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Education / Training 2020 SHOT Show Day Three

2020 SHOT Show Day Three

by Tom Gaylord

Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:
Umarex — Ready Air compressor
Fusion 2
Umarex Origin!
Umarex 850
Umarex Reign
Walther PPQ M2 pellet pistol
M1A Thompson
Glock 19X
ASG — Shadow 2 steel BB pistol with Hop Up!
B&T Universal Service Weapon (USW)
Crosman — semiauto Marauder
Havoc Prime dart blaster
Summary

Well, we are back at it and there is lots more to see today. We will start with Umarex.

Umarex — Ready Air compressor


Mark Davis from Umarex USA showed me this handy portable air compressor they call the Ready Air. It runs on household current or a 12-volt car battery, so it can be taken to the field. It has all the specs that new airgun compressors are coming with — light weight, set-and-forget operation, 4500 psi fill limit, reliable and durable construction. Blog reader Jim heard it run and says it is very quiet.

Ready Air
The Ready Air compressor seems light and compact. It’s for guns only and can handle 35 cubic inches, which is the Umarex Hammer reservoir capacity.

Big deal

And here is the big deal. The RETAIL price will be $500! Yes, that’s right — five hundred dollars. Is 2020 the year for Price Point Compressors?

Yes, of course it is made in China and of course you can get a Chinese compressor for less on Ebay, but your compressor hasn’t been vetted by people who know about and care about airguns. Your compressor doesn’t have a support center in Fort Smith Arkansas. That is the difference. And, if my reading on the forums is correct, buyers of those off-branded compressors are waking up to that fact.

Fusion 2

The new Umarex Fusion 2 is an upgraded CO2 rifle based on the original fusion that I tested back in 2013. It’s still a quiet little tackdriver with a great adjustable trigger. But this new one uses 88-gram CO2 cartridges, so you get a lot more shots. Twelve-gram cartridges can still be used with an adaptor, so you have a choice!

Fusion 2
The Fusion2 is as good as the original with the added ability to take 88-gram cartridges!

Umarex Origin!

Is this the big news at Umarex this year? Well, they aren’t hammering it into us, but I think it might be! It’s a price-point PCP that comes WITH A PUMP for $350! Now — that is how it’s done, folks! You offer a COMPLETE package at a reasonable price. This one features 10-shot magazine, sidelever cocking, pressure gauge on the side and it comes in .22!

Origin

Mark Davis holds the new Umarex Origin.

If this one is accurate and reasonably quiet, Umarex won’t be able to keep them in stock. Brother-in-law, Bob, watch this one!

Umarex 850M2

Someone asked me to check out the Hammerli 850 Air Magnum. Well — it isn’t called that anymore. It’s now the Umarex 850M2. It looks pretty much the same as always, but time will tell. It’s been a long time since I tested the 850, so perhaps 2020 is a time to revisit?

850

The Umarex 850M2 replaces the Hammerli 850 Air Magnum.

Umarex Reign

The Reign is a rifle I didn’t get to test last year, so I have to test the upgraded one this year. It’s a bullpup that’s fully ambidextrous. The sidelever cocking switches from right to left without any tools! It comes in .22 and 25-calibers for hunters. And the regulator keeps it consistent, shot after shot.

Reign

The bullpup Reign is regulated.

Walther PPQ M2 pellet pistol

Yeah, yeah, it’s another lookalike CO2-powered pellet pistol. So what? 

Well, this one has a BELT-FED magazine for pellets, guys! Yes, the world of 8 rounds has been advanced to 20 this year. That’s the news!

PPQ and mag

That’s right! The new Walther PPQ has a 20-round belt in the magazine!

M1A Thompson

Remember the Legends MP40 that BB got so excited about (that he bought one!)? Here we go again. This time it’s the Legends M1A — a military version of the famous Tommygun. They can’t call it a Thompson for trade reasons, but I sure can!

M1A Thompson

Here it is — the M1A1 submachinegun.

The .45 ACP firearm came with 20-round stick magazines in World War II and this one does too. It holds 30 BBs and fires from the open bolt. You bigger guys will appreciate the gun’s very long pull! As compact as it is, you feel like you’re holding daddy’s shotgun when you shoulder it.

Glock 19X

Then Mark showed me the new Glock 19X BB pistol. It features half-slide blowback and looks very realistic. Of course, he said, the new AIRSOFT model is full blowback and extremely realistic. Then I told him that airsoft was back on my beat and we started talking!

Glock 19X

He’s holding the Glock 19X BB pistol, but the airsoft pistol is at the lower right. It can use CO2 or green gas, depending on the model.

