I've got a Chinese air rifle, it's my fifth one(I keep giving them away). The sights on all of them have been bad, so I usually mount a two power scope, and they are good out to 30-35 yards, at least in my hands, they are effective a LOT farther out,in the hands of a good shooter.>
I'll try to be gentle without pulling any punches. Then I'll try to weasel out later. :wink: :lol:
I've been shooting, buying, selling, repairing and 'souping up' the Chinese airguns almost since their first appearance on our shores. IMO as well as that of others with more credibility than myself any dictionary with a definition for the overworked computer shorthand, POS, should include a pic of a Chinese airgun.
They are getting better as I'll be the first to admit, but the cheaper ones are still highly suspect for both accuracy and power. If someone has no experience with true high powered precision airguns then they have no way to understand the difference. So please try to take the following statements as coming from one who DOES have a lot of experience with the yawning chasm that seperates cheap Chinese guns from quality built, high- precision tack drivers.
Let's start with velocity. The cheap sidelever and underlever guns are usually advertised as shooting over 800 ft. per second.. That statement is purest BS. The average (and I've ran a lot of them across the chronograph!) is nearer 550 fps and a GOOD one might approach 650 fps.
That said there are exceptions. As delivered many of them are so over-lubricated that the grease bypasses the seal into the combustion chamber. When that happens you get shots that sound like a .22 rimfire for the simply reason that the the heat of compression on pulling the trigger (hard not to say "Lighting the wick" :wink: in this case) causes the gun to 'diesel'. In effect the gun momentarily becomes a compression ignition engine as the excess lubricant is vaporized by the sudden surge of the piston and the heat of compression surges (VERY briefly!) to @ 1,000 degrees F. While that is a desireable feature in a Peterbilt it is very hard on airgun components, SCOPES, ears, even body parts because they can kick like a mule, but most particularly accuracy. Accuracy is in large part dependent on repeatability of velocity as well as the quality of the barrel itself. Since dieseling produces wide variations in velocities a dieseling gun is pi$$-poor in accuracy. It DOES produce anamolous velocities suitable for inflated velocity claims however! :x And it will quickly destroy the innards of a close-tolerance, quality built airgun. Fortunately (or not depending on your viewpoint) the Chinese guns are so poorly built that they often survive such persecution until the excess grease is finally burned off in 500-2,000 shots. But I can assure you that once that excess lube is gone that all of the cheap guns will settle into the velocity range stated above (if the plastic piston seal hasn't been burned by then!) if for no other reason than simple physics. In short the swept volume of the compression chamber limits the powerplant to @ 700fps even if functioning efficiently.
<The "chamber" is a pointed cone, and the top opening is fairly small. I have great difficulty loading it.---I am having to load it with a pellet impaled on a wire now.>
Good! Might prevent losing a finger to the shearing action of the sliding compression chamber if the anti-beartrap device fails. Which they do occasionally. The very BEST advice I can give you is to ALWAYS, without fail, restrain the cocking lever with one hand any time you have a body part in front of that sliding chamber. The same thing applies to retaining control of the barrel on a barrel cocker!
<I guess I need to buy another scope, one meant for a centerfire. >
Don't ask me how many centerfire scopes I destroyed with spring-piston airguns when I first started fooling with them.
I can be a little hard-headed and it required several kicks in the wallet to admit that those who pointed out that centerfire scopes were only cushioned for recoil in one direction while airgun scopes MUST be cushioned for recoil in both directions knew what they were talking about. Be advised that your $20 airgun can wreck $400 scopes as fast as it can wreck cheap ones.
<I would like to enlarge the opening,both in the front and on the sides, but I wonder if the bolt needs that metal to stay lined up on the barrel, althoughthe bolt will center on the barrel no matter what, because there is a convex cone, with a plastic liner in the bolt. >
Not only can you quickly ruin it but you should carefully inspect that cone seal to make sure it isn't leaking!
What you CAN do and it is highly recommended is to use a file or stone to dull the edges of the opening thru which you must reach to insert the pellet. Many of them are sharper than a Gillette Blue Blade and will lacerate you even without the action slamming closed unexpectedly.
<It has good velocity. It won't blow up a beer can full of water, but it will blow the back of it out, and it's almost as loud and a .22 short out of a rifle. >
OK----one more go-around on the subject. If your gun is sounding like a rimfire then it's probably already shook the scope apart. But accuracy problems could just as well be caused by velocity fluctuations as defective sights.
Powerwise I must take exception to the use of inaccurate .177 cal., weak shooting airguns on squirrels. I don't even condone Bearridge using his German built, almost Olympic accurate .177 ca. Beeman R-7s for such work even tho he is competent to place the shot with surgical accuracy.
:lol: The phrase "S**t happens" must have been coined by a hunter. Game moves just as the pellet arrives, a gust of air or a tiny branches deflects it or the stars are temporarily out of perfect alignment just as the trigger breaks. The result is less than optimal shot placement and a wounded animal that escapes to his hide and dies agonizingly over a long painfull time span. I'm certainly no PETA-phile and have no problem with taking game or removing pests but I DO have a problem with being the cause of such agony in any sentient creature. It is my firm belief based on many years of squirrel hunting with airguns that @ 12 ft. # of energy is the very minimum that should be used. The VAST majority of even good functioning .177 cal. Chinese airguns struggle to put out 6 ft. # of energy. A virtual prescription for failure to anchor squirrels (which are much 'tougher' than rabbits!) on the spot. If they're not expiring within 10 seconds and 10' of where shot it simply isn't good enough!
Now----having POed at least half of those reading this thread I'll try to weasel out a bit. (See there Bear---lawyers HAVE taught me a few things!) :wink:
Having now 'fooled' with airguns in virtually every phase of their use from hunting to target to airgunsmithing for over 60 years I have some definite prejudices and hard-won opinions. Even tho some of those opinions stated above may seem harsh, ego-laden, inflexible and downright unfriendly they are every one the result of experience. In many cases lessons that I'd very much like to keep you from having to learn the hard way. To quote someone a lot smarter than myself, "Learn from my experience, I've made 'em all and you can save yourself the pain and money".
I see Chinese airguns as best used to get people to discover just how much fun airgunning can be. I fondly hope that once they are exposed to that facet of shooting that they will then experience the vast difference in quality, repeatability, accuracy, firing behavior and durability between Chinese guns and German BUILT guns.
Airguns can be used daily, inexpensively and at home. They keep the eye, shooting reflexes and mind sharp. They are viable small game hunting weapons if matched to the quarry. There is a certain element of pride in taking a turkey with a well placed shot in the brainpan with the same airgun used for squirrels that transcends the feeling of accomplishment of taking the same bird with a load of shot from a 12 guage. Shooting a near perfect score on an Olympic airgun target, whether standing on your hind legs at ISU required 10 meters or from a bench at 25 yards approaches art in satisfaction to a shooter. (the 10 ring is @ the same size as the period at the end of this sentence.) Just loading and shooting an Olympic grade airgun is a lesson in precision for either a shooter or a mechanically inclined person.
Ok----enough. I've probably got everyone reading thinking that I'm an a$$hole by now. Bearridge can assure you that I CAN be but that I'm pretty much a good-intentioned one. :wink: Tom @ Buzzard Bluff
