The Air Rifles & Pistols thread

Looks like a B2. While not the best rifle in the world, they can be a fun plinker for knocking over tin cans.

You could dig out that leather breech seal and replace it with a nitrile rubber o-ring as that does look compressed. Loads of sizes available on ebay, so just need to measure the current leather one.

Looks like the barrel needs a good clean. You can make a cheap pullthrough with a length of thin wire. Just make a loop at one end using superglue, then stick a bit of cotton cloth through the loop with some 3-in 1 oil on it and pull it through the barrel a few times. Then replace it with another oil soaked bit of cloth. The pull a couple of dry cloths through.

The stock looks better than the one my mate had. His was painted with a brown paint and had brush marks and a bristle stuck in it lol.



I have re assembled my HW45 now and I'm amazed at the difference. I used the dry moly spray I bought, on the piston and sprayed some into the comp chamber. Added a very thin smear of moly paste on the rear of the piston and the spring guide and spring.

The ptfe piston sleeve I made should help keep any grease inside the piston.

Once I put it all back together it was a little grindy and dry to **** so I put a smear more around the cocking slots and visible bit of the rear piston, which seems to have done the trick.

The power has dropped a bit as to be expected. 510-530 fps for Geco flat pellets and around 350 or so on the lower power setting. Very little smoke now, not like the thick cloud of smoke that was happening before. I got 3 shots ontop of each other at 7m, which I have never done before. Seems a lot more predictable and tamer now. It will need bedding in a bit as well.

Only thing I miss is the smell :(:o.

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The one the guy brought to the range looked like it had been dipped in an industrial drum of crappy wood varnish and was like brown sludge on it.

Bulletv1's looks a lot better for the stock finish. I want to get my hands on a cheapy Chinese rifle and pull it apart and see if i can get one to shoot well.
Just a quick question, when you stick a pellet in it and fire it (never dry fire) is the trigger really hard and stiff to pull?
 
I want to get my hands on a cheapy Chinese rifle and pull it apart and see if i can get one to shoot well.
Just a quick question, when you stick a pellet in it and fire it (never dry fire) is the trigger really hard and stiff to pull?

I think they are a one stage trigger and the trigger just latches directly onto the piston. That's one thing to check actually, make sure its not worn right down to a nub as it could be dangerous.
 
I wouldn't mind picking up a new, but cheap SMK B2 Custom, but it looks as if the quality of the finish etc. can be a bit 'variable' to say the least.

Any recommendations of a good and reliable outlet in the U.K. who stocks them, preferably in the West Midlands area?

Thanks! :)
 
I wouldn't mind picking up a new, but cheap SMK B2 Custom, but it looks as if the quality of the finish etc. can be a bit 'variable' to say the least.

Any recommendations of a good and reliable outlet in the U.K. who stocks them, preferably in the West Midlands area?

Thanks! :)

I wouldn't, they aren't great. The hatsan breaker 900x is supposed to be pretty good for a super budget springer with the Hatsan 55 and 65 being better but also fairly reasonably prices. The Quattro trigger on the 55/65 is meant to be pretty decent
 
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Just stumbled upon this thread after thinking about buying a rifle to shoot some target/cans in the back garden. Can anyone recommend a decent starter rifle? I'll check out the above Hatsan models but is there anything else worth checking out?
 
All depends on the budget and the use. If you have a spare wad of cash a Air Arms Tx200 is nice and a pleasure to shoot but at over £300 for back garden shooting its a waste.

Personally I would recommend the Hatsan 55 or 65 for about £120, they are meant to have a nice Quattro trigger. If you want something cheaper you can pickup a Hatsan 900x for about £79 if you shop about.

Edit: Avoid a lot of the cheaper SMK stuff and any Chinese rifles, Also avoid the Remington Express too.
 
I wouldn't mind picking up a new, but cheap SMK B2 Custom, but it looks as if the quality of the finish etc. can be a bit 'variable' to say the least.

Any recommendations of a good and reliable outlet in the U.K. who stocks them, preferably in the West Midlands area?

Thanks! :)

Forgot to mention you are also a bit limited where you can buy from as the Violent Crime Reduction act meant you cant mail order them anymore so just google any airgun shops within whatever range you are willing to travel.
 
A bit unrelated to the thread but I got told last night I'm now eligible for full membership to my firearms club and they're voting on it next Thursday. Fingers crossed and hopefully I get all clear and then I can put in for my FAC.
 
Forgot to mention you are also a bit limited where you can buy from as the Violent Crime Reduction act meant you cant mail order them anymore so just google any airgun shops within whatever range you are willing to travel.

Thanks... that was one reason I actually mentioned the West Midlands area!

Anyway, I popped in to my nearest 'shop' on Saturday, when we were down in Leominster, and was shown a selection of Hatsan 900x (all .22 though!) which had a much better finish, and looked a lot 'smarter' than I had expected.

Their price was a bit on the high side though, (£119) although they do have the advantage of being very local, in case on any problems etc.

Certainly food for thought anyway!
 
Thanks... that was one reason I actually mentioned the West Midlands area!

Anyway, I popped in to my nearest 'shop' on Saturday, when we were down in Leominster, and was shown a selection of Hatsan 900x (all .22 though!) which had a much better finish, and looked a lot 'smarter' than I had expected.

Their price was a bit on the high side though, (£119) although they do have the advantage of being very local, in case on any problems etc.

Certainly food for thought anyway!

A word of advice. You cant buy them and have them posted to you direct from a shop/dealer but if its private seller to private seller you can get them posted legally by Parcel Force Express 48 or Royal mail Special Delivery ONLY.
So if you know what you want and find it at a good price and know someone who can buy it for you and then post it, it may work out better.

Alternatively you can get them to send it to your local RFD and pick it up from there. I would check your RFD's handling fees before doing that though as it can vary a lot.

Some places like http://www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk/ will send them to RFD for free but you will have to pay yours their handling fee so it may eat up any saving
 
Thanks for the advice, but as you say RFD handling fees, and even p&p can add quite a lot to the price, and I would rather see what I was buying first anyway.

Actually, when I called back to my local dealer again this morning, he explained that their price included a scope,although they didn't actually have any in stock at the moment!

He then offered to knock £35 off the 'with scope' price, which made it sound like a far more attractive deal, and one which I am seriously considering.
 
Whats his "with scope" price (inc and exc discount)? These are cheap and cheerful rifles so dont expect it to be smooth like butter but they are a lot better than the usual SMK offerings and the likes.
 
Whats his "with scope" price (inc and exc discount)? These are cheap and cheerful rifles so dont expect it to be smooth like butter but they are a lot better than the usual SMK offerings and the likes.

Yes, I realise that these a very much 'entry level' offerings, but as you say probably a bit 'better' than a Chinese B2 or something similar.

As it may well just turn out to be a 'nine day wonder' for me I don't want to spend a lot to start with, but I didn't actually realise that air rifle prices have dropped so much over the years!

The local shop I visited is asking £120 for a .22 Hatsan 900 x with scope (plus a tin of pellets!) and £85 without the scope, which they haven't got in stock at the moment anyway!

I still plan to check out a few other options, but as I said before I would far rather buy 'face to face' from a friendly local shop just a few miles down the road, rather than messing around with mail order just to try and save a few quid!
 
Had a quick look at the 900x and it seems to have some good user reviews. For what it is and the price brand new it seems like a nice little plinker. It might be worth seeing if they have the models HybridX mentioned for the better trigger, if they are not too much more then it could be worth it. Even if it means not getting a scope, thats probably a good thing as open sights are perfect for plinking in the garden. Can always get a scope later.

One thing that is worth looking into is what pellets the gun likes. The shop you buy it from might have a selection of cheapo pellets like marksman etc. Better to get a tin of decent pellets for £7-£10 that you will actually be able to hit the target with. I made the mistake of thinking pellets are pellets when I got my first airgun and it almost put me off it as I thought I was just a useless shot, but it was the cheap bulldog/marksman/tiger gold pellets I was buying from my local shop that were the issue.
 
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