Practical Pistol Shooting kit and Other Unprofessional Bodged Bits and Bobs.

I own two .177 steel BB pistols at present, both are blowback and field strippable. One is the Swiss Arms G92 which is a pretty good copy of the real steel Taurus G92, which is itself a copy of the Baretta 92, except for the safety being on the frame and not the slide.

A pretty good copy of the Taurus G92, except for the mag extention which allows space for the CO2 bulb.

The other is a licenced copy of the Sig Sauer P226 X Five, the basic P226 has a shorter barrel and no beaver tail. This is an extremely comfortable pistol to hold and fire.

The Sig P226 X5 fits my hand a treat

Since I bought the Sig P226 X Five BB pistol i've been getting into a bit of speed shooting or pratical pistol, and it is a real hoot i can tell you.

There is a high feeling of realism with this pistol.

I bought a spare magazine when I found one in stock because they are not that common.

Spare mag for the X Five, grab them when you can.

 I decided on a leg holster which I got off E bay for about a tenner, it velcros around any pistol and has a mag pouch as well. What I didn't notice until too late however was that there were no locking buckles for the two leg straps,  however I found an old bum bag with the right size buckles on it, so off they came and the holster was fixed.

Drop thigh holster would work loose around my leg with no retaining buckles.

Easily fixed after salvaging a couple of buckles off an old bum bag.

I like the pistol on my thigh for a quick draw as I can have my arm relaxed down the side of my body with the pistol grip easy to grasp,

Hand ready to draw, spare mag pouch at the front of the holster.

this gives me time to draw, 

With the restraining strap released, the gun lifts smoothly from the holster.

rack the slide as it comes up my body, 

Finger of the trigger till you're ready to fire, after this you can use your own one or two handed grip.

then perfect a two handed grip  as I push the pistol forward while aiming by focusing on the front post sight.

Next, I knocked up a load of metal target plates that angle down slightly so BB's rebound downwards and not at me, 

The steel plate rings out louder because it is suspended by wire.

well not at my face at least! They tend to be 3 by 4 inches and either made from aluminium from old DVD player casings and the like, 

Aluminium makes more of a thud when hit by steel BB's.

or steel from old heater covers which ring out when hit unlike the ali which makes more of a thud.

Different metals and quality allow for different range of sound when hit.

I really like the Three Gun style of competition shooting where you shoot set targets with either a pistol, a shotgun or an automatic rifle in whatever order the course demands. I have a shotgun, MP5 and H&K G36 in 6 mm airsoft, ideally I would like an airsoft M4 gas blowback and use my Crosman 1077 as the automatic shotgun as it is a smooth bore afterall.

The Airsoft G36 is the orange and black one at the end, it's the only pic I have of it at present.

The Crosman 1077 makes an excellent stand in for an automatic shotgun, but at over 5 ft/lb you have to be extra careful about your backdrop.

The fun is in the doing rather than showing on this blog, and it really is a lot of fun. I have a small woods I have permission to shoot in, so I set up different courses by hanging the metal plates from branches and seeing how quick I can run through them. Well, it keeps me happy.

TTFN

All the best, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe

SIG Sauer P226 X Five Field Strip , Clean, and Lube

Like all KWC blow back pistols, they are designed to be as realistic as possible and that means field stripping amongst other things. The good thing about field stripping is that they can be cleaned and lubed so they work a little smoother, and of course it will prolong their life a tad longer. They're not designed to last a long time as they are quite cheap to begin with and generally made out of pot metal, but as most things wear or break they can be replaced, and with the slide removed this is possible for many parts.

Besides a box of cheap steel BB's, this is what you get out of the box.

Many people have wondered if with a bit of tinkering they could improve the power output, though most likely you would just end up with a stronger kickback and a slight drop in power which can only lead to the pistol wearing out and breaking sooner. Believe me, a lot better minds than mine have looked into this and I am quite happy to defer to their judgement for now, so i'm happy just to get a smoother running pistol that can happily decimate empty energy drink cans at a rapid rate.

So, down to business and the joys of field stripping your lovely SIG X Five, which has to be one of the major attractions in the purchasing of this fine Taiwanese replica. 

The X Five is a fairly large pistol

First thing to do is drop the mag out of the pistol as nothing is moving anywhere until it's out of the way. It's also a good idea to rack the slide and check for any BB's in the barrel. 

