Posts Tagged ‘Airguns’

The RWS 350 Feuerkraft .22

Monday, December 13, 2010

The RWS 350 Feuerkraft

You know how a kind word from a friend can change your outlook on an entire day? Well, the RWS 350 Feuerkraft did the same kind of thing for me.

Let me explain: I had been feeling a bit gloomy about my springer shooting skills after testing several .25 models. I simply couldn’t master shooting them really well at longer ranges, and I thought perhaps I had lost my springer shooting “mojo” altogether.

But then came Brown Santa (the UPS guy) with a long slim package with the RWS 350 Feuerkraft in .22 caliber inside. I pulled it out of the box, slapped a scope on it, and went outside to give it a few shots. We’ll get back to what I discovered in just a little while, but first let’s take a walk around the RWS 350 Feuerkraft (350F for short).

The stock is fully ambidextrous.

The 350F is a long air rifle, 48.375 inches from muzzle to butt pad, and it weighs 8 lbs without scope. It has a slim hardwood stock that is fully ambidextrous and unadorned by any checkering on any other decoration. At the extreme aft end of the stock is a black rubber recoil pad attached to the stock by a black plastic spacer. Moving forward, ahead of the pistol grip is the black plastic trigger guard which encloses a black plastic trigger that is adjustable for first stage travel.

The red fiber optic front sight is easy to see.

. . . and so is the green fiber optic rear sight.

Forward of that, the long slim forestock encloses the breech block and cocking linkage, giving the 350F a very clean, finished appearance. Ahead of that is the barrel which has a plastic muzzle brake that serves as a mount for a red fiber optic front sight. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find a green fiber optic rear sight mounted on top of the breech block. Moving back again, there is a dovetail on top of the receiver for mounting a scope, and at the extreme aft end of the receiver is the push-pull safety which is resettable.

To ready the 350F for shooting, grab the barrel near the muzzle and pull it down and back until it latches. This takes about 33 lbs of effort. Next insert a pellet into the breech and return the barrel to its original position. Take aim, flick the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. On the sample that I tested, at 1 lb. 5 oz. the first stage came out of the trigger, and at 3 lb. 14.7 oz., the shot went down range. The 350F was launching 14.35 gr. JSB Express pellets at an average of 722 fps, generating 16.6 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.

Now we can get back to what I discovered when I went outside to shoot the 350F. The first thing I found out was the 350F has a very nice shot cycle – just a quick snap with no buzz or twang. I heard perhaps a tiny bit of vibration, but I didn’t feel any through the gun. The report is also surprisingly subdued for an air rifle of this power — not dead quiet but not raucous either.

If you plan to scope the 350F, definitely use one of the RWS one-piece drooper mounts.

The second thing I discovered is that if you plan to scope this air rifle, you will definitely need the RWS one-piece “drooper” mount. The first scope I tried had conventional scope mounts, and I simply ran out of elevation adjustment. So I popped back inside, swiped a scope with drooper mount off another RWS rifle, and mounted it on the 350F.

Within a few minutes, I was happily blowing the center out of a target at 13 yards, and I found that I could hit exactly the spot that I wanted. Encouraged by this, I set up a target at 35 yards, and, from a sitting position, was able to put 4 out of 5 shots into a 5/8 inch edge-to-edge group. I yanked the last shot, which opened the group up to 1 inch edge-to-edge, but even so, that’s pretty much minute-of-squirrel’s noggin.

In the end, I found I really liked the 350F. It has no bad manners; it has a decent trigger; it’s commendably accurate, and, like an old friend, it cheered me up about my springer shooting skills. If you’re looking for a no-nonsense air rifle that suitable for hunting or a day afield, the 350F should put a grin on your face.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

–          Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 3 Comments »

The bestselling springers in the shop

Monday, December 6, 2010

As an airgun writer and the guy who puts together the “Airgun Roundup” for the SHOT Show Daily newspaper, I get to talk with quite a few people in the airgun industry. In fact, I probably get to talk to most of the major players at least once a year.

My job, of course, is to gather information from those major players, which I do. But when I get the chance to chat with them, very often I take the opportunity to pitch them on one of my favorite subjects – the need for more highly accurate medium-power springers.

Usually they just listen politely, but today I have more facts to bolster my argument. During a phone call the other day, through a chance remark, I found what the bestselling springers at Airguns of Arizona are. The Weihrauch HW30S/Beeman R7 is the top selling springer, and for second place, it is a neck-and-neck race between the Weihrauch HW50s and the Weihrauch HW97.

