by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
The Gat is a timeless classic air pistol. Shown uncocked here.
- Description
- Loading
- Cocking
- Trigger
- Ammo
- A classic!
My late wife, Edith, once told me that my writing style should be called discovery writing. She said I didn’t have to know everything I wrote about, because I could just discover it as I went and then share what I discovered with my readers. That’s good, because I sure don’t know a lot of the things I write about. Does that make any sense?
Today’s report is on an airgun about which I know very little — the Gat. Over the years I have read things about Gats and one of them is that, while there may be many Gat-like airguns, the true Gat only comes from T. J. Harrington & Son, Walton, Surrey, England. They made them from 1937 through the late 1980s.
I bought mine at either the Findlay or Malvern airgun shows last year. It came in a green box that the Blue Book of Airguns says increases the value by 50 percent. My pistol is in 100 percent condition, but the box is rough, with both end flaps torn off. The blue book value would be about $50, and I think I gave less than that, but I can’t remember. I just knew when I saw it lying on the seller’s table that I wanted one to test after reading about it for more than two decades
Gat box top is lithographed.
Box bottom contains instructions.
Description
The Gat is a spring-piston air pistol. It works in the same way as the Quackenbush spring guns of the 19th century or the Crosman M1 Carbine. To cock the gun the barrel is pushed straight back, pushing the piston along with it until the sear catches and retains it. But that is where the similarity ends.
The Gat’s barrel is also a permanent part of its compression chamber. When the gun is uncocked the barrel extends from the front of the frame by two inches. When the barrel is pushed back to cock the gun, it stays there until the gun is fired, making the gun nearly two inches shorter in the cocked state. I’ll tell you why it isn’t exactly two inches in a moment.
Gat cocked.
Loading
When the gun is cocked part of the breech sticks out the back of the frame. You can see this in the picture above. A breech pin is unscrewed from the breech to load either a pellet or a dart. This pin must be removed each time the gun is loaded. A leather washer seals the air inside.
Unscrew the breech pin to load the pellet or dart.
When the pistol fires, the entire barrel springs forward, compressing air between it and the inside of the pistol’s frame. The barrel/piston moves forward violently, causing the pistol to jump in your hand. The compressed air is forced into the barrel through two small holes located behind the pellet that’s been loaded into the breech.
The pistol is just over 10 inches long when uncocked and slightly less than 8-1/4 inches when cocked. The breech comes to the rear end of the frame (what appears to be the pistol’s action from the outside) and the breech pin extends outside the rear of the gun. If this sounds confusing, look at the pictures above to understand how this gun works.
The gun weighs 1 lb. 2-3/8 oz. Mine is all die-cast metal painted black, but later models had some plastic parts. There is a nickel-plated version that is quite scarce and a gun with no finish at all — just polished metal. Mine appears to be the most common of all.
Cocking
The mainspring is quite strong. It takes 48 pounds of effort against the muzzle to lock the piston in battery. That’s pressing the muzzle straight down on a bathroom scale until the gun cocks. My gun is practically brand new, so you can expect the effort to drop a little as the gun breaks in, but even with that I don’t think this is an ideal youth airgun. Kids would have to put the muzzle against something solid and push in with their body weight. I’m sure that’s what they did, but it was still hard. It’s a little easier for an adult, because you are pushing both hands together which is a powerful move for an adult. Even so, my left palm is sore after only a few shots.
Trigger
I have seen some hard triggers in my time, and this Gat of mine is right up there with the leaders. My estimate for the single-stage pull is around 15 lbs. Nothing I own will come close to measuring it.
Ammo
The Gat fires a range of airgun ammo through its 6-inch smoothbore barrel. It will handle diabolo pellets, darts and the mouth of the muzzle is cupped to hold a cork. In this respect, the little gun is quite advanced, for other airguns that do all of this have to be modified with accessory barrels. And reader Reb mentioned he ran a carny game in which Gats shot large plastic balls.
The muzzle cap is a seat for corks.
A classic!
American airgunners aren’t familiar with the Gat, but shooters from the United Kingdom and its former colonies that are now independent nations, grew up with it. It is as familiar to those airgunners as the Red Ryder BB gun is to Americans. And when you consider all it can do, that doesn’t come as a surprise.