ASG — Shadow 2 steel BB pistol with Hop Up!

You read that right — a BB pistol with adjustable Hop Up! Talking to Action Sport Games (ASG) representative, Bob Li, I learned that the CZ 75 Shadow 2 airsoft pistol I have been testing will now come out as a steel BB pistol, too. And here’s the big deal — it will be the first steel BB gun to have adjustable Hop Up! He told me to expect it in July.

ASG Shadow 2

It looks like the Shadow 2 airsoft pistol, but this one shoots steel BBs and has adjustable Hop Up!

B&T Universal Service Weapon (USW)

The other gun I saw at ASG is an airsoft pistol — the B&T USW pistol. This looks like a fun gun to shoot and it has a collapsable buttstock that deploys in an instant.

ASG USW

The airsoft ASG USW is a cool-looking service gun. The buttstock collapses in an instant!

After looking at the USW I decided I needed to test one — even if Pyramyd AIR doesn’t carry them. It should be out by July, as well. Would you like to see THIS one in as steel BB gun with Hop up? Wouldn’t THAT be too cool for school?

Crosman — semiauto Marauder

I know you guys are interested in this rifle and have possible seen other quick looks at the new Marauder. So, when Crosman product manager Phillip Guadalupe showed it to me I looked with you guys in mind.

semiauto Marauder

The new semiautomatic Marauder is attracting a lot of interest.

What about the trigger? Well, because this is a semiauto and the sear has to be caught on the fly, this rifle doesn’t have the same trigger as the conventional Marauder. The first stage is very long and to tell the truth I could not feel stage two. The rifle just fired. The trigger is somewhat adjustable but not as much as the Marauder trigger you are used to.

Marauder charging handle

The semiauto Marauder is cocked with a charging handle.

The new rifle is a little more powerful than the conventional Marauder. Crosman says 29 foot-pounds in .22 caliber and the regulator helps you get 60 shots on a fill. I have to test one as soon as I can.

Havoc Prime dart blaster

This is Friday so I want to leave you guys with smiles on your faces. For that Phillip showed me the Havoc Prime dart blaster — a pump-action nerf gun that shoots foam “darts” at 130 f.p.s. Other nerf guns are only half that fast. And this one is rifled! Grandpas of the world, here is another one for you to make trouble with, and this one will probably get you in trouble with Grandma, so a second benefit!

Havoc Prime dart blaster

The Havoc Prime dart blaster looks like fun!

Havoc Prime darts

The Havoc darts are supposed to fly straight and far!

Summary

This SHOT Show stands out as the best one I’ve ever seen. I have a lot more stuff to show you but I’m going to give it a breather for a couple days and come back next week to finish up.

Oh, and Diana does not have a semiautomatic M1 Garand pellet rifle coming out this year. Sorry guys!

And so, in the words of the immortal Porky Pig, “I believe we’ve come to the end of our operating hours, ladies and gentlemen.”


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.

122 thoughts on “2020 SHOT Show Day Three”

      • BB

        I saw you in the background and it looked like you had had a very busy day!

        Yeah, Rossi is kinda of a live-wire eh! Haven’t seen your interview with him – do you have a link to it?

        Hank

      • BB: You could have been tired enough to leave off the Havoc Prime Dart Blaster! One of grandtwins, this past fall, who is seven, became EXTREMELY annoyed with her 14 year old elder half-brother. He, of course, began to annoy her even more (as teen brothers are wont to do). The grandtwin went for her Nerf revolver, filled the cylinder, came back to the dinner table (where the friction started) and started shooting her brother in the head to the point he had to take a plastic place mat to fend off the well-aimed darts until his sister ran out of ammo. The family was stunned and learned a very important lesson about her rage.

        I later shared this with my son, who is a major in the Army Engineers who first laughed and then observed that it was also kind of disturbing. Truly so!

        I am worried that my grandtwin now reads and might happen upon a “magnum” version, the Havoc Prime. The saving grace is that it takes a seven-year-old some time to save up the coins to buy one. Should I put a “red flag” alert on my grandtwin at P/A?

  1. Wow, loads of stuff, and I am sure there is still more to talk about, just no time.

    It looks like you need to start a calendar of upcoming reviews to keep them all straight and not get lost in the shuffle.

    Travel safe..

    Ian..

  2. At least one person wanting to see the new 850 was me and well last years version had an integrated suppressor, but looks more of the same now and i am ok with that as the new Fusion 2 is such a nice upgrade of the original so if it can manage 20m accuracy fine and if not the 850. I cant imagine those failing at that range though i am losing my ability to be shocked any longer though at least i know the good old Sheridan 2260MB is still around..

