The Air Rifles & Pistols thread

[Avalon]

Yes, and no. There are three bits of actual important information on the back, the die, the year and the batch. Due to the way dies wear and are replaced, you ideally want to narrow it down to all three to guarantee the outcome.

First look at the tin you have, it'll have a number on the back of it, for example 3340020 then another sticker with 8 4.52 is on the tin in front of me. Read it from right to left as 20 being the year (2020), 00 being the QC checker, 34 being the production employee and 3 being the die, why do you read it backwards? Because dies can be single digit as in this example, and they don't use a preceding 0 to make that obvious. The sticker below with 8 on signifies the batch number and 4.52 is the claimed head size. With the exception of the calibre anything JSB claim about a tin of pellets contentments will be incorrect for the majority of pellets in that tin, eg the majority of 10.34gr 4.52 pellets have been neither of those things. Unfortunately, JSB's consistency just sucks, that's why people have tended to favour things like the H&N Baracuda 8's or QYS pellets now, they're generally more consistent. That said, for 50yds+ I still do better with older JSB Heavy stock I have.

 

[ANDREW GREEN]

So from an outsiders perspective, what do you guys shoot with these things? Is it bird shooting? Targets? Other animals? Drivebys in the hood? And what do you like about it? I'm not being judgemental, I'm just curious what it's all about.

 

[ianh]

Wow, I didn't know JSB had fallen off so badly as been about 15 years since I last used them and, back then, when you sorted by weight and headsize they were really tight on tolerances, so much so that just changing to 4.51mm would have a negative effect on my group size at 35yrds with my modded BSA S10.

 

[Hotwired]

So from an outsiders perspective, what do you guys shoot with these things? Is it bird shooting? Targets? Other animals? Drivebys in the hood? And what do you like about it? I'm not being judgemental, I'm just curious what it's all about.

Everyone shoots targets. Casual to competitive to professional.

Some shoot designated pest species under the general licences. Maybe for free. Maybe they pay to shoot. Maybe they get paid to shoot.

What matters above all else is having somewhere to shoot. It has to be private land and you need to have permission to shoot there, ideally both being your own. Back garden, air gun club, air gun range, friendly farmer etc etc. If you have nothing then it's a non starter.

Anyway air rifles are extremely accurate but due to uk power limits without a licence they don't have amazing range so you can scale everything down and plink at 10, 25, 50m, whatever you can or want to do. Massacre a drinks can. Shoot a 5p sized target, maybe some spinny/knockdown targets. Regular sized paper targets, microscopic 10m air rifle targets with no optics which is an olympic sport and currently being competed in France. Challenges are endless, accuracy and consistency is what people want.

Getting a licence sucks because it's the exact same licence needed for a powder burning firearm. But the licence free limits and restrictions aren't too bad compared to some other countries and licence free rifles are what most people have and shoot.

 

[Avalon]

Wow, I didn't know JSB had fallen off so badly as been about 15 years since I last used them and, back then, when you sorted by weight and headsize they were really tight on tolerances, so much so that just changing to 4.51mm would have a negative effect on my group size at 35yrds with my modded BSA S10.

Basically, the claimed head size on the tin won't be for the majority of the pellets in any tin you buy based on pretty much every tin anyone has tested and posted results from, changing claimed head size will make a difference down range usually, but it's not down to the sticker saying something different, it'll be down to them being produced using a different die at a different time. If you watch an older JSB factory tour, you start to understand things are perhaps not as tightly controlled as you would imagine.

JSB Air Rifle Pellets - FACTORY TOUR!! - Match Diabolo Pellet Manufacturing - Airgun Slugs - PCP

This video is a factory tour & documentary of the JSB Match Diabolo manufacturing facility of airgun pellets located in Bohumin, Czech Republic. It showcase...

www.youtube.com

 

[Johnny 7]

I'm a bit of a hoarder/collector and until recently had over 190 airguns!!

I sold six then fell off the wagon and bought four more!

My most recent buy (Wasn't buying any more but!!!) Webley mk3 in .177" cal.

A late Theoben Fenman with dovetails cut in rather than the ramp with permenany rings..

Precision by Oskar Will..

HW80 in a Venom Vantage lefty stock with a strange straight trigger blade!