This is a very simple airgun, yet one that brings a lot of capability to the table. Don’t underestimate its importance.
Next time we will test the velocity of some pellets and darts. When we get to the accuracy test I am concerned. The hard trigger plus the violent forward surge when the barrel springs forward causes the pistol to twist to the left in my hand (right-handed shooter). I’m going to have to use a 2-hand hold to keep this pistol on the paper at 5 meters, which is all the farther I plan to test it.
OK, where did the slang term Gat come from ? I can think of old movies when the term was used, but for the life of me can’t think of the actor. Anyway cool old gun. My best
Harvey
I look forward to the review.
I have seen them in ads since I was a kid, but never got around to getting one.
To measure the trigger pull, couldn’t you do it similiar to how you got the number for the cocking effort?
Using 1/4 inch brass rod, bend it in a shape similiar to a croquet wicket (the hoop you knock the ball through)
Thread the ends of the rod to put blind nuts on so it will stand on the bathroom scale.
there you go, a jig to measure very heavy trigger pulls.
I had one when I was a kid. Found it in my Dad’s draw. It was the worst air gun I have ever used, seen and heard of. It sucks in every way an air pistol could suck.
It was impossible to cock. You had to put all your weight on it while the barrel was pushed into the concrete ground. It lacked power, accuracy and fun.
It was deadly at point blank range though. The spring pops out with enough force to punch through a brick wall – a fact that got me grounded for a month when I did just that – in my bedroom.
K7. Raymond Chandler in the big sleep…
Played by Bogart, I hit enter too quick.
45 Bravo, I had a heck of a time remembering his name, but I think James Cagney used the term, possibly in “The public enemy” Wiki says it originally was used to describe the Gatling gun and later on used as slang for all guns . Seems like I remember it being used in old Dick Tracy cartoons. Neat trip down memory lane.
I am curious what the text on the box about English Law says.
As I can see, it says something about not selling the product to people under 17 years old and the retailers responsibilities. It is interesting to know because the English laws on air pistols changed few times over the years.
BB there is a way to measure these ultra heavy triggers. There is a little electronic hand scale (with a ring on top and a hook at the other end to hung mostly plastic bags) that measure up to 40kg. If you manage to alter the hook then you can easily measure the trigger pull with reasonable precision.
Hi BB.
So about my diana 27… recently I realized that my rear sight screw for elevation moves with each shot. When I turn it, it does change the elevation although its loose. I’d like to know how to fix this issue.
-João
João,
Put Locktite on those screw threads. Better yet, interrupt them by damaging them intentionally. That is what I would do. Damaging the threads makes them rurn harder, but it takes a deft touch. Locktite is safer if you’re not sure how to damage the threads in a non-permanent way.
B.B.
Try the blue semi-permanent removable thread locker first. You can order it or pick it up at an automotive store or a local hobby shop that sells the better RC cars and planes in kit form. If that still manages to work loose, try the red permanent type.
As for heavy trigger pulls, a scale used to weigh fish would work fine. I have seen trigger gauges made the same way,…spring in tube type,…but of course, one weighs in oz. and the other in pounds. Most all have a sliding ring or bar that will hold a max. reading, even after pressure has been released. Sounds like a good, cheap tool to add to the B.B. arsenal of testing tools.
Speaking of heavy triggers, the 880’s trigger is awful. Single stage, I think. I got a nice Lyman gauge, but I would be afraid to use it. For a multi-pump pneumatic, I can not see why it would ever need to be that heavy. After all, it’s not like it’s holding back a magnum spring sear or anything like that. If I get into the receiver end of it, and I’m sure I will, that will be project #1.
As for the GAT,….very cool. Mmmmm?,…. a gun that shoots multiple types of projectiles……. 😉
Your 880 trigger is so stiff because the same spring that fires the valve is also the return spring for the trigger. A little moly or other lubricant(don’t use graphite,it’s not good for plastic parts) is about all that can be done because if the spring is weakened it would slow down the opening of the valve.
Reb,
You sound like a man that knows what’s what on the 880’s! Thanks for the tip. I would have altered the firing cycle if I had messed with the spring. Moly only.
