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CO2 ASG TAC-4.5 BB gun: Part 1

ASG TAC-4.5 BB gun: Part 1

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

TAC 4.5 BB gun
The TAC-4.5 from ASG is a 21-shot BB repeater.

This report covers:

  • Description
  • The sights
  • Targets
  • Power
  • Safety
  • Overall impression

Today, I’ll start a report on the ASG TAC-4.5 BB gun. It’s called the TAC-4.5 BB rifle on the Pyramyd AIR website, but it is a BB gun. It is not rifled and of course it isn’t 4.5mm. BBs run around 4.3mm. But they are so closely associated with pellets that the industry lumps them together, using the same size label.

Description

The TAC-4.5 is a 3.5-lb. BB repeater that feeds steel BBs from a 21-round stick magazine located in a removable carrier. This magazine does not contain the CO2 cartridge. Spare magazines are available.

The pull is 13-3/4 inches. The overall length is 35 inches on the button. The buttplate is a grippy, soft black rubber pad that prevents the gun from slipping when it stands in the corner.

The gun is styled as a black rifle, which no doubt appeals to its target market. While it’s a repeater that fires with just the pull of the trigger (no manual bolt has to be cocked), this action is not operated by blowback. The trigger cocks and releases the hammer each time it’s pulled. The pull is double-action only, yet conveniently light for younger shooters to operate.

TAC 4.5 mag
A 21-shot stick magazine holds the BBs inside the pistol grip.

The airgun comes with a detachable bipod that attaches to a Picatinny rail under the gun. The top of the gun also has a rail running the full length of the receiver and stock. Non-optical sights are attached to the upper rail, front and rear.

The sights

The rear sight is a tactical peep, which means a peep sight with a large hole. It has adjustments for both windage and elevation. The sight is also removable, in case you want to mount an optical sight.

The front sight is strange. It’s a long orange fiberoptic tube that’s protected by ears on both sides. On top, however, it’s not protected. It’s completely exposed to gather light. It’s obvious to me the manufacturer intends you to use this fiberoptic sight for a center hold on the target, so that’s what I’ll do. In an unprecedented change from my usual 6 o’clock hold, I’ll hold this dot center-of-mass, because that’s the best way to do it. We’ll see what this does to my groups. This sight can also be removed from the gun by loosening one Allen screw.

ASG TAC-4.05 air rifle front sight
Front sight is a long fiberoptic tube with protective ears. It’s fully exposed to catch all the available light.

This is a BB gun, so it’s only fair to test it at BB-gun distances, which are 5 meters — or 16 feet. I was reminded by ASG marketing representatives that this isn’t intended to be a target gun, and I assured them I wouldn’t test or evaluate it that way. BB guns are what they are and deserve to be tested in a way that’s appropriate.

Targets

Don’t expect me to shoot tin cans or army soldiers with it, though. While that’s fun for the person doing the shooting, there’s very little evidence of what the gun can do after it’s over. I could film the whole thing and run it in slo-mo with loud heavy metal music as accompaniment, but others are already doing that. I’ll just shoot at targets that leave a record of what happened — in other words, paper targets.

It does strike me, however, that this BB gun would be ideal for the Rocket Shot can launcher. You’d have to wear safety glasses and expect to be hit by rebounding BBs; but as fast as this gun probably points, I think it would be a blast.

And, since it has a bipod, I’ll shoot it from the bipod during the accuracy test. I’ll probably also use the UTG Monopod to hold the gun during the accuracy test.

ASG TAC4.5 air rifle
The TAC-4.5 comes with a folding bipod.

Power

The manufacturer says you can expect to see velocities of 417 f.p.s. I’ll check this with several BBs and also see how rapid fire affects velocity. You’ll also get the shot count per CO2 cartridge.

The CO2 cartridge goes in the back of the pistol grip. Pyramyd AIR has no picture of how this works, so I took one for you. In part 2, I’ll show you how to install the cartridge, because it isn’t like anything we’ve seen recently.

TAC 4.5 grip release
A button on the bottom of the grip releases the backstrap for the CO2 cartridge.

TAC 4.5 backstrap up
When the button is pushed, the backstrap flips up like this. The CO2 cartridge goes inside the rear of the grip.

Safety

There’s a sliding safety on the right side of the frame. It’s convenient to the trigger finger and can be applied and taken off without releasing the pistol grip. When applied, it disconnects the trigger from the striker. Pull it, and the trigger blade moves but nothing happens.

Overall impression

One thing stands out when I hold this airgun. It feels like it wants to be more accurate than a plain BB gun. As I noted, the sights are a bit unusual — a peep sight with an orange bead! I can’t wait to give that a try, and if I get good groups at 5 meters, I’ll probably back up.

85 thoughts on “ASG TAC-4.5 BB gun: Part 1”

  1. Well this is a test post kind of. I wanted to see if I could post ok from my phone with the new system. The new system is in place right?

    And the gun is a good looking gun. And I do believe it would be a good candidate for the Rocket Shot. Looks like it will be a fun gun.

  2. Looks like a nice bb gun. However, I will not get excited until I read the test of the Black OPS JR Sniper Rifle shooting BBs. If that test has been made I missed it. So many guns and so little time . Looking forward to follow up reports on the bb gun.

      • I’ve got one buddy who claims he can’t stand Marylin Manson but most of the movie soundtracks he likes are performed by him.
        after I showed him evidence and told him he was a “closet case” he was slightly embarrassed but still in denial.

  3. Now I know that you’ve been testing bb guns for years and years, using the same basic methodology, but could I suggest something? The manufacturer is right, in that almost every bb gun ever made is a plinker and not a target rifle.

    What do you think about testing the guns for the maximum range at which they will reliably hit a particular target, say, a standard 12 ounce can. You don’t have to use cans, just, the longest range at which you can keep all or most of the shots on a 2 1/4 inch target.

    The only reason I can see myself buying a bb gun is can hunting. When punching paper my targets are attached to a pellet trap of my own making. When hunting you don’t expend too many pellets. But when plinking your pellets end up on the ground. I’m not interested in leaving that much lead lying around with kids and chickens ingesting everything they possibly can. BBs aren’t as toxic and can be cleaned up with a magnet if you so choose.

    So I get the pull of a bb gun, but it would be good to know what kind of range you can expect with one. Group sizes at 5 yards don’t always tell you that, since some guns and ammo have groups that expand in a less linear fashion than others as the distance increases.

    Just something to think about.

    • Tim,

      You are asking me to put more BBs into the woodwork of my house! I do a lot of testing indoors because of weather and also because my backyards is small. Testing something to the limit means you find out what it won’t do, and I have shot up doors, walls the ceiling and a couch while testing marginal airguns. I think I will stick with my methods.

      B.B.

    • Tim,

      3rd. try. Bad weather here so interenet is in and out.

      Got a Champion 499 ordered and a Diasy Red Ryder 75th. I will test them past their recommended ranges at 21′ and 41′ indoors. We’ll see how that goes.

      Maybe join the “walls, door ways and ceiling club”,……. 😉

      Chris

  4. B.B.,

    I am curious to see how rapid fire affects the velocity. Also curious as to why you said you’d test this using the mono-pod instead of from a bench rest / sandbag?

    First test post from iPad under new registration system. Log in worked smoothly, as my ID and password auto-filled from iCloud.

    Jim M.

  5. Hey BB, could you post a link to the videos with the heavy metal music? 🙂

    … just kidding!

    It does look like a fun gun for shooting figurines and bottle caps.

    Vana2

  6. Don’t care much for BB guns. I am surrounded by concrete and those BBs hurt when they come back at you. Also the noise drives Dino, my dog, crazy and he runs to the furthest part of he yard, digs a hole and hides.

    Pete

  7. Oops — lost a comment post here, so trying again: Any plans to test the SIG Sauer MCX CO2 rifle on the PA catalog cover? If so, please test the unique .22 version!

  8. Edith…..
    I can post a new comment without logging in, but cant post a comment to one of my comments . Is this how it’s supposed to work ? I thought I was supposed to be logged in to comment at all .

    You can delete my test garbage .

    twotalon

    • TT,

      I just turned on the requirement to be registered and have a previously approved comment before your comment appears. So, let’s see how it goes from here. If you’ve written a comment or a reply to a comment today and it isn’t live, then the internet ate it. I just checked the spam folder, and it’s not there. I also checked “waiting for moderation” folder,” and it’s not there.

      Edith

    • Art, I replaced the Titan nitro piston yesterday (Saturday July 18th). Cocking effort is now much greater that it was new. I never had objective information and so I can’t compare objectively, but it definitely works. ~ken

      • Ken

        Glad you got it running again .
        You have to watch out for something else with those guns . There are a lot of sharp snags in the compression tube where the holes are that will tear the crap out of the piston seal . The seal is made of some cheap crap that not only cuts easily, but big chunks easily tear out of it .

        twotalon

  9. B.B.

    Sorry to read your blogs in reverse, but that could be a very interesting experiment with Pelletgage.

    Did you try shooting groups with selected same-size pellets but from two different specimen of the same model, e.g. two TX200-s? That could prove or disprove theory that _every_ airgun has different taste for pellets.

    duskwight

  10. Seems like a gun specifically targeted to the youth market. There’s nothing wrong with that except that I wonder how many youths read this blog. Do you know? I

  11. For some reason that last comment posted before I was finished. I was going to say that I kind of doubt many of us will have much interest in this one. BB handguns yes, bb rifles not so much. But I guess you have a job to do.

    G&G

  12. So much for going fishing today, NWS just issued a flash flood warning and alerted me to the fact that it’s coming down out there.
    I tried to ride the bike yesterday but the wind shut me down before I could really get started. A 40mph headwind is just too much work!

    • Reb
      If you can get past the headwind and get into the tailwind you could do like I did as a kid when hurricane would come thru Florida and put a rain coat on and hold the tail of it up over your head like a sail and let the wind do the work for you. We would walk to the end of our street with our skateboards and use the raincoat sail to get going 40 plus mph down the street on the skateboards and just hope you don’t hit a pebble in the road as the skateboard would stop but you don’t so you had to be ready to ruin at a moments notice. I could not do it today though as I cannot run fast enough to keep from nose planting myself when the skateboard hit those pesky pebbles.

      We also used to surf down the canal behind the house in hurricanes as well since there were three foot waves so surf down the canal get out and walk back to the end of the street and surf back to the other end, boy I miss being a kid again and although my mind is still there my body is not and it tells me so every day.

      BD

        • Chris,USA
          As long as it was not lightening my parents did not care if my friends and me were out playing in the rain and high wind and it was most definitely fun.

          Like I have said many time before you only have one life to live so live it like every day is your last as it just might be and if you do not then you will be full of regrets and I can say so far I have only one regret and that is I wish I had never started smoking back at 12 years old as I am paying for it now.

          But everything else I have done to damage my body I would do it all again given the chance as I still try to but my body just lets me now I should not have done it much quicker now than it did in my younger years.

          BD

      • The surfing sounds like fun but I’ve rolled and slide across more asphalt than I should’ve already.
        We got hills to play with here but it takes a lot more work to get up them than is worth the little ride you get back outta it.

        • Reb
          Got your email and replied back to you and will send another with my phone numbers as well.

          In Florida in Cocoa Beach the only hills are the bridges over the rivers so no climbing hills for the short ride back down as the streets we all grew up on were 1/2 mile long at least so the skateboard rides in the hurricane winds were about 10 minutes long and the canals were just as long so it was a good ten minute surfing ride as well. I never got into actual surfing out in the ocean as it is way to much work to paddle out to catch a three minute ride on a wave over and over when I had my dirt bike that only required gas and a twist of the throttle to go and have way more fun than surfing as we would ride down the beach watching the girls in their bikinis and showing off with wheelies and power slides until the cops would start to chase us and then we would just head to the woods and lose them for 20 minutes or so and be right back at the beach.

          BD

          • This neighborhood has a 7% grade hill on its northern end and the whole town sits at the bottom of a basin, the streets stay in a state of constant repair so skateboarding was attempted but aborted quickly

            • Reb
              Yea streets in repair and skateboards are not a good match that’s for sure. My 9 year old grandson has a skateboard and I got on it to show him how to cat walk it like we used to do so you did not have to push off with a foot and busted my butt twice so although I remember how to do it once again my body does not remember or is not willing to remember so I will leave the skateboarding to him as he bounces better than I do now, LOL

              BD

  13. B.B.,

    I am usually drawn to replicas of classics (Walther Lever Action, Colt SAA, M1 carbine, Kalashnikov) or sci-fi looking (Beretta CX-4 Storm, AirForce) air guns. Contemporary tactical styling usually leaves me cold, but for some reason this looks good to me. Is the butt stock hollow-plasticky or solid-feeling? I’m pleased that it uses a Powerlet instead of an 88 gram tube in the butt sock.

    Nice to see they’ve included a rubber butt-end; too many inexpensive long guns these days skimp there.

    Michael

  14. Well, if it’s not intended to be a target rifle, it sure looks like one, especially with the bipod. Nevertheless, I’m sure it will work for the rocket launcher. Apparently, the instinct shooter Lucky McDaniel would hit pine cones thrown in the air with a bb gun that he loaded with matches!?

    In my experience, the only semiauto mechanisms are either blowback or a revolver. This is neither where the trigger pull just works the hammer. So, do the bbs just advance on their own with the magazine follower?

    B.B., interesting about the shooting performance of your brother-in-law’s rifle. It appears to have an M4 profile, at any rate post-A2 which appeared in 1982, so that is strange that it shoots like the less accurate 1970s era guns. While the AR generally might be capable of greater accuracy than the AK, the accuracy might not be consistent between guns. Gunsmith Clint Fowler, an M1 Garand specialist and champion shooter said as much about the AR: “At first, I did not think much of this gun, but it intruded itself on my consciousness against my will. The little sucker can shoot. Not all of them though.”

    Matt61

  15. Test send,….the one from this am never did show. Ate? I posted just before on the weekend blog, and it showed, and,…was logged in (already) despite “shut down” mode last night. Normally I can stay logged in and never have to re-log at all. We’ll see.

    Or maybe re-log in is required even if it shows I am already logged in?

    If all else fails, will e-mail Edith as instructed above.

    Chris

  16. B.B.,

    I must ask,….how, or where did you come up with the term, “World Beater” ?

    I have seen you use it several times in recent articles. I guess that it would mean (an accurate air gun at an affordable price),…..still,..an interesting choice of wording.

    Chris

  17. B.B.,

    Off topic, but I would like to ask you about a Winchester 425 / Diana 25. I just found you wrote a review of this rifle a few years ago, so am getting ready to dive into that now. I was at a gun dealer’s today, the subject of air rifles came up, and he got out one he had in the closet. It’s stamped “Winchester Model 425”, Made in Germany, has the Pentagon F, and is .22 cal / 5.5mm. It looks to be in pretty fair condition overall. No major rust. The breach seal / gasket looks like it needs to be replaced. It has been sitting for a long time, so I would bet the main seal (chamber seal?) needs oiled. The rear sight does appear to be a little worse for wear. I don’t know how to describe it, so have emailed pictures to Edith, for your review. My questions are — how do I best find a fair value for this, as I’d like to see if he wants to sell, and, can a replacement for the rear sight be found easily, at a reasonable price?

    Thank you!

    Jim M.

    • Jim M.,

      A Diana 425 is worth $100, if it is complete and working. $175 if it excellent. The Winchester name adds nothing to the value. Yours is better than average, so say up to $125.

      The front of the rear sight has been cut off? I do see the open screw hole, which should have a screw through it. A replacement sight will cost $25-35 and take some looking. But the sight fits many rifles, so it should be out there.

      B.B.

    • J.Lee,

      A codger is an old person. However, I just looked up that word in the dictionary, and it says it means “elderly man.” Well, I guess I should refer to myself as a codgerette 🙂 Plus, I can’t imagine why this common phrase is old codger, since the word codger already means old.

      Edith

      • Edith,

        That’s funny. I grew up hearing that phrase — benefit of being the youngest child of much older parents, I guess — and I’ve always heard it, and said, “old codger”. It sounds funny when I just say “codger”.

        Jim M.

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