by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Hatsan Vectis lever action PCP repeater.

This report covers:

• No historical report?
• Hatsan Vectis
• The rifle
• Synthetic
• Open sights!
• Operating pressure
• Short throw lever
• Manually uncocked
• Manual safety
• Magazines
• Silencer and barrel
• Trigger
• Summary

No historical report?

You may be surprised that this is Friday and there is no historical report, but there is a good reason. I am so backed up with new products to report that I’ve decided to suspend the historical reports for a little while so I can get caught up. Don’t worry, they aren’t going away and I will get back to them as soon as I can.

Hatsan Vectis

Today I’m starting the report on the Hatsan Vectis lever action repeating PCP. Hatsan sent this rifle to me immediately after the SHOT Show, because I thought it is different enough that you need to know about it right away. The rifle I am testing is a .25 caliber and it’s a 10-shot repeater.

Lever action precharged airguns are not new. They have existed for many decades, starting with the Korean-made Career 707 that first entered the U.S. in 1995. The Seneca Sumatra 2500 rifle and Seneca Sumatra 2500 carbine that have some ties to the 707 are still being sold. But the Vectis is a different air rifle altogether and this report will highlight those differences.

The Vectis comes in three calibers — .177, .22 and .25. I specifically asked to test a .25 because of the rapidly growing interest in that caliber. Though it has been around since 1905, the .25 or 6.35mm as it is known around the world didn’t really take off until modern and efficient precharged pneumatics were chambered for it, less than two decades ago. Now it is widely embraced by hunters and by those who are just getting into precharged airguns because, dare I say — bigger is better.

The rifle

The Vectis is a bargain PCP. At $360 it’s not quite in the price-point category, but it’s not that far from it. And it represents a different approach to precharged repeaters. For starters, it’s light — very light for a repeating PCP. Weighing just over 7 lbs., it is also slim and even short, at 41.3 inches overall. However, its 17.7-inch barrel delivers up to 40 foot-pounds in the .25 caliber I am testing.

Synthetic

To be so light requires shedding weight at every turn, and the outside of this airgun is entirely synthetic. Don’t think that you will wait for the same model to come out in wood, because it probably won’t happen. That would be like asking for a Corvette with a steel body — it kinda defeats the purpose!

The Vectis is also slim through the action and forearm. That, coupled with the light weight and short length, make it a very handy air rifle.

Open sights!

Yes, indeed! The Vectis comes with open sights! It’s almost as if someone is listening to what airgunners are saying! Up front is a post and bead with a large aperture in the rear. The rear sight adjusts in both directions with click detents that are both audible as well as tactile. Both sights fold down flat against the top of the rifle and both can be removed via a single thumbscrew.

Oddly — and I am serious — both front and rear sights have fiberoptics built in! This is the first aperture sight I have seen with a green dot on either side of the peep hole! Holding the rear sight up to the eye, it seems like the dots can’t work, but when the sight is mounted on the rifle (look at the picture above), the rear peep is far enough from your eye that you can see the dots. I think any aiming precision is out the window with these sights, though. I may try them at close range, but I am skeptical.

Yes, the peep sight does have two green fiberoptic dots — one on either side of the hole. It doesn’t seem right until you look at it from the distance it will be used. Then the dots make sense.

The top of the rifle has a long scope rail that’s both 11mm and Picatinny, combined. That has become a sort of trademark on Hatsan rifles. Naturally I will mount a scope because the rifle seems ideally suited for one. I think, given the light weight and small size of the rifle, the scope has to compliment that. We’ll see.

Operating pressure

The non-removable 165cc air reservoir fills to 200 bar (2900 psi). That’s good enough for up to 35 shots in .177, 30 in .22 and 25 in .25 caliber. I will test that when I look at velocity. An on-board gauge tells you the status of the fill at all times.

Short throw lever

The Vectis lever has a very short throw. That means it’s quick between shots. If you have ever worked a lever action firearm you may understand that. If not it won’t mean much until you experience it. The thing about a precharged rifle, when compared to a lever action firearm, is the PCP lever has to cock the striker spring. In a powerful PCP that spring can be very stiff, which makes the lever hard to work. Think about cocking a Daisy Red Ryder for a moment. Most people know that cocking a Red Ryder while it is held to their shoulder is a difficult to nearly impossible task. The Vectis lever can be worked with the rifle on the shoulder. This will be a boon to hunters, no doubt.

The Vectis lever has a short throw.

Manually uncocked

The Vectis can be manually uncocked. A lever in the trigger mechanism can be pushed in while pulling the trigger when the lever is down and it will override the sear so the striker is no longer caught. Then you just raise the lever and the gun returns to being uncocked. This can be done quietly, to avoid spooking game.

Push that lever (arrow) up (or down, in this picture) while pulling the trigger and the Vectis can be uncocked.

One thing to remember about uncocking the rifle is that when the lever is returned to the locked position, the bolt goes forward and pushes a pellet from the magazine into the breech. You can uncock the action, but if you leave a pellet in the bore the rifle is still loaded. In fact it is more dangerous because there is no easy way to see that it is loaded. If you were to cock the lever again and pull the trigger, a pellet would shoot out!

Manual safety

There is no sense having a rapid lever if the safety comes on every time the rifle is cocked. The Vectis safety is manual, allowing the shooter to determine when it should be applied.

Magazines

The Vectis comes with two circular magazines. In .177 the mag holds 14 pellets, 12 in .22 and 10 in .25. There is also a single-shot tray that comes with the rifle. The magazines sit above the top of the receiver when installed, so two-piece rings are required, unless you use a scout scope.

Silencer and barrel

The barrel sits inside a baffled shroud that swells at the muzzle. So it should be quiet. I’ll comment on that when I do the velocity test.

The barrel is choked for greater accuracy. A choke squeezes all pellets to the same uniform size before they exit the muzzle, and that aids their consistency.

Trigger

The Vectis has the Quattro adjustable trigger. It’s two-stage and I will be adjusting it for my report.

Summary

The Vectis is a precharged repeater with a silencer, choked barrel, two magazines and a single shot tray. It promises a lot for a very nice price. We already know that Hatsan can make an accurate barrel; have they made your next PCP? I guess we shall all see very soon.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

Hatsan Vectis lever action PCP repeater.

This report covers:

• Scary!
• Open sights?
• Powerful rifle!
• However…
• Read Part 2
• The test
• Sight-in
• Benjamin domes
• Predator Polymag
• JSB Exact King Heavy
• Baracuda Hunter Extreme
• JSB Exact King
• Discussion
• How’s the lever?
• Summary

Today we start testing the accuracy of the new .25-caliber Hatsan Vectis lever action PCP.

Scary!

I love my job, and why not? I get to test and handle so many different kinds of airguns all the time and then tell all my friends about them. What’s not to like. Well, sometimes there are things I’m not sure of. Like today.

Open sights?

The Vectis came to me with folding open sights. I would call them iron sights but both are made of plastic, so that seems wrong. I guess non-optical sights would be more correct but I’ll just call them open.

Now the Vectis is a PCP, and because it’s made by Hatsan there’s a very good chance that it’s an accurate PCP. Who in their right mind puts non-optical sights on an accurate PCP these days? Oh, I know there are a few, and we’ll hear from them. These are the guys who live off the grid, butcher their own cattle and drive cars powered by the fumes of a coal fire. No, wait — that was what the Germans did in WWII. Well, they butcher their own cattle.

Sure, we will get lectured by them, but if you wake one of them up suddenly the first thing he wants to know is how many clicks he should use to adjust for 75 yards. I’m just sayin’.

Powerful rifle!

The Vectis is powerful. We learned that in the velocity test. Do I really want to shoot a gun inside my house that is so powerful that, if it missed the pellet trap, it could easily go through the sheetrock in the wall behind? I even removed both sights from the rifle and was prepared to mount a proper scope.

However…

Then I thought — Hatsan bent over backwards to send me this rifle quickly, just so I could test it for you right after the SHOT Show. They also spent the time and effort to create these sights — I should at least test them. After all — isn’t that what I do?

So I put them back on and, with some trepidation, set up the 10-meter range. Ain’t no way I’m shooting something this powerful inside my house at a greater distance without testing it first.

Read Part 2

Thank goodness for Part 2, the velocity test! I am testing so many different airguns rifles now that I can’t remember from one day to the next which is which and how they all work.

I saw that the Vectis is filled to 200 bar/2,900 psi. I also saw that in my velocity test the first 10 shots were pretty close to each other but the second 10 opened up a bit. I know some of you want me to test filling the rifle beyond 200 bar, and I may do that (no promise), but today I wanted to start testing the rifle for accuracy which, after all, is what matters most.

The test

I decided to shoot 5-shot groups today. That allowed me to test more pellets, plus the Vectis is loud indoors and I wanted to keep the test to a smaller number of shots. I shot off a sandbag rest with the rifle rested directly on the bag. And I shot at 10 meters from the target.

Sight-in

Okay — here is the problem. The Vectis has a large rear peep sight and a large bead up front. Yes both are fiberoptic, but if you light the target brightly, the fiberoptics go black. HOWEVER — the front bead is huge! How big is is? It more than covers the bull on a 10-meter pistol target at 10 meters, and that’s wider than 2-1/4-inches! I would estimate the Vectis’ front bead covers about 2-1/2-inches at 10 meters. There is no way to aim with any precision with a sight like that.

So, I uncharacteristically covered the entire bull with the front bead during sighting! This is the first time in my life I have done such a thing. But I figured this is the sight that came with the rifle, it must work.

I had loaded the 10-shot circular magazine with Benjamin domes, so they are what I sighted-in with and also they were the first 5-shot group for record. I shot the first shot from 12 feet and when it hit inside the bull I knew it would be on at 10 meters. So I backed up to the bench and fired 4 more shots, adjusting the peep sight down and to the right. Shots 4 and 5 hit inside the red part of the bull, so I changed targets and fired the remaining 5 for record.

Benjamin domes

Five Benjamin domed pellets landed in a group that measures 0.801-inches between centers. It looks larger, but remember, these pellets are a quarter-inch wide. Looking at this first group there isn’t much to shout about, but my eye spotted something. See the three pellets at the top in the red? They are 0.237-inches apart! That encourages me! I will say more about it after you have seen all five groups.

The Vectis put 5 Benjamin domes into 0.801-inches, with 3 in just 0.237-inches at 10 meters.

The group is not as centered as it could be, but I didn’t know where the other pellets would hit, so I left the sights alone. At least we are in the bull!

Predator Polymag

Next up was the Predator Polymag hunting pellet. Polymags are often very accurate in the smaller calibers, so I wondered what these would do in the Vectis. Five went into 0.806-inches with 4 in 0.457-inches at 10 meters. There’s that smaller group again!

The Vectis put 5 Predator Polymag pellets into 0.806-inches, with 4 in just 0.457-inches at 10 meters.

I’m just going to run through the rest of the targets now. Remember — I am filling the rifle to 200 bar after every 10 shots.

JSB Exact King Heavy

Next I tried 5 JSB Exact King Heavy pellets. Five pellets went into 0.77-inches at 10 meters. It’s the smallest of the three groups shot to this point, but it looks more open to me. I’m not as encouraged as before.

The Vectis put 5 JSB Exact King Heavys into 0.77-inches at 10 meters.

Baracuda Hunter Extreme

Next I tried the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme pellet. I have little or no experience with this one and certainly not in .25. Or at least I don’t remember it, if I do. Five of these hunting pellets went into 0.981-inches at 10 meters. There are three pellets in a smaller group above and two below. I will continue testing this pellet, but I don’t get a good feeling about this pellet for the Vectis.

The Vectis put 5 H&N Baracuda Hunter Extremes into 0.981-inches at 10 meters.

JSB Exact King

The last pellet I tried was the JSB Exact King, and it shows what I am about to discuss the best of all the groups. Five Kings went into 1.063-inches at 10 meters. That is the largest group of this test, yet I think the King might be the most accurate pellet of all. It’s certainly among the most accurate. You see, 4 of them went into 0.431-inches, and I think they represent what this pellet can do.

The Vectis put 5 JSB Exact Kings into 1.063-inches at 10 meters. Four are in 0.431-inches. Is this the best pellet for this rifle?

Discussion

I think the groups in today’s test are 95 percent the result of shooting with the open sights. Sighting with that big dot up front is about as precise as trying to type while wearing boxing gloves! I think we will see a marked improvement when I scope the Vectis. I will shoot from 25 yards next time. I think the Vectis is a winner, but today’s test results let it down.

How’s the lever?

As things turned out, I mistakenly loaded 5 JSB King Heavys that I did not need into the circular magazine, so, instead of trying to remove them, I went up to the pellet trap and shot them as fast as I could. The butt remained on my shoulder and this rifle is quick and fun to shoot fast. I thought you would like to know that.

Summary

I don’t know about you but I’m convinced the Vectis .25 is a winner. The magazine is smooth and never misses a beat. Despite the groups seen today I think the rifle is accurate.

“But BB, you only shot 10 shots before you filled the gun! That’s not good enough!” I know that. So, here is my plan. In the next test I will shoot a tight group of 10 at 25 yards (I hope) and after photographing and even measuring that group, I will shoot 10 more into the same bull. That way we’ll see what that second magazine does.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Hastsan Proxima underlever repeater.

This report covers:

• Description
• Firing behavior
• Feel of the rifle
• Sights
• Scope rail
• Made for hunting
• Safety features
• Trigger
• Power
• Summary

Today we begin our look at the Hatsan Proxima undelever repeater. As you may recall, I was testing the Hatsan Speedfire breakbarrel repeater, and it had a problem in the velocity test. That rifle is now back at Hatsan for repairs, so I thought why not look at the other Hatsan springer that’s a repeater — the Proxima, which came out in early 2018 and was a contemporary of the Gamo Swarm Maxxim?

Description

The Proxima is an underlever spring-piston repeater that uses a gas piston for power. It’s available in .177, .22 and .25 calibers and I am testing a .22. The circular magazine holds 14, 12 or 10 pellets, depending on the caliber. The cocking effort is listed as 45 lbs. for all three calibers, so this is a big boy air rifle.

Firing behavior

I tried cocking the test rifle and had to use 2 hands. I will measure the cocking effort in Part 2, but right now it feels like more than 50 lbs.

The gun fires with quite a lot of noise. It’s a very high 3 on the 5-point scale — maybe a 3.8.

The recoil is significant, but the vibration is under control. That’s the Hatsan Shock Absorption System (SAS) in action.

Feel of the rifle

The rifle’s dimensions are also big — 45.4 inches overall with a weight of 9.3 lbs. That’s about a pound less than an M1 Garand, but several pounds heavier than an AR-15. The pull is 14.5-inches, but if you need more they also pack a 10mm extension plate with the rifle to fit between the rubber buttplate and stock. The stock is Turkish walnut, which has a nice figure. The figure on the test rifle stock isn’t as vivid as the one shown above, but it does have some figure.

