by B.B. Pelletier
Announcement: Stevin Cran is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd AIR gift card! Congratulations!
Stevin Cran shoots at a field target match. Edith has asked Pyramyd air’s facebook contact to find out the specifics about the scope as well as the specific Steyr model.
We had this question last week. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have thought of writing it, but then I learned the truth — not everyone understands what the term repeater means. Not even everybody in the gun trade understands it!
This is why I rant about using the correct terms for things like cartridges and bullets. Because if we don’t, along comes someone who thinks bullets and cartridges are the same. So, then, what do they call a bullet? Why, a bullet tip or a bullet head or a bullet nose — as one airgun maker did several years ago. I’ve seen people on TV gun reality shows refer to cartridges as bullets — so you know the practice is widespread.
And it was three years ago when I saw on an airgun retail website a description of a certain airsoft long gun that described it as a bolt-action, single-shot with a 25-round magazine! This was a dealer, mind you! I was flabbergasted until I researched it a bit more and found that many sites were making the same mistake. Apparently, there are lots of people who believe that for something to be a repeater, it must fire every time the trigger is pulled. Anything else is a single-shot, I guess.
History
Man has wanted to fire more than one shot from his gun since about 30 seconds after recovering from the shock of seeing the first gun fire. And why not? We had repeating crossbows hundreds of years ago. Why shouldn’t firearms also fire more than one shot before needing to be reloaded?
And experiments with repeating firearms go way back in history. There were matchlock guns that used charges in tandem; firing one, then the next one behind it and so on, until all charges in the barrel were fired. The photo below is of a flintlock that has to pre-date 1830, and we know that Bartolomeo Girardoni’s son was killed as he fired one of his father’s repeaters when it exploded and tore of his arm Shortly thereafter, Girardoni turned to airguns and developed his 22-shot repeater (known as the model 1780) for the Austrian Army.
The charges for this flintlock repeater were loaded one on top of the other in a single barrel. The forward lock was fired first, then the one behind it and so on. Heaven help them if they got out of order! They relied on the bullet to stop the gunpowder from burning backward and setting off the other charges. Very dangerous! Photo from “Guns and Rifles of the World,” by Howard L. Blackmore, copyright 1965.
There were several repeaters used during the American Civil War. The most popular was Colt’s repeating revolver — a 6-shot revolver that was popular with both sides. And there were numerous other revolvers, plus a couple of lever-action repeaters from Spencer and Henry.
But when the armies of the world started buying and designing their own repeaters in the 1870s, they made most of them single-shots, as well.
Huh?
These early military bolt-action repeaters had a lever or switch called a magazine cutoff that prevented the cartridges in the magazine from feeding through the action. The rifles were supposed to function as single-shots in battle until the order was given to throw the switch and turn them into true repeaters. Then they fed cartridges from the magazine until the last cartridge was fired. The brass theorized that this would conserve ammunition. I don’t know what the soldiers thought, but I know what I would have done had I been in their position.
Think this went out of style in the 20th century? Hardly! The U.S. Rifle, Model 1903A3, which entered production in late 1941, still had a magazine cutoff. But long before the soldiers had learned to flip it up to feed from the magazine.
The magazine function is turned ON with the cutoff switch in this position. The rifle now feeds all cartridges as it should.
There was one stylistic reason for retaining the magazine cutoff. The bolt was opened during the drill maneuver known as inspection arm; if the cutoff was set, the bolt never cleared the magazine follower. Therefore, the bolt could rapidly be closed again without pushing down on the follower. That looks and sounds sharp if everybody’s in cadence. Of course, other models of bolt-action rifles solved this same problem by simply grinding a bevel on the back of the follower; so the value of keeping the cutoff is small. Knowing the hidebound U.S. Army, it’s a safe bet they kept it for that reason, alone!
Repeater Guns
So, what is a repeater?
A repeating gun or airgun is a gun that can be fired more than one time without loading ammunition. And when I say loading, I mean handling ammunition with the hands. So, is a revolver a repeater? You betcha! How about a double-barreled gun? Yes, again. But here we will start an argument, because some double-barrel fans think that repeaters must have mechanisms to manipulate the ammunition. They see double-barreled guns as different because they need no ammunition manipulation mechanism and are shorter and lighter than those guns that have them.
I fall on the side that believes double-barreled guns are repeaters; by the same token, 24-shot volley guns are repeaters. And large revolving cannons (where either the barrels revolve or there’s a huge cylinder containing the cartridges) are also repeaters. In my mind, the Mossberg Brownie pistol is also a repeater, and it’s a four-barreled handgun. The only thing that moves is the firing pin. The same can be said for certain models of double-barreled shotguns.
But the bolt-action rifle that has a magazine is always a repeater. The fact that the bolt must be operated to move the next cartridge from the magazine into the barrel’s breech does not prevent it from being a repeater.
What about a gun that must be loaded singly, but which carries a reserve of cartridges onboard? One example of this would be the Liberator pistol from World War II. It was a primitive weapon that fired as a single-shot but carried extra cartridges inside the hollow butt. In this case, since each cartridge has to be singly loaded into the breech, it’s a single-shot. The quantity of ammunition that comes with the gun doesn’t affect the definition. How each round gets into the breech is what drives the definition.
Think we’re done?
Not even close! As recently as one year ago, I actually had to argue that an airsoft M1911A1 pistol that required the slide to be withdrawn for every shot was a repeater! The other party wanted to call it a single-shot that had a 20-round magazine. It had a spring-piston powerplant, and pulling the slide back cocked the mainspring that drove the piston. It this respect, it’s something like a bolt-action rifle, except the piston is being retracted and the mainspring cocked instead of just the firing pin retracted and its spring cocked while the next round is fed into the chamber. The other party insisted that since this pistol did not feed the plastic BB into a chamber, that was the proof that it was a single-shot. But when I pointed out that the Walther PPK/S BB pistol shoots BBs straight from the top of the magazine and not from the chamber of the barrel, they conceded the point.
Does it matter?
What should it matter whether people know the definition of a repeater? Well, the context is what determines whether it matters. If the news anchor mentions it in a report on television, we’re lucky if they just differentiate between airsoft and firearms (or toy guns and real guns, to use their terminology). They want to call them all weapons, anyway. But for airgunners who are serious about pursuing this hobby, we really should know the fundamental definitions such as this one.
Guilty, as charged…. I’m one of those who mixes up my terms in conversation. Not so much writing, but there seems to be a disconnect sometimes between my vocabulary and my mouth when speaking. I try to edit what I write…
/Dave
It’s a good thing for all of us to agree on terminology and understand what the individual we’re having a conversation with, is referring to. Semi-automatic versus fully automatic is still a cause for confusion amongst most people!
By the way, what’s the difference between a ‘sub-machine” gun and a “machine” gun? Portable and able to be transported and operated by one person versus crew served? I don’t know.
Fred DPRoNJ
I’m new to the firearms world, but let me take a stab at this Fred….Is a sub machine gun basically a machine gun that shoots typical handgun ammo, such as 9mm? And a machine gun is one that shoots larger rounds, such as 50 caliber? If I get that right, I’m taking the rest of the day off!!
And being a noob (shooting anytime of gun at all / hunting) for only three years, I still mix up clip and magazine. I know the difference, but I always want to say “clip”. Just sounds cooler. Maye if I refer to the magazine as a “mag” that would help. That kind of rolls off the tongue…..
I got a perp on my six! Throw me a mag! Yeah, that might work…..
se mn airgunner,
You got it right. Pistol ammo = SUBmachine gun. Rifle ammo = machine gun.
B.B.
Woo Hoo!!
