Tag Archives: airguns

Hellboy semiautomatic BB gun: Part 1

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Hellboy BB gun
The Hellboy BB gun is a realistic semiautomatic repeater.

This report covers:

  • Features
  • Realism
  • Sights
  • Carry handle
  • Stock
  • Magazine
  • What’s it for?
  • Summary

Today I start testing the Hellboy-BB-gun from Hellraiser — an Air Venturi brand. This is a semiautomatic BB repeater in the form of an M4 tactical rifle. Several readers have been waiting for this review, so here we go!

Features

Yes, the Hellboy is semiautomatic. Despite having a selector switch that has the Safe, Semi and Auto positions, the Auto position does nothing. The gun will still fire semiautomatically when the selector is in that position. The selector is located in the right place for anyone who has used an M16, M4 or AR-15. read more

The airgun market in 2018

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • Serious airgunner
  • The market has exploded
  • No more cheap
  • The gun crisis
  • Where were airguns?
  • Firearm crossover
  • Airguns — cheap???
  • Is that all there is?
  • The future
  • The point?
  • Summary

When I started writing about airguns in 1994 there weren’t but about 5,000 to 15,000 serious airgunners in the U.S. No one knew for sure how many there were because there was very little data about this market. There may be disagreement on just how many there were but everyone agrees that the American airgun market was small.

Serious airgunner

Let me define what I mean by “serious airgunner,” because that has a bearing on what I’m saying. Airguns are very prevalent in the United States. I would estimate that millions of homes have at least one airgun, but that ranges from the family who just inherited their parents’ home and are unaware of the old Benjamin that’s stuck up in the rafters of the garage to homes like mine, where the number of airguns is greater than 50. There are a huge number of families with airguns, but most of those people cannot be considered serious shooters. My definition of a serious airgunner is someone who owns and shoots an airgun at least once each month. My experience is that if they do shoot an airgun that often, they shoot it a lot more than that! read more

ASG CZ 75 P-07 Duty BB pistol with blowback: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

ASG CZ 75 P-07 BB pistol
ASG CZ 75 P-07 Duty BB pistol with blowback.

Part 1

This report covers:

  • Stick magazine
  • The quirk
  • ASG Blaster BBs
  • Daisy Premium Grade BBs
  • Dust Devils
  • Shot count
  • Trigger pull
  • Blowback/recoil
  • Summary

Today we look at the velocity of the ASG CZ-75-P-07-Duty-BB-pistol. As I said in Part 1, this is a compact pistol, but a duty size that’s larger than a pocket pistol.

Stick magazine

The stick magazine is separate in the front of the grip. It holds 20 BBs that are loaded through the top. The follower is smooth and light and has a lockout notch at the bottom of the mag, so it’s out of the way for loading. I found the mag pretty quick to load, but it did have one quirk.

The quirk

Sometimes, when a BB doesn’t register through the chronograph during a shot string, I have to load a single BB after the magazine has been emptied to complete the 10 shots. This mag doesn’t work well that way, because the top BB doesn’t stay in place. It falls out of both the front and back of the mag, but when there is another  BB beneath it to push it up, it remains in place. I guess when you get to the last BB in the gun, the gun must hold it in place because there were no jams or failures to feed throughout this test. You just can’t load a single BB into the mag and have it stay in place. Other than me, I doubt anyone would want to do that. read more

Daisy Number 12 model 29 single shot BB gun: Part 1

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Daisy model 29
Daisy Number 12 model 29 single shot BB gun.

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • The gun
  • Hough front sight
  • Loading
  • The BB changed from lead to steel
  • Getting 0.175-inch lead shot
  • Darts, too!
  • Summary

Sometimes we like things for reasons that make no sense to others, though we know why. Today’s report focuses on a BB gun that I have liked for many years, after discovering late in life that it existed at all.

The gun

Daisy’s Number 12 Model 29 is a lever action BB gun with a difference. It looks older than it is. It resembles a Daisy model H that was made from 1913 to 1923. The strangest thing about the model H is the cocking lever, which catches your eye immediately. In many respects these guns look similar to the more common BB guns we know today, but that cocking lever seems strange. I have not read an explanation for why it looks like it does, so allow me to posit a guess — leverage. read more

Crosman 102 multi-pump pneumatic repeater: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Crosman 102
Crosman’s 102 is a .22 caliber multi-pump repeater.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Clearing the jam
  • The jam
  • Assembly
  • Accuracy
  • Re-sighting
  • Crosman Premiers
  • Crosman wadcutters
  • 10-shots
  • Discussion
  • Summary

You may recall that the Crosman 102 jammed last time I tested it and I had to clear it before continuing. I did that and today we will shoot it at 25 yards. First, let’s clear the jam.

Clearing the jam

Crosman designed the 102 to be easy to clear, but without a manual I had to discover it for myself. The rear peep sight slides to either side, revealing a hole through which many jammed pellets can be removed.

Crosman 102 jam hole
Pull the bolt back and rod the pellet out of the breech. It will fall out this hole.

My jam was more involved, though, and I had to partially disassemble the action to clear it. The top receiver cover is held on by one shoulder bolt that has a large thumbscrew head. Remove it and the top cover slides back and off the receiver. The peep sight is attached to the cover by a rivet and comes off with the cover. read more

Gamo Compact vs IZH 46: Part 7

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

This report covers:

  • Single Stroke Pneumatics
  • Velocity
  • RWS R10
  • H&N Finale Match Pistol
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Accuracy test
  • RWS R10
  • H&N Finale Match Pistol
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Chinese match wadcutters
  • Summary

Today is a mistake. Reader RidgeRunner asked me if I intended to finish this report from 2008. I looked at his link to Part 5 and, sure enough, it looked like I had intended to. I even promised a reader back then that I would. Well, WordPress software is at fault this time, because I did not find a later report when I entered it in the search box at the top of this page, but when I went to publish this report number 6 I found that one had already been published — on July 22, 2008. But that was after I did the complete test plus some extra things, so I’m going to finish it again. It’s actually a good report. And by the way, I just entered the title in the search box again and this time it came up. Of course it did! read more

Sig Sauer P226 X-Five pellet pistol: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

Sig P226 X-Five
Sig’s P226 X-Five pellet pistol.

This report covers:

  • Shot it at Sig
  • Loading
  • The test
  • Sight-in
  • Discussion 1
  • RWS R10 Pistol
  • Falcon pellets
  • H&N Finale Match Pistol
  • Discussion 2
  • Summary

This report has been a long time in the works. And, because of that, you are going to get a better report. We last looked at the Sig Sauer P226 X-Five pellet pistol on June 27 of this year.

Shot it at Sig

While I was at Sig I had a chance to shoot both this pistol and the new M17 pellet pistol that isn’t out yet. They share a lot of common traits, but I will review the M17 pellet pistol separately when it comes out. As you also learned, I bought a 9mm M17 to go along with the pellet pistol, so there is an extended report coming.

Back to the X-Five. I mentioned in Part 1 that it sure looks a lot like a P226, and it was confirmed that that pistol was the one the X-Five was originally based on, though for the American market the X-Five will start as a P320. Don’t fret though, because all these Sigs bear a lot of similarity. Okay, let’s get to shooting. read more