Monthly Archives: November 2006

by B.B. Pelletier

Before we begin, I have an announcement. The Crosman 2200 I was testing for you is not performing consistently enough for an accuracy test, so I’m sending it off to be overhauled. Until I get it back, that final report will have to wait.

Pyramyd’s bulk-fill Drozd is a full-auto airgunner’s dream.

There’s a lot of interest in BB machine guns these days, and the Drozd is the most available and affordable of the few that are on the market. I reviewed it for you on August 22, 2005, but that was the basic gun. Today I’ll start a long look at the model Pyramyd Air has converted to bulk-fill.

Bulk fill
Three things keep the Drozd shooting – BBs, CO2 and six AA batteries. The BBs fit in a removable stick magazine that holds 30 at a time. The batteries last a long time, so the only other thing to worry about is the CO2. Because the Drozd is both powerful and fast-firing, you’ll go through a 12-gram cartridge pretty quick. With Pyramyd Air’s bulk-fill conversion, you’ll have more shots than you know what to do with. And, they’ll be cheaper, because bulk gas runs less than CO2 cartridges. read more

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Part 2

by B.B. Pelletier

Let’s look at the accuracy of the Diana RWS 54, plus a few things I have learned from testing it.

The range
I picked a bad day to test a pellet rifle. The wind was blowing 10-20 mph, so I had to shoot through it. There was no waiting for the wind to calm down; it never did! Therefore, the distance was reduced from the hoped-for 50 yards to a more conservative 35 yards. We know the rifle is shooting well (.22 Crosman Premiers at 800 f.p.s.), so it should be able to tough out these conditions.

The mount
I promised to show you this, so here it is. I used a B-Square AA 1-piece mount and hung the scope stop pin in front of the Diana scope rail. When the mount tries to back up, the pin prevents it. It’s simple and it works. From the picture, you should be able to see why a 2-piece mount won’t work. read more

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Part 2

by B.B. Pelletier

I’ll try to finish the intro with this post. Several of you have asked about the Whiscombe price and availability. John Whiscombe supposedly stopped building new guns several years ago, but his site is still up. If you read it, it looks like he still makes them, but the last post was in 2003. Mac-1 Airguns sold them for many years but the guns are no longer on their website, as far as I can determine. Pelaire also sold them, but they stopped before 2003. To the best of my knowledge, Whiscombe rifles are no longer being made. If anyone learns differently, please direct me to the website by posting a comment on this blog. read more

Part 1

by B.B. Pelletier

Well, there was a lot of interest in this gun, so I don’t mind showing it to you again so soon. Today, I’ll continue our walkaround introduction.

Interchangeable barrels
When I bought my Whiscombe, the fact that I could get barrels in every caliber was one of the factors that helped make the decision. I’m pretty careful with my money when it comes to expensive airguns, but the thought of having all four calibers in one air rifle seemed a bargain, even at the price I paid. Barrel changing is a short procedure, after which it is necessary to sight in the rifle again, despite the fact that the scope never moved. There is more to tell about these particular barrels, but I’ll save it for another day. read more

Part 1

by B.B. Pelletier

Well, this was an interesting test! The 2200 I have apparently has a hardened pump cup. It doesn’t pump as much air as it should with each pump stroke, so the gun doesn’t reach the power levels it’s supposed to.

Pellets
Remember that the 2200 Magnum is a .22. I tried Crosman Premiers, RWS Meisterkugeln and RWS Hobbys. At first, I tried a Premier with 10 pumps. Velocity ranged from 433 to 452 – which is way too low for this gun. I increased the number of pumps to 15, knowing that each pump stroke only counted as a fractional stroke due to the hard pump cup. Velocity climbed to 514, which is still too slow for the rifle. Jumping to 18 pump strokes, velocity jumped up to 616 f.p.s. To see if I had possibly over-pumped the gun, I fired a second shot, but absolutely no air escaped. So, 18 pump strokes was not too many given the condition of the pump cup. read more

by B.B. Pelletier

Before I start, since today is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the people who make this blog possible – our hosts at Pyramyd Air. They generously give us this wonderful place to explore airguns as much as we like, and for that they deserve our thanks.

Crosman’s 2200 Magnum was a great .22-caliber multi-pump of the 1980s.

Now for something old. Jim House wrote the book American Air Rifles, and he recently told me that the .22 caliber multi-pump pneumatic Crosman 2200 Magnum was one of the best-kept secrets of recent times.The first ones, made back in 1978-1980, were supposed to be extra powerful, capable of velocities over 700 f.p.s.! Then, Crosman throttled them back in 1981, so they were no longer more powerful than the Benjamin 392. read more

Part 1

by B. B. Pelletier

Before we begin, I noticed that there are some pellet packages in the Pyramyd Air Gift Guide now. If you have someone who wants to give you a nice gift but doesn’t know much about airguns, these are great selections. Plus, they’re giving the 4th tin free in the promotion! Better hurry, though, because the best pellets will probably sell out as the season progresses.

We’re back on the RWS Diana 54 today, but if you are concerned that this rifle or the Whiscombe are going to hog this blog, don’t be. I will take plenty of breaks and do other airguns. I’ll need the time, because some of my future reports require trips to the range. Let’s look at several details I glossed over in the first report. read more