Thanks for clearing that up for me! However, on this blog, it would be, “throw me a mag, I got a squirrel on my six!”.
Fred DPRoNJ
Yep, a “perp” is a squirrel to me. Or a rabbit. Or a starling. Or a pigeon. Or a house sparrow. Or a mouse. You should see the fangs on those things!!! It’s either me or them.
Aggressive squirrel if it’s sneaking up behind you…
This fellow didn’t seem too concerned that I was laying on my back leaning out the patio door shooting images. Note: the patio is only about 6-7 feet long, so this one is no more than 7 feet from the camera (hmmm, appears the camera didn’t record focus distance)
http://bieberd.home.netcom.com/Squiddle.jpg
And this was shot through the basement window. The first time I saw these I was heading down to the basement and heard something tapping on the window; looked around the corner and…
http://bieberd.home.netcom.com/Dinner.JPG
GREAT pics! The squirrels in my woods are too nervous to come up on the porch. In fact, they’ve seemed to learn to stay just outside of airgun range, little devils!!
That turkey is BEAUTIFUL! I’ve turkey hunted 3 years now with no luck. I had a shot at a jake my first year and didn’t take it. I’m still kicking myself. I want to tag one turkey and then I’m done. I’m not one for getting up at 4 AM. I prefer evening hunts.
The squirrel did have incentive — that’s the remains of a tin of almonds and sunflower seeds on the right edge.
The turkeys are rather comfortable around people too — at least when they think they’re going to be fattened, uh, fed. I stepped onto the patio with a bowl of sunflower seeds, dry corn, etc, and the turkeys ran up from 60 feet away (the other end of the building). Though 15 feet seems to be their comfort zone.
Unless I use the (illegal) Marauder, through the basement window, on one close enough to pull in, they’re off-limits. There is a Hilton less than 1/4 mile south, another hotel the the south west, and a condo complex to the north (and the rest of my apartment complex behind me). Oh… And at these distances, I’m not sure I can adjust the scopes to zero!
My first pheasant hunt back when I was a senior in high school: I stepped on a large pile of brush. There was movement underneath me accompanied by squawking. A male pheasant shot straight up, then leveled off and flew away from me. I snapped off the safety on my Browning Superposed, led him perfectly across a wide ravine where he landed and disappeared into the brush. I snapped the safety back on, turned to my hunting partner and said with a goofy smile, “That was a pheasant!” “Yes”, he said dryly. “We usually shoot them.”
Funny! Still, I’d rather have that happen than shoot 3 times and miss in front of everybody. Been there done that. Why don’t the doggone things hold real still and steady like?!?
Dear Mr. B.B. Pelletier,
I am Annie and love to shoot with my friends on Cola cans, Carton Match boxes, A piece of wood etc.
I live in Holland and try to find out some things about my new Evanix AR6 Hunting Master Pistol.
Tonight I could not sleep and again dig into the Evanix problem.
According to Evanix company I already distroyed my Pistol, yet it works fine……can that be (see their e-mail answer below)???
The pistol was bought from a reseller here in Europe.
It was said to be a Single and Double action pistol.
Yet the reseller sold previous ones to others, and removed the “double action function” from the pistols somehow at forehand???
He said that the pistols would jam or get broken when used as double action?
I did not want them to remove anything from my new bought pistol, so I bought it completely with double action mode and it works, although it is not very useful, thanks to the very heavy Trigger pull force.
Yet why should it break when I or my friends use it and if so, what can I do about it.
What will be broken when it happens and can it be repaired or is there a way to prevent it from breaking?
The point is that many of my friends on the club like to try-out / use the Pistol, and immediately use the double action mode to see it work, no matter what I tell them about the “strange” broken pistol story???
They state: “When this double action mode is build in and advertised with, it is suppose to work as such”……and there they go?
The exterior of the pistol, looks exactly the same as the AR6 rifle that seems to have no problem with single and double action.
So are they not the same mechanics than after all ???
I belong to a private air shooting club and the Manager bought the same pistol as a Demo for the club. Will you please see the e-mail correspondence below, from and to Evanix company in Korea where it comes to double action mode………..please do so for me because I am so frustrated about the lack of support from all persons I asked help from?
This was the answer of Evanix to the e-mail that they received:
AR6 including pistol has two versions as follow:
– single action
– double action (Renegade)
We have never sold pistol in double action in Europe.
If you tried to fire the pistol in double action, few parts are damaged.
Regards
Siyoung Lee ( evanix@evanix.com ; gunstock@gunstock.co.kr )
The e-mail below was written to Evanix Company (only the relevant parts shown):
Dear Sirs,
…..:
We own a shooting club …………we like to buy your Evanix AR6 Pistol (see picture below) …..
Picture of the Evanix AR6 Hunting Master Pistol was shown here WITH their double action, advertisement copied from their own website witch state “Launch 6 pellets in about 3 seconds! “???
( please see: http://www.evanix.com/evanix_w/hunting_master.html )
The problem is that ……… several resellers told us that your AR6 pistol will break very soon when using it in “double action mode” ……
There seems to be a BIG problem with the meganics called “the sear” (what ever that is?) that causes problems after a short time, when the potential buyers like to use it as shown in your advertisement (fire 6 bullets in approx. 3 seconds?)
We bought a demo model first, to get familiar with this air pistol and one of the resellers even tried to sell us this model with some parts already taken out at pre-sell, so it could ONLY be used in “single shot mode” ……..
Than we turned to the USA to ask if this problem indeed existed with them as well and indeed it did.
Also those resellers warned us NOT to buy this pistol for “double action” use, unless you come up with a solution.
So can you help us please, to maybe modify the Demo model that we have here?
What parts needs to be exchanged or modified or what can we do about this problem?
Again……….the one we now own as demo model did NOT YET break.
We have several very skilled persons in the shooting club, so they can make / repair / adapt metal parts if necessary, but first we like you to tell us what to do?
Maybe you already solved the problem, so we can buy the necessary parts that need to be exchanged in this pistol to prevent it from sear problems?
Maybe you can point out on a kind of Auto-CAD Blow-Out drawing where the problem is pinpointed?
Please help our Mechanics understand or solve it your selves…………
So dear Mr. B.B. Pelletier,
Many people considered you on Google Search as a VERY respected person with the knowledge to solve this problem once and for all. I really hope you can please?
Many and kindest regards and thank you in advance for your effort,
Annie
PS: please tell me if I need to login to this e-mail website to see your answer or can I receive it on my personal e-mail; which is: contact2011@ziggo.nl
Yes, a machine gun feeds rifle ammo, but it doesn’t have to be .50 caliber. That would be a heavy machine gun. .30 caliber is more common–called a medium machine gun. Question? What is a “light” machine gun? 🙂
Matt61
Matt,
A light machine gun can be carried by one man. A heavy machine gun requires a crew to carry and emplace it. The M2 with ground mount weighs 154 lbs, as memory serves, while the M240 weighs just 22-5-27 lbs. — depending on the configuration.
B.B.
Ah, so a .30 caliber machine gun can be light, medium, or even heavy? I understand the 1917 Browning was technically heavy, except when it was cradled in the forearm and allowed to burn the skin off as it did for Sgt. Mitchell Paige on Guadalcanal.
Matt61
Matt61,
I have heard the water cooled .30 cal. called heavy and the air cooled 1919A4 and A6 called light.
If I remember they were around 30 pounds. The A6 had a bipod ,flash hider- booster , shoulder stock
and carrying handle. By using the handle it could be fired standing.You needed an asbestos glove to change the barrels ,I have seen them red hot.
BB,
I always thought the term light machine gun was an oxymoron , like jumbo shrimp.
