in that order of the AR-SR (for sitting and standing) and AR-MR (600-yard) (for prone) targets.

There are lots of other things you can do with the Challenger. Get yourself some of Lee Shaver’s blackpowder silhouette sight inserts (available from many gun shops), slip the post-and-bead insert into the Challenger’s front globe sight, and make like Matthew Quigley shooting at the UJ Quigley Bucket Challenge.

(I feel like one of those silly infomercials here) But wait! There’s more! If you mount a scope on the Challenger, which is really easy to do, thanks to its scope rails, and put some spent 9mm brass out at 35 yards, you can minisnipe with the Challenger. With a scope, you also can (and some folks have already done it very successfully) shoot NRA air rifle silhouette in the “match” category. Beyond that, the engineers at Crosman are also exploring the options for turning the Challenger 2009 into an entry-level field target rifle.

At this point, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out some of the Challenger’s other admirable qualities. First, it’s really, really accurate. With a big scope mounted, I found I could hit the exact spot on the target that I wanted at 20 yards . . . for example, that little spec of white still showing where I had already blown the center out of the bullseye. That’s the kind of accuracy that puts a grin on my face.

Second, the trigger is excellent and makes it easy to shoot well. Third, the Challenger delivers 100 shots from a 2000 psi fill. That means if you fill it with a high pressure hand pump, it will be relatively easy to get it up to pressure (certainly easier than going to 3,000 psi) and you won’t be refilling the Challenger every two seconds. And if you fill the Challenger from a 3,000 psi SCUBA tank, you’ll get a lot of fills before you have to go back to the dive shop for a refill.

In addition, the Challenger is makes very little noise, which if you live close to others, is excellent for maintaining good neighbor relations. Last but not least, the Challenger has a highly adjustable stock, including a length of pull that is adjustable from 12.5 to 16 inches, which means it will fit a wide range of different size shooters.

In short, the Challenger is a very versatile air rifle, offering its owner the ability to compete in many different shooting disciplines, and providing access to a whole lot of fun in formal competition and the back yard.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

BSA SuperTEN

2009-09-14T01:09:00.004-07:00

Before we get to today's blog, a couple of quick notes. First, Airguns of Arizona now has JSB Monsters in stock. These .22 cal. pellets weigh 25.4 grains and come in 200-count tins. Second, AoA has a new deal on JSB pellets. Order just 4 tins at the same time and get $1 off on each tin.

The BSA SuperTEN is an interesting and accurate air rifle. Available in .177 and .22, the SuperTEN is available in three levels of “trim.” The base model has no silencer, the next level up has a full factory non-removable silencer, and the top model has a full bull barrel. All models have a ten-shot rotary magazine, fully adjustable match trigger, and a specially crowned match barrel.

The SuperTEN is a so-called “bottle” airgun. That’s because the air reservoir, mounted at the end of the forestock, is in fact a steel bottle for holding the compressed air. To charge the bottle, it must be unscrewed from the air rifle, attached to a SCUBA tank or pump, and charged up to 230 bar (3336 PSI).

One of the things that makes the SuperTEN attractive is that it is a regulated airgun. That means there is a mechanism in the action that, like the diver’s regulator on a SCUBA tank, controls how much air the SuperTEN can sip for each shot. As a result, the SuperTEN is extremely consistent in its velocity from shot to shot until the air pressure in the air reservoir drops so low that it must be refilled.

The SuperTEN is available at two different power levels. The British version keeps the power just below 12 foot pounds (fp) in both .177 and .22 and delivers a large number of shots per fill. The export version produces 22 fp in .177 and 30 fp in .22 and delivers 40 shots per fill. The regulator controls the power, and there are two different regulators: one for Britain and one for export. One of the neat features of the SuperTEN is that, if you own both regulators, called the “cigar” regulator, you can swap between them in just a few minutes. This gives you the flexibility to choose between lower power and lots of shots and higher power and fewer shots.