You could try leaving it cocked and see what happens but that’s fair warning.
I went into an 880 a couple years back and explained all mods to mine, I believe it was one of the later reports on it where B.B. ordered a replacement for testing because the first one was below spec.
Some pretty good stuff!
I believe it was a younger individual named David that wanted all the information he could get.
Hey Chris,
Talking about multiple projectiles, I was reading about your experiments with the 880… have you tried using one of those small paint brushes that you can get in the “dollar store”? I used to shoot them out of my Crosman 101. They go pretty good.
Hank
Cool idea! I’ve always liked those tufted darts and you get to pick your own color!
Hank,
Good tip. I am trying to go heavy, maybe 30g. The lower fps ought to be made up with fpe. The 3″ penetration on the 6″ skewer through 2 pcs. of 1/8″ rubber mat surprised me. I brought in some 3/4″ plywood and 3/4″ pine boards. It’s getting serious!,….. well,… in a fun sort of serious way. 😉 2″ sharpened coat hangers is next up. Just need to find a good rear seal. Tape will be first, but I got some more stuff that might work. Shrink tube is an option. Just don’t shrink the rear end so that it would still act as a bellows and expand when hit with air. Lot’s of ideas. Thanks for adding.
(Of course), full chrony and fpe calculations and accuracy results will follow, if I find something that works. After that, it will be a shroud chop and the arrow/bolt test will start.
Thanks again,….Chris
I always wanted to shoot one of those sections of tent poles that have the bungee cord through the center.
Hank,
Here is a question for you,….How short would an arrow have to be to be 30g.? Standard tipped, hollow rear. A very rough guess would at least give me start point. 30g. impossible? Throw me some ideas. I can see a really cute little 3~4″ arrow! 😉 Just like the real thing, except minimal shaft.
Chris,
Don’t think you could make a 30g arrow with conventional materials… the points alone are 100 to 145g. A typical hollow aluminum hunting arrow is around 650g in flight with the carbon arrows being lighter. Never used carbon arrows myself.
You might want to try using some cotton cord to fit the shaft to the bore and make a seal. Prime the shaft with some crazy glue (the gel type) and wrap the cord into that. Try leaving a length of cord to trail the shaft and help stabilize it.
Vana2,
Thank you. That is some good numbers to start with. From the weights given, I see a “wee” bit of an arched trajectory. Short shaft sounds like the ticket. Good idea on the cord. Makes sense.
Just playing and having fun. Those #’s will be something to deal with though. Notes made.
What’s the worst that could happen?,…. an 880 with half a shroud and no front sight?
What would it do with pellets and bb’s then? It is scoped. (Sliding) barrel weights to adjust harmonics? Yea,….I could see that.
Did I forget to mention the “fun” part? 😉 Thanks again for all the input,….later,…. Chris
Chris and Vanna
You guys need to get your grams (g) and grains (gr) straight . There is a lot of difference .
Twotalon,
Thank you. Not used to talking much in either. Notes made and will try to remember.
I thought perhaps grams would be G. Yes, there is a lot of difference.
Thanks again, Chris
Right! thanks Twotalon!
I was talking in grains – wasn’t paying attention to my abbreviation.
Chris USA
Remember I suggested loading a felt cleaning pellet at the the breech end of the barrel. Then load the skewer or coat hanger rod.
You could also wrap a few wraps of tape a inch back from the front of the rod and a inch forward from the breech end of the rod to center it in the barrel. And still put the felt cleaning pellet in from the breech end or where you would normally load a pellet. Then put the coat hanger wrapped with tape down the barrel.
You should get a higher velocity plus a more stable (DART) flight. Remember its not a arrow.
Search javlins and spears and see what makes them work. They are closer to what your doing with the air gun coat hanger than a arrow. But on the other hand all related.
GF1,
I do not have any felt cleaners but a Q-tip did work well in the 499. Just cut the head off and you would have pretty much the same thing. It was a pretty nice tight fit. Would be a good drop away “pusher”. The skewers were a (very) slight snug fit and had to be rodded down. Accuracy was awful. I still want to try some short skewers, say 1″ or 2″. 2″coat hanger darts done, just exploring tail end options at this point. They are 30 gr. as well.