Just to show that some ideas just will not go away check this out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjGbOyd2ek&feature=related
Oh, and we’ve had a long discussion about clip and magazine. Both are storage boxes for ammo, but a magazine has an internal feeding mechanism–like a spring-loaded follower, whereas the clip just holds the rounds together.
Matt61
There are auto loading repeaters and manual loading repeaters. I have used this statement a few times to clear up the confusion some have had on this.
Is today Friday? Got flu bad. 3 days between Military channel and Speed! Not sure how much longer I can carry this 100lb ball on top of my shoulders. Need more Thera-Flu
ka
KA,
You have a good way of explaining it. I like that. I may borrow it.
B.B.
Edith:
The gun looks like a Steyr LG110 High Power, I have no clue on the scope.
Jim
I was unaware that the 1903 had that switch. Though, admittedly, I don’t know much about the 1903. I reminds me of when I had the M16 with the selector “fire-safe-auto” and knowing 3 – 5 round bursts were the most effective way to lay down suppressive fire, it was always hard not to burn through half a mag at a time! I don’t think the updated versions even have full auto, do they?
ka
I don’t believe so. And I wonder how popular the 3 shot burst mode is? I understand that the trend is for pure semiauto aimed fire.
Matt61
Matt61,
I’m curious too. Anyone here with recent military time under their belt, feel free to speak up.
ka
KA,
According to Tom Clancy, the H&K MP5 in full-auto three-round bursts with a silencer is the preferred way to take out enemy guards.
I’m drooling!
ka
Okay, so how reliable is Tom Clancy? My understanding is…very. He gets all his stuff second-hand, but he’s quite the scrupulous researcher and there’s a lot out there. The 3 round burst mode seems to make sense. You get combat accuracy and by repeat squeezing of the trigger you can probably come close to full-auto.
Matt61
BB
Does this blog ever stop getting better? Where else are you going to find this stuff? Nowhere I tell ya, nowhere.
I am a grammar, or rather a language freak, and you really hit home with this one. Why are words so flippantly used so that they lose all meaning? The most brazen example is irony. You can’t be or act ironic. Irony is a strange turn of events or fate. Sardonic is the phrase this feeble-minded people are grasping for. Dang, I just came off as an elitist.
This is one of your best articles yet, and that carries considerable weight based on the volume of work that I have read of yours. Perfect Friday blog material.
SL,
You and I rarely disagree. According to the dictionary, “ironic” is an adjective and is suitably used this way: an ironic remark. Sardonic means grim or cynical. Ironic means sarcastic. As far as synonyms, ironic, sarcastic & sardonic are all listed as synonymous for each other.
The major differences I see between ironic and sardonic, is that ironic feigns ignorance and is used to amuse or to be witty. Sardonic is not necessarily witty and does not attempt to feign ignorance.
I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but my edge hasn’t been completely dulled…yet 🙂
Edith
SL,
Umm…that last line was not intended to suggest that YOUR edge has been dulled. I’m just speaking for myself…being old & having more senior moments than I care to admit 🙂
Edith
Edith,
Dulled edges? Hey! I resemble that!
B.B.
That’s ironic. Or is it sardonic?
kevin
Edith
Yes, irony IS a slippery word to define. My point is that you cannot really consciously act ironic. It is an adjective of a situation or event, not that of an individual. You CAN act moronic however, as many morons do. This creates a situation that defeats their efforts not despite, but because of their efforts. This is irony. But it certainly isn’t all that irony is.
To me, sardonic is mocking something by engaging in it. This behavior is most often found in young urban hipsters, and they refer to it as ‘being’ ironic. The behavior usually presents itself as wearing clothing that is hideous to anybody with functioning eyes, including the hipster. The purpose of this behavior, as I see it, is a desperate act to draw attention to oneself. And then smirk at the onlookers, as if you have somehow pulled one over on them. But there is nothing ironic about it.
Sarcasm, is an art in and of itself. It can be a gentle nudge on the shoulder or a devastating pile driver to the head, depending on the nuances of wording and delivery. I usually think of sarcasm as saying the opposite of what you think to make a point. But, like irony, it is much more than that. Much if not most comedy is based in sarcasm. I know it when I hear it.
All these words are similar in a way, and it may be convenient for a publisher of dictionaries to list them as synonyms. But IMNSHO they are not.
Take the case of Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. With an impending hurricane bearing down on his poorly mismanaged city, he did not follow the city’s established hurricane preparedness plan. Nor was the state’s disaster preparedness plan enacted. While thousands of inhabitants, including nursing home patients and those in hospital beds, drowned due to local level mismanagement, the Mayor famously whined, “Where is the cavalry?” (From Houston) Good thing he wasn’t re-elected. Oh, wait… yes he was.
So my long drawn out point is that Mayor Nagin’s actions, or rather in actions resulted in him making a desperate and outraged plea to others when this tragedy could have been avoided to a great degree if he would have followed an established set of instructions he was provided with when he took the job. Would this be considered irony? Certainly. Sarcasm? I just don’t see it. The words are similar, but not synonyms by any stretch.
BTW: To sensitive political types, I think the Federal response (ie Bush administration) was pathetic as well. This blatant ineptness in government, at all levels, was the impetus for me to buy my first firearm, seeing as how I obviously could not depend on the government for my safety.
I will now descend from my glorious soap box.
Not so fast, SL – get back on the soap box. It’s time for some bricks to be slung back (bat?) at you. Nagin did not poorly mismanage the City of New Orleans. To say he “poorly mismanaged” is to use a double negative and therefore he “did a good job managing the city”. You need to say he “poorly managed” or did a superior job mis-managing the city.
See Edith, we all told you SL would emerge unscathed from the tornadoes.
Fred DPRoNJ
Fred
You are a shrewd wordsmith. With my face to the mat, I cry Uncle!
SL,
Thank you for your answer!
While the Bush administration was less than stellar in the hurricane fiasco, there IS one common misunderstanding: The feds were waiting to bring supplies to the city after the hurricane hit, but the governor told Bush to hold off until she decided to bring them in on her schedule. Ah, yes…the ability to stage a rescue and make it seem like you’re the cavalry. Well, it backfired on her, and the illustrious, well-spoken Bobby Jindal was duly elected. I’m guessing he’ll try to make a White House bid some day. He may not meet the intent of the law as far as being a natural born citizen of the U.S. — but apparently, that no longer matters.
Okay…I’m sure those are enough fightin’ words for one day 🙂 Sorry if I upset anyone!
Edith
You are 100% correct. But it backfired on Bush too. The governor wanted control over federal reservists. A President does not cede his authority to an obvious political opportunist. His other option was to ‘invade’ a State of the Union with a Democratic, female governor. The press would have gone on a feeding frenzy that would make bull sharks look like new born kittens. To heck with the press, I would have ‘invaded’ and defended myself later.
On the other hand, he put his trust and thus his own judgement in the hands of his FEMA director, who was as effective as a wet noodle. That would be to say totally incompetent. Even if I had complete confidence in a person, which the President really had no reason to be in Brown, I would have been on his back like a rabid monkey from second one.
Thank God for the PA blog. I love these off-topic discussions with people of knowledge and taste!
Actually, there is something called “dramatic irony” where you–basically act ironic. Rolling one’s eyes would count I think.
Edith, I actually suspect that sardonic is more often used for humor than not, but you’re right that it doesn’t have to be.
As for what irony is, that turns out to be EXTREMELY hard to pin down. It can be used to feign ignorance but at least as often it is used as a sign of wit and intelligence. One central characteristic–if not a definition–is that irony is associated with “critical distance.” This means something like a self-consciousness of what you are talking and an awareness of meanings other than the literal one. Like when Tiger Woods sneered at a reporter the other day by saying, “You’re beautiful.”
