A Glut of Air Rifles

As many, many air rifle enthusiasts discover, the joy of airgunning can become an expensive business. What with pellets and maintanance, then scopes and other must haves for your rifle, and sometimes spares and repairs (though with a little skill and a decent set of tools, repairs and some spares can be done yourself at home!), it soon adds up. Luckily for me, a couple of weeks ago I was given 'a glut' of air rifles from a friend. They were all in a state of disrepair and needed varying degrees of TLC, so it will be my mission to fix these rifles and tell you about their progress as I go.

Note the bend on the barrel on the 1st rifle next to the BB gun

He called some months back to tell me he had some damaged air rifles I could have and all I had to do was pick them up. By the time the wifey took me to see him he had sorted out another four, two small scopes and two electric BB guns. This is what he gave me and what was broken or wrong with them:

  1 - .22 BSA Mercury with the barrel bent very noticeably upwards at the breech, no open sights, a SMK B2 spring fitted, and needing a good polish.

  2 - .177 Diana/Original Mod 16 which fires but will not move the pellet. It is needing a repaint.

  3 - .22 Relum Tornado which will not cock and is covered in surface rust with a chip in the stock.

  4 - .177 Norica Quick which is missing a piece of metal that holds the under lever in place. It also has a stiff trigger, but I think that is common with direct sear triggers as this rifle has.

  5 - .22 Sharp Innova which only holds one pump and is missing bits off the rear open sight.

  6 - .177 SMK B45-3 multi pump which jams and releases air after three pumps.


The BB guns have no chargers with them and the sights are Crosman, one a short 4x20 that actually looks more like a 2x20 and a 4x15 which is missing a mount.


Some of these air rifles are pretty easy to fix but will take a lot more time, effort, and money to get into top condition. I say some because not having had any experience with multi pumps before, I will have to trouble shoot for an answer to fix these and even then I doubt I will be able to get spares for the SMK. But this is what this blog is all about so hopefully it won't be long before the next blog with updates on how their restoration is coming along.

TTFN. 

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe

Air Arms Shamal REVIEW

The rifle is not to large but the walnut stock adds a bit of weight

 

Well it's been two weeks since my last blog so it's about time I did the promised review on my .177 Air Arms Shamal. I've mentioned bits and pieces about it in previous blogs but it's time to do a more complete review.

Looking sexy with swivel mount sling and scope

   This was Air Arms' first attempt at a PCP air rifle (Daystate brought out the first) and is a rather sexy bit of kit, although it's quite large and heavy compared to most PCP's available today. Filling it to the max 207 bar, you don't really get a levelling off of the power curve till about 30/40 shots in - this still leaves me with about 35/40 fairly consistent shots, at which point the curve rises again briefly before dropping off again.  With no pressure gauge on the rifle itself, you have to rely on the pressure gauge on the pump. So I tend to fill it to about 180 bar and i'm ready for 40 constant shots, and thats where I have my scope zeroed in to 30 yards using Air Arms Diabolo's(8.4gr). I have an old Nikko Sterling 4-12-40 silver antler scope and the image was very misty, I was scratching my brains tring to work out what the problem was and believe it or not it was just a dirty lens and there's me thinking I was going to have to invest in a new scope (numpty).

Max fill and breach

Teat shots taken with slight gusts of wind

Bolt twists and pulls back, plenty of space under the scope

   The Shamal is a single shot rifle with a slightly tapered hole in the breech to place the pellet which means I have to point the rifle down slightly otherwise the pellet just slips back out again, but now i'm used to this it's not a problem. The bolt pulls back by a knob at the rear and there's no safety on the rifle, but I have always found that the best safety is my trigger finger - I don't place it on the trigger till a shot presents itself, and with a two stage trigger which is superbly built I have no trouble reaching the second stage with its nice crisp release of the sear. I believe it's the same 'olympic trigger' you find on the 100 series - having seen an exploded view of the 100, although most of the exterior is very similar, the internals are very different, such as having a regulator and different valve design, though the hammer and spring are the same with an allen key adjustment to adjust the spring tension slightly http://guns-nn.ru/manuals/manual_airarms_njr100_en.pdf .

