Beeman RS2 SS1000H dual-caliber rifle combo - Part 2 Velocity for the .177 barrel

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

Clean the bore
It's back to Beeman's dual-caliber RS2 SS1000H today. The first step before velocity or accuracy testing is barrel cleaning, if at all possible. I don't clean those rifles whose designs make the barrels difficult to access, like the Gamo CF-X or the TX200 Mark III, but breakbarrels are pretty easy to get at, and a rifle whose barrel comes off has got to be the easiest! So, out comes the JB Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound,eddie and it's 20 strokes through the barrel in both directions with a new brass brush. For a complete explanation of what I do, read this post. Pyramyd Air doesn't have any .177 brass brushes in stock as I write this, but there's nothing wrong with using a brush bought at Wal-Mart or a gun store. Nylon brushes are not good for this procedure, and .17 caliber firearm brushes will work in .177 pellet guns, as .22 caliber firearm brushes will work in .22 pellet guns. The brushes are tens of thousandths too large for the bore, so we are not looking for a precision fit.

What pellets should we choose?
This is a spring gun, which we know from experience usually does better with light- to medium-weight pellets. By "better," I mean it produces the most muzzle energy, which signifies the greatest transfer of energy from the spring-driven piston to the pellet. And, if it has a gas spring, the same thing is true, because compressed air is also a type of spring. The greatest energy transfer means the least piston bounce, so that is what we look for when picking pellets for spring guns. However, after finding a range of good pellets that fall into the same general power level, accuracy testing will nail down the one best pellet for that particular gun. As long as the rifle is performing within a reasonable range of power, getting the last tenth of a foot-pound isn't as important as hitting the target, which is what this whole drill is about.

Install the barrel
After the barrel is clean, it's installed on the rifle. The stub slides into the baseblock and a single cross-screw tightens it in place. As the Allen screw is tightened, it seems to draw the barrel in tighter to the baseblock. After the screw was tight, I could not detect that the barrel was separate from the gun. It felt just like any breakbarrel.


Barrel stub slides into the base block and the cutout on the barrel (left side bottom) aligns with the screw hole. When the Allen screw tightens, it seems to draw the barrel up tight. It's quite easy to do.

Initial impressions
The rifle cocks with relative ease, at 30 lbs. of force. Cocking is smooth and quiet. And this rifle fires with very good behavior for a new airgun. It is so smooth that I believe the powerplant components are fitted pretty well. The two-stage trigger, which is very positive, by the way, breaks at 3 lbs., 12 ozs. It has some creep in the second stage, but feels pretty nice.

Now, let's shoot!
There were some surprises. Crosman Premier 7.9-grain pellets that loaded very easy wanted to average 880 f.p.s., but five shots out of 13 dropped below 850 f.p.s. The lowest went 819 f.p.s. If we take 880 f.p.s. as the average (a range of the other shots from 868 to 886), the energy is 13.59 foot-pounds.

Next, I tried the Beeman Trophy. It weighs 7.9 grains and averages 901 f.p.s. without any pellets going dramatically slower. That is 14.24 foot-pounds. It also loads loose in the breech.

Beeman Kodiaks weigh 10.6 grains and average 806 f.p.s. - also without any slower shots. That's 15.29 foot-pounds - a shock for me, based on my past experience! They also load very easy.

Beeman Ram Jets averaged 850 f.p.s., but were all over the place in velocity, ranging from 822 to 880. They weigh 9.8 grains, which makes them a heavier pellet. At 850, they deliver an astonishing 15.73 foot-pounds. The way they load may present a clue to their bizarre performance. They fall into the bore, but the skirt is flared so wide that they will not go all the way into the breech. A seating tool would have been a help.

JSB Exact lightweight pellets (8.4 grains) averaged 937 f.p.s., but they had a single slow shot at 722. Taking the average of 937 (the slow shot wasn't calculated into the average) they put out 16.38 foot-pounds and are the power leader in this test.

Finally I shot some Gamo Raptors - just to see what they would do. They averaged 1189 f.p.s. if I disregard the one shot that went 863 f.p.s. That would give the 5-grain pellet 15.70 foot-pounds.

What's happening?
Clearly, the rifle is dieseling significantly at this point. I cannot trust any of these numbers, even though several pellets only had a 10 foot-second spread from the slowest to fastest shot. Here's what I'll do. I'll try all of these pellets for accuracy next, because clearly the heavier pellets are not having a problem in this gun. Then, I'll test the .22 barrel for you, and, after all is finished, I will return and re-chrono the gun with these same pellets. By then, the powerplant will have several hundred shots on it, and the dieseling should be under control.

The heavier pellets tested were in the same ballpark for power, while the lighter ones (except the Raptors) gave LESS power, which really surprises me. Only the JSB Exact, which is on the high side of light for this test, had any power for a lighter pellet. I really thought the heavy pellets would have a lot less energy. I hope when I test again that I'll be able to make more sense of the numbers, because right now I don't trust them.

I didn't expect that I'd like this rifle, but my first impression changes all that. It's smooth, light to cock and the trigger is very usable. The changeable barrel is rock-solid when installed, so no problem there. You'll recall that I liked the look of the package in the first report. Let's hope the good news keeps right on coming!

How do barrel shrouds work?

by B.B. Pelletier

An announcement before we begin. After speaking with the manager of the Firearms Division of the Michigan State Police, Pyramyd Air has changed their policy regarding sales to addresses in Michigan. Unfortunately, she is the same person who gave out erroneous information 9 months ago! When they spoke to her this time, they quizzed her about the legality of certain airguns, such as the .50-caliber Dragon Slayer, and she replied that the federal government regulates those types of airguns! In fact, she even stated that federal law prohibited felons from owning airguns.

Of course, the federal government does not make specific laws concerning pellet and BB guns. So, Pyramyd Air has changed their policy for shipping to addresses in Michigan to reflect what they were just told, and that's how they'll be handling orders from now on.

On to today's blog....

A reader asked me about barrel shrouds after reading the Air Arms S410 series. He figured out how they work, but there are subtleties that I thought the rest of you might like to know about, so today I'm looking at shrouds.

Simple shrouds
The simplest type of shroud is a jacket that encloses the barrel and contains the violent release of compressed air from the muzzle. It lets the pellet escape but forces the air to use up much of its energy before it leaves the shroud, thus reducing the report. In effect, it acts like the simplest form of silencer, and the only difference is that the shroud covers the entire barrel, while the silencer is just a component added to the barrel. Let's look at the AirForce Talon SS, which has one of these.


The Talon SS has a chamber between the front barrel bushing and the end cap of the frame, which serves as the space where energetic air can disperse and lose energy before exiting the gun. It's simple and it works.

Shroud technology
There can be more to shrouds, however. For one thing, only a few guns have a frame large enough to use as a shroud. Others must install an actual jacket around the barrel. This jacket must be rigid so it doesn't move and hit the barrel. It must also have its end cap hole aligned precisely with the true muzzle, so the pellets don't touch the sides of the hole when they exit. And, it must look right on the gun. That drives makers to use a smaller-diameter tube (smaller than the AirForce frame diameter) and to attach it rigidly at the action. But that's not all.

Holes are the secret
To keep the shroud to an overall length that doesn't ruin the looks of the gun (and longer barrels are better for PCPs), the wise maker does everything he can to direct the flow of energetic air backwards after it leaves the muzzle, so it has to run the entire length of the barrel and back again before exiting the end cap. That way, the outer shroud diameter can remain small yet still have a lot of space for the air to expand (length instead of width). Some wise person discovered that if they allowed ambient air to exit the shroud at the rear, it wouldn't build a pressure wave and reflect the compressed air back to the end cap so readily. So, the shrouds on really advanced PCPs will have small holes just in front of where they exit the receiver.