Checking to see if the air pistol is clear.

The top slide, which is made from Zinc alloy I believe, has to be racked back until the semi circular cutout on the bottom left side of the slide lines up with the take down lever. 

The semi-circular cut away in the slide allows the take down lever to turn 90 degrees.

Once here, the lever will be allowed to turn 90 degrees within the ark of the cut out in the slide, so when the lever is pointing downwards you are able to pull the slide all the way forward and further till it slides off the front of the pistol frame.

The slide moves freely to this point where it meets a little resistance,

but give it a little jiggle and it moves on and off the pistol frame.

Cool, the gun's in three bits now; the magazine, which could do with a spot of lubrication, the pistol body which only needs a wipe and some lube, and the slide which will dismantle further for cleaning and lubrication and is the part we're concentrating on mainly for now.

Flip the slide upside down to start removing the recoil spring, guide and barrel.

Note which way up the recoil spring guide sits where it sits against the breech block.

Push the guide forward and lift, then remove by pulling it back. 

The spring and guide are easily removed with one hand, the square lug on the end of the guide sits inside the slide.

Note which way around the square block at the end of the guide goes for when you put it back again.

Well it's a start, but there's more.

The barrel housing, inner barrel and breech lift out easily in one unit, 

Inner, outer barrel, and breech assembly

Outer barrel lifts off lug on the breech.

.177 smoothbore  brass inner barrel with rubber O ring to hold it in place inside outer barrel.

and once out, the inner barrel removes quite easily from the outer barrel.

Pistol fully field stripped, you want to strip it any further and you will need a tool kit and lots of photos for putting it back together correctly.

Now it's in bits, it is a good time to clean all the parts before applying grease and oil; these pistols are always dry and a bit dirty out of the box by all accounts.

For something so new I was surprised how much crap came off of it.

Just wiping a piece of kitchen towel over any parts that will come into contact when the slide moves is a good start, in fact a good wipe on all the internal surfaces won't do it any harm at all.

Kitchen towel removes nearly all the grime, but a dab of white spirits will do a better job.

Once any grime was removed, I started by removing the recoil springs and washer and applying a thin smear of silicone grease to the guide and springs, making sure I remembered which way around they were originally fitted.

This pistol has two recoil springs and a washer, whereas most others have just the one spring. The collapsed ends of the springs go on the outside.

I made a mix of silicone grease and silicone oil which I smeared over the outer barrel with kitchen towel, 

All it needs is the thinnest of coatings, and it looks oh so shiny.

and all the touching parts of the slide had a smear of silicone oil as well as the parts they touched on the pistol frame.

Smear the oil along with a finger.

A little silicone oil is all you need, though a little fine graphite powder mixed in would be even better.

Now that all parts were evenly lubricated, it was a simple matter to reverse the disassembly guide to put it back together, and it is pretty straight forward and simple as these pistols go.

The magazine just needed a little silicone oil along the BB tension spring and follower, 

just to help it along I worked the follower up and down the mag with my thumb.

Once the spring and follower are oiled it will not need doing again for quite a while.

Another drop of oil to the lip of the BB feed at the top of the mag and where the follower connects with and pushes the slide stop into position for good measure. 

Just the tiniest drop here, and wipe any excess that goes near the square Co2 transfer port seal behind it.

By using silicone oil you are using an oil that does not damage rubber and plastic seals, but it's still best to wipe away any excess as you only need a little to do the job properly.

As this pistol is pretty easy to field strip it should be no problem to clean and lubricate at any time, and for me this is one of the main attractions in owning a replica like this.

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe

Sig Sauer P226 X Five .177 Blowback BB Pistol. First Week Review.

The SIG Sauer P226 X five Blow back Co2 pistol is a large full size replica, made by KWC which is a company in Taiwan. It is then packaged by Cybergun/Swiss Arms, and is pretty much an exact copy of the real 9 mm firearm.

SIG Sauer P226 X Five, does exactly what it says on the box, apart from he BAXS which is only for the 6 mm Airsoft version

Although other firearm P226 models are available in .40 S&W, .357 SIG, and .22 long rifle, the X five model has a beaver tail and a barrel extension where the many other variants of the P226 do not, and is only available in 9mm. This is the pistol used by the Old Bill, Squaddies, and any other official gun carrying authority in the UK.