Olympic trigger

Bolt locked

Bolt cocked

  

Now apart from the rare flier (which is down to me) this rifle is unbelievably accurate. At 30 yards it can put 10 shots on 2 pence piece and that's with me just supporting my forearm, so with a bipod it should be quite devastating to the local bunny and woody population. However what looks like a moderator is actually a long muzzle break but is still moderately quiet, this is attached to the fill port cap and comes off as one unit by unscrewing a cover for the 1/8 fill port as no adaptor is needed on this early model (00071). Once this is removed, you can remove the muzzle break by undoing a small screw, and a custom made moderator could replace it (though the inner barrel is wider than the 10mm you find on the 400 series), The loudest sound I hear is the spring and hammer release when fired.

Muzzel break

Muzzel break and fill port cover come off in one to reveal 1/8 fill port

  

The stock is made of walnut and is sculpted with a craftsman's eye. There is chequereing on the pistol grip and along the forearm, with a raised unique comb which fits perfectly to my cheek - just as well i'm right handed as i 'm not aware of Air Arms ever doing a left handed version! The buttplate adjusts up and down  making it ideal for me to shoot comfortably and handle for quick aquisition of target (i'm sure this is a Bisley aftermarket product).

Adjustable shoulder pad

Thumb rest on stock

 

Though the gun is heavier than most, it's quiet which makes it perfect when using in a hide even though it's 45 inches long, and thank god it has a sling for those stalking moments in the winter months. This rifle is not everyone's cup of tea but I love it, you know you've got a piece of kit in your hands that will last for generations to come, just like my Weihrauch HW35 Luxus.

Taking advantage of a still winters day shooting

 
This rifle is brimming with character and that is what I look for in a rifle. The good points far outweigh any little niggles I have come across  - in fact I find them quite endearing.

 Taking that 30 yard shot

   TTFN

   Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe O.B.E

  

  

A New Air Pump and more tales of the Air Arms Shamal

Two weeks since my last post, well Chrimbo is a busy time. With the arrival of a 9 week old Bedlington Terrier/Whippet lurcher pup things got a trifle hectic. We call him 'Scatterbone' and things are still hectic, but soon we'll have him out in the fields coursing bunnies for the pot.

I've been topping up the Shamal with air at the local gun shop for 3 quid a fill and could see that as being expensive with the amount of shooting i'd like to be doing , so today we popped to Gloucester to get Scatterbone his jabs and then went into Allsports and bought a Hills Air Pump. There's a bit of concern about moisture getting into the air reservior  with hand pumps compared to the dry air you get from a bottle and you can buy Dry Pacs to fit onto the pump to absorb any moisture, but the bloke at Allsports reckoned in all their time handling PCP's they have never seen any problems with moisture, and though they could have sold me a Dry Pac for an extra £40 on top of the £139 I paid for the pump, they said it wasn't really worth it, and they've been dealing in all kinds of guns for over 60 years.

The pump came in a box with very simple instructions on the back; simply bolt on the footplate with a supplied allen key, screw on the handle, and screw on the hose at the base (I used a 14mm spanner to secure), then you're ready to go. The Shamal doesn't need an adapter so the hose screws directly onto the fill valve(same 14mm spanner tightens this), well this one doesn't as its quite an early one (00071) and Air Arms 1st venture into PCP.

This is a 3 stage pump which means that it's 3 pumps  built inside each other working on both the up stroke and the down stroke. It's very easy to pump until the pressure in the reservior is the same as the hose. Then you're filling up the rifle and you have to put a little more effort into each stroke which increases as the pressure builds. Pressure can go all the way upto 275 bar (4500psi), though I found 185 bar was ideal for the Shamal although its written on the side of the rifle that 207 bar, 3000psi was the maximum fill level. I found that if I stopped for half a second at the end of each stroke it filled quicker, which I could easily see on the guage at the base of the pump. Being 6 foot tall it was a lot easier to bend my knees slightly and put my body weight behind the down stroke with a straight back, for me it was really little effort to fill the rifle though i reckon i might be a little knackered filling to 250 bar. At the base of the pump is a small brass knob which you tighten up before you start pumping; this will release all the air from the hose when you loosen it after filling the air reservior. You end up damaging seals and all sorts if you disconnect with 200 bar of air pressure in the hose.

