Sunday, June 20, 2010

i finally had

to start using the chronograph for figuring out my AF Talon and how many shots and how much KE/fpe it's developing.

I've done most of the modifications I'm going to on this particular rifle, now it's time to see what it'll do in the real world.

i spent a part of the day figuring out the 'zero' on the open sight i decided to put back on. where i like a scoped rifle, this particular rifle, since it's such an 'unconventional' design, will place the scope up really high over the action; it make it 'top heavy' insofar as I'm concerned. it makes it awkward and hard to carry.

anyway, i broke out the chronograph, a tin of my favorite pellets and set up and shot a string of fifty shots on a fresh refill of 2900 psi...not bad...high was 898 fps, low was 845 fps. that's an average of 871 fps with an avg of 23 fpe...right in the ball park with a standard out-of-the-box AF Talon. I'm happy.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

i have two very good

PCP air rifle at the moment and I'm working on another HPA conversion.

I'm converting a CO2 operated QB78 over to HPA; so far, so good.

I'm in the process of construction and installation of a pellet stabilizer for the barrel. it's brought more challenges, and been more time consuming than i expected, never the less, it's getting done.

probably, the biggest challenges have been my limitations with tooling to get the operations done. i have three metal working lathes (one of which is a 'combination' machine...drill press/mill/lathe) but where they lack is in size and tooling. as an example i haven't an indexing table or a GOOD xy vise; i have to improvise when i need one.

I'm now in the process of deciding how to secure the stabilizer to the barrel. do i use a set screw system? or simply epoxy/locktite the bushings to the barrel?

set screws will permanently mar the barrel with indentation...or...i can mill/drill slots/dimples for the screws to be set into.

since there is no combustion in PCP rifles, there's not the heat factor of the metal of the barrel to worry about and epoxy/locktite and modern glues is very stable, reliable and with strength very nearly like welding when properly applied, maybe that's the best way to go. after all, many of today's firearms incorporate thermoplastics and epoxies that will withstand anything thrown at them.

as an example: once set up, locktite "red" requires 350 ft lbs of torque to break it loose or 350 degrees of heat applied to it to soften it enough to loosen. that's pretty tough stuff by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm considering a combination of the two methods.

i am thinking of drilling a 'dimple' into the barrel for the set screws, AND filling the bushings with locktite "blue" through the set screw holes, installing the set screws and letting all set up.

anyway...aligning and drilling the dimples into a barrel is 'touch and go' without a good center indicator, so...i guess it's back to the drawing boards...sure makes things interesting...

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

it seems to me

that there should be a "one gun to cover all"...but it ain't so...I've bought at least three of them that were supposed to "cover it all".

the current national craze is the AR (hybrid development of the M-16 rifle)

some now have developed what may very well be the 'perfect' all-in-one rifle built on the AR platform in spite of what i said above.

i read a recent news header about how an anti-gun person believes the AR is in it's "final year".

by that, i think he means he believes that the AR will be legislated out...not outdated or outmoded...OUTLAWED is more like it.

you see, legislators fear that which they feel might threaten them...oh, they'll use the old "it's for the good of all"...but you know that most legislators are lying when their lips are moving. or, at least you should know by now.

their main concern is having to face an angry nation of citizens armed with AR's. what the people want is secondary to them.

anyway...

many of today's AR's claim to have pinpoint accuracy out to 1000 yards and reliability beyond belief.

i had the opportunity to watch a soldier with an M4 carbine; i was NOT impressed.

on rapid fire, NOT full automatic, groups measured in FEET...not inches or even center of mass and that was from 25 yards! out of a full magazine of 20 rounds, there was only 2 center of mass hits!the rest were a minimum of 20" from center of mass.

I've also witnessed a civilian marksman use a semi-auto, 9mm, Ruger Carbine to shoot 10 rounds into a 4" group from 25 yards on semi-auto fire.

this type of performance was NOT what one likes to see from soldiers and their weapons. i would certainly like to believe that this one particular soldier and his weapon were NOT our average. if it is...we've got BIG problems. it's no wonder that big ordinance is required to take out enemy troops.

my personal opinion is that the military has put so much faith in the 5.56 cartridge since it's shockingly horrible appearance in Vietnam that they really haven't known what to do up until recently. they placed all their faith in "look, see how light the rifle is? see how much more ammo can be carried over the 7.62/30-06? see how many more can be produced for less cost?" when they should have been looking how woefully inadequate the 5.56 is as a combat round. I've seen AR's that weigh in at a staggering 13 pounds, too. the M-1 Garand i trained with weighed in at 10 pounds fully loaded...and that's with the venerable 30-06 cartridge.

"COMBAT" being the operative verb being spoken about. oh, sure at ranges of out to about 100 yards, it has lethality. but when one considers that General Petraeus himself was shot in the chest at point blank range in a training mishap and survived it gives me pause to think...had that been a 7.62 or an '06...I'm certain the outcome would have been a military burial instead of a hospitalization.

all that being said...i would like to have one of today's fine AR's for sporting purposes but i don't think I'd want to bet my life on the 5.56. the AR-10? now that's a different story.

the AR is here to stay whether legislators like it or not.

Monday, May 24, 2010

i sometimes wonder

why i do the things i do...

i, quite a few years ago, purchased a QB-78 CO2 air rifle.

it's not a high powered, hi tech, powerhouse, more a low-to-mid powered, inexpensive, easy to get, accurate, rifle with the potential to be made into a high powered rifle should you want to make it so. it's not what i would select as my 'go-to' hunting, air rifle.

just recently, i started getting into PCP air rifles. I'm finding they're much more to my liking and much more rewarding to me than CO2 or springers; not only that...they can be found in very high power calibers with accuracy beyond belief without a horrendous price tag. (unless you wish to go high dollar)you may even hunt big game with them. there's many articles about those who've taken deer, elk and American bison with high powered PCP rifles.

right now, i have two dedicated PCP rifles, one in .22 the other in .25...the QB-78 i mentioned above is .22 cal and i can use a hand pump to pump it up to pressures in the 1000 PSI range for good operation...but, the shot count is dramatically reduced. i can get only four full power shots per refill...mostly due to the capacity of the air tube.

by far, the .25 is the most accurate and powerful, out-of-the-box of the three...it has low shot count due to the air capacity of the air tube...only 16 shots per refill. when you have to hand pump every refill it becomes a 'chore' to try to make a day's fun of shooting this fine rifle.

the same can be said about the .22 insofar as the hand pumping operation. but it is a highly powerful and accurate PCP.

the QB-78? so far I've spent what a good PCP would cost me on it and i doubt I've put over 500 shots through it since i purchased it back around the year 2003. and it still stays in various stages of dis-assembly most of the time while I'm making a part, ordering a part or just trying to figure out what i want to do with it.

i was hoping to be able to convert it to operate at the same pressures as the dedicated PCP's but not so...from what I'm told, 1500 PSI is max operational pressure for this rifle so i think that's where i will leave it.

oh, there are the parts available to convert it to the higher pressures, but by the time i spent that kind of money on a conversion, i could purchase one that's already made to use high pressure...

the rifle itself, is no where near as "adjustable" as are the other two without disassembling and changing or modifying the internals.

it takes very little effort to pump it up to the 1000 PSI operating pressure i know it will function with and it's very accurate...but...the low shot count makes it impractical to take it afield for a days hunt so i guess I'll just leave it here at the house to 'plink' with.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

seems the longer i go...

the farther into the PCP's i get.

i now have two dedicated PCP's and one I'm in the process of completing; my springers are now dust collectors.

the only real "problem" presented by a PCP is the pains it takes to refill them. however...I'm now set up to feed all three of them from the same sources...a hand pump and a SCUBA tank.

i wouldn't dream if doing some of the things with springers that is being done with PCP's now. i recently spoke to a well known airgunsmith who tells me he regularly takes coyote and javelina with his PCP. (i didn't think to ask him what caliber he uses, though, and I'd guess he opts for the .25 caliber as it's a "powerhouse")

over the course of my sixty-eight years I've done quite a lot of hunting with rifles, handguns, bows and airguns. in the course of those years I've done very little actual killing. to me, the kill is NOT the most important event of the hunt...the hunt itself is the result of cumulative experiences during that event and the actual kill itself is only one aspect of it. I've had more successful hunts without kills than with kills.

i had the occasion, once, many years ago, to hunt with a well-known, local, celebrity hunter whom i found it very disconcerting to be hunting with.

the hunt was all about 'him' and how great he envisioned himself to be.

you see, we had come back to camp with an empty game bag. that nite around the campfire, all he did was sulk and complain about how he "shoudda had one". we hadn't even SEEN any pigs that particular day. but...my day was VERY successful.

in the course of traversing the countryside in search of the javelina, i came on a rock formation that had a carving in it that i believe to have been a grave marker for an early explorer of the region; a double beamed cross with the date of, the best i could make out, 1786. i did not have my camera with me so i couldn't take a photo of it. (i always took one with me after that)

i suspect that, in the tradition of the day, someone fell (died) there is why it was carved into the rock. if i am correct and the date is indeed, 1786, that would have meant it was more than likely a Spanish explorer as that was about the time the Spanish settlers were inhabiting the area.

that is what makes a great hunt for me...something of that magnitude...not just the kill...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

a problem solved

it's taken me a while to "figure it out" but i finally came to the conclusion and solution that i have three rifles that operate on HPA and i should have a common source to feed them...duhhhhh

every PCP and CO2 rifle in existence has a different charging method and it's up to the owner to "co-ordinate" that with sources of air (should they wish to).

i am not a fan of CO2; it's very susceptible to weather and environmental conditions, so i switched one rifle to HPA simply by installation of a foster fitting...the other two HPA rifles i have are fitted for HPA by the factory. and yes, I'm aware there is an entire cult of CO2 users out there for airguns and paintball and I'm not 'bad-mouthing' or 'dissing' them; there are some advantages to using CO2 as a propellant.

i solved my dilemma by installing a common fitting on the hand pump i have and it's mating fitting on the rifles/adapters. now I'm able to feed all three rifles with the same hand pump. saves a lot of time, effort and $$$$ and did not 'break my bank'.

as i see it, shooting HPA may be the only way to go in the near future...mostly due to legislative and financial issues that are looming on the horizon for the shooting sports; i would not be surprised to see an attempt to legislate a limit on the draw weight poundage of bows, too. that's another subject to be addressed at another time, though...so i guess I'll just go have another cup of coffee and pump up my .25.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

wow!

i just got a new PCP; a .25 caliber Benjamin Marauder. what a rifle!

it is designed to operate on 3000 PSI but will operate at lower pressures.

it has a well designed and built trigger that's user adjustable (that in itself is almost, unusual, in today's airguns)

the stock is well designed and constructed from good American hardwood and is ambi-dexterous with a high comb on both sides of the butt for right and left hand shooters alike. it has good checkering and should be enduring for the years to come. one may remove the action from the stock for trigger and pressure adjustments by way of removing ONE, hefty Allen screw.

it has a built in pressure gauge that allows the shooter to monitor pressure quickly and accurately.

refill is easily accomplished by way of a foster fitting and may be accomplished by either SCUBA/SCBA tank or hand pump.

oh, and it has a great shrouded barrel. all one hears is the metallic ping of the hammer when shooting. I'm sure that will cause the legislators in many locations (especially kaliphornia) to weep, wail and wring their hands in anguish.

the rifle, as it comes from the factory, has no mounted sighting devices of any sort but comes with a built on rail to accommodate any optical devices one chooses. one should be advised, though, it is NOT equipped for open/iron sights so if you are an open/iron sight only shooter, this is NOT the rifle for you...unless you take it to a licensed gunsmith for installation of front sights of some sort. it's not impossible, but probably expensive and maybe "iffish" as they would have to mounted to the removable sleeve/shroud that encloses the barrel and it's possible the sleeve would rotate. i suppose there are those who will do it, though.

the rifle itself is surprisingly large, but not proportionally heavy. it weighs in slightly over 6 lbs. judicious use of aluminum and alloy helped to accomplish this fact. there is almost no plastic on this rifle.

there is little doubt this is a 100 yard rifle. it has the power and accuracy to reach out there for the taking of game with no hesitation or doubt and is proving as such with many hunters as we speak. however one must keep in mind, it is a PCP, NOT a rimfire or centerfire rifle so it should be judiciously used in the taking of LIVE game...in other words, don't expect to shoot deer, or similar sized game, with it. the taking of coyote and similar sized animals should be within it's capabilities at reasonable ranges, of course...

its proving to be accurate to say the least. right out of the box i was able to shoot a 5 shot group of less than 1" at a measured 31 yards. with some work with air pressure and pellet style, i suspect a a person could easily shoot near one-hole groups with it as the norm.

the single biggest flaw i find with this otherwise, fine, rifle, is the amount of air used; a 3000 PSI fill is good for only 20-25 shots before refill is called for.

i suppose one could enlarge the air tank but that would cause other factors to change. such as the weight and handling characteristics and i suppose there are those who will do something like that and I'm interested to see what they do. if one does nothing but range shooting i suppose it could be hooked tandem to a large SCUBA/SCBA set up for many shots...but...would it be worth the effort?

overall...i think Crosman/Benjamin have written themselves a ticket for a long, successful trip into airgun history with the Marauder.