The Oehler Model 35 is a tireless and accurate workhorse.

I have had a mad, passionate love affair with adult precision airguns for over a decade. Airguns have a lot going for them. They can be shot where firearms are forbidden. They are often accurate, relatively quiet, and fun. On a cost-per-round-basis, they are extraordinarily thrifty. There is a great deal about airguns to like.

If there is one area in which airguns are deficient, it is that they are not fast. Marketing claims of high velocity to the side, I don’t know of any airgun that routinely shoots faster than 1,000 fps and is also accurate. I once shot a springer air rifle that claimed 1,500 fps velocity. It would, indeed, shoot very nearly that fast, but it was inaccurate. When I slowed down the velocity by using heavy pellets, the air rifle became quite accurate. Unlike centerfire varmint rifles, an air rifle will not launch a supersonic projectile that stays in the supersonic realm all the way to a target hundreds of yards away. Very fast rifles produce flat trajectories; air rifles do not.

Sooner or later, if you want to push the envelope of what is possible in shooting with an air rifle, you will have to deal with the arching trajectory at which airgun pellets normally travel. There are two basic approaches. The first is simply to go out, shoot at various ranges, see where the gun is shooting, and adjust accordingly. The second the scientific approach is to chronograph the air rifle with its favorite pellet, plug the resulting information into a ballistics program, and then compare the ballistics chart it produces with actual shooting results in the field. For example, you can go to http://airguns.net/trajectory.php and compute the trajectory of your pellet under the conditions that you enter. Or check out http://www.arld1.com/, demos #9 and 13 which can help you visualize your trajectory in a couple of different ways.

To get the exact velocity of your pellet(s), you will need a chronograph. For some years I have been using, and can highly recommend, the Oehler Model 35 Proof Chronograph. What makes it a proof chronograph is that there are three sky screens that work together to make sure the velocity measurements are accurate.

When a pellet passes through the front (first) sky screen, it starts the chronograph. As the pellet passes through the rearmost (third) sky screen, the main velocity measurement is calculated based on the time of flight from the first to third screens. Here’s “proof” part: the Oehler also makes a measurement as the pellet passes over the middle (second) sky screen. The chronograph then compares the two readings. If the measurement from the first to third sky screen does not agree within two percent with the measurement from the first to second sky screen (when using the two-foot rail), the displays blinks to indicate this is a suspect reading. This prevents you from accepting and using bogus information to make your shooting decisions.

In addition to the velocity for each shot, the display also will give you, after poking the appropriate buttons, a variety of data such as number of shots, high velocity, low velocity, extreme spread, and average velocity. I record the information in a notebook, but a version of the chronograph with built-in printer is also available for the less frugal.

My experience with the Oehler indicates it is a tireless workhorse, and I can cheerfully give it my heartiest recommendation without reservation. For more information, call Oehler at 1-800-531-5125.

Once you have a chronograph, what can you do with the data that you get from it? For me, there are two key things. First, you can input the pellet velocity, along with its weight, sight-in distance, and so forth, to compute the trajectory of the pellet at various distances. I have used this technique successfully to set up air rifles for field target competition. In addition, I understand that airgun varminters do similar things for setting up their rifles for clobbering pests at long range. As part of measuring the velocity of your air rifle, you can also see how consistent it is from shot to shot.

Second, you can use a chronograph to periodically test your favorite air rifles and air pistols to make sure that they are behaving well. When my favorite custom-tuned spring-piston air rifle suddenly began acting strangely, I chronographed it and found that the velocity had dropped significantly, indicating that it was time for repair.

Understand me well: if you are serious about airgunning, a chronograph is not an absolute necessity. There are certainly many excellent airgunners who do well without them. But a chronograph can be a very powerful and useful tool.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-    Jock Elliott

The Crosman is a handsome and very affortable air pistol.

What some folks don’t realize is that the 1377 has a bigger brother, the 1322. The 1322 was also introduced by Crosman in 1977 and was produced until 2004.

Now, starting in January, 2012, the 1322 has been brought back by Crosman so that both the 1377 and 1322 are now in production. Both guns are virtually identical. The only differences are that the 1322 has black grips and forearm (the 1377 has brown), and the 1322 is .22 caliber.

