As with most cheap manufactured consumer items, multi-shot blowback replica air pistols (BBAPs) come with minimal instructions. These CO2-powered pistols are cleverly designed but are not by any means full-proof.
This results in a lot of new users causing problems in their guns early on, then blaming the guns for their problems and quickly becoming disenchanted with their new purchases.
If someone could just impart to them the following knowledge before their first shooting session there would be many fewer complaints posted online.
The root of the majority of BBAP problems is in the unique design of their magazines. Both the proper loading and efficient firing of the gun depend upon the user's understanding the quirks of the BBAP.
Many of these guns use double-ended sticks with with a pellet wheel magazine on each end. Pellets must be hand-loaded into the magazines. The wheels should be turned in a clockwise direction. It is up to the operator to load the proper sized pellets and to orient them in the correct direction. A protruding pellet will cause the magazine to jam.
Unlike the magazines in many automatic firearm pistols, previously shot chambers in the BBAP wheel mag will be empty. This can confuse the new shooter when they attempt to fire an empty chamber.
BBAP's have a two-stage trigger pull. The first stage pull pull rotates the internal wheel by one chamber. You can feel this on the trigger pull. If the magazine is damaged then the wheel may fail to advance a new pellet.
The second stage pull will release the hammer and fire the gas valve. The current chamber may or may not contain a pellet. If there is no second stage pull then any pellet in the current chamber remains unfired.
If the CO2 cartridge is low on gas then when the gun is fired the pellet may strike low or it may even stick in the barrel. The blowback slide may fail to operate.
It is easy to see that with this system it is difficult to keep track of the number of shots fired and weather the next chamber will contain a pellet or not.
There is nothing to tell the shooter when the magazine is empty, since the slide will not stay open when the gun is empty. Nor is there any indicator to tell that the CO2 pressure is low.
This results in a lot of new users causing problems in their guns early on, then blaming the guns for their problems and quickly becoming disenchanted with their new purchases.
If someone could just impart to them the following knowledge before their first shooting session there would be many fewer complaints posted online.
The root of the majority of BBAP problems is in the unique design of their magazines. Both the proper loading and efficient firing of the gun depend upon the user's understanding the quirks of the BBAP.
Many of these guns use double-ended sticks with with a pellet wheel magazine on each end. Pellets must be hand-loaded into the magazines. The wheels should be turned in a clockwise direction. It is up to the operator to load the proper sized pellets and to orient them in the correct direction. A protruding pellet will cause the magazine to jam.
Unlike the magazines in many automatic firearm pistols, previously shot chambers in the BBAP wheel mag will be empty. This can confuse the new shooter when they attempt to fire an empty chamber.
BBAP's have a two-stage trigger pull. The first stage pull pull rotates the internal wheel by one chamber. You can feel this on the trigger pull. If the magazine is damaged then the wheel may fail to advance a new pellet.
The second stage pull will release the hammer and fire the gas valve. The current chamber may or may not contain a pellet. If there is no second stage pull then any pellet in the current chamber remains unfired.
If the CO2 cartridge is low on gas then when the gun is fired the pellet may strike low or it may even stick in the barrel. The blowback slide may fail to operate.
It is easy to see that with this system it is difficult to keep track of the number of shots fired and weather the next chamber will contain a pellet or not.
There is nothing to tell the shooter when the magazine is empty, since the slide will not stay open when the gun is empty. Nor is there any indicator to tell that the CO2 pressure is low.
