by B.B. Pelletier
I’m out of the office from today through next Tuesday. The postings will still go up, but I won’t be here to answer questions. Will some of you oldtimers please advise the newer readers and help them if you can?
A reader called MCA asked the following question,“One subject that hasn’t gotten much coverage is noise, so I have a request. I think you said you have a Talon SS, and now you have a CF-X; Please rank the following loudest to quietest: Your CF-X, your CF-X dry fired (we know its OK), your Talon SS, and your Talon with the 24” barrel (if you have it). Does the SS noise suppressor work? How about the TX200 noise suppressor? Do they work, or is it just marketing? I presume that you are expecting the Gamo CF-X to detonate when it’s dry-fired, and that’s why you made that distinction.
I HAVE covered airgun noise
I did a post on noise titled, Airgun powerplant noise – which guns are louder and why on Jan 2, 2006. To find topics your interested in, enter your search terms (in this case “airgun noise”) in the Google search feature on the home page of this blog. It’s in the right-hand column.
Most of the noise question was answered in that posting, but I’m doing this again in case you missed it. MCA asked me to rank four situations. From the Jan. 2 blog, we know that the Talon SS with the optional 24″ barrel will be the loudest of all. The standard Talon SS is a good bit quieter. Both are PCPs and neither has a true silencer on it. The Gamo CF-X will be the quietest of all. Where does that put the Gamo that detonates (not diesel but detonate – remember, all spring guns diesel)? My experience puts it as loud or a little louder than the Talon SS on its highest power setting.
Does the Talon SS end cap really work, or is it just advertising hype?
The way to find out is to remove the end cap. Then, you’ll hear a really loud blast! Yes, the Talon SS end cap really works. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be the single most-copied PCP feature offered by third parties in the U.S. (i.e., the shrouded barrel).
What about the baffles in the barrel shroud on the TX200?
Yes, they work as advertised, but that allows me to make a point about airgun noise. I had an older TX200 Mark II that didn’t have a shroud or baffles, but it was as quiet as the newer shrouded TX200 Mk III. That’s because it was a tuned gun. Ken Reeves did a very good tune that removed all vibration from the gun. The TX200 doesn’t have much vibration to begin with, but when it all goes away, the gun becomes super-quiet. And that’s the point. A tuned spring-piston powerplant is as quiet as a silenced one. The only noise you’ll hear is that which is conducted through the bones in your face when it’s pressed against the stock.
Want a quiet PCP? There IS a way!
Simply adjust the power of the gun to the point that it no longer expels lots of highly compressed air. When you shoot an AirForce Talon on power setting No. 6, it’s as quiet as a Talon SS on setting No. 9. It’s about as powerful, too! By backing off on the power of your PCP, it’ll quiet down. Not all PCPs are as adjustable as AirForce guns, so this might not work for all of them.
There’s another way
Shooting from inside your house through an open window, you mute the sound of the gun outside. The sniper that terrorized Maryland 3-4 years ago did all his shooting from inside the trunk of a car. Anything that contains the sound waves to some extent will reduce the report of a gun – even a firearm. To shoot rimfires in their backyards, some people have bolted car tires together in a six-foot-long bundle. They stick the muzzle of their gun about a foot inside the stack and fire away. The baffling effect of just that simple contrivance makes the sound all but disappear to everyone but the shooter.
An experiment for you!
Take a long and fairly large (four feet long) cardboard box and cut two holes in the opposite sides of the long axis. Make them large enough to stick your hand into – one foot square should do the trick. Pad the inside of this box with thick, disposable fabric. Something the thickness of a moving pad or a heavy but pliable foam works well. Leave plenty of room for the barrel of the gun and for you to sight through. With your muzzle a foot inside, shoot through this homemade silencer with a PCP, multi-pump pneumatic or CO2 gun – the louder the better. Since this device is not attached to the gun it is not a silencer, but it will act like one.
You can’t walk in the woods with a four-foot-long cardboard box, hoping to align it on an unsuspecting squirrel at an opportune moment. That’s why my legal .22 rimfire silencer cost over $600 when all was said and done. It costs that much to shrink the four-foot-long, 10-lb. padded cardboard box into a six-inch aluminum cylinder that weighs only three ounces.
Airguns are pretty quiet. With some thought, they can be even quieter. But, the powerful ones are always going to be louder than the weaker ones.
Sorry B.B. I missed the postings at the start of the year – the answer was there. I look foreward to your posting on tuning a spring rifle. I shoot mostly inside, so the quieter the better.
Thanks again.
MCA
I am right handed but have no sight in right eye, so must shoot lefthanded. Do not like. Can a scope be mounted high enough to compensate or offsided? This is what I did for centerfire but gave that up long ago. Does some company make a really high mount?
I’M THINKING OF GETTING A PCP RIFLE. I LIKE MODELS WITH WOODEN STOCKS, SUCH AS THE LOGUN SOLO. WOULD THIS BE A GOOD FIRST PCP?
IS THIS A QUALITY GUN THAT WILL GIVE LONG TROUBLE FREE SERVICE?
GOOD POWER IN.22 CAL? I WANT TO USE A HAND PUMP. ALSO DOES THE SHROUDED BARREL REDUSE NOISE AND DOES THIS GUN HAVE VARIABLE POWER?
I READ THE BLOG ON THE BSA BUT I LIKE THE LOOKS OF THE SOLO.
Bill D.
I think your best bet is to change your stance, but you’ve probably tried that.
You didn’t say what you shoot, but B sqare makes a very high mount… and it has a 5 inch base. I think the next highest is made by Hawke, and is a two piece system. Something like 30MM high. You may need to check your scope tube size against them. Canted mounts are almost always custom or semi-custom, and expensive but available on the market.
I think a sight on an 1″ canted extension might do the trick. I don’t know if there are any machine shops around you, but it would be easy for one to fab one for you in a couple days. I get things cheap by getting them a couple beers.
Cheers!
.357
P.S.
Great thinking, B.B., I do that too! It eliminates any legal issues in the states, as well as the noise. I use open-cell urethane foam in mine, but fiberglass is the best(although nast stuff!).
.357
A rim fire 22 I believe shoots at 800 – 900 fps.So BB I am wondering what airgun would be closest to the velocity of a rimfire that would sell under $300 because I dont want to spend any more than 300 on a gun right now at least not for a while.
If you still want a .22, try a Benjamin Sheridan Legacy 1000. There are few .22 rifles in that price range capable of those speeds, but going to .177 opens options up. Get a high power Gamo, and slow it down with a heavy pellet. You get to keep the accuracy that way.
Yes I found a rws 34 and the crosman quest 1000x are my best picks right now just lookin for some advice attm.
I found the benjamin/sheridan legacy sale $162 800 fps break barrel 22.,I think this gun might be the best comparison.
just to mention, rimfire .22’s are usually over 1000 fps, with some reaching towards 1500, they also fire a projectile at least twice as heavy as a .22 pellet, so other than projectile size, the comparison isn’t great, not to say that a .22 air rifle isn’t just fine for hunting several species of small game, but shot placement becomes more critical.
Shot placement for small game with a 22. high velocity air rifle?If I dont need a head shot with my .177 caliber airgun at 700 fps on small game a gun of the power I am menmtioning certainly doesn’t.I am not going to argue with you but I dont agree with you……
In my oppinion you can take a dear with a good 22.
Yeah, if the shot’s in the right place, hence the term “shot placement”
Yws thats what I mean,some poeople I dont think realize that airguns can match firearms,not the stronger ones but there are a decent amount of break barrels and alot pcps that find their way into at least a lower end of the rifle firearm power range.But I have seen many times that people will say “oh its only a .22 rifle.”Well 22. rifles can be quite dangerous even lower power small caliber firearms can kill you without to much trouble unless you are wearing pertection.
I used to have that same misconception about regular guns and airguns untill I learned about them more.
Well said guys
dsw
D. Smedley,
The Logun Solo looks like a great rifle for you. I have not tested it but I have handled all the Logun rifles and the quality is there in every one of them.
The shroud does muffle the report, so yes, the rifle is quieter.
As for long-term service, the Logun is made in England, so Pyramyd AIR will be your warranty station. A properly cared-for PCP is very reliable these days, and Pyramyd AIR stands behind the guns they sell, so I think your choice of rifles is a good one.
If you get one, please tell us what YOU think!
B.B.
hi bb i am from india i want to know did pyramid air ship airgun in 0.177 cal. to india
mahesh,
Welcome to the blog.
I don’t think Pyramyd AIR does sell airguns to India, but I will ask them on Monday when they are back in the office.
B.B.
They have nice guns but are way over priced in my oppinion.RWS and the korean guns other the only foreign company guns in my oppinion that are not way over priced.
B.B. – think the Logun Solo is actually built by FX in Sweden.
BB
In this post you said “remember, all spring guns diesel” what does that mean.
Ed
Ed,
In the book, The Airgun From Trigger to Target, it was proven that ALL spring guns of a certain power (around 600 f.p.s. in .177) diesel – which is to say they burn the lubricant in their chambers. The loud noise spring guns sometimes make is called a detonation – a different thing. I covered this in several posts.
B.B.
Sorry BB I just found “Do all spring-piston airguns diesel?” it explanes deseling well. What it does not explain is why a Goggle search of this blog for “Diesel” only came up with “Airguns and noise”
Ed
Ed,
Yeah, I’ve noticed that the Google search function isn’t perfect. I’m glad you found what you were looking gor.
B.B.