The 1322 measures just a bit over 13 inches from end to end and weighs 2 lbs 1.5 oz.  At the aft end of the 1322 you’ll find molded ambidextrous black polymer grips on either side of the pistol grip. These grips are textured to make the pistol easy to hold, and there is a groove at the top of each grip that serves as a rest for either the shooter’s thumb or forefinger. Forward of the pistol grip you find a pushbutton safety that displays a red stripe when the safety is turned off.

Moving forward again, the black metal of the lower grip frame forms a guard around a black metal trigger. Ahead of that is the black polymer forearm which is used for pumping up the 1322. Beyond the end of the forearm is the pivot point for the pumping arm and above that is the barrel and the polymer blade-type front sight.

The rear sight is fiddly to adjust and can be flipped to select between notch and peep sight.

Moving back along the barrel, you’ll come to the black polymer breech which houses a gold-colored bolt and bolt handle. Finally, at the extreme aft end of the receiver, you’ll discover the rear sight.

The main body of the sight is made of black polymer. There is a screw on top of the sight that, when loosened, allows the body of the sight to be moved from side to side for windage adjustments. There are some lines molded into the front edge of the sight body and a small line molded into the top of the receiver so that the shooter can see how much adjustment he or she is applying to the sight. There are no click-stops for adjusting the sight, but the molded-in lines help. On the back of the sight there is another screw which, when loosened, allows one of two things to happen: (1) a metal tab on the rear of the sight can be flipped to select either a notch-type rear sight or a peep sight and (2) the metal tab can be slid up and down to make elevation adjustments.

Intermounts can be clamped to the barrel for mounting a scope or red dot.

The rear sight on the 1322 is ticklish to adjust, and I would love it if one day Crosman would choose to include a click-adjustable rear sight on the 1322/1377. Having said that, I have interviewed IHMSA silhouette shooters who have done quite well with the 1322/1377 in stock configuration. If you would prefer a different aiming system, PC77 intermounts can be clamped to the barrel, allowing a red dot or a scope to be mounted.

Before each shooting session, it's a good idea to lubricate the pivot points on the pumping arm.

To ready the 1322 for shooting the first time, put a drop of Crosman Pellgun Oil the pivot points on the pumping arm and the pump cup. The manual included with the 1322 shows where. If you don’t have Pellgun oil, a dab of NON-detergent 30 weight motor oil can be used for lubrication.

The 1322 pumping arm, fully extended.

Next, put the pistol on safe, pump the 1322 3-10 times, cock the bolt to open the breech, insert a pellet, close the bolt, and squeeze the trigger. At about 6 lbs effort the shot goes down range. At 10 pumps, the 1322 launches 14.3 Crosman Premier .22 pellets at around 420 fps, which works out to about 5.6 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle and could be used for hunting small game and pest control at short range. With the right pellet, you can expect roughly nickle-sized groups at 10 yards.

In all, I am well pleased with Crosman 1322. I like its stealthy all-black good looks, and there is a lot to like for an air pistol that retails for just under $60.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The Industry Brand 2078A, an excellent rifle for plinking.

I like plinking. Some of the happiest afternoons have been spent shooting targets of no great consequence — cheese puffs, spinners, little green army guys, bottle caps, tin cans, acorns and the like – in the company of my brother in law.

Now, a plinking rifle must have certain qualities that are different from what I would look for in a hunting or pest control gun or an air rifle suitable for, say, field target competition.  It must be easy to shoot, not have any bad habits, such as heavy recoil or heavy cocking effort, and not require frequent fill-ups from a tank or pump. It must also be reasonably accurate. Power, frankly, isn’t all that important.

The Industry Brand AR2078A pretty much fits the definition of a plinking rifle.  It measures 39.5 inches from buttstock to muzzle and weighs just a couple ounces shy of seven pounds without scope. The fit and finish of the wood and metal on the AR2078A is commensurate with an air rifle that costs only about  $200, base price.

The 2078A has the looks of a target rifle.

At the aft end of the AR2078A, you’ll find a rubber butt pad. The hardwood stock is setup for a right hander and has a deeply sculptured stock and nearly vertical pistol grip.  Moving forward from the pistol grip, the trigger guard is metal and so is the trigger.

The globe front sight has interchangeable inserts.

Moving forward again, the forestock is nearly flat underneath, the rounded edges. This makes the AR2078A easy to shoot from a rest.  At the end of the forestock is the CO2 reservoir and above that, the barrel which has a tapered muzzle weight and a bracket that includes the front sight.

