Tag Archives: single-shot

Air Venturi TR5 Multi-Shot Target Air Rifle: Part 6

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

TR5
Air Venturi TR5 repeating pellet rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

This report covers:

  • “I’ll eat my hat!”
  • We talked
  • Hobbys
  • The solution?
  • The test
  • Eye-opener!
  • Magazine 2
  • Next time?
  • Summary
  • Summary

“I’ll eat my hat!”

I had a conversation with Val Gamerman last Friday. I never told you, but before I started my tests he told me the Air Venturi TR5 Multi-Shot Target Air Rifle would put 5 pellets in 3/4-inch at 10 meters or he would eat his hat. The last time Val said something like that to me was in 2012, and he said it about an IZH 60, oddly enough. He trusted me to shoot and that time it was 10 shots in a quarter-inch at 10 meters. I almost did it but not quite, so he kept his word and ate his “hat.”

Hat
This was the “hat.” read more

Diana model 26 breakbarrel air rifle: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 26
The Diana 26 air rifle.

Part 1
Part 2

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • The test
  • Sight-in
  • Falcons
  • H&N Finale Match Light
  • RWS Superdome
  • Trigger is great!
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • JSB Exact RS
  • H&N Match Green
  • H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm head
  • The final test
  • Discussion
  • Summary

Today we look at the accuracy of the Diana 26 I have been testing. Two things are different about this air rifle. It’s a Diana 26, which I didn’t hear of until recently and it’s a .177, which I haven’t had much luck with. So I chose 7 different pellets, in hopes of finding one or more than were accurate.

The test

I shot from 10 meters off a bench using the artillery hold, though I had to hold the rifle tighter than normal because the butt is so slippery against my shoulder. I shot 5-shot groups to speed things up, but decided I would shoot a final 10-shot group with the pellet that was most accurate. read more

Diana model 26 breakbarrel air rifle: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Diana 26
The Diana 26 air rifle.

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • This is a .177
  • RWS Superdome
  • Firing behavior
  • Trigger pull
  • No vibration
  • JSB Exact RS
  • Hobby
  • Barrel tension
  • H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm heads
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Discussion
  • Cocking effort
  • Summary

I asked in Part 1 for owners of Diana 26s to tell me of their airguns and I was surprised that so many responded. Apparently I was in the minority for not knowing about the Diana 26. From what they said and what I’ve read I have learned that the 26 was closely related to the model 28 that came out when the model 27 ended production. So models 23, 25, 27 and 35 went away and models 24, 26, 28 and 34 came into being.

The model 34 is a whole story on its own, that I will cover one day, but not today. This report came about because I wanted to get a model 35, to see if I could tune it to be as smooth and light-cocking as a 27 and have a little more power. I got the 35, which is an early rifle with some very curious features, but I also acquired this model 26 and a model 27S that’s equally unusual. We are looking at the 26 in this series, so that’s where the focus will remain today. read more

BSF S54 Match rifle: Part 5

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

BSF S54
BSF S54 target rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Insert
  • The test
  • Sight-in
  • H&N Finale Match Light
  • H&N Match Green
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Why so much better?
  • Finale Match Light again
  • One last time
  • 10-meter rifle?
  • Summary

I said the next step with this BSF S54 was a teardown and lube tune with Tune in a Tube, but I changed my mind. The front sight insert I bought from Chambers arrived and I wanted to give it a go first. I’m glad I did, as you will learn later on.

Insert

Remember, I told you that T.W. Chambers in the UK has some front sight inserts for the S54? RidgeRunner wondered if there was an aperture or ring insert for the front and I thought there might have been, so I looked. Sure enough there was and I ordered one.

BSF S54 sight inserts
The new ring insert, left, will circle the black bull and hopefully give a more precise aim point. read more

AirForce Edge 10-meter rifle: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Testing Baracuda FT pellets — Part 3

AirForce Edge
The AirForce Edge target rifle.

This report covers:

  • How more air helps power
  • Linked to the Baracuda FT test
  • Fill the Edge
  • The test
  • JSB Exact RS
  • H&N Finale Match Light with 4.5mm head
  • RWS Superdome
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • I wonder…
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • RWS R10 Match Pistol with 4.5mm heads
  • More fun
  • H&N Match Green
  • Second group of Sig Match Ballistic Alloy pellets
  • Ten shots
  • Aluminum tape on the back of targets
  • Summary

Today I’m doing something fun — for me. I’m testing the accuracy potential of the AirForce Edge target rifle that reader Ridge Runner has modified by adding a larger firing chamber. There were some questions last time about how just adding an empty chamber after the regulator can add power to a regulated target rifle. Here’s how.

How more air helps power

We know that the regulator takes the high-pressure air in the reservoir and steps it down to much lower pressure. We also know — or should know — that a gun that gets filled to 3,000 psi does not put anything like that kind of pressure behind the pellet when it fires. If it puts out 1,000 psi, that’s a lot. read more

Tuning BB’s Diana 27: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Teardown
  • 25 years?
  • Krytox!
  • Petroleum archaeology!
  • Grease to oil
  • Spring is fully scragged
  • Grease formed plugs and solidified
  • Start cleaning
  • Removing the barrel
  • Surprise!
  • Piston out
  • And rust!
  • Diana peened the blind pin in the piston head!
  • Cleaning done, time for the Krytox
  • Lubed the mainspring
  • Assembly
  • The rest of the parts go in
  • Finishing assembly
  • The verdict
  • Did I do it wrong?
  • What should I do now?
  • Don’tcha wanna know how it works?
  • RWS Superpoint
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • Summary

Today is the day we learn whether Krytox is the miracle lubricant that both fixes and quiets spring-piston airguns. I have been hounded by people for more than a decade to try this stuff, and I had dug my heels in real deep, but then it dawned on me that Gene from Pyramyd Air had been after me for an equally long time to try Almagard 3752 — the grease that turned out to be Tune in a Tube. We all know how that went!

I promised to become the number one Krytox cheerleader if the stuff really works as advertised — by some airgunners, not by Krytox, themselves. But, I will also be only too happy to poke a hole in the Krytox balloon if it turns out we have been hoodwinked. read more

BSF S54 Match rifle: Part 2

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

BSF S54
BSF S54 target rifle.

Part 1

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • A little more of the BSF Story
  • Today
  • Front sight
  • BINK!
  • Velocity
  • Superpoints for the proof
  • Firing behavior
  • Cocking effort
  • Trigger pull
  • Summary

A little more of the BSF Story

Bayerische Sportwaffen Fabrik (BSF) was established in 1935. They made some airguns before WW II, but after the war is when they really got going. They were located in Erlangen, a town that’s about 15 kilometers from Nuremberg, but today is more like a suburb.

BSF airgun models ranged from youth guns to serious adult guns. Their lowest model was called the Junior that was a plain-Jane youth breakbarrel. Above that the Media came next. It shared a few parts with the Junior like the trigger but it was longer, heavier and more powerful. Think of them as the Diana 23/25. read more