A first look at the NPSS Nitro Piston by Jim House

Posted On Wednesday, 9 December 2009 at 07:27  


The Personality of the Nitro Piston
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If you have ever watched a dog wag its tail, you have doubtless noted that the back part of the dog also wags slightly. Moving the tail requires some force and there is an opposite force moving the dog. In the case of airguns, compressed air forces the pellet down the barrel at the moment of firing, but there is a huge difference in how the air is moved toward the base of the pellet.

In a break action (spring piston) air rifle, pulling the barrel downward forces a piston to the rear against the pressure of a strong spring. When the spring is compressed and the piston is in its rearmost position, the sear is engaged to hold the piston in place. At the moment of firing, the piston is released and the compressed spring forces it forward at high velocity. This action compresses the air in the compression chamber behind the pellet causing the pellet to be moved down the barrel. One problem with this type of rifle is that the piston and spring have considerable mass and when the piston reaches the forward end of the compression chamber, it jerks the rifle forward. All of this takes place before the pellet leaves the barrel. Consequently, achieving high accuracy with this type of rifle requires practice and consistency of shooting form.


Another problem with the spring piston rifles is the fact that leaving the rifle cocked for a considerable period of time causes the spring to lose some of its elasticity. As a result, many shooters who use break action rifles cock them just before taking a shot. This is inconvenient is hunting situations.

A significant improvement over the traditional spring piston rifle could be made if instead of using a strong, heavy spring a gas were compressed behind a piston in the compression chamber as the rifle is cocked. In that way, there is less mass jiggling around in the rifle at the time of firing. Equally important is the fact that a compressed gas does not lose its elasticity so the rifle can be left cocked for a long period of time. This type of propulsion system is generally referred to as a gas ram or gas spring break action rifle. A gas ram rifle has many of the advantages of a spring piston model but fewer of its drawbacks.

Crosman has continued the development of powerful air rifles to include a new break action rifle using new technology. This rifle, known as the Nitro Piston or NPSS because the gas utilized in the sealed cylinder is nitrogen, is something special. Because only a gas is compressed in the compression chamber behind the piston when the rifle is cocked, the Nitro Piston is lighter than many spring piston rifles that employ steel springs.

The Attributes of the Nitro Piston Rifle

The Nitro Piston has several interesting features. First, the barrel has no sights. This rifle is intended to be used with an optical sight, and in most cases it will be a scope. In fact, the Nitro Piston is supplied with a 3-9X AO CenterPoint scope in a very robust mount. Second, the barrel has an aluminum sleeve surrounding it that has a uniform diameter of 0.875-inch so that it is essentially a bull barrel although it is not one solid unit. The sleeve is attached by a long threaded section at the muzzle, and the end cap has a hexagonal opening for using an Allen wrench to attach or remove the sleeve. The sleeve makes the barrel serve as a convenient, easy to grip handle when cocking the rifle. Third, the Nitro Piston has an usual stock. Not only is it a thumbhole style, but also it is made of a polymer that is easy and comfortable to grip. Not only is the soft polymer stock of the Nitro Piston pleasing to the touch, it serves as a shock absorber to reduce vibration. Both the gas ram and the synthetic stock result in a rifle that has much less vibration and noise than a break action rifle that uses a steel spring. The dimensions are such that the Nitro Piston is easy to use. Fourth, the stock has a nice cheek piece that folds over the comb of the stock so is comfortable when shooting from either side of the stock.

The Nitro Piston has the styling that really attracts attention. During the first tests I conducted, another shooter at the range saw the Nitro Piston and came over to look at it. There were unconcealed expressions of approval of this sleek rifle. Weighing just a shade under seven pounds, the Nitro Piston is convenient to carry. It will be available in .177 and .22 calibers.

When I began testing the .22 caliber Nitro Piston, I was surprised to find that it cocks very smoothly. Because there is no spring grating along in the compression chamber, pulling the barrel of the Nitro downward to cock it requires a uniform pressure.

The performance of the Nitro Piston

After cocking and loading the Nitro Piston, I wanted to see how it would perform so I prepared to fire. When firing any new gun you never know exactly what to expect from the trigger action. In the case of the Nitro Piston and other break action air rifles, movement of the trigger has two stages. The first is a rather long, light pull (know as the take up) that moves the trigger back to the point where firing is about to occur. The actual firing motion is short and crisp and usually requires considerably more force than the take up motion. In the case of the Nitro, the take up motion required a slight but noticeable force, and the actual let off required a harder pull . However, because the let off was crisp and predictable, I found it easy to control the trigger when shooting from a bench.