An HW30S Deluxe with peep sight mounted.

I am not at all surprised that the HW30S is the most popular. It is a light (5.5 lbs), small (38.78 inches) air rifle that is easy to cock and fun to shoot all day long. The HW30S makes only a modest amount of power (around 6 foot-pounds at the muzzle), but it tends to be a real tackdriver. One of the gurus in the airgun industry says this is because the ration of gun power (in foot-pounds) to gun weight is very nearly 1:1.  It is suitable for assassinating pests at modest ranges, and I have even shot field target with one and finished in the ribbons with it.

The HW50S Stainless with scope mounted.

The HW50S seems to me a slightly bigger (6.8 lbs, 40.5 inches) and more powerful version of the HW30S. Cocking is a bit stiff, but still very manageable, and the HW50S generates 11-12 foot-pounds of energy. It’s the kind of gun that you can shoot all day and still come back for more. It’s accurate as the dickens, and the additional power is welcome for hunting or pest control, no wonder so many shooters like this air rifle.

Any of the HW97s is a tackdriver, but I think the thumbhole version is my favorite.

The addition of the HW97 to the list of Airguns of Arizona’s bestselling springers initially came as a bit of a surprise, because I didn’t know that the underlever HW97 was that popular, but as I thought about it, it make sense. The HW97 is a heavier air rifle (starting at 8.8 lbs, depending on the version), but it is only 40.25 inches long, and it generates only a modest amount of power. The sample that I tested in September, 2008, launched 7.9 grain .177 Crosman Premiers at 847 fps, for about 12.6 foot-pounds of energy.

What all of these air rifles have in common is that they are great fun to shoot, deliver excellent accuracy, benefit from Weihrauch’s outstanding Rekord trigger, and exhibit a very reasonable power-to-weight ratio. If an airgunner had all three of these in his gun closet, I suspect he (or she) would be exceedingly pleased for a very long time.

If I were choosing for myself, here would be my selections: an HW30S in .177 with peep sight for general plinking, an HW50S stainless in .22 for hunting, and an HW97KT (thumbhole) in .177 for field target competition. Santa, are you listening?

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 2 Comments »

Color me soooo surprised!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Anybody who has been observing the airgun scene for a little while will have noticed that an increasing number of companies are coming out with non-lead pellets. A while back, I did some shooting with some of Dynamic’s non-lead pellets, and I found that they were pretty good.

Check out this http://198.154.244.69/blog/2008/06/beeman-r7-genuine-classic-some.html and this for additional information http://198.154.244.69/blog/2008/08/additional-experiments-with-dynamic-non.html I think that one of the reasons these pellets work so well is that they are pretty close in weight to traditional lead pellets.

I have experimented with the very light (5.4 grain) Gamo .177 PBA pellets, and I found that they did fine at close range (no more than 15-20 yards — in fact I used a PBA pellet to terminate a squirrel at 7 yards with a P1 pistol), but accuracy went to blazes at longer ranges.

So when a package arrived from Airguns of Arizona the other day with some new pellets from H&N, including some very light non-lead pellets, I figured the non-lead pellets would be good for strictly short-range work. As it turns out, I was wrong.

The package contained a tin each of H&N Sport Barracuda Hunter (10.34 gr.) pellets, H&N Sport Field Target Trophy Green (5.56 gr.) pellets, and H&N Sport Barracuda Green (6.48 gr.) pellets. “Green,” in case you haven’t figured it out, is apparently a code word for non-lead pellets.

I started thinking about testing these pellets, and pretty quick I realized I had a problem. Of the .177 guns in house, I had a magnum springer (RWS54), magnum PCP (Marauder), a low-power springer (tuned R7) and a recoilless springer match rifle (FWB150). I eliminated the magnum guns because I didn’t want the ultra-light pellets to go supersonic and have trans-sonic turbulence screw up accuracy. I eliminated the R7 because accuracy in recoiling springers depends a lot on shooter technique, and I wanted to eliminate that variable.

So that left me with the FWB150, an air rifle with trustworthy accuracy that I have successfully shot in field target competition. Twice I have knocked down one-inch targets at 50 yards with that rifle.

