Category Archives: Airgun History Project

History of airguns posts

The difference between strikers and hammers

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • What are firearms?
  • What is an explosion?
  • What starts the burning?
  • Ignition
  • Smokeless powder
  • The hammer-fired system
  • Evolution
  • Hidden hammer
  • Striker
  • On the airguns
  • Valve stem
  • Summary

Today I want to explore a gray area in airguns. It’s gray because airguns operate differently than firearms, so we will begin our discussion with firearms for better understanding.

What are firearms?

Firearms are devices that launch projectiles by means of a chemical explosion. To start the explosion there needs to be some kind of initiator. In the beginning, when the gunpowder that we call black powder was in use, all it took was a spark or a hot coal to start the explosion.

What is an explosion?

An explosion is a violent expansion of gasses. Pop a balloon and it explodes. Anything that burns can explode under the right circumstances — even dust. The flour that bread is made from can explode so violently that it can kill people and even level huge buildings. read more

Diana 35: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 35
Diana 35 pellet rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Disassembly
  • Trigger pin
  • Mainspring and guide out
  • Dry inside
  • Out comes the piston
  • Cleanup
  • Assembly and lubrication
  • Mainspring
  • Gettin’ it back together
  • Assembling the trigger
  • Done
  • The difference
  • How does it work?
  • Summary

Today we do something that’s been on my mind for months. This Diana 35 was part of a deal I made with reader, Carel, from the Netherlands. I bought it because I wanted to turn a larger Diana into a sweet-shooting rifle like reader, Michael’s, Winchester 427/Diana 27 that turned out so nice. The Diana 35 is larger than the model 27 and I thought it was quite similar in the powerplant, which would allow me to tune it the same. It turned out there are significant differences between the two rifles that I discovered as I did the work for today’s blog. We are now going to disassemble, clean, and lubricate a Diana 35. read more

ASG CZ 75 Shadow 2 airsoft pistol: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

CZ75 Shadow 2
ASG’s CZ 75 Shadow 2 airsoft pistol.

Part 1

This report covers:

  • The history of airsoft
  • BB gun wars
  • Airsoft shooters
  • How accurate is airsoft?
  • This pistol
  • 0.25 gram “BBs”
  • Biodegradeable
  • Remove the magazine floorplate
  • Fill
  • Load BBs
  • Velocity
  • Trigger pull
  • Slide blows back
  • Accuracy
  • Summary

Get ready for an odd report! Today we look at the velocity of the ASG CZ 75 Shadow 2 airsoft pistol. As I told you in Part 1, this is not your run-of-the-mill airsoft pistol. It retails for $180 and is considered a serious competition airsoft gun — just as the thousand-plus dollar firearm (suggested retail of $1,349.00 for the USPSA Production Division) equivalent is considered ready-to-go right out of the box. Of course no champion will ever leave a gun alone — be it firearm or airsoft, so look for another $500 to $1,000 worth of modifications and accessories to be to be bought/made for/ to the airsoft gun — so long as they remain within the rules. read more

Smith & Wesson 78G and 79G target pistols: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

S&W 78G
My S&W 78G pistol.

A history of airguns

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Today’s report is written by reader 45Bravo. This is his report to us on the Daisy air pistols that followed the S&W 78G and 79G.

If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email me.

And now, over to you, 45Bravo.

The decline of the Smith & Wesson 78-79 series

This report covers:

  • History
  • What’s on the outside
  • On the inside
  • Daisy trigger
  • Daisy model 41
  • Daisy 7900?
  • So, how do they shoot?
  • S&W #2074 has Mac1 upgrades in valve poppet and valve spring, and o-rings
  • S&W #3248 has factory poppet and valve spring, but new o-rings
  • S&W 79G has factory poppet and valve spring, with new o-rings
  • The Daisy 790 has Mac1 upgraded poppet and valve spring and o-rings
  • Why would I throw over $100 in parts into a Daisy 790?
  • Summary
  • The Daisy Line?

The decline of the Smith & Wesson 78-79 series

These observations come from having 4 of the guns at my disposal at this time.
A 78g serial number 2074, with a manual dated 4/71.
A 78g, serial number 3248.
A 79g, serial number 294,6XX, with a manual dated revised 11/77
And a Daisy 790, serial number 3J00891 (third change). read more

Smith & Wesson 78G and 79G target pistols: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

S&W 78G
My S&W 78G pistol.

A history of airguns

Part 1
Part 2

This report covers:

  • Blog data helpful
  • The test
  • RWS Meisterkugeln
  • Air Arms 16-grain dome
  • Air Arms dome group 2
  • Air Arms dome group 3
  • Summary

Today we look at the accuracy of my S&W 78G pellet pistol. Normally this would be the final report in the series, but reader 45Bravo has given us a guest blog that shows the difference between the S&W pistols and the pistols made by Daisy, so there is at least one more installment coming.

Blog data helpful

I find the blog is a good place to make notes for the future, so today I looked over Part 2 to find out what sort of shot count I could count on. And also in Part 2 I showed you the manual that says to leave a CO2 cartridge in the gun for storage, so I knew there was a fresh CO2 cartridge inside, because last time I exhausted the gas at the end of the report. Today I can shoot at least 20 good shots from one cartridge. read more

Smith & Wesson 78G and 79G target pistols: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

S&W 78G
My S&W 78G pistol.

A history of airguns

Part 1

This report covers:

  • Something special
  • Velocity
  • RWS Hobby
  • Shot count
  • Little trick
  • 12.5-gram CO2 cartridges
  • Crosman Premiers
  • H&N Baracudas
  • Trigger pull
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Something special

Before we begin let me remind all of you that today is the 3rd of June — another sleepy dusty delta day. Stay away from Choctaw Ridge!

The comments to Part 1 of this report show that there are many airgunners who appreciate these air pistols. I mentioned in Part 1 that after 1980, Daisy took over the manufacture of these pistols and designated them models 780 and 790. In 1984 they brought out the silver-colored Daisy model 41 that was made only in that year. According to the Blue Book of Airguns the 780 was made from 1982 to 1983. The 790 was made from 1982 to 1988. read more

Diana 35: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 35
Diana 35 pellet rifle.

Part 1
Part 2

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Sight in
  • Air Arms Falcons
  • Season the bore
  • Other pellets
  • RWS Superdome
  • RWS Superpoint
  • Discussion
  • Summary

I’m testing the accuracy of the Diana 35 today. I hadn’t planned to do that before I opened the rifle and at least lubricated it, but I’m now glad that I did. The trigger on this rifle is adjusted as good as I can get it, but it’s still a bit vague where stage two begins. I think a good lubrication of the trigger parts will help that a lot. So, what you see today could improve.

Also, I note that this rifle is cocking as easily as a Diana 27, yet it is more powerful. It isn’t up to the full spec of a 35, but the cocking effort is so much less that, unless the mainspring is severely canted, I might just leave it as it is. It’s sort of exactly what I was hoping for when I dreamed the whole thing up while working on Michael’s Winchester 427/Diana 27. read more