Larger caliber CO2 revolvers?

[Sawney Bean]

There are plenty of .177 and BB CO2 revolvers, but the only larger one I am aware of is a Schofield with a .22 barrel kit that produces velocities in the low 200’s.

It seems to me that it shouldn’t be that hard to make a CO2 revolver in .22, .25. .30 or 9mm and get the velocity up to between 300 and 400 fps depending on the caliber.

I can’t imagine that I’m the only one thinking something like this would be cool. The HDR pistols seem kind of interesting, but I really like accurate guns that shoot pellets.

 

[Oddhawk]

I would be great to have something like this with at least pesting power! There was something I recall of a Remington rolling block style air rifle! the cartridges were the pressure vessel, but it was plagued with problems. Something set up like that with a cylinder like the Russian naganet (sorry bad spelling) revolver that pushes up to seal with the forcing cone would be really cool! Maybe not a practical design however.

 

[Sawney Bean]

I would be great to have something like this with at least pesting power! There was something I recall of a Remington rolling block style air rifle! the cartridges were the pressure vessel, but it was plagued with problems. Something set up like that with a cylinder like the Russian naganet (sorry bad spelling) revolver that pushes up to seal with the forcing cone would be really cool! Maybe not a practical design however.

Even a revival of the Brocock TAC would be great. We're kind of seeing what I'm talking about with guns like the Huben GK1, which actually is a revolver, but I'd like to also see something more traditional and lower priced. It makes me wonder how feasible it would be to make a .30 barrel and cylinder for one of the HDR revolvers.

 

[PasadenaMike]

There simply isn’t enough pressure in a co2 system to push anything bigger than a .177 at a somewhat descent velocity. Correct me if I’m wrong but co2 is what like 800 psi? It takes a lot of horsepower to move large lead

 

[Sawney Bean]

There simply isn’t enough pressure in a co2 system to push anything bigger than a .177 at a somewhat descent velocity. Correct me if I’m wrong but co2 is what like 800 psi? It takes a lot of horsepower to move large lead

With an 8” barrel 300-400 fps should be feasible. People have achieved those kinds of velocities with larger calibers in 22xx pistols for years now. Dennis Quackenbush used to make a .375 CO2 pistol that shot close to 300 fps with an 84 grain lead ball. Pushing a .30 45 grain pellet at 300+ shouldn’t be too difficult.

 

[PasadenaMike]

With an 8” barrel 300-400 fps should be feasible. People have achieved those kinds of velocities with larger calibers in 22xx pistols for years now. Dennis Quackenbush used to make a .375 CO2 pistol that shot close to 300 fps with an 84 grain lead ball. Pushing a .30 45 grain pellet at 300+ shouldn’t be too difficult.

I’ll check it out.

 

[Oddhawk]

The Girandoni rifles I believe operated at about 800 psi I don't remember the fps but it was pretty decent for the pressure. I have been wanting to experiment with building lower pressure higher volume airguns, time just hasn't permitted it at the moment.

 

[Treefrog]

Back in the day I used to shoot lead balls out of a Crosman 1100. I remember the velocity as being a little over 300-fps with an 18" barrel. The balls were .355" in diameter and weighed (I think) 80-grains. They weren't very accurate but it was entertaining. Here's a chart of co2 pressures at various temps.

Cheers,

J~

 

[Sawney Bean]

The Barra Schofield has a .22 barrel kit, but from what I’ve seen online it only produces velocities in the low 200s. It makes me wonder if there are any power mods that can be made to get velocities up into the mid 300s.

What I’d really like to see though is a .25 or a .30 shooting in the mid 300’s.

 

[BTair]

No one has mentioned the umarex TR50. With the upgraded valve, they're fairly powerful, especially with lead projectiles. I have no experience with them, other than the youtube vids I've seen.

 

[Sawney Bean]

No one has mentioned the umarex TR50. With the upgraded valve, they're fairly powerful, especially with lead projectiles. I have no experience with them, other than the youtube vids I've seen.

They definitely deliver from a power standpoint. There are power mods for the various HDR pistols that are supposed to deliver 30 joules or 22.5 fpe.

They’re one of the guns that got me wondering about this in the first place. I just don’t really want a marginally accurate CO2 pistol in .50 or .68 that shoots unusual projectiles.

 

[Septicdeath]

Both my 38t .22 shoot at around 360fps, and both 38c at around 320fps

 

[Septicdeath]

Back in the day I used to shoot lead balls out of a Crosman 1100. I remember the velocity as being a little over 300-fps with an 18" barrel. The balls were .355" in diameter and weighed (I think) 80-grains. They weren't very accurate but it was entertaining. Here's a chart of co2 pressures at various temps.

View attachment 475116

Cheers,

J~

The 1100 is fun

 

[ctshooter]

Even a revival of the Brocock TAC would be great. We're kind of seeing what I'm talking about with guns like the Huben GK1, which actually is a revolver, but I'd like to also see something more traditional and lower priced. It makes me wonder how feasible it would be to make a .30 barrel and cylinder for one of the HDR revolvers.

Having owned a TAC pistol for a bit I can assure you that, other than nostalgia, you don't want one. It takes a good while to fill and load 6 cartridges. You're filling them to 2000-2500psi just to get about 400 fps out of a 24.3gr .22 pellet. Not much more than a good CO2 pistol will give you.

Now I'll say a nice 2240 with a longer barrel will net you better power. I'm getting around 500 fps with 15.9gr pellets out of a ~14" barrel.

For what you are looking for I think Huben pistol is giving you the max power you'll see for a while. The GK1 raised a general ~20fpe peak in PCP pistols, that has been at that level for a LONG time, up to 80-90fpe. And it did that being a repeater not a single shot like a Quackenbush. I wouldn't expect to see the GK1 bar raised again anytime soon.

 

[Ratman]

Stock Crosman 2240 and the old Crosman Mark 1 in .22 shoot 460-480fps. at least mine do.

 

[Berserkeley Mike]

With Airforce's 12" .25 barrel and their CO2 adapter, a 24.5 grain pellet, I got 141m/s 463fps 11.6ft# on a 62F day. Extrapolating, on a hot day (86F, 30C) I'd expect 15 ft#, and with a 6" barrel it might be down to 8-10 ft#. So it should be possible to have CO2 power a larger caliber revolver pistol.

 

[holo07]

here are a couple of DAQ ball shooters, there a lot of fun, but you only get about 15 good shoots per CO2 cartridge. I don't have a way to measure velocity, but as the CO2 runs low I can see the ball in the air going to the target.

 

[Mike_Lenardon]

You guys want a big caliber CO2 pistol why don't you modify an old Tippman paintball gun. They shot 68 caliber paintballs at 320 feet per second for gameplay. You can turn them up or down from there.

 

[Saturnism]

The problem with revolvers is the sealing of the cilinder is poor and you get that low velocities. The HDR it's inconsistent as hell. The big diameter/low weight have potential but not in this setup without fixing the sealing.

 

[Sawney Bean]

I bought a Schofield and a .22 conversion kit. I haven't had a chance to chrono it yet though. I'm guessing based on the report and the impact that it's shooting 15.9 grain pellets in the neighborhood of 300 fps.

I was hoping that I would see a simple way to re-barrel it and convert it to .25 or .30, but if that is possible it won't be as simple as turning a new barrel to the right dimensions on the lathe and boring out the cartridges to fit. The dimensions of all the existing parts are simply too narrow to allow for that.

My plan for the moment is to chronograph it and then to see what I can do to bump up the velocity. I'd like to get it into the low 400's.