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Air Guns We The People BB pistol: Part 2

We The People BB pistol: Part 2

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

We The People pistol
We The People commemorative BB pistol from Sig.

This report covers:

  • Questions answered
  • Velocity Daisy BBs
  • Cooling effect
  • Air Venturi Steel BBs
  • Blowback
  • Dust Devils
  • Shot count
  • Trigger
  • Overall impression

Today we will look at the velocity of Sig’s We The People BB pistol. They rate it at 340 f.p.s., so we will see about that and also what Dust Devils do. Let’s get to it.

Questions answered

Reader Shootski asked whether the sights adjust. The manual doesn’t address it and I tried to move the rear sight gingerly and found it doesn’t move. The factory agrees with this.

Reader Ken wondered why the magazine follower doesn’t stay down like the follower on a couple of his BB pistols. I read the manual and it does mention this, so I tried it and it did stay down! The top of the follower has to raise up and get caught by the feed hole on the mag, and then it stays open. On the test pistol this sometimes take some fiddling.

We The People magazine
The top of the follower gets hung up on the bottom of the BB feed hole, holding the follower down.

Velocity Daisy BBs

First to be tested were Daisy Premium Grade BBs. They averaged 326 f.p.s. with an 11 f.p.s. spread from 321 to 332 f.p.s. There were no failures to feed but the slide didn’t remain back after the last shot. On the next blank shot, though, it did.

Cooling effect

Because this is a CO2 pistol, it cools as it shoots. That shouldn’t bother you on a warm day outdoors, but in a velocity test indoors where the temperature is around 72 degrees F, I had to allow at least 10 seconds between shots, and even then I lost some velocity.

Air Venturi Steel BBs

Next up were some Air Venturi Steel BBs. They averaged 331 f.p.s. with a 10 f.p.s. spread from 327 to 337 f.p.s. This time the slide stayed back after the last shot.

Blowback

Several of you have asked about the blowback of the gun. It has a metal slide so there is some recoil felt when it blows back. It’s not the hardest-recoiling air pistol I have felt, but it is realistic.

Dust Devils

Here is the test many of you have asked for — Air Venturi Dust Devils. We know they are slightly lighter than solid steel BBs, so we expect to see some velocity gain and we won’t be disappointed. In this BB pistol, 10 Dust Devil BBs averaged 347 f.p.s . with a 15 f.p.s. spread from 340 to 355 f.p.s. I will be interested to see how accurate they are.

Shot count

At this point in the test 42 shots had been fired, because I shot the gun several times after installing the CO2 cartridge. So I shot 22 more blanks and then set the gun aside for 2 hours. When I resumed testing Dust Devils the next 16-shot average (shots 65 to 81) was 347 f.p.s. Then I shot 11 more blanks and shot 93 went out at 346 f.p.s. Shot 99 was 337 f.p.s. and from there the velocity dropped off. Shot 109 was 278 f.p.s. and I knew the gas had run out. I shot blanks after that, and on shot 121 the slide failed to stay back. Let’s call it 100 shots per cartridge — give or take. With full slide blowback that’s pretty impressive.

Trigger

The trigger is a bit stiffer than I remembered from Part 1. It varied widely in the test — from 5 lbs. 7 oz. to 7 lbs. 4 oz. The weight I saw most often over about 15 samplings was 6 lbs. 1 oz.

Overall impression

I’m impressed with this BB pistol for several reasons. First is the realistic way it has been weathered to look worn. Next is the ability to field strip it. Not every BB pistol allows that. There there is the large number of shots per cartridge. All things considered, if it’s accurate too I think we have a real winner.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

34 thoughts on “We The People BB pistol: Part 2”

  1. B.B.,

    Might the trigger area need some lubrication for a consistent trigger pull or does it just need wearing in?

    Siraniko

    PS: Section: Overall impression, Last sentence: “All things coinsidered (considered), if it’s accurate too I think we have a real winner.”

  2. Hey BB and Gunfun1
    Totally missed yesterdays blog so this is a little off todays topic.
    Really enjoyed your review of the Beeman QB Chief. If you recall I have the .22cal. version. The only real difference apart from caliber and a shot count of 20 between the two is that yours in .177 cal. did not seem to require any breakin whereas mine in .22 cal. didn’t start to show any real accuracy until 180 to 200 shots and now at about 550 shots is turning into a tack driver. I wonder if yours had been previously reviewed by others and had been mostly broken in by the time you got jt.
    A month ago was the first day for this gun on my outdoor 50 yard range and after a short sightin – it took about 8 shots to get everything dialed in with lots of mallet tapping between elevation and windage changes (just curious – does anyone else use a small wood or rubber mallet on their scope to settle the adjusters and reticle in when doing minor changes of a few clicks?)
    I put 20 more shots through the gun to get everything settled in and finally started to shoot squash ball sized groups – about 1.5″ ctc or so at 50yds which can be extrapolated to about .33″ (actual .29″) at 10 metres. Not too bad considering I’m shooting 14.4gn CP Domes. A different pellet might do better. I’ve only shot CP’s through the gun and cost and availability are a big factor. As long as I can keep that squash ball bouncing around at 50 yards I’ll be satisfied with the Chiefs performance! Maybe by a thousand shots the groups will be even smaller.
    These Beeman guns seem to have quite the ‘wow’ factor when people start to shoot them and see the accuracy they’re capable of.
    Cheers
    Dave

    • Dave,

      I usually give my scopes a few raps on or about the adjustment knobs with my fingers when I make an adjustment. As for using a mallet, I would be afraid of getting carried away.

      • Hi RidgeRunner
        If you take a common wood handled hammer and hold it by hammer head and then let it drop about 1½” to 2 inches into your hand that is all the the tapping force needed to set a scope. I use a small rubber mallet so as not to mar the scope and usually tap 3 or 4 times on each axis.
        My reasoning is that guns like any kind of springer only need a shot to settle the reticle in while guns like co2 and PCP with little or no recoil take a bit more handling to settle the reticle in. I don’t think fingertips have a sharp enough rap to do very much.
        Cheers Dave

      • RR
        Some of my scopes need it and some don’t.

        It seems that it’s the individual scope that determines that. Not necessarily the brand.

        And some scopes needs couple shots to stabilize even after the tap.

        That’s why I don’t use turret clicks for different distance can shooting. I zero my scope and know my hold overs or hold unders.

        I just know from experience that I trust holds more than clicks.

  3. Hi BB et al..
    This pistol is a standard KWC model licenced and branded for Sig. Mostly the same as the Tanfoglio Witness or the Colt’s from Swiss Arms with the difference only being in the cosmetics.
    I have half a dozen of these semi auto Colt 45’s and 12 mags, all interchangeable. They all work, catching the follower as as you describe, and to date I have never had any problems. Maybe Ken has his thumb or finger too far over the follower which would prevent it from catching above the slot. I know people with big fingers tend to have difficulties with these mags sometimes.
    Cheers
    Dave

  4. Question about pistol accuracy…

    Seems that Co2 BB pistols can manage minute-of-a-popcan accuracy at moderately close ranges. Is this representative of the powder burners that they replicate?

    I realize that for home defense multiple-inch groups at 10 feet are adequate, I’m just used to shooting a FWB 100 that will do better than 3/8 inch groups at 10 meters.

    Hank

    • Hank,

      I don’t know specifically about the Sig We The People 1911 powder burner. My Kimber full size 5″ barrel and my son-in-law (US ARMY retired) shooting his Wilson Combat full size 1911 both pistols equiped with iron sights, have played Battleship with 1″ targets on the boats out to 10 meters. We normally trade wins (Army Navy games) back and forth with a one or two shot delta never shooting more than two 10 round magazines. So the USM 1911-A1 (and clones) can be a very accurate shooter with proper training and practice The guns we use are both $1900+ MSRP pistols that have been brought to near perfection by a highly skilled gunsmith. The magazines are also critical to 1911 accuracy/repeatability. I use Chip McCormick and my son-in-law uses Wilson Combat magazines.
      FYI: I just recently heard that those two companies have merged productionf magazines.

      shootski

      • Thanks Shootski!

        Here in Canada any pistol over 500 fps is a restricted weapon so except for a little casual plinking with a US friend’s .22 rimfire revolver I have no experience with powder burning pistols.

        1″ at 10 meters is pretty decent shooting. Took a quick look at Cabala’s.com and see a couple of pistols for under $500. Curious what kind of groups could one expect from something in this price range?

        Hank

        • That is great shooting Shootski.
          I have shot those battleship targets with a BB pistol and found that about 15 feet is the longest range we can make consistent hits on those one inch squares.
          Gerald

          • Gerald,

            Thank you!

            I think playing battleship at 15-20” is probably something that would be equally chalenging with a typical bb pistol! Our Battleship target sheets have round 1′” green and red dots; 5 on the aircraft carriers, 4 battlewagons, 3 on the cruisers, 2 on the destroyers and 1 on the patrol boats. We have lots of fun shooting often getting yelled at by the RSO for cutting paper targets in half with shotguns shooting slugs and generally making confetti out of trgets and backer boards.

            shootski

        • Hank,

          I have no idea on a new 1911 in that pice range; I do know that as more money gets dumped into anything the lower the return (usually) in value. The two items that really determine most of the accuracy of a 1911 is the fit of the barrel and the barrel bushing. If those two don’t play well the then accuracy and repeatability go out the window.