I mounted the peep sight for testing.

The AR2078A is a bolt action single shot, and the sample that was sent to me was a .177 caliber. The receiver has dovetails for scope mounting to the rear of the breech. The AR2078A comes with two rear sights: a notch-type sight and a peep sight. I mounted the peep sight for my testing. At the end of the barrel, the globe-type front sight features interchangeable inserts.

To ready the AR2078A  for shooting, cock the action, unscrew the cap on the reservoir at the end of the forestock and drop in two 12-g CO2 cartridges; the first goes in nose-first, the second nose out. Screw the cap back down, fire the gun once, and you’re good to go.

When you lift the bolt handle, you’ll find that the bolt jumps backwards a little bit, driven by a small spring. Pull the bolt all the way back, drop a pellet into the breech, and return the bolt to its full-forward, closed breech position. It takes a bit more effort to return the bolt to its original position because you are working to cock the action. Ease the slack out of the trigger’s first stage, now squeeeeeze the trigger. Pop! The shot goes down range. Coming out of the box, the first stage is extremely light at about 10.3 oz, and the second stage measured about 1 lb. 14.9 oz.

The AR2078A launches 7.87 JSB pellets at an average of 571 fps and 5.5 gr. JSB lead-free pellets at 627 fps. JSB pellets produced roughly half-inch groups at 10 yards. In my view, that’s good enough for casual shooting at informal targets in the back yard. You can probably expect 60-70 shots out of two CO2 cartridges.

I found the AR2078A extremely pleasant to shoot.  With the globe front sight and rear peep sight, I think this would be an excellent rifle for a kind of casual “air Quigley” which would involve seeing what’s the maximum range at which you could clobber a 12 oz. beverage can. It’s a pleasant, solidly-built air rifle that delivers a lot of fun for anyone who wants to have while away some pleasant afternoons shooting with the family in the back yard.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

I find the FX FT very pleasing to the eye.

To ready the FX T12 FT for shooting, attach the filling probe to your high pressure pump or SCUBA tank and charge the reservoir to 200 BAR.

To load the magazine, begin by turning the transparent lid to the magazine counterclockwise until it stops. Put one pellet in the open slot on the rear (black) side of the magazine so that the tip of the pellet is pointing out of the hole. This locks the magazine spring in place.

Next, turn the magazine so that the transparent lid is facing you. Turn the lid clockwise one slot at a time and fill the slots with pellets with the tip of the pellets facing into the hole. When all the slots have been filled, slide the lid back into its starting position.

Pull the bolt lever all the way back and insert the magazine, black side toward the muzzle, into the breech from the right side. When setting up the FX T12 FT, make sure the scope mounts are high enough that no part of the scope interferes with the magazine sliding fully into place. If you are purchasing an FX T12 FT and scope from Airguns of Arizona, the good folks there can make sure you have the proper height scope rings.

The trigger is light and crisp.

Now you are ready to shoot. Push the bolt forward, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger. The first stage required only 10.4 ounces of pressure on the sample that I tested. At 1 lb. 4.4 oz., the shot went down range. This is an excellent trigger that is a pleasure to shoot, and while it is adjustable, I really can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t be delighted with the trigger just as it comes from the factory.

The built-in moderator subdues the report of the FX FT.

The FX T12 FT launches 18.2. JSB pellets at average of 836 fps, or 28.1 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle  and delivers 50 shots per fill with a 35 fps spread. Even with the built-in barrel, there is a significant POP when the shot goes off, but it is not nearly as raucous as one would typically expect from a .22 caliber PCP generating this kind of power. Still, this is not the air rifle you want to be shooting in the back yard while your neighbor is catching up on his sleep from the night shift. But this a hunting gun and out in the field the report should be just fine.

I have yet to test an FX rifle that was anything but a tackdriver, and the FX T12 FT is no exception. At 13 yards, from a casual rest, the FX T12 FT will put pellet after pellet through the same hole. At 30 yards with JSB pellets and fitful winds, I put 5 shots into a group that measured just .625 inch edge to edge. That works out to well under half an inch center to center.

The FX T12 FT is a handsome air rifle that shoots as good as it looks. It should put a smile on the face of any air rifle enthusiast.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

The FX T12 FT is one handsome bit of goods.

