Posts Tagged ‘review’

The Nikon Prostaff 3-9 x 40 scope and more telling on myself.

Monday, July 2, 2012

I tested the HW98 with the Nikon EFR scope on board. It was an excellent combination.

I tested the HW98 with the Nikon Prostaff 3-9 x 40 on board. The official name, apparently, is PROSTAFF Target EFR (Extended Focus Range) 3-9×40, and I had a “Fool’s Gold” moment when testing it.

Fool’s Gold is one of my favorite movies. It opens with two divers working dredges on the bottom near a Caribbean island. They are sucking up huge quantities of sand in the hopes of finding sunken Spanish treasure. The compressor that powers their dredges is on their dive boat. The compressor is old and rickety. It catches fire, and in short order results in the sinking of the dive boat behind the divers. When the dredges stop working, the divers surface to see why. The boat, of course, is nowhere to be seen. The one diver figures it out immediately. The other is frantically looking around. “Where’s the boat?” he asks. “It will come to you,” the other diver says. That’s what I call a “Fool’s Gold Moment.”

So, having set the scene, here’s what happened to me. Brown Santa (aka the UPS guy) shows up with a long package from www.airgunsofarizona.com. In it, are the HW98, the PROSTAFF Target EFR (Extended Focus Range) 3-9×40, and a set of low one-inch Sportsmatch scope mounts.

The next day is absolutely splendid, a gorgeous day for airgun testing. I whistle up my son to help me dump all the packing peanuts into a big plastic garbage bag, so that I can get at the goodies. I pull out the HW98 and say, “Whoa, nice gun!” I pull out the Nikon EFR scope and say, “Whoa, nice scope!” Before you can whistle Dixie, I have pulled out the Sportsmatch rings and am happily twirling Allen wrenches, mounting the Nikon scope to the HW98.

As soon as that is complete, I trundle outside with the gun/scope combination and pull out the WorkMate, camp stool, boat cushions, and pellet trap to begin the testing process. When I sight in a new gun/scope combo, I use a trick that Tom Gaylord taught me: I shoot first a couple of shots at 10 feet. No, that’s not a typo – 10 feet. I set the scope on the lowest power and the focusing ring on the shortest distance, bang off a couple of shots, and look at the results. If the shots are pretty well centered from side to side and 1-2 inches below the spot I was aiming at, I know that when I back up to 10 yards, I’ll still be on target and not shooting somewhere off in the weeds.

The sample that I tested would focus much closer than 10 yards.

Now here’s a surpise: the Nikon EFR scope is supposed to have a minimum focusing distance of 10 yards, but the sample I tested, set at 3X, showed the target pretty crisply in focus at 10 feet. This scope has what I would call a modified duplex reticle. When you look through it, the crosshairs are thin at the middle and then thicken at the ends. Everything is symmetrical, and there is a small dot at the juncture where the crosshairs meet.

I backed up to ten yards, put the boat cushions on the WorkMate, sat on the camp stool, and began putting pellets down range. I was impressed with how crisp, clear, and bright the image was in the Nikon EFR scope. Most scopes are crisp when properly focused and generally clear, but few have the brightness of this Nikon scope. Looking through it really was a pleasure, and all the mechanical bits – the focusing and the power adjustment – working smoothly as well.

All the mechanical bits, including the turret knobs, worked smoothly and easily.

There were a couple of other things that I like about this scope. It is relatively small, just 12.5 inches, and light, just a tiny bit under a pound. Mounted on the low Sportsmatch rings, it hugs the receiver of the HW98. Now why is that important?

I have written about this elsewhere: http://198.154.244.69/blog/2010/11/uncle-jock%e2%80%99s-screwy-theory-of-reducing-springer-hold-sensitivity.html but here’s the gist of the argument – “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 began to suspect that something was just a tiny bit off when I noticed that this green sticker was not where you see it now but on the lefthand side of the scope. That should have been a clue!

