Entry 1.
A couple of Tom Gaylord's articles/blogs from the past hit home with me in recent weeks. In particular, Tom's series on the Benjamin Legacy rifle ("Interesting Gun Designs - Benjamin Legacy") and his comments about the Air Venturi Bronco got stuck in my head. In both cases Tom made the argument for lower power, lower velocity, and easier cocking of break barrel rifles to improve the overall shooting experience for air gunners for whom hunting is NOT the primary purpose of shooting. I was intrigued by his discussion of these hard-to-find (well nigh impossible for the Legacy) rifles and wondered if there are any latter day examples of such mild-mannered shooters.
My search took me to many "youth rifles" and "junior rifles" among the major US manufacturers, as well as the celebrated lower powered spring rifles from Germany and Britain. The German and British guns remain out of my reach, not because I can't save up the cash over the course of a year but because I remain convinced that there are quality spring rifles at lower prices which will meet and/or exceed my shooting capabilities. I did end up buying a (British? Spanish?) rifle: the Gamo Recon G2 Whisper, a .177 featherweight with a short LOP for juniors and a decent trigger for plinking. Great 10-15 meter gun, extremely backyard friendly, pretty good accuracy, low power, and good open sights using the thinner fiber optic rods that Gamo has rightly been praised for employing.
Yeah, that Recon G2 Whisper is a real treasure... for my 13-year old granddaughter. Don't get me wrong, it's a very fun gun to shoot! All you hear with your cheek literally in contact with the stock is a somewhat hollow 'TUNGGG' with each shot; downrange beyond 5 yards or so you lose the sound in the background noise while outside. I even had a fellow shooter at the range take some shots from that Gamo and come away with nothing but smiles and a new interest in air guns. But it is definitely a youth rifle. Too short, too light, and too "tactical" for an older duffer like me.
Happily, around the same time I pulled the trigger on buying the Gamo, I stumbled across an interesting Walmart online add: the Walmart exclusive Crosman F4 Classic Nitro Piston in either the standard variety (1200 FPS! 70% QUIETER! 25% MORE ACCURATE!!) with a Monte Carlo stock, or the much more interesting detuned NP version shooting at a claimed 695 fps (PBA ammo). Knowing modern Crosman break barrels as I now do, I figured that the true velocity of 8-9 grain lead pellets would be somewhere in the mid-500s and that the trigger would be saddled with the usual "lawyer spring" and would require some work. That said, I was intrigued. I very much liked the look of the black synthetic Monte Carlo stock, I already had a 5x8x2mm RC bearing on hand for the trigger fix, and the detuned Nitro Piston's performance seemed like it was right where I wanted to be.
While much heavier than the Gamo G2, the F4 is not as heavy as my .22 Benji Summit but still affords me a full-sized stock as I prefer. The breech block is well made and locks up tight, there is no significant droop, the stock is solid so no hollow reverb to be found, and the firing cycle is smooth. Oh yeah, the trigger was a typical Crosman; if there'd been any more creepiness to it the gun would only ever be sold on Halloween! I required myself to shoot if for the first week without any trigger mods in order to assess the gun while still able to return it if need be. It did shoot fairly well on the range - enough so that it too was shot by a fellow club member with pleasing results.
The F4 passed it's trial phase with relatively good scores so I made the trigger mod this evening. A quick twenty pellets were shot indoors at 10 yards using a shredded rubber pellet trap and YEE-HAW WE HAVE A SHOOTER! Standing unsupported using Crosman 7.9 gr CPHPs, the F4 was putting the pellet right on my POA. Any crappy fliers, sad shots just off the paper, and other signs of non @Hajimoto accuracy in the shooting are entirely my own fault.
And the best part is the ease of cocking that gun! Gaylord was right, for straight-up plinking pleasure and endurance while shooting informal targets this mild-mannered NP is a treat. Better still, the detuning appears to be a true change to the gas piston pressure load and not some half-baked hole drilled into the piston cap to allow air to escape during the shot cycle. I'd be doubly pleased to learn that the seals on the detuned piston are the same as those used on the standard piston, as this would indicate that the detuned piston's life expectancy is even longer than normal due to a lower stress load over time. That's all conjecture but a man can dream.
Now that the trigger is more to my liking I'll get some pics of both the gun and the groups. @Windmill01 is on me about posting photos of my new backyard layout for shooting and I'm way overdue to oblige him.