Matt61
More on irony. It is very basic to the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which is your quintessentially American book. If Shakespeare might have contributed to speech patterns of a democratic culture, it is widely recognized that Huck Finn represents the emergence of a uniquely American voice. There is nothing else like it in world literature; it’s what Americans sound like. (Incidentally, on a related subject, most Americans probably think that the way they talk is standard English to which all other versions compare. It’s very hard for us to hear an American accent. But when other cultures–British and Canadians–mimic American accents, it sounds slow and drawling. In other words, I suspect that Americans sound to other English speakers the way Southerners sound to Americans, so the connection to Shakespearean English is there again.) Anyway, all of American literature afterwards is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn, particularly the novels of Hemingway and especially Catcher in the Rye.
Part of the Huckleberry Finn persona is humor; it’s one of the few books that can make people laugh out loud. Some favorite lines. Huck is talking about his stay with a crazy, murderous country family involved in a feud but who are pious churchgoers. And he says, “After church, they had such a powerful lot to say about free will and preorforedestination, that I thought it was one of the roughest Sundays I had ever come across.” And talking about a con-artist who calls himself “the King,” Huck says, “When he took off his white beaver and bowed so low and polite in his black suit, you would have thought he had stepped right off the Ark and was maybe old Leviticus himself.” Satire of religious hypocrisy is a big theme.
One paradox about the book, though, is that for all the humor, Huck himself who is very practical (American) is completely literal-minded and has no sense of humor at all. The humor derives from his relationship to various situations, so even though it is spoken out, it is really a case of dramatic irony.
Matt61
And more. One person has suggested that irony may be rooted in big bellies and soft, flabby physiques… He was referring to academia where being ironic and clever is a common mannerism. The connection is that irony may be the natural outgrowth of a minds who would rather comment, observe, and evade than take action. Sounds bizarre but there might be something to that. The culture of shooting with the straightforward, problem-solving approach of gun maintenance and the decisive qualities developed my marksmanship are much more attractive in my opinion.
Matt61
Kevin et. al.,
On Monday I will report the results of the FWB 300S at 50 yards — both with sorted and unsorted pellets.
B.B.
B.B.,
Looking forward to it! Hope you had fun with it and a calm day. Did you bend another one of your unwritten rules and mount a scope on a 10 meter gun?
kevin
Kevin,
No, I used the peep sights. There is a lot to discuss about the results, and I think it will make a good report.
B.B.
You seriously used peeps at fifty yards? How do you work up the courage for that? Do you plan on another test with glass and compare?
Thank you for this place.
Have a great weekend all.
-hm
Hank Mcrae,
Nice to know there’s one other person that was given the same amount of patience at birth as me. 😉
kevin
Hank,
I use peep sights at 100 yards on my Ballard all the time and they seem to work well. But I will discuss some interesting things about using them in this test.
B.B.
B.B.,
Very interesting.
I did some 50 yard shooting with my buddy erik the viking earlier this week. Both the S200 and S410 had problems. I’ll never understand how guns can develope problems by just sitting. It was a little windy but one of our nicer days recently. Most of the snow is gone but enough to make glare a challenge. It was around 20 degrees with windchill. Our fingers were numb after about 30 minutes. Made for interesting trigger pulls.
ps-I don’t want to hear about your weather. Just enjoy it in silence.
kevin
kevin.
The weather? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you because it was 81 degrees yesterday, but we’re looking for only 70 today. Brrrrrrr! 😀
B.B.
B.B.,
Mean. Just plain mean.
You should be thankful that you’re in Texas. If you were here you’d be hit by a snowball.
kevin
Make it 2 snowballs
J-F
Kevin,
“… how guns can develop problems by just sitting.” That’s brilliant!
I was wondering what to put into the PCP primer I was going to write for the reader who asked for one and you just gave me something. Think sitting around doesn’t hurt mechanical things? American tanks (the M60 series) could not tolerate not being run on a weekly basis. Their seals would dry out and they would develop serious leaks.
I bet Model Ts or As are like that, too. I remember my old (1940s) Harleys liked being run and hated to just sit.
B.B.
Heck… I’ve given up on my Epson Stylus Photo 960 without even seeing if it can recover… It’s now spent three months in my father’s garage, in temps between 10degF and 50degF. While it does have ink cartridges in it, I suspect they won’t protect the nozzles after three months. I already had to replace the nozzles after a summer when I didn’t use it, and that was over $200. Parts may not even be available anymore (I had to order ink direct from Epson — no stores have stocked EPS960 cartridges for some three years).
Instead I spent $500 on an Epson Stylus Photo R2000 (a “large format” photo printer). It will get the same treatment the ESP960 received after the head replacement… At least one print job a week (printing checks: cell phone, land line, electricity, gas… )
B.B.,
Brilliant was not one of the words that came out of my mouth.
It was one of those days that I spent more time screwing with equipment than shooting. Frustrating to be forced into working on issues rather than shooting especially when we had such a narrow window of time and a shooting mission to accomplish.
kevin
B.B.,
Shooting a FWB 300 at 50 yards is something I wish I had experienced. Again, the one I used in competition was amazingly accurate at 50 feet, but that’s a third the distance. In my experience in CA, the best way to get calm conditions was to shoot very early (no later than 7am). But the FWB 300’s were so much like my Anschutz 1407 Standard Rifle, that I’ll bet I could have shot it well. 300’s and 1407’s have the same dimensions, accessory rail, and aperture sights, so except for the cocking versus ammo loading differences, they’d be similar experiences. You’re a lucky man!
Victor
You’re too kind to the media… Where a plastic stocked black autoloading rifle is an “assault weapon” and a scoped bolt-action is a “sniper rifle”, much less what they think of a .50BMG Barrett.
DO BREAK BARREL AIR RIFLES COME WITH REPEATER ADAPTATIONS?
Primo Rodriguez,
The gun that came to mind after reading your question was the theoben slr 88. Although this is a gas ram with an underlever for cocking it does come with a magazine.
There are probably others but I can’t think of them.
ps-the Caps Lock key is on the left side of your key board. Typing in all capital letters is akin to yelling on the internet. You don’t need to yell here we will all hear you. 🙂
kevin
Primo,
Welcome to the blog! And please turn off the caps key.
Yes, Gamo made a breakbarrel repealer called the Expo-Matic years ago. And there have been others.
B.B.
Well, repeaters, what a co-incidence!
As some of you know I’m not above ‘sucking up’ to my clients when it benefits me 😉
I have a lot of gov’t clients…last year I arranged for myself and my two young sons to be given a day long tour of the tank barns at our local military base (Edmonton is home to one of Canada’s largest bases), complete with a ride in a Leopard Tank.
Well yesterday the range officer of our local police dept camera through. I am giving his staff a seminar on closeup photography and he says afterwords he’ll get on the range where I’m going to get to try out an MP5 and a Thompson (the very same ‘Tommy gun’)
Ohhh…in a country where it is completely illegal to own a fully auto weapon this is going to be a treat.
Spread the wealth and tell us all about it. You’ve got the best submachine gun in the world and a classic, that I believe was the first submachine gun. I would be interested to hear your shooting impressions about what makes the MP5 the best.
Matt61
Fear not, Matt, I’ll be posting about the event when it happens (later this month).
On another note…A GREAT DAY.
Just got work that my FAC (firearms acquisition license) has been processed and is on its way.
For those of you south of the border, to purchase a firearm (or airgun over 500fps) you must pass a written/practical exam and then undergo scrutiny for a month by the authorities to try and ensure you know what you are doing…then you can buy a restricted range of firearms.
Anyway…I wrote the exam beginning of January and was informed today that it is in the mail.
So…my Savage .22WMR with scope and heavy barrel is now officially mine. It was legally purchased by a friend of mine and has resided in his gun safe for the last couple of months…once my license in in hand a 15 minute phone call to transfer ownership and it will be sitting in my safe.
Woo-Hoo…can’t wait!
Great! Enjoy. It’s too bad you have to put up with such bull. So it goes……………..
Mike
Congratulations! Tell us all about that Savage! And I don’t know how long your license lasts, but I would start work on that Garand right away. 🙂
Matt61
Need a helper for that seminar? I’ll transport your gear etc. I think I can make it to your province on time.
J-F
That is some nifty equipment in the weekly photo. Wayne, he’s gunning for you in the field target competitions!
That repeating flintlock is painful to behold. Who seeing that could not rejoice at the invention of magazine rifles? And how about this? Could it be that semiauto rifles are better for training in marksmanship than single-shots precisely because you don’t pay so much attention to each shot. You can just focus on repeating the technique for shots, knowing there’s always another one there to try again…. 🙂 Anyway, the IZH 61–while not a semiauto–has helped in this way by helping me put out rounds.
Robert from Arcade and Mike, from what you say, I would think that Minie balls are hardly capable of accuracy but some accounts from the Civil War indicate a higher level of accuracy than you would expect. The author John William De Forest, writing of the Union siege of Port Hudson, LA, claims that both sides would watch carefully for the slightest sign of a hat above the trenches to take a shot. And many soldiers were shot between the crown of the hat and the brim. The distance was not great–about 40 yards, but that is pretty good for a fleeting target. And there was another case where there was a board set in the ground about 800 yards away from the Confederate lines that could be mistaken for a human form, and in short order this board was badly splintered. Those guys could not all have been sharpshooters with specialized equipment.
Duskwight, I don’t believe I’ve heard about the knife that shoots bullets although I’m not surprised. In From Russia With Love, the Russian spy Donovan Granitski uses a book with a .25 caliber gun hidden inside. 🙂 But the ballistic knife with a spring-loaded blade featured in a recent show which pits warriors, sometimes from different historical eras, against each other. They have some very odd combinations, like the American mafia fighting the Japanese Yakuza, a Spartan fighting a ninja, and so on. Anyway one of the match-ups was the U.S. special forces vs. the Spetsnatz. After both sides basically wiped each other out, the last one left alive was a Spetnatz who surprised his American opponent with a shot from his ballistic knife. The Systema site was loud in its rejoicing over this show which it took as a vindication…. 🙂
Anyway, I’m off to see the Act of Valor movie this weekend and will be sure to report. With all the uniforms and equipment and action as well as my generally low standards for movies, I cannot go wrong here.
Matt61
Matt,
Here I must disagree with you. When you know there is another shot waiting, you tend to not follow the principals of marksmanship as you should. After all, you have more shots if this one misses.
The best marksmanship trainer I ever saw is a muzzleloading rifle. The time it takes to reload causes you to focus when taking the shot.
If you haven’t tried muzzleloading arms, give it some thought. they really do help you concentrate more.
B.B.
I find that a spring air rifle to be the most like shooting a muzzle loading rifle. The follow through with a flintlock is a lot like shooting some springers. You can ruin the shot by moving because it takes so long for the bullet to leave the barrel after pulling the trigger. Alot more going on than with a modern cartridge gun.
Matt : This is probably more than a little off topic ,but here is my own experience shootin Minie ball for accuracy. The most accurate muzzle loading rifle I have that I ‘ve shot the most Minie ball in, is a H&R Huntsman that looks like one of their single shot shotguns. Mine has a Williams 5D receiver sight mounted on it. With it I have been able to achieve groups of five shots that fall within 4 to5 ” at one hundred yards. I use the Lyman #575213 Minie and 70 grs of FF blackpowder. I lube with crisco, and I’ve tried a lot of others, but this one likes it best. As Mike said , 60-70 grs is a standard charge. This load recoils like a 20 gauge shotgun, and is no toy. It will shoot right through a 6″ poplar tree. What is interesting with this gun is that the first shot on a clean barrel is always the one out in the group with the next three being in a small 2-3″ group, and the last being a little out too. Sometimes shots two and three will be touching and dead on the point of aim. So it likes to be fouled first but the next three shots will always be the best. After five you need to wipe the bore, or it gets harder to load.
Robert,
How do you wipe your bore? I think I’m going to try black powder in the Ballard next and I want to wipe after every shot. I have read how they did it back in the 1800s, but the equipment doesn’t exist anymore.
B.B.
B.B.
I learned some things a long time ago about cleaning (not really the right word) between shots for muzzle loaders. Don’t know if it would work for a Ballard. Might need some adaptaton.
I was getting 1/2″ groups with round balls at 50 yds (bench) with a T/C Renegade (plain one) and a rear peep.
twotalon
BB, I use my ram rod with a cleaning jag attached. The patch is soaked with a mixture of 50/50 Ballistol and water. I run a couple wet through then dry.
Mike
Mike,
Thanks! In the 19th century they had a special cleaner with o-rings and bristles that cleaned very thoroughly. The left it soaking in water on the range then wiped the bore and dried it after every shot.
B.B.
BB: Been working all day so I’m just reading your reply now. I use just water or rubbing alcohol : one pint and one ounce of dish detergent mixed together, between shots ,and dry out the bore with a clean patch. Some used to recomend “Moose Milk” which if I remember correctly was just a water soluble oil and alcohol. Alcohol is better in cold weather and drys quicker than water and in my opinion is better, because it will not leave wetness to ruin your powder. You can also carry a thermos full of very hot water and the dish detergent to the range for this . Use flannel patches that have not been treated with anything and you can wash, dry and reuse them. I suppose that Ballistol and water would also be fine as Mike suggested.
BB; On my reply above. I almost forgot, the cleaning rod I use is a Kleen Bore ,two peice .270 cal and up , coated and equiped with a slotted jag . It is 47″ long to the handle .
Robert,
Thanks for your answers, too. I will give them some thought, as I definitely have to do something. Experience with a TC Hawken has taught me that black powder soon cakes and makes loading impossible.
B.B.
Sounds like you have one of those in-line muzzleloaders that I’ve seen advertised. I believe you’re right about the connection between spring guns and muzzleloaders. When I shot blackpowder at this seminar, I had a heck of a good time and didn’t do badly. But the painstaking care you need is way out of my league as a lover of magazine rifles.
Matt61
Matt61,
I have to agree with BB’s take on single shots being better for marksmanship training…
Here’s a movie for you if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s called “Come and See”. Not your average hollywood WW2 movie… Make sure you get it with subtitles if you’re not fluent in Russian (or Belarussian in this case). Then for some laughs, watch “The Cuckoo”. Helps to know some Russian with this one so I need subtitles here too, but it’s hilarious!
I may have already recommended these to you, but I don’t remember. CRS, ya know… 🙂
/Dave
Ha. You and B.B. are leagued against me! Actually, I wasn’t being entirely serious with my distaff opinion, and I certainly appreciate the value of concentration. Fact is that I have just battled back again re-learning what I should have known to get back to my old form. And all I have to say about that is “Follow-through!”
However, there might be some relevance to semiautos somewhere in the training process. PeteZ says it well when he says that courage is what you need to take that shot when it first appears. The time and deliberation that you associate with concentration just make things worse for me (although that may be partly because all of my shooting is offhand). But at the shooting ranges, it is my observation that most people take way too long to release their shot. And, ironically, it is some of the more serious shooters (below the elite level) who are most afflicted by this problem. One guy would take forever and then follow through for 20 seconds which I thought was excessive. Others like him will fuss interminably over each shot. Could this be because of a lack of courage to take the shot? How does one develop courage? By lowering the stakes! 🙂 In other words, not making such a big deal out of each shot.
As to a procedure to do this, what if the short time for release seen among the best shooters was not just effect but cause? In other words, instead of waiting for this short release to emerge from years of painstaking training, what if you just did it? Would it have a positive effect on your shooting? There are some suggestive lines of evidence. I was once observing a doctor do an angioplasty which involves threading a wire up the femoral artery into the heart (all visible on X-ray) then maneuvering right up to the blockage in the heart and disintegrating the material with an expanding balloon in the tip of the wire. He was asked how in the world could he navigate the incredibly complex network of veins and arteries to get to the right place. His answer was that the secret lay in applying a slight pressure to the wire which would then find the right direction on its own. Pressure stresses the system to find the energetically favorable route. So, in the context of shooting, perhaps the short release time forces all the distractions out of your mind and forces you to concentrate on the essentials. For someone who knows the basics of shooting, maybe they could gain by getting a semiauto and firing a lot of shots in succession, focusing more on the technique and less on the results. That might be interesting to see how people trained with this method might fare against those from more traditional regimes. There should be grants for things like this.
Matt61
Matt,
You do have a point about not taking too long for a shot and I believe that a magazine full of rounds will definitely help in this regard. I try to practice both slow and fast at the range. One for technique, one to train for quick target acquisition and follow up.
/Dave
B.B. : DO YOU HAVE PLANS OF INDEXING AND PUBLISHING THIS EXCELLENT GROUP OF ARTICLES IN THE NEAR FUTURE. YOUR BLOG IS A REAL TREASURE FOR AIR GUNNERS & ARMS ENTHUSIAST. PLEASE LET US KNOW SO AS TO BUY THE BOOK OR VOLUME AS SOON AS THEY COME OUT. MAYBE PYRAMID SHOULD LOOK SERIOUSLY AT THIS VENTURE. THANK YOU
Primo,
I am using these blog reports to support a more permanent form of writing, so the answer is yes.
I am very tempted to write another book about the fundamentals of airguns.
B.B.
Dear Mr. B.B. Pelletier,
I am Annie and love to shoot with my friends on Cola cans, Carton Match boxes, A piece of wood etc.
I live in Holland and try to find out some things about my new Evanix AR6 Hunting Master Pistol.
Tonight I could not sleep and again dig into the Evanix problem.
According to Evanix company I already distroyed my Pistol, yet it works fine……can that be (see their e-mail answer below)???
The pistol was bought from a reseller here in Europe.
It was said to be a Single and Double action pistol.
Yet the reseller sold previous ones to others, and removed the “double action function” from the pistols somehow at forehand???
He said that the pistols would jam or get broken when used as double action?
I did not want them to remove anything from my new bought pistol, so I bought it completely with double action mode and it works, although it is not very useful,
thanks to the very heavy Trigger pull force.
Yet why should it break when I or my friends use it and if so, what can I do about it.
What will be broken when it happens and can it be repaired or is there a way to prevent it from breaking?
The point is that many of my friends on the club like to try-out / use the Pistol, and immediately use the double action mode to see it work, no matter what I tell
them about the “strange” broken pistol story???
They state: “When this double action mode is build in and advertised with, it is suppose to work as such”……and there they go?
The exterior of the pistol, looks exactly the same as the AR6 rifle that seems to have no problem with single and double action.
So are they not the same mechanics than after all ???
I belong to a private air shooting club and the Manager bought the same pistol as a Demo for the club. Will you please see the e-mail correspondence below, from
and to Evanix company in Korea where it comes to double action mode………..please do so for me because I am so frustrated about the lack of support from all
persons I asked help from?
This was the answer of Evanix to the e-mail that they received:
AR6 including pistol has two versions as follow:
– single action
– double action (Renegade)
We have never sold pistol in double action in Europe.
If you tried to fire the pistol in double action, few parts are damaged.
Regards
Siyoung Lee ( evanix@evanix.com ; gunstock@gunstock.co.kr )
The e-mail below was written to Evanix Company (only the relevant parts shown):
Dear Sirs,
…..:
We own a shooting club …………we like to buy your Evanix AR6 Pistol (see picture below) …..
Picture of the Evanix AR6 Hunting Master Pistol was shown here WITH their double action, advertisement copied from their own website witch state “Launch 6
pellets in about 3 seconds! “???
( please see: http://www.evanix.com/evanix_w/hunting_master.html )
The problem is that ……… several resellers told us that your AR6 pistol will break very soon when using it in “double action mode” ……
There seems to be a BIG problem with the meganics called “the sear” (what ever that is?) that causes problems after a short time, when the potential buyers like
to use it as shown in your advertisement (fire 6 bullets in approx. 3 seconds?)
We bought a demo model first, to get familiar with this air pistol and one of the resellers even tried to sell us this model with some parts already taken out at pre-
sell, so it could ONLY be used in “single shot mode” ……..
Than we turned to the USA to ask if this problem indeed existed with them as well and indeed it did.
Also those resellers warned us NOT to buy this pistol for “double action” use, unless you come up with a solution.
So can you help us please, to maybe modify the Demo model that we have here?
What parts needs to be exchanged or modified or what can we do about this problem?
Again……….the one we now own as demo model did NOT YET break.
We have several very skilled persons in the shooting club, so they can make / repair / adapt metal parts if necessary, but first we like you to tell us what to do?
Maybe you already solved the problem, so we can buy the necessary parts that need to be exchanged in this pistol to prevent it from sear problems?
Maybe you can point out on a kind of Auto-CAD Blow-Out drawing where the problem is pinpointed?
Please help our Mechanics understand or solve it your selves…………
So dear Mr. B.B. Pelletier,
Many people considered you on Google Search as a VERY respected person with the knowledge to solve this problem once and for all. I really hope you can
please?
Many and kindest regards and thank you in advance for your effort,
Annie
PS: please tell me if I need to login to this e-mail website to see your answer or can I receive it on my personal e-mail; which is: contact2011@ziggo.nl
Annie,
I must caution you that the resellers are right. The double action WILL break your gun. I advise people to not use it.
The problem is, the pull weight is too heavy (you would not want to use it anyway) and the linkage that connects the trigger to the hammer is too weak and will break.
Over the years Evanix has made the double action trigger pull lighter, but it isn’t very light, even today.
So my advice is, don’t try to make this repair. Shoot the pistol single action. Even if you had the double action pull you wouldn’t use it after you tried it a few times.
I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.
B.B.
Glad you’re around for this. I wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to tell Annie to keep her from staying up at night about this gun. 🙂
Matt61
Annie,
The Evanix guns sold outside the U.S. are not always like the guns imported to the United States.
Pyramyd AIR is the sole importer of Evanix guns for distribution in America. They often ask Evanix to make certain changes to the guns that are sold in the rest of the world before they import them to the U.S. These changes could be mechanical, cosmetic, air capacity or a different stock. Therefore, it is difficult to answer your questions because we do not know how the guns differ from the ones we have in the U.S.
If you need parts for your guns, you can either contact a European Evanix parts supplier, go directly to Evanix in Korea for parts or contact the official Evanix repair station in the U.S. for the guns (tech@airventuri.com). The American repair station may or may not have parts that are compatible with the gun you own.
While B.B. Pelletier can help you with some information, your gun may not be similar enough to the gun sold in America. Also, B.B. has never tested or shot the Evanix pistol. So, his info about that gun is somewhat limited. The pistol is very similar to the rifle; but, again, we’re talking only about the guns configured for the U.S. market, which may vary significantly from the guns available in Europe…and your gun specifically.
You do not need to login to this site to get help. However, 6 of your posts have been caught by our spam filter. When you repeatedly post comments with the exact same content, the spam filter thinks you’re trying to take down the blog site and pulls your messages so no one can read them.
Regards,
Edith
Dear Mrs. Edith Gaylord,
Thank you so much for your answer and thank Mr. B.B. Pelletier please for me too?
I understand about the SPAM filter.
I only have the Pistol of Evanix and bought it here in Holland.
I don’t know how to show you what I have.
I can not send pictures of the Pistol this way?
I can only tell that it is the exact image as shown on YouTube from the outside.
Yet several questions in my e-mails are more or less general right?
Can you, Mr. B.B. Pelletier or someone else maybe already answer some of those?
Such as what a SEAR is?
And is it normal for a pistol to have a double action function, while it can not be used?
Maybe it needs to be like that to make the single action work or so?
I wish I knew a way of preventing it from breaking, beside asking each and everyone that wants to shoot with it in the future, to not use the Single action function (I will never know what they do with it when I am away though?)
And the question which is also General maybe: Can the pistol still be in a broken state as Evanix told in the sent e-mail which I copied to Mr. B.B. Pelletier, while it still shoots fine?
Or what will ANY pistol do when a it’s SEAR is broken……….what can be detected or noticed than?
Will it still shoot by pulling the handle on the back pull it’s trigger?
Please understand that the Gun business is all new to me.
It is only for a couple of weeks that I even talk to people whom have guns and even own a air gun (fire arms are not allowed here, unles with special permits for hobby and government).
And I am a beginner in everything.
Today I spend almost all day searching Internet how to handle an (Air) Pistol safely and correct, How to aim, What to look / check for etc.
At the club I am very new and do not dare to ask too much because everyone is very skilled, yet I am about the only female with some partners and feel a bit stupid :-((
Last visit, I was almost trown outside, because I kept forgetting not to put the second finger (next to the thumb) on the trigger when in non-shooting mode :-((
I need to learn to lay it beside the barrel I think it is called, but it is hard to keep remember at the start when I am exited?
So we girls, basically go out and learn our selves as far as possible, at a kind of small ranch (farm?) and shoot on Cans etc.
The Clubs mechanics can help me of course, but I don’t want to ask them stupid questions as they call it, because I don’t even know most of how a mechanic of air guns works.
Yet I hope to learn quick :-))
I hope Mr. B.B. Pelletier will check all my messages again and answer what is left from laws by country and import boundaries or in other words; what counts for most guns maybe?
Kindest regards to you too, and thank you many times for all effort,
Annie
Annie,
Okay — what is a sear? When you pull the trigger the trigger allows the sear to move and when it does, whatever it is holding is released. So the sear is a lever between the trigger and the mainspring (in a spring gun) or between the trigger and the hammer spring in a gun like you have. The spring is then free to push the hammer (or striker) forward until it hits the valve stem and opens the valve.
That is how the gun fires when the trigger is pulled.
Annie, I would like you to read some reports I wrote for a single mother who wanted to teach her young boys how to shoot. A lot of the safety rules are in those reports, and I think they would help you. See the last of them here:
/blog//?s=teaching+a+single+mom+to+shoot&search=Search
I recommend starting with Part 1 and going through the reports the way I wrote them, because they progress through a training course that way.
When you are finished let me know and ask any questions you want, we will all be glad to help you learn how to use your airguns!
Welcome to this blog!
B.B.
Was wondering about the same question myself. Thanks. I am moving steadily and inexorably to my trigger job on the Mosin.
Matt61
I think you’ll like the improvement, Matt. Use stones for the mating faces to keep the original angles and don’t remove too much material. These parts have most of their hardening only a few thousandths deep and you don’t want to remove that case hardening or it will decrease the life of the trigger. Also, don’t go much finer than 600 grit. 600 leaves a nice smooth feel without being too slippery.
/Dave
Annie,
Welcome to this blog! I’m sorry you have to put up with people to whom you “don’t dare” ask a stupid question. I’m sure you’ll find the people here are helpful with what they know, and have a lot of good information too. Please remember this next phrase, especially when dealing with anything that is potentially dangerous, no matter if it’s a firearm, airgun, bow, knife, car, electricity or etc….
“The only ‘stupid’ question is the one you didn’t ask.”
Most of us here will help with whatever you ask. Just ask! We may send want you to look things up on the internet, but many times we’ll give you a link as a place to start. Again, welcome to the journey! 🙂
/Dave
You’ve already had one response to “what is a sear”; another explanation is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sear_%28firearm%29 though it doesn’t show an example… On https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_%28firearms%29 the (single action) sear is the shaded zig-zag piece (the illustration appears to be a bolt-action .22 rimfire since the firing pin is on the edge of the chamber rim)[click on the illustration for the large view]. Pulling the trigger pushes up on the rear [for this model] of the sear, and pulls that small “hook” at the other end away from the striker. And that hook is critical — if it wears into a rounded surface the striker spring can push the sear out of the way, causing an unsafe condition.
A double-action system includes linkages so that pulling the trigger actually pulls back the mainspring/striker.
Based on the description, the problem with the pistol you have is not so much the raw design but rather the weakness of the materials used. Of course, replacing the trigger, sear, and “striker” equivalent with sturdier parts may cost as much or more than a new pistol. In an extreme simile, it is a fireplace designed for brick, but built with blocks of snow — it’s meant to hold a fire, but won’t last if you do put a fire in it…
Welcome, Annie. You’re on your way with safety. Remember, you cannot get too excited around guns. That’s one reason why your finger stays off the trigger until you’re ready to fire.
Matt61
Annie,
one more site to go to: http://www.arld1.com/ Go and scroll down and you will find animation (movies) showing how different parts of an air gun work including a “sear”. Also, I work with a native Dutchman so if there is any advice we provide that you aren’t clear on due to language, let me know and I’ll have my work associate write to you.
Welcome to our blog.
Fred DPRoNJ
Annie
I have no idea how to help you, but I wish you are warm welcome to the best airgun sight on the earth. Feel free to ask any question, rude people with nasty responses are not tolerated.
Dear People,
Thank you VERY much for all your input and effort and for welcoming me very well.
I still have to dig into the information that was presented.
Partly I did and I am learning more and more.
Our Club manager took some photo’s of the Pistol that I own.
It was easy, because there was only one screw (I think it is called so?) with a cross head on top.
When that was removed, the whole inner metal was visible, because the wooden outside was gone now.
They told me that someone only needs to exchange the trigger part for a more strong metal.
It is now Aluminium.
They showed me that when they pull my trigger slightly to the back, there is a very small and indeed fragile part that pushes against a metal part that on it’s turn somehow pushes back the hammer.
(I like learning about those English names by the way)
So as soon as I have some time off, I will dig into all given info.
Thank you all people so much for helping me out.
I red several of your communications, and they all look very friendly and nice.
I am glad to have found you ALL nice persons, and Mr. B.B. Pelletier to start with 🙂
My question to whom ever can answer it please, is before I go to bed now, is if there is a way to show you all some photo’s of the Pistol inside and see what you all experts can tell me about it?
Maybe I can even make jealous my Club members whom find me a very child in guns 🙂
Maybe Miss. Edith can tell me than if it is very different from the USA type?
Maybe I can ask to make for me a small movie of the mechanics, to show you all?
But how can I do that?
Kindest regards and sleep well to you all,
Annie
PS: I am VERY happy with Spelling check on this website, because it makes me a lot more comfortable to write to you all.
Sorry dear people,
I red back my message and felt that I did not explain correctly.
I meant with “how to show you photo’s and movies” if there is a way to do that on/true this website or by other means?
Sorry for my not so good explaining.
A movie I do not have yet, but I can ask to make me one (maybe use webcam)?
The photo’s I can ask from our Club Manager, because he took them.
But how show them to you all as experts to see what you can tell me about it is my question.
I would LOVE to have you all look at it with all your experience combined.
Sorry that I felt to have to I add this, maybe you already understood?
Annie
Annie,
Your English is just fine. You do a good job of explaining things 🙂
There is no way readers can upload pictures or videos to the comments on this blog. Other blog readers use Picasa to upload images (I believe it is free) and then write a comment on the blog with links to their photos. I do not know if Picasa allows videos. You can always create a YouTube account & upload a video there and write a comment with a link to it.
Edith
It was interesting to finally see a magazine cutoff. I had read that the Lee-Enfield variants had one too bu the only one I’ve seen up close (a “sporterized” – throw away the bayonet and some of the furniture sporerized – Rifle No. 4 Mk.I* that my Dad once owned) didn’t have it.
The earlier SMLE No 1 mk 111 had a cut off . It was a lever on the right side of the receiver that was pulled out to the side to allow feeding from the detactable 10 round magazine. The idea was to keep the magazine in reserve. You pushed it in to block the rounds from feeding from the magazine. After WW1 this was changed. The later # 3,4& 5 SMLE did not have one. The Krag rifle is another that had a cut off . It is often missing on Krags that have been sporterized as sometimes the receiver sights that were available for it used the space. The A3O3 Springfields made during WW2 will not single load as the extractor will not snap over the cartridge rim unless it is altered by careful gunsmithing. So the cutoff is only for drill as BB noted.
B.B.
Keeping along the lines of calling it like it is or what it is….
What would be the best thing to call the thing on the end of the barrel on my “R” guns? By function it is not a brake, break, silencer, air stripper , shroud, or flash surpressor. Should it be called a cocking handle, muzzle weight, or STLC (something that looks cool) ? Maybe a frake (fake brake) ? MPD (muzzle protecting device) ?
twotalon
I’ll cast my vote for STLC.
TT: I would call the one on my R-10 a cocking handle and that’s what Beeman advertised it as, and that it protected and covered up the dovetail for the front sight when the scope is on.
Very nice to grab onto. Gotta say that.
twotalon
twotalon, “ain’t it the truth”. I have a suspicion that being accurate and selling “things” belong to different departments within a company. Although there are plenty of examples, I want to offer one of my own.
On the site of a manufacturer I sometimes get cros with I find three different categories for “Optics Rail”: “Weaver-style”, ‘3/8″ Dovetail’ and none (as in none listed even when the rifle is being sold with a scope). This is all well and good, except that the Benjamin Trail series and the Benjamin Titan series both have “Weaver-style” listed as the type of “Optics Rail”.
Of course, this information is incorrect as the two series definitely have different “Optics Rail” types. I first asked about this when I was curious to know what was “new” about the Benjamin Titan for 2012 (that turned out to be the rebranding of the Crosman Titan to be a Benjamin Titan; I would say it was the rebranding of the Crosman Titan .177 to the Benjamin Titan .177 but how can I explain that my Benjamin Titan .22 has a part number of C8M22NP instead of BW8M22NP).
All of this, just to say that, “yeap”, that thing at the muzzle end is easier to grab hold of because it is thicker and that is the main reason I leave it in place, aside from the STLC factor, of course.
Ken
2 All
I’ve been watching the news on weather disaster in US. I hope and pray that everyone on this blog is ok and that there will be no more damage.
duskwight
Thanks Duskwight. The footage is ugly. Towns smashed all to hell with nothing left, and the tornado season is just starting. I understand that it is no longer common to build basements. Maybe they should start that custom again.
Matt61
It also puzzled me, how could you live in an area prone to tornadoes but have no tornado shelter and it’s like it’s supper expensive or complicated either?
To me it’s as if I didn’t own a snow shovel… you never it might not snow this winter eh.
J-F
Thanks. I’m on the North Side of that mess. No tornado’s but 14 inches of snow last night. It sounds like a lot to some but we are used to it in Northern Michigan (Our record was over 5 feet in one day) . It’s our “Russian Winter”.
Mike
Well you know how we’re all fighting the good fight to improve math education in the U.S. which has never been all that illustrious at the lower levels. Maybe the Captcha software is making a contribution. How about this creative approach….
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/teacher-fired-assigning-violent-math-problems-third-graders-201910368.html
Matt61
Matt61 fired 4591 pellets into a …
How many holes … ?
1
B.B., Edith and Everyone, I have discovered some nice information regarding the Steyr air rifles.
I would like to know more about the harness system shown in the photo, both the harness and what appears to be a base for the rifle sitting atop the shooter’s left knee. I do see that his left leg is virtually vertical from foot to knee which I understand increases stability (well, it is all about stability).
Thanks,
Ken
Ken,
That harness is used by American field target shooters. It isn’t allowed in international competition. It allows you to hold your knees up and steady without doing a situp all the time. When the ground becomes uneven and tries to tip the shooter over backwards even the skinny shooters who are fit could benefit from it.
The knee brace is an other great invention. I used one all the time to steady my rifle. It is legal everywhere I think, and it can be used by anyone, regardless of their physical configuration.
B.B.
Thank you, B.B. I tried doing that perpetual sit up not too long ago. It didn’t work out well for me. Down the road, the harness looks like something I might like to have.
Ken
Okay, folks, an important news release. The U.S. Navy tests its game-changing rail gun. And…the Japanese reveal their silence gun. You point and fire, and the person stops talking immediately. There’s something very Japanese about this… Anyway, the mechanism is kind of interesting. Apparently, in order to talk you are listening to yourself the whole time and making adjustments at high speed. This must be related to the way that people who are hard of hearing cannot modulate their voice. The silence gun just replays your voice back in a way that is slightly out of phase and the feedback confuses your brain so much that you fall silent. Just think of the situations where you could use this. Poof, poof. Unlike the Chinese who have problems with quality control, you cannot fault the Japanese in this department. But the things they choose to build are a little weird.
Matt61
Man, I really need one of those silence guns at work! 🙂 Think of the possibilities!! 😀
Matt61, although you and I may find some of the projects Japanese innovators (and others) may choose I have long since stopped wondering what may come of it all. I can only wonder what therapeutic uses may come from the silence gun. Perhaps none, but if there is something useful someone may see it or adapt it.
Ken
If they would make a household version…
J-F
I’m 65, an age when it’s not healthy to sit in one chair for hours on end. So if y’all would stop writing such interesting comments, it would help me a lot. Thanks.
That is an interesting picture of Field Target that opens this session of the Blog. With all the gear, it looks like it might as well be bench rest. I don’t have anything against Field Target, it looks like fun, but it’s not available in my area. It may be headed down the road of the “Arms Race”. That has hurt other shooting sports for a lot of folks that might try it if not for the expense. The availability of “Stock” classes helps the situation.
Cowboy Action has avoided this for the most part and it has helped the sport. While some mods are allowed, there is a limit. If you are good, you can win with “Stock” guns.
My 2 cents anyway. 🙂
Mike
I haven’t seen a recent post from Slinging Lead. Since there have been some terrible storms in his part of the country, I hope he’s okay. Anyone heard from him?
Edith
Clearly we need Cruise missiles scaled down and de-tuned for street use…something that can ‘lock on’ to a fast moving Pheasant. :^)