Three holes at the back of the barrel shroud on the Air Arms S410 sidelever release air when the gun fires, allowing the compressed air to run backwards long the outside of the barrel (and inside the shroud).

There's one final consideration for a good shroud - materials. Use the wrong materials and the shroud becomes a gong, amplifying the sound instead of dissipating it. Use the right materials and deaden them further by installing vibration dampers at the right place, and you'll get a dead-quiet rifle that has nothing you can remove and install on a firearm. Yes, by machining the materials from a removed shroud, you might make an effective silencer for a firearm, but anyone clever enough to do that is better off starting with common PVC pipe from the hardware store.

The wrong material to use would be thin aluminum tubing - something I see a lot of hobbyists using to make shrouds. It's easy to get, so they use it, without realizing what it does to the outcome of their project. It buzzes and resonates with sound unless you take pains to dampen it.

As you can see, there's a little more to shrouds than you may have thought. Done well, they are as effective as silencers and can also be quite attractive - like the "barrel" on a TX200 Mark III, which is really an attractive shroud.

Air Arms S410 sidelever - Part 5

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4


An announcement before we begin. Pyramyd now has the Beeman P1/HW45 pistol shoulder stock back on the shelves. It comes in a choice of four different woods - walnut, cherry, oak and birdseye maple - and I'm told that some types are in very short supply, so act quickly if you have a preference.

Today, we'll take our last look at the Air Arms S410 sidelever PCP rifle. Scott298 asked me to shoot it at 75 yards for you and I agreed. Let's see how that went.

Setup for long-range air rifle shooting
You don't just switch from a 50-yard zero to 75 yards by adjusting the scope. Pellet drop is too great even with a super-powerful magnum to do that. And, with the S410, I was already pushing the limit of the elevation on the scope, so I had to make a correction to the adjustable mount. Fortunately, I had used B-Square adjustable rings to mount the 6-18x Swift scope, so all I had to do was adjust them higher in the rear.


The rear mount had to be elevated four turns to get the gun on target at 75 yards.

Weathered out
Unfortunately for me and for this report, I live in an area where the wind never stops blowing. We get almost no calm days here, and shooting at long range with a pellet rifle demands a calm day. On the days when the wind was calm enough, I was doing other things I couldn't cancel, so it took a lot longer to get the weather needed for this test. Wind of even 5 miles per hour can blow a pellet off-target by 5" and more at 75 yards, even when the rifle shoots very fast and you use heavy pellets.

The day I finally selected was not dead calm. There are fewer than 10 such days every year where I live, and they aren't even days. They are short pauses during a weather change. I've caught them before, but only by luck. The day I finally settled for had a light breeze of 3-5 mph with intermittent lulls. I tried to shoot only during the lulls, but sometimes the wind was blowing at the target but calm where I was. When that happens, you do the best you can.

I had to test a lot of pellets before I found the right one
I brought several pellets, because what's accurate at 35 yards isn't necessarily the best at 75. Once I got the rifle striking close to the bullseye I didn't bother adjusting the zero, because I was racing the clock before the wind picked up. The Crosman Premiers that did so well in Part 3 refused to group for this test, so after about 7 attempts, I switched to JSB Exacts. They did better, but still gave groups of two inches and larger, so I switched again. The Logun Penetrator 20.5-grain pellet is not one I tested earlier, but it was next. For the first three rounds, I thought I had a winner. Then, shot No. 4 opened to 1.392" and it was over. The group ended at 1.741". I didn't try them again.


The first 3 pellets were encouraging, then shot No. 4 landed at 6 o'clock. The fifth shot opened up this group of Logun Penetrators to 1.741".

Kodiaks to the rescue!
Beeman Kodiaks were the best pellet in this rifle on this day. The first several groups were promising, at around 1.5". Then I put all my technique together and waited for perfectly calm air. The best 5-shot group of the day measured 1.069". It's not a bragging group, to be sure, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. I then shot two more confirming groups that measured less than 1.5" and wrapped things up. It took more than three hours to get these results, as I am leaving out all the setup work required to get on paper at 75 yards.


Best group of the day measures 1.069" c-t-c. It may not look that great here, but try shooting a few groups at 75 yards before you criticize.


I followed the best group with a couple more that measured less than 1.5" This one goes 1.358". That confirmed the best group was not a fluke, though it certainly doesn't represent how well the rifle shot every time.

Is the S410 accurate at long range? Certainly. Is this the best it can do? Absolutely not. On a perfect day, that best group size could probably be reduced by at least 40 percent. Am I going to do it? No.

The question you have to answer is whether shooting at long range is something you want to do. Your rifles have to be sighted in for that range, which makes them useless for anything closer, so this is a sport you are either dedicated to or you don't do at all. If you just want to try your luck at it, though, you can make a dark aimpoint on a large sheet of paper and allow 12-18" below that for the pellets to register. That way, you can keep your 0-50 yard zero and still play at the longer ranges.

Scan M32 Powerhouse repeater from England

by B.B. Pelletier


Scan M32 is a 32-shot repeating PCP that operates by pump action, similar to a pump shotgun. Unlike all other pump guns, the pistol grip and not the forearm is what cycles the action. Scope is a Leapers 6-20x56 that's no longer made.

This test comes from the August 2001 Airgun Letter. Mike Reames was kind enough to loan me the rifle to test. And, as you have already learned, I found it the most accurate air rifle I've ever shot.

The Scan M32 is a 32-shot pump-action repeating air rifle. It's a precharged pneumatic, and the pump-action refers to how the rifle is cocked and loaded. Pulling back on the pistol grip cocks the rifle and loads the next pellet. In that respect, it differs from all other pumps I've used because they use a sliding forearm for this purpose. Also, you must depress a lock release on the left side of the gun before the pistol grip can be moved, so this is not the rapid-fire pump we're used to. If you go too fast, the magazine-advance pawl will hang up and stop the gun.

The clip is a double-stack cylinder that feeds radially outward from the center of the circle. There are two cylinders stacked on each other. When one is empty, the clip is removed, flipped and reinserted. The manual recommends loading 15 pellets per cylinder, but it is possible to load 16, hence the M32 name.


Pellets are pushed from the back (the inside) of the circular clip. One level is loaded at a time, then flipped over for the other side. The large black head of the pellet pusher is also used to hold the action open when installing a clip.

When you pull back on the pistol grip, a pawl advances the large clip to the next pellet, and this is where the gun was hard to manage. That pawl on the rifle I tested was an iffy thing, sometimes working and other times not. I had to check the alignment of the clip before every shot. That and the difficulty of sliding the grip made the rifle a very slow and deliberate operation.


Closeup of the action shows how the bolt probe pushes the pellet from the clip into the breech. In this shot, the bolt is just starting to move, and there's no pellet on it.

The air tank is in the removable butt, like an AirForce rifle, only Scan used the design many years earlier. It's a small tank, and the fill pressure is 230 bar, or just over 3,300 psi. I didn't own a Hill pump at the time, and the AirForce hand pump was still many years away, so I babied my old Axsor pump and it did the job. I would not recommend that you try it, because that's 300 psi above the pump's rated capacity.

With .22 caliber Crosman Premiers, the gun averaged 810 f.p.s., for 20.84 foot-pounds and an extreme velocity spread of 20 f.p.s. I didn't record the velocity for the most accurate Beeman Trophy Hunters (an obsolete pellet, but probably the same as the H&N Field & Target Trophy), but they weigh pretty close to the same, so there shouldn't be more than 20 f.p.s. difference.

If you've noticed that the M32 looks something like an AirForce rifle, you're right. The smaller air tank, though, made it difficult for me to find a good spot-weld on the stock. The result was extra parallax. In the end, I had to use the scope to tell me when I was in position. It got brighter when I held my head at the correct spot. Once I learned that, I shot that group you saw last Friday.

While I was shooting targets at 40 yards, a spider walked out on the wooden target frame. I was looking through a Leapers 6-20x56 (an obsolete scope), so the quarter-inch arachnid body was quite visible. Since I knew exactly where the pellets were going, I shot the spider dead-center and sent him through the wooden target frame. That was the best shot I ever made with an air rifle and reminiscent of the time I shot a hovering carpenter bee at the 100-yard target with my Mauser .22/250. This time, though, I had a witness watching through his own scope and saw the hit clearly - just as I did.

The Scan M32 is an interesting air rifle, and the most accurate one I ever shot. I didn't like the operation, however, and I wouldn't choose the rifle because of that.

Tomorrow, I will finally shoot the Air Arms S410 at 75 yards for you.

Beeman RS2 SS1000-H dual-caliber rifle combo - Part 1

by B.B. Pelletier

What a package!
Now, for something completely different, let's look at Beeman's dual-caliber RS2 SS1000-H air rifle. This rifle has many of the bells and whistles people want in a spring gun today. Not only does it come in the dual calibers of .177 and .22, it includes a scope and it comes in a black cloth carrying case. Everything fits inside the case with Velcro straps to keep it snug. It's a very neat case!


The combo comes packaged in this attractive carrying case. Everything needed to shoot in both calibers except pellets.

You better know what you're doing, cause the instruction manual won't tell you much!
The owner's manual, on the other hand, is virtually useless! You would think that Beeman has no one on staff who can write a manual, because the pamphlet that accompanies this rifle has snippets of information from Beeman manuals dating back 32 years! It includes such useless information as how to cock a sidelever (which this isn't) and how to handle an air pistol. I'm not kidding. A drawing of a spring rifle is taken from a Beeman/FWB 124/127 manual from 1976! The model you bought isn't mentioned once.

Although this rifle FEATURES interchangeable barrels, there isn't one scrap of information in their manual or anywhere else on how to change them! Beeman certainly hasn't squandered any money on technical information!

However, changing barrels does seem to be very straightforward. I doubt if it will challenge most shooters.

This is a powerful gun, yet the markings say it shoots less than 7.5 joules!
Another problem with this rifle is the presence of a German Freimark on the barrel, clearly and legally indicating the rifle develops less than 7.5 joules of energy. That's about 5.5 foot-pounds. Yet, Beeman advertises the rifle as a 1000-f.p.s. rifle in .177, which would be around 20 joules. That makes the Freimark illegal, but only if the rifle is exported to Germany. I'm thinking the Freimark is there because these barrels are also found on different Beeman models that are truly at or below 7.5 joules.


Beeman - you got some 'splainin' to do! The "F" inside a pentagram means this rifle produces 7.5 joules of muzzle energy or less...but it doesn't!

Lefties can shoot this one, too!
The stock has a Monte Carlo profile but no raised cheekpiece, so everything is completely ambidextrous. This stock reminds me of a modern BSA stock. The pistol grip is very thick and the contours of the stock are all "melted," meaning a very soft, rounded edge characteristic of BSA rifles and some Gamos. The wood finish is dark reddish brown, another BSA characteristic.

This is a large rifle, measuring about 46-3/4" overall, with a pull length of just over 14-1/2". The hardwood stock is extremely straight; there's almost no drop to it. I can't wait to shoot the gun because it should be a different experience.

The trigger is a Chinese copy of a Gamo with an automatic safety built in. That affects cocking to the point that you have to pull down the barrel a little harder and faster to cock because the safety has to be set at the same time. The safety also releases easily, making this an easy rifle to operate. It can also be reapplied at any time, if the rifle is still cocked. The trigger blade is wide with both longitudinal and cross grooves providing purchase, and a bright nickel finish making it stand out.

This is quite a package! I hope it shoots as good as it looks.

Why I became an airgunner And the most accurate pellet gun I ever shot

by B.B. Pelletier

I started out as a child
I loved to shoot as a kid, but there weren't many opportunities before I turned 12. Once I had a paper route and could buy my own guns and ammo, my mother relented and let me buy airguns. But that wasn't when I became an airgunner.

Jump ahead 12 years
I served in Germany from 1974 to the end of 1977 and bought a Diana model 10 target pistol on a whim one day. I shot that gun the rest of the time I was in the country and I loved it, but that wasn't what made me an airgunner.

I am bitten
In 1976, I bought a copy of Airgun Digest, First Edition and read it cover to cover. That edition was written mostly by Robert Beeman. It opened my eyes to the world of adult airguns, but it wasn't what made me an airgunner.

Those darned catalogs
I also sent off for catalogs from Air Rifle Headquarters and from Beeman Precision Airguns. I read those from cover to cover, too, and that's what made me an airgunner. Robert Law, the owner of Air Rifle Headquarters, was a salesman in the same way as George Leonard Herter. He wrote lengthy descriptions that explained in detail why the guns he sold were the very best money could buy. By the time I got through his catalog, I wasn't wondering which gun I could afford, but rather how I could afford them all!

Beeman was the best
Robert Beeman was even more masterful with words, plus he showed the insides of airguns in his beautiful catalogs with their stunning color covers. With Beeman, I really did have to choose because he had such a wide range that there was no hope of buying them all. I finally settled on an FWB 124D breakbarrel, though I also wanted an HW35 almost as much. The FWB was faster than the 35; and in those days (the late 1970s), that meant breaking the 800 f.p.s. barrier.

You always want what you do not have
As an armor officer and company commander, I had at my disposal enough ordnance to command serious attention (we had Mod Deuces on all our armored personnel carriers, mortar carriers and scout vehicles); and though I shot thousands of rounds of ammo each year, precision adult airguns really sent me into orbit! Go figure! I had an arms room full of full-auto rifles, submachine guns and 1911A1s, yet I lusted after a .177 breakbarrel that might go 800 f.p.s.

Home again
When I returned to the U.S. in November of 1977, I did three things I had dreamed about for several years. First, I kissed the first patch of U.S. soil I came in contact with (it was the cement at the airport in San Jose). Second, I went shopping at a mall at 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday evening just because I could (Germany rolled up the sidewalks early Saturday afternoon and wasn't open for business again until Monday). Third, I drove up the peninsula, across the Golden Gate and on to the Beeman store, where I purchased my 124D. Forget the fact that Christmas was coming! I wanted it NOW! Anyone who has pulled several dozen 24-hour guard shifts, duty officer shifts, numerous alerts (short unannounced field deployments called without warning), annual two-week REFORGER field manuevers and too many month-long deployments to training centers such as Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels, will understand that a promise made to oneself at such times is sacrosanct.

That early pellet rifle was scoped with a Tasco 2-7x32 riflescope. It wasn't corrected for parallax, but it was accurate all the same. I tested it by shooting at a tin can hung on a tree branch about 50 yards from the back door of my government quarters at Fort Knox, where I was later stationed. I pounded the can every chance I got. The Diana M10 I had bought in Germany was used for shooting in the living room. I was an airgunner, but not yet complete in my conversion.

This really clinched the deal
In 1992, the airgun magazine I had just subscribed to (American Airgunner) went belly-up, taking half of my subscription money with them. I became very cranky until my wife suggested I start my own magazine about airguns. When we thought it through, we realized I wouldn't be able to write (or afford) a magazine, but a monthly newsletter would be very possible. So, we promoted it as best we could (there was no place to advertise!) and in March of 1994, we published the first edition of The Airgun Letter.

A lot more stuff happened after that, but that's how it started. Now on to the most accurate airgun I ever shot.

What's the most accurate pellet rifle I ever shot?
Easy! The most accurate airgun I ever shot was a loaner British Skan M32 pump repeater. It wasn't smooth to operate and changing the magazine was cumbersome, but it was easily the most accurate air rifle I ever shot. At 40 yards, I got 5-shot groups so small they would almost not allow pellets to drop through.


Five Beeman Trophy Hunters went through this hole. The pellets landed on a group measuring 0.181" center to center of the two pellets farthest apart. Shot at 40 yards.

If you ask real nice, I might blog this gun for you some day.

Webley Typhoon pistol - Part 3

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

First, Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers! This year has given me many reasons to be thankful, and I hope the same is true for all of you.

Think pink!
Here's a head's up for all you parents and grandparents with daughters and granddaughters who want to shoot. Crosman has just released a hot pink 760! In case you aren't aware of the trend, hot pink is a real attraction in the shooting sports today. There are aftermarket places turning out pink AR-15s and .22 rifles like mad, so Crosman wanted a cut of this new market. You collectors better set a few of these aside, because who knows how long they will be available? They just went up on the site yesterday, but they will blow out the door fast in the Christmas season.


Pink 760 will be hot this year!

Today, I tested the accuracy of the Webley Typhoon. Given the extremely heavy trigger and the fact that this is a pistol, I decided to shoot from a rest at 10 meters.

The trigger is horrible!
Not only is the trigger more than twice as heavy as it should be for a sporting air pistol, but when you squeeze it, the entire upper powerplant moves backwards in the grip frame. That's what causes the sights to appear to move as you squeeze. And, there's a lot of creep! Let's be clear on what creep is. It happens ONLY in the FINAL STAGE of a trigger-pull, so only in the second stage of a two-stage trigger like this one.

The trigger-pull is so heavy that I could not pull it with my index finger after about 25 shots. I had to shift to using my middle finger for the remainder of the test.

Sights are functional
I don't care for the way the rear sight adjusts, but the sights are entirely functional. I was able to dial my groups onto the bullseye target.

Accuracy
The pistol wants to be accurate, but the trigger and the action's movement in the stock prevent it.


This is the best I could do with H&N Match from a rest! It's also the tightest group I shot with the Typhoon. With a 10-meter pistol, I can keep all my shots inside the 9-ring most of the time, and that's shooting one-handed, unsupported at the same distance.


This is the best group of Crosman Premiers.


Though these five RWS Superdomes are well-centered on the bullseye. They're not as close together as the H&N Match.

Test pellets
From the velocity testing, I selected the pellets that did the best with the pistol to use for accuracy testing. They were the RWS Superdome, Crosman Premier 7.9-grain, Gamo Match and H&N Finale Match for pistols. This is one of the few times I will tell you that I don't think these groups represent the potential accuracy of this pistol. In a moment, I'll tell you what I think could be done, but this test doesn't represent what the Typhoon is capable of. It does, however, represent the best I can do with it in its current state.

Only the Gamo Match is not shown here, but they group about the same as the Premiers. There were groups that opened up to 4" when I accidently rested the butt of the pistol grip against the bag. I'm not showing them, but they were there - resulting from my poor technique.

Can anything be done?
As the Typhoon stands today, it has very little to recommend it. However, I believe there is a wonderful airgun hiding just beneath the surface. This pistol would make a wonderful youth air rifle! I didn't figure that out - a reader calling himself Western PA planted the idea in my brain, but I wish I had thought of it! If the barrel were lengthened with a shroud/tube, and the gun was mounted in a rifle stock and given some other type of rear sight mounted to the base block, and if the trigger could be fixed, then I think this new gun could give the IZH 6o a run for the money. Excluding the trigger that I'd need to look at, my modifications would add about $8-10 to the cost of the gun, unless the factory already has a stock that would fit it.

The world has missed the Diana model 70 and 72 target air rifles, and this new gun could take their place for a lot less money. At least, that's what I think.

RWS Diana 460 Magnum in .22! - Part 2

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

The day looked good for testing the RWS Diana 460 Magnum, but as I loaded the car to go to the range, it started raining, so I gave up on the weather and set up a 21-yard range in my house. Wind and rain are what prevent me from finishing the 75-yard Air Arms S410 sidelever shoot, too.

I mounted a Leapers 3-9x40 scope on the rifle with the prototype mount we are developing for the RWS Diana guns. It'll be nice when completed, but this prototype still isn't able to correct all of the 21" drop this rifle has at 20 yards.

Not so good at first
I was surprised that the rifle didn't seem to want to group at first. JSB Exact domes, which are usually quite good in most air rifles, were giving me groups of nearly one inch, which is way too large for this distance - especially indoors! H&N Trophy Hunters didn't do much better, which tipped me that this could be a technique problem.


With the wrong technique, 5 JSB Exacts went in this 0.947" group at 21 yards. Horrible!


Just by changing how I held the rifle, the JSBs shrank into this 0.349" group.

The right technique!
When I switched to Crosman Premiers, I also changed my hold. Up to this point, I was laying the gun on the flat of my open palm, but the bag was causing the palm to be on a slant. I substituted one finger as a rest, which leveled out the hold, and the first group of Premiers told the story. Three-tenths of an inch! When I switched back to JSBs with this new hold, they were almost as tight.


Crosman Premiers were the best with this rifle. This groups measures 0.30".

Problem with Gamo Hunters!
I thought the Gamo Hunter was going to be another great pellet when the first two sailed through the same hole, but shot three landed over an inch away. They had been loading snug, but the third one had loaded easily. When I loaded the next pellet it went into the breech very easily, so I blew it off. That's field target talk for shooting intentionally at a different place, just to get rid of the pellet. The next pellet also loaded too easily, and when I raised the muzzle before closing the breech, I saw it drop back out again. That hasn't happened to me since the bad old days of testing Chinese air rifles. Gamo Hunters may be too irregular for this rifle.

What not to shoot
Stay away from RWS Hobbys, as they just don't want to group in the 460. Also, I didn't try the heavier Kodiaks because of the velocity drop we saw in part one of this report.

Final impression
The RWS Diana 460 Magnum is a big magnum spring air rifle. Without a doubt, it's best-suited to the larger .22 caliber. It does take technique to shoot accurately, but no more than most breakbarrels. Once you have the technique, the rifle shoots very well. The T05 trigger is well-suited to hunting, with just a little creep and a reasonably light let-off.

Webley Typhoon pistol - Part 2

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

Two Webley Typhoon owners gave me a report on their guns following the first part of this report. Airdog notes that the sights move as the trigger is squeezed, which he says is disconcerting. He says he tries to hold his pistol lightly, but the hard trigger works against him. Western PA says he can't get a scope to stay put, and he dislikes the open sights that come with the gun. On the plus side, he notes that the gun is very powerful - something I'll touch on today. He thinks it needs a solid stock and that it might be nicer as a carbine than it is as a pistol.

I shot the pistol a lot for this report. One thing I observed is that it sprays oil droplets from somewhere (I'm assuming the muzzle, at this point). So keep it away from the upholstered furniture and off your car seats.

This is a powerful air pistol, as you will see. I leave the cocking aid on the barrel while I shoot, and it slides forward anywhere from one-half to three-quarters of an inch with the shot. The aid increases the length of the cocking lever, making the cocking stroke very light for the power.

RWS Supermags
RWS Supermags are a heavier wadcutter that sometimes can be accurate in lower-powered airguns. They ranged in weight from 9.1 grains to 9.3 grains. Velocity went from a low of 365 f.p.s. up to 379 and averaged 374 f.p.s. They fit extremely tight in the breech. They produce 2.86 foot-pounds and are probably too heavy for this pistol.

RWS Superdome
RWS Superdomes are sometimes surprisingly accurate in certain airguns. They will even out-shoot Crosman Premiers on occasion. They weigh 8.1 to 8.4 grains and averaged 437 f.p.s., with a spread from 425 to a high of 448 f.p.s. They fit the breech snugly. That's good for 3.56 foot-pounds.

Crosman Premier 7.9-grain pellets
The Crosman Premier 7.9-grain pellets I shot weighed either 7.8 or 7.9 grains and averaged 487 f.p.s. Ranging from a low of 481 to a high of 493, they fit the breech very tightly. They tied for power champs at 4.16 foot-pounds.

Gamo Tomahawk
The Gamo Tomahawks weighed between 7.6 and 7.8 grains and averaged 463 f.p.s. They fit the breech both tight and loose, which is probably why they had an extreme velocity spread from a low of 448 f.p.s. to a high of 494. That's good for 3.67 foot-pounds.

Gamo Match
Gamo Match pellets weighed either 7.4 or 7.5 grains. They fit the breech snuggly and averaged 495 f.p.s , with a range from 489 to 501. That's just over 4 foot-pounds.

H&N Finale Match
H&N Finale Match did not vary in weight. All pellets weighed 7.4 grains. They fit the breech snuggly and averaged 503 f.p.s., with a range from 493 to 509 f.p.s. They tied with Premiers as the power champs, at 4.16 foot-pounds.

RWS Hobby
RWS Hobbys are the lightweights of the all-lead pellet world, and these ranged from 6.9-grains to 7.2 grains. They fit the breech very tight and averaged 501 f.p.s. The low was 481 and the high was 512, which is a large spread for this pistol. They delivered an average of 3.9 foot-pounds.

I'm getting used to the trigger, although I still think it is far too heavy to do good work - especially for a handgun. The pistol isn't quite in the Beeman P1 category for power, but it's close. A P1 will shoot Hobbys around 550-560 f.p.s. when broken in.

RWS Diana 460 Magnum in .22! - Part 1

by B.B. Pelletier

Many of you have been waiting for this report, so here we go. I trust the report I did on the .177 version of the RWS Diana 460 Magnum will suffice for the basics, so I'll still give the vital stats but we won't spend as much time looking at the gun.

With that first rifle, I thought I had a slow one compared to two other .177s a friend had. Mine was a 15.9 foot-pound gun, but my friend's two guns got up over 18 foot-pounds, which probably more closely represents the average for this model in .177. Given roughly a 20 percent increase in power by moving up to .22 caliber, we would expect this rifle to pump out something like 21.5 foot-pounds.

I forgot what a large rifle the 460 is, but it's certainly man-sized! A cocking effort of 47 lbs. reminds you of what's in store. Although there's a good kick, there's very little vibration when the gun fires. That's different than the .177, so maybe I will see more vibration when I shoot for accuracy, but thus far it's been pretty smooth. This example weighs 8 lbs., 6 oz., very close to the weight of the .177. And, when I checked the .177's cocking effort, it was an identical 47 lbs. Pretty consistent!

Velocity testing
Since velocity and power have been everyone's chief concerns for the 460, I went to the trouble of weighing all the pellets I tested. Usually, the published weight will suffice, but pellets do vary in weight from manufacturing lot to lot, so please note that each of these pellets was actually weighed.

RWS Hobby pellets went an average of 897 f.p.s., which means the 11.9-grain pellets were pushing 21.27 foot-pounds at the muzzle. They fit the breech loosely. The extreme spread with 10 shots was 10 f.p.s.

Crosman Premiers were the next heaviest pellets, and the ones I used weighed 14.2 grains instead of the 14.3 they are supposed to weigh. They fit the breech snugly and averaged 807 f.p.s., for a muzzle energy of 20.54 foot-pounds. They had an extreme spread of 13 f.p.s.

Next came RWS Superpoints at 14.3 grains. Remember, I weighed all these pellets. The Superpoints fit the breech very loosely. They averaged 820 f.p.s. for a muzzle energy of 21.36 foot-pounds. Max variation in the string was 8 f.p.s.

RWS Super H-Points weighed 14.4 grains on my scale and went an average of 801 f.p.s. The extreme spread for 10 shots was an astounding 4 f.p.s. - better than what you can expect from most regulated PCPs. Energy is 20.52 foot-pounds.

JSB Exact domes weigh 15.8 grains and go an average of 777 f.p.s. with an extreme spread of 4 f.p.s. Again, this is astounding performance from a spring gun. They fit the breech very loose. Muzzle energy is 21.19 foot-pounds.

Finally, Beeman Kodiaks, at 21.5 grains were the heaviest pellets I tested. They averaged 585 f.p.s. and the extreme spread opened up to 19 f.p.s. That would be stellar for any other spring gun; but with the data from this test, Kodiaks are at the bottom of the list for velocity variation. Muzzle energy is 16.34 foot-pounds - which is way out of profile for this rifle and an indication that we're seeing some piston bounce. This isn't the pellet to shoot in my opinion.

This preliminary data indicates that the 460 magnum is just about as powerful as the 48/52/54 sidelevers but not quite as powerful as the 350 Magnum. This data also lines up well with the higher velocity of my friend's .177, which put his rifle in the 18 foot-pound class, so the numbers I reported for my test rifle do seem slow for this model.

Of course, nobody buys an air rifle for its velocity, alone. That would be foolish, if accuracy and handling weren't also taken into account. If you read the .177 review, you'll see that this is an accurate rifle, and in .22 it has additional power to make a potentially great hunting rifle. Accuracy testing is next.

SURPRISE! A quiet Condor!

by B.B. Pelletier

You guys are really pathetic about surprises! Several days ago when I mentioned the big surprise that's coming, I was not expecting all the whining that resulted. Therefore, I have decided to give you a surprise today in hopes that this will hold you until the big surprise, which relates to the Gamo Whisper. Today's little surprise is an AirForce Condor that's quiet! And to tell the truth, I've been wanting to share this one with you for over a month, so I guess I'm just as pathetic as the rest of you.

How quiet?
How quiet, you ask? Well, now that you know who I am I can tell you that I've been writing a series of articles for Shotgun News about the Ruger 10/22. One of the articles was how one goes about buying a legal silencer. I bought one for my 10/22, and the one I got - the Pilot - is the quietest permanent silencer on the market. There are quieter silencers that self-destruct as you use them, but for long-term use, the Pilot, at 41dB reduction, is the champ. Even then, though, using the silencer on my 10/22 and shooting just CB caps, which are powderless .22 rimfire rounds that have even less energy than a .22 short, the Condor is quieter when fired at medium power. That's how quiet. Imagine a Daisy Targeteer pistol shooting at 30 foot-pounds and you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about. You cannot hear any muzzle report. All you hear is the striker hitting the bolt and the valve return spring.

When the power is dialed up, the rifle becomes louder, of course. But even on its highest setting, it's not louder than a Webley Patriot. You get 65 foot-pounds that sounds like 30. And if you dial it back just a little, you'll get 40 foot-pounds that sound like an R7.

How do they do it?
The device that does this wonderful thing is a frame extender that encloses the Condor barrel. When it's on, the extender becomes part of the rifle's frame and redirects the energetic muzzle exhaust back into the tubular frame where it looses energy fast. An end cap strips off the air and directs it to the rear, similar to how the end cap of the Talon SS works, only this one works better. The length of the frame extender, which the manufacturer calls a moderator, joins with the hollow frame of the gun to provide a large space for the air to expand and lose energy. The device extends past the normal Condor muzzle by about 6", so there's plenty of length and the Condor takes on the profile of a witch's broom.


Condor frame extender turns it into a very long, thin rifle.


This is what the device looks like.

Installation
This device replaces the standard Condor muzzle cap. Loosen one Allen screw, remove the old cap, then slip the new extender in place. It takes about 30 seconds.

Accuracy
The device has no effect on accuracy. I did enough field testing to see that it was essentially neutral, though a small shift in the point of impact might be expected - especially at long range. Once you try this thing, you'll never take it off your rifle, so just sight in once and enjoy.


End cap does the same job as the Talon SS end cap.

What about the Talon and Talon SS?
There are devices to fit those rifles as well. They are proportionally sized for the guns they fit, because you don't want the small hole in the end cap too far from the muzzle of the barrel, or you risk hitting the cap on the way out. As for how much quieter a Talon SS can be, I doubt it will be any quieter at all. I think the Condor dialed to lower power (30-40 foot-pounds) is already as quiet as any pneumatic rifle can be

And the cost?
The Condor device retails for $175 plus shipping. That's not cheap, but real performance seldom is. The device is only available from Airhog at present, though Pyramyd Air may also offer them in the future.

So there you are - a real surprise for you, and one I know you AirForce owners will embrace.

Webley Typhoon pistol - Part 1

by B.B. Pelletier

Before I begin, a couple of announcements. First, the latest podcast is up. This time I answered questions instead of following my normally scheduled material. There were too many questions sent in since the last podcast, and I didn't want to make everyone wait for months to get answers. I think a lot of the questions came to the podcast because I use my real name there and people thought they were getting a better answer somehow. So please, if you have questions that are very specific, ask them here in the comments section. Ask more general questions on the podcast.

Second, there have been a few requests for me to review the Benjamin Super Streak breakbarrel that I have. I'm holding back because the rifle won't be available until late December. That's available ANYWHERE - not just here. I will review it in advance of arrival, but not this far, because the demand that might be created cannot be satisfied.

Powerful reactions to the Webley Typhoon!
Today's subject, the Webley Typhoon air pistol, has already received several customer reviews on the website, and if you read them you'll see that most reviewers don't care for the gun. So I wondered, "How bad can it be?" I'm the guy who reviewed Chinese airguns in print back when nobody else would have anything to do with them, and I criticized them more than anyone except some hotheads on the forums. But even then I found some things to like on certain guns. So it is with abundant curiosity that I begin this report.

This pistol is made in Turkey and there wasn't a similar model before the move. Webley did have a Typhoon years ago, but it resembled the Hurricane - a different pistol altogether.

Physical appearance
This pistol is both large and heavy. With the cocking aid attached, as I'm sure it is meant to be while shooting, it weighs 3 lbs., 4 oz. and has an overall length of 18.25 inches. The discrepancy between these measurements and the specifications given on the Pyramyd Air website are no doubt due to the fact that I left the cocking aid on the gun to take them. The somewhat small grip sits well below the spring cylinder, which sets up the pistol for a lot of torque when it fires. I'll see what the "semi-recoilless" feature does to deal with that.


The new Webley Typhoon (top) is much larger than an M1911A1 firearm (below) or a Webley Hurricane air pistol (bottom).

The grip frame and cocking aid are both matte plastic, and the powerplant is blued steel. For the price, this looks like a good value. The front sight is also plastic, and the front blade is spring-loaded to push down out of the way if your hand contacts it during cocking. The rear sight is mostly plastic and has a strange windage adjustment method I will explain.


With the cocking aid removed, the pistol is somewhat shorter.

Adjusting the sights
The rear sight does all the adjustment. The elevation wheel is in the rear of the sight and has a smooth, even click adjustment. The windage is strange, however. The sight notch rests on a semicircular base and that rotates as it's adjusted. As the notch moves to either side, the width of the notch becomes narrower, which is odd. Also, when the sight is adjusted all the way to either side, you can see that it is out of alignment, which give you a strange feeling when sighting. Let's hope it doesn't need much adjustment.


The semicircular rear sight notch rotates to either side when adjusted.

How does the semi-recoilless feature work?
The grip frame is in two pieces. When you fire, the top part that contains the spring tube moves while the bottom part remains motionless. Does it work? Well, when I fired the gun I felt none of the torque I was anticipating, so yes, I have to say it does work. However, when I compared it to my Webley Hurricane pistol that has close to the same power, it also moves very little. So I believe this feature does work, but that it is required for this gun because of the grip design. Other air pistols don't need it to achieve the same lack of recoil.

Heavy trigger and lots of vibration!
My trigger-pull gauge stops at 8 lbs. and can be extrapolated to 9. It couldn't release the trigger, which I estimate at 10-11 lbs. or about the same as the Logun S-16S. For a pistol that's too heavy because it makes the gun difficult to control.

Typhoon owners, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Scopes - Part 1Selecting a scope

by B.B. Pelletier

If I don't get this tutorial started, we're never going to get to it, so this is the beginning. As I've mentioned before, some of this material will be used in a book I'm writing about airguns.

What will you use the scope for?
That may not be not good English, but it's a heck of a good question. If you have not used riflescopes a lot, or at all, please read this carefully. How you want to use the scope should determine many things about what the scope must have. First, let's consider magnification.

A general-purpose scope of 4 or 6 magnification (4x or 6x) is ideal for general-purpose shooting and for hunting large game (deer-sized and larger). The image seen through a scope like this is always bright and big. It doesn't "black out" with slight movements of the head. The objective lens on this scope can be 32mm and the scope will still be very bright.


Some simple scope terms I'll be using.

Variable power
Variable-power scopes are certainly more popular than fixed-power scopes today. For the general shooter a 3-9x scope has a good useful range, and once again, a 32mm objective lens allows plenty of light to pass through. A 40 mm objective lens is even better. Greater than 40mm gives such a slight improvement that it may not be worth the extra expense and mounting concerns.

Twenty years ago, scopes were primitive enough that variable power gave some cause for concern, but today a variable is as tough and useful as anything else. And the price is practically the same for fixed or variable, so I recommend a variable unless you know for sure what magnification you want and need.

If you really want a lot of power but still need a general-purpose scope, you might consider a 3-12x or a 4-12x variable. Any more power than that and the scope becomes too large to use for general shooting. It's starting to specialize. A 32mm objective lens starts to get dark or cloudy with anything above 9x, so a 40mm objective is best if the power goes up to 12x. Remember, as the objective lens size increases, the outside of the objective bell also increases and you may encounter scope mounting problems.

What size scope tube?
Scope tubes come in different diameters. One inch and 30mm are the most popular sizes today. One-inch is more common, and the larger 30mm is reserved for scopes that need more light to pass through them. A regular scope (one that isn't a night vision device) does not magnify light. In fact, a small amount of light that tries to pass through the scope is absorbed by the lenses, meaning that what is seen through the eyepiece is less light than entered the scope through the objective lens. Magnification and additional lenses rob light. Large objective lenses and larger scope tubes increase light transmission because the lenses inside the scope can also be larger.

I would like to give you a good rule of thumb for when you should go up to 30mm, but I don't have one. I have a 6-24x Tech Force variable that's pretty bright and it has a 1" tube. All I can say is that the 30mm tube allows the lenses inside to be larger, which may make a difference when the magnification climbs high. When I want a scope for use in low light scope, I always shop for one with a 30mm tube.

Specific scope uses
Field target requires a powerful scope if you plan to compete at the top levels. To determine range using the scope's parallax adjustment takes at least 40x to go out to 55 yards successfully. So, use nothing less than an 8-32x with a 56mm objective lens and a 30mm tube if you want to win.

Next, there are hunting scopes, which have to be bright. Pick the largest objective lenses and a power commensurate with what you are hunting...9-16x for squirrels; 6-12x for birds, woodchucks and large game; and 4-6x and close focus parallax for insects, etc. Deer hunters can be satisfied with 4-6x.

Airgun sillouette shooters use higher-power scopes. The handgunners use rifle scopes in the Unlimited Standing class and the Unlimited class. They do not need the power that field target competitors do, but they do use higher power than general shooters, as a rule. The Unlimited Standing handgunners hold onto the scope as well as the gun and they hold the scope close to their eye when they shoot.

Stay tuned!

Testing the Gamo Whisper - Part 5 Accuracy

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Note to Buddy who sent in an air rifle noise question for the podcast. I forgot to include your question in the next podcast which is coming out soon, so I'm answering you here today.

The Gamo scope - not so good
Thanks for being patient. I finally got a good calm day to test the Gamo Whisper for accuracy. As you learned last time, I mounted the Gamo scope on the rifle. I praised it then, but that was before I had a chance to use it. I'm not praising it anymore. It isn't clear at 25 yards, and I couldn't find a distance at which it was clear no matter how I adjusted it, so I shot with a slightly out-of-focus scope. I do wear bifocals, but right after shooting the Whisper I shot my Beeman R1 that's scoped with a Bushnell 6-18x Trophy, and it was crystal clear. So, I'm blaming the Gamo scope.

... but the Whisper is GREAT!
What a wonderful airgun this is! It's lightweight, easy to cock, not too fussy about hold for a breakbarrel and I learned this rifle can really shoot, too! The stock has a raised ridge on the underside, just in front of the triggerguard. If I could feel that ridge, the rifle was properly balanced for good shooting. Don't even try another hold - this is it.

Average with Kodiaks, but Gamo Match is another story
Beeman Kodiaks were okay but not great, so I switched to Gamo Match and right away I knew this rifle was a winner. I shot the second-best group of the session with Gamo Match, and no matter what I did, they wouldn't shoot poorly.


At 25 yards, 5 Gamo Match pellets went into this 0.346" group.


This 5-shot group with H&N Match pellets went into a 0.325" group.


Even Crosman Destroyer hollowpoints made this respectable 0.398" group at 25 yards.

More pellets
I also shot the rifle with H&N Match, Crosman Premier 7.9-grain domed and the new Crosman Destroyer hollowpoint that I'm testing for you. It was great with all three pellets, though the H&N Match were the best pellets of all and Crosman Destroyers were ahead of the Premiers by a small but noticeable amount. In fact, I'm very impressed with the accuracy of the Destroyer pellet. I need to test it at long range next.

Can a tuned gun be even quieter?
Okay, Buddy, this is for you and for everyone else who wonders how much noise reduction could be made by a good tune. As you know, the Whisper is not especially quiet. It buzzes and rattles with the normal sounds a breakbarrel makes - all of which destroy any advantage that big fat silencer has. So after testing the Whisper, I brought out my Beeman R1 that I tuned for you in the 13-part spring gun tune series. That rifle is a .22 and makes substantially more noise on impact than the .177 Whisper (I used a silent pellet trap), but its discharge is noticeably quieter. So, yes, Buddy, tuning that R11 you're thinking of buying will make it quieter, and also your R7, if you think about it. In fact, a well-tuned R7 makes almost the least amount of noise of any spring-piston rifle. Only a tuned Walther LGV is any quieter, but not by much.

As for who can tune it for you, I would look on the forums and don't go with the first person you see. Read for a while before you trust your gun to anyone. Paul Watts is a great spring gun tuner, and there are probably several others who are, as well.

The bottom line
I came into this review itching for a fight because the Gamo hype about the silencer got to me. Okay, so it doesn't do much because the gun is loud in other ways. I'm forced to overlook that, in light of what a wonderful air rifle the Whisper is! It's lightweight, accurate, not particularly sensitive to how it's held and very easy to cock. The downside is a poor scope, a heavy, creepy trigger, and the vibration of the powerplant. But in my final assessment, this is a seriously nice air rifle that you should buy if you are at all inclined.

BIG SURPRISE is coming!
I'm not finished with the Whisper yet. There is a HUGE surprise coming that will blow you away. It should be here for testing in a couple of weeks.

BB gets disappointed - Part 3 The truth emerges on the Taurus PT 1911

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

Interesting update on the Pump-Assist for the Benjamin 392/397
Bob Moss, the inventor of the Pump-Assist modification, contacted me regarding the velocity of his guns. He tested each gun before modifying it, but since the wood forearms were sent off for modifying, he used a different steel pivot pin to hold the original pump lever for this test. All his .22s registered around 580 f.p.s. before the modification. But after reading the comments to our report, he just tested the guns with the factory roll pins installed, and they're now registering 620 f.p.s. with 8 pumps. The test pin he used was a few thousandths smaller than the factory pin and apparently that was all it took to drop the pressure. Bob is retuning all his pump-assist guns in both calibers to equal factory velocities with Crosman Premiers.

He's going to retest the pump force with the new setup, but he feels confident it will remain the same. Only the length of the pump stroke in which the effort has to be applied should change. Bob is sending me a new .22 to test for you, which I will do as soon as it arrives. This story isn't over yet.

Now, to today's business. It's been longer than three months since I touched this story, and people have both written and asked me in person (at Roanoke) when I was going to write another installment. Today's the day.



With a subtitle about the truth emerging, I bet you think I'm going to slam Taurus. Well, I'm not. Yes, I think their advertising is misleading, as you will learn in a moment, but the PT 1911 is actually a good value for the money. I paid $500 for mine, but I see the street price starting to increase. I would not pay over $600 for this gun, knowing what I now know, but it's still a good valve for that money.

What's a firearm doing in an airgun blog?
If you are just tuning in now and wondering what I'm doing reporting on a firearm in an airgun blog, here's the deal. There aren't many surprises left for me in airguns. I'm just not as susceptible to false advertising and inflated claims as a new airgunner. Therefore, when I found myself in a similar situation with a firearm - one in which I wasn't very knowledgable and had to rely on written reports, I used it to relate to everyone coming into airguns for the first time. The Taurus PT 1911 is my Gamo Hunter Extreme, so to speak.

In the first report, I was extremely dissatisfied with the pistol. It proved very unreliable, which was something I will not tolearate in a handgun. I said then that I would find out how good the Taurus lifetime warranty is, but subsequently I decided to go a different direction. Since I used to work on 1911s in the 1970s, I though I'd try my hand at fixing this gun and learn more about it as I went. I'm glad I made that decision, because I've learned that the Taurus PT 1911 really is a good basic handgun. Mine just had some problems that it shouldn't have had.



Where they mislead
Taurus says this gun is hand-fitted, but that's either a lie or there is no quality control. I suspect the latter, because the gun is basically fitted very well. But there should not have been a huge burr on the extractor if they looked at the job after they did it. The lesson there is that companies who sell on the basis of price alone (Gamo, Chinese guns, etc.) do not have the time nor the inclination to check their work. Once it goes through the assembly, it's boxed and shipped. Companies like Weihrauch, on the other hand, do take the time to shoot the guns before shipping. This is neither good nor bad, it's just a fact that the new buyer has to know.


Burr on extractor (huge pointy thing slightly out of focus on the right side) should never have slipped past a quality inspector.

Also, there was far too much tension on the extractor - about double what is called for. This alone is a classic cause of the type of misfeed I was having. I backed the tension down to around 25 ozs. I also removed the burr. I noted that misfeeding is the most common problem reported for the PT 1911, so Taurus needs to look at that part of the job - the same as Diana needs to get serious about producing a scope mount for their seriously drooping barrels. The Diana problem will soon be solved, I hope, but I can't speak for Taurus.

The gun also shot too far to the left. Some of that can be blamed on me pulling the trigger instead of squeezing it, because shooting to the left is a problem right-handed pistol shooters all have. Since the rear sight was all the way to the left in its dovetail, I decided to center it to see what effect there might be.

Where am I?
On yesterday's trip to the range, there was a single failure to feed from the last round in one of the two Taurus magazines. The Wilson Combat magazine fed reliably. I fired a total of 151 rounds, so the failure rate has been drastically reduced. All 100 of my handloads fed reliably. The one failure was a 230-grain Remington hardball round that has the reputation of feeding perfectly in most guns. So, I'll credit that one failure to the Taurus magazine with its too-weak mainspring.

Instead of telling you where the sights ended up, I'll show you. This target was shot rapid-fire at about 10 yards. There are 40 shots on this target. I used a center hold with the combat sights, so the sights are pretty close!


A center hold with the popular "8-Ball" combat sight (white dot in front held above white dot in rear) produced this group at 10 yards. 40 shots fired rapid-fire. Shots on the left are from a flinch that I'm still working on. This is minute-of-bad-guy for certain!

I'm not done
There will be more to this report. I want you to see how I deal with a problem that was a catastrophe in the beginning. Over the course of the past six months, I've done extensive research on M1911A1 designs, gunsmithing techniques and modern shooting techniques. I have even learned how to shoot two-handed, though I prefer one-handed and do better that way, so far. I'm telling you this so you can relate as you progress into airgunning. You will no doubt encounter many similar problems along the way, and I want you to see that they happen to everybody. The only way to get through them is to plod ahead with a purpose.

The Markham Chicago wooden BB gun Sire to Daisy!

by B.B. Pelletier

Before I start, an announcement from Pyramyd Air. The dollar exchange rate is forcing a price increase on Air Arms guns, effective at the start of January. At this time, it isn't clear whether this will be across the board or if certain models will remain where they are now. The amount of increase appears to be around five percent. If you have any plans to buy Air Arms products, please be advised of the proposed increase.

Now, to today's gun. I love looking at these vintage and antique airguns, and today I have one that's been on my radar for more than half my life. Decades ago, these BB guns made mostly of wood were surfacing at the gun shows I attended in the Kentucky-Indiana region. The asking price 30 years ago was around $75. I didn't know whether that was worth it or not, so I hung back and missed out on a raft of wooden BB guns. In those days, I owned an FWB 124 and a Diana model 10 target pistol and thought of myself as a firearms guy who also shot airguns. There were few books and fewer magazines about airguns in those days, and what there was, wasn't very good.

The Markham company, the inventor of the modern BB gun (not Daisy, as I will explain in a moment), started in 1886 with the Chicago model. Captain Markham, whose life story is quite interesting, began production of a spring-piston airgun made mostly of wood in Plymouth, Michigan. His plant was situated very near the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company that would soon start making an all-metal BB gun of their own, but Markham's was first by two years.

The Blue Book of Airguns puts the start of the Markham presence in BB guns in 1887, but as you will learn, Daisy had a vested interest in the date this company began. And back in the early 20th century, they put the date at 1886.


Markham Chicago (1886-1910) was a BB gun made of wood!

The Chicago model was sold by Sears & Roebuck for 97 cents. It was the longest-lived model of the wooden BB guns and lasted until about 1910. It is by far the most commonly encountered wooden BB gun today.

The gun is made from hard rock maple with metal parts attached where needed, not that much different than modern polymer-framed handguns such as the Glock. It broke in the center, and a stiff wire pushed the piston and mainspring back until another bent and flattened wire formed into a trigger blade and sear caught it. The gun is unique in that there is no end to the compression chamber. The breech of the barrel serves that purpose!


A heavy wire catch was held by a staple to hold the barrel shut...


...until released by the shooter for cocking and loading.


The gun is a breakbarrel. It hasn't begun to cock the mainspring yet!


The compression chamber that houses the piston has no end! It uses the rear of the barrel as an end of the chamber. The piston is inside that iron tube.

The metal piston rides inside an open-ended iron liner that serves as the compression chamber.

The result of the piston slamming to a stop against the rear of the barrel thousands of times has cracked many of the existing specimens in the vicinity of the breech. This is the most common fault found in the gun.


A common cabinet hinge holds the front and rear halves of the gun together!

The gun is 33" long and weighs 1 lb., 14 oz. Of course the weight will vary a little with the wood. It feels light and toy-like and is proportioned for a child. There is no triggerguard (!) or safety, because this is the most rudimentary gun possible, yet it's constructed well enough to have lasted more than a century. My gun has been rebuilt with a weaker mainspring and a fresh leather breech seal, not that I will ever shoot it.

To make the gun ready to shoot, the action is unlatched, then the barrel is broken down the same as with any breakbarrel. Once the sear catches the piston connecting rod, a BB is loaded into the breech. The barrel is closed and latched, making the gun ready to fire.

The sights are extremely fundamental and fixed. Any corrections are made by aim-off, also known as Kentucky windage.


Rear sight is inlet into a saw cut.


Front sight is a simple bead. Adjustment is not possible.

From written reports of the period, I know that the Chicago was a weak shooter compared to the early Daisy. Both fired lead balls in the shotgun size known as BB, which is larger than size B and smaller than size BBB. Nominally, it is 0.180" (4.57mm) in diameter and weighs around 9 grains. BB shot is available today, but it isn't common. To get lead BB shot may take some doing, so collectors who still shoot their early BB guns often substitute .177 lead balls.

In 1895, Plymouth Iron Windmill changed its name to the Daisy Manufacturing Company. In 1916, they bought the Markham King company. That's the source of their claim to have been in the BB gun business since 1886, when the first Iron Windmill guns weren't made until the late 1887 and didn't start selling until 1888. Daisy operated Markham King as a separate company for many years, even though they were in direct competition with them.

In 1890, the Markham company brought out the King single-shot, their first metal BB gun. The wooden Chicago continued to be made for another 15 years, and Daisy brought the name back in 1917 as the New Chicago, a metal gun bearing little resemblance to the original wood gun.

I think this model is a sleeper among today's collectible BB guns. You can still buy quite a nice, all-original gun for under $500, and my rebuilt gun cost only $280. I have seen guns in need of cosmetic repair for a flat $200. A first-model Daisy that is contemporary to the Chicago starts at $3,500 and goes up quickly. I think the Chicago's wooden construction holds the price down. While there are many collectors of cast iron BB guns, there are few specializing in wooden ones. Many of these old guns have cracks around the spot where the barrel breaks open, and old repairs are seen often.

In terms of numbers, there are certainly more wooden Chicagos still around than there are first-model Daisys, but not an overwhelming number because this gun was seen as more disposable than the Daisy. So, maybe there are 4 Chicagos for every first model Daisy, or something like that. That means it's still easy to find one if you want to add this kind of airgun to your collection. There were probably 10 Chicagos and 5-6 first-model Daisys for sale at the recent Roanoke sirgun show.

Testing the Gamo Whisper - Part 4 Scope the rifle!

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

When we last looked at the