Starting at the back of the SuperTEN, you find a black rubber buttplate that is adjustable vertically. Just loosen a screw in the middle, slide the buttplate up or down as needed, and retighten the screw. Ahead of that, a thick black plastic spacer attaches to the stock which has a pronounced cheekpiece on the left side. Moving forward, the pistol grip is checkered and has a dark hardwood cap. The top of the pistol grip, just under the receiver, there is a concave spot for resting your thumb while shooting.

Forward of the pistol grip is the black metal trigger guard, inside of which is a very crisp and highly adjustable two-stage trigger. Moving ahead again, you’ll find the forestock, which has checkered grip panels on either side. At the end of the forestock is the air reservoir, which must be unscrewed from the SuperTEN for charging.

Above the air reservoir is the barrel, which is attached to a black metal receiver. On the left side of the receiver is a slot into which the 10-shot rotary magazine is inserted. The magazine also protrudes slightly out of the right side of the receiver. There you’ll also find a slide-action safety (forward to fire, back to safe the action) and the bolt, which rides in a track with two slots. On top of the receiver is a full-length 10.8mm dovetailed scope rail.

When I shot the .22 cal. base model SuperTEN, I found that it averaged 940 fps with JSB .22 jumbo express pellets and produced a .81 ctc group at 50 yards. Further, the trigger was a pleasure. When you shoot the SuperTEN, be aware of one trick: you have to make sure that you pull the bolt all the way back and down into the rear slot before cycling the bolt forward again. If you don’t, the SuperTEN will not cock and will not shoot. When you work the bolt again, you run the risk of loading two pellets into the barrel.

The SuperTEN enjoys a reputation as one of the most accurate airguns available, but it is being phased out, to be replaced by the BSA R10 which has the features – a quick fill fitting and a pressure gauge – that airgunners are requesting today.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Lasers and red dots and pistols – oh my! Part II

2009-09-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

Except for the grips, the Smith & Wesson 6-inch revolver is entirely made of metal, detailed so that it looks and feels like its powder burning counterpart, and it weighs nearly three-quarters of a pound more than the Crosman 3576 revolver.

To get the S&W ready for shooting, you remove the right side panel on the pistol grip, which reveals the receptacle for the CO2 cartridge. Pull the lever at the base of pistol grip, insert a CO2 cartridge into its receptacle, turn the knurled brass wheel until it makes contact with the bottom of the cartridge, then return the lever at the base of the pistol grip to its original position. That pierces the cartridge.

To access the magazine on the S&W, press the release (located on the left side of the frame, just below the hammer) forward, and the 10-shot magazine will swing out to the left. You can then load the magazine in place or remove it for loading.

The S&W is equipped with an adjustable rear sight and a blade front sight that work well. In fact, the S&W comes standard with three front sight blades of different widths that can be interchanged to suit your taste. To make sighting easier, though, I mounted a Walther Top Point II Red Dot sight. This required taking the rear sight off the revolver and mounting an optional weaver rail. An 11 mm rail is also available, but since the red dot had weaver mounts, the choice was obvious.

When you look through the red dot sight, it appears that a red dot has been projected on the target, but that is just a trick of the eye. The image of the red dot is only visible when you look through the sight, and the dot is not visible to others. The Walther red dot has 11 brightness settings, and it works well on any target whether in bright sunlight or not. Once you get it sighted in, target acquisition is very fast: swing the gun up, look through the sight, and where the dot appears, that is where the pellet will hit if you are shooting from your sight-in distance.

The combo is a lot of fun to shoot, and it looks very, very professional.

When I got both combos sighted in, I experimented with shooting a paper targets and then at a spaghetti sauce can. At seven yards, using Daisy MaxSpeed wadcutter pellets, neither CO2 revolver would punch a hole through the can, although they would dent it. But with RWS HyperMax non-lead pointed pellets, I found either gun would easily punch a hole through the can. That tells me that these revolvers have the potential for defending the bird feeder at short range.

Certainly either one of these combos – the S&W with red dot or the Crosman 3576 with laser – will deliver hours of fun for backyard shooting and practice. Heck, on one of the forums, I read of one fellow competing in air pistol silhouette with his Crosman revolver and doing surprisingly well.