    I am not at all shocked by a more affordable compressor when you can easily find a Chinese proven model out there that can be used to fill bottles and cheaper. I am not meaning to undrstate having a company behind what you purchase. PCP is going more mainstream and in order for that to work the prices on compressors is going to come down as they should.

        • GF1,

          I am certain they will want to get it out as soon as possible. This is no longer Crosman. These big conglomerates want to increase their profit margins for the shareholders and they want to do it now.

          About Christmas time or next Shot Show they will bring out the Gen 2. By then they will have learned from all of the consumer input what they got wrong and figured out how to fix it.

  3. This is shaping up to be the year the monopolies are busted.

    A nice looking walnut stocked air rifle that shoots .177, .22 and .25 for under $800 instead of over $2000. Semi for under $600. Bullpups for $800 instead of $1300 to $2000. More price point PCP’s that can shoot as well if not better than their expensive counterparts. More and bigger big bore.

    It looks like BB is going to be very busy this year.

    I may have to build an addition onto RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns.

    • RR,

      Agree totally – the pricing on these new offerings will probably put downward pressure on the high-end stuff.

      Think that price-point HPA compressors will address the “cost of admission” to the world of PCPs and attract more people. I know that a lot of my friends love coming over and shooting my PCPs but are hanging back because of the cost of an air source.

      It would be great if they added a small (1 liter or so) reservoir to the compressor to turn it into a bonafide “fill station”. The compressor could keep the reservoir topped off to be instantly ready to fill the gun – no need to have a big tank.

      Hank

      • Hank,
        I agree with the idea of a reservoir but it will add to the cost of the compressor. I would rather it be offered as an extra cost option. The after market could make a reservoir/fill unit that works with several different compressors. But that would just be a small bottle.
        Gerald

        • Gerald,

          True, would add cost but it would be convenient to have HPA on tap while plinking… just pssssst and go, and have the compressor automatically kick in to top off the reservoir while you are shooting.

          Idle thoughts on a Friday while I am wishing for shooting weather.

          Hank

      • Hank,

        Issues arise. The reservoir will collect moisture, therefor needs a drain. The reservoir also needs to withstand regular usage of 4500 PSI. Different airguns use different pressures. You had better be careful when filling a 2K PSI rifle when the tank is at 4.5K PSI.

        Your best bet would be to invest in a small buddy bottle rig with a regulated output. A common setup has a 4500 PSI tank and a 2900 PSI output. The buddy bottle is small enough that after the initial fill the small compressors should not have too much trouble topping them off. Of course this is a W.A.G. on my part as I have never tried it. My compressor will handle 100 CF tanks all day long.

        • RR,

          You know that I worked with engineers my whole career so, sitting in my “engineering armchair” I am sure that adding a regulator (like I have on my shop compressor) to the tank could be done and some sort of automatic moisture purge system could be designed.

          Just speculating you know 🙂

          I have the same HPA compressor as you RR.

          Hank

            • R.R., Hank, and Readership,

              This discussion about compressors like the Ready Air compressor shows how quickly the Armchair Engineers forget about the KISS principal, Lol! A regulated fill station!!! That sounds like wasted complexity and a danger to new to filling Airgunners. Much better to go with a slow flow restrictor and have folks observe the guage and monitor the fill to keep from just opening the valve full blast and scorch those poor little O-Rings!!! The size of this “little” compressor reservoir is interesting too! How would you size it? For the biggest air tube/onboard bottle? If it is a BIG BORE or even one of the many shot count bottle guns running at anything over 3,500psi the compressor reservoir is going to need to be suprisingly large for even just topping up or you won’t reach the FULL fill pressure without the compressor running which defeats the whole concept of these small compressors. As for hunting applications I can see the game hearing the compressor(s) and learning to duck and cover in short order!

              Bummer! Huh!

              shootski

              • Shootski,

                Another good point. Not about the noise, but the size of the reservoir. My compressor can fill a 100 cubic foot CF bottle from zero to 4500 PSI in one hour. It has no reservoir. This would only be a hindrance, something else to maintain. Just how big a reservoir would I need? Those little compressors are not made to fill big tanks.

