Did A Little Air Rifle Shooting Yesterday

Yesterday I went to my friend Nick's place, outside of Pottstown, PA to do some shooting. Nick owns about 8 acres and we're able to shoot pistols, shotguns, .22s, and airguns without disturbing the neighbors.

After running some buckshot and slugs through my home defense Mossberg 500 Mariner, we changed over to air rifles. Nick has an RWS Diana Model 50 .177 underlever that he bought when we were in high school or college, 30 - 35 years ago.

The Diana Model 50 is a really nice shooter. It cocks via an underlever and you load the pellets via a rotating tap at the breech. Nick used to have a peep sight on it, but now that we're both closing in on 50 irons aren't nearly as easy to use as a scope, so he put a Hammers airgun rated scope on it. It has a mildot reticle and the optics seem decent, but as a cheap scope I'll be interested in seeing how well it holds up. I shot the Model 50 a little and once I determined where it was hitting for me, I was able to plink empty 12 gauge hulls from a rest at about 30 yards.

I brought along my RWS Model 34 .177 that I got in the mid-90s. It came as a combo kit with a POS 4x32mm RWS scope. I had replaced that with a Bushnell Trophy 6-18x50mm scope but was never really pleased with the combination. With the big Bushnell installed it's a heavy beast. A year or two ago I'd zeroed the rig for about 28 yards, the distance to my back fence when shooting out the window from my dining room table. (I had a problem with birds eating the grass seed on a bare patch in my yard. They needed discouragement.)

Anyway, when shooting yesterday my rifle was shooting really low and when I tried to raise elevation it didn't seem to work, so I'm thinking the scope may have bit the dust.

Last night I went to Amazon and ordered a UTG 3-9x32mm Bugbuster compact, air rifle rated scope, along with a UTG 11mm rail to Weaver adapter that compensates for barrel droop. The rail is intended for the RWS 34 and has a part that hangs over the front of the factory rail, to prevent rearward movement.

From reading reviews of the scope on Amazon and Pyramid Air it looks like it'll work out well, and the rifle will handle a lot better without the ginormous Bushnell mounted on it.

I should have them this week and hope to go back out to Nick's to try it next weekend.

Crosman 2300T Improved Front Sight

Over the weekend I used my new lathe and my mill to make a nicer front sight for my Crosman 2300T. Details here.

Crosman 2300T Air Pistol

Back in January and February I posted a few times about using airguns for cheap, quiet indoor marksmanship practice. While I have a couple of suitable air rifles, I was lacking a good air pistol. My old Benjamin has mediocre sights and pumping it up 2 or 3 times between each shot gets old quickly. The Crosman 38T revolver that I bought back in the 80s and that I had hoped to use will no longer hold gas, and nor will the late 90s vintage RWS C225.

So, when I got a $100 Amazon gift card for Father's Day, I decided to put it towards a Crosman 2300T CO2 powered air pistol. I ordered it Monday morning and with Amazon Prime, it arrived on Tuesday, even though I did not pay extra for overnight shipping. This is a photo from Crosman's website:

The .177 (4.5mm) caliber 2300T is one of a series of CO2 powered pistols from Crosman. The .22 (5.6mm) caliber 2240 is on the low end, with the 2300S at the top. You can also order custom variants from Crosman's custom shop. The key features of the 2300T are:

• .177 caliber
• Single shot bolt action
• 10.1" barrel
• Single stage adjustable trigger, with overtravel stop
• Adjustable rear sight and blade front sight
• Steel breach, grooved for optics (as opposed to the plastic breach of the 2240)
• Crossbolt safety mounted behind the trigger.
• Weight of 42.5 oz.
• MV up to 520 FPS
• 40 shots or so per CO2 cylinder

The first order of business upon unpacking the pistol and verifying that it wasn't loaded, was to install the rear sight. To do so I had to turn in the large screw on the rear top of the breach, to provide more clearance for the rear sight, then slide the sight into a dovetail and tighten two set screws with a provided Allen wrench.

I then noticed that the front sight was canted a bit to the right. Using a pair of slipjoint pliers with a couple layers or duct tape padding the jaws, I was able to straighten it.

Before shooting any pellets I dry fired the gun and determined the trigger pull was adjusted too high. Following the instruction pamphlet, I removed one of the grip panels and turned the brass trigger adjustment dial to lower the pull. It's down to a couple pounds now with minimal takeup but a fair amount of creep. I haven't tinkered with the overtravel adjustment yet.

The ambidextrous plastic grips are comfortable for me, but I have fairly small hands. A shooter with large hands may want beefier grips.

The LPA rear sight is shaped a bit like the Novak rear sights found on many modern service pistols. There are white dots on either side of the notch. The front is a plastic blade on a barrel band. I'd rate the sight picture as acceptable for plinking but mediocre for target shooting. I plan to use a Sharpie marker to blacken the white dots. The rear sight notch is a little too wide, IMO. The front sight is too shiny, but since it's plastic you can't smoke it with a match or candle.

The balance of the pistol is neutral. It could use a bit more weight towards the muzzle. I am considering making a replacement front sight/muzzle brake unit out of aluminum to improve the sight picture and add a little more weight towards the muzzle end.

I put 10 rounds through the pistol Tuesday night, plus another 40 or so tonigh. The target below was shot from 25', one handed, with RWS Meisterkuglen pellets. Power was from an old Daisy CO2 cylinder. I put a drop of some Air Rifle Headquarters silicone spring cylinder oil on the tip of the CO2 cylinder before I put it in the gun; Crosman recommends using a drop of their Pellgun Oil. I received a tube of that today.

Point of aim was at 6 o'clock on the orange bull.

One oddity was that on shot number 6 the valve stuck open and gas started to leak. I recocked and snapped the gun, which stopped it. I regard this as a fluke and probably due to a burr.

Despite the canted front sight and the stuck valve, my initial impression is favorable. As long as no more mechanical issues arise, it should make a good pistol for indoor marksmanship practice. It's nice to shoot and accurate.

The Crosman 22xx series is sort of the Ruger 10/22 or AR15 of the air pistol world, in that they are modular, easily customizable, and there is a large variety of aftermarket and Crosman-branded parts for modifying the gun to your own preference. For example, Crosman sells a shoulder stock to convert it to a carbine. Longer barrels are available, including in .22 caliber, and even valves which enable more CO2 per shot for higher velocity.

Shooting a CO2 powered air gun isn't as cheap per shot as a spring piston or pneumatic gun, but at most it's on par with a .22 rimfire.

Overall, the Crosman 2300T is a good choice for target practice, but it can be made better with some modifications.

Archer Classic Silent Pellet Trap

After using my cheap homemade silent pellet trap for a week or so, I decided I wanted something a little larger and more robust. So, I ordered one of Archer Airgun’s Classic Silent Pellet Traps in kit form. I put it together this week and used it for the first time this morning.

The kit is well designed and made. The two sides, top, bottom, and lower front piece are made from poplar. The back is 1/2” thick MDF (flake board). The front piece that slides in and holds the target is made from a clipboard with most of the inside cut out, leaving a frame around the edges. All the cutting and milling of slots is done for you. You need to provide glue, finishing nails, the duct seal filler, finish, and if you want a handle or feet you also need to provide them

To put the trap together I used Titebond III wood glue and some 1.5” finishing nails. Archer’s instructions recommened 1.25” nails but the longer nails are what I had. I drilled pilot holes for the nails before driving them in to prevent any splitting and minimize my tendency to bend nails.

Here’s how mine turned out:

I stained the outside with some Minwax cherry stain and a coat of Minwax tung oil finish. After it warms up I’ll probably take it outside and give it a coat or two of spray polyurethane.

I added a handle to make it easier to move around. It’s a door pull from Home Depot.

Here’s the inside after 30 rounds from my Geco Diana 27 Sport:

There are two layers of duct seal in the trap, 15 pounds’ worth. The pellets from the Diana 27 are stopped by the first layer.

Hidden by the duct seal is a piece of 22 gauge sheet steel. I had it left over from another project and felt it would be a good idea to add it to the back in case I shoot a more powerful air rifle into the trap. You can buy a suitable piece of 11 gauge steel sheet from Archer Airguns, also. I’d recommend it if you’ll be using the trap with a magnum airgun.

I added the piece of 2x4 scrap at the bottom. It sits against the back wall of the trap and behind the lower front piece. I’m not going to be shooting into that area so by adding the scrap wood, I was able to make the duct seal thicker because it didn’t have to cover that area.

One other thing I did that wasn’t in the kit instructions was to take a couple small blobs of duct seal and mush them into the bottom of the slots at the front of the trap. This will prevent any pellets from falling out.

The Archer Airguns Classic Silent Pellet Trap is a very nice accessory for airgun shooters. Using this kind of trap is much quieter than a steel trap, and less messy than a box filled with old newspapers. Highly recommended.

Super Cheap Silent Pellet Trap

Yesterday I made a silent pellet trap to replace the old ammo crate stuffed with newspapers that I’d been using for my airguns and my daughter’s BB gun. My original intention was to make it from some 2x6 piece of wood, but without a table saw or a large enough miter box, I couldn’t get the straight cuts I wanted.

So, looking around my shed, I saw the box that the little electric space heater I use in the shed came in, and cut it to size. I cut all around the box about 3.5” up from the bottom. I then reinforced the bottom with two more layers of cardboard cut from the sides, and reinforced the whole thing with plenty of duct tape.

Here’s the front with a target pinned up:

(The target is one that I downloaded awhile ago from uspalma.com, and cut to fit this trap. The original file was a PDF but I converted it to a PNG and put it here, if you want to use it.)

And here’s what it looks like inside:

The dark grey putty like stuff is seven pounds of Gardner Bender Duct Seal compound. It comes in one pound bars. You can get it from that link to Amazon (and I’ll get a commission), or at Home Depot or Lowe’s in the electrical section. It should be near the cable ties.

The wide border made from duct tape is intended to catch any back splatter, and any pellets that fall out of the duct seal into the bottom of the trap.

This is what the duct seal packaging looks like. I had a little trouble finding it on the shelf at Home Depot.

As you can see in the second picture above, pellets from my Diana 27 air rifle don’t penetrate very far from 25 feet. Compared with a steel pellet trap it’s much quieter for indoor shooting. Once you’ve put a couple thousand pellets into this kind of a trap you can remove them then knead the Duct Seal back into place. The pellets I’m shooting are made from dead soft lead, so I’ll recycle them for bullet casting.

One layer of Duct Seal bars is enough to stop most air pistols and air rifles with MVs up to about 700 FPS. More than that and you should add at least one more layer. Also, if you’re shooting a magnum airgun, it would be prudent IMO to have a steel or thick wood back to the trap to eliminate the possibility of a passthrough.

The duct seal ran me $2.48 per pound + 6% sales tax, or $18.41. So, for less than $20, plus a scrounged box, and some duct tape, I now have a good pellet trap.

Googling for “silent pellet trap” brings up 393,000 hits. There are plenty of hits for nice looking traps made from wood, plus some less aesthetically pleasing traps made from buckets and electrical junction boxes.

Some of the nicer looking silent traps that I found are at Archer Airguns. In particular, I like the one sized for using 8.5x11 targets, which uses a cut-out clip board to hold the paper targets. It’s offered both completely finished and as a kit. If I stick with this airgunning I may order one of the kits.

A Couple New Airguns

Well, not new, just new to me.

My father used to shoot airguns a lot, especially when he was mostly into shooting muzzleloading rifles. Airguns allowed him to take a break from shooting a gun requiring cleaning after each time out at the range. Of late, he hasn’t been shooting the air guns, and a few years ago gave my brother his Weirauch HW-55 target rifle.

This afternoon I called over to my parents’ house and jokingly told my mom that I’d be over later to steal one of Dad’s air pistols. When I got there he brought down his 1970s-vintage Geco Diana Model 27 air rifle for me to take home. Apparently, the message got garbled.

Anyway, the Diana Model 27 is a classic German made break barrel, spring piston air rifle that was produced for decades, from 1910 up until the 1980s. Dad’s – now my – Model 27 has a stock that looks different from most of the pics I’ve found online, more squared off and the trigger guard has a different shape.

Unlike most of the break barrel spring piston rifles you see nowadays, the Diana Model 27 is not a “magnum.” Muzzle velocity for .177 examples like mine should be around 650 – 700 FPS. For target shooting out to 25 yards this is fine. Back when we were kids, sometimes Dad would take us to the range and we’d just bring air rifles. The club we belonged to allowed you to shoot at stuff other than paper targets, so we’d gather up spent shotshells at the trap range, place them on the target frame at 25 yards, and plink at them with our air rifles. The Model 27 has plenty of power and intrinsic accuracy for that, it’s the shooter that is the limitation.

The rifle is more than 35 years old and probably had not been fired in 10 years before today, so before shooting it I did some preventive maintenance. First, the rubber butt pad looked like it needed a bit of rejuvenation, so I wiped it down with Armor All.

More importantly, I put two drops of silicone airgun oil on the breech seal O-ring, and two drops down into the compression chamber. The gun has a leather seal but it seems to still be in decent shape. At some point it would probably be good to have it inspected and probably replaced, though.

I only had time to put 10 rounds through the rifle this afternoon. My first shot was out in the 7 ring because the trigger was much lighter than I expected. Except for one shot that I yanked out into 8 ring my remaining shots were nicely clustered in the 10 ring. This rifle is a shooter!

The other airgun I brought home today is an RWS C225 pistol that Dad bought in 1998. RWS brought out this model in 1997 but it lasted only a few years on the market.

As you can see, it came in plastic case with fitted foam, two “magazines,” a CO2 cylinder, a hex key, tin of pellets, and the instruction manual.

The C225 is well made mostly from metal. In the hand it feels very much like my SIG P225 9mm.

As I understand it, the SIG-styled C225 is mechanically more or less the same as the Walther CP88. Although these CO2-powered pellet pistols look like semiautos, they are actually revolvers. The magazines are cylinders, as seen in the picture below.

To load the cylinder into the gun, you pull the latch above the trigger down, which allows the “slide” and barrel to move forward. The CO2 cylinder is contained in the grip. To replace it you press the “magazine release” button behind the trigger and the right grip panel comes off.

Pistols like the C225 and CP88 aren’t intended for formal target shooting, but more as fun guns or sub-caliber trainers for their centerfire counterparts. That said, the C225 should work well for practicing pistol marksmanship. I didn’t get to shoot it today but will surely do so tomorrow.

Along with the two guns, Dad let me take a couple tins of RWS Meisterkuglen wadcutter pellets, a box of 5 CO2 cylinders, some Beeman felt cleaning pellets, a .177 target scoring aid, and a small bottle of silicone airgun oil from the old Air Rifle Headquarters.

Airguns

With the currently high price and low availability of both rimfire and centerfire ammunition, I’ve been taking another look at my neglected airguns for maintaining my marksmanship skills. The other night I went to the closest Walmart on the off chance they had any .22 LR in stock, but all they had was rat shot. So, I picked up a box of 40 Crosman CO2 cylinders, thinking I’d break out my old Crosman 38T .177 revolver. (There are some nice pics of a 38T here.)

Tonight after work I dug out the 38T and put in a fresh CO2 cylinder. As soon as I did, it slowly leaked out all the gas. Apparently, after 25+ years, the seals deteriorated. I’m going to look into having it fixed. I still have the original box with the price tag – it cost me $34.88 plus tax at K-Mart, sometime back in the early 1980s. I’m sure the repair will cost more.

Anyway, not wanting to miss a chance to shoot, I put away the Crosman and got out my Benjamin HB-17 that I bought in the late 90s. (Here’s a link to it at Pyramid Air, although they list it as currently unavailable. I paid about $90 for mine.)

The HB-17 is a multi-pump pneumatic pistol. While it does not require CO2, it does require you to pump it up between each shot. For paper punching at 25 to 30 feet, 2 or 3 pumps are fine.

I haven’t shot it in years, and now I remember why. Pumping it is a pain, the trigger sucks, and the sights aren’t very good. Despite this, I was able to keep about half of my 20 shots in a group the size of a 50 cent piece, with the rest inside a couple inches at 20 feet. This was shooting with one hand.

Since I now have a big box of Co2 cylinders and nothing to use them in, I may pick up something like a Crosman 2240. It seems to be getting rave reviews at both Amazon and Pyramid Air, and there are many aftermarket accessories available for it.

A few nights ago I put 20 shots through my RWS-24 break barrel spring piston air rifle. I bought this back when I was in high school, as an upgrade to a Daisy Powerline 881 that I got when I was 12, and put a lot of pellets through it in my parents’ home, shooting into a steel trap. It’s a nice gun for indoor shooting because unlike most modern air rifles, it’s not a “magnum.” It has plenty of power for paper punching but is much quieter than the magnum air rifles. Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to see the barleycorn front sight now that I’m 44, than it was when I was 15.

In the back of my closet I also have a Chinese XS-B3 air rifle that looks like a folding stock AK. It uses a side lever to cock it and is fairly powerful for an older air rifle. I’ll probably dig it out and put some pellets through it.