Now here’s my Fool’s Gold Moment: after I completed all the testing, I was looking at the gun/scope combo on my bench and something looked screwy to me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then, in the back of my head, I heard that diver’s voice from the movie: “It will come to you.” I kept looking and finally I realized the problem. I had mounted the scope rotated 90 degrees – the elevation knob was on the left hand side of the scope tube and the windage knob was on the top where the elevation knob should be. Because the reticle is symmetrical and looks the same in all directions, I never noticed the problem while looking through scope, and I didn’t even figure it out when I was adjusting the knobs. Duh!

Nevertheless, if you are looking for a bright, crisp scope for your favorite springer (or for any of your airguns) for general purpose shooting, don’t let my Fool’s Gold moment deter you – I can highly recommend the Nikon 3-9 EFR.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

–    Jock Elliott

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HW98 – Part II

Monday, June 25, 2012

I liked the HW98 a whole lot.

Read HW98 – Part I

I tested the HW98 with a Nikon 3-9 EFR (that’s stands for Extended Focal Range) scope, and I’ll be doing a separate blog on that.

To ready the HW98 for shooting, grab the end of the barrel and pull it down and back until it latches. This requires around 32 or 33 pounds of effort and automatically actuates the safety on the HW98. I don’t know if this is true of all HW98s, but on the sample that I tested, I noticed that the cocking stroke was incredibly smooth and quiet. There wasn’t any spring noise or creaking, just a smooth sliding sound until the mechanism latched.

Slide a pellet into the aft end of the barrel and return the barrel to its original position. Take aim, push the safety OFF, and squeeze the trigger. At XX.X, the first stage comes out of the trigger. At XX.X, the shot goes down range. The Rekord trigger is predictable and crisp. The shot goes off with a tiny bit of twang, but this is a twang that is more heard than felt and is not – to me, at least – in any way annoying.  In fact, while I was testing the HW98, my wife stuck her head out the door and said, “You must really like this gun.”

“Why’s that?” I said.

Came the reply: “Because you’re really taking your time with it.” And it was true – I was really enjoying my time with the HW98.

I thing the fit and finish of the HW98 are excellent and so are the firing characteristics.

The HW98 launches JSB 7.97 grain .177 pellets at an average of 849 fps. That works out to 12.59 footpounds of energy at the muzzle. I got excellent accuracy with the JSB pellets, shooting a ragged one-hole five-shoot group at 13 yards. At 32 yards, I shot a one-inch edge-to-edge five shoot group off a casual rest. With Crosman Premier 7.9 grain pellets, I shot an even tighter group at 13 yards. At 32 yards, again I put five pellets into a one-inch group, but this time, three of the pellets went through the same hole . . . clearly more testing is in order!

Did I like the HW98? You bet. Is it “ . . . built for the competitor, small game hunter, or backyard shooter . . . with features that everyone will appreciate?”

Here’s a clue: I voted with my wallet and bought the test sample.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

–    Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 3 Comments »

The HW98 – Part I

Monday, June 18, 2012

I had been curious about the R11/HW98 for more than a decade . . .

Have you ever been curious about a product for a very long time and finally got to see it and use it?

That’s exactly what happened to me with the HW98. The first time I became aware of this air rifle was when I saw it in the 1999 Beeman Precision Airgun Guide. Beeman sold the HW98 as the R11 back then. The catalog said: “The Beeman R11 air rifle represents a quantum leap forward in design. Built for the competitor, small game hunter, or backyard shooter, the R11 has features that everyone will appreciate.” Interesting, I thought.

But at the same time, I thought that marketing hype can be just so much hyperbole for the sake of selling products. I also noticed that the R11/HW98 didn’t appear to be very popular. I rarely saw it talked about on the online forums, and it was very rare indeed to see one at a field target match. So when the good folks at www.airgunsofarizona.com told me that they were sending an HW98 to test, I was sort of “underwhelmed.” I think in the back of my mind, I had the lurking notion that “if this rifle is so good, how come I don’t see more people shooting it?”