Recently, a ham radio friend asked for a recommendation for a repeater air pistol. I suggested the S&W. He called a couple of weeks later to say he was well pleased with it, but he had a problem: when his brother-in-law came visiting, he couldn’t get the S&W away from him!

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Lasers and red dots and pistols – oh my!

2009-08-31T01:40:00.002-07:00

Before we get rolling this week, a quick update: if you want to make your Crosman Nitro NPSS even nicer, install one of Steve from NC's Nitro Custom Triggers. It reduces the trigger pull from over five pounds to less than two and makes a good air rifle even better.

Recently I tested a pair of air pistol and sight combinations that really put a grin on my face, and I suspect that a lot of airgunners will like them as well.

The first was a Crosman 3576 revolver. The second is a Smith & Wesson 6” revolver. Both are CO2 powered 10-shot single-action/double action .177 caliber revolvers; both use 12-gram CO2 cartridges that “live” in the pistol grip, and both launch 7.9 grain pellets at around 400 fps on a warm day. Likewise, both will exhibit significant drops in velocity (as much as 100 fps) if you insist on emptying the magazine as quickly as possible. In double-action mode, both have trigger pulls that feel heavier than I like, but put either of these pistols in single-action mode by pulling the hammer back, and suddenly you have a pistol with a nice, crisp trigger. And both, I’m happy to say, can be quite accurate.

Despite the similarities, there are differences between the two pistols. The 3576 grip and frame are made of plastic, but it has a rifled steel barrel. To load pellets in the 3576, you press a button on the top of the frame and pull the barrel downward. The action “breaks” open, revealing a 10-shot plastic magazine that can be loaded in place or removed for loading.

The 3576 is equipped with a front blade sight and an adjustable notch rear sight. But to make the pistol easier to aim, I decided to equip it with a Crosman Laser sight. Mounting the laser requires slipping the laser out of its mount, then slipping mount down over the rib on the top of the 3576 barrel, then tightening the mount just a bit. Having inserted the batteries into the laser, you slip the laser back into the mount, orienting it so that one of the black adjustment screws points up, and the other black adjustment screw points to the left (as the gun is facing forward). Next you finish tightening the mount on the barrel, then tighten the two black screws on the top of the laser mount.

To sight in the laser, turn it on, point it at your sight-in target, and shoot. If the point of impact is not where the laser was pointed, loosen the gold locking screw on the right hand side of the laser, and adjust the laser. Turn the top adjustment screw clockwise to raise the point of impact, and turn the side adjustment screw clockwise to move the point of impact to the left. Do the opposite to move the point of impact in the opposite directions. Once you get the 3576 shooting where the laser is pointed, tighten the gold looking screw.

A note: since the laser adjustment directions are somewhat count-intuitive, and since they require the use of two allen wrenches furnished with the sight, make sure you store the directions and wrenches someplace safe for the day you want to replace the laser batteries and sight in the laser again.

I found this combo a lot of fun. The laser actually projects a bright red dot on the target that can be seen by others. There are no brightness adjustments on the laser, just a simple on/off switch. I found the red dot to be highly visible on a white target even in bright sunlight, but on a variegated background, like the highly colorful printing on a spaghetti sauce can, it can take a moment to spot the laser dot. Nevertheless, I really got a charge out of this laser-sighted revolver. No need to look through or align sights; just put the dot where you want it and pull the trigger. What fun!

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Browning’s 800 Mag Air Pistol

2009-08-24T01:47:00.003-07:00

The new Browning 800 Mag air pistol truly fits the definition of “an air rifle you can hold in one hand.” The 800 Mag is a .177 caliber break barrel spring-piston air pistol that generates velocities with standard weight pellets (i.e., not flyweight pellets) that are faster than a Beeman R7 air rifle and faster than 99% of air pistols that I can think of.

The 800 Mag is a large air pistol. It stretches 18 inches from the muzzle to the end of the receiver and weighs 3.9 lbs. The main receiver tube is made of metal. On top of the receiver is an 11mm dovetail for mounting a scope or red dot sight. To the rear of the dovetail is a green fiber optic rear sight that is adjustable for elevation and windage. At the extreme aft end of the receiver is a matte black plastic cap.

