tuned airgun | Air gun blog - Pyramyd Air Report

What is a tune?

Posted on August 24, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 105 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Announcement: Bill Cardill is this week’s winner of Pyramyd Air’s Big Shot of the Week on their airgun facebook page. He’ll receive a $50 Pyramyd Air gift card. Congratulations!

Bill Cardill submitted this week’s winning photo for BSOTW.

Tune is slang for tuneup, and in airguns a tuneup can range from a quick lubrication all the way to a major overhaul of the powerplant and trigger. Everything in between these two extremes is also fair game. So, lesson one is that a tune can be anything that changes and hopefully improves the airgun’s performance.

I’m going to address a breakbarrel spring gun in today’s report. Other powerplants can also be tuned; but the steps are different, and the results will differ from what you get with a spring gun tune. Since the majority of airgun tunes are performed on springers, it’s appropriate to look at them first. And the breakbarrel is the No. 1 type of spring gun.

The HW 55CM target rifle: Part 4

Posted on October 6, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 64 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Is this Custom Match the best HW 55 ever made? Read the report to find out.

In the last report, I tuned the rifle and got rid of the objectionable firing cycle. It’s always a great pleasure to return to a classic air rifle like this one after testing so many modern airguns, because these oldies are so reserved and well-behaved. I know it’s not going to kick, roar and fight me at every turn. It may only be suited to shoot 10-meter target, but sometimes — and by that I really mean often — that’s exactly what I need.

Sight-in
I had to remove the sights during the tuneup, so the rifle needed to be sighted-in again. It wasn’t that far off, but the indices are so dark on a 55 rear sight and my eyes are so bad that I had to play around until I discovered which way to adjust the sight to go right. In this respect, a modern 10-meter rifle has it all over a vintage one.

The HW 55CM target rifle: Part 3

Posted on September 19, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 47 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Is this Custom Match the best HW 55 ever made? Read the report to find out.

Part 2
Part 1

This is a special Part 3 for the HW 55 Custom Match target rifle. It will be a retest of velocity, following a strip-down and lubrication with black tar to get rid of some uncomfortable vibration when the gun fires. When I tested it for velocity in Part 2, I discovered the rifle was shooting way too fast for an HW 55. Probably the Beeman Company replaced the mainspring when it went back to them for an overhaul. At any rate, when RWS Hobby pellets average 694 f.p.s., as they did for this rifle, you know something is wrong. I’ll try to remove as much of the harshness as I can with this tune, and I really don’t care how much velocity is lost.

A shrine built for a Feinwerkbau 124 – Part 14

Posted on February 11, 2011 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 91 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 13
Part 12
Part 11
Part 10
Part 9
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Airgun Academy videos #19 and #20 are now available.

2011 airgun show calendar
Before I get to the report, here’s a calendar of all the 2011 airgun shows I know of. If you want to go to an airgun show, here they are.

March 5 & 6
Pacific Airgun Expo
Placer County Fairgrounds
Roseville, CA
Contact Jon Brooks @ 707-498-8714
pae@pacificairgunexpo.com

April 9
Flag City Toys That Shoot
Lighthouse Banquet Facility
10055 S.R. 224 West
Findlay, OH 45840
Contacts:
Duane Shaferly @ 419-435-7909
Dave Barchent @ 419-423-0070
Dan Lerma @ 419-422-9121
To register contact:
FlagCityToysThatShoot.com

A shrine built for a Feinwerkbau 124 – Part 13

Posted on November 1, 2010 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 52 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 12
Part 11
Part 10
Part 9
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

The November podcast has been posted.

Before we begin, my buddy, Randy Mitchell, who was also the outlaw, Dakota, from Frontier Village (an amusement park in San Jose, California, from 1961-1980) sent me a photo from over 40 years ago. I was Casey Jones, the engineer who ran the railroad at the Village, and Dakota had put an obstruction across the tracks out in the badlands. When I stopped the train, he jumped me at gunpoint and forced me to clear the rails. Then, he stole my boots and drove the train back to the station himself. How time flies!

Beeman R8: A classic from the past – Part 3

Posted on August 25, 2010 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 87 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

My new R8 made me sit up and take notice!

Today, I’ll look at the accuracy of my new Beeman R8. I waited until now to do this test because I wanted to be off the IV and be capable of doing my best with this rifle. Along that line, I have some good news to share about my condition.

Last Thursday, I went for a walk outdoors. It was about a half mile or less around my housing subdivision, but it was all I could do at the time. When I finished, I was tired for about an hour, but then something wonderful happened. I awoke out of the fog I’ve been in since this thing began in March. My head cleared and I was able to think clearly for the first time.

Beeman R8: A classic from the past – Part 2

Posted on July 2, 2010 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 95 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

My R8 was customized inside and out.

Well, it’s Friday again and time for another good subject to chew on over the weekend. Today, we’ll examine the power of this Beeman R8. In factory trim, it was supposed to have a top velocity of 720 f.p.s., but of course this one’s been tuned. Let’s see what it does.

Before we start, I must correct what I said about the scope. It does, indeed, have AO, as the picture in Part 1 clearly shows. Sorry for that slip-up.

Cocking effort
While I was shooting through the chronograph, I noticed that the barrel was loose at the pivot point. A breakbarrel barrel should remain in whatever position you move it to after the rifle is cocked. That’s when there is proper tension on the pivot bolt.