Tag Archives: airguns

2019 Texas Airgun Show

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • S&W Pistols
  • Big mouth pays off!
  • S&W 77A multi-pump
  • FWB 124?
  • Outside
  • RAW
  • Raffles and door prize
  • Larry Hannusch
  • Show was smaller this year
  • Walk-ups
  • Summary

The Texas Airgun Show was held last Saturday. The weather was good — no rain, and a mild breeze to keep us cool outside.

S&W Pistols

Every airgun show has a unique personality and this one had several. I’ll start by telling you that I saw more S&W 79G pistols at this show than I can remember seeing at any other airgun show. It started with my first walk through the tables during the set up. A dealer on the far side of the hall had a 79G on his table that was marked as a 78G. It was also marked as .177, which is the 79G caliber so I examined it and it turned out to be a 79. I left it there because I hadn’t sold anything yet, but when someone told me that reader 45Bravo might come to the show, I rushed over and bought the pistol. 45Bravo told me he buys every one of these that he finds. Well — there were at least 7 at this show — five 79s and one 78 with an adjustable trigger. Ron Robinson got that one. A walk-in 79G in the box completed the count. read more

Diana 35: Part 6

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 35
Diana 35 pellet rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Falcon pellets group 1
  • Falcon group 2
  • Falcon group 3
  • Qiang Yuan Training pellet
  • H&N Finale Match Light
  • Falcons with a different hold
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today we look at the accuracy of the freshly lube-tuned Diana 35. This is going to be a good one!

The test

I shot off a sandbag rest at 10 meters, using the rifle’s open sights. I used three different variations of the artillery hold that I’ll describe as we go. I shot 5-shot groups, just so I could stay fresh for all the targets I planned to shoot. Let’s go!

Falcon pellets group 1

I shot the first target with Air Arms Falcon pellets because they had been the most accurate back in Part 3. After the first shot I looked at the target through my spotting scope that’s a pair of MeoStar 10X42 binoculars. For close distance these binos are quicker to set up and all that I need. read more

Diana 35: Part 5

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 35
Diana 35 pellet rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Basic velocity test background
  • Today with Hobbys
  • Firing behavior
  • Cocking effort
  • Trigger pull
  • Qiang Yuan Training pellets
  • Falcons
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today we see how the lube tune and cleaning I did with the Diana 35 affected velocity. In addition to what I told you in Part four, I also put 5 drops of Crosman Pellgunoil down the transfer port five days before this test, to soak into the leather piston seal.

Basic velocity test background

We don’t know a lot about this Diana 35 powerplant, apart from the work I showed you in Part 4. I did test it for velocity in Part 2 with RWS Hobby pellets, but that was all I did. I knew I would be going into the powerplant anyhow, so all I wanted was to establish where the rifle was when I started. read more

Umarex Legends Cowboy Lever Action BB gun: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Umarex Lever Action
Umarex Legends Cowboy Lever Action BB gun.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This report covers:

  • Pellet cartridges?
  • The test
  • H&N Finale Match Light pellets
  • Qiang Yuan Taining pellets
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy pellets
  • JSB Exact RS
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • Shells
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today we will look at the accuracy of the new Umarex Legends Cowboy Lever Action BB gun with pellets. You will recall that this is the most accurate BB repeater I have ever tested, so I’m looking forward to today.

Pellet cartridges?

Someone may have asked but if not I’m sure we all wonder how the gun does when pellet cartridges are used. The gun (it’s a smoothbore, so I can’t cal, it a rifle) comes with 10 BB cartridges that Pyramyd Air says are the same as Colt Peacemaker BB revolver shells. But there were no cartridges designated for pellets, so I used 5 of the pellet cartridges from the 1875 Remington BB and pellet revolver. They cycled through the action without a hitch, so I thought they might work. I will get to them in a moment, but first I wanted to establish a baseline of performance with the BB cartridges than came with this gun. read more

What cant does

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

  • What is cant?
  • The spiraling pellet
  • The effects of cant
  • Field target
  • What cant does
  • Things that affect cant
  • Discussion
  • When precision is a must
  • Summary

What is cant?

Cant means the same as tilt. When a rifle scope is canted, it affects where the pellet will impact. If that was all there was, it would be easy to understand, but there are other reasons pellets don’t hit where we think they should. Some readers have been discussing this in recent days. So, before I address the subject of rifle scope cant, let me first address one of the other common problems with pellet accuracy and rifle scopes.

The spiraling pellet

When a pellet is unstable in flight one common thing it does is spiral. This is not a scope problem, but it can confuse you when you are trying to resolve one. Let’s look at what a spiraling pellet does. read more

FX Dreamlite precharged air rifle: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

FX Dreamlite
FX Dreamlite PCP.

Part 1

This report covers:

  • Correction
  • Start velocity test
  • Transfer port
  • Hammer spring tension
  • My test
  • Big test
  • Where is the knob pointing?
  • Played with the rifle to learn how it works
  • Max power (up) 90 bar reg 155 bar in reservoir
  • Reservoir reads 155 bar, Max power (up) 90 bar reg
  • Filled reservoir to 230 bar, max power (up), 90 bar reg
  • Power knob to 4 (up), reg at 90 bar reservoir reads 220 bar (last fill may have been light)
  • Power knob to 2 (up), reg at 90 bar reservoir reads 210 bar
  • Power knob to Min (up), reg at 90 bar reservoir reads 200 bar
  • Power knob to B (up), reg at 90 bar reservoir reads 195 bar
  • Power knob to D (up), reg at 90 bar reservoir reads 190 bar
  • Power knob to Max (up), reg at 90 bar reservoir reads 180 bar
  • Discharge sound
  • Cocking
  • Trigger-pull
  • Summary

Correction

I begin today’s report with a large correction of Part 1. I said the Smooth Twist X barrel is not rifled until the end of the barrel. That is true of the original Smooth Twist barrel, but not the Smooth Twist X. The Smooth Twist X is rifled all the way up the bore. I have read many reports of stunning accuracy from this rifle — actually from the entire Dreamline series — and I hope the test rifle will be one of those.

Start velocity test

Today I will look at the velocity of the test rifle. Now we know that there are three adjustments on this rifle. The regulator is adjustable, the air transfer port is adjustable and the hammer spring tension is adjustable. While the manual sadly lacks pertinent information on how to adjust any of these things, reader Yogi posted a link to the FX drawing of the Dreamlite that shows the hammer spring adjuster is a rack and pinion gear. read more

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