Bear in mind, though, this one hard-and-fast rule about airgun accuracy: you let the gun choose the ammo. It doesn’t matter what your buddy shoots, or what the guys on the forum say, or even what the national field target champion shoots, you run tests with different kinds of ammo in your gun and then shoot the one that delivers the best accuracy.

Now, back to our story. I started by shooting the pellets through my Oehler chronograph. I checked the velocity on Daystate 8.44 gr. pellets and found they were zipping through the screens at 653 fps average, about 7.99 foot-pounds of energy that the muzzle. The H&N Sport Barracuda Hunter Pellets averaged 550 fps, for 6.94 foot-pounds.  The H&N Sport Field Target Trophy Green pellets blew through the traps at 804 fps average with less than 4 fps variation from high to low, working out to 7.98 fp. Finally, the H&N Sport Barracuda Green registered 695 average, 6.95 fpe. Just for fun, I also shot some Gamo Raptor PBA (5.4 gr.), they clocked 762 average, 6.96 fp.

I started shooting the various pellets in 5-shot groups at 20 yards and took edge-to-edge measurements on the groups. The Gamo PBA and Barracuda Hunter both delivered ¾” groups. The Daystate produced a half-inch group, as did the Field Target Trophy Green pellets. The Barracuda Green pellets printed a 5/8 inch group.  The overall winner was a pellet I had not chronographed, JSB Exact Express pellets, which delivered a 3/8 inch group. The bottom line is that all of these pellets would be suitable for defending the bird feeder at 20 yards.

After that I took the winning non-lead pellet, the H&N Sport Field Target Trophy Green, and the winning lead pellet, the JSB Exact Express shot them at 35 yards. The FT Trophy Green produced a group that measured 7/8 inch edge to edge, and the JSB produced a ¾ inch group. While I have shot better groups at that range with pre-charged rifles, that’s still respectable accuracy, and I was amazed that the very light non-lead pellets did so well at that range.

Yes, I thought, but what kind of penetration are those pellets delivering at that range? Maybe those super-light pellets had bled off all their energy by the time they got to out there. To find the answer, I set up two metal soup cans at 35 yards and shot them. The JSB Exact Express pellets plowed through both sides of the can, tearing ragged holes in the metal. The FT Green pellet also penetrated both sides of the can, punching neat holes on entry and exit. Color me soooo surprised.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 4 Comments »

Uncle Jock’s Screwy Theory of Reducing Springer Hold Sensitivity

Monday, November 22, 2010

Boy, if you want to get airgunners “lit up” on a topic, try discussing springer hold sensitivity. Some professional spring gun tuners will tell you there’s no such thing as hold sensitivity in a spring-piston air rifle, that there are only shooters who don’t know how to shoot springers properly. On the flip side, there are experienced spring gun shooters who will tell you that the aforementioned professional tuners are in desperate need of a physic.

Whether or not it is me or the gun, I can tell you there are times when I can’t shoot a spring-piston air rifle worth a darn and other times when I am pretty good. In other words, sometimes I’m a hero, and sometimes a zero. (By contrast, I shoot well with pre-charged pneumatic or pump-up pneumatic airguns almost all the time.)

Lately, I’ve been working on a theory of how to reduce the apparent hold sensitivity of springers. But before we get into that, a little background.

The thing that can make a spring-piston air rifle difficult to shoot well is the basic powerplant within it. When you cock a springer by pulling the barrel or a side lever or under lever back until it latches, you are compressing a spring. The spring remains under tension, like a sprinter in the blocks, until you pull the trigger. Released from confinement, the spring lunges down the compression tube, pushing the piston in front of it. This causes recoil toward the rear of the gun. As the piston reaches the end of the compression tube, it bounces off a wad of compressed air in front of it (at the same time air squirts through the transfer port, launching the pellet down the barrel), causing recoil in the opposite direction.

Now, here’s the really cool part: all this thrashing around of spring and piston within the rifle, the forward-and-reverse whiplash recoil, all of it happens before the pellet leaves the muzzle. (In a precharged pneumatic, by contrast, when you pull the trigger, a valve opens, air squirts down the barrel, driving the pellet toward the target, and there is a teensy amount of recoil to the rear. It’s all very dull, boring, and generally accurate as the dickens.)

It’s been my observation that if you inadvertently hold a springer with more pressure on one side of the forestock than the other (as many of us do), the gun will tend to jump away from the side with more pressure when the shot is triggered. I saw this graphically demonstrated with a Beeman R1 in .177. I had a 3-12 scope mounted on it, and it would shoot little tiny groups at 20 yards. The following day it would shoot little tiny groups, but half an inch away from the location of the previous day’s groups.

