Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Airgun Shooter

KEY SPECS MANUFACTURER: Gamo (gamoguns.co.uk) MODEL: Speedster 10X GEN2 PRICE: £299 CALIBRE: .177 and .22 POWERPLANT: Mainspring ACTION: Multi-shot break-barrel OVERALLLENGTH: 123cm WEIGHT: 3.1kg SIGHTS: Scope only MOUNTING RAIL: Dovetail, plus riser rail STOCK STYLE: Sporter STOCK MATERIAL: Polymer SAFETY: Manual PACKAGE INCLUDES: 3-9×40 scope and one-piece mount Hot on the heels of the Roadster, Gamo has yet another multi-shot break-barrel springer to tempt fast-fire fans, the Speedster 10X GEN2. Both rifles are equipped with ambidextrous black synthetic stocks, and there are some significant differences, notably the sporter stock of the Speedster compared with the Roadster’s thumbhole design. Both rifles have a drop-down pistol grip, with the Speedster offering a thumb-up hold for shooters who prefer that option. As with the Roadster, the Speedster’s barrel is clad in a fluted…

Three new models have been added to The Shooting Party's Professional Airgun Optics portfolio, which incorporate two new technologies that offer more precision in terms of adjustment and less interference in the sight picture. The 3-9 × 42 SSS Compact, 1-4 × 24 SSS and 6-24 × 56 SSS all utilise PAO's Smart Spherical Structure tech. This is an all-metal turret/erector tube interface mechanism which PAO says allows for more precise windage and elevation adjustments than the metal-rubber interface found in most scopes. The second technology is “TSS”, which stands for Thin Scope Shell, which improves the shooter's field of view by reducing the perceived thickness of the scope shell around the lens. All three models are rated for recoiling rifles, have wide-angle lenses with multi-layer coatings, mil dot reticles,…

FREE TO ENTER WIN! WORTH £189 A silver fox can be several things. A variation of the red fox with different pigmentation. An attractive middle-aged man with grey or white hair. Or in this case a break-barrel gas-ram from Crosman. Like its human counterpart, this rifle is certainly a looker, the metalwork being finished in a glossy silver, with the ambidextrous sporter stock being made from a nicely contrasting black polymer. But there’s more to this rifle than looks alone. The Silver Fox has a recommended retail price of £189.99, which includes a 4×32 scope and mounts. It's available in .22 calibre, and being a full-power rifle is suitable for back garden plinking, target shooting and short- to medium-range pest control. Measuring 1,110mm and weighing three kilos, the rifle has…

Conventional wisdom has it that at this time of year, when nature’s bounty is overflowing, grey squirrels are spoilt for choice for something to eat. So much so in fact that many shooters pack away their peanut feeders and won’t get them out again until the first frost of the year. Pest control obligations mean I run my feeders pretty much all year round, even if my returns in terms of squirrels in the bag diminish. However, just recently one of my farmer landowners asked if I could help with a squirrel problem. Normally I shoot rats and rabbits on the farm, so squirrels were something new, and I couldn't for the life of me think how the furry rodents could be giving him any grief. But of course I…

As many of us now recognise, there is a Health & Safety Executive proposal to ban the use of lead in airgun ammunition, as well as for shotgun and firearm cartridges. There is likely to be a transition period of five years for airgun ammo to enable the industry to create alternatives. Indoor target shooting will be exempt, as will licensed ranges where lead recovery rates are at a level deemed acceptable. Lead is a toxic material, and there are sound reasons for restricting its release into the environment. We should all endeavour to collect our spent pellets in a pellet trap during informal target practice for safe disposal. We should also ensure when hunting that lead pellets are removed from meat to be consumed, and that pest carcasses are…

What are they? Laser rangefinders let you measure the distance to a particular target, giving a readout in either yards or metres. Today's lasers are eye-safe, although you shouldn't deliberately target someone's face. What do they do? They send a beam out to your chosen target. That beam is reflected off the target and is then picked up by a sensor, which in turn calculates the distance. When should I use one? Rangefinders are perfect for hunters who want to calculate holdover or holdunder, but are great for measuring specific distances when setting out targets as well. What should I look for? Some rangefinders will only operate out to shorter distances, and these are perfect for airgun use. If you shoot centrefires as well as airguns, you may need a…