                • R.R.,

                  “Another good point. Not about the noise…”

                  SO! You don’t think the noise angle is a good point too! ???
                  I have skied into my stalking area n the Moonlight and beat the, “‘nother cup a coffee crowd” and watched Mulies slink off to better cover as they heard the Pickup truck doors slam down at the trailhead parking lot; more than a mile away! If the hunters do compressor fills in that same lot I can just see the Mulies grins as they get a move along going!

                  shootski

                    • R.R.,

                      For deer, elk, goats probably once if I do my job right. For coyote as many as come to a call. For smaller game whatever the legal limit is would be good if I’m lucky enough. I get your idea of the proper time to refill your rifle but that doesn’t mean that some Airgun hunters won’t wait to fill in the trailhead parking lot before starting the hunt. Just like they often generally make noise, talk loudly, slam their doors, and tailgates before walking in.
                      Sorry RidgeRunner half of my post was to fun you and half was in frustration at bad hunter behavior experienced recently. My bad!

                      shootski

                  • Shootski,

                    No need for apology. I have witnessed this myself. If they want to fill their guns at the trail head before the hunt, so be it. More for me. It would not be the first time I have used this crowd as my drivers.

              • Shootski,

                I have a 98 cu. in. CF bottle. If full at 4,500,.. I can top off the Red Wolf 480cc tank (3600), the M-rod (3000) and the Maximus (3000). That is after all guns are shot down. At that point, I would not have enough to fill any of them again.

                So, something like a 98cc tank would the minimum to strap/combine to one of these small compressors (and not have it cut on during a refill), which would indeed add cost as a “fill station”.

                I have never went from pump to gun and not sure I would ever want to. On the Red Wolf,.. even after a very slow valve open and filling over 2 minutes,.. I have to fill to 260 bar to get it to settle down to 250 bar. That is with a digital gauge on the gun too. And, that is with cooled air already in the tank that has a 2″ gauge.

                It is nice though to see these small compressors coming to market and able to fill directly to a gun. GF1 I believe goes direct to gun with his pump with no issues.

                Chris

                • Chris,
                  Do you still use the shoebox compressor to fill your tanks or airguns? Or, have you stepped up to another larger compressor? This new Umarex compressor looks to be about the same size and operate in the same fashion as the Nomad II, but $200 less money.
                  I don’t see an advantage of designing a reservoir into the compressor. On these small portable units it would add cost, weight, and size. That would defeat the intended use of portability in my opinion. If one wants an actual fill station, buy a CF tank.
                  Geo

                  • Geo,

                    I still use the Shoebox. I have a “10” kit (longer belt and bigger pulley) but have not used it yet. 3600 to 4400 in 25 minutes for 98 cc tank.,… hard data. Plus, I have multiple O-ring kits that came with it. There is better now, I do believe. I will stay with it until it gives up and totally dies,… and I use up the rebuild kits.

                    Chris

                    • I would guess that the key to longevity on these small compressors is to not allow them to get too hot. Several sessions of short duration rather than long sessions of 30 minutes, or more. This would be similar to hand pump use, don’t let them get hot.

  4. Posting issues:

    – I did get e-mail notifications (responses to my post) from yesterday.

    – I did try a post this AM and waited for the error page to display. I went < (page back) and went back to blog and comments and it was not there. Before,… this worked and the comment was there.

    – Edit time is back to 30 minutes

    – Reading other's comments on what methods were working and what was not from yesterday, here is what I did this AM,..

    Open the blog in another tab. You now have 2 of the same page open. Reply on one and after hitting "post comment", (( X out immediately )),.. page closes. On the other page, still open,… hit refresh. The post will appear.

    Edit: Right click on the “reply” at the bottom of a comment, hit “open in a new tab” works also and a bit easier to do.

  5. BB
    Well I’m up for two Semi-Auto Marauders to replace the bolt actions in my “Full Dress” and “Heavy Metal” RAI Chassis + conversions. All the better if I can convert them to Full-Auto and make them “Walk the walk”.

    Are you aware of any reason they may not fit in the RAI Chassis? Or should I contact Crosman direct?

    Thanks for the time and effort you put into the Shot Show for us. This sonny had aching shoulders and calves just walking around a local swap meet for a few hours the other day. And that will be my last. I don’t care for Mexican music blasting in my ear all day. The times have changed here in Southern California for sure.

    I was going to add some info to the last M1 Carbine Blog but missed it and the list of Items I found during my full-auto conversion disassembly and stock swap. Been a while. Will look for my list soon and add a note to the future current days blog for anyone who may want to revisit the M1 blog.
    Bob M

    • Hey Bob,

      You may have trouble with the new trigger assembly fitting the RAI chassis, I do not know. I did notice that they have changed the shape of that big clunky stock. It is not a bad looking piece of wood now.