Well, it turns out I was wrong. I still can’t explain why I haven’t seen more people shooting the HW98, but I can tell you for a certainty that it is a very interesting air rifle that impressed the heck out of me. More about that later. First, let’s take a guided tour of the HW98.

The HW98 is a single-shot, breakbarrel, spring piston air rifle that measures 43.5 inches from end to end and weighs 8.6 lbs. before you mount a scope. It’s available in .177 caliber and .22 caliber. I tested the .177 version.

The cheek piece and butt pad offer a wealth of adjustments to suit your shooting style.

At the extreme aft end of the HW98, you’ll find a rubber butt pad that is adjustable. But this isn’t just any old adjustable butt pad; undo a screw and you can not only adjust the butt pad up and down, but you can also twist – or cant – the butt pad from side to side. So you can pretty much tweak the HW98 so that it fits your shoulder and shooting style at the right height and angle.

Move forward just a little bit, and you’ll find a cheek piece that, after loosening a couple of screws can be raised in height up to two inches. So if you’re running a scope with a big bell and need higher scope mounts, you can raise the cheek piece so you get the same comfortable spot weld behind the scope every time. Normally, you only get this kind of adjustability of fit – including both butt pad and cheek piece – in match rifles.

In addition, the stock of the HW98 is completely ambidextrous

Moving forward again, the pistol grip curves to nearly vertical and is stippled for easy gripping. The stippling is finished in black. Forward of that is a black trigger guard which surrounds a silver metal Rekord trigger which is adjustable. Forward of that is the forestock which has a strip of black stippling underneath and has inletted slots on either side. Honestly, I don’t know if these slots have any purpose, but they certainly give the HW98 a distinctive look.

For those who remember or have seen the old Beeman R11, there is a slight difference with the modern HW98. The R11’s forestock stopped just beyond the stippling, leaving a fair chunk of the breech block exposed. By constrast, the HW98’s forestock extends further, fully covering the breech block.

The HW98 features a full-length barrel sleeve.

Beyond that, you’ll find the barrel, which is covered with a full-length barrel sleeve. There is no front sight and no provision for mounting one, so this is an air rifle that requires a scope. Finally, moving back along the barrel, you’ll find the receiver which has dovetails for mounting a scope and three holes where an anti-recoil pin can be fitted. At the extreme aft end of the receiver is the typical Weihrauch push-button non-resettable safety.

That’s it. I’d be remiss, though, if I didn’t note that the fit and finish of this air rifle is noteworthy. The bluing on the barrel sleeve is excellent, and the stock is handsome. If you’re into looks and pride of ownership, this air rifle has it in spades.

Next time, we’ll see how the HW98 shoots.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

–    Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 2 Comments »

The Aptly Named Webley Value Max

Monday, June 11, 2012

The Webley Value Max, a real work horse of an air rifle.

Anyone who is over 20 years old and who has been paying attention should have learned – or should learn very soon – to regard anything said by a marketer with deep suspicion. Marketers, it seems, are continually in the process of naming things in such a way as to convince us of something or appeal to our emotions or tagging on slogans designed somehow to get us to buy.

With the exception of Bernie Madoff (who made-off with a lot of people’s money), it’s fairly rare for things to be honestly named. You don’t hear of “Mostly Honest John’s Used Cars” or the “(Not Really) Harbor View Estates” housing development.

The Webley Value Max air rifle, however, is an exception to this trend. In my view, this single-shot, break barrel, spring piston air rifle is aptly named because it delivers a high return on the buyer’s hard-earned money. The Value Max is available in three different calibers — .177, .20, and .22 – and three different colors: black, green, and camo. The black and green models cost just a penny shy of $150 while the camo model commands a $20 premium. All of them stretch 43 inches long and weigh 6.4 lbs. I tested the .20 cal. green version.

The ambidextrous synthetic stock is equipped with a ventilated butt pad.