I try not to get emotionally involved with the airguns I am testing. I have learned – the hard way, I might add – that beautiful rifles that make my heart go pitty-pat can also break my cardiac organ when it came down to shooting them. And I’ve seen ugly airguns that suddenly became beautiful based on their performance on the firing line. As the hot-rodders say: “There’s show, and there’s go, and the two don’t always walk hand in hand.” So I try to stay dispassionate when I crack open the box of a new airgun.

The FX T12 FT, however, snuck up on me. When I lift the lid on its carton and slid away the foam insert that cradles it, I said, “Wow, that is one good-looking air rifle!”

The cheek piece is adjustable.

And indeed it is. The T12 stretches 44.75 inches from end to end and weighs just 6.8 lbs. At the extreme aft end of the T12, you’ll find a rubber butt pad that is vertically adjustable. Just loosen a single screw and slide it up and down as needed to achieve an optimal shooting position. Forward of that is a black plastic spacer and, moving forward again, an ambidextrous hardwood stock which features an adjustable cheek piece. All you have to do is loosen a couple of set screwes and slide it to the position you want.

The forestock has checkering on either side.

Moving forward some more, the nearly vertical pistol grip has checkering on either side. Ahead of that is a black metal trigger guard which encloses a black metal trigger that is adjustable for first stage length of pull and second stage weight of pull. A couple of inches forward and underneath the forestock is a single Allen head bolt that secures the action in the stock. The forestock extends forward and has checkering on either side for a secure grip.

Beyond the end of the forestock, the air tube extends another seven inches. There is a pressure gauge at the end of the air tube and a port for a filling probe just behind it. Above the air tube is the .22 caliber Smooth Twist match-grade barrel with built-in moderator.

Moving back along the barrel toward the receiver, there is a gold colored section on the barrel where it fits into the breech block. The bolt probe is also gold colored, as is a spacer between the air tube and the receiver. On top of the receiver, fore and aft of the breech, are dovetails for mounting a scope. The breech is wide enough to allow – with a bit of fiddling – single loading of pellets but is designed primarily to accept the 12-shot self-indexing FX magazine.

The black metal bolt protrudes from the right hand side of the receiver, which is equipped with two slots for locking the bolt in either the forward or aft position. That’s it. The T12 FT is a very smart, efficient-looking air rifle, nicely highlighted with gold accents in a couple of places.

But the most important question is this: does the FX T12 FT shoot as good as it looks? Next time, we’ll find out.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

Well, I have a “meanwhile back at the ranch story for you.” This one comes from El Rancho Elliott, where yours truly tests airguns in upstate New York. About a year ago, I noticed that I was having trouble focusing on thing with my right eye, and that a kind of halo would appear around bright lights.

I went to the eye doctor, who said that I was developing a cataract in my right eye. The cataract was changing the optical characteristics of the lens in my right eye, which was making it difficult to focus. I got a new eyeglass prescription for the right eye, and that improved focusing, but I was still having problems with halos around lights.

Over time, the problem got worse. I could still shoot well  if I was using a telescopic sight, but after a while, my general vision in my right eye was like walking around with a piece of waxed paper over my right eyeglass lens. Finally, I decided I just had to do something.

About two weeks ago, I had a cataract operation on my right eye. The doctor made a 3mm incision in my right eye, inserted an ultrasonic probe into the lens capsule, broke up the right lens, and then sucked out the remains of the lens through the probe. Next, a folded plastic lens was inserted and allowed to unfold. Before the operation, I could barely read the second line on the eye chart. Now my vision corrects to 20/25, and the doctor expects even more improvement may be possible.

Just minutes ago, I came in from testing two airguns, and what a pleasure it was to shoot with good vision in both eyes! I was even able to shoot an air rifle with globe front sight and peep rear sight, something I hadn’t been able to do for some time. I am deeply grateful for the improvement in my sight. It’s simply glorious.

All this points out that sight itself is a gift, and that the smart move for you – and me – as airgun shooters is to protect that gift. That means that whenever you shoot, you and everyone else on the shooting line should wear protective eye wear. I normally wear polycarbonate lens eye glasses to correct my vision.

If you don’t wear something similar to protect your vision, let me humbly suggest that you try these shooting glasses. In fact, pick up a few pairs so that you have enough to protect the folks on the firing line. The cost is miniscule, particularly when compared to the cost and hassle of an eye injury.

