On several makes of air rifles.

Going beyond just the accuracy.

I have noticed quite a bit of differences between different manufacturers.

Some, frankly, are just beyond any hope!

How they sell these rifles is just crazy.

Some that blow air into your face as you fire.

Some have magazines with loose rubber O ring that lets the pellets fall from the sides.

Others that require a bloody app to operate!

Sometimes I get the feeling that some of these designers must have had half a dozen bottles of Russian Vodka!

Looking forward to your test results, Saeed. One of these days I might have to spring for a PCP and pump, thanks to all the fun you seem to be having.

Bill,

I am lucky in the sense that I have a shooting range under my house.

It is used every day.

Whenever I have a shorty break, I can go down and shoot for half an hour or an hour.

Others come over to sight in or have fun shooting.

Some PCP rifles come with a silencer.

A few days ago got an FX 25 caliber to test.

Just for fun, I thought I will try it with and without the silencer.

Not much in it really it turned out.

But the groups with the silencer on were slightly better.

I will post these.

Saeed, please let me know if you find a rifle that will shoot the Beeman pellets anywhere near close together.

RWS pellets are the best I have tried in my Diana RWS Model 34.

I am about to melt my Beemans down for re-use as .38 caliber wadcutters!

I look forward to reading your reports.

Mike,

If you are really serious about an air rifle, my suggestion is to get a late model FX, in any caliber you wish.

And get JSB pellets.

You won't regret it.

They are the best designed rifles I have seen so far.

From an accuracy point of view, all of the PCPs are very accurate, with certain pellets.

But from a usability aspect, the FX are best.

Lots of rifles use a sort of an open magazine, with a really silly rubber O ring to hold the pellets in place.

Not very efficient, and does not work with all pellets either.

Pellets fall out as you rotate the magazine in shooting.

The FX has a close magazine, that holds the pellets in place, and easier to load too.

First one in my test is an FX M3 IMPACT in 25 caliber.

Should be done soon and I will post my results with notes.

Thanks, Saeed. I still use my old spring air rifle!

I have chronographed RWS 8.3 grain .177 pellets and I am getting around 850 fps MV.

It's powerful (and accurate) enough for what I use it for - the odd varmint at close range.

But I will look at the FX PCP models. A man can't have too many toys!

Here is my test results on the FX M3 IMPACT in 25 caliber.

All available pellets fit in the magazine, except the Nielsen 55 grains.

Too long for the magazine cover to close.

They can be loaded singly, but a bit awkward.

The bolt works on a sort of lever connected to the charging rod via another part, connected by a small pin that goes through both parts as it rotates.

The small pin holding these together came out at one stage, and I had to put it back in.

Apart from that everything went very smoothly.

The target with the pellet drop, my aiming point was the top of the big circle.

I was very surprised that not much drop occurred until after 300 shots were fired, and the pressure dropped to below 70 BAR.

I hope the target is self explanatory, but if anyone has any questions please ask.

I have added a picture of the magazine and cover. It is the simplest of all the rifles I have seen. Very easy to load. All one has to do is twist a lock, remove the clear cover, rotate the magazine and fill it. Close the cover and lock.

Muzzle velocity - taken about a foot in front of the muzzle, are as follows.

Nielsen 55 443 fps
Nielsen 43.5 552 fps
Nielsen 38.5 610 fps
Nielsen 36.5 637 fps

FX 25.4 794 fps
FX 34 682 fps
FX 26 755 fps

JSB exact king Mk II 33.95 671 fps
JSB hades 26.54 761 fps
JSB king 25.39 789 fps

H&N field target trophy 20.06 887 fps
H&N baracuda hunter extreme 28.24 744 fps
H&N baracuda 30.86 709 fps
H&N crow magnum 26.24 766 fps
H&N slug HP 28 744 fps
H&N slug HP 32 688 fps
H&N hornet 22.07 858 fps
H&N slug HP 34 668 fps
H&N grizzly 31 694 fps
H&N silver point 24.38 798 fps
H&N slug HP 36 635 fps
Cometa king 25.4 787 fps
JSB knockout 33.49 666 fps

Beeman ram point 27.73 756 fps
Beeman H&N match 21.16 866 fps
Beeman ram jet 24.66 820 fps
Beeman silver bear 26.3 765 fps
Beeman crow magnum 25.92 775 fps
Beeman silver ace 23.05 826 fps
Beeman laser 17.2 954 fps
Beeman silver sting 24.81 787 fps
Beeman arrow 24.47 792 fps
Beeman Kodiak match extra heavy 30.47 711 fps

Some Beemans seem to have shot well.

But I am still melting mine down for revolver bullets. Most Beemans shot moderately to very poorly.

JSBs and some few others seem solid.

Still, the moral of this story seems to be that one must test all in his rifle and pick the winner.

Just as it has been, in my experience, with .22 LR ammo in .22 rifles.

In mine, it has been Eley, Federal Gold Medal and Lapua that have won.

One must keep trying until he finds what works best in his rifle.

Get the data first.

Fascinating, empirical stuff.

Just finishing the Kalibergun Cricket II.

Will post my results shortly.

Here is the KALIBERGUN CRICKET II TACTICAL in 25 caliber.

Lots of shooters here like this model, but, frankly I was not impressed so far.

The cylinder is quite large, but I have no idea what the release system they use.

It does not look as efficient as in the FX rifles.

I could only get about 60 shots before they started dropping.

Also, as you can see, the magazine is an open type.

Pellets are held in place by two rubber O rings.

In theory, they should work, but in practice they don't.

Slugs don't work in it at all.

No waste for the O ring to hold onto, and the pellets fall out.

Also, the indexing of the magazine as one fires and re-charge sometimes misses a pellet.

Next I think is an AirGun Technology rifle.

Love these tests, Saeed.

Glad you do my friend.

I tagged this thread at the top because I will continue to update it.

I am promised 3 9mm rifles, that should be interesting.

Also got a whole stack of 17 caliber pellets arrived today.

The dealer is sorting through his stocks and bringing some 17 caliber rifles for my tests.

This is the AGN TECHNOLOGY VULCAN 2 in 25 caliber.

Very nice and practical rifle.

Much better designed magazine, unlike the Cricket

80 shots before it started dropping as you can see from the target.

Some pellets are frankly just awful.

Got a Feinwerkbau match rifle in .177 caliber.

It has Olympic style ring sights.

Supposed to be 10 meters I think.

Shot it at 10 meters with match pellets and had a one hole group.

I have a bunch of 17 caliber pellets, so decided to shoot it at 25 meters.

I removed the sights, and installed a Leupold 3-9 compact scope.

Will see how that works out.

I rest my case. Although my sample is only one rifle, my results are the same as yours, Saeed.

How can Beemans shoot so poorly? What are they doing wrong?

Is it the alloy? The diameter of the pellets?
Their bearing surfaces?

I was blaming my rifle until I shot other pellets.

On my RWS/Diana, I have the Leupold 3-9x33mm variable with the adjustable objective, which can focus down to 10 yards.

I also have the same scope mounted on my Weatherby Mk XXII.

Great scope.

Mike,

With air gun pellets it is a whole new ball game.

The rifles are not much different either.

When I first started testing these I did not know where the problem was.

I still don't.

I installed a scope, and shot one.

I noticed that the center of each group set moved??

Quite drastically??

The pressure was good, same pellets, but it moved??

I changed scope, thinking it might be that.

Same thing happened.

Now after having shot so many of these rifles, the same problem seems to be with many of them.

Last one I tested was 35 caliber.

I will post my results as soon as I get the chance to put them on the computer.

One I am shooting now is on another extreme.

A FEINWERKBAU MODEL 800 OLYMPIC MATCH.

The pellets seem so small compared to the last ones at 35 caliber, almost hard to hold them!

Mike,

You will enjoy this.

I am shooting a FEINWERKBAU Model 800 .177 Olympic Match rifle.

Some groups are 0.15" at 25 yards.

Got some old pellets I got from England.

Supposed to be hunting pellets.

Made by a company called PREMETHEUS.

Pellets are plastic, with what looks like a steel ball at the end.

Could hardly keep them on target at 20 meters!

Beeman have competition!

Saeed, don't you have to wonder how some products even make it to market!?

Does no one test them?

I guess where there is no quality, there can be no quality control!

I have always had the best accuracy from RWS pellets. Do you plan to test any of those in this very accurate .177 target rifle?

You are producing some great data here.

Yes, I have several types of RWS pellets and have included these in my lot for testing.

Last rifle I finished was a 35 caliber rifle.

A bit rough to operate.

Now with this Feinwerkbau, which is as smooth as clock work, it is quite a revelations!

It is incredible how one can see the pellets fly in all sort of directions before landing on the target.

Had a bunch of kids over yesterday to shoot, they couldn't help laughing at me shooting these .177 pellet gun.

One said "Dad! I think Saeed has gone bonkers!"

A few minutes later after I gave him the 577 T.Rex to shoot, with a normal load, after his father fired a reduced load, he was not laughing any more!

His father asked "what happened Chris?"

"He IS bloody bonkers! He has always been BONKERS! I shouldn't have trusted him!"

Trouble was no one wanted to shoot the T.Rex again!

One has to maintain one's reputation!

What good is a .577 T-Rex if one never shoots it, or never permits his friends to have a go?

I call my RWS/Diana a .177 Aero Express.

One time, at my gun club, I was at the 100 yard line, sighting in my .500 A-Square for an upcoming safari.

A kid came over to me.

He was on the junior rifle team. He was shooting a fancy, Olympic-looking .22 caliber target rifle.

He asked me about my rifle. I told him it was a very powerful rifle suitable for the heaviest of African game. We talked for awhile about African hunting.

Finally, he asked me if he could give it a try. I told him it kicked like 15 mules, and that he needed to change his stance and hold to deal with it.

He was not daunted. He changed his stance and hold as I directed.

I loaded a round into the chamber of the rifle. It was a 570 grain Barnes TSX bullet loaded with RL-15 powder to 2,500 fps MV.

He touched it off.

Bull’s-eye!

I was amazed and congratulated him.

He took two more shots with the same result.

The rifle is important, but given a good one, and good ammunition, I think maybe the workman is more important than his tools.

This is my results of the KALIBERGUN CRICKET 35 CALIBER.

A bit rough in operation.

The loading port is easier to use than their smaller caliber, as it is on top and can be reached easily for single loading.



The heavier slugs cannot be loaded as the port is too narrow to allow that, even loading one by one.

The rifle I started shooting after this one was the FINEWERBAU 800 MATCH.

What a contrast in operation.

The FINEWERKBAU mechanism was so smooth as oiled clockwork, compared to this one.

One almost gets the impression not all moving parts are smoothed properly.

I have also included pictures of the chronograph I use to measure velocities.

Works great.

Not good accuracy.

But with these crazy pellets, how can one tell if it's the rifle or the pellets?

I guess that, given the variety of pellets you have tried, I would tend to blame the rifle.

I have found that with the larger calibers, one gets less of a choice of pellets, and some of the bullets, for that is what they are for some of the 30 and over calibers.

But as evidenced with shooting Olympic Match air rifles in .177 caliber, it all adds up to the pellets.

I am shooting two of these now.

A FEINWERKBAU MODEL 800 and a WALTHER LG400.

I tried them at 10meters, and found that was not going to work.

I will have difficulty measuring the groups!!??

So as the essence of the test is to see the accuracy of various pellets in these rifles, I have been shooting them at 25 meters, rather than 10 meters.

Even then I have to be very careful measuring the groups, so many of them are 0.1+.

Others are in several inches!!??

Will post my results as they are done.

On the other extreme, I have a 45 caliber rifle that is ridiculously heavy.

And the cylinder isn't good for more than two shots.

A friend borrowed it and shot an Arabian Oryx with it.

It basically used 45 caliber cast pistol bullets!

Mike will like this.

I am shooting the WALTHER LG400 rifle.

With RWS pellets, several 10 shot groups are in 0.1 range!!

I DO like that. Very much!

But velocities are not very high in those target rifles, right?

Velocities are around 500 fps.

And the heaviest pellets they will shoot are around 13 grains.

Won’t shoot the 15 grains.

But, they are deadly if you hit anything in the head.

Sometime ago a friends was here and I wanted to show him how deadly these match rifles are.

You have been here, and you might remember the small bridge we have by the crocodiles pond.

2 doves were sitting there.

I shot one.

Died in its place.

The second one just flipped and looked at it.

I shot it too.

Same results.

We saw a crow fly by and land on a tree quite far by the gate.

My friend was laughing I would shoot it at that distance.

I aimed quite high, and hit it in the head.

Dropped straight down!

Now shooting a WALTHER LG400.

A fantastically accurate air rifle.

Then I tried PROMETHIUS pellets.

They are made in England.

Supposed to be GREEN hunting pellets.

They are made of a plastic sleeve, top with a metal ball.

Pellets were hitting other targets, not their own??

have not measured it yet, but it is at least over a foot!

Not sure what one is supposed to hunt with them.

Baby dinosaurs may be?

This is the FEINWERKBAU MODEL 800 MATCH RIFLE.

I replaced the ring sights with a scope.

All groups are 10 shots at 25 meters.

The rifle worked flawlessly.

And as you can see some pellets are better than others!

The rifle would shoot pellets up to just over 13 grains.

15 grains would not shoot at all.

Basically shooting at least a foot below the aim point when I ran out of scope adjustment.

I love the reality that with these fine German rifles you had to move back to 25 yards to avoid unmeasurable one-hole groups!

And even then with these great rifles and the right pellets you are still getting barely measurable one-hole groups.

But only with those certain right pellets! Seems like at the .177 diameter, however, there are more winners than losers.

Data like these are hard to come by in this world.

Great stuff, Saeed.

Fascinating!

Got a 0.08ten shot group!

And the largest groups is over a foot!!??

One really wonders.

The rifle is a WALTHER LG400!

The bad pellets are English made.

PROMETHEUS.

Plastic body with an aluminum ball at the tip.

Supposed to be for hunting!

With the pellets it really liked, that Feinwerkbau could almost put one to sleep with the repeatable accuracy. Wonder how far beyond 25 yards the wheels start to come off as velocities slow.

Bill,

Just to humor you, I will see how much the drop is at 50 meters.

Drop from 25 meters to 50 meters with a 7.9 grain pellet - which is the normal for this caliber - was 3.6 inches.

These are my results of the WALTHER LG 400.

An exceptionally well made and accurate rifle.

Everything worked like oil clockwork!

You might notice what looks to be the same pellets - RWS R 10 for instance.

These, and some others I have seen, come in different diameters. Such as 4.49mm and 4.50mm

Lapua was doing the same with match 22 rimfire ammo.

Not sure how much a difference it makes.

Impressive!

I notice that the H&N match pellets are the most accurate in this rifle. That 0.1462" group average is remarkable. Many other pellets held their groups at, inside and just over 0.20" as well. As I say, truly impressive.

But back to H&N pellets. Several other H&N styles and weights produced only run-of-the-mill accuracy - which was still quite good, but far from the best.

It seems you are proving that one must try a wide range of brands, styles and weights to be sure he has the best pellets for his rifle.

Still, it does seem that the majority of these pellets can be relied upon in this rifle to hit the innermost scoring ring at 25 yards.

Not counting the 14+ inch group, of course!

Saeed, you are making me think I should have a go with my favorite RWS pellets in my old RWS/Diana springer, just to see how well we can do!



Seems like maybe I should also do some shopping for some H&N match pellets, and maybe even in addition a Walther LG 400! I love accurate rifles. As the old timer said, only accurate rifles are interesting!

Great data, Saeed. Thanks!

I see that the Walther comes in an 800 fps model without sights but for slightly more money.

Saeed, do you have one of those by any chance?

We have one on order.

But, I found in my store a brand new, boxed, Anschutz 380.

It was the model used before gas guns came along.

It is made for 10 meter Olympic shooting.

It has a side lever cocking, and and anti recoil mechanism.

I used one many years ago to shoot birds with here, and never realized I had one hidden away!

Perfect fir my tests.

Nice. I wonder how it will hold up against the new-fangled gas rifles?

I'll be interested to see how the 800 fps Walther does, too.

If you’re punching paper with a .177 at 800 fps, that’s fine. If you’re hunting stuff, not so much. It’ll do the job but a higher muzzle velocity that’s still subsonic would do it better.