At the aft end of the Value Max is a soft rubber ventilated butt pad that is attached to an ambidextrous synthetic stock. The entire stock, with the exception of the pistol grip and forestock which have molded-in checkering, is done up in a flat slightly roughened finish. I found it easy to grip no matter how sweaty my hands got, and it’s the kind of stock that you won’t worry about treating badly in the field.

The muzzle brake serves as a cocking handle and mount for the fiber optic front sight.

Ahead of the pistol grip is a black synthetic trigger guard which surrounds a black metal trigger which appears to be made of a folded piece of sheet metal. Forward of that, there are checkered panels on either side of the forestock and a long slot underneath the forestock to provide clearance for the cocking mechanism. Ahead of that is the 17.7 inch rifled steel barrel which is fitted with a synthetic cocking handle that also serves as a mount for the red fiber optic front sight.

Here you can see the scope stop and the safety.

Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find the breech block, on top of which sits a micro-adjustable green fiber optic notch rear sight. Further back, the receiver has dovetails for mounting a scope and a removable scope stop. At the extreme aft end of the receiver is a push-pull resettable safety. And that’s it – the Value Max is almost Zen-like in its simplicity.

The green fiber optic rear sight is click-stop adjustable.

To ready the Value Max for shooting, grab the cocking handle and pull the barrel down and back until it latches (I estimate this takes about 35 lbs of effort). Slide a pellet into the breech end of the barrel and return the barrel to its original position. Take aim, slide the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. I measured the first stage at 2 lb. 1.6 oz., and the second stage at 4 lb. 10.8 oz. The second stage has a long pull, but I quickly became accustomed to it. At 32 yards, I was able to put 5 pellets (H&N FTS) into a group that measured 1.25 inches from edge to edge. That works out to just a hair over 1 inch center to center. While that isn’t spectacularly great, it is perfectly adequate for defending the garden at 100 feet.

The Value Max launched .20 cal JSB Exact pellets at 731.5 fps average, generating 16.32 foot-pounds of energy. The report, from the shooter’s position, is a resounding WOK! I am suspicious that the shot sounds louder to the shooter than to a bystander because (again, an unconfirmed suspicion) I think the butt stock may be hollow and may have the effect of amplifying the sound in the shooter’s ear. Perhaps some brave soul will experiment with injecting some sort of sound-deadening foam into the stock to see what effect that has.

Despite the somewhat creepy trigger and apparently louder-than-normal report, I liked the Value Max. I liked its utilitarian appearance and yeoman performance. It delivers solid value at a reasonable price. What’s not to like about that?

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

 

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Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine – Part II

Monday, June 4, 2012

To ready the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine for shooting, grab the cocking handle at the end of the cocking lever, unsnap it from it retaining fitting at the end of the barrel, and pull it down and back until latches with two tiny clicks. If you hear only one click (as I did the first couple of times I loaded the 200S), the breech block will slide out of the way, you’ll be able to load the 200S, but you will not be able to release the anti-beartrap mechanism that allows you to return the cocking lever to its original position. So you want to hear two clicks . . . got it?

The breech opening has a low cut only on the right side, favoring right-handed loading.

Next, stuff a pellet into the aft end of the barrel, and here is where we discover that, while the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine is designed with an ambidextrous stock, the cut of the breech opening is decidedly biased toward the right side of the receiver. As a result, I think that left-handed shooters will find that they will either have to (A) roll the 200s to the left so that the breech opening faces to the left or (B) learn to load this air rifle right-handed.

This is the anti-beartrap release lever.

After loading the pellet, press the anti-beartrap release lever in (toward the receiver) and return the cock lever to its original position. Turn off the safety by sliding the lever toward you and squeeze the trigger. At about 10 oz. the first stage comes out of the trigger,  and at 5 lbs 5.5 oz the pellet goes down range. The shot goes off with a pop that is typical of underlever spring-piston air rifles. It is not dead quiet, but, in my opinion, it is pretty neighbor-friendly and is not the kind of sound that is likely to attract unwanted attention.

The Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine is a relatively heavy rifle – 9.7 lbs – so it doesn’t dance around a lot when it goes off. In addition, the Hatsan company says that it is equipped with a patented Shock Absorber System that reduces shock and vibration. In all honesty, I can’t tell you how – or even if – this system works, but I can tell you that the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine is a pleasant rifle to shoot.

The Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine launched 15.9 grain JSP .22 pellets at around 590 fps for about 12.29 foot-pounds of energy (It’s also available in .177 caliber, which I did not test.). At 32 yards, I was able to put five .22 Crosman Premiers into a group that measured 7/8 inch edge to edge. That works out to .66 inch center to center.

In the end, I really liked the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine. I think it will serve a lot of airgunners well, and it hits a real sweet spot on the price/performance curve.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

–          Jock Elliott

 

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Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine – Part I

Monday, May 28, 2012

The Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine is, I think, a good looking air rifle.

Some time ago, the good folks at Airguns of Arizona told me that they had “gone to UPS school.” They rang up the experts at UPS and asked them, point-blank, “How should we package airguns so they get there safely?” The UPS packing geeks said: “Put the airgun box inside another box and surround it with packing peanuts.”

And that’s what the Airguns of Arizona crew does. Every time a box arrives at El Rancho Elliott from AoA, I know that inside is an airgun (or two or three), each in its own box and surrounded by Styrofoam peanuts. So whenever I receive a shipment from AoA, I have to decant the peanuts into a plastic garbage bag and the slide the individual gun boxes out of the outer box into freedom where I can have my way with them.

It’s a system that works. In the years have I have been writing this weekly blog, only once has a gun been broken in shipment. That’s way less than a third of one percent failure rate. So you can imagine my dismay when I found that one end of the inner box that housed the Hatsan Dominator 200s Carbine had blown out. Bits of plastic packing inserts, polymer parts, and some cloth were trying to sneak their way out of the small end of the package.

It was not a good first impression – a bit like your daughter’s first date showing up with his shirt half untucked, mis-matched socks, and still trying to tie his tie while he rings the doorbell. As I looked inside the Hatsan box, which says “Serious. Solid. Impact.” and sorted out the various pieces, which included a bipod, a scope arrestor block, buttpad spacer inserts, a couple of allen wrenches, a sling and the rifle itself, I remember thinking to myself “I hope this goes well.”

But, in fact, it did go well, and the overall impression that I came away with after testing this gun is that the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine is a solid bargain in the world of air rifles, particularly when you consider that it costs just a hair less than $310.

But let’s start at the beginning: the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine is a single-shot underlever spring-piston air rifle that stretches just over 43 inches from end to end and weighs 9.7 lbs without at scope. At the aft end of the 200S is a soft rubber butt pad. There are a couple of screws buried deep in the butt pad. Undo them and you can add up to three 5mm spacers (included with the gun) to increase the length of pull as needed.

The length of pull can be adjusted using spacers that are provided, and the comb can be raised by turning these two screws.

The butt pad is attached to a matte-black-finished ambidextrous polymer stock. On the right side of the stock are two large screws that allow the height of the comb to be adjusted with a screwdriver or coin. Underneath the buttstock is a metal swivel to which a sling (also included) can be attached. On either side of the pistol grip and the forestock, you’ll find soft rubber inlays for better grip.

The trigger is adjustable.

Forward of the pistol grip, a black plastic trigger guard encloses a black adjustable metal trigger. Moving forward, underneath the forestock is a long slot that provides clearance for the cocking mechanism. On the left side of the forestock, there is another sling swivel. Protruding from the front of the forestock is the cocking lever which has a knurled metal cocking handle. Above that is the barrel. The muzzle is equipped with a screw-off cap that can be removed for fitting a sound moderator (where legal).

The fitting at the end of the barrel can be unscrewed for adding a silencer where legal.

Moving toward the rear along the barrel, you’ll find the receiver, finished in black with a silver-colored breech block. Aft of the breech on the right side of the receiver is a lever for releasing the anti-beartrap mechanism after cocking the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine. On top of the receiver is an ingenuous dovetail system that will accommodate both conventional 11-13mm scope rings as well as Picatinny scope rings. At the extreme aft end of the receiver is a push-pull resettable plastic safety lever.

That’s it! Next time, we’ll take a look at how the Hatsan Dominator 200S Carbine performs.

Til then, aim true and shoot straight.

–          Jock Elliott

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Useful stuff for airgunners – Part II

Monday, May 21, 2012

For me, the Bushnell Yardage Pro is an essential piece of gear.

The key to shooting accurately at various ranges with an air rifle or air pistol is knowing the distance to the target. If you always shoot at the same distance – like the 10 meter air rifle and air pistol competitions in the Olympics – you can simply sight in for the correct distance and forget it. But if you shoot at varying distances, you will need to compensate accordingly. If you sight in your airgun for, say, 20 yards, and then you shoot at any other range, the pellet will then strike the target higher or lower than the point of aim, depending on the distance.

For example, when I competed in the New York State Field Target Championships in 2004, I had chronographed my R1 rifle, and I knew that the pellet would drop 3.5 inches from my point of aim at 55 yards. So when I was confronted with a 55 yard shot, I compensated by raising my point of aim by 3.5 inches, and I made the shot.

Whether you choose to chronograph and ballistically chart your airgun or not, one piece of gear that I have found is incredibly useful is a laser range finder.

For years, I have been using the Bushnell Yardage Pro Scout laser range finder. At first glance, the Yardage Pro Scout looks deceptively simple, like some sort of funky monocular. Weighing just 6.8 ounces and measuring 1.5” x 4” x 2.75 inches, the Yardage Pro Scout has two lenses in front, an eyepiece in back, a button on top, and one on the side. That’s it.

Ah, but what it does is darn near magic. Pick up the Yardage Pro, sight through the eyepiece, and press the top button. A crosshairs appears in the field of view. Press and hold the top button again, and the distance to the target in yards appears in the field of view. (The Yardage Pro also can be made to measure in meters, to ignore targets closer than 150 yards, and to continuously update range readings, by pressing the appropriate buttons.)

The Yardage Pro Scout does two key things for me. The first is that it makes it easy to set up shooting at a known distance. In my side yard, I can shoot out to 45 yards, but it is a pain in the cheeks to measure the exact distance with a steel tape. Further, I found that whatever markers I use to designate measured distances, they eventually go missing, forcing me to make the measurement all over again. The accuracy of the Yardage Pro is supposed to be plus or minus one yard, but I’ve found it to be spot on when checked against measurements made with a steel tape. So now, I simply measure the distance to the pellet trap with the laser range finder (30 yards, for example), set my gear down, and get to work.

The other place where the Yardage Pro shines is in the field. Estimating the distance to a target can sometimes be very difficult, and with any air gun, once you extend the distance far enough, the pellet begins to drop like a stone. The difference between, say, 40 and 43 yards can mean the difference between a solid hit and a clean miss. The Yardage Pro takes the guesswork out of determining the distance to the target, and therefore how much elevation adjustment is required. As a result, I wouldn’t want to be without one.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

–    Jock Elliott

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Useful stuff for airgunners – Part I

Monday, May 14, 2012

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

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The return of a classic, the Crosman 1322 pistol

Monday, May 7, 2012

I have written elsewhere that I think the Crosman 1377 is the most widely customized airgun in the world. It’s a .177 caliber multi-stroke pneumatic pistol that is surprisingly affordable and quite easy to customize or upgrade on an incremental basis. Crosman introduced the 1377 in 1977 and it has been in continuous production ever since.

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

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The Industry Brand AR2078A

Monday, April 30, 2012

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

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Posted in Airguns | 7 Comments »

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