Finally, to further protect your sight, take care in your selection of targets. Remember that BBs tend to ricochet when shot against hard targets. A soft backstop works best with BBs. On the other hand, shooting resilient spherical targets with a high-powered pellet gun tends to result in the pellet coming straight back at the shooter. My favorite backstop for pellets is a pellet trap that is filled with Ductseal. The pellets bury themselves in the Ductseal and stay there. So take a tip from Uncle Jock, who just had a reminder about the importance of eyesight, and protect your eyeballs when you shoot.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

- Jock Elliott

When it got down to the actual evaluation, I decided to test the air rifles at two pumping strokes less than the maximum the factory allows. Experience has shown that the extra two strokes add only a little to the velocity. Incidentally, despite what you might have heard from other sources, pump up airguns are extremely consistent in their velocity. You can even pump one up, let it sit for half an hour or more, and still get very consistent results.

At eight pumps, the Daisy 22X happily shot 1-inch (edge-to-edge) groups at 10 meters with most pellets, including Daisy MaxSpeed .22 wadcutters and Crosman .22 Premiers. Group size dropped to 3/4 inch with RW Meisterkugeln flat-nosed .22 pellets.

At 8 pumps, the Crosman 2200B was extremely finicky about pellets. It shot huge groups – some over three inches — with every pellet but the RWS Meisterkuglns. With these pellets, groups settled down to 1 1/16th inch, not a great showing, but sufficient to the job. (Crosman tells me that its quality standard for the 2200B is 1 1/2 inch groups at 10 yards, with 1 inch being typical.)

The Benjamin 392, at 6 pumps, was the least pellet-sensitive gun tested, shooting half-inch groups with almost any pellet I fed it.

Then it was time for the can test. Shooting from a sitting position at 20 meters, I shot at steel soup cans with each gun, using Meisterkugln pellets and the same number of pumps as I had used at 10 meters. All three guns easily hit the can in the center mass and punched through one side. The 392 dimpled the backside of the can trying to make an exit hole.

At 15 meters, the Benjamin 392 went in one side and out the other. The Crosman 2200B went in one side and made a large dimple on the back side. The Daisy 22X pierced on side and made a smaller dimple on the back side.

At 10 meters, both the 392 and the 2200B blew through both sides of the can like a hot knife through butter. The Daisy 22X pellet lodged in the exit hole on the backside. Note well: these shots were made with wadcutter pellets. They generally do not penetrate well, but when they do, the typically leave large wound tunnels. Dome-headed pellets certainly would penetrate more efficiently.

It is also important to note that two air rifles of the same model, but two serial numbers apart, can perform better with radically different pellets. So, just because my Crosman 2200B achieved a certain level of performance with Meisterkugln pellets, that doesn’t mean your 2200B will perform similarly with the same pellets. Testing with different pellets is the only way to find out what works in your gun.

The bottom line: The Daisy 22X pumps the easiest, offers moderate accuracy, but penetrated the least on the can test. The Crosman 2200B offers moderate pumping effort, good penetration in the can test, but the lowest accuracy. The Benjamin 392 pumps hardest, hits the hardest, and offers the most accuracy, but costs nearly twice as much as the others. As the man said: “Ya pays yer money, and ya takes yer choice.” Any of these guns could be used for defending garden at 60 feet or less, but my first choice would be the Benjamin 392 if my wallet could stand it.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

Lastly, I was inspired. Recently I received a copy of an excellent book American Air Rifles by James E. House (Krause Publications). In it, he evaluates more than a dozen American-made air rifles. His words reminded me that you don’t need an expensive European or Asian model to enjoy a great deal of shooting satisfaction – and utility — with an air rifle. Thanks, Mr. House.

One of the first challenges that I faced was generating some sort of performance standard. What kind of performance would be necessary to send Jabba the Chuck to that Big Salad Bar in the Sky? Since I didn’t have three equal National Institute of Standards-certified pest animals lining up to be shot for evaluation purposes, and at that time I did not have a chronograph, I chose the next best thing . . . soup cans. Yup, good oldCampbell’s to the rescue.

My reasoning was thus: a steel soup can is small enough and tough enough that, if you can hit it and cleanly pierce at least one side, you can probably hit and punch through the skull of a varmint. I have killed animals with air guns that wouldn’t pass this test, but I wouldn’t recommend it. If possible, I prefer to drop ‘em where they stand. (I chose .22 caliber for all three guns for the same reason.)

So let’s have a look at our three candidates.

Daisy 22X.

The Daisy 22X is 37.75 inches long and weights 4.5 lbs. It is the lightest of the three guns. It has 20.8 in rifled steel barrel. The manual says it can be pumped up to 10 times and claims 530 fps with 8.6 fp energy but doesn’t specify what weight pellets are involved. The 22X is a handsome gun with a wooden buttstock (with plastic buttplate) and wooden forearm. The receiver is metal.

The 22X is loaded by dropping pellets into the breech on top of the receiver. The bolt is opened by pulling a plastic lever on the right side of the receiver. Opening the bolt also cocks the action. With a scope attached to the rail on top of the receiver, loading requires placing the pellet in the slot on the top of the receiver just to the right of the breech and rolling the pellet into the breech. The 22X is the easiest to pump of the three rifles, but, as we’ll see in a bit, it comes at a price.

In 2002, the suggested retail price of the 22X was $73.95. The Daisy 2-7x scope that I used for testing carried an SRP of $29.95.

Crosman 2200B

The Crosman 2200B measures 39 inches long and weighs 4 lbs. 12 oz., just a few ounces more than the Daisy. The 2200B has a 20.79 inch rifled steel barrel, and the factory manual claims 525-595 fps at 10 pumps with 14.3 gr. pellets. The buttstock and forearm are plastic, and the receiver is metal and is equipped with a scope rail. Overall, the appearance is clean and appealing, and it looks like a “real” rifle. The entire plastic forearm moves to pump up the gun, and the 2200B requires only slightly more pumping effort than the Daisy.

The 2200B loads by dropping pellets into the breech on the right side of the receiver. A plastic lever opens the breech and cocks the action. Loading requires tipping the gun on its side. The slot leading to the breech is somewhat deep, and there is no elegant way to control the descent of a pellet to the breech itself. As a result, sometimes nose-heavy domed pellets arrive at the breech sideways or backwards. Sometimes jiggling the gun or dumping the pellet out and starting over is necessary to set things right.

The suggested retail price of the 2200B was $69.95, and the 4x Crosman scope that was used during testing was $9.95.

Benjamin 392

Benjamin 392, manufactured by Crosman Corporation, is 36.25 inches long and weighs 5.5 lbs, making it both the shortest and the heaviest of our three candidates. The 392 manual states this gun will produce velocities of 685 fps at 8 pumps but does not reveal the weight of the pellets used in making that determination.

It doesn’t take Holmesian powers of observation to figure out the 392 is solidly built. The only plastic used on this air rifle is the buttplate. The buttstock is solid wood, and so is the forearm which also serves as the pumping lever. (The 392 is also the hardest of the three guns to pump.) The breech and bolt are made of metal, but unlike the Daisy and the Crosman, there is no scope rail on top of the receiver. Holes for attaching a Williams peep sight are tapped into the side of the receiver, and that’s what I used for a sighting system.

The 392 can be scoped using intermounts from Crosman for around $15.00 and attach a scope (or a red dot sighting device) forward of the receiver. In the case of a scope, this requires either a long eye relief scope (a la Colonel Jeff Cooper’s scout rifle concept) or putting both scope rings forward of the turrets and letting the body of the scope hang over the receive.

The suggested retail price of the Benjamin 392 was $149.95, and the Williams peep was $27.95, making this combo by far and away the most expensive of the three guns tested.

Next time, we’ll see how these three rifles perform.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

There is no way to confirm this with rock-solid certainty, but according to my back-of-the-ammo-box calculations, it was the most expensive salad bar ever. And I had not tasted so much as a single bite of it – not a morsel of wax bean, not a sliver of tomato.

My wife and I had labored hard through sun and rain over the darn thing. We hired the roto-tiller guy (who showed up with a commercial-grade Troy-Bilt tiller and a business card that read “I dig my work.”) to pulverize a section of our lawn. Then we raked, picked rocks (lots of ‘em), ran strings and pegs, and planted: tomatoes, corn, squash, a couple of kinds of beans, peppers. It was a work of art. We were regular Arlo Guthries out there: “inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow . . .”

Then, by the sweat of our brow, we surrounded it with steel fence posts and sturdy critter-proof wire fencing. And we watched it grow and tended it. Then, just as the tender new plants were seriously establishing themselves, we went away for a weekend.

When we came back . . . someone . . . something . . . had given our garden a crew cut. Where once there had been vibrant plants bursting with the promise nature’s bounty, there was stubble. I was in utter shock: for the amount of money, sweat and effort we had put into this thing, we could have had veggies FEDEXed to us fromChile. Who was the culprit?

Then I saw him. Not one of the deer that wander through the yard. No, this was smaller, more insidious – good old Marmota monax, a woodchuck. And what a woodchuck this was! Round, firm, fully packed, he was so swollen and porcine he could barely wriggle through the hole he had dug under the fence. He was so fat he had a roll behind his neck. I had worked my butt off all spring so this groundhog could enjoy some mitey fine gourmet meals at my expense.

I wanted to shoot him so baaaaad! “Honey, call the supermarket and see if they got any Woodchuck Shake ‘N’ Bake, will ya?” (I never did terminate this particular woodchuck with extreme prejudice. Instead I took my revenge in laughter – he was so obscenely corpulent, likeGarfieldthe cat, his legs barely reached the ground. I referred to him as Jabba the Chuck.)

If you’ve got a problem with a woodchuck, a rabbit, a squirrel or other varmint munching on your garden or prize azaleas, and you live in or near a populated area, there is a problem. The law generally takes a very dim view of popping off any kind of firearm near dwellings, and many jurisdictions have specific prohibitions about shooting guns. Besides, any reader of this blog worth his or her salt will naturally be conscious of the safety of neighbors and their property.

In my case, I live within one-half mile of a major technical university. Shooting any kind of powder is strictly verboten. There is hope, though. Many places have absolutely nothing to say about shooting airguns. Recently, I’ve had my hands on three vintage American .22 caliber pump-up airguns that will dispatch vermin quite well at short ranges.

Next time, we’ll talk about them.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

JE: So what happened next?

FA: In 2001, I called Ingvar Alm and asked him who should I deal with in America? He said try Airguns of Arizona. Robert Buchanan agreed to have one or two samples of the FX2000 and the Excalibur, and he was over the moon about them. The accuracy is fantastic, he said.

JE: How do you achieve that accuracy?

FA: When I set out to design an airgun or something for an airgun, I don’t look at other people’s stuff at all. When I made my PCP rifle, all the ideas came from myself, and what I came up with was a very small valve and very small striker. That makes a difference. When you pull the trigger, you have very little mass moving inside the gun, compared to other designs. Some of the others have very heavy hammers and valves, and they are almost as bad as a springer when you pull the trigger. As a result, you need to build a heavy gun to compensate for all the mass moving inside it. An FX gun can be relatively lighter because you don’t need to compensate for a heavy valve and striker.

JE: What are some of the other things that have happened during the evolution of FX as a company?

FA: One key event was that I got fed up with the Italian company that was supplying us with stocks, so we started making our own synthetic stocks. That was very hard; we had to select a material that would do the job and build the machines that would make the stocks. At the beginning, that was a big negative, because nobody wanted synthetic stocks, but I didn’t care because at last I had a reliable supply of stocks.

JE: What else?

FA: Later we came up with the power adjuster and interchangeable air tubes. I made the power adjuster for hunting. I wanted to do the ultimate hunting rifle, one that would be quick for reloading and that you didn’t have to shoot at the same power all the time. Here’s the basic idea: at 50-60 meters, you shoot high power; at 30 meters or so, medium power; and if you are shooting pigeons inside a barn at 15 meters and don’t want the pellet to go all the way through, you use low power. Because you’re simply changing the orifice that the air flows through with the rotation of a wheel, you don’t have to fiddle with all the adjustments that you do with some other guns.

JE: How important is the US market to you?

FA: The US market is getting more and more important for us. We look to that more than anything else right now. I think the attitude toward airguns in the US is changing, and the market is growing quite dramatically. I love America because you don’t have restrictions on airguns at all. That’s not the case in Sweden where we are based.

JE: What is your philosophy when it comes to designing airguns?

FA: I do things that appeal to myself, and they seem to appeal to Americans as well. I love to build guns that a harmonious. They are light, quick, and everything works together well. The guns you love are the guns that deliver great accuracy and handle well. If you turn up the power too much, it’s a completely different feeling when you fire it. If you aren’t happy with the power of a .22, you should go to a .25. If you’re not happy with the energy of a .25, you need to go to an even bigger caliber. If you go too fast, you ruin accuracy. I refuse to do bad rifles.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott