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Education / Training Remington 1875 BB and pellet revolver: Part 4

Remington 1875 BB and pellet revolver: Part 4

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Remington 1875
Remington 1875 pellet and BB pistol.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This report covers:

  • The test
  • First targets not good
  • Why only five shots?
  • Air Venturi BBs
  • Hornady Black Diamond
  • Smart Shot
  • Dust Devils
  • Discussion
  • Pellets are next
  • Summary

Don’t forget the Texas Airgun Show is coming up in less than two weeks. It’s Saturday, June 22 and here is the website. There will be free tables outside for those who have just a few airguns to sell.

Today we begin our accuracy test of the
1875 Remington BB and pellet revolver. Since this air pistol shoots both BBs and pellets, I will test each one separately. Today I will test the BBs, so I used the BB cartridges.

The test

I shot the revolver from the seated position, using the UTG Monopod for a rest. I shot from 5 meters, which is the standard BB-gun distance.

I shot 6 shots, which is what this revolver holds. That actually bit me and I’ll tell you what happened in a moment.

First targets not good

The first target I shot was far from good. The group measured 2.431-inches between the centers of the two widest shots, but one of them was a shot I knew I pulled. Okay, I would come back to that BB and shoot another group at the end of the test.

My next target was better, but when I took it down there were only 5 holes. Did 2 BBs go through the same hole, I wondered? Then, as I loaded what I thought was the third set of BBs, one of the last BBs I had been shooting fell out of the gun . Nope! There were only five holes because I only shot five times. Time to start the entire test all over.

Why only five shots?

Okay, I’m old. I think you all know that. All my life I have been shooting five rounds from single action revolvers, because when I was younger Colts were pretty much the only single actions that existed. You never loaded a cartridge in the 6th chamber of those revolvers. The hammer held the firing pin and, if the gun was dropped, it could fire. So for safety — five shots only. Even for the very few SAAs other than Colts that did exist at the time — like the Great Westerns — you still only loaded five shots for the same reason. So, with a single action I am used to counting to five and then stopping.

Air Venturi BBs

Okay, back to the Air Venturi BBs that were the first ones I tried. This time five of the six BBs went into a nicely centered 1.22-inch group. Unfortunately the 6th BB ( I don’t know which one it actually was) hit high and opened the group to 2.837-inches. That shot was no different than the rest. It just didn’t go to the same place.

Remington 1875 Air Venturi group
Six Air Venturi BBs went into 2.837-inches at 5 meters, with five of them going into 1.22-inches.

Hornady Black Diamond

Next up were Hornady Black Diamond BBs. I thought they might do even better than the Air Venturi BBs. There were no wild shots this time but the overall group measures 1.596-inches, and is more open than the first BBs.

Remington 1875 Hornady group
Six Hornady Black Diamonds went into 1.596-inches at 5 meters.

Smart Shot

The next BB might be the one you want to use. The 1875 Remington revolver put six of the H&N Smart Shot lead BBs in a 1.27-inch group at 5 meters. Besides being one of the two safest BBs I tested, Smart Shot also turned in the smallest 6-shot group. And four of those six BBs are in or at least touching the black bullseye! This is certainly the BB to use for Cowboy Action Shooting.

Remington 1875 Smart Shot group
The 1875 Remington put 6 Smart Shot into 1.27-inches at 5 meters. This is the smallest group of the test.

Dust Devils

The last BB I tested was the Air Venturi Dust Devil. Six went into 2.231-inches at 5 meters with five of them in 1.358-inches. There were no called pulls, but the one shot that hit to the left of the main group looks suspicious.

Remington 18775 Dust Devils group
Six Dust Devils made a 2.231-inch group at 5 meters. Five are in 1.358-inches.

Discussion

I had wanted to also try the new Crosman Black Widow BBs to see if there was any significant difference, but they didn’t arrive in time for this test. Perhaps when they do get here I will give them a try and report the results.

We have had a couple remarkable BB gun tests in the past 45 days. First there was the test of the M1 Carbine that stunned most of us. And that was followed by the incredible accuracy of the Umarex Legends Cowboy Lever Action BB gun. I fear you readers are getting lulled into thinking that kind of accuracy is a given with BB guns these days. Believe me — it isn’t. What we are seeing in today’s test is far more representative.

Pellets are next

Don’t forget that there is another test coming with pellets. That’s true for this revolver and also for the Umarex Legends Cowboy Lever Action BB gun, as well. I hope to back up to at least 25 feet if not to a full 10 meters (33 feet) for that one.

Summary

So far the 1875 Remington revolver is doing very well. I am actually surprised because I have owned the firearm version of this airgun as well as a genuine Remington cap-and-ball revolver from which it was derived and neither of those guns had actions that were as nice as this one. In the firearm world I find the Colt SAA and its copies far superior to the Remington, but among the air pistols there isn’t much difference.

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.

39 thoughts on “Remington 1875 BB and pellet revolver: Part 4”

      • I agree, Which FX and Daystate guns would you select??

        RR, you were right on my .22 cal RAW 1000X LRT is a real pleasure to shoot. And I know it is shooting better than I am.

        Don

        • Don,

          For a shootout you should select similar levels of quality. Though it is not what I want for myself, the FX Crown up against the HM1000X was compared by Airgun Depot not so long ago. For Daystate, likely the Red Wolf.

              • Chris,

                Here is the scope I have on order for the RAW.From what I have read I would say the 1000x LRT and the Red Wolf are very close. I am guessing but I would say the Red Wolf has more technology and the Raw may have a little more craftsmanship. So far it looks like we are both happy.

                /product/hawke-sidewinder-ffp-6-24×56-scope-ffp-mil-ir-reticle?a=8565

                Don

                • Don,

                  Very nice! I like my FFP Athlon. I use it at 34x often and it has the “Christmas tree” hold offs for hold over on windage like yours. I like that feature too.

                  Chris

          • RR,

            I would love to give it a serious go, (but), this Summer is moving my elderly parents who are doing a monstrous downsize and work is going bonkers busy. I see my four 10’s including Fri. and Sat. before long. I will not shoot if I am too whooped to have my full heart, energy and focus to put into it.

            I can offer what I have shot so far. I am sure there is more than enough Red Wolf data “out there” now. It might take a little digging though.

            Thank you for the vote of confidence.

            Chris

  1. Hi BB, the one flyer every group is suspicious. Are you sure you don’t have a bad cartridge in there? I seem to recall a recent review where you either had a bad cartridge or a magazine had a bad chamber. After all, you are in essence testing 1 barrel with 6 different chambers (or 8 or 10 in the case of the magazines), leading to many more possible combinations if manufacturing tolerances start stacking the wrong way

  2. Off topic

    BB,
    You often refer to old articles like in “Airgun Review” that are no longer available. Even though some would be really outdated, I think many of use would like to have a chance to read them. Have you ever considered putting them in a book so we could get copies of those articles? Just wondering?

    I’.m not referring to the blog articles, we can find them here.

  3. B.B.,

    I know you are have a lot on your plate but the 2nd gen Fortitude deserves a new review. I wish we could have seen the groups from the first Fortitude you reviewed it had a great test target group.

    I just received my 2nd generation Fortitude in .177 caliber. I was going to wait on some reviews before getting one but figured Crosman took long enough to get the issues worked out so I went for it.

    I have to say I was impressed with the overal quality. It is not up to the standards of the high end guns but apears very well made. the test target had a nice 10 meter horizontal group of 0.28 inches wide and 0.02 inches high. Maybe even the machine has trouble with these triggers? I am realy impressed with a company that includes a target with a price point pcp, that shows they are at least testing each gun and redo the ones that don’t meet their specifications.

    I shot two shots at 10 meters and it was close enough that I moved out to 25 yards to get started sighting it in. Then I shot three sets of 10 shot groups with Falcon 7.33 gr., Crosman Premier 7.9 gr, and JSB Exact Heavy Diabolo 10.34 gr. The gun is not pellet picky and shoots very well for not broke in yet. Many of my groups are still showing the same horizontal tendancy as the test target that came with the gun shown below.

    I worked on the trigger and made it much more pleasnat to shoot. It had a very rough pull from the factory. I was suprised when I took the cover off the trigger frame and found a sear that looked like it came from a 100 year old gun. That was weird. Here is a picture of it. I put a new sear and some moly on the metal to metal contacts. The trigger now breaks with a slight creep at about one pound. I added the two screws in the frame to adjust the trigger. I took out the first stage a a little of the second stage. There is still a little first stage that is probably some slack in the linkage taking up. I set the trigger stop just past where I was able to cock the hammer. I used a lighter spring on the trigger and bent the hammer spring untill I had around a one pound trigger pull weight. These trigger mods are all over YouTube for the Discovery, Maximus and the Crosman 2260. I still don’t care for the plastic trigger and may put a metal one in the gun. It wont improve the accuracy but I just dont like the feel of the plastic trigger.

    I have not measured any pellet velocities yet but will once it gets more shots through it. I did not notice any lag in the regulator and took my shots as soon as I was ready. I have used the rotary magazine that came with the gun for all shots so far. The magazine could be contributing to some of the fliers. They do not come with the single shot tray. I will order a single shot tray for the Gauntlet they have proved to work better in my Marauder than any of the other ones out there.

    The Fortitude is also very backyard friendly.

    So Far I am very pleased with the Fortitude, it has exceeded my expectations.

    Don

        • BB
          Why? To make it look pretty.

          Bet that sear will perform the same as another that is not rusted after a few shots.

          That is surface rust and the wear points will look like fresh metal after a few shots.

          But on the other hand it looks like that gun was exsposed to moisture for some reason. That’s what I want to know. Why was that sear in the gun and looking like that in a new gun.

          Kind of thinking all kind of things right now.

          • GF1,

            I have been inside all but the valve and regulator. The rest looks new. Today I spent some time with the hammer spring adjustment and ran into some issues. I am heading up to the cabin so it may be awhile before I finish the testing on the hammer spring preload. The spring is supposed to work at 0 to 6 turns of the preload adjustment. At 6 turns I am getting complete compression of the spring when cocking the hammer to the point the hammer does not pull back to catch the sear. After that my spring seemed to be scragged to the point in will not open the valve with less than 3 turns in from fully backed off. I have not had time to figure this out so I don’t want to start a negative report. My guess is the hammer or spring in my gun may not be correct. At less than 2 turns in there seems to be a gap between spring and the hammer. This could also be the regulator is letting more pressure through than specified.

            You are correct on the sear but I had a new one and replaced it. I need to check that out also. The trigger assembly is the same as the Discovery, Maximus etc. Probably with a weaker spring.

            Don

        • B.B.,

          That should have never been put into a new gun. It makes you wonder what else is acceptable to be put in.

          I hope you forwarded that picture to the powers that be.

          Chris

      • Don,

        After a bit,… and the more I pictured that sear in my mind while going about my evening,…..

        All I can say is,…. “That makes my blood boil!!!!!

        What?,…. the assy. line worker thought that no one would ever see it? How many people actually tear into their triggers? It can’t be that many,… right? Bad day? Maybe a whole bin of sears that looked that way? Who knows?

        Well,….. they just got “busted”!

        I would do a gun serial # report to Benjamin (or whoever) and have them back track that rifle through the factory and who was working at the time. Can they even do that?

        Grrrrrr!,…… Chris 😉

      • Benji-Don,

        If I was going to be generous, based on your statement that the corrosion was only at the sear, I would say that the person responsible for doing the trigger group assembly was not wearing gloves at the time.

        Siraniko

      • Don
        So what did they improve on with the gen 2 Fortitude?

        That was one of the the things that they said they improved with gen 2.

        I was hoping for better with the trigger. And trust me I know things can be done with that trigger assembly if it’s still the Discovery, Maximus trigger assembly.

        But darn I wanted improvements. I didn’t want to do the mods to it.

        I was hoping for a gen1 Marauder trigger in it this time. Or at least something similar.

        I know; what company is going to redesign and pour money into something that people might still not want.

        I knew there was a reason I didn’t pre-order the gen 2 Fortitude. Bumned out right now. Was hoping for something truly different. I should know better by now.

        But I’ll keep a open mind and see what others say. We shall see soon enough is the best I can say.

          • Don
            The stock still fits. You just won’t have a trigger guard.

            When I had a gen1 Marauder trigger in a Discovery I used a black cabinet handle as my trigger guard. You would never know it unless you looked hard enough. It looked like it came from the factory.

  4. B.B.,

    I received my Remington 1875 not long ago and finally opened it up and shot it some yesterday in between the rain cloud appearances.

    I shot only lead pellets at reactive targets, so I can’t make a scientific observation on accuracy, but at 25 feet and one-handed (the only way for an Old West revolver; legend has it on a quiet day you can hear them giggle if you tickle them with two hands) my Remington 1875 turned empty pop cans into cheese graters in a Deadwood minute.

    The thing that really impressed me was shot count. You estimated 70 to 90 shots in Part 3. My example provided me with somewhere between 90 and 90,000 shots on one CO2 bulb. Maybe I’ve been shooting too many gas-hog blow-back air guns lately, but the CO2 cartridge seemed bottomless.

    Michael

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