The Air Rifles & Pistols thread

[Mark A]

Original Eley wasps too, new wasps are shockingly bad

Those are a blast from the past! I used to get a box of them every couple of weeks from my local fishing and tackle shop when I was in college. If they didn't have them i'd have to get Marksman or Bulldog pellets from a sports shop in town and they were terrible.

 

[Hotwired]

The hand pumps aren't that bad.

If you're paying by the hour then it's not a great plan and also if you decided that you wanted a rifle with a half litre buddy bottle on it, also not a great idea.

But if you have a small tube air chamber on your rifle it doesn't take long. UK power limit means it's about 1 stroke per shot.

 

[FluffySheep]

Original Eley wasps too, new wasps are shockingly bad

Got about 300 wasps sat about 6 foot behind me now, always liked them for knocking rabbits over

FluffySheep

 

[ianh]

JSB Exacts in 4.52mm were my GoTo for longer range shooting (modded BSA S10 with Reg & Daystate Airwolf MCT) but for my <15yrd ratting it was Webley Accupells in .22 in my modded S200 with a BSA ultra barrel and Ultra Reg'd air cylinder, 10 shot mag and NV550 Digital night vision scope.

I miss the hobby, but not the expense!

 

[Avalon]

Unfortunately, since JSB moved factory/COVID times, the quality has gone down hill, it seems to be more obvious in the .177 calibre with the thinner skirts. This was also around the time they closed the order book because they had several years worth of future orders at that point, so it's not like they really care at this stage, people have committed to paying them whatever price they ask at production time for at least 4 years as was, air took off in the USA when conventional ammo became a problem, and now it's the biggest marketplace with the most growth.

Compressors also aren't all expensive, some are - i'm typing this using a Hills EC3K as a foot rest, and admittedly that's not the cheapest of options, but certainly less than a Coltri - but others are affordable and well proven at this point e.g. the Tuxing I keep in the car starts at £120ish. The GX stuff is slightly more capable and a bit more expensive (just over twice the price upwards depending on whose name is on the side and features), but both are aimed more at direct to gun fills and upto 1.1ltr bottles for the Tuxing, the GX can do more. Being self-sufficient in terms of air is a game changer if you shoot a lot/regularly, also I can't remember the last time anyone I know owned a 12ltr tank, everything now is either 6.8ltr carbon/6ltr steel or more often smaller 2-3ltr carbon because it's easy to carry. Occasionally someone will want a static 12ltr for some reason, but generally they're just too big/cumbersome to be practical to lug about for a refill/testing.

Shooting can be expensive, it was almost unheard of for anything to be 2K a few years back (Daystate 'special editions' excluded), now pretty much every decent OEM has an option around that price point and some are charging twice that for guns that were £850 only a few years ago (EdGun). If you want cheap, a Cometa 100 springer package is £230 for everything, PCP wise a Gamo Phox (BSA Buccaneer in a plastic stock) is under £500 for the full kit inc. pump.

Original Eley wasps too, new wasps are shockingly bad

There are two 'new' version of Wasp's in circulation, both suck. 'New' Wasp's weren't made by H&N and are still available wholesale from the previous manufacturer as they sold poorly, when the contract ended, or was ended, they were moved to H&N, and we have 'new new' Wasps, which unusually for H&N are not great either. Old Wasp's were decent, and do sell for a premium to nostalgia types, as does anything Theoben/Venom.

 

[Zenduri]

Yeha i've heard things about JSB pellets now but the ones im shooting at the moment are pretty decent but i believe its down the the die number as to how good or bad they are. I seem to be getting Die 23's at the moment and they are pretty solid

 

[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.