Diana model 26 breakbarrel air rifle: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 26
The Diana 26 air rifle.

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • This is a .177
  • RWS Superdome
  • Firing behavior
  • Trigger pull
  • No vibration
  • JSB Exact RS
  • Hobby
  • Barrel tension
  • H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm heads
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Discussion
  • Cocking effort
  • Summary

I asked in Part 1 for owners of Diana 26s to tell me of their airguns and I was surprised that so many responded. Apparently I was in the minority for not knowing about the Diana 26. From what they said and what I’ve read I have learned that the 26 was closely related to the model 28 that came out when the model 27 ended production. So models 23, 25, 27 and 35 went away and models 24, 26, 28 and 34 came into being.

The model 34 is a whole story on its own, that I will cover one day, but not today. This report came about because I wanted to get a model 35, to see if I could tune it to be as smooth and light-cocking as a 27 and have a little more power. I got the 35, which is an early rifle with some very curious features, but I also acquired this model 26 and a model 27S that’s equally unusual. We are looking at the 26 in this series, so that’s where the focus will remain today. read more

2019 Pacific Airgun Expo

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Today’s report is a report of the 2019 Pacific Airgun Expo, written by reader Yogi.
If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email me.

And now, tell us about the show, Yogi

This report covers:

  • I go to the show
  • Placerville
  • What’s up?
  • Success!
  • Lots o’ PCPs!
  • 10-meter guns
  • Summary

As a avid reader of B.B.’s Pyramid Air blog for the past several years, I decided to try and write a guest blog to lighten his burden and show appreciation for his efforts. So here is my attempt.

I go to the show

B.B. has written at great length about how interesting Airgun Shows/Swap Meets are. I live too far away to attend the big ones in Texas and Ohio. I wish I had been in airgunning when I lived on the East Coast and could easily have attended the Roanoke Show. So, when I heard that there is a smaller airgun show just 180 miles away, I knew I had to go. read more

Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle: Part 5

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle
Ruger 10/22.

This report covers:

  • Mounting the dot sight
  • The R47 sight
  • Can you see the front sight through the dot sight?
  • Sight-in
  • The test
  • First group
  • RWS Superdome
  • Crosman Premier Light
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Ten-shot group
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today I will test the Ruger 10/22 at 25 yards. I’m doing this so the rifle can go back to Umarex, because they are apparently waiting for it. Other writers, I suppose.

Mounting the dot sight

As I mentioned in Part 2, Umarex sent an Axeon R47 dot sight to test on the Ruger, and today I will mount it and sight it in, then test the rifle at 25 yards. To mount any aftermarket sight to a 10/22 you have to first install Weaver bases. I showed you the factory-drilled holes for those bases in Part 2. I took a new package of two-piece Weaver bases and screwed them to the top of the receiver. That took 5 minutes. read more

Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle
Ruger 10/22.

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Sight-in
  • H&N Baracuda Green
  • Sights are challenging
  • Crosman Premier Lights
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • JSB Exact RS
  • RWS SuperMag
  • RWS R10 Match Pistol
  • Qiang Yuan Training
  • H&N Match Green
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today we start our look at the accuracy of the new Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle from Umarex. This was an interesting test, to say the least!

The test

I’m only concerned with one thing today — the potential accuracy of as many pellets as possible. So, I shot 5-shot groups from 10 meters using the open sights on the rifle. I shot with the rifle rested directly on the sandbag and I cocked the bolt for every shot to make the trigger as light as possible. Let’s get started.

Sight-in

The rifle was shooting high and left when I started sighting in. I could lower the rear sight okay but there is no easy way to adjust it right and left. So all my groups are to the left of the bull today. After sight-in the sights were never touched again. read more

Springfield Armory M1 Carbine BB gun: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

M1 Carbine
Springfield Armory M1 Carbine BB gun.

Part 1

This report covers:

  • Maxed out
  • The test
  • Charging
  • OOPs!
  • Problem number 2
  • How to get the empty cartridge out
  • Cartridge out
  • Will the second cartridge seal?
  • Oh, boy!
  • Daisy BBs
  • Air Venturi Dust Devils
  • Hornady Black Diamond
  • Smart Shot
  • Shot count
  • Feed
  • Trigger pull
  • Summary

There is lots of interest in this BB gun lookalike! Several of you have owned Carbines in the past, or own them now, and reader Bob M is following this report and also reporting on his conversion of an airsoft Carbine from semiauto to full auto. While full auto is interesting to many, I don’t think the Carbine is the right gun for it. The firearm had a not-so-bright history with Rock-N-Roll.The M2 Carbine that is select-fire is known to wear out more rapidly in the full auto mode. More rapidly than what, you ask? Than the standard semiautomatic Carbine. read more

BSF S54 Match rifle: Part 5

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

BSF S54
BSF S54 target rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Insert
  • The test
  • Sight-in
  • H&N Finale Match Light
  • H&N Match Green
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Why so much better?
  • Finale Match Light again
  • One last time
  • 10-meter rifle?
  • Summary

I said the next step with this BSF S54 was a teardown and lube tune with Tune in a Tube, but I changed my mind. The front sight insert I bought from Chambers arrived and I wanted to give it a go first. I’m glad I did, as you will learn later on.

Insert

Remember, I told you that T.W. Chambers in the UK has some front sight inserts for the S54? RidgeRunner wondered if there was an aperture or ring insert for the front and I thought there might have been, so I looked. Sure enough there was and I ordered one.

BSF S54 sight inserts
The new ring insert, left, will circle the black bull and hopefully give a more precise aim point. read more

My best lesson

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Valuable lesson
  • Sighting
  • Multi-tasking
  • Student behavior
  • Sign’s up!
  • Why this is so important
  • History?
  • Bottom line
  • Why airguns are important
  • And why today?

When I was a kid I knew everything there was to know about guns. Just ask me; I would tell you. I read Guns & Ammo and was learning the ballistics of popular cartridges like other kids were learning baseball stats. I didn’t own a gun, which in retrospect was a good thing, but I knew all about them.

Valuable lesson

Then my mother sent me to an NRA basic marksmanship course. Over the course of three weeks they taught me how to shoot. I wish I had been more observant because those gentlemen really knew what they were talking about.

Sighting

We started by everyone learning how to sight. We did something they called triangulation where we learned the proper sight picture with target sights. It involved getting down on the floor and sighting through a homemade set of “sights” that rested on a box at a target that was 40 feet away. The object was to watch the instructor move the target and tell him how to move it. When you got it perfectly aligned in your “sights” you told him to mark it, and he marked through the center of the bullseye with a sharp pencil on a sheet of plain paper behind the target. This was done three times. If you did it well you got three pencil dots on the plain paper that were very close to each other. The goal was to get the dots as close to each other as possible read more