Glad you found it informative! Fitted my Hawke 3-9x40 scope to the Weihrauch using the two-piece mounts it came with, and reset the parallax from the stock (and useless for air rifles) 100 yards to around 25 yards, which I'll properly set when I'm at the range. There's a recoil-arrest pin which has slotted nicely into the middle divot on the action, but I could probably still do with replacing the mounts with a one-piece when I get a chance. I've also ordered some bits to improve the stock moderator (it's nothing more than than a spring and some felt, so I'm going to add two baffles and the insides of a pair of plastic hair-curlers) along with a ½" UNF thread adapter. That screws onto the built-on moderator in place of the end-cap, and then I can attach an additional moderator for even more muzzle-blast reduction. I'm going to pick up a Deben Whisper 130, which isn't the best moderator around but is pretty cheap and is only 13cm in length so it won't ruin the pointability too much - and, 'cos it's ½" UNF, I can just unscrew it when I value a reduction in length over a reduction in noise. Should make the rifle overall the same length as my AA S410 with its AA silencer. I've also got my eye on a Bisley adjustable butt-plate (snigger), but it needs some modification to fit (grinding down and a new countersunk hole drilled) and I'm cack-handed, so I may just stick with the stock stock butt. Wouldn't mind a sling and swivels, though, and at least that's just drilling one hole ('cos the other swivel attaches to the underlever, which has a far more positive locking mechanism than the TX200's). Going to the range tonight (if it's open - I've just remembered it's a bank holiday) to zero the HW97K, then I'll need to go again on Thursday to zero the AA 410 now it has the shiny Hawke 4-16x50 AO IR on it. Oh, and I'll be using new pellets: 15.9gr RWS Super Fields, rather than the 14.5gr RWS Superdomes I used to use. Heavier and without the pinstriping on the skirt, so I'd need to re-zero even if I hadn't switched scopes. Picked up the same in .177 (8.4gr) for the HW97K, 'cos I heard it likes heavier pellets. At some point I should probably pick up a selection pack and do some proper testing to find out the favoured diet of both rifles, but for now these'll do. Oh, and while I was shopping: I picked up some of those Auritech Shoots recommended up-thread, to see if they're more reliably comfortable than the Napier Pro 10s, a Tipton Gun Butler to make cleaning and maintenance easier, and an air-rifle-specific breech flag so I can stop using the red cable-tie I'm currently shoving in there!
Looks like my new scope doesn't work properly: the windage turret doesn't seem to move the crosshair, so I can't actually zero it. Better news: the 3-9x40 is doing a great job on my HW97K. Got the below as the last little bit of zeroing, which I'm pretty happy with considering it's a brand-new rifle that hasn't bedded in yet and I haven't shot a springer in years. I've emailed the place I bought the new scope from, but it looks like I'll be shooting the HW97K exclusively for a little while. No great hardship, really: it's a nice rifle!
Received new innards for the HW97K's moderator along with the replacement end-cap with 1/2" UNF adapter. Took the old innards out, a spring and a thick but too-small pad of felt, and replaced them with a plastic mesh tube from the inside of a hair curler cut in half and with a plastic washer in the middle. The washer splits the moderator into two segments, reducing the muzzle blast, while the mesh catches the air and shoves it through some looser-weave felt wrapped around the whole thing. A final washer at the end, and it's complete. Sounds quieter than the original innards, and weighs slightly less, although I didn't bother to do a proper volume test because that'd involve measuring far enough away from the rifle itself that the muzzle blast isn't drowned out by the noise of the piston. The rifle, on an ever-so-stylish bespoke display cloth (a bathtowel I use when working on the rifles to stop 'em getting scratched up.) A close-up of the adapter, with thread protector which unscrews to reveal the UNF thread. I'll be getting a Deben Whisper 130 to attach to it soon, which will combine with the built-in moderator to make muzzle-blast lovely and quiet - then it'll be tuning time to dampen the sound of the piston.