It drove me nuts. So one day, I took off the scope, mounted a peep sight and consistently shot little tiny groups in the same location all the time. I spoke with Steve Woodward about it, and we came up with a theory. First, when a springer jumps away from unequal pressure on the forestock, it tends to rotate around the center of gravity on the rifle’s long axis. Ideally, you would like the gun to rotate around the bore. But when you mount a scope on the rifle, you raise the center of gravity, which tends to exaggerate the movement of the bore and throw your shots off. The bigger, higher, and heavier the scope, the more you tend to throw your shots off (that is if you are not shooting with a perfectly consistent “hold”). The peep sight worked because it was light and low.

So, what to do? Well, here’s my working theory: to reduce apparent hold sensitivity in a springer, mount the lightest scope you can, and mount it as low as you can. This should raise the center of gravity as little as possible, resulting in more consistent shooting. I have tried this with one of my springers and it seems to work

But this is not written in stone; it’s just an idea I have had that seems to make sense. So, if you like, try it with your springers and let me know your thoughts.

Until next time, aim true and shoot straight.

–         Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 24 Comments »

The Outstanding Gladiator Tactical – Part II

Monday, October 25, 2010
Click to read The Outstanding Gladiator – Part I

The Gladiator Tactical shoots as good as it looks.

To get the FX Gladiator Tactical ready for shooting, charge both reservoirs up to 200 bar. You can do this by inserting the charging adapter into the port on the front reservoir. Be sure to fill slowly and that it will take a lot longer than usual because there is a lot more volume to fill than on most PCP airguns. If you try to fill too quickly, you may get an indication from the gauge on the GT that the reservoir is full, but then the charge in the front reservoir will slowly bleed to the rear reservoir until the pressures in the two reservoirs equalize.

Put the safety in the non-fire position (full back). Pull the cocking lever full back, now pull the magazine release lever back. When the magazine release lever is fully back, the magazine will slide out the breech. Load it with the nose of the pellets facing toward the flat side of the magazine. Slide the magazine back in place and push the cocking lever forward. This slides the first pellet into the barrel. Now return the magazine release lever back to its original position, and the magazine locked firmly in place.

Now you’re ready to shoot. Take aim, flick the safety off, ease the first stage out of the trigger (13.2 oz) and squeeze gently on the second stage (1 lb 10 oz), and the shot goes down range. In stock trim, the high, medium, and lower power settings are for 32 footpounds, 24 fp, and 14 fp in the .22 cal version.

Pull the cocking lever back. You can push it forward again or you can simply let go of it and it will return to its original position on its own. Now you’re ready for the next shot.

Five shots went through those three holes. I love it when air rifles shoot like this!

Shooting JSB Exact Jumbo Express .22 pellets at high power, I put five shots into a group at 35 yards that I could cover with a dime. Then I decided to flip the power switch all the way down to low power. I put 5 pellets into a group that measures barely .5 inch edge to edge. That works out to just a bit over a quarter inch center to center.

Even better, the report was extremely muted, making a kind of “ching!” sound every time a shot goes off. The GT isn’t dead quiet, but it doesn’t sound like anything shooting either.

In the end, I liked the GT a whole lot. It gets a ton of shots per fill, has an excellent trigger, is a bona fide tack driver, and has a neighbor-friendly report. It puts all the good stuff together in one package, and I give it my hearty recommendation.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 2 Comments »

The Outstanding Gladiator Tactical – Part I

Monday, October 18, 2010

Anyone who has read this blog for a while, or any of my other airgun writings, has probably figured out that I love – absolutely love – the way pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) rifles shoot, but I’m not so keen on the ancillary gear needed to charged them up.

I guess it’s a holdover from my summers in Vermont at my grandparents place. A buddy and I spent endless days roaming the woods and fields of the “Northeast Kingdom.” All we needed when we went out the door in the morning was our trusty BB guns and a tube or two BBs. It was freedom and glorious adventure.

So that’s why, even though my PCPs will shoot teensy groups at impressive range, you’ll most often find me packing for a day of airgunning with a self-contained air rifle and a tin of pellets.

But a rifle I tested the other day might change all that. The gun in question is an FX Gladiator Tactical (GT). It is an FX Gladiator fitted with the barrel, including permanently affixed sound moderator, from an FX Royale.