All in all a good investment as i've filled the Shamal up twice already this afternoon already saving me 6 quid at the local gun shop - admittedly I could have shot longer on the first fill but the pellet speed would have started to drop off. This way I can just keep the Shamal firing 50 or so good shots at the top off the power curve, and not need to adjust or compensate on the scope other than for distance and wind. The scope will be zeroed  at 30 yards, spot on for those 50 shots.

  

On any PCP, the trigger releases a weight known as a hammer, held back against a spring - this springs fowards and strikes the stem of a hammer valve which releases some of the air in the reservior into the barrel, which expands rapidly, sending the pellet flying out the barrel. If I filled the Shamal to it's max pressure of 209 bar, a .177 pellet would exit the muzzle at 700fps. As the the pressure drops in the reservior, the pellet's speed increases creating an upward curve, until we get to 185 bar and a pellet speed of 800fps. I then get 50 shots at this speed until the pressure drops to around 100 bar, where the pellet speed will start to drop off. Back down to 700 fps over the next 20 bar used, at which point the pellet speed will start to drop more drastically, creating the downward curve, creating your power curve. If firing at the same paper target, the 1st shot would fall 3 inches low of the point of aim or bullseye, with the next 20 shots creeping up to the POI, the next 50 shots hitting the POI, the next 20 shots dropping slowly down to 4 inches below the POI, and after that dropping off more drastically.

 That is why I like to fill the Shamal to about 185 bar and top her up again after roughly 50 shots, this pretty much garauntees my POI through my scope. So for me the hand pump is ideal, supplying free air after an initial investment, and my hieght and wieght make it easy to use. If i'm out hunting I wouldn't really need more than 50 shots anyway, and if I did it's not really that heavy to carry to a hide, though if I were stalking I could see it getting a bit cumbersome.

In a later post I will do a full write up on the Shamal and let you know how well it performs.  TTFN.

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe.

the guided tour of the AAGC work space

The title says it all really but i said i would get around to giving you a tour of the shed and forge and so i have. My life has always seemed to have been a work in progress and nothing has changed there, but i like it that way as you always end up learning something new every day

enjoy

TTFN

 Wing commander

Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe

" Saturday nights alright for sniping"

Ahhhhh, Saturday night, kids in bed, Basa fish, potatoes, sweetcorn in cajun spice for dinner as I write this blog and the understanding wife watching the 'best and worst of the X fu blowbackctor' (good grief), well my wife finds air rifles as obscure as i find the X fuctor. Saying that though, she loves plinking with the 1077 and 2240 in the garden when I get the guns out. If I ever  get her a cheap bb pistol, i'd most likely get her a Gamo 95 or someting like that, she would have a wicked time with it (and i'd get to use it too cos I love the blowback on those pistols and they use pellets, the ones with the built on silencers is a longer barrel and has a higher fps).

Today was a good day all said and done, without a doubt. The ferrets and chickens are chuffed to be sorted early, kids sorted, busking stuff sorted. Now a few days ago the crosman 1077 decides to dump its entire caplet in 1 whoosh. "Bugger" says I, so I soaked the end of a used caplet in Logun synthetic oil and left it to soak into the rubber seal. Today I tried a fresh co2 caplet and it was all snug and totally leak free,as simple as that, just a few drops of synthetic oil and the seal is as good as new. thank Dog i didn't have to take it apart, i got too many odd job going on at the moment.

Feeling chuffed with that result  on the way to getting dropped off for busking in Cirencester, we popped into the local gun shop and get the Airarms shamal topped up with air from the  tank for 3 quid, i took this time to have a mooch thru the air rifles, the new stuff was HW100's or Daystates and the like, not the cheapest of rifles  to say the least, they had some loverly 2nd hand stuff in tip top condition and top prices too, mod 34, hw77, airsporter but not a mk1, shame really, and some quality sidelevers also. with that done it was off for an abysmal day's busking.

