Airguns you never see

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 67 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

History of airguns

This report covers:

“Toy” BB guns
The heavy Daisy 179
FWB 125
Daisy Annie Oakley BB gun
Summary

Gonna have some fun today. Instead of testing something I want to show you some airguns you’ll probably never see. We’ll start with a couple Daisys.

“Toy” BB guns

Imagine you work at the Daisy Manufacturing Company around the year 1960. It might have been a few years earlier, but probably not much later.

You’re cranking out BB guns by the million each year, and the monotony is getting to you. So you decide to do something different.

In another part of the plant they make true toy guns that don’t shoot anything. These are noisemakers and smoke makers for the smaller boys and girls who aren’t yet ready for the responsibility of a real BB gun. read more

How to mount a scope: Part 1

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 147 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • The olden days
  • What needs to be done
  • Eliminate cant
  • The tale
  • More information
  • The scope must be angled down
  • Adjusting the scope too far right is also bad
  • Not experts
  • Position the eyepiece
  • Adjustable scope mounts
  • Is it enough?
  • Points to remember
  • Summary

The olden days

When I started shooting in the 1950s, scopes were not that common, especially on airguns. I was as intrigued by them as anyone, believing that they increased the accuracy of whatever they were mounted on. 

Well, they don’t. What they do is make it easier to shoot accurately with a given airgun or firearm. But they can only do it if they are mounted on the gun correctly and then sighted in properly. This series is dedicated to addressing all that is inherent in both mounting a scope correctly and then sighting it in properly.

What needs to be done

To properly mount a scope there are several things to consider. Here is a list. read more

Tuning up an older airgun

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 60 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • Lots of new airgunners
  • Time for the basics
  • Back to today
  • A joke
  • What’s up with the Gamo?
  • The solution
  • Tune in a Tube
  • Alternate method
  • Did it work?
  • Summary

One of the guys in my church asked me what to do about a scope that had gone bad on his Gamo rifle. He told me the reticle had tipped sideways inside the tube. After some discussion I learned that the scope had come bundled with the Gamo Whisper he had, and that told me most of what I needed to know. It was a bundled scope which means cheap. And it broke. I told him I had lots of extra scopes and I’d give him one — a better one than he had. But all that is for tomorrow’s report, so I’ll stop here,

Lots of new airgunners

Before I continue I was told by Pyramyd Air last week that they have bunches of brand new airgunners who have come on board only recently. I know why this is and therefore I know who these new airgunners are. They are firearms shooters who are having difficulty finding ammunition to shoot. That is one reason I started the “How to reload” report series. But not everybody wants to reload. For various reasons, many shooters just want to shoot and if they can’t get ammo for their firearms they turn to airguns. In their minds it’s better to shoot with something than to do nothing. I can understand that! read more

Reloading firearm cartridges: Part 3

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 48 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

This report covers:

  • Trimming the neck
  • Deburring the case neck
  • Uniforming the case neck
  • Primer pocket uniforming
  • Straight-wall cases
  • Tapered cases
  • How to save time
  • Mistakes
  • Summary

First I want to thank everyone who is taking the design an airgun challenge seriously. We are seeing some thought put into your designs. And remember, the contest is still running until the end of the month. Now, on to today’s report.

This report on reloading is starting to attract some attention, as I hoped it would. Your comments have been instrumental in determining what I write about. I’ll start with a comment by reader Brent.

“So you don’t have to trim the neck with any tool separate than the Lee Loader?  I guess the only other things I would need to get are a tumbler with some stainless steel pins and perhaps a scale if I wanted to experiment with powder charges.  I do think you need to address leaving empty space in the case because that is a real no no with blackpowder because it tends to act as an explosive rather than a propellant then.” read more

AirForce Texan: Part 3

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 29 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Texan
AirForce Texan big bore.

Part 1
Part 2

This report covers:

  • TX2 valve for .45 and .50 caliber Texans
  • Old rifle, fresh test
  • “New” bullets
  • The TX2 valve
  • Power setting
  • Seat the bullet in the rifling!
  • Velocity
  • One more velocity lesson
  • Summary

After writing Part 2 of this report last week I went to AirForce last Friday morning and spent a couple hours with Ton Jones, talking about the Texan and the new TX2 valve and carbon fiber tank. I took my Texan that was made in the first production run, and we attached the new tank to it. That answers the first question — does the new tank fit older Texans?

AirForce Texan Ton Jones
|Ton Jones set up my .45 caliber Texan with the new carbon fiber tank and the TX2 valve.


The TX2 valve boosts power and currently only the .45 and .50 caliber Texans work with it. There is also a difference between the valve cap on the .45 and the .50 caliber valve, so to use the same tank on both airguns the cap needs to be exchanged. read more

Walther LP2 target pistol

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 84 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Walther LP2 left
Walther LP2 single stroke pneumatic target pistol.

History of airguns

This report covers:

History
LP3
Pumping an LP2
Lookalike
What the LP2 was
Next

Today we start looking at a Walther LP2 single-stroke pneumatic target pistol. I recently acquired one for a reasonable price, but when it arrived it did not pump. That is the bane of the LP2 — their valves were not robust and they tend not to work.

History

The LP2 was Walther’s first commercial success with a single stroke target pistol. It was produced from 1967 through 1972. Was there ever an LP1? There might have been, but if there was it didn’t last long enough to be officially recognized or to enter the market. read more

Design an airgun

Posted on by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 94 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • Air gun?
  • What about pneumatics?
  • Can you build a spring-piston gun?
  • Keep it honest
  • Contest?

This report will be different than usual. Today I’m challenging you to design an airgun that we readers can build!

I’m guessing it will be a BB gun, but it doesn’t have to be. I’m guessing it will be a smoothbore, but again, it doesn’t have to be.

Air gun?

When I say build an airgun, it doesn’t have to work with compressed air. The Daisy 179 pistol is considered an airgun, but in reality it is a catapult gun.

Daisy 179
Daisy’s 179 is really a catapult gun.

The Hodges gun of the early 1800s is also a catapult gun, and a powerful one at that. It is said to have been capable of killing medium-sized game such as feral hogs. read more