Lubricating your spring gun: Part 1 - chambers & mainsprings

by B.B. Pelletier

I thought I would do something general that everyone needs, and this topic jumped out at me. Everyone wants to know how and where to lubricate a spring airgun. Before I begin, let me mention that this is a huge subject, so I had to break it into parts. Today, I'll do chambers and mainsprings.

THE CHAMBER
We'll start with the chamber because a lot of shooters think it's the only place they need to lube. Of course, it isn't, but the chamber is perhaps the most controversial spot on an airgun.

There are a couple reasons we lube the chamber. For one thing, it lubricates the sides of the piston seal and reduces drag and friction. Friction can melt a synthetic piston very quickly. Leather piston seals are kept supple and therefore better able to compress air if they are kept lubricated.

G.V and G.M. Cardew proved that spring-piston guns burn their lubricant to produce power. That's spelled out in detail in their book, The Airgun From Trigger to Target. Anyone who has seen smoke roll out from a freshly lubed BB gun knows this is true. Of course, you want to avoid the more powerful explosion we call a detonation. Actually, a detonation is only different in how much fuel is burned in each explosion. When a spring-piston gun fires, a little of the lubricant flashes into oxidized gas, which can be called by many names such as an explosion, a diesel or a burn.

Here are the guidelines for lubing the chamber
Everything I say for rifles also applies to pistols but in smaller doses.

For guns with synthetic piston seals use a silicone lube with a high flashpoint. A good one is Crosman Silicone Chamber Oil. Use VERY LITTLE - perhaps one drop every 1,000 to 3,000 shots. Use the least with modern Diana/RWS guns such as the models 48, 52 and the 350 magnum.

For guns with leather piston seals, use silicone chamber lube in greater quantities, because it's constantly being wicked away and drying out. Perhaps, five drops every 500 shots is about right. Taploading guns with leather seals (older BSA and Hakim rifles) need even more lube than that. If you find an older airgun that has little or no compression, stand it on its butt and put 20 drops of silicone oil down the barrel. Wait several days, but periodically exercise the action by cocking and uncocking without firing, if the design permits. This often restores an older gun with leather seals.

For old BB guns, use petroleum oil and SOAK the leather seal over a period of days. If the gun has a shot tube, remove it and drop the oil down the large hole in the muzzle. It will seep through the compression chamber and into the leather seal. If the gun has an "Oil Here" hole, oil it 5-6 times with as much oil as you can get through the hole. Cock and uncock the action repeatedly to spread the oil. Be careful! Oil will run out of the gun and onto whatever it's standing on!

For Crosman M1 Carbines and model 350 and 3500 BB guns ONLY, drop the oil down the rear (the smaller) of the two holes on top of the receiver. You only need three or four drops because these guns have a synthetic poppet-type valve rather than a leather piston seal.

For more modern BB guns made from about 1955 and on, the amount of oil should be small because they all have synthetic seals. Almost all of these guns have marked oil holes.

THE MAINSPRING
Oil the mainspring only if the gun makes noise when it's cocked. The more expensive spring guns are lubed very well at the factory and probably don't need attention for many years. View every used gun with suspicion until you know its condition.

Spring lube is usually an oil, which is the easiest to apply. There are certain spring greases that have been available from time to time. The oils can be applied without disassembling the gun, but most of the greases require disassembly. A good oil to use is Gamo Air Gun Oil. Ten drops of oil is followed by cocking and uncocking (if possible) the gun in many positions to spread the oil as far as possible. Shooting will do the rest.

If you're going to make a mistake in the lubrication of a spring gun, it's best to err on the side of too little lube rather than too much. Guns can be ruined through over-lubrication, but almost everyone will recognize the signs of a dry gun that needs a little lubricant.

This posting will probably raise more questions than it answers. That's okay, because those questions are going unanswered right now. Ask away!

Diana 27 - a golden oldie

by B.B. Pelletier

Let's take a look at one of the longest-running airgun models ever made - the Diana model 27. The history given here is condensed from Blue Book of Airguns, Fifth Edition.


My Diana 27 was made in 1967 for the Hy-Score company. It's a Hy-Score 807.

A long run
Diana is a German airgun firm with a long, colorful history. Started in 1890, the company survived two world wars and numerous civil upheavals, as well as several crushing depressions. In the U.S. today, Diana is so closely associated with RWS that many people believe RWS makes the airguns, but that isn't the case. Diana makes them, and RWS simply imports them into this country under their own label.

The model 27 was first made in 1910, though it looked much different back then. The gun had only a buttstock - no forearm at all. In fact, it wasn't until after World War II that the model 27 got a normal-looking stock.

Many names, but just one gun
The Diana model 27 has been sold in this country under several names. Just a few of the important ones are Beeman, Original, Hy-Score, Winchester and Milbro. All but Milbro were actually German Diana model 27 guns under other names.

The Milbro guns deserve more explanation. As partial reparations for World War II, the United Kingdom secured the rights, tooling, machinery, parts and drawings of Diana air rifles. Millard Brothers of London made Diana guns in Scotland that were also sold in the U.S. under the Daisy brand name, though I don't believe they ever made the model 27 for them. During the years when Milbro made Dianas, the restarted German firm had to use the name "Original" to avoid confusion. After Milbro folded, the Germans got back the Diana name.

The Diana 27 was famous for the trigger with the ball bearing sear
Diana pioneered a type of trigger that uses three ball bearings to hold the piston when the gun is cocked. A complex arrangement of springs, bearings and nested cages and bearing races keep pressure on the piston stem until the trigger releases it. Adjusting this trigger is difficult, but once it is adjusted properly, it is as nice as any conventional trigger.

The 27 was just the right size and power!
This was not a magnum airgun. In .22, it shoots medium-weight pellets in the mid- to high-400s. In .177, it gets close to 600 with medium pellets. Why do so many airgunners flip over the gun? Because its so smooth, so easy to cock and light enough to shoot offhand all day long. A 27 is deadly accurate and so understressed that it keeps on shooting long after more powerful guns need a spring change.

I have owned three model 27 guns. The first was a .22 Hy-Score 807 that came from a pawn shop for $18. It was rusty and beat up, but it shot beautifully and I loved it. I eventually gave it to my best friend. Number two was a real Diana .177 that was in sad shape. I bought it for $20 at a gun show, and the dealer was "kind enough" to cock and dry-fire it once to show me that it worked! I repaired it and eventually let myself be talked out of it by someone who wanted it even more.

The .22-caliber model 27 you see above is the last one I bought, and it's NOT for sale. I paid $110 for it 12 years ago, and I have since tuned it to be even smoother. It used to be a "go-to" airgun, but my Blue Streak and TX 200 have shoved it aside. Still, when I want smooth, light and just right, I pick up my trusty Diana model 27.

How to shoot one-handed

by B.B. Pelletier

Before we start, look at the SEARCH bar in the right column! Now you can search all the past postings for specific terms. The September 30 index will probably come up a lot when you do, but you should also get the actual posting that you're interested in.

Now for today's post. Shooters seem to have forgotten how to shoot one-handed. They think you have to be an Olympic champion - or at least a contender - to have the talent for shooting one-handed with any accuracy. I'm not an Olympian, but I learned how to do it anyway. Here's a true story how I taught someone with no interest or experience in shooting how to shoot one-handed - accurately. You can do it, too!

Many years ago, I had some relatives stay with me for several weeks in a small apartment. When they arrived, they noticed a metal pellet trap attached to the front door. I had exactly 19 feet in which to shoot air pistols in that apartment, and it involved standing at the end of the hall and using the front door as my backstop.

"I can't do THAT!"
The husband of the visiting couple was intrigued that anyone would shoot indoors with a pistol. Because the distance was so short, I used 10-meter rifle targets, which have a bull about 1.25" across. He said he didn't see how anyone could hit a target so small. I told him that I thought he could do it just as well as I. He laughed and said,"No way!" so I challenged him to a small bet. I bet him that he couldn't MISS the black bull from 19 feet if he really tried to hit it.

You can't miss!
Long story short, he took the bet. I started him at five feet from the target. He argued that was ridiculous - nobody could miss from that close, but I asked him to just be patient. We were wearing shooting glasses and were the only ones in the apartment at the time. After approximately 25 shots - all of which landed inside a dime just below the bottom of the bull, I moved him back to 10 feet. Same argument. Same result.

It gets harder
After another 20 shots, we backed up to 15 feet, and he began to wonder if he would still hit the target. What if he missed the trap and hit the door? I told him he could not miss. Besides, the door was sheathed in steel, so no damage would be done. To his amazement, the pellets started climbing into the bull at 15 feet. The hole never grew larger than a dime.

The full monte!
Finally, we backed up four more feet to the end of the hall. That was pretty scary for him, but he was also gaining some confidence in his ability. Shot after shot tore through the center of the bull. The group opened up to about the size of a nickel, but all his pellets landed inside the bull. After 75-100 shots at 19 feet, he admitted that I had won the bet.

Pride defeats prejudice
When his gun-hating wife returned to the apartment with my wife, he put on a shooting show for her. The ladies wore eye protection and stood in a bedroom to the side of the shooter. When his wife came out of the bedroom afterwards and examined the target, she was as amazed as he had been! Not one word was spoken about how bad guns are or how dangerous this activity was.

A shooter is born!
I had to depart on business for several weeks, so the relatives stayed in the apartment with my wife. When I returned home, I discovered that the man had shot up five tins of .177 target pellets! That's 2,500 pellets in two weeks. Apparently, that's what all he did all day long. I had told him to enjoy himself, and I guess he really did!

When he returned to his home, he bought an airgun - AT HIS WIFE'S INSISTENCE! Know what she said? "I still don't like guns, but he had so much fun with that pistol and he got so good with it that I wanted him to keep on enjoying himself."

The point is this: you can learn to shoot a pistol with one hand if you try, but you have to be careful. You may discover that you like it!

This is a true story.

Daisy Avanti 747: The perfect indoor target pistol

by B.B. Pelletier

Okay, today, it's official. Christmas is just a month away! Time to start getting serious about that special present you want. Over the past months, I've talked about a lot of airguns, but today I want to show you a very special target pistol that's made right here in the good old U.S. of A.: the .177-caliber Daisy Avanti 747.


I borrowed this picture from Pyramyd's website because I like the look of the pistol! Pumping it is nearly effortless.

These pistols are quiet
This is a single-stroke pneumatic, which means it fires using compressed air and can only be pumped one time. Many single-strokes are hard to pump, but the 747 is one of the easy ones. The pump handle is so long that the compression stroke is almost effortless. The gun compresses a tiny amount of air - just enough to get the pellet up to speed for target shooting at 33 feet (10 meters) but no more. Because of that, THIS PISTOL IS VERY QUIET! It's quiet enough to shoot in an apartment with thin walls and nosy neighbors. I used to shoot mine in my office at work!

They' re accurate, too!
With a 747, it's possible to hit an asprin at 33 feet. You don't need to see the aspirin to hit it - just tape it to the 10-ring of a target and do your thing. I have actually done this in front of witnesses (which is the best time do do such things). Of course, the real trick is hitting the 10-ring. With a 747, you can be sure the gun isn't holding you back.

The barrel is a Lothar Walther, which airgunners recognize as one of the best. Shooting as slow as this gun does, you never need to clean the barrel or give it a second thought. Just feed it good pellets and enjoy shooting!

What about pellets?
This is one time I will have to differ with Pyramyd Air over the choice of ammunition for a gun. They show Crosman Premiers and Daisy Max Speed pellets for the 747, but I would choose something else. This is a pure target pistol, and it needs wadcutters to punch perfectly round holes in paper targets. One of the best inexpensive target pellets I have used in these Daisys is the Gamo Match pellet. It appears very uniform and always produces great results for me.

Don't forget targets
The only target on this site that is suitable for 10 meter pistols is Gamo's paper target. Ten-meter pistol targets have much larger bulls than 10-meter rifle targets, so be sure you get the right ones! If you don't already have a pellet trap for hanging targets, get the Daisy 850 pellet trap. Just don't use this trap for magnum airguns; it's ideally suited to guns like the 747.

The 747 is for adults - and not all of them!
I must make you aware that the 747 is an adult-sized air pistol. It's not for your 12-year-old who can handle a 20 gauge shotgun. This is a large air pistol that takes a strong hand to hold. If you want something similar but lighter, take a look at the Gamo Compact. Although the weight is not that much less, the Compact is shorter, so the weight rests in your palm. The 747 is decidedly muzzle-heavy, which is great for target shooting, but it takes some strength to control. The Compact, on the other hand, is much harder to pump!

If you're an airgunner who likes the quietness of the guns and the shorter ranges at which they can be enjoyed, the Daisy 747 is an ideal air pistol for you to consider and should be on your short list for Christmas!

Gamo Hunter 1250 Hurricane: Is it really all they say?

by B.B. Pelletier

Happy Thanksgiving! The Gamo Hunter 1250 Hurricane is a very different Gamo spring rifle. It's unlike any of their other spring rifles in so many ways that I thought I would go over them for you today.

This is a LARGE air rifle!
I think the Beeman R1 is big, but the Gamo 1250 is even larger. It weighs pretty close to the same as an R1, but the long cocking-aid muzzlebrake extends the length of the 1250 another three inches. Cocking effort is stated as 58 lbs. on the Pyramyd site and that's about what I got with the one I tested. That is eight pounds more effort than a Webley Patriot, and I think THAT is a hard gun to cock. So the 1250 is for hunting - not for general plinking, unless you're The Hulk!

Does it REALLY shoot 1,250 f.p.s.?
Yes, in .177 caliber it really does shoot 1,250! At least, the rifle I tested did so for a few shots. That was with RWS Hobby pellets. The average velocity was lower - around 1,230 f.p.s., or so, but still! Not every gun will do that out of the box, of course, so please have reasonable expectations. And, you don't ever want to shoot a diabolo pellet that fast anyway, unless it's for braggin' rights, alone.

What pellets to use?
In the .177 gun, shoot 10.5-grain Crosman Premiers or 10.6-grain Beeman Kodiak pellets to keep the velocity down around 1,100 f.p.s. Better still, buy the rifle in .22 and actually use all the power it has to offer. This is a hunting air rifle, and braggin' rights mean nothing if you can't hit your quarry.

For the .22-caliber rifle, Pyramyd Air has listed several heavier Gamo pellets. The Gamo Magnum Pointed .22 at 16.9 grains looks especially promising. I would add the 21-grain Beeman Kodiak to that list, because this is one air rifle that can really use the extra weight. You might even try the 28-grain Eun Jin. Who knows for sure until you try them? I wouldn't be surprised to see 700 f.p.s. from a Eun Jin out of this bruiser.

The trigger is pretty good from the box
Gamo triggers usually need thousands of shots to smooth out, but the 1250's seems uncharacteristically nice right from the git-go. I can't comment on what it might be like after 4,000 shots, but maybe some of our readers can.

It's a looker, too!
Gamo rifles are usually plain janes, so the Hunter 1250 comes as a very pleasant surprise. The metal polishing is quite good and the bluing is very deep and even. The hardwood stock is also well-shaped and finished very nicely. It rivals a top-of-the-line Diana from RWS. I think this is Gamo's best looking airgun.

And it's accurate
If you use the soft-hold technique, the 1250 is quite accurate. You'll want to mount a scope; because of the fairly brisk recoil, I suggest you choose a smaller, lighter scope that won't try to move under recoil. Actually, the recoil of this rifle is not as bad as the Webley Patriot, so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Well, that's my take on a rifle many airgunners believe to be a myth. The Gamo Hunter 1250 Hurricane is so very different from the rest of the Gamo line that you should consider it all by itself.

Crosman 2260: real value in a gas rifle

by B.B. Pelletier

Okay, you've been very patient - to the point that you think I forgot all about you and your favorite air rifle. You own a Crosman 2260 and love it!


Crosman's .22 caliber 2260 is a direct descendent of the 160.

The 2260 has a great "family" history
The 2260 is the offspring of the famous Crosman 160, a rifle that airgunners still revere today. Crosman has made other .22s and they've made loads of CO2 rifles, but there doesn't seem to be a.22 CO2 rifle that fits in between the 160 and the 2260.

From the standpoint of performance, the 2260 is well ahead of the 160. That older gun had a muzzle velocity in the 610 to 625 region and got about 30 to 35 shots per charge. The new 2260 does 600 f.p.s. and gets about the same number of shots - BUT does it with just one powerlet, where the 160 needed two! That represents a serious improvement in gas management.

The basics
This is a single-shot, bolt-action .22 caliber rifle. It has a manual safety, and the trigger is for sporting use, which means a heavier pull. The rear sight is a little too close to the eye. Since most owners will probably upgrade to a dot sight or a scope, it probably doesn't matter.

If you want to use a scope, you'll need a base
To mount a scope on the 2260, you need a special scope base that clamps to the barrel. It provides an 11mm dovetail to which standard airgun scope rings attach. There's no recoil and no need for a scope stop.

Which scope?
The barrel clamp bases will put your rings forward of the receiver, so select a scope with a lot of back-and-forth adjustability. I'm going to recommend a Crosman 0410 Targetfinder, because it has the adjustability you need and it's selling at such a great price! It comes with scope rings that clamp to 3/8" dovetails, which is what we want for this gun.

Accuracy worthy of a scope
The 2260 has all the accuracy you'll need if you use the right pellets. Crosman Wadcutters are a good choice, as are Benjamin Sheridan Diabolos.

What about maintenance?
If you've read any of the past posts about CO2 guns, you know what I'm about to say. To keep a CO2 gun running a long time, there is nothing you need more than Crosman Pellgunoil. You put a drop of it on the tip of each new powerlet, and it gets blown through the valve where it lubricates every seal it contacts. This stuff is absolutely essential to the good health of gas guns, so never be without it!

Power & accuracy for less money
The Crosman 2260 is a powerful, accurate air rifle that carries on a long tradition of Crosman excellence. You can hunt with it, eliminate pests and generally have a good time just plinking. It has the power and accuracy of some of the more expensive CO2 sporters at 2/3 the cost.

Two more air shotguns - Paul and Vincent

by B.B. Pelletier

Today, we'll look at two older American air shotguns. These two have nothing to do with the current fad of big bore airguns. Both were conceived as genuine shotguns to serve as replacements for firearms, though at reduced ranges, and both are .410 caliber.


Paul's .410 air shotgun is a front-pump pneumatic.

First, the Paul
The Paul model 420 was created and made by William Paul from about 1924 to sometime in the 1930s. His first patent is dated Jan. 22, 1924. In all, Paul made about 1,000 guns, give or take a few, and I have handled one of the more common improved models.

Pump it many times!
Paul's gun is pumped by a straight rod, similar to early Benjamin rifles, but requiring 150 pumps to completely pressurize the reservoir. All that work nets you around 10 shots, each with diminishing velocity. But shot No. 1 propelled a 54-grain load of No. 6 lead shot to 820 f.p.s. in an actual firing test conducted by Larry Hannusch. That's about 80 foot-pounds, which is a lot of steam for a vintage gun!


The later Paul shotshells were rolled metal plate.

Shotshells
Like all air shotguns, the Paul uses hollow tubes to hold the shot charge. The early ones were made of cardboard, but the ones I've seen were made of rolled metal plate. Both ends of the tube are patched with paper, with the shot charge sandwiched in between.

A modern replica is worth as much as an original!
As an interesting side note, big bore maker Dennis Quackenbush made a handful of very accurate Paul replicas, which he sold at the Winston-Salem airgun show for several years in the early- to mid-1990s. They are much rarer than an original Paul and now command about the same money! The Blue Book of Airguns says a nice original Paul should fetch about $1,000 and a Quackenbush replica, of which there were just 10, will bring about the same.

Vincent came next
Frank Vincent was an avid trapshooter who wanted to do more than simply bust caps, so he designed and manufactured air rifles and an air shotgun of his own design from 1942 to about 1955. He may have made a total of 500 pieces, with the rifles being in the majority. His .410 shotguns were pumped by an underlever, similar to Crosman rifles of the time.


The Vincent air shotgun was an underlever multi-pump that looked more like an airgun than the Paul.

As luck would have it, I have also handled and fired a Vincent .177 rifle, though I've only seen and held the shotguns at airgun shows. Like the Paul, the Vincent is mostly handmade of brass and is remarkably light weight for its rather large size. That's because it's mostly hollow inside. A Vincent shotgun brings about $2000 today, and most of them are in pretty rough shape.

Many shots - more pump strokes!
The Vincent was tested by W.H.B. Smith and written about in his famous airgun encyclopedia, though he wasn't certain of what he had or how well it was supposed to work. Larry Hannusch also fired a Vincent and got 714 f.ps. with 200 pump strokes! That's just over 61 foot-pounds for the first shot, and it was supposed to give enough compressed air for 12 shots of diminishing velocity.

The .177 rifle I tested leaked down so fast that shot No. 1 was just over 600 f.p.s., and only 13 total shots were possible. Smith mentioned getting a total of 26 shots, with a top velocity over 780! It's obvious from his report that the gun I shot wasn't up to snuff.

Not really credible as shotguns
Like the other air shotguns I have covered, neither the Paul nor the Vincent is a credible shotgun. To use them in the shotgun role would require vastly reduced ranges and lighter, more breakable targets. I see no possibility for hunting with shot, unless you are wingshooting moths! On the other hand, both guns deliver enough muzzle energy that a hit at close range would be very lethal if a solid bullet were used.

Desert Eagle .50 Action Express airsoft is a great shooter!

by B.B. Pelletier

If you look around the Pyramyd Air website, you can find several Desert Eagle .50 AE airsoft pistols. So why did I pick this one to show you?

This is one BIG gun that fills your hand!
The other .50 AE pistols are large, but they're half the weight of this one! This is a big, hefty pistol, just like the .50 Action Express firearm it copies. When you hold this gun, you know you have something in your hand! The Desert Eagle .44 AE is also a heavy gun, but it shoots only the lighter BBs.

Packs a POWERFUL punch!
The .50AE is a powerful cartridge, so I think the airsoft copy should be powerful as well. This one is. With 0.20-gram BBs, it gets 250 f.p.s., while the other guns get 230 with lighter 0.12-gram BBs. That puts this spring pistol in the gas pistol class - but for a lot less money.

It's accurate and adjustable
This big bruiser has adjustable Hop Up, which is how you adjust the gun to match the BB you have selected. You can even adjust it to shoot 0.12-gram BBs for higher velocity, though you will most likely get the best accuracy with the heavier ammo.

It's a repeater
This is a repeating air pistol that is cocked for each shot by pulling back on the slide. The metal magazine holds 25 BBs that feed automatically as the gun is cocked. Because it's a spring gun, you don't have to buy gas or CO2 powerlets. Just keep it filled with BBs and shoot to your heart's content.

Don't forget targets!
Sticky targets are very popular with all airsoft guns. They catch the BB for a moment so you can score the shot, then it rolls down the sticky face into a collection tray at the bottom. Another great target is the action type. The target falls when hit and is reset by hitting another target or automatically by the action mechanism of the target, itself. I've used the Crosman electric resetting target enough to know it works well. The resetting target by Leapers looks interesting. Although I haven't used it, the concept is a lot like a carnival shoot. The BBs fall into a netted cage behind the target and are captive til you get ready to collect them.

A target you will LOVE!
The Shoot-N-C targets are great fun with an accurate airsoft gun. They "light up" at the spot the BB penetrates, which gives immediate feedback without the need to go downrange. They have sticky backs, so when one gets shot up, simply paste another over it and keep on shooting!

You'll probably want a holster, too
I'm going to recommend the Special Operations Universal Tactical Black Leg Holster, but I want you to check with Pyramyd Air when buying it, to ensure that it will fit this pistol. The .50AE is a huge sidearm, and you don't want to take any chances when buying any accessories for it. One nice thing about this holster is that it also comes in a left-hand version for the same price.

I know that this is a more expensive gun. There's nothing wrong with the other Desert Eagles Pyramyd sells, but I wanted you to know about this one because it really stands out from the rest. If you're looking for a large, powerful 6mm spring pistol, this is the one to get!

Beretta XX-treme CO2 pistol

by B.B. Pelletier


The XX-treme by Beretta!

It's Friday, and on Friday we play. All you action pistol fanatics have been patiently waiting for me to get around to this air pistol, so today's post is just for you!

Beretta XX-treme
Today's gun is the XX-treme by Beretta! This is a deluxe model based on the popular Beretta FS 92, which is the Umarex copy of the sidearm our military now carries - the M9. In firearm form, it's a 9mm semiautomatic, and in airgun form it's a .177 revolver that uses the Walther hidden clip.

The last Umarex pistol we looked at was the M1911A1 Colt on Nov. 10. When it comes to accuracy and power, the Beretta XX-treme performs about the same, but the special accessories make this a different model altogether. Here's what you get.

Wraparound Picatinny rail!
To start with, you get a wraparound Picatinny rail. One better than a tri-rail, the wraparound gives you all four sides of the gun to mount accessories. Though the XX-treme comes loaded with stuff, you can install even more after you buy it! And, the wraparound rail gives you plenty of places to mount it!

Time to check out the CONFIGURE button
If you haven't done this yet, you're in for a treat! Click here and let's go back to the Beretta XX-treme and click on the CONFIGURE button at the bottom of the description. Give it plenty of time to load. Now, you can see the gun with an optional tactical flashlight mounted.

Add a laser
A Daisy laser would make a nice addition, especially since Daisy provides a Weaver base that clamps to the Picatinny base on the Beretta XX-treme. (Weaver rings have a smaller crossbar and will clamp to Picatinny bases, though they should not be used on recoiling guns.)

More accessories and supplies
Get a speedloader, because you're going to shoot a boatload of pellets through this pistol! And, buy your powerlets in bulk! That way you won't run out and have to pay the higher prices at discount stores. You'll need pellets, of course. My recommendation is the .177 Gamo Match. It's one of the least expensive and yet it is often as accurate as other match pellets costing much more. It's also a lighter pellet, which will preserve all the velocity the Beretta has to offer. (This would be a great time to take advantage of Pyramyd Air's pellet promotion!)

How to make an airgunner happy this Christmas
The XX-treme would make a great Christmas present for a serious airgunner. It's rugged, fast and loaded with the tactical accessories action handgunners love.

Is your airgun barrel REALLY clean?

by B.B. Pelletier

Today, I want to tell you about a barrel cleaning process that often improves accuracy. Got your attention?

Airgun barrels don't normally require cleaning
It's true that many Olympic and world-class target shooters never clean their barrels. Those who do clean use only felt cleaning wads they either shoot through or push with a rod. A few still use patches, but no solvent is ever used in their guns. Probably the favorite bore protectant used by champions is Tetra Gun lubricant. They have heavily marketed the 10-meter shooting world and are recognized everywhere.


Tetra Gun lubricants are widely used by the world's top target shooters.

If you're going to clean, do it right!
The procedure I am about to describe has always produced great results for me. On some AirForce PCP rifles I own, it has added as much as 100 f.p.s. and tightened the velocity spread. On spring guns, it often removes a lot of latent rust from the bore. And, in airguns that routinely shoot faster than 1,000 f.p.s., it removes lead from the rifling. This procedure is used by nearly all world-class benchrest shooters. AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY, it won't harm your bore! If you get lazy while doing this, you could ruin your gun!


J-B Non-Embedding Bore Compound cleans the barrels of some of the world's top benchrest guns.

Use J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound
The following method WORKS ONLY ON STEEL BARRELS! Use a magnet to determine if your barrel is steel - inside and out. Some lower-priced airgun barrels are often rifled brass tubes inside steel tubes. Don't use the following method to clean them!

To clean your steel barrel, put so much J-B Compound on a brass brush that the tips of the bristles barely show on the sides. Then, run the brush through the bore completely and pull it back again. It's best to work from the breech, but you can't always do that. With careful work, you can go in from the muzzle just as well.

Run the brush through the bore in both directions at least 20 times. Don't get hung up on the number of passes, though. You'll feel the roughness of the bore start to smooth out after a few passes. That's what we're after! You'll probably be removing patches of rust, rough machining marks from manufacturing (possibly, if the gun is relatively new) or lead. If you shoot Crosman Premiers or any other Crosman pellets in your gun at velocities above 900 f.p.s., you will be removing their deposits.

Things to watch!
1. DO NOT let the cleaning rod rub against the sides of the muzzle! This act has ruined more military rifles than combat.

2. The J-B Compound WILL get into the air transfer port of nearly all PCP rifles. AirForce guns are the exception because their port is in the removable air reservoir. When you shoot again, some J-B Compound will get back into the bore. Plan on cleaning the bore several times after you start shooting again. Cleaning pellets shot through the gun may be a good way to do this.

3. Be VERY careful cleaning airguns that have repeating mechanisms. The J-B Compound will not do any good in those revolving cylinders and complex reciprocating metal parts!

4. Don't clean more often than ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY! That will probably be just one time for most airguns.

After using J-B Compound, clean it out!
Remove all traces of compound with dry patches. If you must oil the bore, use a metal penetrant such as Tetra Gun, Kroil, Sheath or Sweetshooter. Do NOT use Beeman Pena-Dry - it promotes rust on bare steel surfaces!

I know today's post has a lot of warnings and capitalized words. I don't do that for most of you, but there are a few guys who hear a snippet of information and charge off to change the universe! I tend to be one of them. The warnings are for people like me. Please heed them!

Daisy No. 25 pump BB gun

by B.B. Pelletier

Last week one of our readers described a Daisy he had as his first airgun, but he didn't remember the model. Here is the description: "The first gun I owned was a BB gun that cocked with a breaking slide underneath the barrel. The magazine was unscrewed from the barrel, and as I recall it held about 50 bb's."


The pump mechanism was a powerful force multiplier!


1930 variation of Daisy's No. 25 pump gun.

You have a good memory. Your BB gun was a Daisy No. 25 with a 50-shot forced-feed magazine that is removed from the gun to load.

No. 25 is the world's most popular BB gun!
I bet you thought the Red Ryder held the title as the world's most popular BB gun. According to Daisy, more than 20 million No. 25 pump guns sold from 1913 through 1986, making it the longest-running BB gun.

It all began in 1913
Blue Book says the gun started production in 1914, but some guns were actually sold in the latter days of 1913. The gun was developed by Fred LeFever, a gun designer and member of the famous LeFever shotgun family. He came to Daisy in 1912 to complete this model - and ended up staying 45 years!

Most powerful BB gun
The compound leverage of the long pump stroke meant Daisy could use a strong mainspring in the 25, making it the most powerful BB gun they had. Since then, it's been eclipsed by CO2 guns and pneumatics, but for many decades it out-shot every other BB gun. Blue Book claims a velocity of 450 f.p.s. I've never seen one go that fast, but I have seen 375 f.p.s. with modern steel BBs.

50-shot forced-feed magazine
The magazine has to be removed from the gun for loading. It holds 50 BBs under spring tension, so there is never a dry fire as there can sometimes be with gravity-feed. All the guns from 1913 to about 1930 had lead BB magazines for 0.175-diameter air rifle shot. When Daisy switched to steel BBs, the size was reduced to 0.171 to 0.173, and a new type of shot holder had to be installed in the magazine. I use Beeman Perfect Rounds in my old guns because, at 0.177, they fit the magazine great!

Many popular variations!
No. 25 guns exist in a wide variety of popular variations. Perhaps, the best-known and most well-liked of all is the 1936 engraved model. It was made until about 1952, when Daisy switched from wood stocks to plastic and from blued steel to electrostatic paint. Many little boys lamented this change, but used guns were - and still are - available.


Detail of the engraving on a 1936 variation.

My 1930 No. 25
I bought my 1930 variation from a flea market vendor about 12 years ago. It still shoots steel BBs at 375 f.p.s., though I shoot only lead in the original magazine (I have several spare magazines for my 25s). With the larger Perfect Rounds, it groups about an inch at 20 feet, which I have learned is about the best you can expect from any BB gun except the super-accurate Daisy Avanti Champion 499. (Read my June 6 blog about the 499!)

A very special No. 25
To commemorate their 100th anniversary, Daisy made a very special No. 25. It resembles the original 1915 blued gun very closely, and they stocked it in walnut. This was the last No. 25 they made, though the model 225 is a variant that continued to 1993. These collectible No. 25s now bring $150 and more on the used gun market, and they will continue to increase with each passing year.


Daisy celebrated their centennial with a special No. 25!

If you ever have the opportunity to get a No. 25, it's a pretty safe investment. A good used shooter with wood stock is worth $75 today, and the engraved model in good condition now brings $80 or more. In excellent shape, a wood-stocked No. 25 fetches around $350!

Diana P5 Magnum air pistol from RWS

by B.B. Pelletier

The posting on the difference between the Webley Tempest and Hurricane pistols generated a little interest in another powerful spring pistol, the Diana P5 Magnum. I have tested this gun, so I'll tell you what I know.

The P5 is the most recent in a long line of Diana spring pistols
The first Diana model 5 pistol was made in 1933 and, except for WWII, it has been made in one form or another ever since. The P5 Magnum was originally touted as the world's first 700 f.p.s. spring pistol in a rare bit of RWS overzealous advertising. Veteran airgunners knew better and, sure enough, when the guns arrived, they were in the 550 f.p.s. region, just where Pyramyd Air shows them today. However, I did see one report where a P5 Magnum was tested with Skenco Hyper Velocity Type 1 pellets and got into the 630s.

It looks like the 5G pistol it replaced
There's not much difference between the appearance of the Diana 5G and the newer P5 Magnum. The 5G could get an average of 450 f.p.s. with Hobby pellets; the P5 bettered that by about 100 f.p.s. In a spring-piston air pistol, that's incredible! It got that boost by a longer piston stroke, which made this gun easier to cock than the 5G it replaced. The P5 Magnum is squarely in the Beeman P1 camp for power.


The P5 Magnum is a breakbarrel spring air pistol.

It's a breakbarrel!
The picture should leave no doubt about the origin of the term breakbarrel. The P5 has a powerful mainspring, yet cocks easily for all the power it produces. The muzzle extension is to be thanked for most of that, because it provides a longer lever for force multiplication.

Very accurate!
The P5 shoots rings around both Webley pistols, for those who were looking for a comparison. It has near-rifle accuracy if you hold it loosely so the recoil and vibration patterns can repeat. Groups of less than 1/2" are possible at 10 yards.

A BIG pistol
At 18" long, the P5 is BIG. You can see that in the photos on the website. Everything is linear, so it's going to use some room. It weighs 2.5 lbs., which isn't heavy, and the sculpted grips make it feel even lighter. But it is definitely not a gun you carry concealed.

Great hunting sights!
The front and rear sights are fiber optic. They're bright and quick to acquire. They are also marked very clearly for adjustment - something that's lacking in a lot of handguns.

Good adjustable trigger and automatic safety
Diana pistols and rifles have had good adjustable triggers for decades, and the P5 carries on the tradition. Both the length of the first stage and the total pull weight can be adjusted and locked down. The safety is automatic and must be taken off each time before shooting. It's a small metal tab in front of the trigger. Once you get used to it, it comes off quickly.

How does it compare to the Webley Tempest and Hurricane?
The P5 Magnum is larger than either Webley, more powerful and more accurate. It has a better trigger, too. The sights are better than those on the Tempest but not as nice as those on the Hurricane. Personally, I like the Hurricane for its size and handling. The accuracy isn't all that important to me, because if I want accuracy with power I'll shoot a P1. But, I must say, that the P5 Magnum is a great value. If you are looking for a powerful, accurate spring pistol, this one belongs on your short list!

Picatinny, Weaver & dovetail scope bases

by B.B. Pelletier

Today's post is an answer to a question that came in last week. The reader asked, "What are the differences between Weaver, dovetail and Picatinny bases and rails?"

This is a question that a lot of airgunners and firearms shooters have and are unwilling to ask because they think everyone else knows the answer. I thought I knew and was surprised to discover a few things I didn't know. For our discussion, the terms base and rail are synonymous.


Dovetails have been used by cabinetmakers for centuries.

Dovetails look like...well, the tail of a dove!
The dovetail is centuries old and probably originated with woodworking joinery. This is not a history lesson, but we are surrounded with antique furniture that's held together by this joint. I believe the name originally came from the fact that the triangular shape of the joint resembles the tail of a dove.

The airgun dovetail is a parallel set of grooves running along the top of a receiver to which scope sight bases may be clamped. The width of the airgun dovetail is often quoted as 11mm, but in reality it varies from 9.5m to almost 14.mm! Not a lot of standardization there! However, modern airguns seem to conform to the 11mm size more than vintage guns. BSA is the notable exception.


This Slavia 631 has dovetails for mounting a scope.

B-Square publishes a free brochure on airgun scope mounts. It has a chart of the sizes for most popular airgun dovetails. B-Square is also the ONLY mount maker who has attempted to do anything about the variation in airgun dovetails. They have created airgun mounts that adapt to dovetails of varying widths and angles - something all other mount manufacturers turn a blind eye to. That is the reason that I usually recommend B-Square scope mounts over all other mounts on the market!


Get B-Square's airgun mount brochure free!

Don't use rimfire dovetails!
Rimfire rifles are also grooved for scope mounts. The industry settled on dovetails with a 3/8" separation, which turns out to be surprisingly close to 11mm! But the mounts made for rimfires and sold in discount stores or gun stores are the lowest form of garbage! Never use them on an adult airgun.

Weaver mounts don't work on airguns
Weaver mounts originated just before 1950. They were the first attempt to provide standardized scope mounts for rifles. They feature an integral recoil block to keep the rings in one place. Before Weaver mounts, rifles were most often drilled and tapped for small setscrews that sometimes snapped under heavy recoil. The Weaver base has a 3.8mm cross-key slot that accepts special Weaver keys located on the bottom of all Weaver rings.


Weaver base has cross slots that accept the keys found on the bottom of Weaver rings.

Weaver bases are great for firearms but too wide for airgun rings. Also, the locations of the cross slots are not standardized, so Weaver bases work best with two-piece rings. But, there is something even better!

The Picatinny rail is the most versatile of all bases
Picatinny Arsenal in New York is an ordnance arsenal. In the 1960s, they created a new type of scope mount for heavier weapons. It resembles a Weaver base, but the notches are 5mm wide and located at precise intervals along the rail. Any manufacturer can make a mount to fit a Picatinny rail! In the 1970s, Picatinny rails migrated to small arms use, and today they are widely used by the military and law enforcement to hold not only scopes but also flashlights, lasers, rangefinders and night vision devices.


The Picatinny rail is the most recent and the best of all three base systems!

Picatinny is not the same as Weaver!
This is where I became confused, because Weaver rings easily fit into Picatinny bases. The problem is that Weaver cross slots are smaller, which allows a lot of slop, so even though they do fit, Weaver rings are not compatible with Picatinny bases!

It's academic to most airgunners
Since you won't find Weaver or Picatinny bases on an airgun, they are almost academic, as far as airguns go. However, if you want to use a set of Weaver rings on an airgun for some reason, B-Square has an 11mm to Weaver adapter. In all other cases, you want 11mm airgun dovetail mounts.

Anymore questions? Let me know!

My first airgun

by B.B. Pelletier

I'll tell you about my first airgun, then I want YOU to tell me about YOURS!

A Benjamin 107 pistol
My first airgun was a .177 Benjamin model 107 air pistol. Although the Blue Book of Airguns, Fifth Edition says no Benjamins were ever marked with the 107 model number, I'm pretty sure mine was, because at the age of nine I knew the model number.


Benjamin 107 was a slim air pistol due to the pump rod extending straight out from the front. This one still has lots of fragile black nickel over silver nickel, which covers the brass.

Benjamin made air rifles before the turn of the 20th century but they started making air pistols in 1935. The 107 was made from 1935 to 1941. It had the name "Benjamin Franklin" in quotes stamped into the left side of the compression tube. The quotes indicated the name was a farce - a play on the name Benjamin Air Rifle Company that was stamped on the end cap along with the model number. It tickles me to see gun dealers advertising that they have a Benjamin Franklin for sale!

A front-pumper
The 107 is a multi-pump pneumatic with a long pump rod coming straight out the front of the pump tube under the barrel. There is no mechanical advantage with this system. Any air that gets crammed into the reservoir has to be compressed by muscle power alone. Since about 1909, Benjamin had been using this system with their rifles. It worked okay for them, but a pistol is not as handy to pump as a rifle. You could pump the first and even the second pumps by hand. After that, help was needed. The mushroom-shaped pump rod end was put against something hard - like a tree - and the gun shoved forward to compress the air. You could get five or six pumps into the gun that way. If the tree was slippery, you could also have an accident that would leave your knuckles barked (pun intended).

Benjamin High-Compression pellets
The only .177 pellets I even knew about were in the single Benjamin tin that came with the pistol. Years later, I found other similar tins in sporting goods store and bought them immediately, thinking they might be the last pellets on the planet! This was in the 1950s and information about things like airguns was in short supply.


These are Benjamin .22 diabolo pellets and .22 lead balls, but the tin for the .177 pellets is identical. It looks like old-fashioned patent medicine.

Power was low
Even with as many pumps as I could muster, the pistol wasn't too powerful. I suppose I over-pumped it, thinking it would get faster. All that happened was the onset of valve lock. I've never chronographed one of these pistols, but I'd be surprised if they went much faster than 300 f.p.s. with vintage Benjamin pellets.

Accuracy was limited by the pellets
In the 1950s, my pistol could hit a tin can at 25 feet and that was about it. In the 1990s, I tested another 107 with modern pellets, and it grouped about two inches at 33 feet. That's okay, but it doesn't compare to a Beeman P1.

Benjamin was stubborn and Crosman carried the day!
The Benjamin Air Rifle Company was always quite conservative. They held off switching to the compound underlever pump linkage until 1938, even though Crosman had demonstrated its superiority back in 1924. The first underlever pump they offered was an attempt to convert the front pump to an underlever through a "Rube Goldberg" arrangement of levers and linkage points. It was horrible and worked poorly. Their conservatism eventually cost them their company, which Crosman purchased in 1992.


Benjamin's first underlever pump was a weak attempt to adapt the front pump to an underlever. It did not work well!

Tell me about YOUR first airgun
Using the comment section, please share your first airgun with us. Everyone has a first gun and probably more memories of it than they care to admit. Love it or hate it, it helped make you the person you became.

Time for fun: M1911A1 Colt from Umarex

by B.B. Pelletier

I remember when this airgun came out, because I love the M1911A1 Colt pistol. The other Umarex pistols were very realistic, but I wanted to see if they would really incorporate the grip safety in this gun. They did, and it was love all over again. Allow me to introduce you to a favorite of mine.

Umarex makes realistic airguns
Umarex is the parent company that owns Walther, so they make firearms. They also have a history of making realistic blank-firing guns that are legal in Germany without a special license. Firearms are legal there, too, but the permits and training required to own and use them are very expensive. Where the Orient developed airsoft to permit collectors to own replica guns, Germany went to blank-firing guns. Then, they had a better idea.


The slide separates at the line above the grip, so the clips can be loaded.

An 8-shot revolver in wolf's clothing!
Umarex designers created an 8-shot revolver mechanism so small that it fits inside the frames of many popular semiautomatic pistols - like the M1911A1. The heart of the mechanism is an 8-shot clip that drops into the gun and automatically indexes. Take a close look at the pistol below, and you'll see a line where the "slide" separates to drop in the clip.

Everything works!
The neat thing about Umarex air pistols is that all the controls work! The sights adjust (on some models), the magazine releases function, the safeties work, and, in the case of this pistol, the grip safety really works. The grip safety is a second safety mechanism that must be depressed for the pistol to fire. If you hold the pistol naturally, you will depress the grip safety and never even think about it. This is a feature peculiar to Colt 1911s, though a few other handguns have it, and it enhances the realism that Umarex not only put it on the gun but actually made it work correctly!

Like accurate guns? Get this one!
Towsend Whelen of he Springfield Armory said "only accurate guns are interesting." I agree. If you feel the same, then you'll find this pistol very interesting!

If you hold the pistol like a 1911 (see the posting Grasp the secret of accurate handgun shooting for tips), you will be rewarded with one-inch groups at 10 meters. That's shooting one-handed! The 1911 is one of the more accurate Umarex pistols (or else I shoot a 1911 better than other guns). And, the rear sight adjusts for windage.

Velocity
You'll get 400-425 f.p.s. on warm days or in a warm room. And there are at least 50 if not 60 full-power shots in every powerlet. Umarex has made exchanging powerlets a breeze, so you won't mind that chore. Don't forget to buy a lot of them. If you get one of these guns, it's easy to get carried away.

Accessories
If you like to shoot a lot, a speedloader makes short work of loading the clips. And don't forget to get something to carry your pistol in, like the tactical holster that looks so great!

There are four models to choose from, so if you like Colt pistols or you just want to see what an action air pistol is all about, this is one of the good ones!

Webley Tempest & Hurricane: What's the difference?

by B.B. Pelletier

This post is an answer for Earl Cox who asks, "What is the difference between the Webley Tempest and Hurricane, other than the thirty dollar price?" I used to wonder the same thing, Earl, so I took it upon myself to find out.

Airgunners rebelled when Webley tried to cheapen their gun!
The Webley Hurricane arose from the Premier Mark II, which wasn't appreciated in its day because it was an obvious attempt by Webley to lower the pistol's manufacturing cost. They had switched from blued steel to painted steel several years earlier, and now they were making the frame from aluminum. The airgun community wasn't about to let them go any farther.

The prototype of the Hurricane, called the Premier Mark III, had a longer frame with a place for a scope. Webley had created a brand new model rather than resole an old one. They decided on the name Hurricane just as the gun went to market in 1977.

The new pistol had (and still has) an ABS plastic sleeve over the steel compression/mainspring cylinder that's inserted into the alminum frame. It hides what, on the Premier Mark II, appeared to be an ugly transition between two frame diameters. It also has a long overhang in the rear above the shooting hand. The rear sight, which is a precision click-adjustable unit, can be removed and a scope mount base fastened in its place on this rear extension.


Fine clicks on wheels for both adjustments on the Hurricane rear sight.

Longer barrels fed false rumors of more power
The Hurricane also has a barrel that overhangs the front of the frame. Webley had been producing pistols with barrels ending flush with the frame for many years, though exceptional long-barreled versions of most post-war models exist. The look of the longer barrel generated rumors of greater power - rumors that dealers were reluctant to dispel. These were the quiet days before everyone owned chronographs.

Both the longer barrel and rear frame extension make the Hurricane a large air pistol. That drew some criticism from Webley fans because Webley's pistols have always been noted for their compact size and power. The Hurricane is powerful, at 425 to 450 f.p.s. in .177. but no more than the Premier Mark II had been. The company needed a companion smaller air pistol!

Webley's new Typhoon pistol confused airgunners
The small Webley Junior Mark II pistol was replaced for a short time by a gun known as the Typhoon. It looked so much like a Hurricane and was so close in overall size that it muddied the waters. People stayed away from it in droves! It was dropped in 1982 to make way for a new and different-looking gun - a gun with the look of the Premier - the Webley Tempest.

Pick either the Tempest or the Hurricane - you won't be sorry!
The Tempest is nothing more than a Hurricane with the front and rear overhang cut off. The sights are much simpler, but they are very easy to use. They adjust in both directions, though they use clamping screws instead of sophisticated, spring-loaded detent wheels of the Hurricane. And, the front sight is just a plain post without the Hurricane's hood.

Robert Beeman made a star of the Tempest in the U.S. in the 1980s. He needed a powerful air pistol, and the Tempest filled the bill. The shorter barrel subtracts no velocity from the Hurricane because this is a spring-piston airgun. It does make the gun much more compact, however. It was a big hit with airgunners who apparently forgot all about the Premier Mark II. Both the Tempest and Hurricane are still being made today.

Those are the main differences between the two guns. The Hurricane has a longer barrel, better front sight, better rear sight and rear frame overhang for a scope mount. Buy the Tempest for its compact size and the Hurricane for its sights. Both guns are classics!

Crosman 116 - the last of the bulkfill pistols

by B.B. Pelletier

Before there were 12-gram powerlets, Crosman had a line of guns that owners filled with CO2 from a separate 10-ounce tank. Today, the airgun community calls all these guns "bulkfill," referring to the way they are charged.

Crosman made many bulkfill models
Starting before World War II and resuming production soon after the war was over, Crosman produced a number of bulkfill guns. The pistol I've chosen for today, the model 116, was the last one produced. The Blue Book of Airguns, Fifth Edition says it was produced from 1951 to 1954, when it was replaced by Crosman's first pistol to use a 12-gram powerlet - the 150.


Crosman 116 was the last of the bulkfill pistols from that company.

Specifications
The caliber is .22, which was far more popular at the time. A companion .177 model, the 115, was also made in fewer numbers. The brass barrel is 6" long and rifled with a right-hand twist. The pistol is slightly longer than a 150 but slimmer, too, because the bulk reservoir doesn't have to accommodate a CO2 powerlet. The pistol holds and balances very much like a 150. That's important because the earlier .22 bulkfill pistol, the model 112, was two full inches longer, and some shooters objected to the extra weight and muzzle-heavy balance. A rotating knob behind the receiver lets you vary tension on the hammer spring to adjust power. This works well with a CO2 gun.


Bottom wheel is for power adjustment. Top wheel cocks the gun.

Finish
The 116 was originally painted gloss black, except for the aluminum frame, which was finished with a crackle paint. Two-piece wraparound plastic grips are fastened with a screw on either side of the gun. The 116 typically had reddish plastic grips when new, but after so many years you could find a gray-white colored grip from the older model 111. The name, model number and serial number are filled with light-colored paint and appear on the left side of the receiver.

Filling
A 10-ounce rechargable CO2 tank came boxed with every pistol. It held enough gas for thousands of shots. When you wanted to refill the tank, the system broke down. Crosman had refilling stations where the tank could be mailed (not today!) for a refill. People were used to waiting in the 1950s, but when the 12-gram powerlet came to market it killed the bulkfill guns. That's why so many of them are in such good condition today.

Today's airgun enthusiast fills his own 10-oz. tanks from a 20-lb. CO2 tank (often called a fire extinguisher). You have to get into bulkfill with both feet if you want to save any money, so there is an up-front investment. I own four bulk CO2 tanks, plus various adapters, and I have no problem filling just about anything. I acquired my setup over a period of years.

Performance
By this point, if you have read my past postings on CO2, you probably know how a 116 is going to perform. It has the same velocity as a 150 (see the posting Crosman air pistols: then and now). Expect 425 to 500 f.p.s. with medium weight pellets from a 116 in good shape. Because the gas reservoir is smaller than the longer 112, you'll get only 30-35 shots per fill, but your cost will be under a nickel. Compare that to 50 cents for a powerlet!

Price
This is one rare time when I will disagree with the Blue Book. It shows the 116 costs from $40 to $175 for just the gun. I've seen many that were $40, but I've never seen a 116 priced above $100, unless it was being sold either in an online auction or at a gun show. They are just too common to sell for that much. A good one in a box should cost $100. The longer models usually go for a little more, like $20 or so.

If you're interested in vintage CO2 guns, you should add a 116 to your collection!

Improving accuracy with a spring-piston airgun

by B.B. Pelletier

This post comes from a reader comment. Could you list in order what you would advise a new shooter to do to improve accuracy? Today, I will address spring-piston guns.

1. Break it in!
A spring gun seldom performs its best right out of the box. A break-in period of 1,000 to as many as 4,000 shots is required to settle things in. Robert Beeman said in his catalog that adult airguns don't wear out - they wear in. That's especially true for sping-piston guns.

I have mentioned more than once that Gamo triggers become better over time. In fact, it takes a LOT of time to wear one in. The guns I've seen with good triggers had over 4,000 shots through them. I had a Beeman C1 carbine (made by Webley) that took just as long to break in. Out of the box, it was rough to cock, had a heavy trigger and a very harsh firing behavior, but after 3,500 to 4,000 shots, it became very smooth. How do I know? I kept the empty pellet tins.

2. Don't over-oil it!
This used to be a big problem. I don't know if it still is or isn't, but shooters apparently thought they had to oil the heck out of their piston seals. Their guns would be swimming in oil. Even when you use the correct silicone oil, you set up conditions for dieseling when there's too much of it. Better too little than too much.

3. Use good pellets!
I can't believe how many shooters cling to some hopeless pellet because they WANT it to do well in their guns. You know the definition of insanity? Doing a thing repeatedly and hoping for different results. I recommended several pellets in the September 8 post, More on pellets! There are others, of course, but why not start with the best and experiment after you know what your rifle can do?

4. Learn how to hold your gun for best results!
With a springer, that usually means holding it as loose as you can, but there are exceptions. The Beeman Kodiak/Webley Patriot apparently wants to be held firmly for best results. Experiment with your gun until you know it better than anyone. Then, you'll know what it takes.

5. Learn to use a scope!
Skipping this step is a real accuracy killer. Some shooters don't know they must place their heads at exactly the same place on the stock every time if they expect to get results. "But B.B., to do that I would have to raise my cheekpiece, because when my head is against the stock I can't see the scope!" Ah Ha! Read my postings on scope use. There are a bunch, so use the Blog index published on September 30.

5.a. Learn to use a scope LEVEL!
If your scope sits two inches or more above your bore, you have to use a level every time you shoot. Or, you're just hip-shooting from the shoulder! I have seen groups tighten from over 1" to less than 1/4" just from using a level. Of course, points 1 through 5 had already been addressed before seeing this much improvement!

6. Clean your barrel!
Not the usual way - that doesn't work with an airgun because there is no burned powder residue or fouling to clean. But if an airgun bore is RUSTY, it needs to be cleaned. And, most of them are. Use JB Non-Embedding Bore Compound on a brass or bronze brush. Run it from the breech if you can - 20 times down the length of the barrel in each direction. In the first few passes, you will FEEL the crud being removed. JB is a very fine abrasive used by benchrest shooters. Their barrels cost several hundred dollars. It will not harm your bore if used correctly.

After cleaning, remove all traces of JB, then, and ONLY then, clean the barrel with a good gun oil. Do not use Hoppes No. 9 unless you know for certain you can remove all the residue it leaves. (Don't use WD-40 for anything on your gun!) Dry the barrel and start shooting.

That's pretty much it! No fancy tune-ups required. It's always the basics that deliver the best returns, and these are all pretty basic.

Which Weihrauch rifle would B.B. pick?

by B.B. Pelletier

Earl Cox - this one's for you. It's the rest of the answer to your question:

Now for the 64 dollar question. Which Weihrauch model would you choose to purchase if you eliminate price as a factor and excluded pneumatics? I don't know what a gas ram system is so you may include these models if one doesn't have to purchase pumps, compressors or CO2.

Weihrauch makes some of the finest spring airguns in the world. They have been doing so since shortly after World War II. Before that, clear back to the turn of the 20th century, they made the model 51 (or was it a 52?), a falling or dropping block single-shot that was a fine .22 rimfire target rifle. The company still makes a target .22 today - the HW 660.

The kiss of death was making a line of cheap handguns!
During the German post-WWII recovery period, Weihrauch made an unfortunate decision to make a line of cheap revolvers and market them under their own banner. Arminius .22 revolvers from the 1950s are as cheap as firearms get without being downright dangerous, and the effect of making them under their own name prejudiced the shooting community against Weihrauch. It was a poor marketing decision made five decades ago, but it cost the company their place in the sun. They still make revolvers under that name today. Although the quality is very much improved, the damage has been done.

Weihrauch is serious about its airguns!
Weihrauch never made the mistake of cheapening their air rifles, so that part of the company receives the attention it deserves. In the 1970s, the Hermann Weihrauch company allied itself with Robert Beeman in a move that proved highly beneficial to both firms. Weihrauch was open to Beeman's request for modifications to their existing rifles to better suit American tastes. Beeman, on the other hand, knew what American shooters wanted and proceeded to import and sell it to them - in large quantities. Weihrauch grew and so did Beeman, whose new R-series rifles became (and remain) an American airgunning icon.

Part of Weihrauch's improvements came from BSF
In the late 1980s, German airgun maker BSF closed its doors and sold the remaining parts and completed guns to Weihrauch. BSF was as good a maker as Weihrauch, but lacked the same fine distribution channels (they were sold through European firearms channels). Weihrauch immediately went to work to figure out how they could incorporate BSF designs (and the leftover parts and assemblies) into Weihrauch guns. Their first model was an adaptation of the BSF model 70, turning it into the Marksman model 70, which was very similar but with a Rekord trigger.

The first really new model Weihrauch made from BSF parts was the Beeman R10, a powerful, yet lightweight rifle that was dubbed the "son of the R1." The R10 was a great airgun, but Weihrauch modified the design even more to produce it for less cost, and they designated the new rifle the Beeman R9.

Weihrauch's finest air rifle - in B.B.'s opinion
The HW 55 target rifle was the finest air rifle Weihrauch ever made in my opinion. It was light enough to hold easily, and heavy enough to hold steady. It had exemplary target sights that taught the world how to make affordable target sights, and it had a special target version of the Rekord trigger that is as fine as the movement in a Patek Phillipe watch. I was so sorry to see this model phased out a few years ago, but it had a long and successful run of over four decades.

HW 35 takes America by storm!
Weihrauch's large HW 35 (which is still made, by the way) was among Beeman's top magnum air rifles when the race for power started in the 1970s. But the FWB 124 came along and put all other rifles in the back seat. Read all about that in the post FWB 124 - a classic pellet rifle. The 35 continued in Beeman's lineup for several more years, but always at a disadvantage due to its relatively short stroke. So, Robert Beeman decided to take matters into his own hands.

Beeman's new air rifle
Dr. Beeman designed a new rifle based on the 35, but with internal improvements that no other air rifle in the world could match. He did a lot of his work on a computer CAD system, then took the output to his good friend Hans Weihrauch, Sr., to build the rifle. The Beemans (Toshiko Beeman was an important part of the development team, as was Christa Weihrauch, Hans' wife) and the Weihrauchs swapped visits and phone calls as the new airgun neared completion. The Weihrauchs could hardly believe the power produced by Beeman's new design, so they asked permission to make their own version of the new gun to sell elsewhere in the world under the Weihrauch name. Beeman knew he couldn't absorb all of their output capacity, so he agreed.

Because the shorter European stock was easier for them to produce, the Weihrauch version was on the market several months before Beeman took delivery of his first lot. Hence, the myth was born that the Beeman R1 was built AFTER the HW 80, when, in fact, it was the other way around! The R1 caught the airgunning world off guard with its near-1,000 f.p.s. velocity in .177. In less than a year, the extra few f.p.s. were eked out, and the airgunning world had its first rifle capable of 1,000 f.p.s. straight out of the box!


Now out of print, the R1 book by Gaylord is the only book written about a single airgun model. It also served as a reference for the history in today's report.

More customization has been done to the R1 than any other rifle ever made. It is big, powerful, accurate and can do more things than any other production spring gun made. Ivan Hancock used the HW 80 as the basis for his custom Mach I springer, which shattered the speed of sound at over 1,200 f.p.s. in .177! So, Earl and everybody else, for all those reasons, the Beeman R1 is my pick of all Weihrauch spring air rifles!

What IS a gas ram airgun?

by B.B. Pelletier

This post is a direct response to a comment that came in last week:

Now for the 64 dollar question? Which Weihrauch model would you choose to purchase if you eliminate price as a factor and exclude pneumatic? I don't know what a gas ram system is, so you may include these models if one doesn't have to purchase pumps, compressors or CO2.

A gas ram airgun is a spring gun...without a spring!
A gas ram airgun is a spring-piston gun in which the coiled steel mainspring is replaced with a sealed "gas spring" unit. Instead of the coiled spring pushing the piston, compressed gas does the job. "Gas ram" is just one name for this powerplant. It's also called a gas strut and a gas spring, which I prefer because it is more descriptive of the unit.

You find gas springs in many mechanical things these days. Cars are probably the most familiar. Anyone who owns a minivan has seen a gas spring unit push the deck up when it's opened. Gas spri