The stock is not checkered but it doesn’t need to be. The thumbhole pistol grip is straight and has finger grooves to lock your shooting hand in position. The forearm is sculpted with grooves on either side for a conventional offhand hold — holding the off hand close to the triggerguard. The rifle balances well when held that way, with some muzzle-heaviness for stability.

The cheekpiece adjusts up and down to position your eye for the scope that most shooters will choose. Hatsan includes a tool for loosening and tightening the two screws that control this. Coins don’t work because the screws are too deep in their holes.

Sights

The rifle does come with fully adjustable open sights, and yes, they are fiberoptic. The rear sight can be removed but the front sight is integral with the muzzle cap that also houses the cocking lever. It’s not coming off.

The cheekpiece adjusts up and down to center your eye on the eyepiece of a scope. A second magazine fits in the bottom of the butt (arrow).

The front sight is a post and bead with a rather large bead on top. I will shoot the rifle with open sights and this time I will sight with a snowman stack (bull resting on top of the front bead).

Scope rail

The scope rail is Hatsan’s typical two-level rail that accepts either 11mm scope mounts or Weaver mounts. It has what Hatsan calls a shock-absorber scope stop that I think refers to rubber in the scope rail. There are four threaded holes for 11mm scope stop pins on the top of the rail, but nothing to screw into them. If you use Weaver scope rings, their cross-blocks will serve as the scope stops.

The rotary magazine stands proud of the spring tube. It’s out in the open, unlike the Speedfire, whose mag is contained inside a mechanism. However, the designers get away with a lot less complexity because the Proxima is an underlever with a fixed barrel. There is a rod that seats the pellet from the magazine into the barrel breech, and that rod is hollow to pass the air that comes from the compression chamber.

The Proxima magazine sits out in the open, above the spring tube.

This probe passes through the magazine, pushing each new pellet into the breech. It’s hollow, for the air to pass through.

Although the rotary mag does stand proud of the spring tube, the rear sight is not exceptionally high. I think this means the scope can be mounted lower as well. We shall see.

Made for hunting

I don’t think Hatsan left any doubt that the Proxima was made for hunting. The overall size, cocking effort and onboard magazine storage all point to spending time in the field. rather than plinking. Two sling swivels come mounted and there is a fabric sling inside the box. The rear swivel is on the bottom of the butt and the front one comes mounted as the left forearm screw. It looks like it’s a easy switch to the right side if you prefer.

Safety features

The Proxima comes with three safety features. An automatic safety comes on when the rifle is cocked. It can also be set and taken off manually at any time, except when the cocking lever is open. Then it’s always on. The anti-beartrap mechanism prevents releasing the safety at that time. The safety blocks the trigger.

The Proxima also has an anti-beartrap mechanism. You might wonder why it needs one, since the underlever prevents you from endangering your fingers during loading, but that same underlever is the reason for the beartrap. If the gun were to fire with your hands in the way and if the cocking arm safety were to fail, I hate to think of what might happen!

Yes, there is a safety on the cocking arm, as well. It’s a lever on the right side of the receiver (look at the left side of the photo above) that must be pressed in for the underlever to return to the stored position. Other underlevers have similar safeties, so this is nothing unusual.

Trigger

The Proxima trigger is a Quattro adjustable trigger that I will test for you. It adjusts for the first stage weight, the length of the first stage travel and the let off weight where the gun fires.

The way the trigger came from the box, stage two has a lot of travel. It’s not crisp, like I want it to be. So the adjustments are necessary.

Power

Despite the large size of the Proxima, the power is in the midrange. In .177 Hatsan advertises 820 f.p.s.; in .22 caliber they tout 720 f.p.s. and in .25 it’s 620 f.p.s. Hatsan has always tested their guns with real-world pellets, so these numbers are probably what we will see in the test. As for why a rifle that’s so mild cocks so hard, I think it has to do with the repeating mechanism. The piston stroke has to be shorter, despite the rifle’s length, because there is a pellet probe between the compression chamber and breech. The piston doesn’t have as far to move as a result.

Summary

Hatsan’s Proxima is a different gun from their SpeedFire that we recently looked at. This should be an interesting test for all of us.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Hatsan Vectis lever action PCP repeater.

This report covers:

• Mounting a scope
• Scope solution
• Which pellets?
• The test
• JSB Exact King first group
• How many shots per fill? 2nd JSB group
• Predator Polymag
• Benjamin domes
• Predator Polymag
• Summary

Today I mount a scope on the Hatsan Vectis lever-action rifle and we see how accurate it really is. As you learned in Part 3, when I used the iron sights that came on the gun and I aimed at the center of the bullseye, the rifle didn’t do very well. A couple of you reminded me that the best way to used sights like these with a bead front sight  is to stack the bullseye on top of the front bead, rather than to try to center it. I knew that of course — I’ve been doing it for decades. I don’t know why I aimed for the center of the target, other than to convince myself that it isn’t the right way to aim with a post and bead front sight.

Actually, I am not very impressed with these sights. The rear sight mounts way too far forward, so the peephole has to be much larger as a result. And then they put two green fiberoptic dots on it to help me center the red dot up front. The whole thing smacks of a shooting gallery gun to me. And several more readers pointed out that Backup Iron Sights (BUIS — also called Mechanical Backup Sights or MBUS) are widely available and will easily fit this rifle. My reaction to that is why would I ever mount iron sights on a potentially accurate precharged pneumatic rifle?

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I appreciate iron sights in the right circumstances. On an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine iron sights are ideal and a scope is ridiculous — in my opinion. What 3-5 MOA rifle needs a scope for any reason? Even a Springfield rifle (a bolt-action repeater that was used by the military from 1903 to the end of WWII) is fine with iron sights. And, in all three instances, the rifles I have cited not only have iron sights, they all have a rear peep — just like the Vectis. But I wouldn’t put them on a rifle that’s capable of 1 MOA, unless it was a target rifle and I was competing in a match where optics were prohibited. I own a Remington model 37 Rangemaster .22 that has gorgeous original peep sights, but I have a period-correct 20X target scope mounted on it that I use all the time.

Mounting a scope

I ran into a problem selecting a scope for the Vectis. The circular magazine sticks up so high above the receiver that I had to find scope mounts that would clear it. It sounds like a simple task, but I worked for over an hour, first looking at mounts and then discovering that most scopes have a swelling right where the Vectis mag sticks up, so I had to be careful there, as well. Let’s look at my solution and perhaps you will understand better.

The scope has to be raised high to clear the circular magazine.

Scope solution

I used 2-piece BKL 30MM high rings that have thin caps with just 2 screws. They solved the clearance problem and, since the Vectis doesn’t recoil, they were perfect. The scope I chose looked like a 4-12 at first but turned out to be the Aeon 8-32X50 AO scope with trajectory reticle! It’s so small for all the power it has! And the price is great! I think it’s a best buy!

Which pellets?

Looking at the last test, I selected three of the 4 pellets I tested at that time for this test. Can you guess which one was chosen first — for sight-in? That’s right — the JSB Exact King. If you look at Part 3 I think you will see why.

The test

I shot off a rest at 25 yards. Today all my groups were 10-shot groups, as this day is the real accuracy day. I sighted-in with just 4 shots, starting at 12 feet and ending at 25 yards. Then I refined my sight picture with another 6 shots.

JSB Exact King first group

The first group of JSB Exact Kings was fired with the gun filled to 3,000 psi. I forgot that it only filled to 2900 psi, so all fills today were 100 psi over. Maybe that will satisfy those who wanted me to overfill the gun a little.

The first 10 shots went into a group that measures 0.469-inches between centers. That’s certainly better than the 5 shots that went into 1.063-inches in Part 3. It’s closer to the 4 shots in the same group that went into 0.431-inches, which is why I chose this pellet.

Ten JSB Exact Kings went into 0.469-inches at 25 yards. Not bad!

How many shots per fill? 2nd JSB group

Hatsan claims 35 shots per fill for the Vectis. I have been refilling after 10 shots in all the accuracy testing, so at this time I shot a second magazine of 10 shots with the same King pellet without refilling. This second group moved a little to the left and also opened up to 0.606-inches between centers. I don’t think it would open the first group up any more if it was overlaid on top of it, so there are at least 20 good shots per fill, as long as you only shoot to about 25 yards.

The second group of 10 JSB Kings, shot without refilling the gun measures 0.606-inches between centers. If overlaid on the first group I don’t think it would measure any larger.

Predator Polymag

I refilled the gun for each of the next two groups. When I chose JSB Kings as the pellet to sight in the gun I’m sure some of you felt I should have chosen Predator Polymag pellets instead. I will admit that after looking at the Part 3 targets it was a tossup, which to select. This time, though, 10 Polymags made a 25-yard group that measures 0.714-inches between centers. The lowest hole was the last shot. So, it appears that I made the right choice for sight-in.

Ten Predator Polymags went into 0.714-inches at 25 yards. The lowest hole was the last shot.

Benjamin domes

For the final pellet I chose the Benjamin dome. I had an average group size until shot number 10. That one went wide to the left, opening a 0.541-inch group to 0.81-inches — the largest group of this test.

Ten Benjamin domes went into 0.81-inches, with 9 in 0.541-inches at 25 yards. Once again, the final shot opened the group.

Summary

I think today’s test proves that the Hatsan Vectis is accurate. It’s also clear that testing the iron sights by holding the front bead on the center of the target doesn’t work. That’s why I dislike fiberoptics so much, because that is what they are designed to do.

All the pellets did much better with the rifle scoped and you have to agree that the scope I used was everything anyone could hope for. So, we have now established the accuracy of the .25-caliber Vectis, and it is good.

The .25-caliber Vectis I’m testing is primarily a hunting rifle, not a plinker. I say that for several reasons — the amount of air used per shot, the cost of the pellets and the accuracy. In that vein the magazine is reliable, the trigger is decent, the power is okay and the accuracy is good. The lever action works slick and fast and never stumbles.

On the downside, the shot count is low, the rifle is loud, the fill probe is proprietary and the iron sights aren’t up to the task — at least not in my opinion. The shot count and noise probably pertain only to the .25-caliber rifle.

All that said, I think the Vectis in .25 is a good PCP to consider if you plan to hunt and you want a .25. If you just want to shoot, choose the .22 or the .177.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Hatsan Proxima underlever repeater.

Part 1

This report covers:

• Why no single-shot tray
• RWS Hobby
• Teaching point
• JSB Exact RS
• RWS Superdome
• H&N Sniper Magnum
• Discussion
• Cocking effort
• Trigger pull
• Summary

Why no single-shot tray

I am usually sensitive to the questions of my readers, but in Part 1 I missed it completely. Reader HawkEye asked why the Hatsan Proxima doesn’t come with a single shot tray. I ignored his first comment, thinking he was just joking, but he persisted so I finally answered him. I said this.

“This rifle isn’t made to be shot single shot. No tray because it doesn’t work that way. Cocking is too hard and the loading space too confined.”

And I wondered why he would even ask such a question, until it dawned on me that he couldn’t envision the scale. I had shown him an enlarged picture of the feed probe and, looking at that, he could see plenty of room to load a pellet.

This is the picture I showed you when I talked about the probe. It looks like there is plenty of room to load a single pellet by hand, doesn’t it?

This is the Proxima probe with my thumb for scale. As you can see, the magazine slot is far too narrow for the fingers to feed a pellet.

Perhaps you had the same question as HawkEye. I hope I have cleared it up for you.

Today we look at the Proxima’s velocity. I’m testing a .22 that Hatsan rates at 720 f.p.s. We don’t know what pellet they tested to get that velocity, but today we will explore that question. Here is what I think, and I’m writing this before conducting the velocity test. I think Hatsan used a reasonable lead pellet for their velocity test, because they have a reputation for being conservative with velocity figures. Let’s say it weighed about 14 grains. The magic number is 671, at which velocity the weight of the pellet in grains is equal to the energy in foot pounds. So I am guessing the Proxima is in the 15 foot-pound range — 15 and change. And Hatsan is conservative, so it might top 16 foot pounds by a little. Let’s see.

RWS Hobby

I’ll start with the lightest pellet, the RWS Hobby. Hobbys weigh 11.9-grains and until lead-free pellets came along they were some of the lightest pellets you could get.

Teaching point

Okay, this doesn’t always happen but it did with the Proxima, so I’m going to use it. The first string of Hobbys looked bogus to me, and I will tell you why. Let’s take a look.

Shot………Vel.
1…………..829
2…………..823
3…………..824
4…………..815
5…………..808
6…………..796
7…………..792
8…………..780
9…………..788
10…………779

This is a brand new rifle and you can see what’s happening as I shoot. The velocity keeps dropping. The decline does seem to have slowed down by shot number 6. In an instance like this I wanted to see what a second string might produce. And, by the way, the average for this first string was 803 f.p.s. and the spread was 50 f.p.s.

Let’s look at the second string with the same pellet.

Shot………Vel.
1…………..797
2…………..797
3…………..797
4…………..801
5…………..808
6…………..794
7…………..786
8…………..783
9…………..775
10…………784

The average for this string was 792 f.p.s. and the spread was 25 f.p.s. You can see that the rifle is quieting down. It’s still a long way from fully broken in, but it’s a lot closer than it was on the first string. At the average velocity on the second string this Proxima is developing 16.58 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. Let’s look at another pellet.

JSB Exact RS

The next pellet I tested was the JSB Exact RS. And I learned something with this one, too. The average with the RS pellet was 682 f.p.s. and the spread went from a low of 644 to a high of 694 f.p.s. That’s a difference of 50 f.p.s. At the average velocity the JSB Exact RS produced 13.87 foot pounds of energy. You can see that is way below the first pellet and this pellet is still varying too much in the shot string. I don’t think the RS pellet is suited to the Proxima.

RWS Superdome

Next to be tested was the RWS Superdome. They averaged 725 f.p.s., despite weighing 14.5 grains and the JSB Exact RS weighing 13.43 grains. The spread for Superdomes went from 701 to 753 f.p.s., so a difference of 52 f.p.s. At the average speed the Superdome developed 16.93 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. So the rifle hasn’t settled down yet, however it does seem to like this pellet. I think it has to do with how well it seals the bore.

H&N Sniper Magnum

The last pellet I tested with the Proxima was the Sniper Magnum from H&N. This is a 17.9-grain domed pellet that I have never tested. It averaged 660 f.p.s. in the Proxima, which is good for 17.32 foot pounds of energy. The spread went from a low of 646 to a high of 665 f.p.s., a difference of 19 f.p.s.

Discussion

So — what do we have? The Proxima exceeded my estimate — producing energy of over 17 foot-pounds. I told you Hatsan is conservative!

This rifle needs to be broken in before it will perform like it should. And some pellets, like the JSB Exact RS, are not well suited to the Proxima’s powerplant.

The 12-shot rotary magazine functioned flawlessly throughout the test. I just had to remember to depress the cocking lever safety button to return the lever, after cocking the action. When you shoot the last pellet the empty magazine doesn’t permit the cocking to go forward all the way. It goes about halfway and then the probe stops it from going the rest of the way because it stops against the empty magazine.

Cocking effort

I measured the cocking effort at 53 lbs. at the start of the test. But as the shooting progressed the rifle seemed to get easier to cock. So I measured it again at the end of the test. And, I was shocked to see it has increased to 57 lbs.! Apparently, I got stronger as the test progressed. “I’m strong to the finishchk ‘cause I eats me spinishchk…”

Trigger pull

As the rifle came from the box the two-stage Quattro trigger released at 4 lbs. 4 oz. I was able to adjust it down to 3 lbs. 11 oz., but that was as far as the adjustment screw went.

Summary

This Proxima is turning out pretty good! The power is better than I expected and everything seems to work as it should. The cocking effort is on the high side, but I told you that in Part 1. I don’t think it matters that much for hunters, but know that the Proxima is not for casual plinking.

I’m excited to see how accurate it is. It has the same fat red dot bead on front with an open notch in the rear. This time I won’t make the mistake of shooting to the center of the dot, like I did with the Vectis.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

AirForce Condor Ring-Loc Kit.

This report covers:

• Condor
• Flexibility
• Goof jobs
• More power
• For the latest Spin Loc valve
• What it does
• The kit
• AirForce testing
• Widest range of power today/li>
• So what?
• Summary

Today we start looking at what I believe is a really big deal. This is what I teased you about on Tuesday. The Ring Loc Kit from AirForce takes the world’s most powerful and flexible air rifle and expands both its power and flexibility by an order of magnitude! That’s a strong statement that I will now begin to justify.

Condor

The kit we are looking at is for the AirForce Condor and also for the CondorSS. The Condor has a 24-inch barrel. The CondorSS barrel is 18 inches, so everything you read about the Condor will be just a bit less in the SS. As you know, in PCPs barrel length makes a difference.

I was working at AirForce when the Condor first came out and I hand-tested the first 100 production rifles to make certain they would shoot a .22 caliber Crosman Premier pellet at 1,250 f.p.s., because that was the AirForce ad campaign. They never launch anything without first making certain that it will deliver as advertised. We recorded each serial number and the velocity it produced with a Premier, just so we could be certain that each and every rifle we sold delivered what was promised. After testing those rifles we knew with confidence that the valve design was right on the money and production was making them the way we thought. We could go back to testing a sample of production and not every gun.

Flexibility

I have said it many times before — when you buy an AirForce sporting rifle you aren’t buying just one air rifle; you are buying an entire system. No other airgun on the market allows you to change barrels for three different lengths in 4 different calibers (that’s 12 combinations), has a primary power adjuster that operates without the use of tools, and has a secondary means of power refinement in the valve cap. The secondary means of power adjustment involves adjusting the height of the valve cap to control the length of the valve stroke. In turn, that determines how long the valve remains open for the air to flow. And it doesn’t stop there. You can put a standard air tank on a Condor to reduce the power, and even install a Spin-Loc Micro-Meter air tank to take it right down to nearly nothing (12 foot-pounds in .177 caliber). I tested that for you in 2008. So, a Condor can be almost whatever you want it to be.

Goof jobs

However — as soon as the rifle came out in 2004 the couch engineers had to “fix” the things that AirForce got wrong. One of the popular early modification was to install a heavier striker weight, thinking that a harder blow would hold the valve open even longer. What it did was pound the Delrin valve seat into the valve stem, ruining the valve. And, on Mr. Condor’s personal rifle, it also bent the aluminum frame of the gun, so that when we rebuilt his gun for him (one of the original 100 to go out) we weren’t able to repair the frame. We got his rifle working within specifications again and he stopped posting his fixes on the forums, but I often wondered where that poor beat-up Condor is today!

I saved Mr. Condor’s destroyed valve, or what was left of it (the valve cap and stem were broken off), to show people what happens when you fool with things you don’t understand. My Condor that’s just as old still works perfectly.

Now you understand my background. I was there and saw this from the inside. The Condor was a world-beating air rifle that produced up to 65 foot-pounds of muzzle energy when it first came out in .22 caliber. Today it is offered in .25 caliber and goes out the door capable of 80 foot-pounds, mostly due to the heavier pellets that have come into the market.

More power

As Tim the Tool Man Taylor tells us — what we need is more power! For those not living in the U.S., that’s a reference to a comedy television show, Home Improvement that ran from 1991 to 1999. It’s based on comedian Tim Allen’s humor. And AirForce has listened! The Ring Loc Kit that I’m reviewing for you starting today (and continuing for I don’t know how long) does just that. It takes the 80 foot-pound .25 caliber Condor up to 105 foot-pounds! That’s Escape territory, with the additional benefit of the large Spin-Loc Condor air tank instead of the smaller Spin Loc Escape air tank! So — there are more shots!

For the new Ring Loc valve

The Ring-Loc Kit is made to fit the new Spin-Loc tank that has the Ring Loc valve, only. If you have the older Spin-Loc tank that has two Allen screws in the valve cap, you need to buy a new tank with a Ring-Loc valve to use this kit. However, if you have an even older Condor like mine that has the quick-detach tank (the one that unscrews from the rifle and doesn’t have the gauge or quick-disconnect fill port) with one or two Allen screw(s) holding the valve cap to the stem, your gun has to be modified by AirForce to accept a Spin Loc tank. Then the Ring-Loc Kit will fit. Obviously if you buy a spare air tank for this kit, only buy the one that has the latest Ring-Loc valve.

This is the Spin Loc tank you are familiar with. It has two Allen screws to lock down the valve cap at the proper clearance.

The new Spin Loc tank has the Ring-Loc valve cap.

What it does

Now I will get specific. The Ring-Loc Kit allows the owner to quickly adjust the size of what AirForce calls the orifice (we would call it the air transfer port) of the firing valve. A larger orifice allows more air to flow from the tank, resulting in more power. How much more power depends on the caliber and weight of the pellet.

Of course it also works the other way, as well. A smaller orifice give less power and more shots. Since the Condor is the most powerful smallbore air rifle you can buy, going down in power is also of interest. I already linked you to my report on the Micro-Meter tank, which takes the power as low as you can go, but what about the Spin-Loc Kit? How low can it go? Well, nobody knows — yet. Let’s look at the kit now.

The kit

The $50 Ring-Loc Kit comes with 4 orifices of fixed dimensions:

0.232-inches
0.166-inches
0.145-inches
0.123-inches

The Ring-Loc Kit comes with all of this.

There is one additional orifice with a hole that’s 0.070-inches in diameter that will not even shoot a .177 caliber pellet out of the Condor’s 24-inch barrel. That cap is for your own experimentation! Drill it out to whatever size you want and set up your Condor to do what you want.

You also get three replacement o-rings that fit between the valve cap and the ring lock underneath. I will have more to say about them in a future report.

Finally you get two wrenches that you use to adjust and lock down the ring lock valve cap.

AirForce testing

You get the most power from the largest orifice, which is the 0.232-inch one. However, that orifice does not work well with .177 caliber barrels. We aren’t very sure how well it works with .20 caliber, either, as tests have been run but more testing is needed.

Obviously as the orifice size decreases, the power does, too. And of course the shot count goes up. For the .177 Condor the 0.123-inch orifice is great, and for getting a lot of shots at consistent velocity the 0.145-inch orifice works quite well in .22 caliber. AirForce has a video on their website that covers the kind of results you will see with the different orifices.

What hasn’t been tested thoroughly is the Ring-Loc Kit at lower power. So, that’s what I’m going to do. I will first give you a synopsis of the data that’s been generated at the higher end of the power spectrum, then we will test the lower end together.

Widest range of power today

We know from my testing in 2008 that a Condor can deliver 12 foot-pounds in .177 caliber when it uses the Micro-Meter tank. AirForce has proven that they can dial a Condor with the Ring-Loc Kit down to around 22 foot-pounds in .177 caliber. That’s a 7-grain pellet traveling 1190 f.p.s. What I want to know about is the area in-between 12 foot-pounds and 22 foot pounds. In other words, can the Ring-Loc Kit make a Condor suitable to shoot indoors and still protect the bird feeder? I’m talking 14-18 foot-pounds or so. And, can the Ring Loc Kit make it unnecessary to buy the Micro-Meter air tank, altogether? Wouldn’t that be nice?

With all that testing yet to be done, though, we can still say conclusively that the AirForce Condor has the widest range of power available in a smallbore air rifle today — 12 to 105 foot pounds in 4 different calibers and 3 barrel lengths. They are so far out in front that second place is still over the horizon!

So what?

Here’s what! Want to get into PCPs and cover the spectrum for as little money as possible? Get a Condor. You can shoot indoors. You can protect the bird feeder and garden, you can hunt woodchucks at long ranges. You get a Lothar Walther barrel that offers great accuracy. One gun has it all, at least from a performance standpoint.

Summary

Don’t set up your Corvette with a 3-point Ferguson plow hitch just yet. You may still need your tractor for some jobs around the garden. But, glory be if the Ring-Loc Kit for a Condor and CondorSS isn’t something Tony Stark would be proud of!

I have so much more coming! Next time I will get to the results of some tests, plus I’ll show you how to install and adjust the orifices. New toys, guys!

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

FX Dreamlite PCP.

This report covers:

• Unique features
• The manual is a problem
• Transfer port adjustment
• Trigger
• Fill
• Fill probe
• Regulator
• Transfer port adjustment
• Keep the baby
• The rifle
• Free-floated barrel
• Smooth Twist barrel
• tock replacement
• Summary

Today we begin looking at the FX-Dreamlite precharged air rifle. It’s been several years since I tested an FX rifle, and I’m curious to see what has changed. The last rifle I tested was very accurate.

The Dreamlite I am testing is a .177 at my request. The rifle also comes in .22 and .25 calibers, and the barrels can be swapped. So can the butts.

The Dreamlite is part of the FX Dreamline series that includes their lower-priced PCPs. I say they are priced lower, but we are still looking at $1,180 for the Dreamlite, so they aren’t cheap!

Unique features

The Dreamlite comes with a bundle of desirable features that I’d like to mention first. It’s a repeater with a sidelever bolt action that’s very light and smooth to cock. The .177 I’m testing has a spring-loaded circular magazine that holds 21 rounds. I think that’s a record for this kind of magazine. In .22 caliber the mag holds 18 and in .25 it holds 16. I would think that should suffice for a day of hunting! Of course this mag does stick up high above the top of the receiver, so 2-piece scope rings are a must. And no, there are no open sights.

Adjustable power

Oh, my gosh! The Dreamlite has a regulator they call the Adjustable Match Precision (AMP) externally adjustable regulator! You can also adjust the air transfer port. And, the striker/hammer spring tension is also adjustable. Best of all, everything adjusts externally! It sounds daunting, as in — what do I do first — but I’ll try to make sense of it for you as we go.

HOWEVER…

The manual is a problem

FX has put the instructions for all their PCPs into one manual — so it reads like the manual for a new smart TV — meaning nobody can understand it except some of the engineers and programmers who work for the manufacturer! The manual talks about arrows and reservoirs that attach to the butt — none of which the Dreamlite has! It reads like it was written by the marketing department rather than by someone from engineering. Here — take a look!

This is what FX says about adjusting the power. Nothing in these instructions matches anything on the rifle I’m testing!

My official name for this picture is “huh?” I can figure out that I’m supposed to put the caliber of the rifle on the wheel next to the arrow on the receiver, but WHAT DOES IT DO??? Come on FX! The “manual” shows nothing like this!

Transfer port adjustment

The specs on the Pyramyd Air site tell me there is a 3-stage transfer port adjustment. There is nothing in the manual telling me what to do and I don’t see a knob on the rifle that says transfer port, but I finally figured out that the knob pictured above is the air transfer port adjustment. It’s something you need to know — so I just told you. I guess you turn the wheel and watch the chronograph. Remember this adjustment has to be balanced with the striker spring adjuster and the regulator pressure.

If the previous picture was “huh?”, this one has to be “huh? too”. I can’t tell what the wheel with the numbers and letters does! I guess when I missed that secret FX meeting I missed a lot. The large thumbscrew at the top right of the picture is the way to remove the buttstock.

I did some research on the internet and discovered that “huh? too” is actually the striker/hammer spring adjustment wheel — BUT — where is the reference mark for indexing it? What do I do, just turn it until I like the numbers coming off the chronograph?

And — which trigger is on the test rifle — the Standard, the Bobcat/Indy or the Wildcat? There are three shown in the manual. The Dreamlite is complex enough without a Chinese menu of instructions that may or may not apply! I’m going to have to extract what I can from it and write my own manual for the rifle.

Trigger

After studying the “manual,” I think the Dreamlite has the Wildcat trigger. That’s based on comparing what’s on the rifle to the pictures in the manual.

The Dreamlite trigger is very adjustable, but came from the factory set up perfectly for me.

I will say this — the Dreamlite trigger on the rifle I am testing is two-stage and absolutely delightful. Stage two is relatively crisp and light. I’ll have no problem doing my best with this trigger.

Fill

The Dreamlite has a reservoir under the barrel that holds 250cc. According to the engraving on the action, the rifle fills to a maximum of 230 bar, which is 3,336 psi. The externally adjustable regulator allows the shooter to adjust this down to a lower pressure that should give many consistent shots. And there is a gauge on the right side of the receiver that shows the pressure the reg is set for.

There is also a gauge on the end of the reservoir that tells you how much pressure is in the gun. Referring to both gauges gives a sense of how much air remains before the rifle drops off the regulator and your velocities start declining.

Fill probe

The fill probe is proprietary and does not have a male Foster adaptor on the other end, so you have to either have a dedicated air hose for this rifle or you have to change fill probes every time you want to use the rifle. I installed the probe on my tank and will leave it dedicated for the remainder of the test. In this respect, FX is five years behind the rest of the market. Even the Chinese have figured out that you put a male Foster fitting on the other end of the fill probe so everyone can attach their universal air hoses!

Regulator

There is NO MENTION of the regulator or how to adjust it in the manual!! That is a serious flaw that I intend to correct as we go. This lack of basic information is a shame! Some websites say to adjust the reg with a 2mm Allen wrench — BUT WHERE IS THE SCREW TO ADJUST??? They might also mention that!

The regulator gauge on the right side of the receiver shows the pressure the reg is set to. No — neither of the two screws in this picture are for adjusting the reg.

There (arrow) is the 2mm Allen screw for adjusting the regulator, deep inside that hole. Now everybody knows!

Keep the baby

Okay, the bathwater (FX manual) is bad. Don’t throw the baby (the Dreamlite rifle) out with it. I still think it’s a fine air rifle. Once I decode all the gobbledegook and we know how to adjust things, everything should be fine. And when I say “we,” I’m talking about all those who have bought this rifle and have gone on websites around the world, asking the same questions I am asking today.

The rifle

Enough of the background — what do we have here? The FX Dreamlite is a repeating bolt-action rifle that’s reasonably lightweight. It weighs 5 lbs. 10 ounces, which makes it one of the lightest PCP rifles. Only the Gen 2 Fortitude, all of the AirForce Escape series (AirForce Escape, EscapeUL and Escape SS) and a few others are lighter.

The rifle is 42.5 inches long (I measured it) and the buttstock does come off, taking it down to just 32 inches. The rifle comes with a silencer installed and I agree with the Pyramyd Air rating of a sound level of 2. I had to dry-fire the rifle many times as I adjusted the regulator, which I had to do to know I had found the correct screw. I will describe how to adjust the reg in a future report — probably Part 2.

The Dreamlite gets up to 20 foot-pounds in .177 and more in the larger calibers, so it is a serious hunting rifle. We will explore more on that when we test velocity.

Free-floated barrel

The shrouded barrel is free-floated. The shroud moves when touched, leading some to wonder if the rifle will hold its zero. I will check that as we go, but for now let’s assume it will because this rifle already has a reputation for being a tack-driver.

There is a DonnyFL silencer (that is what the manual calls it) on the end of the shroud, which is what keeps the rifle so quiet. I have read some people’s comments that the barrel is a “soda straw” tube, but that’s not true. The actual barrel on the test rifle measures 14.14mm outside diameter — anything but a soda straw. Oddly FX seems to call the true barrel a “liner” and the outside shroud the barrel. I guess that’s the way it looks to people and I won’t fight the trend.

Smooth Twist barrel

The Dreamlite rifle comes with a Smooth Twist X barrel. Most of the length of the barrel is smoothbore and the rifling is just near the end. I have read that it gets tremendous accuracy but is pellet-specific. I have no problem with that, as accuracy is all that really matters.

These barrels are designed to interchange, which makes the Dreamlite more than just a rifle — it’s a whole shooting system. In other words, you can change calibers. And that, I guess, is the reason for the confusing wording on the air transfer port selector knob — because the gun can be several calibers.

Stock replacement

The fact that you can take the buttstock off is meaningless unless you know that other butts can take its place. Because you certainly would not want to shoot this as a pistol!

Summary

There is more to tell but this report is already getting too long. I really like the rifle I’m testing, but I think the documentation is beyond poor. Therefore, I plan to document the rifle as I go and people can refer to this series when they have a question about the rifle’s operation. I know I will.

I apologize for bashing the FX manual, but the last job I had in the Army was developing the user’s manuals for the XM1 tank. A piece of equipment can be state of the art, but until the user understands how to use it, it can have no positive impact.

I’m actually considering purchasing this rifle at the end of testing, so you know I am impressed. Can’t wait to see it in action!

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

Artemis PCP air pistol.

This report covers:

• Slow regulator
• Fill
• The test
• Sight-in
• RWS Superdomes
• JSB Exact RS
• JSB Hades
• H&N Baracudas
• Field Target Trophy
• JSB Exact Jumbo
• Observations
• Summary

Today we take our first look at the accuracy of the Artemis PP700S-A PCP pistol. I shot it using the sights that come on the gun.

Slow regulator

I read Part 2 before starting the test, because I knew the regulator on the pistol took a long time to settle down after a shot. From the comments of some readers who own the gun, my experience is typical and goes away as the gun breaks in.

Fill

I also read where I had discovered that the test pistol does not want to be filled to 3,000 psi. It likes a 2800 fill, so both times I filled it that’s where I stopped. And again there was owner agreement.

The test

I shot off a sandbag rest at 10 meters. The pistol was rested directly on the bag, so there was little or no motion. I decided to shoot 5-shot groups that would allow me to test more pellets than if I had shot 10 shots. I tried to wait about two minutes between each shot, which we learned in Part 2 is the amount of time it takes the regulator to fill.

Sight-in

When testing a new airgun I never know where the first shot will hit, so I usually start shooting 10-12 feet from the target. But when the gun being tested has open sights I figure the pellet will be pretty close to on, right out of the box. Wrong! The first pellet hit the target 2.75-inches below the aim point and a little to the left. There is no elevation adjustment. I could adjust the rear sight right and left, but I left it alone for now. And that turned out to be fine because pellets went both right and left.

RWS Superdomes

The first pellet to be tested was the RWS Superdome. Though I aimed at the 6 o’clock on the upper bull, 4 of the five shots hit at the very bottom of the bull below it, and one was even lower and off the target paper altogether. Because of that I had to photograph the targets differently this time.

Five Superdomes went into 0.858-inches at 10 meters. Four shots are sort of together in 0.59-inches, which is better. It was the first shot that hit below the paper.

Five RWS Superdomes went into 0.858-inches at 10 meters, with 4 shots going into a tighter 0.59-inches.

JSB Exact RS

Next I tried 5 JSB Exact RS pellets. I thought, given the pistol’s lower power, that perhaps lighter pellets were the answer. But I was wrong. This time five went even lower on the target into a group measuring 1.175-inches between centers.

Well, it’s clear that JSB Exact RS pellets are not right for this Artemis. Five went into 1.175-inches at 10 meters.

JSB Hades

When I was at the Texas Airgun Show a few weeks ago, a reader gave me a tin of JSB Hades hollowpoint pellets. He told me after testing them he purchased 40 tins immediately. I had already requested a tin and had it on hand for a special test, but after hearing his confidence I knew I had to include them the first chance I got. And this was it.

The Hades is a new hollowpoint pellet from JSB.

Five Hades pellets went into 0.716-inches at 10 meters. There are actually two separate groups of three and two pellets, so the potential is for this pellet to stack at this distance! This was the smallest group of the test, which makes it clear why he was so enthusiastic about them!

JSB Hades hollowpoints made the smallest group of the test, measuring 0.716-inches between centers. The hole on the right has three pellets in it, which shows what this pellet really wants to do.

H&N Baracudas

The next pellet I tried was the H&N Baracuda with a 5.50mm head. What a tease it was, because 4 of the 5 went into 0.234-inches, but one of the five opened the group to 0.763-inches. I have a feeling this is another pellet to try when the pistol is scoped.

Four Baracuda pellets are in 0.234-inches at 10 meters, but one of the five opened the group to 0.763-inches.

Field Target Trophy

The next pellet I tried was the H&N Field Target Trophy with a 5.53mm head. I have never had much luck with this pellet, though I know many shooters do. You might think that introduces bias into the test, and perhaps it does, but I really did shoot my very best. Five pellets went into 1.443-inches at 10 meters, though four of them are in 0.517-inches. I guess that’s better than it looks.

The Artemis put 5 F&N Field Target Trophy pellets into 1.443-inches at 10 meters. That’s the largest group of the test, but 4 of those 5 are in 0.517-inches.

JSB Exact Jumbo

The last pellet I tried was the ever-reliable JSB Exact Jumbo. This is usually one of the most accurate pellets in any airgun. But not this time. They dropped a full 4-inches below the aim point and five grouped in 0.844-inches.

Five JSB Exact Jumbo pellets went into 0.844-inches at 10 meters.

Observations

I found the Artemis pistol easy to hold steady, but with a trigger pull that’s too stiff when I’m doing precise work. And the front sight blade is too thin for the width of the rear notch, so I had to guesstimate the sight picture a little.

I got 20 shots on a fill and there were probably 5 more than that. I just didn’t want to take any chances with the accuracy.

I tried to wait a full two minutes between shots for the regulator to cycle, but I’m sure I cut it a little short several times. That won’t be necessary, once the pistol is broken in.

Summary

The Artemis PP700S-A PCP pistol seems to be well-made and very stable. I don’t like the fact that the rear sight doesn’t adjust for elevation, but I suppose most shooters will scope it. That’s what I will do next time and see what this gun can do at 25 yards.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Ataman BP17 Soft Touch bullpup PCP air rifle.

This report covers:

• Reasons to rejoice
• The rifle
• Repeater
• The accessories
• Trigger
• Barrel
• Manual
• Fill
• Scope
• Summary

Today we begin looking at the Ataman BP17 PCP Soft Touch bullpup air rifle. It comes in .22 caliber only and I am testing the black one.

Reasons to rejoice

You readers should be glad I’m looking at this one. It’s a full bullpup that many of you say you like. It’s a PCP in .22 caliber and most of you like that. It’s compact, yet delivers a muzzle energy of 25 foot-pounds. I think a lot of you will like this report.

The rifle

The rifle is just under 24 inches long. It weighs 5.1 lbs. according to the description online, yet my postal scale says the test rifle weighs 5 lbs. 15 oz, which is more like 5.9 lbs.

The Soft Touch title relates to the smooth black rubber that covers nearly all of the airgun. It’s firm yet grippy, which seems perfect for a hunter. And because it is synthetic it shouldn’t feel as cold when the temperature drops.

Repeater

The rifle is a 7-shot repeater, It’s cocked via a sidelever on the left front of the gun.

Tyler Patner operates the sidelever located on the left side of the gun.

It has a circular clip seated in the comb, below the top of the surrounding material. It is nowhere near the Picatinney rail that accepts the scope mounts. Additional circular clips stow in slots under the rail, where there is room for 4 more.

Ataman circular clip in the rifle.

Ataman circular clip stored under the rail. There is room for a total of 4 stored clips, plus the one in the gun.

I say “clip” for this part, because the entire mechanism for advancing the pellets is inside the rifle. All this part does is hold the pellets. It has a spring-loaded ball bearing on either side to hold it steady and aligned in the rifle and also when stored. The rifle comes with 2 clips.

The BP17 clip just holds the pellets. It has a spring-loaded ball-bearing on either side.

Ataman even includes a tool to adjust the fit of the clip to the rifle. What I am calling a clip they call a magazine, and the tool allows the user to adjust the tension of the axle to best fit the slot in the receiver.

Adjust the fit of the clip/magazine with the brass tool provided.

The accessories

When I saw the accessory package I knew this rifle was going to be put together right. There are TWO fill probes! One has 1/8 BSPP threads and, for the bulk of the airgun world, the other one has a male Foster fill adaptor. If the Russians understand this why don’t the Brits and Swedes?

Trigger

Because this is a bullpup rifle, this is where I would usually get on my soapbox and complain that bullpup triggers can’t possibly be good because of all the linkage they require. Well, this one isn’t that crisp, but it is super light. Maybe it is crisp, as well, and my trigger finger just hasn’t learned how it works yet. It goes off with stunning lightness, giving little cause to complain.

The pull is 13-1/2 inches long. Remembering that this is a full bullpup, the pull feels good to me so far. The thumbhole pistol grip is very vertical and thicker, front to back, than an AR grip, so your trigger finger doesn’t feel so cramped.

Barrel

The barrel is 14.5 inches long and is encased inside a shroud that has a silencer mounted on the end. It’s one without baffles and sounds loud when I dry fire the rifle. I will have more to say about it when I do the velocity test.

The barrel and shroud/silencer are separated from the forearm and floating. I think that should help accuracy.

Manual

The manual that came with the BP17 is about that rifle and nothing else. It even has an illustrated parts breakdown that’s an exploded isometric projection of how the gun goes together! All the parts are illustrated and given names and numbers on a list!

The manual has a parts list and this illustrated parts breakdown that’s an isometric projection.

Fill

As I mentioned you have a choice of fill probes to use. The probe is inserted from the right side of the rifle, only. Fill the 100cc reservoir to 300 bar (4,350 psi), so it will be best to fill this rifle from a carbon fiber tank that starts out with 310 bar (4.500 psi). You’ll get more full fills that way.

The specs say you get 25 shots per fill. I will test that in Part 2.

Scope

There are no sights on the rifle so I am obviously going to mount a scope. HOWEVER — the BP17 is a bullpup of extremely short length. I’m not going to install the Hubble Space Telescope on it! I’m thinking of all the appropriate scopes I could use. I’m sure you will all help me!

Summary

We have a really different and interesting PCP to test here. Tell me what I should be looking for and why.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Ataman BP17 Soft Touch bullpup PCP air rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This report covers:

• The test — 55 yards
• Wind
• Aeon scope
• Excuses, excuses!
• One pellet — JSB Exact Jumbo
• Trigger
• Group two — JSB Jumbo
• Group three
• Discussion
• Summary

Today I take the Ataman BP17 PCP bullpup air rifle out to 50 yards for the final accuracy test. Instead of shooting many pellets I shot the one it did best with in Part 3. That turned out to be a good decision because there were several other challenges on this day.

The test — 55 yards

I wasn’t at my usual rifle range so I had to set everything up. I paced off the distance to the target, and when I ranged to it I discovered it was actually closer to 55 yards. And, the way the range was set up, I had the sun in my face, so I had to shade my non-sighting eye.

Wind

I got a late start so the wind had picked up, as well. I faced gusts to 10-12 m.p.h which doesn’t sound bad, but when you are shooting to 55 yards with pellets any wind can be difficult. I waited the gusts out and tried to shoot only when the wind was 0 to 5 m.p.h.

Aeon scope

You will remember from Part 3 that the Aeon 8-32X50 SF scope was mounted. That proved to be another challenge on this day because I was outdoors and the bullpup rifle was hard to benchrest. The Aeon scope has a very short distance in which the image is visible through the eyepiece, then it goes dark. Too close is just as bad as too far away. Indoors it is easier to hold the short rifle so the image is visible, but outside it proved difficult.

Excuses, excuses!

It sounds like I’m building up to report a failure, but I’m not. I’m just telling you all I went through to shoot this rifle accurately at 55 yards. I think bullpups are easer to shoot offhand than conventional rifles, like when you are hunting, but harder to benchrest than rifles with conventional stocks.

One pellet — JSB Exact Jumbo

The pellet I selected for today’s test was the .22 caliber JSB Exact Jumbo that did so well in Part 3 at 25 yards. That gave me more time to learn how to shoot the rifle from a rest.

I fiddled around, adjusting the scope’s zero for about 10 rounds and then shot the first serious group. Because there were 4 pellets left in the clip after sighting in, I shot a first group of 11. At 55 yards 11 JSB Exact Jumbo pellets went into 1.223-inches. It’s not that good because I was still learning how to hold the rifle. I allowed the crosshair to move around too much while shooting this group.

Eleven JSB Exact Jumbo pellets went into 1.223-inches at 55 yards. It’s an okay group, but I knew I could do better.

Trigger

The rifle’s trigger is both light and nonspecific. I never knew when it was going off. That sounds better than it is. If it had a definite stage two I would have been able to concentrate more on the release point, but this trigger is like juggling nitroglycerin. You never know when it’s going off!

Group two — JSB Jumbo

On the second serious group I held the rifle much better, though the trigger was still surprising me. This time 6 of the 7 pellets went into 0.78-inches at 55 yards. But one pellet landed way below the group, opening it up to 1.723-inches. I don’t know which of the 7 shots it was because they all looked good through the scope.

Seven JSB Jumbo pellets are in 1.723-inches with 6 in 0.78-inches at 55 yards. So close!

I almost called it quits after this group. I was hot and sweaty and had been shooting for about 90 minutes. But I really wanted to see if I could hold 7 for 7.

Group three

So once more I loaded the clip with 7 Jumbos and tried to shoot to the best of my ability. This time all 7 went where I wanted and produced a group that measures 0.577-inches at 55 yards.

That’s more like it! The Ataman put 7 JSB Exact Jumbo pellets into 0.577-inches at 55 yards.

Discussion

The Ataman functioned well throughout the 4 parts of this test. The clips never failed to feed. And the rifle is accurate without a doubt.

I must comment that outdoors the rifle is a lot less noisy than it seemed indoors. It’s still not ideal for small back yards, but if you have a couple acres it’s fine.

The trigger is light but not positive. That bothered me when I was trying to hold on a small target.

I still am not a fan of bullpups, but this is a very good one. So, if compact size and light weight appeals to you, the Ataman BP17 is a rifle to seriously consider. Mount a lower-powered scope that has a wider field of view and a more forgiving eye-relief. Perhaps a Bug Buster 3-12X32 would be ideal.

One last consideration — since this rifle needs a 300 bar fill, consider either a carbon fiber air tank or a Nomad II air compressor. Either one will do the job.

Summary

That’s our last look at the Ataman BP17. I hope this series has helped some of you make a decision.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Hatsan SpeedFire Vortex breakbarrel repeater.

This report covers:

• Scoping
• Sight-in
• First group of Baracuda Match
• Different holds
• Second target
• Hatsan Vortex pellets
• It’s accurate
• Two other airguns
• Summary

Today I test the Hatsan Speedfire Vortex repeater scoped at 25 yards. In the last part we learned that H&N Baracuda Match with 5.53mm heads were the best pellet for this rifle, so they are the ones I will test with today.

Scoping

The first job was to scope the rifle. It comes with a Picatinney rail on the spring tube so scoping should be fast and easy. The first scope I selected was the Bug Buster 3-12X32 with UTG 80mm Sidewheel add-on that I recently used in the test of the Daisy Buck BB gun. The scope was still mounted in its UTG rings that come with it, so all I had to do was remove them from the BB gun and install them on the SpeedFire. Unfortunately, the scope base is too far forward on the spring tube for the Bug Buster to work, and the scope tubes are so short that there is almost no lateral adjustment. This can happen with a Bug Buster, so I switched to a larger scope — the Aeon 8-32X50 AO that was already mounted in offset P.O.I. rings from UTG. Despite its high magnification this is still not a large scope and and it doesn’t overpower the SpeedFire.

Sight-in

Sight-in was easy and quick because the scope was almost perfectly aligned. Once I was satisfied I backed up to 25 yards and began shooting groups. I shot and shot and shot — 80 shots in all, trying to discover the best hold for the SpeedFire. This workout taught me two important things —

First: The Hatsan SpeedFire is very accurate.
Second: The SpeedFire is extremely sensitive to how it’s held.

First group of Baracuda Match

The first group is representative of what happened throughout the test. Nine shots are in a decent 0.778-inches at 25 yards and one lone shot opens the group to 1.931-inches

This is a common thing with the Speedfire. Nine shots at in 0.778-inches at 25 yards and one other shot opens the group to 1.931-inches.

Different holds

I tried every variation of artillery hold I could think of. With many of them I got a distribution that was really two groups. Either one of them would be a group to be proud of, which is why I tell you that the SpeedFire is accurate. But together the groups don’t compliment one another. This can happen with a rifle that is hold-sensitive.

I also tried holding the rifle in a firm “deer hunter” hold, but that threw pellets all over the place. The artillery hold or something very much like it is how the rifle wants to be held.

Let me show you a very promising group that ended up disappointing me. It came right after the group shown above. I had adjusted the scope top the left and shot the following.

The first round hit high and right. Then the scope reticle moved to where it was adjusted and shots 2 through 9 are in the middle. I was prepared to give a lecture on scope stiction after adjusting, and would have if the next 9 shots had all been together.

That 8-shot group measures 0.542-inches between centers and I believe is representative of what the Speedfire can really do at 25 yards with the right pellet. But on the final shot the right front of the firearm touched the long sandbag, resulting in the shot going wide to the left. That shot opened the group up to 2.343-inches — hardly worth touting! But the thing is, I know what caused the shots to go awry! The first was from scope stiction after adjustment and the second was from the forearm touching the sandbag.

The SpeedFire tended to group in two different places, telling me that the hold wasn’t quite right.

Now let me show you the entire first target. I shot 60 shots at this target and tried more than a dozen different holds and nothing seemed to work. But during all of that I became convinced that if this was my only air rifle and I shot it hundreds of more times I would eventually discover exactly how it wants to be held. After that I would be a force to be reckoned with!

The entire first target, including sight-in rounds. I tried everything to get the SpeedFire to group.

Second target

I replaced the first target with a second one and fired a final group of Baracuda Match. What I managed to do was confirm that resting the rifle on the off hand back by the triggerguard is the best shooting position I have discovered thus far.

Hatsan Vortex pellets

Then I shot a group of Hatsan Vortex pellets, thinking they might just do better. Well, they didn’t. Ten pellets went into an open group that measures 1.645-inches between centers. Given what the Baracuda Match pellets can do, that isn’t very tight.

Ten Hatsan Vortex pellets made this 1.645-inch group at 25 yards.

At this point I was getting tired. I didn’t think I could shoot accurately any longer. In all I put 80 rounds downrange. The SpeedFire was easy to cock and its magazine was easy to load. It was a delight to shoot a breakbarrel springer so fast (just break the barrel, return it to the closed position and shoot.

It’s accurate

Despite my failure to shoot a decent 10-shot group at 25 yards I still believe that the SpeedFire is an accurate air rifle. You have to remember that this is a repeater and you may have to give up some accuracy to get the reliable feeding. Some of my groups are about the size other air rifles give — especially in this price category.

If I had more time with the rifle I’m sure I would discover how to make it perform on every shot. I don’t have the time but you do, so I am recommending this rifle to those who want a repeating springer. That includes reader Polank who asked for the test and my brother-in-law Bob, who has been privately messaging me about the gun.

Other repeating springers

There are other airguns to compare the SpeedFire to — the Umarex Synergis underlever that isn’t out yet and the Gamo Swarm Fusion 10X gen 2 and the Benjamin Mag-Fire breakbarrels that are both now out. I guess my work is cut out for me.

Summary

I think the SpeedFire is a good rifle, but it will take some learning and getting used to. It’s not a natural shooter like some other spring guns. I guess if you want a repeater that’s something you will have to tolerate. This is my final look at this rifle.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

The Girardoni of 1780 was the first successful repeating rifle, and it is an airgun!

A history of airguns

This report covers:

• History
• Girandoni or Girardoni?
• 1,000-1,500 rifles
• Equipment
• Firing the rifle
• Problems
• Lewis & Clark
• Replica
• Summary

Today will be a different sort of report. Much of what I want to show you is in a short video at the end. I have determined that videos are a good way to impart a lot of information that is hard to explain but easy to see. Therefore there will be more videos in my future reports.

History

In the mid to late 1700s several people were trying to invent a reliable repeating firearm. The military wanted such an arm, as long as it was reliable. The problem was, the gunpowder of the day was what we know today as black powder. Instead of burning like smokeless powder, black powder burns so fast that it explodes when confined inside a tight space. So many early repeating firearms exploded, because there were no cartridges to contain the powder.

The son of Bartolomaes Girardoni was killed when an experimental repeating rifle he fired blew up and took off his arm. That, probably more than anything, got Girardoni’s attention turned toward air rifles. And in 1780 his perfected air rifle repeater was selected by the Austrian army for limited use.

Girandoni or Girardoni?

The name has been spelled both ways. Dr. Beeman traveled to Europe to meet with members of the family and discovered that the name is spelled GiraRdoni. Apparently a misspelling in print about 50-60 years ago changed the spelling, and thousands of references have been written with the N spelling. Searching for that spelling will find far more data than with the R spelling. But the R spelling is correct.

1,000-1,500 rifles

You will find references to the fact that the Austrians bought anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 Girardoni repeaters for limited use on the battlefield. Riflemen were assigned individually to units and treated as snipers are today. That was more because they had a rifle than the fact that they had a repeater. There is one record of a sergeant being killed with one shot at 110 yards. He was standing next to a general officer who was probably the actual target.

Equipment

Each soldier was issued a rifle, two extra filled butt flasks that could quickly be changed in the field and a small hand pump to refill the flasks. Filling them with the small pump was futile — it took forever. So, in the army trains (the logistical area in the rear) there was a wagon-mounted large pump that was operated by two men whose only job was to fill flasks as fast as they could.

Dr Beeman has a modern replica that he has shot and tells us there are at least one magazine’s worth of shots and probably more from a flask.

Each rifleman carried this leather pack that had two filled butt flasks in addition to the one on his rifle. There was also a hand pump in the kit, but it’s doubtful it was used very much.

Firing the rifle

The rifle was either .46 or .47 caliber. It carried 21 round balls (all bullets at the time were round balls) in a tube on the right side of the receiver. When the rifle was elevated for the hammer to be cocked, the tube was also elevated and the balls rolled to the rear. A steel shuttle was pushed in from the left side of the receiver and a hole allowed one ball to drop in from the magazine tube. Releasing the shuttle allowed a long leaf spring to push it back to the left where the ball then aligned with the breech of the barrel. All the shooter had to do was shoulder the rifle and fire. This entire process took less than three seconds. And a trained rifleman could keep up sustained fire until he ran out of bullets. The Girardoni was the assault rifle of the day.

Problems

The biggest problem was no doubt air leakage. The butt was probably pressurized to between 600 and 800 psi, and the leather and animal horn seals of the day were not airtight. They were kept lubricated with sperm whale oil which helped, but they still leaked down over time. There were probably some flasks that remained pressurized for a couple days and others that leaked down in hours.

A second problem was the maintenance of what at the time was a highly complex mechanism. Armorers (those who fix firearms for the military) were mostly blacksmiths at the time. This repeater called for the skills of a clockmaker! As a result, the Austrian Arms began phasing the rifle out of their inventory just after 1800. They couldn’t keep it going, but civilians reacted differently! Gunmakers began copying the mechanism and today there are far more Girardoni-type rifles than there are actual military Girardonis. But one Girardoni is the most famous rifle of all time — the repeating air rifle carried by Lewis & Clark on their expedition of 1803.

Lewis & Clark

For many years if was believed that the Lewis & Clark air rifle was a single-shot made by Isaiah Lukens. I have examined that airgun and even photographed it partially disassembled. But then Dr. Beeman found some missing diary pages from the L&C expedition that talk of a repeater and of a repair made to the hammer while in the field. Lo and behold, from forensic examination he discovered that he owned the exact rifle Lewis & Clark had carried! He donated it to the U.S. Army War College museum and it has been shown around the country ever since. This rifle kept the Indian tribes at bay as the small band of soldiers crossed the continent, because they were astounded at the “white man’s medicine.” They had never seen a repeating rifle! In fact, very few people ever had!

Replica

I have seen one military Girardoni at an airgun show. I have probably seen 10 or 15 Girardoni-type airguns if I include both the rifles and pistols. Airgun writer and collector Larry Hannusch owns a Contriner repeating rifle that he has shot at big bore matches and taken small Texas deer with. He also owns a beautiful pair of Girandoni-type pistols that I have reported on in the past.

Larry Hannusch boxed this beautiful pair of Cantarini repeating pistols with all the tools they require.

Larry’s pistols are made for nobility or royalty without a doubt!

The Girardoni I saw changed hands for $3,500 at the Roanoke airgun show in the 1990s. Knowledgeable airgunners felt it was probably worth around $8,000 at the time, but who really knows? Today a similar example will fetch 50,000 to 90,000 Euro ($55,000 to $99,000). I can’t afford that, but let me show you one I can afford.

My thanks to John McCaslin for that fabulous gift! It now hangs proudly on my living room wall.

Summary

If you have any interest in owning a replica Girardoni for your man cave or living room, here is the man to contact. Karl Walker at dinosaurresinreplica@gmail.com.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

This report covers:

• BB’s gun wall
• .177 caliber
• Are steel BBs 4.5mm/.177 caliber?
• Can you hunt with .177 caliber?
• More good pellets
• Higher velocity means flatter shooting
• Twenty caliber
• Twenty-two caliber
• Hard-hitting
• Cost
• Target shooting
• Twenty-two caliber
• Hunting
• The big .25
• Expensive pellets
• Fewer pellets to choose from
• Big hole!
• Only one good handgun
• .30 caliber
• What does BB recommend?
• .30 caliber
• HOWEVER
• Summary

BB’s gun wall

My late wife, Edith, used to kid me by saying if she went first I would probably jackhammer a pit in the living room and cook my meals over an open fire. I think she was making fun of my domestic inabilities. Well, Edith, that never happened. However, after 4 years of static living I finally decided to make my home my own, so when John McCaslin gave me the replica Girardoni air rifle for my birthday, I decided to hang it on my living room wall. Actually I had already hung a pair of kukri knives there — one a gift from Ton Jones — so the Girardoni wasn’t the first.

Now, BB Pelletier is no craftsman. I rank just behind termites as a worker of wood. So when I say I decided, that is as far as it went. In sharp contrast my neighbor, Denny, is a fantastic woodworker! Denny worked as a patternmaker in the aerospace industry, where he made one-of-a-kind tooling. So he pays attention to the smallest detail.

Denny is always puttering around in his garage/shop, and his wife and family do not keep him gainfully employed all the time, so I “enable” him to do projects for me, from time to time. He did the plaque for the kukries, so when I told him of my idea to hang the Girardoni on the same wall the trap was baited and set. Like the elves and the shoemaker, all I had to do was buy the walnut board and stay out of his way. Then, when the air rifle was up and looking pretty, I brought out my flintlock fowler and showed that to him. Here is the result.

My gun wall.

I may not live in a log cabin like reader RidgeRunner, but I have a man cave, too! Next I think I will get rid of the genuine cowhide armchair and replace it with a Cushman Eagle for guest seating! Either that or a tractor seat on a leaf spring.

Enough silliness. Let’s begin today’s report.

As the holiday season draws near (I already have my fruitcake!) many of you are thinking about that next airgun. For some it may also be the first one. So today I want to discuss the various calibers, their strengths and weaknesses and the purposes to which I believe they are best-suited.

.177 caliber

The .177 caliber that is known in many places as 4.5mm is the most popular airgun caliber. It’s also the smallest, which means each pellet takes less lead and that can help to keep cost down, though it is just one of many driving factors.

Are steel BBs 4.5mm/.177 caliber?

Steel BBs are absolutely NOT .177 caliber! They are 0.173 caliber or 4.4mm. But, to keep from confusing buyers, they are labeled as 4.5mm or .177 caliber, and that shifts the confusion over to the 6mm airsoft guns whose plastic balls are also called BBs. You gotta love it!

For the sake of the moms and newcomers I will also lump BBs into the .177 caliber group, and that is the last I will say about them. Because today I am talking about airguns that shoot diabolo (wasp-waisted) pellets. Pellet guns.

One reason .177 caliber is so popular is there are several airgun events that either mandate its use (10-meter target shooting for both rifle and pistol) or strongly encourage it because of a decided advantage (field target). Does that mean that .177 caliber is more accurate than the others? Not at all. It means that through decades of international competition inertia has built up and now it would be too costly for the shooting complexes around the world to switch their expensive transducer-operated and sound-scored target systems to another caliber. Besides, it’s only paper. How much power do you need?

In field target you shoot through a small opening called a kill zone to hit a paddle that triggers the fall of the target. If you happen to hit the side of the kill zone while passing through the energy pushes the target back and may lock the paddle in the upright position, even though a portion of the pellet does hit it. The smaller caliber has less chance, statistically, of hitting the side of the kill zone. I have seen shooters compete with .20 caliber and even .22 caliber rifles. Never saw them win, though.

Can you hunt with .177 caliber?

Yes, you absolutely can hunt with .177 caliber. Like any pellet, the energy delivered is small, so it is essential to hit a vital spot on your quarry, and since .177 is the smallest caliber it is the reverse of field target — it is statistically the least likely to hit something vital when the aim is off.

In the United Kingdom where airgun power is limited by law to under 12 foot-pounds, the .177 gives the advantage of the highest velocity (821 f.p.s. for an 8-grain pellet is 11.98 foot-pounds). In a country where your airgun can be confiscated if it develops over 12 foot-pounds, no matter how close, you want to stay on the “good” side of the limit. Most Americans wouldn’t give it a second thought, unless they were shooting in a field target competition under World Field Target Federation (WFTF) rules.

More good pellets

Another reason to go with .177 is there are more good pellets for this caliber than for all the other calibers combined. Some countries don’t even permit pellet guns in larger calibers!

This caliber is extremely popular worldwide, and because of that the pellet makers have to work hard to keep up with the demand. There are cheap .177 pellets that are no better than sinker larvae, but as time passes there are fewer of those around.

No pellet maker is going to run a target-grade .25-caliber pellet when they can’t meet the demands for .177 pellets. Forget the 400-1,000 people who compete in Extreme Benchrest worldwide. They are nothing compared to the millions of airgunners around the world who only shoot at paper. So, you are the production manager at JSB. What do you do — run 50,000 heavy .25-caliber pellets for the 2020 benchrest season or fill the 2-month backlog for Pyramyd Air — just one customer out of thousands around the world — for the three pallets of .177 pellets (1.5 million pellets) they are willing to pay you for right now? Hmmmm! Tough choice, but what the heck. You like your job, don’t you?

Higher velocity means flatter shooting

Yes a faster-moving pellet does shoot flatter and all other things being the same the .177 caliber pellet will move the fastest, but this advantage isn’t as big as it sounds. Because what it masks is the inability to determine range. A shooter who knows his rifle and can guess ranges can hit more with a 500 f.p.s. .22-caliber springer than someone with a thousand-dollar hyper-velocity PCP who isn’t a good shooter. I’m not saying those who shoot .177-caliber airguns aren’t good shooters; I’m saying the first thing to do is learn to shoot!

The .177 is an excellent choice for plinking, target practice and pest elimination around the home. It’s also good for hunting.

Twenty caliber

The .20 caliber that is known in some places as 5.0mm was popularized by the Sheridan company, starting in 1947. They said at the time they did it because there weren’t any good .22-caliber pellets around, and that was a true statement, but it’s also highly likely they were hoping to “corner” the market with this special caliber. They actually fought an uphill battle because of the decision. American buyers knew .22 caliber and they knew .177 caliber but they were unfamiliar with .20 caliber. Just ask the Remington firearms company how popular the twenty caliber is.

Dr. Robert Beeman liked the .20 though and he convinced many of his manufacturers to make airguns in that caliber for him. He also thought .22 caliber pellets were less accurate, and in fairness they were during the time he was growing up. Because of this there are some very fine airguns in twenty caliber. But not many are being made today.

There are some .20-caliber guns being made, but they are seen by the market as a narrow niche. Remember what I said about the pellet manufacturers and the .177 caliber pellet. Twenty caliber is not the mainstream today and if you choose one you will have to become its champion.

From a power and accuracy standpoint, .20 caliber is just fine. You can hunt with it, shoot targets, and plink. There are no drawbacks to .20 caliber in this respect.

Some call .20 caliber a compromise between .177 and .22, but I think it’s a lot closer to .22 than to .177. You are going to have a hard time finding good pellets for this caliber and you can forget buying them from the discount store. Don’t forget, there was once an 8mm airsoft caliber, but try to find one today!

Twenty-two caliber

The .22 caliber pellet is the second most popular pellet in the world, and at one time in the United States and probably in most of North America, it was the most popular. That means that there are a lot of older airguns in this caliber.

The twenty-two is a fine accurate caliber. The most accurate longer-range air rifle I ever shot (Skan) was a .22. My ASP20 is a .22. Webley once made a couple nearly full-blown target rifles in .22. The Mark III and the Osprey were both made in Supertarget versions. But world-class target rules shut out the .22s, so these guns were just made for informal competition.

Hard-hitting

The .22 pellet leaves a larger wound channel and impacts with a bigger punch, from a given powerplant, than a .177. The fact that .22 pellets go slower than .177s in the same powerplant is not seen as a disadvantage, because a higher-velocity .177 can go clear through game leaving a nasty but small wound and not shedding all its energy. A slower-moving .22 often stays in the animal, delivering all of its kinetic energy. So if hunting is your game, the .22 is one of the two best calibers to choose.

Cost

Twenty-two pellets do cost a lot more than .177s because twice the material is used to make them. Consider that in your decision if you want to shoot a lot and will mostly be plinking. It’s like the difference between .22 long rifle and .22 magnum. Why do you care about how much energy hits the tin can?

Target shooting

This is a toughie to address. If you already own a .22 pellet gun there is nothing that says it isn’t good for targets. But if you are considering buying a new gun, remember the cost and the overkill proposition I just stated.

Hunting

For hunting and pest elimination .22 is one of the two best calibers, with .25 being the other. HOWEVER, if the pests are small, like mice and wasps, use a .177 if you can. The .22 is way overkill for small targets like that. Also, if the pest is in an area where a miss could put a pellet through the wall or ceiling, keep that in your considerations.

For larger pests like rats and woodchucks, the .22 is the better way to go. Not that .177 won’t do the job; .22 just does it better.

The big .25

Twenty-five caliber pellet guns have been around as long as .177s and .22s, give or take a year or two. In the past they were not popular because the spring-piston powerplants they were in couldn’t shoot them fast enough to make them really work well. But all that changed a couple decades ago with precharged pneumatics (PCP) moving into the caliber. More recently there are spring gun powerplants that are far more efficient than ever. Today you give very little away with a .25.

Expensive pellets

The .25 pellets are very expensive, so I don’t recommend using them for plinking and general shooting. On the other hand, they are one of the two best calibers for hunters. Pay the price for the pellets if you need the extra performance.

Fewer pellets to choose from

There are far fewer .25 caliber pellets to choose from today. The good news is that most of them are premium pellets, but you’re not going to find them at discount stores! If you own a .25 you better be comfortable with buying online.

Big hole!

Everything I said about .22 caliber applies in spades to the .25. They hit very hard and seldom go through game if it is of the appropriate size. You still need to make good shots in vital areas, but if you do the quarter-inch caliber will be your friend.

But the .25 is a specialty caliber. Buy it to hunt with or for larger pests, but unless you are made of money don’t think of it for plinking.

Only one good handgun

I think the TalonP from AirForce Airguns is the only .25 caliber handgun that is worth its salt. If I am overlooking one I apologize beforehand. The TalonP I have shoots 5-shot groups that are smaller than one inch at 50 yards at the 30 foot-pound level. And the gun can be adjusted up to 55 foot-pounds!

.30 caliber

I bet you thought I was done at .25. The thirty caliber is a very recent innovation that is only possible now because of advances in airgun technology. Pellet choices are expensive and very few, and hunting is the primary and almost only purpose for this caliber. If you are looking at a .30 you must have a good reason. Don’t envision it through daydreams on your couch because you may be highly disappointed.

What does BB recommend?

BB recommends either .177 or .22 caliber at this time. I would go with .177 if hunting is a small portion of the shooting you intend doing, and .22 if hunting is half the plan or more. I would always buy .22 over .25 because they are so close in performance and the number of good pellets in .22 is so much greater.

HOWEVER

Sometimes the airgun dictates the caliber. Perhaps there is a real beauty and you want it just for how it looks. It’s one single special airgun and it is whatever it is.

Or perhaps you stumble into a purchase of a gun with more than one caliber. Let’s call it a Webley Mark II Service with .177, .22 and .25 barrels. Naturally you buy all three barrels with the gun — you’re not an idiot. You may never even mount the .25-caliber barrel on the gun, but you have it and it adds that much more value to your gun. I own a Whiscombe JW75 that has barrels in all four calibers. I don’t know whether the .20 and .25 barrels have ever been on the airgun. I shoot .177 the most and .22 sometimes.

On the other hand I own a .25 caliber Benjamin Marauder just because several people said the Green Mountain barrels Crosman used to put on them were highly accurate. I never found that to be the case, but I do like the airgun and probably won’t get rid of it. I’ve owned both .177 and .22 Marauders that were as accurate or better than this one, but right now the .25 is all I have.

Summary

I hope this little discussion has helped you with your decision of which caliber to choose for that next airgun. I have to make the same decision every time I ask Pyramyd Air for a new pellet gun to test. One big difference between you and me is that I get to send my airguns back when I’m done with them. Only a few tickle my fancy and remain with me.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Onyx Tactical Crossbow.

Part 1

This report covers:

• Why a crossbow?
• Smoothbore accuracy
• Rifling
• So — how accurate are smoothbores?
• But what about smoothbore airguns?
• Dumbbell projectiles and the Balle Blondeau
• And now the crossbow
• Setting up and cocking
• Surely that’s not all?
• Summary

Why a crossbow?

I’m glad you asked. Actually, nobody did. I used to get questions about remaining on topic from readers who threatened to walk if I wasn’t sticking to the topic of airguns, but they aren’t around anymore. You readers are easier on me for my forays off the topic of airguns.

So — why crossbows? Well here is an answer that only a few will get. Because when I mention obturation of the bore I do get questions. Huh? What I’m saying is the readership of this blog spans the spectrum of the shooting sports. Some are more knowledgeable than I am of nearly every topic I cover, and others just got into shooting and need to learn almost everything. So — does that answer the question of why I write about crossbows? Of course it doesn’t!

Well how about this? The Crosman 160 introduced a marvelous trigger to us that is inexpensive to manufacture and yet extremely light, crisp and positive.

I showed you that trigger several times over the years, but nobody responded to the fact that it came from a crossbow from centuries past!

From Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey’s book, “The Crossbow,” (published in 1903) this illustration of a 15th century crossbow nut shows how a great force can be overcome by a smaller one.

See? That is one reason I write about things that aren’t airguns — so we all can learn new things. But that isn’t the only reason. I also write to broaden your knowledge of the shooting sports, so when you relate it back to airgunning you can make comments that are backed with knowledge.

Smoothbore accuracy

Let’s take smoothbore guns, for example. If they are long and look like rifles, people call them rifles without thinking — or knowing the difference. It’s not a Red Ryder rifle — it’s a Red Ryder BB GUN.

So how accurate are smoothbore airguns? It’s best to first know how accurate smoothbore firearms are — and why they are the way that the are. The accuracy of smoothbore guns has been refined and studied by firearms enthusiasts since about the middle of the 19th century — around 1850, give or take. Can anyone tell me why that date was the point when people started to care about the accuracy of smoothbores? Well, the whole answer to just that question is a blog report by itself — if not an entire book! In fact my library has several books that are devoted to answering that question. But this is a daily blog that has to be brief, so I will give an abbreviated answer.

Rifling

Rifling was “invented” (discovered, stumbled upon etc.) around 1600, according to one of my sources. Mankind played around with it for more than two centuries before it became popular enough that nearly everybody had a rifle. But during that same time everyone had a “serious” gun that was used for gathering food and for defense. That one was smoothbore. Why? For several reasons. It was cheaper, it did what they needed, it was faster to load, it didn’t require as much training to use/manage/care for. In short the smoothbore gun was to people what the breakbarrel springer is to airgunners today. And the rifle was the equivalent of the precharged pneumatic.

That changed when rifles became easier to use/manage/care for — just as PCPs are becoming more popular today for exactly the same reasons.

So — how accurate are smoothbores?

Well, a bunch of guys in the 1850s formed clubs to compete for accuracy with smoothbores — just to find out. This started in Ohio, according to one source I have read, but it was probably a thing that happened everywhere at the same time. I wish I had pictures to show the targets they shot, but I don’t. These guys are responsible for inventing the “smoothbore rifle” an oxymoronic term that describes a smoothbore gun that has rifle sights and is used for accuracy competitions.

So — can a smoothbore get a five-shot one-inch group at 100 yards. Yes and absolutely not! Yes if the stars align and chance smiles. And no, if you sit down and try to do it. What you will get after a lot of trying and learning is 5 balls in 2-inches (or so) at 50 yards and 5 in 8-10 inches at 100. To do that well requires a lot of things being done right that I am not going into here, but I will say that the fascination with the accuracy of smoothbores began when rifles came into common use.

But what about smoothbore airguns?

That I can answer from practical experimentation. You see, I have done some testing. Read my blog series about the Diana model 25 smoothbore. Part 5 is interesting, but Part 4 is also worth a look.

What you will learn in those reports is that diabolo pellets (wasp-waisted and hollow-tailed) stabilize themselves in flight and are more accurate than round balls, when both are shot from the same smoothbore airgun. Both projectiles do far better at 10 meters than they do at 25 yards. So smoothbore accuracy falls off fast as the distance increases.

Dumbbell projectiles and the Balle Blondeau

I was so pleased when reader GunFun1 happened to mention the dumbbell projectile that he remembered doing well for accuracy in a big bore smoothbore I wrote about years ago. You can read about it here.

And now the crossbow

I guess I fooled you by the title of today’s report. Or I fooled me. It reads more like one of those rants I sometimes go on than a report about the Onyx Tactical Crossbow. Well, let’s switch gears right now.

Setting up and cocking

I talked about setting up the bow for shooting in Part 1. Today I would like to show that to you. I would also like to show you how the bow is cocked, since many of you marveled at the idea.

Surely that’s not all?

That’s all there is today. And don’t call me Shirley!

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

The Air Javelin from Umarex.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

This report covers:

• Quick review
• More arrows
• Setup
• Sight in
• At 10 meters
• At 20 meters
• Raise the sight
• Summary

Today I shoot the Umarex Air Javelin at 20 meters with a dot sight that has been sighted in. You finally get to see the sort of accuracy that I saw at the SHOT Show in January. The range there was set up for about 25 yards and it seemed like the arrows all went to nearly the same place! You will see that today.

Quick review

Part 4 was a test with a dot sight too, but I also tested the Umarex CO2 adaptor that allows you to use two 12-gram CO2 cartridges. Unfortunately the Tasco Pro Point dot sight I used for that test could not achieve the elevation that was needed to hit the target at 20 meters. I also shot wide of the target bag when I shot an arrow that had been damaged in the rear from a Robin Hood. I didn’t know it was damaged until I pulled it from the fence and examined its base.

The adaptor only gave me 8 powerful shots. A reader told me that he gets 12 powerful shots. He asked me to check the ends of both cartridges to make sure both had been pierced. I did and both had been pierced for sure. I learned years ago when using multiple CO2 cartridges to back off on the piercing screw to allow the gas to push the bottom cartridge up away from the piercing pin and flow better. 

The same reader also said that the holes in the CO2 cap are to allow the gas to exhaust the end of the run, and indeed that is correct. However, I discovered that the adaptor was stuck in the gun after shooting until I inserted an Allen wrench into one of the holes to break it free — so what I said about using the hole for that purpose also applies.

More arrows

In Part 4 I lost one of the three arrows that came with the AJ and a second one was damaged by another arrow hitting its rear in a Robin Hood shot. So I emailed Umarex and asked for a couple more arrows to continue testing and by the end of the week they had sent me six. Those arrows made today’s test possible. With the one arrow I have that gives me 7 to test.

Setup

For this test I installed a fresh 88-gram CO2 cartridge in the AJ. I didn’t want anything to spoil the test. I also switched from the Tasco Pro Point red dot sight to a UTG Reflex Micro green dot. I knew from experience that this sight has a wide range of adjustments, which the AJ I’m testing needs.

I mounted the UTG Reflex Micro Dot sight forward on the AJ.

Sight in

I learned a valuable lesson last time. Always sight the AJ in at close range after installing an optical sight, or you may miss the target bag altogether. This time I started at 5 meters. The arrow hit high enough but to the left of the bull. I adjusted the sight to the right for the second shot and it  landed inside the bull about an inch away at the same height. That was enough for me, so I took the target bag out to 10 meters and shot again.

At 10 meters

This time the arrow landed at the bottom center of the bull. A second shot hit next to the first one. Neither arrow was damaged, bit I learned that 10 meters is too close to sight in. We don’t mind pellets going into the same holes when we shoot, but with arrows it’s a completely different story.

Maybe the lesson should be expanded to pull each arrow as it’s shot when you are sighting in.  The centers of these two arrows are 1/2-inch apart. But I didn’t pull them out of the bag.

From 10 meters the Air Javelin put two arrows within a half-inch of each other.

At 20 meters

Now I moved the target bag out to 20 meters and fired again. This time the arrow hit about an inch and a half lower and maybe an inch to the right of the two shots at 10 meters. I left all three of these arrows in the bag., I expected the arrow to drop at 20 meters, but the sight should be able to compensate for it.

Raise the sight

I adjusted the UTG Reflex Micro dot sight up by 11 clicks. I didn’t know exactly what that would do at 20 meters, but I do know that the clicks move the point of impact quickly with this sight.

The first shot hit inside the bull and slightly above the centerline. It was almost straight up from the previous arrow that had been fired. Through dumb luck I had adjusted the sight up by the correct amount. I bow hoped to shoot a group of several arrows for you, but then a bad thing happened.

The second shot at 20 meters was a Robin Hood that damaged the back of the arrow shot just before. Okay — even 20 meters is too close to shoot the AJ without pulling the arrows after every shot! I need to move the target bag out to at least 35 yards before I test the Air Javelin again. And, I am writing this reminder to myself for that test. Put three clicks of left adjustment into the sight and then pull each arrow as it is shot at 35-40 yards!

Here are all the arrows shot at 10 and 20 meters. Even with the sight adjustments and the different distances , the centers of these arrows are just 3-inches apart.

This is the target paper with all the arrows removed. The two holes on the left are the 5-meter sight-in. The two holes at the bottom of the bull were the next two that were shot at 10 meters. The bag went out to 20 meters and then I shot the lowest hole on the target. The sight then went up by 11 clicks and I shot shot the two holes at the top right at 20 meters.

Rather than waste arrows I plan to shoot another test at a longer distance. I will probably also pull the arrows as I go. 

Summary

I now have 6 good arrows left — one of the three that came with the AJ and five of the six that Umarex sent me to continue this test. It’s obvious that I have to be very careful because the AJ wants to put all the arrows into the same place. This accuracy is very equivalent to what we saw with the Sub-1 crossbow at close range. But the AJ is well over a thousand dollars cheaper.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Ataman AP16 Standard PCP air pistol.

Part 1

This report covers:

JSB Jumbo Heavy
Firing behavior
Fill
Trigger pull
More velocity tests
Air Arms Falcons
H&N Baracudas
Discussion
Summary

Today we look at the power/velocity of the Ataman AP16 precharged pneumatic air pistol. In Part 1 I linked to Tyler Patner’s test of the Compact model. The one I’m testing is the standard model. It has a longer barrel so it gets higher velocity and the reservoir is larger so it also get more shots. As I recall, Tyler got 23 good shots from the Compact model.

JSB Jumbo Heavy

I’ll start with the 18.13-grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy that Tyler recommended for best accuracy. And I will show the entire shot string so you can see the shot-to-shot consistency.

Shot………..Vel.
1……………608
2……………612
3……………616
4……………614
5……………615
6……………614
7……………614
8……………611
9……………612
10…………..613
11…………..613
12…………..609
13…………..611
14…………..610
15…………..609
16…………..608
17…………..611
18…………..610
19…………..609
20…………..609
21…………..611
22…………..611
23…………..613
24…………..613
25…………..612
26…………..614
27…………..613
28…………..614
29…………..617
30…………..613 135 bar left in reservoir
31…………..616 
32…………..616 average 612 f.p.s. to this point
33…………..614
34…………..612
35…………..did not register
36…………..DNR (blank shot)
37…………..615
38…………..615
39…………..614
40…………..611
41…………..614|
42…………..614
43…………..617
44…………..DNR
45…………..613
46…………..602
47…………..597 average 612 f.p.s. from shot 33 to this point
48…………..588 90 bar remains
49…………..577
50…………..570

Stopped

I will call the average velocity for this pellet as 612 f.p.s. and that produces an average 15.08 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

I call it 46 good shots from a fill. That’s exactly twice what Tyler saw with the Compact. The high was 617 f.p.s. and the low was 602 f.p.s. That’s a 15 f.p.s. spread for the string. That regulator is doing a fine job!

Wow! I wasn’t expecting so many shot from a fill! And wow, again! I fired the first shot with no hearing protection. Man! The AP16 is a solid 5 on the Pyramyd Air sound scale! After that the electronic earmuffs went on.

I did shoot a blank shot (shot 36), so the pistol doesn’t stop shooting when the pellets run out. You have to keep track of where you are.

Firing behavior

When the pistol fires you feel it in your hand. It’s not so much a recoil as it is a power pulse.

Fill

When I filled the pistol before the start of the first test, it filled instantly. Watch your tank’s valve and try to open it as slowly as you can. I did that the second time and still it filled too rapidly.

Trigger pull

Stage one of the two-stage trigger stops at 12 ounces and stage two broke at 15 ounces as the pistol came from the factory. If it remains that light I would have to be careful when shooting for accuracy or I’d put one into the wall. I adjusted the second stage pull up to 22 ounces and it seemed okay. But the second stage is not crisp and I have no idea of where it is. So I have to be on target before touching the trigger.

More velocity tests

I refilled the reservoir and, as mentioned, once more it went too fast. Then I shot two other pellets for velocity. Falcons were first to see what the higher velocity looks like. I only shot 7 shots because that’s how many the circular clip holds.

Air Arms Falcons

Twenty-two caliber Falcon pellets that weigh  13.43 grains averaged 680 f.p.s. At that speed they generate 13.79 foot pounds at the muzzle. The low was 674 and the high was 684 for a 10 f.p.s. spread.

H&N Baracudas

To see how powerful the pistol is I shot 21.14-grain H&N Baracudas next. They averaged 584 f.p.s. over 7 shots and that generates 16.01 foot pounds at the muzzle. The low was 581 and the high was 588, for a 7 f.p.s. difference.

Discussion

What we have in this pistol is a lot of shots on a fill, and good power for the shots there are. The trigger is light and, if the pistol proves accurate, the AP16 could be a very good airgun to hunt with.

You know what I don’t see in this test? A slow-filling regulator. I waited no special time between any of the shots in today’s tests.

The AP16 has open sights, so I will try them first. And I will show you how to adjust them, which the manual doesn’t cover. That will be next. After that I’ll mount a dot sight and go again.

Summary

The Ataman AP16 PCP pistol is not inexpensive. So it’s important that it stacks up well in the categories of the power, accuracy, reliability and looks. So far, it does.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Ataman AP16 PCP repeater.

Part 1
Part 2

This report covers:

Adjustable sights
It doesn’t matter
The test
Sight in
Mount a dot sight
JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy
Air Arms 16-grain dome
Air Arms Falcon pellets
JSB Hades
Loud!
Conclusions
Summary

Today is accuracy day for the Ataman AP16 Standard precharged air pistol. We learned in Part 2 that the AP16 Standard gets up to 46 good shots from one fill. I didn’t shoot that many in the tests today so I only filled the pistol once.

Adjustable sights

We know that the rear sight slides left and right in a dovetail and is held fast by a setscrew.  That’s easy to figure out. It’s the front sight that you need help with. There are no instructions in the manual and the front sight controls elevation by raising and lowering the blade. I told you in Part 2 I would tell you how to adjust it so let’s see.

To raise the impact of the pellet the front sight blade needs to go lower. It needs to go in a direction opposite how you want the pellet to move. There is a screw in front of the sight blade and another at the rear. The blade is pivoting on a crosspin and seems to have a coiled spring under the front. It seems if you screw the front screw down and loosen the rear one, the blade will drop lower. But don’t take my word for it. Play with the screws and watch the front blade. I say that because adjusting this sight is very confusing.

The front sight blade is adjusted low.

The front sight blade is adjusted up.

It doesn’t matter

It makes no difference how the open sights adjust because nobody will use them. You guys know that I can shoot an air pistol with open sights — but not this one! The rear notch is too wide and I can’t center the front blade in it effectively. Let me show you what I mean.

The test

I shot from 10 meters with the pistol resting directly on a sandbag. Since the circular clip holds 7 pellets, each group is 7 shots.

Sight in

I checked the pistol’s sights with the JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy that Tyler Patner said are the most accurate pellets. One shot at 12 feet told me I was on paper after fooling around with the sights for photos. Then back to 10 meters for the final 6 rounds.

The first shot from 12 feet is above the dime. The next 6 shots are from 10 meters. As you can see, I can’t shoot these open sights.

Mount a dot sight

After seeing my group I decided to mount a dot sight. Fortunately the UTG Reflex Micro was available, so I removed the open sights and mounted it. That took 20 minutes, then another 10 to sight-in with that sight and then the test could begin. 

JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy

First up were JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy pellets. Seven went into 0.529-inches at 10 meters. The group was a little high and left, so I adjusted three clicks down and three to the right afterward.

Seven JSB Jumbo Heavy pellets went into 0.529-inches at 10 meters.

Air Arms 16-grain domes

Next to be tested were 7 Air Arms 16-grain domes. They hit the center of the bull, so my adjustment of the dot sight was spot on! Seven went into 0.293-inches at 10 meters.  It’s a good-looking group! In fact, it’s the best group of the test.

Look at this little bitty group. It’s right where it’s supposed to be. Seven Air Arms domes in 0.293-inches at 10 meters.

Air Arms Falcon pellets

Next I tried 7 Air Arms Falcon domes in the AP16. Once again they went to the center of the bull and clustered in 0.508-inches at 10 meters

Seven Falcon pellets went into 0.508-inches at 10 meters.

JSB Hades

The last pellet I tested in the AP16 was the Hades hollowpoint from JSB. Seven of them went into 0.526-inches at 10 meters.

Loud!

This pistol is very loud! Later on this week I hope to have a solution for that. And no, it isn’t a silencer — exactly.

Conclusions

The AP16 is extremely accurate. Mount a good dot sight and experience it! Don’t even try the open sights. I think they are a lost cause. 

Summary

The Ataman AP16 stacks up to be a fine hunting air pistol. It gets a lot of shots on a fill and puts pellets exactly where they are wanted. If you are looking for a powerful hunting air pistol, this could be the one.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

AirForce Texan big bore.

This report covers:

History
Here is the deal
No more energy is needed
The TX2 valve
Summary

Twenty-five years ago big bore airguns were the stuff of dreams. They existed as antiques in collections, but for those who lacked big cash, they were unapproachable. Then, in 1996, Dennis Quackenbush did something about it. He started building the .375-caliber Brigand. It shot .375-caliber round balls and was a bolt-action breechloader. It was powered by bulk CO2 gas and put the ball out the muzzle at around 675 f.p.s. I tested mine on 1100 psi air and got velocities of 800 f.p.s. and more.

History

What followed is history, First the Koreans jumped on the bandwagon, followed by the Turks. They made high-caliber big bores, but in terms of energy they put out half or less of what a really powerful big bore did.

Back to Quackenbush — his .457 Outlaw produced over 500 foot-pounds (mine got 539 foot-pounds) and became the industry benchmark for a powerful big bore.

Big bores captured everyone’s attention.  We even had an annual shoot at targets out to 300 yards.

In 2014 I was invited over to AirForce Airguns to see something new. It turned out to be the rifle we now know as the Texan. It was initially built in .458 caliber, and now exists as a .257, .308, .357, .458 (AirForce calls it a .457, but that size bullet is hard to find. They also make it in .50 caliber! All barrels are Lothar Walther.

Here is the deal

Many big bores these days require being pressurized to 4,500 psi. That means after the initial fill even your large carbon fiber tank will no longer fill to capacity. The Texan only fills to 3,000 psi, and it gets three powerful shots on a fill. And it is accurate.

In 2015 I shot five 215-grain semi-wadcutter bullets into 0.762-inches at 50 yards and six of the same bullet into 1.506-inches at 100 yards! That, my friends, is some shooting!

At 50 yards, I managed to put five 215-grain bullets into 0.762 inches. This was clearly a good bullet!

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/AirForce_Texan_Big_Bore_Air_Rifle/3575

Remember, we measure from the center of the 2 holes farthest apart. That equals 1 bullet radius (center to edge equals one radius). So, subtract one bullet diameter (.458″) from the measurement shown on the calipers.

Tank Fisher gets down on the Texan at 50 yards. Off to the right of the 50-yard berm is the 100-yard target berm, and to the right of that you see the 200-yard berm.

No more energy is needed

A .22 Hornet cartridge produces just under 700 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. Would you shoot an American bison with one? I hope not!

But Stephan Boles shot and killed a bison with a souped-up Quackenbush .457. The bullet went completely through the side of the animal and was lost.

So — here is the deal. we don’t need big bores with greater muzzle energy. They shoot through the largest animals already. More energy will just be wasted.

Big bores kill game through bleed-out. The animal bleeds until it expires. A larger caliber means faster blood loss. But more energy is meaningless.

in 2007 Stephan Boles killed an American Bison with a Quackenbush .457 Long Action.

But numbers sell airguns and in the big bore game the number is foot-pounds. So, even though it was already the world’s most powerful production big bore, AirForce upgraded the valve for greater power.

The TX2 valve

The TX2 air valve is found on the .50 caliber and .45 caliber Texans. With a carbon fiber reservoir filled to 3,500 psi a .50-caliber Texan with the TX2 valve will get three shots at over 700 foot-pounds and the first one will top 800 foot-pounds. And that is with a rifle that weighs less than 8 lbs. 

Two .50-caliber bullet splats taken from the steel trap at AirForce.

Summary

I haven’t even finished introducing you to the Texan yet but I have to end it here. I have an eye doctor’s appointment and when both eyes are dilated I can’t see the computer screen. Just know there is a lot more to come.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

AirForce Texan big bore.

Part 1

This report covers:

• Why more air?
• Why a big bore?
• Texan operation
• The big bores that fill to 4,500 psi
• Big bore bullet philosophy
• Cocking and Uncocking
• Can it be uncocked?
• Summary

In Part One I hopefully familiarized you with the AirForce Texan. Specifically I am talking about the .45 caliber Texan. AirForce and Pyramyd Air both call it a .457-caliber rifle, but it’s really a .458. Only bullets sized .458 and larger will be accurate.

These days you can get either this rifle or the new .50-caliber rifle with the standard 490cc tank that fills to 3000 psi and gets 3-6 shots, depending on the bullet fired and the power setting, or you can get the carbon fiber tank with the TX2 valve. That one fills to 3,.600 psi. The TX2 valve opens more to pass more air and it closes faster to conserve air better. It does use more air with each shot, but it also has more air. Expect 6 or more good shots from a fill to 3,500 psi.

Why more air?

The TX2 valve uses more air to give the bullet more of a push. That equals greater velocity which means more power. Do you need that to hunt big game? No. A .45 caliber big bore that produces 500 foot-pounds at the muzzle will take down a 2,000 lb. American bison, which is about as big as it gets. Whitetail deer are being taken with relatively small caliber big bore airguns such as .357s and even .308s!

Why a big bore?

Currently many people are thinking about a time when they may have to hunt for their food. Certainly a firearm can do all that needs to be done, but there are concerns that, when the time comes, there may not be any firearms, or it may not be possible to use them or get ammunition for them, and what do you do then? I am showing you how to load ammunition for that reason.

Many other people just want to be prepared in case those things happen. A big bore airgun is nearly ideal, since air is free and bullets can be cast from lead. With a big bore airgun  air and bullets are all you need, besides the rifle.

Yes, we can discuss bows and other things. Airguns are just one solution. However, they are the topic of this report.

Texan operation

Enough talk about the why. Now let’s find out about the how.

The valve in this rifle is not the simple knock-open design familiar to most PCP airgunners. It does work that way, but this valve is balanced to not need a powerful thump to knock it open. Instead of just slamming the valve open the way most big bores do, the Texan’s valve opens more precisely. The amount of time it remains open is partly controlled by the gun’s tuning mechanism and partly by the weight of the bullet that’s being shot.

A heavier bullet moves slower, and therefore remains in the bore longer. As long as the bullet is in the barrel, it prevents all the compressed air from escaping, and the air pressure continues to push back against the firing valve. That back pressure prevents the valve from closing.

The valve dwell time, or the time it remains open, is therefore a combination of the tuning mechanism adjustment and the weight of the bullet. The results are fantastic—better than any other big bore has ever achieved.

A Texan shooter can, at will, change the amount of force with which the striker hits the valve by simply adjusting the bullet tuning mechanism or adjuster. To do this, the sidelever must be forward to expose the adjustment wheel in a window on the left side of the frame. The wheel in that window is turned clockwise to increase the tension on the striker spring for lighter bullets and counterclockwise for heavier bullets.

The bullet adjuster on the left side of the frame is exposed when the cocking lever is forward. This is my very early Texan that I have adjusted for heavy bukllets. Use something like a ballpoint pen to move the wheel. Push the holes up to turn the wheel out (longer valve opening time) for heavy bullets and down, which is in, for lighter bullets. The marks along the top are rough references. The adjuster is set at about  2.5 (arrow).

This adjuster is called the bullet adjuster because it is adjusting the gun to the bullet. Yes, the power is affected, but the bullet is what is being adjusted for.

Yes there are other big bore air rifles that get up to 10 shots per fill and I wouldn’t want to be hit by any of them! But the last shots those airguns fire have nowhere near the power needed to dispatch large game humanely. The last of the (perhaps) 6 shots of a Texan can still do the job, as they have greater power than the first shots of those other big bores.

When the striker spring was properly adjusted, I got six shots with a 215-grain .458 pure lead semi-wadcutter bullet on a single fill of air. The velocities of those six shots that started with a 3,000 psi fill were 835 f.p.s., 899 f.p.s., 882 f.p.s., 870 f.p.s., 856 f.p.s. and 830 f.p.s. The lowest energy in that string was 329 foot-pounds and the high was 386 foot-pounds! I’ve never seen a big bore rifle put out six consecutive shots at that power level on one charge of air! In fact, until I saw that chrono ticket, I had been refilling the rifle after every second shot. Suddenly, it dawned on me how differently this gun works!

The big bores that fill to 4,500 psi

Now that I’ve shown you what a Texan can do on a fill of 3,000 psi, what can those other radical big bores that fill to 4,500 psi do? There are several on the market and while they are not exactly in high rate production, they should be considered.

Well, they are powerful. Some get over 600 foot-pounds of energy on their first shot. But shot two drops below 500 foot-pounds and then it’s time to refill. Only you won’t get a full fill because your carbon fiber tank is no longer at 4,500 psi.

Big bore bullet philosophy

Another thing most shooters don’t appreciate—in fact, many cannot believe that bullets from a big bore airgun go right through medium-sized game and out the other side. Unless they hit a large bone inside the animal, that bullet will slip right on through. I’ve experienced this personally several times, plus I’ve heard the same thing from other hunters. Big bore bullets are seldom found inside animals like whitetail deer and sheep.

During this testing I shot my own cast bullets plus bullets that were provided by Tin Starr. They make bullets for cowboy action shooting around the country and they also make big bore lead bullets

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Tin Starr bullets that worked best were the 405-grain hollow base on the left, the 350-grain flat nose, 240-grain round nose and finally on the right is the best bullet of all—the 215-grain semi-wadcutter.

A bullet is in the loading trough, waiting for you top push it into the breech.

Cocking and Uncocking

I said I would talk more about cocking the rifle. The sidelever does not work the way you imagine it should. There’s no heavy spring to fight against the forward movement of the lever. It takes about one pound of effort to swing open the breech for loading.

Okay, if the lever is easy to open, then the effort has to come when it is closed — right? No, that’s wrong, too. The closing effort is also minimal. It might take as much as five pounds to close the action. Somehow, all the effort of cocking the striker spring has been bypassed! It’s like getting free money or seeing an election promise that’s actually delivered!

When you do this is you’re only compressing a 22-lb. spring. That’s very light.

Can it be uncocked?

The ease of this operation gives you a clue that the Texan’s action is different than any you have ever tried. But there’s one more huge question to ask. How do you uncock this beast?

Other big bores are uncocked by grabbing hold of the bolt or cocking handle and pulling the trigger. When the sear releases the striker, you ride it forward with the bolt handle until it comes to rest against the valve stem. If you didn’t restrain the striker, dry-firing one of these monsters is enough to draw attention to yourself from several houses away.

The Texan uncocks much easier. When the gun is cocked, open the lever all the way again and then pull it closed just far enough to allow the automatic safety to be released. The sidelever handle has to move back about ¾ of an inch for this. Then, just pull the trigger and the sear will release, allowing the striker spring to relax. It’s completely safe, even though you’re uncocking a rifle with a 600+ foot-pound potential.

Summary

Now that we have a good start on the Texan, where shall I go next? I have a good idea, but I would like to hear your input.

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

AirForce Texan big bore.

Part 1
Part 2

This report covers:

• TX2 valve for .45 and .50 caliber Texans
• Old rifle, fresh test
• “New” bullets
• The TX2 valve
• Power setting
• Seat the bullet in the rifling!
• Velocity
• One more velocity lesson
• Summary

After writing Part 2 of this report last week I went to AirForce last Friday morning and spent a couple hours with Ton Jones, talking about the Texan and the new TX2 valve and carbon fiber tank. I took my Texan that was made in the first production run, and we attached the new tank to it. That answers the first question — does the new tank fit older Texans?

|Ton Jones set up my .45 caliber Texan with the new carbon fiber tank and the TX2 valve.

The TX2 valve boosts power and currently only the .45 and .50 caliber Texans work with it. There is also a difference between the valve cap on the .45 and the .50 caliber valve, so to use the same tank on both airguns the cap needs to be exchanged.

Old rifle, fresh test

Reader Chris USA mentioned that my last report on the Texan was in August of 2015. Yes, it was. The accuracy and velocity data I have given you thus far came from those reports. Since there is a new tank and valve, I conducted new velocity testing with my same rifle and a new tank last Friday. I will cover that later in this report.

“New” bullets

Chris also suggested that I try some of the “new” lead bullets that are being made for the Texan. I hope to do a little of that, but since conical lead bullets are 160 years old, there isn’t really anything I haven’t seen. I think what Chris is really asking for are my comments about some of the bullet makers who are in the market. What I see is a lot of guys who don’t know lead bullets are responding to things the sellers are telling them.

Twist rate

Well, one thing I learned last Friday was the newer Texans come with a barrel that has a twist rate of one turn in 30 inches. They have done this to accommodate the heavier bullets people seem to use. I don’t know what the twist rate is in my barrel and AirForce asked if I wanted to change over, but my rifle is so accurate now that I want to leave it as it is.

The TX2 valve

The TX2 valve is unique in that is has no spring to push it closed. It relies on air pressure alone to do that.

Power setting

In Part 2 I showed the power setting I used for my tests in 2015. Well AirForce has changed the power setting mechanism and Ton told me my rifle was set wrong for the TX2 valve. The index mark needs to be between the first and second notch on the right for heavier bullets and never past the second mark for anything. Since heavier bullets remain in the barrel longer than light ones, They maintain back pressure against the firing valve — holding it open longer.

 So we set it as high as it would go. That means the most spring tension on the striker. On newer guns you may lose sight of the index mark when you reach the end of the adjustment range.

The power adjustment wheel is turned as far to the right as it will go — putting maximum tension on the striker spring. This was set for the lightest bullets we tested.

These are the power settings on the Texan power adjustment wheel. According to Ton Jones you should never go lower than the second mark that’s shown as 3/4 power in this picture when using the TX2 valve. You want to make that setting your lowest point for the standard tank, as well.

Seat the bullet in the rifling!

If there was one big mistake I made in part 2 it was showing you a bullet laying in the loading trough and telling you that the bolt would push it home. Well, it doesn’t work that way. I’ve gone back and corrected the language in Part 2 and now I have to tell you how important it is to manually seat each bullet into the rifling. I knew that from testing the TexanSS in 2018, but for some reason I reported it wrong in Part 2 of this report. And some bullets present problems, as well. For example, the semi-wadcutters that were the most accurate in my Texan want to enter the breech tipped on an angle unless they are pushed into the rifling. Their angled nose is the reason for this. Once the front band of the bullet encounters the rifling, it squares up the bullet with the bore and everything is okay. You also get more consistent velocity that way.

Ton Jones seats a bullet into the Texan rifling. If you can stand the rifle up and the bullet stays in the breech, it’s seated okay.

The slanted nose on this semi-wadcutter bullet makes it want to tip over when seated into the Texan breech.

Once the front band of the semi-wadcutter bullet was in the rifling, the bullet was square with the bore.

Ton took me outside and let me listen to a shot with a well-seated semi-wadcutter. It bellowed , which is how you know it’s seated right. And I heard the bellow through my electronic noise-suppression headphones.

Velocity

Okay, I said that the TX2 valve gives fewer shots than the standard valve. Let’s see. We’ll check the velocity with a 490-grain flat nose bullet made by Mr. Hollowpoint — Robert Vogel. There you go, Chris!

The tank was filled to 3600 psi and the gun was fired. The bullet went out at 776 f.p.s. That’s 655 foot-pounds at the muzzle. We topped it off a second time and the next bullet went out at 778 f.p.s. for 658.74 foot-pounds. This time we did not refill the tank. 

Shot……Vel.
2………..763
3………..731

The tank registered 2590 psi after three shots. We then went outside and Ton fired shots 4, 5,6, and 7. On shot 7 there was a partial tank dump and on shot 8, with just 800 psi showing on the gauge before the shot, the tank dumped all its air. I would say shots 4 through 7 were good enough for finishing shots on game that was down.

One more velocity lesson

Ton filled the tank to 3,600 psi and loaded and shot a 210-grain bullet. It went out at 620 f.p.s. That left 3300 psi in the tank. He told me to watch what happened to the velocity as he shot more.

Shot……Vel.
2………..660 
3………..726 3130 psi remains
4………..795 3050 psi remains

Velocity is increasing as tank pressure drops since there is no valve return spring to close the valve. Want a lot of shots from a big bore? Here they are! And, if you want to increase the velocity — reduce the pressure in the tank!

Summary

We’re just getting started with the Texan. It’s a big bore with performance you can stretch! I have a lot more to tell so don’t go away.