Category Archives: Roundballs

Something else

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • Always something else
  • Change it
  • Make ‘em pumpers
  • Farco air shotgun
  • A good rifle
  • The 1873 Springfield
  • A long shot
  • The point
  • Summary

Always something else

One thing has stood out about airgunners for me. No matter what you are talking about, they always seem to want something else — something different. I remember many years ago when powerful precharged guns didn’t exist, the Yewah 3B Dynamite multi pump from Korea was looked at as a big deal. It was powerful, large caliber (.25) and airgunners were in awe of it — mainly because few of them had ever seen one.

Change it

Then I read about a guy who had one and reported how very powerful it was, but, man, was it ever hard to pump! The 3B required 150 pump strokes to fill initially, and then you could top it off after every shot with another 20 pumps. This fellow liked the power but hated all the work. So he machined a fill coupling and turned his 3B into a precharged airgun! He said the gun became lighter when the pump mechanism was removed, and it was no longer a chore to fill.

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Sig Sauer Spartan BB pistol: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Sig Spartan BB pistol
Sig Sauer Spartan BB pistol offers a lot of pistol at a budget price.

Part 1
Part 2 

This report covers:

  • The test
  • H&N Smart Shot
  • Hornady Black Diamond BBs
  • The trigger
  • Air Venturi Zinc-Plated BBs
  • Overall evaluation

It’s accuracy day for the the Sig Spartan BB pistol, and I have to tell you I am excited. The trigger on this pistol, while heavy, breaks so crisply that I am expecting good things.

The test

I shot from 5 meters, seated and resting my shooting arm on a UTG Monopod. The Spartan’s sights are fixed but they are wide enough for good accuracy and the front post is sharp. There was no problem seeing the sights on the target for a 6 o’clock hold.

H&N Smart Shot

I tried the H&N Smart Shot lead BBs first. I did that because the Spartan only got 40 good shots on a CO2 cartridge in Part 2 and I wanted the pistol to be as powerful as possible with this heavier BB.

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Nothing new under the sun

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • You made me do it
  • Air shotguns
  • You don’t understand!
  • BUT — it’s been done
  • All-metal 760
  • Summary

You made me do it

I should give credit for today’s short blog to you readers, because if it weren’t for your investigations into a more efficient insect killer this past weekend, I never would have written this report.

Air shotguns

You talked about an air-powered shotgun all weekend. Veteran readers are aware I have written about air shotguns many times in the past.

Air shotguns

and

Air Shotguns, Part 5 – the Yewha

and

Two more air shotguns – Paul and Vincent

and

Air shotguns, part 3: the Crosman Trapmaster 1100

and

Air shotguns, part 2: the Fire 201

and

Air shotguns, part 1: the Farco

and we can’t forget my 3-part test of the Gamo Viper Express

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Sig P320 pellet and BB pistol: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Sig P320 pistol
Sig P320 pellet and BB pistol.

Part 1
Part 2

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Air Venturi Steel BBs
  • Hornady Black Diamond BBs
  • Analysis
  • Trigger
  • Belt reliability
  • Air Venturi Smart Shot BBs
  • Evaluation

Today I look at the accuracy of the Sig Sauer P320 pellet pistol with BBs. These combination guns can sometimes be great with both BBs and pellets, but usually they are good with one and not as good with the other. The difference is due to the size difference of the projectiles. We will look at the accuracy with pellets in Part 4, so today it’s just BBs.

The test

I shot from 5 meters (just over 16 feet) with the pistol resting on the UTG Monopod. I was seated, so only the pistol was being tested — not me. This pistol has good crisp sights for target work, though they are not adjustable.

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Ballistic coefficient: What is it? Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

Last week I republished Part 1 of this discussion about ballistic coefficients because I was out of town helping my sister. I’m back in the office, but Part 2 of this report is necessary to close the loop. So here we go.

This report covers:
• Review
• Today’s discussion
• Round balls
• Conical bullets
• Smokeless powder
• A big point
• Shape
• Round balls — again
• The bottom line

I’ve taken 11 months to return to this subject of ballistic coefficients (BC). That was in spite of some tremendous interest in Part 1 of this report last May.

I’m purposely avoiding all discussion of mathematics, which is difficult, since ballistics is a discipline that heavily employs mathematics. But I’m not qualified to write about the math; and, more importantly, I know that 99 percent of my readers would be turned off if I were to write the report that way.

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Ballistic coefficient: What is it? Part 1

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by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

I’m still out of state, caring for my sister who had several operations last week. This report is a 2-parter that generated a lot of interest in 2014 and 2015.

This report addresses:

• Definition of ballistic coefficient (BC).
• How are BCs determined?
• Bullets and pellets have an additional factor.
• BCs are not constants.
• BC is an expression of how much velocity is lost in flight.
• How to cheat the BC numbers.

If ever there was an elephant in a room full of airgunners — this is it! Ballistic coefficient. It seems like everybody talks about it, but what does it mean?

Definition
Ballistic coefficient (BC) is the measure of a ballistic projectile’s ability to overcome air resistance in flight. It’s stated as a decimal fraction smaller than one. When diabolo pellets are discussed, the BCs are very low numbers in the 0.010 to 0.045 range because diabolos are purposely designed to slow down in the air. Their wasp waists, flared skirts and hollow tails all contribute to very high drag that rapidly slows them down — much like a badminton birdie. Lead bullets, in contrast, have BCs between 0.150 and 0.450.

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Long-range handgun shooting

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • Sixguns
  • Artillery
  • A snubnosed .38
  • It’s easy!

I was asked to write this report, and I’m glad to do it. I made the statement that I shot Colt Single Action revolvers at 300 yards and apparently some readers were intrigued. Actually, that wasn’t the whole story, so today you’re getting the rest of it.

Sixguns

I acquired the book Sixguns by Elmer Keith when I was a stunt gunfighter at Frontier Village amusement park in San Jose California in the late 1960s. I was young and impressionable at the time, so I didn’t know that Elmer Keith was widely held to be a liar. He reported taking several long-range handgun shots that got him game and the couch reporters of the day didn’t believe him. But I did, so I tried what he wrote and discovered that it does work. I guess I’m a liar, too!

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