Busking was tight today, not much cash but what the hell i got to play some awesone 'stranglers', 'pogues' 'hawkwind' (that was interesting) and some 'council house tetley'
 so i got to have a good day, and Rosie's asleep when i get back so i get to cook a lush meal.

So roll on sunday and a day of playing in the shed, it seems those  projects don't get done by those airgun pixies anymore, such is life, so it's up to me and my homemade tools to get things done, should be a bit of a wheeze i reckon. i'm going to take the camera to document it, and also a guided tour of the work space too boot.

TTFN from wing commander
 Sir Nigel Tetlington Smythe                                                                                                                                                                                                     

now i gone an done it

I decided to write a new blog and go google it, but low and behold when searching for it not only do i not find this blog like i did 2 days ago, but i come up with this news article on a load of yank kids getting shot the hell up , 20+ of the poor buggers dead at school cuz some kids dad goes apeshit with some seriouse gunpower.

Yes the man was angry, maybe angry, angry. Yes he had guns. BUT was HE a company, did he have company, was he in need of company,  i do not know, all i know so far is that he was one total fuck up to do what he did and i hope he is reborn a woodlouse, cuz i dislike those fuckers and i hope i am the one to stomp it.

the Angry, Angry gun company blog is me just waffling airgun stuff, not 'angry angry gun company', some article on a now well fucked dead yank who shot up a load of america's finest youth. As you can see in Great Briton we have a little irony when we name our blogs, in the U S of A they just go Ga Ga with firearms and write any old shit to cover it, it's enough to put me off my tikka masala let alone go on about  whats messing up ; my HW35, or the AGS scope.

I will get back to you on that one at a later date, or just get pissed and forget about it all for now.

THE LONG AWAITED ARTICLE OF DESIRE

Thanks to the lovely owners of Allsports of Gloucester I was able to get my new air rifle by paying in installments, bless them. My wife got it for me  as a joint Xmas and birthday present and as money is usually pretty tight it was a big sacrifice, you just got to love her, there's no two ways about it.

So here it is, my new (2nd hand) Airarms Shamal .177. I paid £300 for her and I know there's always someone who would have said, "stone me mate you could have had mine for 200". But no this was the 'one'. Like all 90's Airarms she is expertly engineered, the walnut stock is perfectly shaped, scope sight is acquired the moment you put your cheek to the monte carlo style raised butt, fitting like a glove. However I now have to save up for a foot pump.

Now down to business. Using AA Diabolo Fields I set up the back garden range at about 27 yards, and sitting on an old stool with my forearm resting on the fence support (this would be close enough for hide conditions) I squeezed off the 1st shot. 1/3 of an inch above aim point, let off a 2nd and couldn't see that one anywhere, so i tried a 3rd and I noticed the 1st hole enlarge a little to the left. Shots 4 thru to 10 could all be covered by 5p piece, I was truly blown away, I even managed to shoot a piece of string holding a can aloft. Now I realise the scope had been sighted for maybe another 10 yards and once i'd adapted, it was no problem. She will be a dream to shoot for HFT and hunting dinner will be morally satisfying with this gun. (bound to do some accuracy tests at some time in the the future)

She came with a green hesian quick detatchable sling and a Nikko Sterling Silver Crown 4x12x40 scope, the sling is professionally mounted and the scope, mounted on medium height quality mounts, is in wicked condition considering it was bought when the gun was new. Although the zoom ring was stuck at first, a little TLC had it working. I cannot seem to find a safety on the gun as yet, but that is of no major inconvenience to me. The shoulder butt can be adjusted up or down and is set 1 or 2 settings down, which is perfect for me (don't fix if it ain't broke). Compared to the PCP's on the market nowadays she is a little heavy (9lbs with scope) but she's a wonderfully engineered piece of art (to me) and thats what matters, thats why I love my Weihrauch hw 35 so much, they are so overdesigned and will last generations.

Maybe in time I might remove the cocking toggle and replace it with a cocking bolt, even replace some parts with brass. But truth be told she is best off as she is, with maybe a little non glare camo tape here and there, and wiped down with a little gun oil after each use, she is after all a tool to be used in responsible hands and I intend to use her to her full capabillities.