It sure looks like a Benjamin, and it really is .50 caliber.
Okay, I’ll admit it: in addition to my love of airguns, I have a serious infatuation with exotic weapons. Over the years, I’ve messed around with stick bows, wheel bows, atlatls (spear throwing sticks), slingshots, and blowguns. (If you want to read one of my writings about blowguns, check out: http://www.africanarcher.com/blowgun.html ) Basically, I like projectile launchers.
Every once in a while, my interests cross pollinate. This particular story starts some years ago when I was being given a tour of the Crosman Corporation. At one I noticed a very strange looking air rifle. “What in the world is that?” I asked my guide. Came the answer: “It’s a rifle that launches tranquilizer darts. We make it for another company.”
Just last year, I got my hands one of these beasts. It’s a Pneu-Dart Inc. Model 178B dart “projector” (as Pneu-Dart calls its dart launchers), but any airgun enthusiast will recognize it immediately as a close cousin of the Benjamin 392/397. Aside from some extra hardware around the breech area, what really sets this air rifle apart is that it is a fifty caliber (no, that is not a typo) smoothbore. The reason for large bore is that it is designed to send drug-filled syringe darts flying through the air for the purpose of tranquilizing wild life. You can see some practice darts in the picture above.
Let’s take a quick look at the Pneu-Dart Model 178B. At the aft end, you’ll find a hardwood stock like you might find on any modern-day Benjamin or Sheridan rifle. Moving forward, you’ll find the familiar metal trigger guard, metal trigger, and push-button safety. The forestock is split into two pieces. The section nearest the muzzle also serves as a pumping arm for charging the air reservoir on this rifle. The shooter can pump it up to 8 times, depending upon how much dart speed is desired.
At the end of the barrel is a blade-type front sight. Further back along the barrel is a notch rear sight. There are two handles on the rear of the receiver. In the photo below, the top handle is used to open the breech.
Below, the breech is opened and the bolt pulled all the way back.
Below, the breech fully opened and rotated to the side. Why? Because if you couldn’t swing the bolt completely out of the way, it would be impossible to insert a dart into the aft end of the barrel.
To get the 178B ready for shooting, pump it up 3 to 8 times. Open the breech and rotate the bolt completely out of the way. Slide a dart into the breech and return the bolt and breech to their original position. Next, grab the handle below the breech and pull it straight back toward the butt stock. The 178B is now cocked.
The shooter's view of the breech all the way open and ready to receive a dart.
Next, take aim, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger. Between 4 and 5 pounds of pressure, the shot goes down range.
In the very first picture at the top of this blog, you’ll see two short practice darts and one long practice dart below the rifle. The 178B launches the dart slowly, verrrrry slooooowly — at 3 pumps, just 131 fps; 5 pumps, 179 fps; 7 pumps, 210 fps, and 8 pumps 216 fps.
When I tried to shoot the dart rifle for accuracy, that’s when things got seriously weird. Obviously, I couldn’t use a pellet trap for a target, so I used an archery target instead. When I shot at the “field point” side of the target at 10 yards, the darts bounced off and back in my direction. (My neighbors thought, perhaps, I was doing some little known folk dance in the yard as I skipping around avoiding darts.) So I turned the archery target to the “broadhead” side. I shot again from 10 yards, and this time, the darts buried themselves completely in the target. I’m not exaggerating here, the darts disappeared totally inside the target (as in “Where the heck did the dart go?”), and it took me a while and a bit of digging to figure out their final resting place.
I also experimented with shooting half-inch marbles and .50 cal blowgun darts out of the 178B, but none of them fit the .50 cal smoothbore barrel as snugly as the practice darts from Pneu-Dart, and they tended to dribble out the barrel. I even tried shooting BBs, shotgun style, out of the 178B, but at just a few feet the shot pattern was too wide to be practical.
Still, it was fun to experiment with a dart rifle. Pneu-Dart says this projector is suitable for use at 5-40 yards. Since dart rifles are generally used on large animals – deer, bear, and the like – I suspect the accuracy is sufficient. Looking on www.pneudart.com, I see that you can even get a red dot sight for the 178B.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
Jock :
Interesting device and blog. For another type of projectile you might try a GB brand yellow wire nut(color indicating the size) . They are round ,and have no wings like the Ideal brand ones. I work as a remodeling contractor , and I have those around in stock, all the time. I found that a very serviceable blow gun could be made out of a piece of 1/2″ EMT conduit or 1/2″ copper type M pipe. I used the GB wire nuts as the ammo. Worked out to 20 yards or so and maybe they would fit the bore of your gun. A tail could be glued into the end ,like a small pompom, or a tip of a cone drinking cup ,if they try to fall through the barrel. If you drilll through them, you can give them a point ,. Something like a SS trim 4d trim nail works well. Regards ,Robert.
Hi Jock, I have played with a few tranq guns too. I found that a .490 round ball patched and loaded from the front like a muzzle loader was quite fun to shoot. You just can’t push it past the transfer port. I once had a three shot repeater tranq gun on a Crosman 160 action. I think I still have pictures somewhere on my computer. They are interesting projectile launchers for sure.
Bob
That’s good Robert ! Itsounds like you have fun at work!
A .25cal conversion would have been very interesting.
Jason,
True enough, but this particular design was created to be a dart rifle. I think .25 would be too small for darts.
Have you tried it with some 50 caliber blowgun darts, like those from target zone sports?
Derpaherp,
I fooled around with that just a little bit. I haven’t reached a conclusion yet, but tentatively, I think I get better accuracy with a blowgun.
Very nice article and photos. I am actually qualified to use this model projector as a member of our Animal Services, and I have actually captured a very hard to catch K-9 from a very dangerous highway with it.
Part of my job is to access the capability of the projector to ensure safe and correct dart placement outlines. I have found that with both the 1cc and 2cc darts, I can consistantly hit a dangling tennis ball at 2.625″ diameter from 40 to 50 feet, beyond that, it is not just sight correction, but time of flight become an issue. Too much time of flight and the animal may be spooked by the pop, and move the intended point of impact. You generally only get one shot at it.
Gun papa,
Thanks for the comments. It’s good to hear from someone who has used this gun for its actual intended purpose.
Sheridan first introduced the Model G tranquilizer guns in the 1980’s. The first ones were muzzle loaders. I had a CO2 powered Model 176B, made in the 1990’s, with sliding safety. I would shoot .50 cal paint balls with it. Added a small brass “finger” where the dart holder is (the plastic ring at the breech) to keep the paint balls from rolling out the barrel. My friend has a 178B and it will shoot paint balls at over 450 fps with 8 pumps. Lot’s of fun!