TESTING STATION RIFLE TEST CROSMAN SBR KEY SPECS GUN SUPPLIED BY: Range Right (range-right.co.uk) MANUFACTURER: Crosman MODEL: SBR PRICE: £320 CALIBRE: 4.5mm steel BB POWERPLANT: Dual 12 gram CO2 capsules ACTION: Blowback STOCK: Adjustable OVERALL LENGTH: 670mm to 770mm WEIGHT: Under 3kg SIGHTS: Flip-up open sights fitted MOUNTING RAIL: Picatinny SAFETY: Manual PACKAGE INCLUDES: Speed-loader There’s a definite trend these days in favour of military repliguns with CO2 blowbacks. Most of the guns of this type that landed on my desk over the past couple of years have been airgun variants of powder-burning firearms, and that has continued with the Crosman SBR. This rifle has a recommended retail price of £320, which might sound like a significant outlay, but you'll be rewarded with a fun gun made with solid polymer and…

While air rifles are certainly available with alternative sighting systems, notably open sights, it’s fair to say that the majority of shooters will be using a telescopic sight. But how do you go about choosing one? Finding one that comes within your budget is of course a major factor, but there are plenty of other things to consider. A telescopic sight may well offer numerous exciting features, but it really has just one job to do, and that is to help us point the barrel of our air rifle in a particular direction so that when we pull the trigger, the pellet will fly through the air and hit the target in a predictable manner. There are 11 factors that must be taken into consideration by an individual shooter who's…

Blowback CO2 guns are all the rage, but it wasn’t all that long ago that airguns like these didn’t even exist. Traditional CO2 pellet pistols performed superbly without blowback, and the only items to have this were low-power butane or green gas replicas that were designed with blowback for more authenticity. Made in the Far East, these airsoft replicas were intended for wargames skirmishing, re-enactment and also as just very cool collector pieces. More effective and powerful CO2 gas has been around for a very long time. Even before the last war it had been used for bulk-filling airguns with internal reservoirs. The late 1940s saw the first air pistol to use disposable CO2 soda siphon bulbs, the Schimel Gas Pistol. Since then, CO2 air pistols were developed by manufacturers…

TECH ADVICE TECH ADVICE COMPATIBILITY As a pellet passes down the bore of a rifled barrel, the lands and grooves impart spin, stabilising the projectile and giving it more accuracy - important when shooting at longer distances. Unlike powder-burning firearms, the pressures involved are much less violent with airguns, so the projectile's velocity is lower. However, grain for grain, the pellet or ball still gets blasted down the barrel, dragged into a spin by the rifling before leaving the muzzle. Examining a spent pellet will reveal marks to the head and skirt where they have engaged with the lands and grooves. Examining spent pellets that have been retrieved from a cloth backstop can reveal what happens to them as they travel down the barrel. The head and skirt can be scored,…

TESTING STATION RIFLE TEST WEIHRAUCH HW80K RIFLE TEST KEY SPECS MAKER: Weihrauch, Germany MODEL: HW80KLuxus SUPPLIED BY: Hull Cartridge (weihrauch.co.uk) PRICE: £540 TYPE: spring-powered break-barrel CALIBRE: .177 and .22 (tested), .20 and .25 by special order OVERALL LENGTH: 1132mm LENGTH OF PULL: 362mm BARREL LENGTH: 310mm WEIGHT: 3.9kg (without scope) TRIGGER: Two-stage adjustable POWER: 11.5 ft-lb Lasting success is not easy to achieve - especially in a world that has grown to expect change for the sake of change - but the iconic Weihrauch HW80K has managed to be a very desirable airgun for almost 40 years. Back in the 1980s, I wanted an HW80K because it was the gun used by John Darling, the father of modern airgun hunting. Four decades later, I would still like to find a place…

TESTING STATION PELLET TEST BSA SILVER STAR .22 I own up to having a bias in favour of domehead designs when it comes to lead pellets designed for sub-12 ft-lb air rifles. However, I’ve been forced to admit that there are several pellets of very different designs out there that are capable of great results as well. One such pellet is the BSA Silver Star in .177 calibre, which knocked me over with its accuracy despite its aerodynamic appearance when I tested it back in issue 160. This time I’m looking at the same pellet in .22 calibre. Silver Stars come in a screw-top tin of 200 in .22. They are part of BSA's new premium pellet range, which includes the Gold Star domehead pellets, Black Star hollowpoints and Green Star…

Shotgun certificate Right to own Every British resident has the right to own a shotgun, though needs to get a certificate to do so first. Provided you have always been without a criminal record, and are free from mental illness, your application should be straightforward. Fill in the form The first stage is to ask for an application form from your local Police Firearms Licensing department or download it from the BASC website. Some police forces now operate online applications, but the long-awaited national roll-out has still not occurred, so a printed form may have to do. Fill it in, then send it back with a cheque for the licence fee - currently £79.50 plus a passport-style photograph. Police checks You'll need to give a reason why you want to…

Manufactured for and distributed by Roetex, DarkMatter has launched a new IR illuminator that will bring a little more light into your shooting life. Available with either a 48mm or 65mm lens and weighing 269g/374g without an 18650 battery, the torch is IPX65 waterproof and costs £115/£120. A large button at the rear turns the DarkMatter IR torch on. Rotating it adjusts the brightness level from 1-100% to set the right level of illumination without experiencing problems with whiteout. The high-power Vcsel 850nm 2000Mw laser diode illuminates targets well beyond air rifle distances, and rotating the lens adjusts the beam between a concentrated shaft of light and a broad flood. A red LED indicates when the torch is on to help prevent you from accidentally looking into the diode, and…

LETTER OF THE MONTH BE CLEVER ABOUT PRESSURE Experience of working with dive bottles used for airgun filling has led me to feel it best to draw the attention of shooters to the fact that there are unsafe dive bottles being offered for sale to airgun users. Be aware that there are now bottles on the market that do not meet UK safety standards, and some that have failed testing when brand new. Buy one of these, even if it is new, and a testing centre might refuse to test it and might confiscate it. Check the markings on all bottles, whether old or new. Check online as to what markings need to be on a UK-spec dive bottle. Ask the manufacturer to provide a copy of the original test…

Hot summer days can make for very uncomfortable and very unproductive shooting. Just like us, the pest species we target don't tend to like being out in the heat of the day, which can make for long, frustrating hours between dawn and dusk. There is an exception though, and that is the farmyard. While the sun is beating down on the open fields, pests can find cool shade around farm buildings. They can usually also expect to find a ready supply of food and water, which means that farms can become real hotspots when the rest of the countryside appears to be devoid of pests. Those unwanted visitors can cause a lot of problems, so apart from helping you to avoid the midday heat, pest control around farm buildings can…

INSIGHT AND EXPERTISE TO HELP YOU RAISE YOUR GAME YOUR EXPERT ANDY McLACHLAN I thought I would remind us all how important it is that we follow safety rules when spending time at the range, whether that might be down at the official club venue or for that matter in the confines of your own garden. But before I continue in the safety vein, I was delighted to read Keith Jones's letter in issue 163 entitled Benchrest For All. Keith has managed to expand a forum-based shooting competition for benchrest competition on the Air Gun Forum platform. Keith advises us that he purchased his first rifle four years ago, and since taking over the benchrest competition section has grown participating members by a significant margin. The participants all print off…

If we’re honest, we hunt because we enjoy the experience, reconnecting with ancient DNA that we cannot deny. But from a landowner’s perspective, we’re there to control pests, not to have fun. Don't hate me, but I am spoiled for permissions that offer a wide range of prey to hunt, or pests to control depending on your point of view. The jewel in my shooting crown is a 400-plus acre soft fruit farm where I target rabbits all year round. However, the long summer evenings, when the workers have gone home for the day, give me a chance to crack down on the many woodpigeons that also gorge themselves on the crops. Few things are more satisfying than a phone call from a farmer asking for help. In this case,…

I read Ray Garner’s answer to a question concerning the ballistic pendulum in a previous issue [Airgun Shooter, June 2021], and was reminded how challenging it was to identify the power of airguns prior to the availability of electronic chronographs. The ballistic pendulum was a device to measure the momentum of a projectile so that the velocity could be calculated. Historically, electronic chronographs existed only in laboratories. Airgun manufacturers quoted muzzle velocity figures in their brochures long ago, but enthusiasts had very little capability to put their claims to the test. As Ray mentioned, some manufacturers sought to provide additional guidance over the performance of their products by quoting their penetration through a particular medium. For example, BSA, in a 1962 promotional booklet called The Air Rifle, quoted the number…

So you've spent days, if not weeks and months, not to mention a bunch of cash, choosing your rifle and scope. Surely it makes sense to put your pride and joy in a decent bag that will not only make it easier to carry around but also keep it safe from knocks and bumps. But which one to choose? The temptation is to get something cheap. It’s only a bag, and you’ve already spent a small fortune. But skimp on the quality of a rifle covering, and a moment of inattention can spoil your day. If you thought the choice of rifles and scopes was bewildering, the array of bags to put them in is almost as bad. So, for our group test this month we’ve assembled a selection spanning…

THE GUN ROOM In the days before rock and roll, much of my hard-earned cash was spent on air rifles. One beneficiary was JG Anschutz GmbH & Co., me exchanging money for their Model 275 bolt-action lead ball firer. Despite its low power, this lovely little magazine-fed spring rifle shot like a bandit and provided hours of tin can fun. These days Anschutz still plagues me, and has become adept at shaking all of the money out of my pockets, forcing me to buy one of its new and wonderful PCP rifles. The Model 9015 HP “ONE” Hunting rifle derives from the most recent of the 10 metre match machines, “HP” signifying high power and “ONE” the part-swapping to provide a range of rifles based on one barrelled action. High…