      • RR
        Could be but there is a good size opening in the RAI stock and everything can be modified.
        Fired off a question to Crosman about it.
        Looks like the Armada stock will not work with the charging handle without some modification. Perhaps they will come out with a Semi-Auto Armada and save me a lot of trouble?
        Agree with you on the wood stock.
        Bob M.

        • Bob
          They say it’s a different trigger than what the Marauder has. So the question is did they just change the internals of the trigger for the semi auto Marauders and the outside is still the same. If I know Crosman how they been lately they have been changing bolt patrerns so you cant swap certain things to certain guns.

          I know I’ll be watching. But what I have found throughout time with Crosman is the parts diagram will follow some time after the gun gets released. So who ever gets one of the semi auto Marauders will be the ones that will tell the story. I want one. And I have had many Marauders and Crosman and Benjamin guns of this type. So I will give a update if I get my hands on one.

  6. My curiosity concerns the Cayden and it’s siblings. Besides whether they can shoot, I am wondering who built them.

    I also noticed the Diana 34 has been updated and is now modular. Instead of having 47 varieties of 34’s, you can change sights, add muzzle brake or silencer, change coil spring to gas spring and if you are ambitious you can change calibers.

  7. There is almost too much to take in. We really are in the golden age of air guns. PCP’s, compressors, ammo in all shapes and sizes, arrow shooters,big bores and semi and full auto…BB I think your plate just went from full to overloaded. If you get too far behind I am sure there are a few readers who would gladly volunteer to “pretest” an item or two for you….Just to ease your burden.

    • Rk,

      “…BB I think your plate just went from full to overloaded.”
      Rk, B.B. goes to the Shot Show each year and orders the See Food Platter! This year they had a BOGO deal that B.B. fell for! Lol!

      shootski

  8. B.B.

    With respect to replica pellet pistols, I’m eager to read the reviews of the new Umarex PPQ M2 and the Glock 17 Gen 5. I’m particularly eager to see how well each of those two work with that new pellet belt magazine.

      • Me too – out of all of these the one I’m really curious about is this belt fed PPQ. I keep looking back at Pyramid Air and considering pre-ordering one. The Sig M17 has become one of my favorite pellet pistols.
        The only big drawback with belt fed/rotary clip pellet pistols is the terrible triggers on them due to the indexing of the clip/belt with the trigger pull.
        From the pictures (if they’re not generic stock pictures), it looks like the pellet PPQ has a slide catch on the side … I’m really curious – why don’t they make a blowback pellet pistol that will index the belt with the slide action? This could fix the trigger issues and could make pellet pistols superior to the BB ones in absolutely every way … here’s to hoping they did something like this on the new pellet PPQ!

  9. BB,

    Did Diana give you any indication that they are working on a prototype Garand PCP? I’m thinking with Air Venturi coming out with the underlever version, Diana May leave it up to them to come out with the PCP version as well. Did Air Venturi give you any idea about the price point for the M1A? Also, were there any semi-auto pellet rifles from the 60’s-80’s

    Brent

  10. B.B.,

    I suspect (and hope) the Ready Air will be a domino falling in the small, more affordable compressor market. This year the Ready Air, in two years a competitor comes out with a similar product for $425 MSRP, the year after that, etc.

    And low-volume ability is not a problem, really. How many PCP owners want a small-bore to take with them on a weekend camping trip? With a compressor like this, one doesn’t need to purchase any bottles at all, just a small PCP and the compressor. The savings of not buying a bottle and accessories almost pay for the compressor.

    We are probably just three years away from a total expenditure of only $600 for a complete PCP package: rifle, scope and compressor. I envision a day in the near future when a $629 bundle includes those three items along with a sling, rifle bag and 1000 pellets.

    This is an especially exciting Shot Show for airgunners.

    Michael

  11. B.B.
    Grand Ma’s pretty touchy about what triggers get pulled in the house, now that there’s young’uns about. I couldn’t find the Havoc Prime on Amazon. I don’t think Pyramid will order any of these.
    Is there a release date? I mean, double the velocity, thats a significant force multiplier. We must keep the spear point sharp.
    Best!
    Rob

  12. A 500$ compressor, and an ambi bullpup, elation doesn’t come close to describing my excitement! The icing on the cake would be getting this Crosman 160 I’ve got my on! Here’s to a year of airgunning after a too long time away. Great report, great show, get some well deserved rest.

  13. B.B.,
    I’m very excited about the new Umarex guns. Love the looks Fusion 2 and this should do away with the quirky valve it had. BUT, disappointed in no open sights still!. On the Origin, WOW. That could be a game changer for sure, but again no open sight option (Geez I guess I’m old school). The one that interests me most though is the 850M2. YES PLEASE test this gun again. It was always said to be accurate and had a big cult following, with blog groups, message boards and even web sites/companys just for this gun. But they seemed to have falling off and some vanished over the years. Too bad. This is the one air gun that has most tempted me to lay down my 22LR, yet for some reason I never bought one. This news has brought it back to my mind. I really hope there is a 2 12 gr cart adapter for it and at a reasonable price for the adapter.

    Doc

  14. BB
    At the risk of opening Pandora’s Box can a 1 or 2 second video be posted on the blog? Not sure how to go about it for now. A link? I have never posted on u tube. I remember receiving one for an all metal airsoft M11 I purchased on eBay. Noticed a GIF image option below but an M1 Carbine airgun shooting full auto without sound is not very impressive.
    Bob M

    • Bob
      You got to go to You Tube and load the video. Make sure you got it edited how you want before you put it on You Tube.

      Once you do that it’s as simple as posting the link.

      Well that show I do it anyway. Goodluck. Will be waiting to see. Noth’n like some full auto video. 🙂

    • Bob,

      Like Gunfun1 says you can post on You Tube but there are other options, look here https://www.freemake.com/blog/top-7-free-video-sharing-sites/

      Most of these are free but come with a fee if you exceed file sizes, not really a fan of You Tube as they have been censoring a lot of content and I do not know a lot about these recommended sites but just showing some options.

      It would be nice if Pyramyd AIR would allow videos but the file size for most videos is kinda large and I think they want to keep their server space for other things.

      Mike

      • Mike,

        I can barely post a pic (but learning), but I do not think that posting a (link) to a video takes up much PA space. A video that (is) on the blog site,.. (like when BB does one in a blog),.. I think that would take up some space. I also think that I pic that we post would take up some as well.

        I could have that all wrong, but I do not think that a link to a video is an issue.

        Chris

        • No, you got it right Chris. A simple link to a web site is mere text and takes no space at all. Now a video on this blog, that would take a lot of space as the file sizes of videos are huge. I take 15 second videos with my trail camera and the file size is about 30 MBs, or equivalent to about 15 high resolution photos.

    • Bob,

      The WordPress limit for pix is 2 megabytes. A 2-second video would be ten times larger.

      So the answer is no. It’s not Pyramyd Air’s decision — it’s the blog-hosting software we use called WordPress.

      That’s what places like You Tube are for.

      B.B.

  15. Thanks for the advice on videos guys.
    I have run out of my basic monthly allowance for dish satellite internet service and it has slowed down to a crawl and may give me some problems but I will give it a go as soon as I can. I am not into any social media so this will be sort of a challenge.
    Now I just need to figure out which of my three M1 Carbines, 1 airsoft, 2 bb, was modified to full auto 🙁
    Bob M

  16. B.B.,

    The M1A1 certainly was and still is a blast to let rip!

    “You bigger guys will appreciate the gun’s very long pull! As compact as it is, you feel like you’re holding daddy’s shotgun when you shoulder it.”

    Your comment above made me think of Sargent Saunders (Vic Morrow of the 1960’s TV show Combat) He was short 5’9″ and never shouldered his Thompson; always shot it from a Low Ready (the Hip) Lol! The Thompson can be shot with a decent amount of accuracy, for a submachine gun, when shouldered. It saw extensive service well into the SE Asia unpleasantness. I still went with the heavily modified “Mattelomatic furniture, short barrel, and metal folding stocked” M14K if I had the choice because of the better effective range.

    shootski

  17. Why do I have a fascination with guns? Sure the easy answer is that similar to Tom my mom never allowed guns in the house, maybe she was just overly cautious, maybe she had a bad experience in her youth, I wish I would have asked. Without a doubt that contributed to my fetish, but it goes deeper, much deeper.
    Complexity, after giving this much consideration complexity is the best, truest answer. I gravitate towards things that are complex, a common denominator here that I have noticed as I read the blog and comments
    . Prior to the digital age photography also captured my attention. There are so many different ways to capture the same image, so many paths that lead to different results describing the same moment. Reading about Ansel Adams or Stieglitz and their attention to detail in framing and composition followed by their understanding of the advantages of different cameras and lenses. The darkroom work of development, types of paper etc is why it piqued my interest, it was so complex. Maybe that’s why they call it shooting a picture.
    Automobiles and the different ways to achieve the same results on the track. High rpm small blocks vs big blocks with monstrous amounts of torque . The benefits of a manual compared to an automatic transmission. The different ways all that horsepower is conveyed to the pavement. All means to a common end, complex decisions that require a depth of understanding that boggles the average mind . These subjects and more are discussed in depth by the readers here.
    At one time or another these and other puzzle like interests have occupied my time and mind. None have had the staying power that guns, and in particular Airguns have had and will continue to have. I attribute a lot of that to Tom and the readership . While different subjects are broached on this blog razors, metal detectors, and hopefully drones as well all captivating and interesting mostly it’s the like minds of the readers that keeps me coming back for more. I appreciate the information and insight distributed in the most polite fashion, but mostly I appreciate your complexity which for me equates to intelligence, something in no short supply here. So thank each and everyone of you, past and present for your influence on me, as well as your indulgence for this long winded post.