Just received my Auritech Shoots. They're unusable: as I feared, my ear canals are too small for 'em to fit properly, despite being allegedly suitable for anyone from age six upwards. Anyone want to take 'em off my hands for £15, £5 less than I paid (which I'll accept as Idiot Tax)?
Is it wrong that my first thought on seeing that was Lee Harvey Halfacree? I know nowt about guns other than an old .177 Daisy air rifle I had as a kid.
Back from a holiday in Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, where I made use of my new-found shootin' skills to win a few toys for my daughter on a shooting gallery (which used Sportsmarketing Synxs rifles with open sights, five shots for £2.) I also picked up a new Fun-Gun: an ActionSportsGames 'Dan Wesson' 6" chrome pellet-firing revolver. It's weedy beyond belief - it's the same power system that was originally designed to push out 6mm plastic BBs for airsoft, then modified to push out 4.5mm steel BBs for plinking, now featuring a rifled barrel and new brass that takes .177 lead pellets instead - but should be good fun down t'range. I've fitted the optional Weaver accessory rail to the top, and have a matching silver EOTech-style red-dot sight on the way from China. I'm also waiting on the delivery of another twelve cartridges - they're brass cartridges which take a pellet in the front and slide into the cylinder just like real-steel bang-bang guns - although it seems to be impossible to buy speed-loaders for the pellet version: they all come with either airsoft or steel BB cartridges bundled, but they're no good for my pellet-firer! I'll also be modifying the hammer spring to increase the power output somewhat - although even fully modded and tuned it'll never get much above 2ft/lb, which is well below the 6ft/lb "full power" legal limit for air pistols. I've also got my eye on the cheap SMK QB78 Match rifle: It's a Chinese POS - naturally, given it's Sportsmarketing - but at £140 from a local RFD it's a cheap way to try out 10M ISSSC air rifle (which I can't play at the moment, 'cos neither of my rifles has open or dioptre sights.) Handily, it also uses two 12g CO2 cylinders for power, which are the same as used in the ASG pistol - a lot of CO2 rifles use the larger 88g cylinders, which you change less often but would mean I had to keep two different cylinder sizes in stock.
Well it's taken a while but below is a pic of my main rifle, an AI AXMC in .300 WM Doesn't kick too badly due to the weight plus the muzzle brake, its very accurate with hand loaded ammunition, punching cloverleafs at 100m. The 5 stray holes are from zeroing the scope. The other 4 shots from the magazine went through the larger hole at the centre. The final shot is of a friends 10mm thick AR50 ballistic steel target after taking a few shots from some cheap factory FMJ ammunition.
Very nice! Where do you shoot? I've been thinking about looking for a full-bore club, but not having a car limits my options somewhat. My Chinese orders came in last week: two red-dot sights, one open 'holographic' style and one BSA-branded barrel-style. Both were sold as having Weaver-style 20mm mounts; the open sight has Weaver mounts, but the BSA has 11mm dovetail. Fitted the open one to my Dan Wesson revolver, and - having received a partial refund which means it only cost me about £5 - I'm now toying with the idea of swapping the 3-9x40 scope on my HW97K with the BSA one for funsies. I also may have spent up my eBay proceeds: having enjoyed shooting the Dan Wesson, I've picked up a Weirhauch HW45 Silver Star spring pistol; I also got a bargain on a (mostly plastic, but still) Umarex MP5K PDW CO2 rifle fun-gun. Just waiting for them to arrive at my local RFD now for transfer. Excite!
I have 2 clubs within 40 minutes drive from Bristol, the first has both 25 and 50 metre indoor (old railway tunnels) ranges each having 3 firing positions. The second is just across the Severn near Newport and that goes out to 200 metres, it used to be a 600 metre range but then the M4 was put right through it (long before my time). Also hoping to get out to either the WMS firearms training or Orion firearms range(can't remember which one our club books with) later in the summer with the tunnel club, both of those offer shooting with their estate rifles if you fancy treating yourself. Looking at your purchases I'm starting to wonder how long until you have to buy another gun cabinet.
Had a look at those two - looks like something I'd really enjoy, and not *terribly* expensive. It'd be the travel costs that'd be the killer, mind. Still, perhaps I can ask the missus nicely for Christmas! Aye - and I haven't even got a FAC yet! Bit of a delay on my latest order, tho': the retailer (Sportsmans Gun Centre) emailed yesterday to say the MP5 was out of stock, and did I mind waiting? I replied no, and they say a delivery is due today - happy news. I rang my local RFD to confirm he'd accept the transfer, though, and he's on holiday. Now waiting on a callback from a somewhat less-local RFD in Brighouse to confirm acceptance of the transfer. (While simultaneously hoping that they'll only charge one transfer fee for both guns, 'cos otherwise that's going to be a big chunk of change for the pleasure of writing my name and address in a book.)
Decided to take some slightly less crappy pictures of my stuff, because why not? The Air Arms S410 Classic .22, with Air Arms silencer and Hawke 4-16x50 IR AO scope. It's the old-style model, without the nice fluting on the silencer and dust cap, but it's still a lovely little gun. Got a pair of QD sling studs to fit at some point, but I have to admit I'm worried about drilling into the stock. Just need to practice on a bit of spare wood first, I think! The scope is a little far back, too: those mounts do not play nicely. You might be able to see that they're opposite ways around; that was the only way I could get the scope pointing straight. Got my eye on a pair of adjustable Sportsmatch mounts instead, next time my eBay fund gets replenished, at which point I'll shuffle the scope forward as well. Weihrauch HW97K Blackline .177, with Deben Whisper 130 silencer and Hawke 3-9x40 scope. Slightly modified, as detailed up-thread: the integrated silencer has been rebaffled and a 1/2" UNF thread fitted so as to accept the Deben (or any other) additional silencer, and the fixed-parallax scope has been re-parallaxed for 20 yards. If I want the benefits of the shorter rifle, I can unscrew the Deben in seconds; otherwise, it stays on, making it roughly the same overall length as the S410. Nice little springer, but by 'eck it's heavy. The new ASG 'Dan Wesson' 6" .177 revolver with no-name red-dot 'holographic' sight. Fires pellets rather than BBs, through a rifled barrel, but the drop from the weedy CO2 power-plant was terrible when I tried it out using my heavyweight RWS pellets. Just picked up some tin alloy lightweight replacements, which weigh in at 0.36g - just 0.01g heavier than the steel BBs the power-plant was originally designed to push - but haven't had a chance to try them out yet. Even if it's not accurate (which it's not) it's certainly fun to play with! Not pictured: a bright orange generic semi-automatic airsoft gas-blowback pistol with leaking seals, which I only keep around 'cos you can field-strip it, and a forget-the-brand Taiwanese IWI Jericho 941 4.5mm BB pistol I bought 'cos I'm a fan of Cowboy Bebop.
HW97K is making me ache, stunning matey. I need to read up on ownership rules as I've not owned a rifle for years, I so want one of these now.
The law is pretty lenient for sub-12ft/lbs rifles and sub-6ft/lbs pistols: you don't need a licence at all, just to be over 18 years old. You can't buy them mail order any more: all sales have to take place face-to-face with a Registered Firearms Dealer (RFD), and you need photographic ID and proof of address. Two loopholes: you can order airguns online and have them delivered to your local RFD for transfer, which will cost postage plus a fee of between £15-25 per item; some retailers, like Pellpax, use named RFDs as delivery drivers so you can get the airgun sent to your house and do the face-to-face transfer there, but expect prices to be higher at retailers that offer such a service. Once you've got one, you can shoot it on land you own so long as the pellets never leave the boundaries of your property. That means a good backstop to prevent penetration and ricochet: old carpet over sandbags or wood works well. Pellet catchers are useful too, but get the angled funnel type, not the flat version. There's a law about not shooting with a certain distance of a public highway, too, but only applies if a passer-by is inconvenienced or put in fear of danger. The final bit of legality to be aware of: since 2012 it's been a requirement to take 'reasonable precautions' to prevent someone under the age of 18 making off with your airgun. I use a cheap gun safe which cost about £130, holds six rifles and has a separate locking box for ammunition. A cheaper option is an AMTA-approved cable lock, for a few quid. Looped through the trigger guard and a ring screwed into the wall is good enough, but be aware it's not perfect: many rifles allow you to unscrew the trigger guard very quickly. That's about all you need to know, I reckon. Happy shooting!
Except for the issue of the chaps location.... http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Justice/law/Firearms/governmentaction/airweaponlicensing http://basc.org.uk/basc-scotland/ai...nsing-in-scotland-frequently-asked-questions/ ....won't be long now that he'll need a license...
Blimey, I missed that. I knew Scotland was talking about licensing, but I had no idea it was quite that bad - banning back-garden plinking except in select cases? Awful idea, and I say that as someone who doesn't *have* a back-garden and does all his shooting at a Home Office approved range. New Step One advice: start by moving to England!
Took the Dan Wesson to the range last night, with the new scope and RWS Hyperdome tin-alloy pellets. It's a night-and-day improvement over last time with the RWS Superfield lead pellets: 0.54g is way, way too much for the weedy CO2 power-plant to push down-range. The Hyperdomes weigh just 0.36g, which is only 0.01g heavier than the steel BBs the pistol was originally built to shoot. There's still the occasional flyer, typically dropping visibly before it hits the target, but most shots were well lined-up. Which isn't exactly great news: Hyperdomes are really expensive. Like, I'll pay the same for a tin of 200 Hyperdomes than I would for 500 Superfields. That brings me to problem number two: CO2 power-plants are really, really variable. The firing system is unregulated: a physical hammer hits a release valve, allowing some of the air from the 12g powerlet to flow through the system and push the pellet out. The hammer spring and valve strength work to 'regulate' the flow, but it doesn't really work: the power output ranges from around 2ft/lbs with a fresh powerlet to 1ft/lb when you're getting towards the end. The result: with the new pellets it's lovely and accurate horizontally, but grouping at three inches wide vertically across the full power range. I reckon there's about 12-18 usable shots from each powerlet: the first six are too powerful, the next 12-18 are roughly equal in power minus a few fliers, and after that the power begins to drop drastically. If that wasn't enough, the temperature also causes the power to vary: as CO2 is released through the system, the temperature of the gun drops drastically and so does the pressure of each follow-up shot. You end up having to wait between shots in an attempt to allow the gun a chance to warm up and reduce the variability. Changing powerlets is also annoying: you need to vent the excess gas before unscrewing the retaining bolt or you can damage the seals. You do that by dry-firing the thing repeatedly until it stops working; that's loud and obnoxious in a shared indoor range, and sounds like I've brought some kind of machine-gun with me. It's made me decide to forgo the planned QB78 Match purchase: what's the point in having a gun that looks like a target rifle if the CO2 power-plant isn't up to the job of repeat accuracy? Guess I just saved £130; if I really want a go at 10m air rifle, I'm sure I can borrow a club rifle. Oh, and got a call from SGC yesterday: both guns are in stock, and will be arriving at my local RFD in the next couple of days. Excited to get my hands on the HW45 - and so is Andy at the rifle club, who's already asked to have a go with it when it arrives.
That's an area where the Drulov pistols and rifle work very well. The CO2 capsule is put in upside down and vents into a reservoir that surrounds the capsule, this serves as a 'balancing' chamber which allows the gas to warm up a little before use. I get very good consistency from my DU-10 (once the trigger is adjusted such that it doesn't go full auto on me...) as the gas is not used directly.
That sounds a much better way of doing things. I was talking to a guy who was sharing the 10m air range with me on Thursday, and he had brought a Baikal single-stroke pneumatic target pistol. Looked the mutt's, and it was pretty damn accurate - in his hands, at least - while weighing next to nothing. Also pretty cheap: £276 from SGC, plus RFD transfer fee if you're not local. Shame I'm spent up, really - although I'm sure he'd give me a go with his if I asked nicely.
i have a 66" 26ib recurve bow and recently started field archery at a local club.... will get pics up soon