Anschutz mod250, A 10m target rifle with built in damper to reduce recoil..

Anschutz mod 275, A lead 4.4mm BB rifle, Yup, The barrel is rifled so lead BB's are the order of the day!, 4.5mm steel BB's will jam in the barrel!

Full length Weihraych HW77 in 5.5mm cal, Confirmed by HW as being made in 1983..

Walther LG55t, The Tyrolean stocks were banned soon after these were introduced to 10m shooting as they were deemed to give the user an unfair advantage!!

Original mod50 type 01 in 5.5mm cal

Modified BSA Mercury in .22" (5.6mm) cal

A few more mk3 Webleys..

A Venom tuned and blued HW35, I traded my HW90 for this but the Export stock that was fitted had been re oiled and it had stayed tacky, I was lucky enough to drop on the Luxus stock on Facebook marketplace before guns etc sales were banned!

BSA Lightning.

A couple of Gunpower Stealth PCP's

Air Arms SE90 sidelever in .22" cal.

Some quarter stocked Beesas from before WW2 and indeed WW1, One was made in 1907!

American and Japanese multipump Pneumatic rifles in 4.5mm, 5.5mm and .20" (5mm)..

HW98 in 4.5mm cal

Webley mk1 and mk2 Service rifle..

A couple of ShinSung Career PCP's.

John..

 

[Teknobry]

Where on earth do you store them all? Although they don't need to be kept in safes your house must look like an Armoury.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

What a lovely collection!

Have just acquired a near mint BSA Polaris with Theoben gas ram and match trigger in 4.5mm from an acquaintance who’s going back to the U.K.

The only problem is that the old Hawke scope on it appears to have taken a knock and isn’t entirely straight anymore. As I don’t have anywhere to use it right now, I’m not going to replace it any time soon, buy I’ll be back here for scope recommendations when I’m flush and have a safe place to use it again.

 

[ianh]

A couple of Gunpower Stealth PCP's

Ah, some unicorns there.

 

[Johnny 7]

Where on earth do you store them all? Although they don't need to be kept in safes your house must look like an Armoury.

They're in the gunroom- Since our two lads moved out twenty odd years ago we have two spare rooms, The smaller is my gunroom, Trouble is that it also houses old stereo's, Loads of boxes of knitting wool of the wifes, There's several guitars, Amps and all manner of other cra errr other stuff in there! I once had to get a certain rifle out, It was the farthest one in the room, From opening the door to closing the door when i'd finished, Four hours had gone by!!


A few more Beesas..

These ones are mostly older..

Daystate Huntsman mk1 in .177" cal

BSA Airsporter Stutzen in .22"

Air Arms Camargue sidelever springer

HW80 mk1 in 5.5mm The card on the left was immediately after I rebuilt it after a polish and hot chemical reblack, The right hand card was after it was zeroe'd in at thirty yards.

Some HW35's..

A few more 35's

A Webley Vulcan Ks (Some call them the Mk3 Vulcan) in 5.5mm

4.5mm HW97k with V Mach kit fitted, Uber smooth to **** and shoot.

Some little ones, All Crosman Co2 pistols!

Chinese XS78 professionally carbined and tuned to 11.4ft lbs, It came to me with a brass air stripper that was stupidly noisy, I had a spare HW sound moderator, It's now like a mouse fart!!

Some Webley Pistols

John..

 

[Avalon]

Some lovely guns in that collection, things I liked as a kid through to things I like now. Not sure if I would want to be looking after that many though, it''s bad enough now, and i'm still just about in single figures (or denial.. I haven't counted in a while), i've got a reg to rebuild on a FX Maverick and a full set-up to do on the wife's Uragan 2, and to finally work out why it's shredding balance valve o-rings. As it's the wife's gun, strangely enough she can't wait to see the back of me heading up to the man cave.

 

[Feek]

They're in the gunroom

I bet there's a lovely smell of Napier and Hoppe's no 9 in that room.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

So from an outsiders perspective, what do you guys shoot with these things? Is it bird shooting? Targets? Other animals? Drivebys in the hood? And what do you like about it? I'm not being judgemental, I'm just curious what it's all about.

Used to shoot my mums pegs, printed targets, hinges on a piece of wood that you could shoot down, tin cans were fun, the occasional rat. Always fun getting to the point where you could put a pellet through the same hill multiple times. I knew my weapon well, could even outshoot our local army boys on a range. It’s a hobby I should have kept going. It helped having a rural garden the size of a football pitch.

Loving all these photos above.

 

[bainbridge]

Holy cow that collection is pretty much all the air rifles I've ever heard of!

I reckon my HW80 might be a mk1 because it looks identical, apart from the DIY job I did on the stock nearly 30 years ago in my early 20s.

 

[Richie]

@Johnny 7 - what a blast from the past on some of them... Recognise the Daystate Huntsman, Theoben and the wacky Gunpower Stealths from when I was a kid

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

Miss my air guns !
Looked recently and clearly should have kept them. Holy crap the cost now is a joke.
Daystate, FWB601, many FWB300s (loved taken them to bits, new seals, grease and as good as new (built like tanks)). A really nice double set trigger Walther 55 and many more.

GUTTED I sold them all and given prices now no chance I would get into the sport now.

 

[Johnny 7]

@Johnny 7 - what a blast from the past on some of them... Recognise the Daystate Huntsman, Theoben and the wacky Gunpower Stealths from when I was a kid

I love the Stealth, So simple and easy to do stuff with!

Here's a couple more..

Two Chinese B45-3 multipump pneumatic rifles, These are getting quite rare now as they were so cheap that they became throwaway guns when anything went wrong with them, Also, SMK wouldn't sell spares for them!

Webley Falcon break barrel in .22" cal

BSA Superstar in .25" cal

Webley Hawk mk1, These have removable barrels and came in No1 and No2 bore, I only have one barrel, Can't recall which cal.

Phanton Gunmark in 5.5mm cal

BSA Cadet Major..

Webley Nemesis single srtoke pneumatic..

Healthways Plainsman .175 (4,4mm) Lead shot and a smaller 8g Co2 'Soda water' syphon caplet powers it, There's a power screw at the base of the grip that gives three power levels.

A couple of Jackals, Top one is Air Arms Combat, Bottom one is the older Sussex Armouries Hi Power.

A couple of Crosman Co2 pistols (E9a at top and 2240 at bottom.)

A mk2 Airsporter that I bought earlier this year.

1939 BSA Break barrel pattern

Cheapo Swiss Arms 1911..

It's quite powerful though as it goes through both sides of a washed out bean can!!

Russian Co2 powered Baikal Drozd, Apparently 'Drozd' means bumblebee, The first guns were yellow!, This is classed as a pistol so can't be more powerful than 6ft lbs, Also, It has an electronic trigger that takes four AA batteries but they have to be inserted the wrong way round for it to work!!

Another couple of Ruskies, Baikal Makarov in Blue and one in Nickel along with a Luger P08 Parabellum, These Mak's uses many of the same parts that the 9mm live shooter does!

Another Baikal (MP651k) This shoots either pellets or BB's, They come with two different mags, One for each projectile

Relum Jelly (It says Telly on the badge but the T looks like a J so everyone calls them the Relum Jelly)

Nagant revolver with the Po8 already shown..

Original mod50, I swapped a Bonsai tree for this!

BSA Ultra Multi..

This young fella in the remote Highlands was really struggling with the heavy old Original mod50 so I swapped a Crosman King Ratcatcher for it (By post), His dad who I did the deal with sent pics of hime not struggling with the ratty and bringing game home for the table!, His dad was a diver on the oil rigs.

And stalking with the Ratty!

BSA Buccaneer that was developed from the BSA Scorpion in to a carbine, Not very common these days!

John

 

[xiphrex]

Webley Nemesis single srtoke pneumatic..

This takes me back!

All this hype about that Turkish shooter at the olympics has reminded me about these!

 

[Avalon]

BSA Buccaneer that was developed from the BSA Scorpion in to a carbine, Not very common these days!

But used as the action for the Gamo Phox (and the many other names they sell the same thing under with a slightly different stock) etc.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

A couple of Jackals, Top one is Air Arms Combat, Bottom one is the older Sussex Armouries Hi Power.

Ah, I had a Jackal, but I think I got it from Battle Arms.

I remember it having a horrible trigger and twanging like car coil spring hit by a hammer when fired.