And yes, this is more dart playing than anything else. The hollow arrow over actual barrel will be down the road. I will have to look into the Crosman and FX line for some ideas there and some weights on projectiles. Not an archer or make my own arrows, but there is some avid hunters at work that might. Plus there is one gun shop in town that is really more into the archery end of shooting and do believe they can do their own arrows.
Just playin’.
Chris USA
I’m interested to see how the steel darts work.
Keep us all updated. I’ll be waiting.
I use Q-Tips as an alternative to cleaning pellets to clean the pump up pneumatic’s of mine. Snip off the tip leaving a bit of shaft. load it in the breech and shoot it. Not accurate, but does clean the grime and old lube out of the barrel. Note: at close range they will bury themselves in duct seal rather deep.
Silver Eagle
Chris,
You are going to “tinker” this thing to death LOL!!
Think you have already had your money’s worth from the 880 just in the fun-factor eh.
I am smiling – went through this whole process yeas ago when I decided that my Crosman 101 would be the ideal platform for shooting “arrows”. Even had arrows with roll-out fins. I could manage decent accuracy but the trajectory was terrible so I gave it up after playing around for a while.
Hank
Hank
You should explain some of the things you tryed. I would be interested in what you did.
And I believe I have heard or seen something about those fins. I guess they fold into the arrow shaft so you can load the arrow down the barrel.
And how high of a trajectory did it have 50 yards and in. You know some pellet guns shoot with a higher trajectory than others. So that wouldn’t bother me with a arrow shot from a air gun.
And what kind of accuracy at how many yards?
GF1,
Shooting “arrows” out of my Crosman 101 was an extension of my experiments to shoot little “harpoons” for collecting frogs-legs.
My best tethered harpoon was a piece of 1/16” mild steel welding rod with a raised barb and some copper wire soldered to the back end to capture the sliding ring what had the fishing line attached. The weight to get penetration I needed was more than the power available (the Crosman delivered around 650 fps with a typical .22 calibre pellet) and I gave up on that idea pretty quick. Found that a fly rod worked much better for getting frogs anyway (sour grapes eh?).
I did experiment with “arrows” and my best performing ones were made out of glue saturated paper rolled into a tube around an old fishing rod (waxed) that formed a tapered mandrel. The point was a brad nail wrapped with cotton cord and glued into the large end of the paper shaft. The vanes were packing tape trimmed to shape and rolled around the shaft to fit into the bore. The small end of the arrow got a wrapped string ring to act as a seal and align the arrow in the bore. They worked ok at short range but any sort of a breeze would destroy any chance of accuracy. They took quite a bit of time to make and were pretty fragile but it was cool to fire one just to see how far it would go.
Fun to play around with but you have to be careful because you are messing around with a lot of pressure.
IMHO, unless you have a good amount of energy available the arrows need to be too light to be effective for anything but a novelty.
A bow works because it has a long power-stroke to impart energy to a heavy arrow over a long time (weight and time being relative to a gun) where a pellet is much lighter and can be accelerated to operating velocity with a much smaller “power stroke”. Even with the slow acceleration on a bow, the back of the arrow moves quire a bit (archer’s paradox) before the front of the arrow knows it.
Putting a long flexible arrow into a high-acceleration environment will raise some interesting forces – which is probably why the Pioneer applies the energy to the front of the arrow and the rest follows along for the ride.
Anyway, just my thoughts and experience with “shooting” arrows from a gun. To answer your question… BB-gun accuracy and BB gun ranges. I can make a wooden self-bow in a couple of hours that is far better. 🙂
Hank
Hank
At least it sounds like it was fun experiments anyway.
I figured the arrow on the Pioneer was at the legnth it is for a few reasons. The legnth of the arrow acts like a barrel. Kind of like how a longer barrel on a pcp gun produces a higher velocity pellet flight. But back to the Pioneer and the second thing about the arrow. If the arrow was to get too long it might affect stability and slow it up alot because of the weight. To short and would go faster because it would be lighter. But maybe it wouldn’t go faster because it didn’t have air pushing as long.
I say there has to be a balance of legnth for a arrow that is shot from a air gun that is slid over the barrel. Well probably the same for a arrow or spear or dart shot from inside a barrel.
Alot of things going on to make something fly ain’t there. Then think about a rocket or missle that is propelled from behind.
Maybe there really is alot to rocket science.
🙂
GF1,
Yes – fun stuff for sure!!
Did the rocket thing as a kid and there is a bit of calculation needed to make sure that you get things right.
It gets real exciting when you screw up the numbers and have a rocket screaming around doing loops as the back tries to pass the front – don’t ask me how I know this 🙂
Think the main difference between arrows and bullets is arrows work in the pounds-feet realm and bullets in the foot-pounds side of things.
To explain what I mean, you would think that a high-speed bullet is more powerful that a low-speed arrow but you are dealing with a different kind of energy. For example, bullet-proof glass is not arrow proof 🙂
Think that the Pioneer works because the energy has time to transfer to the heavy arrow as the pressure builds in the bore and then in the hollow arrow shaft as the arrow starts to move – the “displacement” increases as the pressure fills in the volume allowing a longer power stroke because the arrow shaft is part of the bore until they separate. Mind you I am just speculating on this.
Anyway – gotta get back to work 🙂
Later.
Hank
Hank
Did model rockets as a kid too. Won’t say here the experment I tryed with them. 🙂
But yep that’s exactly what I meant about the Pioneer arrow. As the arrow moves forward the volume increases and pressure decreases.
That’s what I meant about it would be a balance of arrow legnth to get the most efficient power and flight from the arrow. The hollow arrow is in fact the barrel. It just does something special though. It flys. And pretty accurately at that if you look at the performance of the Pioneer.
GF1,
I’d guess that they would supply enough HPA that it would keep the pressure rising as fast as possible in the bore and “cylinder” as long as the arrow (piston) was still sealed to the Pioneer to get a maximum transfer of energy.
Might be that the pressurised air escaping from the back of the arrow might add a measure of thrust as well.
Wouldn’t mind playing around with a Pioneer for a day. I wonder how accurate it will be when a broadhead is attached to the shaft – velocities are pretty high.
Hank,
You answered a bunch of questions right there. You really went out of your way to keep it light. That says something as well,….on keeping it light for the available power/push. Thanks for sharing.
Chris
I’m gonna build one for keeps this time. Just waiting to see how wildlife management accepts the Pioneer.
Mine will slide over the barrel ala Verminator and Pioneer and feed BB’s as well as shoot pellets.
Reb,
When I first got here about a year ago and saw those higher end PCP’s that had the stand alone barrels, that’s the first thing I thought of …..arrow over barrel. A really good seal all the way out/off, would be the key to boosting the available power.
As for wildlife, the power is there to more than do the job. It would be easier to take a deer and therefore the balance desired might come into play. That’s where I see it coming into play. They restrict gun season for a reason.
BB,
I am with DryCreekRob, we need a photo showing the instructions and the English law better. My old, tired eyes cannot read it all as it is.
As for how this thing works, it took me a while, but I think I got it. The barrel acts as a piston guide up through the middle of it and has a washer or something or other with a gasket just ahead of the vent holes that acts as the stop for the piston.
I bet it is very difficult to hit anything with it, except maybe a very big target. It should be interesting just getting the velocity numbers.
RR,
Okay, in the next part of the report I will picture a detailed shot of that writing.
B.B.
I find myself really liking this thing more and more.
Do you have any darts to try in it?
I think B.B. Will be surprised with the accuracy IF he can ignore the sights which could be difficult for a competition level 10m pistol shooter.
I feel confident that I could squeeze 2″ out of it at 10m
Those things were indestructible!
I’ll say this and I’m not proud of it but it’s good for popping balloons out to about 50′ shooting BB’s from the hip.
Guys.
I am not really interested in building a device to measure heavy trigger pulls. That’s because I don’t plan to test them. Why would I? I will never shoot guns with ultra-heavy triggers for anything more than a test. The occasional encounter like today isn’t worth the effort.
Besides. Every test described above would involve dry-firing as spring-piston gun and that’s something I won’t do. Thanks for your ideas, though.
B.B.
I first heard a gun called a “gat” in a Marx brothers movie.
I wouldn’t want to pay $50 for one unless it was in really good condition but I have kept my eye out for one ever since, I didn’t remember the loading port at first because I was only muzzle loading either .177 or 2.25″ BB’s(yes, I just called a baseball a BB!)
🙂
Hi BB,
A few years ago I bought a Gat with the box very similar to yours at Malvern. I bought it just to see how it worked and play with it. But, someone wanted it more than I did an bought it off my table for twice what I had paid for it. I hadn’t thought about it again until today. I am interested to see how it shoots. I was told by an English guy that most English boys grow up with Gats like American boys grow up with BB Rifles.
David Enoch
B.B.,
I have been waiting for a report on these! They are indeed a classic.
I have a T.J. Harrington & Son long gun version with all the trimmings with original box. It is a joy to shoot, and from 12 feet it will bury one of those darts into a pine board.
Michael
Michael,
I didn’t mention the long gun, but you probably know it is quite uncommon, because it was only made for a short time.
B.B.
B.B.,
I believe the long Gats were made near the end of the company’s run, in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the product line.The packaging screams 1980s, although the gun is hefty and of very sturdy stuff.
Yes, my Long Gat, along with my FWB 150 with original Lefty Tryolean stock and a small bag of hen’s teeth are the extent of my rarities collection!
Michael
Very interesting. I am a fan of British air guns. I also have a question; in British air guns, such as the Webly “Senior”, what type of oil should be used? Since it doesn’t have any rubber O-rings, can I use something like a 30 weight oil?
B.B.,
I see on the box bottom it says “export model”. Do you know if these guns sold in America were different from the English models?
G&G
G&G,
I sure don’t know what the difference might be.
B.B.
B.B. and G&G,
I believe the English ones have an accent like Alec Guinness.
Michael
B.B.,
My first thought would be the power level, as is in place today in Europe. And, it would appear as well, in Canada. Then again, given the times of the GAT, that could mean something totally different.
B.B.
Great reports on the old guns. I love the oldies and all the different ways folks came up with to fire projectiles.
My son gave me a pellet gun a last Friday to fix up. I thought it was a Crosman 101 from the way it looked. There was not a single marking on it. Then I thought it may be a Crosman prototype. It is a multi-pump. That has a round hole in the top of the receiver for loading.
After many hours going through the Blue Book of Airguns I see it is an Apache Fire-Ball Texan. Probably first variation around 1948. It is a very interesting gun. It has a No 4 Buckshot rifled barrel and a 0.175 smoothbore threaded barrel insert for BBs. The cocking bolt is missing and the handle is broke off the bolt. Other than that it looks like it may be fixable. The receiver and pump pivot bracket are made from pot metal. My dad always called it pop metal but it looks functional.
I put some pellgun oil on the barrel insert and the hammer spring holder and pump seal. Hope it comes apart easily. Getting the pump apart looks a little tricky the pump pivot bracket could easily break getting it out of the pump tube being pot metal and held in place by one rivet also acting as the pump pivot pin.
The rear sight is missing, the front blade is also broke off but other than that it looks like all the internals may be there. I can see the hammer spring through the hole where the hammer cocking rod was.
Hopefully there is enough left to get it functional. I will let you know as I get into it.
Love the older air guns
Don
Sounds like a cool gun!
Good Luck with it!
B.b., I seldom feel much connection to the older and rarer guns (regardless of what provides the power source). This one I can identify with, and it is only seeing it here in your blog that I remember it. I am sure it was a Gat-like and not a Gat. But still, it had the form and the function like a Gat. It wasn’t new and there was no box, but it was an air gun and it did shoot those reusuable darts. I don’t believe I had any pellets back then.
“Thanks for the Memories”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsGaBweOb1M
I happen to be trying to write an article based on a theory of writing as a form of discovery. But this refers more to the process than to a style of writing. As an aside, I came across this interesting tidbit. One study showed that the quality of writing style varies inversely to the difficulty of content. That is, the more advanced and difficult the ideas, the worse the writing. Is that a surprise? The explanation is that it is easier to write about things you know for which there are ready-made expressions than to write on something new and original. Maybe that explains something about the political discourse right now.
Jan, good point about the chamber flags which I wondered myself. Could the chamber flags themselves be the cause of the safety issues? Upon further research, I see that I am uniquely unlucky and wretched. People have asked if putting a chamber flag into a hot gun will cause it to melt. The response is universal that there is nothing to worry about. People have put flags into ARs after rapid fire competitions and enormous mag dumps with no problem, and they say that whoever made the flags must have made them heat resistant. So, how come I use one of the most reliable guns ever made and take every precaution, even using brand-name CMP flags, and mine melts? What have I done to deserve this…
After my scrubbing of the bore and reviewing pristine images of it in my mind, I’m leaning towards the belief that all is well. But I am also researching heat resistant chamber flags.
Matt61
Matt61,
TIG rods, hardwood dowels, all the way down to 1/8″, brazing rods,…..just some ideas. In other words, make something yourself that you know will not melt. Cut the flag off and re-attach. Chris
I had a Buncha TIG rods prior to the move, saving them up for such a project.
That Tungsten’s heavy, hard stuff!
Reb,
I was thinking of the hand held rod that you would feed the tungsten electrode with. All sorts of material choices there, all the way to aluminum.
The ones I had were tungsten
That’s one of the few ways I have not yet learned to weld but the gas guys at the shop commented more than once that’s what I looked like I was doing while welding with an oxy-acetylene rig and that I should look into it.
Reb,
Yes, both are cool and is really quite the art. Very fine controlled work is possible with a TIG. I was pretty good at it years ago.
I’ll definitely check into it if I get back in good enough shape to work again, I really enjoy welding and it pays well.
B.B.
Speaking of the Crosman M-1 Carbine, that was my first b.b. gun. I was 10 years old at the time and I couldn’t cock it unless I put the but on the ground and pushed down on the barrel. My dad put a hard rubber Winchester recoil pad on the but so I wouldn’t scratch the stock. I actually had that gun (still with the faux magazine) until about eight years ago and just threw it out with all the junk that accumulated in the basement. I had read your blog about it a couple of years ago. Was it still worth something?
Fishmonger,
Probably something for the parts. Not that much, though.
B.B.
Ah, yes. The Gat was my first gun.
The main thing I remember about it is the outrageous cocking effort that you’ve already described.
And the trigger pull – 15lbs first stage you say? LOL. Bloody hell.
Chris O E
How and the …. could you even pull the trigger.
I like how you English people get away with using bloody for a slang word to what Americans call sex.
Maybe I should of said how in bloody hell could you even pull the trigger. :0
GunFun:
Oh, is ‘bloody’ a swear word in America? My apologies.
Chris O E
Guess it could be. You know how slang words can be interpreted different by different people.
Surprised BB didn’t jump in. And I guess I shouldn’t be the blog police. But BB trys to keep the blog G rated. In other words kid friendly. Some of the people that read the blog have sons and daughters and grand kids that read also. So he likes to keep it appropriate for them.
But all good no need to apologize. Please keep reading and commenting.
And I bet them guns were a pain to shoot. Hard cocking and hard trigger WoW. What I would like to see is what the inside of the gun looks like. The components that make it work. I wonder if there is a diagram of them out there somewhere.
We all know it’s a form of profanity.
Personally I’m with Gunfun in that I’m jealous too.
Chris,
No, bloody isn’t a bad word in the states. We only know it from watching British TV.
No harm, no foul. 😉
B.B.
BB
You should really ask around and see what bloody is reffered to. I think you will be surprised.
But I think we really should just drop this subject and go on.
GF1,
I’m pretty sure I know. I’ve been around the block a time or two.
Let’s drop it now.
B.B.
Phew. Thank you 🙂
The last thing I’d want to do is disrespect you and your blog.
I just placed the muzzle on the counter and used my body weight to cock them and was a healthy young man so the cocking effort wasn’t an issue but to do it between both hands would leave bruises if done more than once. Don’t recall the trigger being so bad either but mine were broken in somewhere in the millions of shots.
🙂
Looking forward to part 2!
I kinda wondered if this gun was just a catapult gun until I picked up some BB’s and it was every bit as powerful as my old RedRyder, I expect pellet gun speed.
RR, you got sea salt water in your eyes? How old are those eyes? Semper fi!
I can’t really say this was the UK’s Red Ryder tbh, you were definitely aware you were in the cheap seats if you had a Gat, I think that accolade really belongs to BSA’s Meteor.
Well done for cocking it by hand, I’ve seen hundreds of these things and never seen it done, it was always done by leaning it onto a surface.
I’ll be fascinated to hear it’s velocity….I’m certainly thinking less than 300fps, as for accuracy….. it really has none whatsoever beyond hitting a tin can at ten feet…..though stuck darts in quite effectively
RE the Pioneer,
I was told that the Pioneer arrow does not flex in flight because the push is at the head instead of the tail. Also, the arrow continues to accelerate until it is about 7 feet (as I recall) from the end of the gun. The residual pressure inside the hollow arrow continues to push.
B.B.
BB
Really 7 feet. That’s pretty interesting. And I can see that making a difference for the arrow not to flex. And did they ever say what the arrows were made from? Aluminum, carbon fiber or maybe steel?
GF1,
Carbon fiber,….looked them up this AM. 375 gr. Field point. Says it has more power than a cross bow.
Did you read what BB said?,…… the air (continues) to push the arrow after the 7′. Now,….that is cool! Like blowing up a balloon and letting it go. If I do the arrow, it will be over barrel, as planned. So, head push and not tail push. But due to weight and available power, short will be the goal, but that may bring it’s own set of problems.
Chris USA
Yes that is cool. I was already thinking about how to test that.
Take a chrony reading at the gun. Then out at 7′ then another let’s say at 10′.
I would like to see what the BBQ skewer chronys like at those distances also. I guess they will slow down as they leave the barrel and get farther away. Or maybe they continue to accelerate also to a certain distance out from the barrel when their shot.
Interesting for sure.
GF1,
They made quite the “thump” at 24′. I did not/do not want to post/try chrony until I find what works.
If I can get a 2″ group, or better, of 5, at 24′, of something,… I will post full data. Then 41′.
Chris USA
Cool. Works for me.
GF1,
Did just try the 2″ coat hanger dart w/tape. Accuracy not bad, but, they tumbled. How did I figure accuracy? The FULL imprint of the dart, (including tape) imprint, on 3/4″ plywood. There is power there for sure. Sounds like a balance act from here on out. Did 10 pumps and 5. No stick. Yes,….bounced,….hence the warning,…..beware,…and wear your safety glasses. Rearward stabilization I believe is in order. Cupped/bellows rear w/ shrink tube is next. Should act something like the hollow rear of a pellet.
Anyways, just an update for the first try with a metal “dart”.
Chris USA
That’s why I thought longer would be more stable.
GF1,
Good point. Will try. To not exceed 30gr., thinner material would be in order if going longer. We’ll see. No doubt, I will keep playin’,…..until the “chop”, then it starts all over.
Outa’ here, Chris
Chris USA
Yep. And I think you will find a combination that will actually work good.
Hi,
Gats and similar airguns were very common in Britain when I was a youngster (1970’s). I had a relatively sophisticated Milbro “SP50”. This was later made under other names and I have two new in the boxes Champion J50’s which I believe were the last re-incarnation.
I am not sure how long the Gat and its rivals have been out of production, but they are now touted as collector’s items!
The Gat was great for youngsters with limited means, as when all your pellets were gone, a packet of darts would last forever with a large backstop like a garden shed.
The accuracy of these pistols is such that hitting a 12” target at the end of the garage ten times in a row is not always achievable.
I also have two Gat rifles. The one that I shoot will hit a tin can every time at 15 yards, and has a velocity of 400fps with 8.4 grain pellets – a subject for a test perhaps? These were commonly used at fairground shooting galleries. I don’t know if they have left the scene because they have all worn out or because of political correctness.
There is also a book. Gats – A guide to Junior Push in Pop out Airguns by Malcolm Atkins
SP50,
Welcome to the blog!
And thank you for telling us about the Gat’s accuracy. I could tell it was going to be a challenge to shoot safely.
B.B.
Picked me up another Daisy electronic point sight today and I’d be willing to bet it puts a real spankin’ on that Gamo I got a couple weeks back.
Think I’ll try it on the 1077 later.