A couple of Tom Gaylord's articles/blogs from the past hit home with me in recent weeks. In particular, Tom's series on the Benjamin Legacy rifle ("Interesting Gun Designs - Benjamin Legacy") and his comments about the Air Venturi Bronco got stuck in my head. In both cases Tom made the argument for lower power, lower velocity, and easier cocking of break barrel rifles to improve the overall shooting experience for air gunners for whom hunting is NOT the primary purpose of shooting. I was intrigued by his discussion of these hard-to-find (well nigh impossible for the Legacy) rifles and wondered if there are any latter day examples of such mild-mannered shooters.
My search took me to many "youth rifles" and "junior rifles" among the major US manufacturers, as well as the celebrated lower powered spring rifles from Germany and Britain. The German and British guns remain out of my reach, not because I can't save up the cash over the course of a year but because I remain convinced that there are quality spring rifles at lower prices which will meet and/or exceed my shooting capabilities. I did end up buying a (British? Spanish?) rifle: the Gamo Recon G2 Whisper, a .177 featherweight with a short LOP for juniors and a decent trigger for plinking. Great 10-15 meter gun, extremely backyard friendly, pretty good accuracy, low power, and good open sights using the thinner fiber optic rods that Gamo has rightly been praised for employing.
Yeah, that Recon G2 Whisper is a real treasure... for my 13-year old granddaughter. Don't get me wrong, it's a very fun gun to shoot! All you hear with your cheek literally in contact with the stock is a somewhat hollow 'TUNGGG' with each shot; downrange beyond 5 yards or so you lose the sound in the background noise while outside. I even had a fellow shooter at the range take some shots from that Gamo and come away with nothing but smiles and a new interest in air guns. But it is definitely a youth rifle. Too short, too light, and too "tactical" for an older duffer like me.
Happily, around the same time I pulled the trigger on buying the Gamo, I stumbled across an interesting Walmart online add: the Walmart exclusive Crosman F4 Classic Nitro Piston in either the standard variety (1200 FPS! 70% QUIETER! 25% MORE ACCURATE!!) with a Monte Carlo stock, or the much more interesting detuned NP version shooting at a claimed 695 fps (PBA ammo). Knowing modern Crosman break barrels as I now do, I figured that the true velocity of 8-9 grain lead pellets would be somewhere in the mid-500s and that the trigger would be saddled with the usual "lawyer spring" and would require some work. That said, I was intrigued. I very much liked the look of the black synthetic Monte Carlo stock, I already had a 5x8x2mm RC bearing on hand for the trigger fix, and the detuned Nitro Piston's performance seemed like it was right where I wanted to be.
While much heavier than the Gamo G2, the F4 is not as heavy as my .22 Benji Summit but still affords me a full-sized stock as I prefer. The breech block is well made and locks up tight, there is no significant droop, the stock is solid so no hollow reverb to be found, and the firing cycle is smooth. Oh yeah, the trigger was a typical Crosman; if there'd been any more creepiness to it the gun would only ever be sold on Halloween! I required myself to shoot if for the first week without any trigger mods in order to assess the gun while still able to return it if need be. It did shoot fairly well on the range - enough so that it too was shot by a fellow club member with pleasing results.
The F4 passed it's trial phase with relatively good scores so I made the trigger mod this evening. A quick twenty pellets were shot indoors at 10 yards using a shredded rubber pellet trap and YEE-HAW WE HAVE A SHOOTER! Standing unsupported using Crosman 7.9 gr CPHPs, the F4 was putting the pellet right on my POA. Any crappy fliers, sad shots just off the paper, and other signs of non @Hajimoto accuracy in the shooting are entirely my own fault.
And the best part is the ease of cocking that gun! Gaylord was right, for straight-up plinking pleasure and endurance while shooting informal targets this mild-mannered NP is a treat. Better still, the detuning appears to be a true change to the gas piston pressure load and not some half-baked hole drilled into the piston cap to allow air to escape during the shot cycle. I'd be doubly pleased to learn that the seals on the detuned piston are the same as those used on the standard piston, as this would indicate that the detuned piston's life expectancy is even longer than normal due to a lower stress load over time. That's all conjecture but a man can dream.
Now that the trigger is more to my liking I'll get some pics of both the gun and the groups. @Windmill01 is on me about posting photos of my new backyard layout for shooting and I'm way overdue to oblige him.
that most air rifles sold in The USA had suppressors fitted like your Summit. Also do you require a permit to purchase an air rifle where you live. I'd be broke if I could just walk into a gun shop and buy an air rifle or two, I'd have a shed full of safes. We have to obtain a permit to aquire from the Weapons Licencing Branch of the state police, it has to nominate what you are buying and from where. If we didn't have to do this I think I would be an impulse buyer.