          Both my son-in-law and I have benefitted from shooting lots of miitary provided ammunition in various weapons and having recieved outstanding instruction. I guess the other is the degree of motivation provided by knowing it may cost you your life if you aren’t a good shot.

          shootski

  5. ” Congratulations on being one of the select few airgun gurus that sleuthed out that the six airguns in the Secret Six Pack Challenge were …”

    Condolences to all who were not as successful as I in the big Pyramid Secret Sixpack points competition. And I answered their challenge all by myself! Such accomplishments are seldom unique. A fine individual effort last week as Bruce Koepka won the U.S. Open!

  6. Well guys I for one just learned something today.

    Not being someone who spends a lot of time achieving the best accuracy possible with various pellets for target shooting I never realized that tapping on a scope could help in setting adjustments in place. Could save a lot of time not having to shoot and keep adjusting back and forth till it’ s sighted in.

    I just figured nothing changing after a few clicks was just a characteristic of low cost scopes and you just had to keep at it till everything lined up right. Always over adjusting one way or the other and then returning.

    Another little thing to make a wiser air gunner. Now all I have to do is remember it along with the fact that droop could be the problem as well.

    • Bob M,

      Got another one you may want to remember if you don’t already know it.
      It is important to remember that backlash can develop in turret adjustments. Backash will prevent you from returning to zero when adjusting troughout the adjustment range. Therefore, anytime a counter-clockwise adjustment is made, always go past the desired setting at least 2 moa or 8 clicks (on a 1/4 moa per click scope) and come back to your setting-finishing off clockwise. This will eliminate any backash that may develop over the life of your turret adjustment. You may find that on resonable quality scopes this will eliminate the need to tap. Make certain to never make gross windage adjustments with turrets but rather base/ring correction when sighting-in. Otherwise the errector tube will have limited elevation adjustments and may also track to one side or the other hen bottomed or toward the top of travel in the tube.

      Checklists are for remembering everything when we belive we know the steps by rote!

      shootski

      • Shootski
        Appreciate you passing on that bit of information. I never really looked into how scope adjustments work aside from some springs and screws.
        Figured there were various ways and there was not much I could do about it any way.

  7. Coduece’s folly, or why I shouldn’t be allowed to work on airguns. Anyways I blew up my piston seal big time last week mostly my fault it was a mess. So anyways I made another with shorter side walls / lip 1/4”. After putting around 100 pellets through it here’s what I have. The seal on the right is the how it looked as formed. What happened is this normal? It seemed to shoot ok but obviously it has beat itself into conformity against the compression chamber.
    Carl

  8. Here’s a pic of my seal making jig. 1” pvc pipe mold and a 9/16 3/8 drive socket clampes the wet leather inside, then trimmed flush with the pvc. By stacking washers inside the pvc I can adjust the seal wall height.

  9. Since B.B. did the report on peep sights I have been trying to get a globe sight on my Crosman 101 with the .22 caliber Maximus barrel. I used the Base, Front Sight Crosman Challenger, Part # CH2009-029 to provide a dovetail to mount a Globe Front Sight. I have been using mostly the Maximus Hunter version barrels. If you use the more standard Crosman barrel with the flat on the top of the muzzle the Base Front Sight with fit better without any modification.

    /product/air-venturi-front-globe-sight-accepts-inserts?a=3190

    I think the following inserts will work based on the shape I will follow up on that once I purchase some.

    /product/air-arms-front-sight-inserts-4ct?a=5549

    The sight radius is about 29 inches. I had to replace the original round peep with the combination peep and notch sight taken from a Crosman 13xx or 2240 to get enough elevation to match the height of the front globe sight.

    Don

  10. I also shot one group at 25 yards with the Crosman 101 above, I think I can do much better here are my excuses:

    The shade covered the target before I got sighted in.
    I need to get a smaller insert or use a larger bull on the target. There was too much space between the bull and the front sight circle.

    I have done better with this gun using a post front sight from the Crosman 2300S. Until I get a smaller insert for the globe sight I don’t have a good enough sight picture to tell if there is too much weight on the front of the barrel. I have tried some heavy weight previously and they adversely affected the accuracy. I also may just need to move the front sight base a faction of and inch to improve the barrel harmonics but I am not at that point yet.

    Don

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