There are a bunch of things that I like about the Gladiator Tactical, but there are two things that really set it apart from all other air rifles that I have tested so far. The first is that the GT has two – count ‘em – air reservoirs that provide some 648 CC (500 cc rear, 148 cc front) of air storage.

That means that the number of shots you get between fills is absolutely staggering. For example, one of the guys at Airguns of Arizona (who supplied this gun for review), has a .22 cal GT set up for 28 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle (on high power), and he gets – are you ready for this? – 180 shots from a fill, with a 40 fps spread between high and low.

The power adjustment lever is just below "FX 25059."

The second thing that sets the GT apart is a little lever on the side of the receiver just forward of the breech. That lever allows the shooter to choose among high, medium and low power settings simply by sliding the lever to one of three settings. There are no springs to adjust, no internal fiddling to be done, just throw the lever to the power setting you want. Well, you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that if you get 180 shoots on high power, if you slide the lever to medium power, you’re going to get a lot more shots, and if you drop the power to the lowest setting, you’re going to get even more shots before you have to refill.
I don’t actually know how many shots per fill you get from a .22 on low power, but 200-300 seems perfectly plausible to me. And that, dear reader, would send me out the door with the Gladiator Tactical in one hand and a tin of pellets in the other!

The aft end of the GT is the rear air reservoir that is wrapped in an matte black engineering plastic cover that provides a cheek piece and an attachment for the adjustable butt pad. Loosen an allen screw, and you can move the cheek piece/cover back and forth and angle it from side to side to suit your preference.

Moving forward, the main receiver of the GT is also wrapped matte black engineering plastic. The pistol grip is nearly vertical and has finger indentations. The plastic wraps around to form a trigger guard that surrounds an adjustable trigger. Forward of the trigger guard is an air guage. Moving forward again, you’ll find the forward air reservoir.

The left side of the receiver, showing the magazine, cocking lever, and safety lever.

Above that is the barrel with moderator. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find the receiver, which is handsomely finished in gloss black and has scope dovetails along its full length except for the breech opening. At the mid point of the receiver is the breech, where a removable 8-shot magazine slides into place (it only goes in one way, so you can’t get it in backwards). On the right side of the receiver is the cocking arm. Pull it straight back, and it cocks the GT and rotates the magazine so that the next pellet is in position.  Also on the right side of the receiver near the back end is the lever for activating the safety.

At the back of the receiver is a lever that must be pulled back to remove the magazine from the breech. On the left side of the receiver is the previously mentioned power adjustment lever.

Next time, we’ll take a lot at how the Gladiator Tactical performs.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

–         Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 8 Comments »

Powerplant, Pellets, and Footpounds

Monday, October 11, 2010

For years, I have heard things like “spring-pistons don’t like heavy pellets” and “CO2, pre-charged pneumatics and pump guns are more efficient with heavy pellets.” I guess I just accepted these truths as an article of faith and never really thought much more about them.

But recently I have been testing several .25 caliber – quarterbore – air rifles, and the tale that the chronograph tells is interesting. Put simply, when it comes to power generation – that is, foot-pounds measured at the muzzle – springers tend to like light pellets and pneumatics prefer heavier pellets. Of course, it isn’t always a straight linear function, because there are other variables, such as how tightly the pellet fits in the bore.

It all started when I was chronographing a trio of break barrel .25 cal. springers. I was using Gamo Pro Magnum 21.91 gr. pellets to chronograph them, because I had a plentiful supply of those pellets. One of the rifles was slinging the Gamo pellets at 565 fps average, which works out to 15.53 foot-pounds average. I mentioned this to the importer, and he suggested trying JSB Kings (25.4 gr.). Somewhat counter to the “law” about springers, the heavier pellet did better in terms of power but slightly worse in velocity: the JSB Kings averaged 555 fps for 17.37 foot-pounds at the muzzle. But the real surprise came with the lightest pellet. 19 gr. Milbro Rhino pellets rocketed through the traps at 667 fps for a sparkling 18.7 foot-pounds. In this case, the law about springers proved right: the lightest pellet did generate the most power in this .25 cal. spring-piston powerplant.

Okay, I thought, but what about the pneumatic airguns, do they obey the “rules” or not? It was raining when I thought about answering this question, and I usually need to do my chronographing outdoors, so I turned to the respected varminter Cliff Tharpe. Cliff, whose online handle is VarmintAir, is producer of the Airgun Hunting the California Ground Squirrel DVD. He has deep experience in hunting and clobbering vermin with air rifles.

Cliff has a factory stock .25 Benjamin Marauder that he routinely uses to pop prairie dogs at 50-100 yards. He sent me some data on his experience chronographing different weight pellets through the Marauder, with the following note: “These were all shot at the factory settings, whatever those may be.  All velocities were taken with the start screen 12 inches from the muzzle.  I use a CED M2 Chronograph set up indoors, with the infrared screens.  Two mags, for sixteen shots with each pellet.  All pellets were weight sorted.  This is with a 3000 psi fill. “

And here’s the data:

  • JSB .25 Quarter Bore, 25.4 grain – avg. vel. – 881 fps – fpe 43.8
  • Benjamin .25 dome head, 27.8 grain – avg. vel. – 845 fps – fpe 44
  • Beeman Kodiak .25, 30.8 grain – avg. vel. – 821 fps – fpe 46.1

Here we have a straight linear relationship – the heavier the pellet, the lower the velocity, and the greater the power that is generated.

Now, having said all that, what’s the most important thing?

Accuracy, of course. A firearms expert once said, “A hit with a .22 beats a clean miss with a .45.” And he was right. If you can’t reliably hit what you’re aiming at, it doesn’t matter how much power you are generating. The first thing you need is sufficient accuracy to hit your intended target at the range at which you plan to shoot. If you are planning to hunt, once you have the accuracy, then you need sufficient power to humanely take whatever game you are after.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 6 Comments »

Benjamin Trail Nitro Piston .25 caliber

Monday, October 4, 2010

The potent Benjamin Trail NP .25 caliber.

Until this year, I had never shot a .25 caliber air rifle. To be honest, I felt .25 was at the fringes of the airgun world, a caliber that was enthusiastically embraced by a small group of shooters, but wasn’t really “mainstream.”

Perhaps I was wrong in that assessment, but when Crosman Corporation announced early in the year that they would be introducing two .25 caliber rifles as well as .25 ammunition, I decided I better start paying attention to “quarterbore.”

So I tested the .25 caliber Benjamin Marauder and found it to be an entirely worthy air rifle capable of dispatching game at long range and a potload of fun to shoot.

For me, that experience was a game-changer. Suddenly I was a .25 cal enthusiast! Naturally I decided I better have a look at the other .25 cal air rifle that Crosman was introducing, the Benjamin Trail Nitro Piston .25 caliber (it’s official product designation is the Benjamin Trail NP XL 725, but I’ll refer to it as the Trail .25).

What sets the Trail .25 apart from other break break barrels that Crosman is currently offering is that it is (a) .25 caliber and (b) powered by Crosman’s Nitro Piston powerplant. The powerplant operates on the same principle as the gas struts that lift the back hatch on an SUV. This powerplant type is sometimes referred to as a “gas ram” or “gas spring.”

Inside the powerplant, instead of a spring, there is a cylinder that holds gas. When the barrel is pulled down and back to cock the gun, a piston inside the cylinder is driven backwards, compressing the gas. The gas is held under compression until the shooter pulls the trigger. The gas drives the piston forward, which compresses air ahead of it, squirting a blast of air through the transfer port and causing the pellet to shoot down the barrel and down range. What’s neat about the Nitro Piston powerplant is that you can leave cocked for as long as you like, and there is no torque or vibration when the shot goes off.

The Trail .25 is one of the biggest air rifles I have ever tested – fully 48.15 inches long and 8.8 lbs. It comes with a CenterPoint 3-9 x40 scope and a sling, so the whole package weighs 10 lbs. 9 oz.

At the aft end of the Trail .25 is a soft rubber butt pad, attached to the ambidextrous hardwood thumbhole stock by a white spacer. The rear sling stud is located on the bottom of the butt stock between the pistol grip and the butt pad. The pistol grip has checkering on either side, with a black cap and white spacer on the bottom. Ahead of that is the plastic trigger guard which surrounds and metal trigger and push-pull style safety.

The forestock has checkering on either side and the word “Benjamin” incised underneath. Ahead of that is a long slot to accommodate the cocking mechanism, and the forward sling mount is attached to one of the cocking pivots. Ahead of that is the bull barrel.

At the aft end of the barrel is the breech block. Moving back again, you’ll find the main receiver which has a weaver rail mounting system for the scope. That’s all there is to the Trail .25.