    Carl

    • Coduece,

      Well said Carl!

      This blog and community of Tom’s is SPECIAL thing.
      Complexity…but with a twist of rationality!
      Photography, tools, cars, motorcycles, aircraft, boats, life saving, ski waxing and weapons are all in my ken.

      shootski

      • Shootski,

        “….. all in my ken.”,….. ? That is not one I have heard before. I like odd words and odd phrases,… at least ones that I am not familiar with. Things that you are familiar with? Things that are like family,… because you know and understand them so well,….. I presume?

        Would you attribute that phrase to any particular part of the United States?

        Chris

        • Chris USA,

          Ken: comes from middle English (1600s) in the vocabulary of sailors with navigational skills. It is the maximum distance, 20NM, that can be seen to the horizon from the Crow’snest. So the Ken is all those sailors could know of the sea around them. The current usage is mostly found in the North of the UK but mostly in Scotland. It means within ones knowledge. I spent quite a bit of time during the Cold War in places like Machrihanish, Lossiemouth, and Wyton.

          shootski

          • Shootski,

            Thank you for that great definition,.. along with the historical and current day usage thrown in to boot. I won’t be forgetting that one anytime soon. 🙂

            Chris

    • Coduece,

      Well Sir!,… You have certainly set the bar VERY high for any future posts this weekend!!!! Dang dude! 😉

      “Spot on”!,… as those from “across the pond” might be inclined to utter on occasion. 🙂

      Chris

  18. If it’s not obvious I’m bored. Since the weather has been cooperating I spent the first couple of days of retirement cleaning and getting reacquainting with my guns that have seen far too little use the last couple years. My 392 was bone dry but an application of tranny sealer and Pellgunoil oil brought it back around. The 101 was still holding air and shooting fine. Played with the em-ge krone, best pellet AA diablo. After reading various vintage blogs finally realized I haven’t been getting my eyes close enough to the sights wow did that improve things especially with the 392 and its Williams peep. My head position really changed everything had to totally readjust the sight. That’s all can’t wait for spring!

      • Chris
        Just sent my first target to a gentleman in Great Britain for evaluation should get some feedback soon. After a tumultuous couple years ready to get back in it haven’t had any sent back had one sitting outside for two years still spins.
        Carl

          • GF1,
            Rick Rehm does make some fantastic trick shots. But I do believe he shows everything, and does not doctor up his videos to make it look as if he never misses. If you watched the video, you saw that he actually adjusted the scope elevation so he did have some idea of the trajectory. There was some luck involved too because when he previously shot the 3-shot group it measured 6″. So, that wasn’t quite paint can accurate. He did miss the paint can on his first shot, but then adjusted for the wind. He is a reviewer so I don’t think that owns all of the airguns he reviews. I may be wrong, but this is how he comes across to me.
            Geo

            • Geo,

              As always, thanks for posting the links. I agree in that I think all of the regular (now famous?) guys doing the you-tube bits are honest. (Of course) there is a lot of shooting prior to filming. The mere fact that they are going to all of the time and effort to do all the (pre-shoot) testing,.. plan a film format,.. edit,… and put it out there for the rest of us,… I am very grateful.

              It shows us what we could do if we were reviewers,… but it also shows the average folk what is possible. GF1 pushes the limits all of the time on anything he gets. He,.. of anyone,… should know what it takes to get to the (end) of shooting extreme distance successfully. It ain’t the very first shot! 😉

              I like that he dialed in the target. I use hold over, but would like to explore the dialing bit further. No stiction would be key to making that work. (no making a few shots for the scope to “settle back in”,.. to put it another way.)