That pointy bit at the back that is supported by the web of your hand between your thumb and first finger, well.... that's the bit that only comes on the X Five model.

Notice the cut out in the foam casing by the rear sight, well that's for the adjustable sights on the sporty model of the X Five.

It appears to be a licensed model of a SIG pistol judging by the markings on the left side of the slide, however the right side of the slide has a large amount of writing about warnings and where it's made. This is a bit of a spoiler for the gun as it is actually engraved into the metal and painted white. I have had partial success with a Sharpie in filling in the writing to date, but i'm sure there is a nicer finish to be found out there somewhere. But hey, these companies have got to cover their asses from law suits.

 Licensed SIG markings lightly engraved and painted white on the left of the slide, and non genuine fire arm caliber markings below.

What is the point of aesthetically ruining this replica with all this warning stuff, any self respecting 14 year old is sooo totally going to ignore that.

With a metal frame and slide and a solid but stiff plastic grip secured solidly to the frame, it feels like you're holding the real thing.

I have large hands and I find the grip contours to be extremely comfortable.

The black adonised finish looks really good, though time plus wear and tear will tell on that one.

This is a large and weighty pistol.

It's powered by a 12g Co2 cartridge that fits in the bottom of the lifelike mag, and it is recommended that a drop of silicone oil be added to the tip of the cartridge to keep the internal seals in tip top condition.

The screw cap is plastic and the thread will wear eventually, so it's just as well you get a spare one.

The mag also contains the valve and space to hold 18 steel BB's, so in that respect it's like the real thing in that it holds the projectile and the power to propel it, but on an infinitely weaker scale.

This is where the very stiff spring and follower lock in place while popping BB's into the top.

 With the last BB fired, the slide locks back letting you know you're empty and ready to load a fresh mag, release the working slide catch (on the left side in front of the safety) leaving the hammer cocked, and do the whole fun thing all over again. I once managed to fit 19 steel .177 BB's while not paying attention but i feel more comfortable using between 12 and 14 BB's. It's my personal preference and is of no real advantage, apart from maybe putting less strain on the follower spring over it's life. Who knows?

After the last BB is fired the follower pushes up the slide lock which is just in front of the safety.

One thing that is a slight let down on this Co2 pistol is that the screw cap which holds and pushes the Co2 caplet in place is plastic and I can see that wearing down over extensive use, so it is a good thing that a spare is provided. An allen key is provided to screw the cap into place. A plastic plate over the bottom of the mag would really improve the realism of an already really realistic gun.

A plate along the bottom would be perfect but it is still flush from side on, and look, lucks a lordy, you can even change the BB spring if ever needed.

Another thing I noticed pretty quickly was that the slide rattles slightly if you shake the gun and that the safety does not engage correctly on the right hand side, but being right handed this does not pose a problem for me. And really for £120 UK pounds i'm not at all put out, afterall it does all that is says on the box (apart from the BAX system which is for the 6mm airsoft version).

On a chilly winter day I managed to shoot four full mags making that 72 BB's. Most shots were done either rapidly or with little time between shots. Halfway through the 5th mag the blow back stopped working, but if I took my time between shots I would have easily emptied that last mag. Because some of the Co2 is used for the blow back action, the BB's leave the recessed smooth bore barrel supposedly at 300FPS on a warm day, and at 8 yards on a bloody cold day I was easily hitting the 1.5 inch plastic bottles I was using as targets.

However I would advise against using it too much in sub zero temperatures. After firing one full mag I found BB's only firing on every second shot and then eventually dumping the rest of the Co2 with a big old hiss. It was about -5 degrees celsius on this occasion and the rapid firing cooled the Co2 to such a degree that it eventually dropped the pressure enough to affect the blow back. After that it must have frozen the valve open to dump what Co2 was left. By then, the pistol grip was cold and frost had appeared on the mag, a new Co2 caplet got the gun going again but it did the same things again even sooner. I initially thought i'd broken it or it was faulty, but I got it home and after a bit of head scratching realised what the problem was. Silly old sod, but hey, i'd only just got the pistol so I just had to go out and use it (i'm doing my best here to refrain from saying play with it as it is in no way a toy). 

The pistol will fire in either single action by racking the slide or cocking the external hammer with your thumb, or double action by pulling the trigger for the first shot. The trigger pull in double action is fairly stiff but in single action is surprisingly light, aiding accuracy. The replica model has a ambidextrous safety which can be released or applied by the thumb when held by the pistol grip, whereas the firearm it self has a safety that is slightly different . However there is a de-cocking lever on the on the non X Five firearm and no safety; to de-cock the X Five replica the slide has to be released and the hammer gently released whilst depressing the trigger while the safety is off.

External hammer is cocked here.

Safety off.

Safety on. but is a bitch to do from the right hand side unless the slide has been racked.

Another great thing about this pistol is that it can be field stripped like Swiss Arms 1911's and their Baretta FS92 copy - I quote these two as they also have the same magazine design holding Co2, valve, and BB's and I really want to get either of one of them next.
Field stripping means the the slide is removable and then the barrel, liner, springs and bar for the blow back mechanism are all accessable for removing, cleaning, and lubing. Use liberal amounts of silicone grease around the barrel and springs, silicone oil and graphite for all the slide parts that are in contact, and silicone oil for the trigger group, safety springs, and the rather strong follower spring that pushes the BB's up in the mag among other things. The important thing here is not to over lube any of these parts, and is recommended to keep any oil away from the valve/blow back box join.
With the slide locked back you can see the insides through the ejection port just like the firearm. 

This is pretty much how the genuine article looks when the mag is removed, that's what I like about these replica's

With the slide pulled as far back as it can go, the take down lever can be turned 90 degrees down, allowing the slide to then be pulled forward and removed.

The slide lock in the unlocked position, pull the slide forwards from here and it will slide clear of the pistol body along with barrel assembly and blow back box.

There's loads of stuff on Youtube showing how it's done and once i've had it a while i'll show how it's done also. It would appear that this Co2 pistol, all the Colt 1911 variants, and all the Dan Wesson type revolvers (the ones where the BB is loaded into an imitation bullet) are very well documented on Youtube, in fact moreso than any other Co2 .177 pistol, blowback or otherwise.

The other merits of field stripping this replica are the ability to clean any over lubrication, lubricating if dry,  access to anything that might break in order to repair it, removing loose BB's that double load when the mag is taken out and replaced and racked again (though usually in this case it fires both BB's at a slower velocity) and best of all is that it just looks damned cool. When a BB does get loose inside the pistol it sometimes lodges behind the blowback and interferes with cocking the hammer for the valve because of the shorter slide stroke.


As with a lot of these replica guns you can buy now, they tend to have a short 22 mm tactical rail in front of the trigger guard for the fitting of torches and lasers. 

A tactical rail for torches and lasers, so you can get totally tactical on some poor innocent tin can

Some have them on top along the slide for the optics of your choice, or in the case of some models, an RIS rail that bolts to the body of the  gun around the slide allowing the slide to move freely, most commonly seen on race guns.

The other sport model of the X Five has some very nice adjustable rear sights, but this basic model has fixed rear sights. 

Basic rear sights of a square notch.

The front post sight appears as if it is adjustable for windage fitting in a dove tail, in this case it is just part of the molding, but it does have a white dot for aiding an easy acquisition of target. 

The front square post looks like it can move and be interchangable, but is in fact just part of the mold. But the white dot does work well with the rear sights.

Anyway, give me half a year using this pistol and I will write a practical review from actual experience, because I have yet to see how well it peforms in a warmer climate come spring and summer. Amongst other things, I would like to see how it performs with H&N copper coated lead BB's which are 7gr as opposed to 5gr of the steel BB's, as well as trying out different makes of BB's. Things will need to bed in and smooth out with use, and I might have to help that along the way; some of the springs might need upgrading, and what would be a really groovy idea would be to machine a .177 rifled barrel liner to replace the smooth bore tube that is currently in it, though that is more a pipe dream than a probability at the moment.

Recessed into the imitation 9 mm barrel is the actual .177  smooth bore brass barrel, a touch up with a black Sharpie would improve the looks a lot.

I can see the demise of many tin cans in my future, and at the moment my brain is turning over some interesting variants on some iron plate action shooting (IPAS) targets to make things a little bit more interesting, but time will tell if and when I manage to knock these up.

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe