Tag Archives: Collecting

Finding that silk purse

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

History of airguns

This report covers:

  • A break
  • The real story
  • Fell into it
  • Oh, no!
  • The real story
  • Back to the future
  • The lesson
  • More
  • The point
  • Summary

A break

I need a break from punching holes in paper. Been doing a lot of that this week. Today I was all set to test the Slavia 618, but the next test is accuracy and like I said — I want to do something else.

As I was sitting at my computer trying come up with an idea for today, I got messaged that the parts for my .22 rimfire High Standard Sport King pistol had arrived in my mailbox. What’s the story there?

Fell into it

Many years ago I was at one of the last gun shows I ever attended. I had two tables full of guns to sell and one of them was something I had priced at $450. I forget what it was — it was that unimportant to me. But my price was reasonable and there was some interest. One guy came by and asked if I would come over to his table and see if there was anything I would take in trade for it. So I did. read more

Beeman R10: Part 1

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Beeman R10
Beeman R10.

History of airguns

This report covers:

  • This R10
  • History of the Beeman R9 and R10
  • Success!
  • Tap the cap
  • What about this R10?
  • The R10 came in both standard and deluxe versions
  • Thin spring tube
  • Trigger
  • Cocking shoe
  • Performance
  • Velocity with JSB 8.44-grain
  • Summary

I wrote a 6-part report about the Beeman R10 in 2017-18, but this one will be different. The rifle I reported on three years ago was actually a Weihrauch HW85 that was the basis of the Beeman R10, and I bought it because it had been super-tuned. Not only is it lubed to perfection, but some internal parts like the spring guide were made for it so there is no tolerance in the powerplant. If you read the series, especially Part 1, you will learn that this rifle was tuned by Bryan Enoch, reader David Enoch’s brother. When I shot it at the Malvern, Arkansas, airgun show I was impressed by how smooth it was. I made one of those, “If you ever decide to sell…” kind of offers and David (or Bryan — I really didn’t know whose rifle it was) took me up on it about a year later. read more

Crosman MAR 177: Part 5

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Crosman MAR
The MAR177 from Crosman.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

History of airguns

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • What happened?
  • Second group with Sig Match Alloy
  • What to do?
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • The trigger
  • Do triggers affect accuracy?
  • Ten Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • RWS Hobby
  • Qiang Yuan Olympic
  • Discussion
  • The rear sight does adjust!
  • Summary

I finally managed to schedule for a minute past midnight, so that is back to normal. Today’s report is a follow-on from last Friday’s report. I am still testing the Crosman MAR177 target rifle’s accuracy with the sights that came with it. And I learned something big today. I hope it will help all of you with your shooting.

Actually, I learned two big things today. I had a stupident that I hope will help the rest of you.

The test

I said at the end of Part 4 that I wanted to test the MAR again, and perhaps with different pellets. That test happens today. read more

The Haenel 311 target rifle: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Haenel 311
Haenel 311 target rifle.

Part 1
Part 2

History of airguns

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • RWS R10 Match Pistol
  • Qiang Yuan Training
  • Gamo Match
  • Adjust sights
  • H&N Finale Match Light
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today we look at the accuracy of the Haenel 311 target rifle. Let’s get started.

The test

I shot off a sandbag rest at 10 meters. I rested the rifle directly on the bag for the entire test. Only after the test was finished did I check back to my test done in 2011 and discover that I had used the artillery hold on the rifle at that time. So we will see a comparison today, when the rifle is rested directly on the bag.

I shot 5-shot groups so I could test more pellets. At the start I wasn’t too worried about being sighted in, but there came a point in the test when I did adjust the sights. I’ll tell you about it when we get there. read more

The Webley Hurricane: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Hurricane
Webley Hurricane.

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Air Arms Falcons
  • HOWEVER
  • H&N Finale Match Light
  • What is the Oh, oh?
  • Galling
  • Wrong lubrication
  • Change in direction
  • What’s next?

Today I’m going to test my Webley Hurricane’s velocity. Like I said in Part 1, I have never tested the Hurricane in my standard way. This series is an attempt to correct  that. However — I have tested the Hurricane’s velocity before and I recorded the results. I will now show a table of those results that I recorded in August of 2014, so I can do some baseline testing as I start the velocity test.

table

As you can see from the table, Air Arms Falcon pellets are the fastest and also the most consistent in the Hurricane. If I shoot 10 more today, how will those results compare to the numbers I got six years ago? read more

Peep sights: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

This report covers:

  • Target-grade peep sights
  • Different peep sights
  • FWB 300S peep
  • Walther peep
  • AirForce Peep
  • East German Haenel 311 sight
  • Not much change
  • What about sloppy peeps?
  • The “GAMO” peep
  • Daisy plastic peep
  • Summary

Today I get to play a little. One of the reasons I wrote this report that is turning into a series was to talk about target-grade peep sights. I didn’t do that in Part 1, so today is my day.

Target-grade peep sights

The first target-grade peep sight I saw was on the Winchester model 52 target rifle on which I learned to shoot. I was impressed by what could be done with such a sight. The first airgun target peep sight I saw was probably on an Anschütz 250 target rifle I once owned. It was large and had crisp adjustment knobs to move the peephole where I wanted. The size of the sight was impressive and I think I equated that size to precision. It was precise, but not for the reason I thought. read more

Walther — the German Colt

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Today’s report is another guest blog from reader Ian McKee who writes as 45 Bravo. Today he compares Walther of Germany to Colt from the USA.

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

Over to you, Ian.

Walther — the German Colt

Ian McKee 
Writing as 45 Bravo

This report covers:

  • A brief Colt history
  • Walther history
  • PP and PPK
  • World War II
  • FEG copies
  • Hungarian AP9 pistol
  • Walther sporting arms
  • Umarex takes over
  • Full circle

Everyone in America and most of the world knows the name Colt. They may not remember his first name of Samuel, but they do know that the Colt name is associated with guns.

A brief Colt history

Most people think Colt started with the Colt Patterson revolver, But Colt’s first manufactured firearm was actually the First Model Ring Lever Rifle. It was manufactured by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Arms Company in Patterson, New Jersey in 1836. Though patented much earlier than its release, production of the Patterson revolver didn’t begin until 1837. read more