              Chris

              • Yes, I agree. Dialing in the range is interesting. Don’t know if you have watched any of Matt Dubber’s videos, but he has the various ranges for his rifle calculated and has a tape on his elevation. He uses a range finder and just dials in the distance on the scope. He makes it look easy…I’m certain that it is not. I do believe the scopes he uses are $1000 plus too. They would have to very high end scopes to be able to just dial the range and be right on, I would think.
                Geo

                • Geo,

                  I watch what (you) link because I do not find myself having the spare time to watch everything that is out there. I do have that one link that has a bunch of them all linked to one site,… but dare not click on it! 😉 I would get nothing done then. LOL! 🙂

                  I appreciate all of your efforts to post relevant links in a “just in time” manner for all of us to enjoy and learn from.

                  Chris

                  • Thanks Chris. I try to post links to information I think some our community might be interested in seeing. I get notifications from several YouTube reviewers and I post the ones I think most relevant.
                    Geo

      • Gunfun1,

        He dialed his elevation directly to the mark for all of his shots so no holdovers.
        I suspect just from some of his comments that they had spent several long days wringing out the dope to get it done. He said, “100X FPS was what the barrel harmonics/hybrid Slug wanted”…that right there tells me they/he shot lots of slugs down range just to find that.
        I found the shape of the hole in the spray can interesting too! Also, the vertical stringing on the 300 yd. target was informative as was the short impact on the 400 (IIRC) yd.
        STILL! It is impressive to see a .22 PRODUCTION airgun shooting to those kinds of distances with potential precision. I’m really not surprised since that potential has been known to the small bore PCP cognoscenti for at least three decades. I’ll add that DAQ .458 have been shot to 700M with similar accuracy. Are these kinds of long range efforts stunt shots? Certainly! Just think of the fog; that fog means that winds were under 5-6 MPH. Just looking at the very small and intermittent (field stubble showed no motion at all) ballon motion I would estimate puffs of air were less two miles per hour.

        I hope folks don’t start hunting live game to those kind of ranges.
        I didn’t think much of his parting hunting comments!

        shootski

        • Shootski,
          I think Rick said that conditions were near perfect with the wind at 1 mph. These long range stunt shots are interesting but of no practical use, definitely not of use for hunting. I have seen some of Matt Dubber’s videos where he shoots pigeons at up to 250 yards using slugs. He also uses VERY expensive scopes with calibrated elevation tape. Then of course, he’s a very good marksman, winning many of the airgun competitions. Not your average airgun shooter for sure. Oh, and he does shoot the FX Impact MII in his long range shooting videos.
          Geo

          • Geo791,

            Thanks for that Geo.
            I obviously missed his windspeed comment…I claim Senior privileges since I only watched the video once ;^). I have watched Matt shoot and he is an Expert Marksman. With airguns the 200+ shots are like 700+ shots with 2,500+fps powder burners.
            Once you get to 1/2 second of flight time or more that’s when shooting really separates the duffer’s from the Marksman regardless of power plant.

            shootski

            shootski

  19. B.B.

    Looks like lots of cool stuff at the Shot Show. Unfortunately, none of it is cool stuff that interests me.
    Seems like alot of the cool stuff is not really pellet airguns, but the broader category of air powered projectile guns.
    In this vein, the 2 air powered projectile guns that interest me, and hint hint, and would make good blog topics.

    1-Air powered cannons that can launch pumpkins impressive distances.
    2-At several indoor sporting events, there is a device that launches t-shirts and other promotional material several hundreds of feet into the crowd. I assume that inaccuracy is a plus in these contraptions.

    Enjoy the rest of the show,

    -Yogi

  20. The Umarex Thompson is their big entry for replicas, but that doesn’t make up for what appears to be their abandonment of the heritage pistol line, and the Western replicas. Pretty sad. The groundbreaking Peacemakers have all but been forgotten , and no new variations of the 1894.

  21. I do not know if anyone has brought this up yet but Beeman is bringing a $700 10 meter air rifle to market. I think Steyr, Anschutz and Feinwerkbau are not going to be happy about that.

  22. BB: I hope my seven-year-old grandtwin never sees the Havoc Prime Dart Blaster and its ammo. She is a deadly shot with her current Nerf revolver and shot her half-brother till the ammo ran out at dinner one memorable meal in the fall. He, being 14 was annoying her and she got her shootin’ iron and emptied it with deadly accuracy at his head. Her brother had to shield himself with a table placemat until his sister ran out of ammo….

    Please inform P/A that they are NOT to sell any Havoc Prime Dart Blasters to 7 year old girls in the Sandusky, Ohio, area, or my very annoying teenage grandson will have to permanently wear a full-face motorcycle helmet!

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