Below the receiver tube is matte black plastic assembly that extends the full length of the receiver. This plastic assembly, in turn, mates to the matte black pistol grip through a sliding rail system (we’ll get back to this rail system in just a little while). The pistol grip is ambidextrous, has indents for fingers, and incorporates a plastic trigger guard. Inside the trigger guard you’ll find a black plastic trigger which is adjustable for first stage travel only and a metal Gamo-style automatic safety (push away from the trigger to fire and pull toward the trigger to safe the action.)

Underneath the 800 Mag, just forward of the trigger guard, is a slot for accommodating the cocking linkage when the barrel is broken for cocking and loading. Forward of that is the barrel and at the end of that, a muzzle weight that incorporates a mount for the red fiber optic front sight. That’s all there is to the Browning 800 Mag . . . almost.

To get the 800 Mag ready to shoot you need an additional part – you have to first slide the “cocking assist handle” over the muzzle. The front sight fits in the slot of the cocking assist handle. I estimate the cocking effort for the 800 Mag to be in the low-thirty-pounds range. It is definitely “stout” for an air pistol. The cocking assist handle does two thing for you: (1) it gives you additional leverage for cocking the break barrel action and (2) it lets you avoid stabbing the palm of your hand with the front sight. With the assist handle in place, cocking the 800 Mag is pretty straight forward: pull the muzzle down and toward the pistol grip until it latches. (When you do this, the safety automatically activates.) Insert a .177 pellet into the breech end of the barrel and return the barrel to its original position.

Now, at this point you can remove the cocking assist handle, but you don’t have to. Why? Because the cocking assist handle is hollow, and you can shoot right through it. Take aim at your target and squeeze the trigger. The first stage comes out at about 2.5 lbs. The second stage trips at about 5 pounds (the box says 4 lb trigger pull weight but the sample I tested didn’t deliver that), and the shot goes down range. There is a distinct “thwack” when the shot goes off, and the shooter feels very little recoil because the receiver can slide on the anti-recoil rail system relative to the pistol grip. I suspect the 800 Mag would be a real handful if it didn’t have the anti-recoil system. But it does, so it is surprisingly docile to shoot considering it is a spring-piston air pistol.

It is evident, however, that the Mag 800 transmits a great deal of recoil shock to anything mounted on the upper part of the receiver. During my tests with this pistol, the Mag 800 destroyed an RWS Red Dot sight. After several dozen shots, the brightness control became so loose that it rattled. I had no problems with a Bushnell Trophy red dot, though.

When it comes to accuracy, at 13 yards from a Creedmoor position and using a red dot sight, I put five pellets into a group that measured .57 ctc. I suspect that even better results could be achieved with persistence and practice.

When I chronographed the 800 Mag with CPLs, the very first shot went 730 fps, but subsequent shots settled down to a 658 average with about 30 fps difference between high and low. A couple of minutes later I did a second string, got a high of 651 and a low of 618 (that’s 33 fps variance) with an average of 631. I asked Airguns of Arizona to chronograph a sample they had there in the shop, and they got a high of 494, a low of 463, and an average of 477. I have no idea why there is such variance between samples of the same pistol or why I am seeing such variation in velocity in the sample that I was sent. Neither do I know whether these variations will settle down as the 800 Mag gets several hundred pellets put through it.

One blog reader asked for a head-to-head comparison between the 800 Mag and the RWS LP8. I tried shooting the 800 Mag and the RWS LP8 at a tomato can at 13 yards with the same 8.4 grain pellet, and I found the LP8 pistol will penetrate one side of the can, and the 800 Mag will penetrate both sides of the can. The LP8 launches CPL pellets at an average of 558 fps with less than 10 fps variation from low to high.

The Browning 800 Mag generates more power, cocks harder, is about a half pound heavier, and has significantly more variation in velocity than the LP8. The LP8 shoots slower, has a nicer trigger and fit and finish, is more consistent in velocity and costs significantly more. The LP8 is smoother and more sophisticated, but the Browning delivers a heck of a punch for not a lot of money.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott