Tag Archives: collectible guns

Crosman’s V-300 BB pistol: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Crosman V-300 BB pistol
Crosman V-300 BB pistol.

Part 1
Part 2

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Update on the 2017 Texas Airgun Show
  • Update on the V-300
  • The test
  • Crosman Copperhead BBs on high power
  • Air Venturi Steel BBs on high power
  • Air Venturi Steel BBs on low power
  • Crosman Copperhead BBs on low power
  • Summary

Update on the 2017 Texas Airgun Show

If you have plans to get a table at the 2017 Texas Airgun Show, you had better move fast! The inside of the hall is almost sold out! AirForce and Sun Optics have decided to move outside, to make more room inside for private dealers, but there is still not much room left. There will be room on the covered porch outside the hall, and there will be two large swamp-cooling fans to help with the heat so there is still some room left, but when that is filled the show will be sold out.

I expect to announce a major attraction soon who will draw many more firearms shooters. He is coming to film the show for his You Tube channel. Those who attended last year will tell you this show is jam-packed and there is a lot of money spent, so make your reservations today. For registration information, read their show flier. Now, let’s get to the report.

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Crosman’s V-300 BB pistol: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Crosman V-300 BB pistol
Crosman V-300 BB pistol.

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • I’m learning, too
  • The poppet valve
  • How it works
  • Velocity — Crosman BBs
  • Air Venturi Steel BBs
  • Hornady Black Diamond BBs
  • Cocking effort
  • Trigger pull
  • Summary

Somebody recently thanked me for admitting I don’t know everything. Guys, if the truth be told, I don’t know more than most of you. Some of what I know is just because I’m old, and other stuff is because I’ve had a lifelong fascination with guns.

I’m learning, too

I learn from this blog just like most of you. A lot of that comes when I research things, but every so often you readers tell me things. That happened in the comments to Part 1 of this report. Reader Kevin told us that he believed those three detents in the V-300’s cocking mechanism were for three different power levels. I immediately went to my pistol and tried it and found he is right! We will see that today.

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How do you know…?

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • August’s question
  • Experience
  • How do you tell…
  • Expected power
  • Piston stroke
  • Age of the gun
  • Chronograph or other means of power determination
  • How do you know? — case 1
  • Case 2
  • Last point
  • The last word

Today’s topic tries to address a question I am sure many newer airgunners have at some point. How do you know when a spring gun need repair? It was asked last week by reader August, who lives in Germany. Here is what he asked.

August’s question

”How do I recognize that an older gun piston seal is going bad? From reading the blog I gather that I can chrony it. But this gun delivered until right before the final breakdown. Only the last five shots it became slower. On opening the gun I saw that the outer part of the plastic seal was detached from the rest and had blocked the spring tube probably causing the older spring to break.

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FWB 124 air rifle: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

FWB 124
This FWB 124 Deluxe is not the exact gun I’m writing about, but it is the same model.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Sight-in
  • The test
  • Crosman Premier lites
  • RWS Hobbys
  • Trigger
  • JSB Exact RS
  • Air Arms Falcons
  • What’s next?

Today I back up to 25 yards and shoot the FWB 1`24 for accuracy again. I will still be using the open sights.

Sight-in

The nice thing about open sights is they are usually in the right general place. Except for guns like the BSA Meteor Mark 1 I recently tested, most guns with open sights will be on paper at 25 yards. Since this 124 was coming off a 10-meter session, I knew it had to be close.

The first shot hit high but in line with the center of the bull, so I slid the elevation slider back. Shot two landed very low, so I advanced the slider halfway and shot three was in the bull. After that I didn’t touch the sights again.

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Lov 21 CO2 pistol: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Lov 21
The Lov 21 is a CO2 target pistol; made in the Czech Republic. It doesn’t look like much, but people speak well of it in Canada and Europe.

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Learned a lot!
  • The CO2 cap
  • Velocity — H&N Finale Match light
  • JSB Exact RS
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Shot count
  • Trigger
  • Evaluation

Learned a lot!

We learned a lot from new European readers’ comments to Part 1 of this report — especially reader H3P04. I told you the Lov 21 is an air pistol that I am completely unfamiliar with, and from the little I do know so far, it seems like a winner. Today we start finding out.

The first thing we learned is this pistol isn’t even mainstream in its country of origin! They know about it, but it doesn’t stand out, according to the comments made by several Czech readers.

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How much polish…?

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • Is it worth the effort?
  • Ray Apelles
  • Sucked in
  • What was done
  • The point
  • Wasting time with the best of them
  • Time isn’t for sale
  • Get real
  • Treasure hunting

…to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse?

Is it worth the effort?

Yesterday’s report inspired this one. In testing the BSA Meteor Mark I, I discovered more about myself than I did about the airgun. When that happens I pay attention, because you can never know too much about yourself.

I discovered that when all is said and done, I don’t like investing time and effort in something that was dredged up from the muck, just to prove a point. Because, what am I proving? That spending a lot of time and money can make any airgun a good one? Or, am I just proving that I am an eccentric?

This isn’t something I have known all along. I spent many years doing stupid things — chasing rainbows and unicorns. I guess we all have to do that to learn what matters in life.

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BSA MeteorMark I: Part 8

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

BSA Meteor
BSA Meteor Mark I.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

A history of airguns

This report covers:

    • Bear food
    • What about a Weaver/Picatinny mount?
    • Yes, but couldn’t you…?
    • However
    • Wrong again
    • Evaluation

    Bear food

    Sometimes the bear eats you! At the end of Part 7 I said I would back up to 25 yards and test the BSA Meteor Mark 1 with a “real” scope. I fully intended doing just that and a reader (August from Germany) reminded me of that recently.

    Folks, it ain’t-a-gonna-happen! When I located the rifle and removed the BSA scope for this test I found a problem. The rifle has two places on the spring tube where the scope base clamps to. Those places are unlike any other scope base I have seen. Instead of cutting parallel dovetail grooves in the scope tube, BSA pressed two steel plates into large transverse dovetails, making a place for scope ring jaws to clamp to that isn’t exactly a dovetail but functions like one.

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