To ready the Trail .25 for shooting, grab the muzzle end of the barrel and pull it down and back until it latches. (It eases the process if you break the breech open by slapping the end of the barrel down). Cocking requires about 40 lbs of effort and is incredibly smooth and quiet. Next, stuff a .25 pellet into the breech and return the barrel to its original position.

Take aim and squeeeeeze the trigger. Now, here’s where things get a little weird. The Trail .25 has basically the same trigger system as the Benjamin Trail NP All Weather which I reviewed previously. At 1 lb 5.6 oz, the first stage appears to come out of the Trail .25’s trigger. Then there is a long creepy pull and a kind of “bump.” When the trigger goes over the bump, the shot goes off quite consistently at around 3 lbs. 3.4 oz.

So while you have this somewhat strange trigger that feels like it has three stages, it doesn’t interfere at all with accurate shooting. The Trail .25 launches Benjamin 27.8 grain .25 dome pellets at 633 fps average, which works out to 24.74 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. Further, the shot cycle is extremely smooth, almost supple. Currently I am testing three different breakbarrel .25 cal air rifles, and I can tell you without doubt that the Trail .25 is the smoothest and quietest of the bunch.

A wise man once said there’s no such thing as a free lunch. So it is with the Trail .25. All that power means that you really have to do everything right, to bring all of your spring-gun shooting skills to bear, in order to shoot with high accuracy with the Trail .25 (or any .25 cal springer, for that matter).  I found that, off a soft front rest, the Trail .25 would put 5 Benjamin pellets into a group that measured a half inch ctc at 20 yards. I’m pretty sure that better springers shooters could easily best that at longer ranges, but I couldn’t.

In the end, I think (for me, anyway), the Trail .25 makes a fine hunting and pest control air rifle for short to medium ranges. It’s the kind of gun you could keep behind the kitchen door to deal with that raccoon that been molesting your garbage cans out by the garage, and, with all that power, it’s highly likely you won’t have to worry about a second shot.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 49 Comments »

Encounter in a gun store

Monday, September 27, 2010

Recently, a new gun store opened up not too far from where I live. Naturally, I had to go check it out, and when I arrived, I found a well-lit, well-organized place of business with lots, and lots, and lots of firearms.

I asked one of the fellows behind the counter whether they did anything with airguns, and he pointed me to a rack near the doors. There I discovered three less expensive Gamo air rifles and a Gamo Hunter Extreme in .22, emblazoned, of course, with the obligatory boast of how wicked fast it is with PBA ammo and with lead pellets.

I asked the clerk, “Did you know the Hunter Extreme is available in .25 caliber?”

Immediately he said, “How fast is it?”

I patiently explained that it wasn’t nearly as fast as the claims made on the receiver of the .22 Hunter Extreme, but that it shoots heavier pellets and makes a larger wound channel. I added, if you shot a raccoon that’s been molesting your garbage cans with the .25, chances are it wouldn’t get up again.

The whole encounter got me to thinking about how poorly we airgunners and the general public at large have been served by the marketing departments of some of the larger airgun manufacturers. In particular, I am irritated by the velocity race that has been taking place in advertising and on the sides of product cartons: 1,000 feet per second! 1,250 fps! 1,500! 1,650! When I see these claims, I want to grab a really large permanent marker, scratch out the velocity number, and write: REALLY STUPID!

Yeah, I know; I’m being an old retro-crank. But there are several things that really get up my nose with these velocity claims.

First, the claims are rarely true. Manufacturers often exaggerate how fast their guns shoot. Sometimes, they achieve their superfast results with ultra-light pellets that no one would want to use for any practical application. I know; I’ve tried some of these ultra-light pellets, and the accuracy quickly deteriorated as the range increased.

Second, even if an air rifle would routinely launch pellets at, say, 1,500 fps, would you really want it to? The answer I get from external ballistics experts is a resounding “NO!” Here’s why: in talking to long-range firearms varminters – the kind of shooters who can nail a prairie dog at 600 yards – I get the following argument. As a projectile approaches the sound barrier, it encounters a region in which there is a lot of buffeting and turbulence (check out the movie The Right Stuff for more about this) that throws off accuracy.  When a projectile is launched faster than the speed of sound, if it slows below the sound barrier, it will encounter the same region of turbulence and buffeting that screws up accuracy. That is why most firearms varminters take care to launch their bullets well above the speed of sound, and they make sure that it continues to go at supersonic velocity until it reaches the target.

I have never heard of or seen any air gun powerplant that was capable of launching a pellet at supersonic speed (about 1,100 fps at sea level) and keeping it above the speed of sound for any appreciable distance. As a result, the best plan is to keep your pellets out of the region of trans-sonic turbulence. This is why most of the best field target shooters set up their air rifles to shoot in the low 900 fps range; it helps to keep the pellet as stable and as accurate as possible.

Third, the velocity race is just plain irrelevant. Imagine if you went to a car dealership and plastered on the windshield of every car were claims about speed: 120 mph! 143 mph! 160 mph! You would think the car dealer had gone insane.

In point of fact, pleasure to be had from an airgun has almost nothing to do with velocity. For example, airguns can be shot in many, many locations where discharging a firearm is absolutely forbidden. Many airguns are astonishingly accurate. They cost just pennies a shot, are a pleasure to own and are great fun to shoot. Further, even modestly powered airguns can do a worthy job of controlling pests in the garden.

Tell that to a firearms shooter next time he (or she) asks how fast your airgun is.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 11 Comments »

Weihrauch HW40

Monday, September 20, 2010

The HW40 looks like a tactical pistol but it shoots like a match pistol.

In my previous blogs I have already admitted my fondness for single-stroke pneumatic pistols. The have a lot to offer: they require only one stroke for cocking; they exhibit negligible recoil, and they generally deliver excellent accuracy. That makes them “just what the doctor ordered” for an afternoon of easy-going, high-accuracy plinking. About the only downside to an SSP pistol is that none of them generate much in the way of power or velocity.

The Weihrauch HW40 is a single-stroke pneumatic pistol that stretches about 9.5 inches long and weighs about a pound and three-quarters. The entire frame appears to be molded out of some sort of matte black engineering polymer. Overall, I was well pleased with the fit and finish of the HW40. At the rear of the pistol is a silver “hammer,” the function of which we’ll discuss in just a bit. Below that is an ambidextrous pistol grip molded with finger grooves. I found that it fit my hand very comfortably.

Forward of the pistol grip, the polymer trigger guard encloses a silver-colored metal two-stage trigger. Above the trigger, on the left hand side of the pistol is a silver metal slide safety. Push it toward the muzzle to release the trigger for firing.

At the muzzle end of the pistol, just about the muzzle, is compensator that vents extra air as the pellet exits the barrel. Just aft of that is a red fiber optic front sight. Moving back along the top of the pistol is a dovetail to which a red dot or scope can be attached. Below the dovetail and above the trigger guard on either side of the HW40, you’ll find an “ejection port” through which you can actually see a portion of the HW40’s barrel. Moving aft again, at the top rear of the pistol, you discover a micro-adjustable green fiber optic rear sight. That’s all there is to the HW40.

Pulling the silver hammer back at the rear of the HW40 releases the "slide" for cocking and loading the pistol.

The HW40, ready for loading.

To get the HW40 ready for shooting, pull back the silver hammer at the rear of the pistol. This unlatches the rear upper half of the pistol – the “slide” if this were a firearms automatic. Next, grasp the rear of the slide and pull it up and forward as far as it will go. This open the action for the compression stroke and activates the automatic safety. Insert a .177 pellet into the aft end of the barrel and return the “slide” to its original position, making sure that the hammer snaps shut. (Although I have no good way of quantifying it, the last 1.5 inches of the compression stroke are fair stiff, so this is not the air pistol I would recommend for a youngster.)

The right side of the HW40.

Next, take aim, slide the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. It takes just a hair less than 11 oz to pull the first stage out of the trigger, and at 1 lb 0.6 oz, the shot goes off. The HW40 has one of the nicest triggers you’ll find anywhere in a single-stroke pneumatic pistol, short of an Olympic-quality match pistol.

My Oehler chronograph tells me that the sample of HW40 that I tested launches Crosman Premier 7.9 pellets at 365 fps average. That’s just 2.3 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. The HW40 is satisfyingly accurate as well. With the right pellet (and presuming you are doing your job properly), the HW40 will shoot 3/8 inch edge to edge groups. At 10 meters.

In the end, I really liked the HW40. It’s an attractive SSP pistol that is easy to shoot well, has an excellent trigger, and is accurate enough to satisfy most pistoleros. It saddened me to box it up and send it back.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

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