Because another shooter was firing a high power rifle, I was wearing hearing protectors when I fired the first shot from the Nitro Piston. I thought the gun had misfired somehow until I looked at the chronograph which showed the velocity of the pellet! The Nitro Piston is significantly quieter than most if not all of my other break action rifles. Moreover, there was a noted absence of the twang and jump that accompany firing a spring piston rifle.

Two aspects of the performance of the Nitro Piston were evaluated. First, it was necessary to determine pellet velocity, but here a problem was encountered. My wife and I travel in the western mountain states during the summer. This year, one of my special traveling companions was the Nitro Piston so the testing was conducted at high altitude, and the range where the Nitro Piston was tested is at an elevation of 5,500 ft. At this altitude, cocking any break action rifle draws less air into the compression chamber in front of the piston so when the gun is fired the velocity is lower. Previous testing has shown that at 5,500 ft the velocity is approximately 94% of what it is at an elevation of a few hundred feet. The .177 Nitro Piston gives velocities up to 1000 ft/sec and the .22 caliber gives up to 800 ft/sec. These velocities would be obtained at low elevation with pellets of light weight. However, these velocities will not be realized at high elevation with pellets of normal weight. With the chronograph in place, I fired a string of Crosman Premiers across it and got an average velocity of 631 ft/sec. When this value is corrected for the elevation factor, the velocity would be 675 ft/sec with a pellet weighing 14.3 grains. With pellets weighing about 11 grains, the velocity would be approximately 770 ft/sec which is close to the advertised value. Keep in mind that this was with a new gun and that performance generally improves after a break in period.

With Crosman Pointed pellets the average velocity was 625 ft/sec, with the Crosman wadcutter it was 623 ft/sec, and with Crosman domed it was 637 ft/sec. Keep in mind that at low elevation these velocities would be 40-50 ft/sec higher. As a result, the Nitro Piston would generate about 14.5 ft lbs of kinetic energy which means that it is a “magnum” airgun that is entirely suitable for hunting small game and pests.

Because accuracy is of paramount importance with an airgun, the Nitro Piston was tested with several types of pellets by firing three or four 5-shot groups at a distance of 25 yards. The average group sizes obtained are as follows: Crosman Premier, 0.91 inch; Crosman pointed, 0.77 inch; Crosman wadcutter, 0.89 inch; and Crosman domed, 0.80 inch. Keep in mind that these groups were fired outdoors at a range where there is always a prevailing breeze from a rifle that did not have an extensive break in period. Under better conditions, these groups would shrink to perhaps 0.5-0.7 inch. Therefore, it is clear that the Nitro Piston has plenty of accuracy to be an effective game and pest rifle.

The Crosman Nitro Piston represents a significant advancement in airgun technology that has resulted in an exciting, effective air rifle for a wide variety of uses. In these tests it was found to be significantly quieter, easier to cock, and to give less recoil than any break action rifle of comparable power that this reviewer has tested which uses a steel spring.


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Benjamin’s first precharged rifle

Posted On at 07:22  

It started with an idea

Everyone has had a “great idea” at one time or another. You know what I mean, a What They Ought To Do kind of idea. Most of those ideas die as daydreams, but once in a rare while one comes along at the right time and also happens to be the idea everyone is looking for.

I approached Crosman in October of 2006 about an idea I had on how to convert one of their stock CO2 rifles to operate on air. It wasn’t something hard to do - heck, it was something that many hobby airgunsmiths had already done. But I wanted to do something different than a standard conversion. I wanted to create an entirely new airgun, and not one that Crosman Corporation was making at the time - or had ever made! I wanted to create a new type of precharged pneumatic (PCP) rifle.

Something new
My idea was to take a current CO2 rifle from the Benjamin line and convert it to use high-pressure air, only not such high pressure that filling it from a hand pump would be difficult. Because filling a precharged airgun has been the biggest roadblock to the popularization of this type of powerplant thus far. Filling, and, of course, the high cost of the gun.

Precharged airguns have so much going for them
Precharged airguns act like most shooters imagine all guns should act. They are trouble-free, highly accurate and they require no special techniques to get them to shoot well. They can operate in very cold weather without suffering a great power loss and all you need is the gun and pellets. Once they are filled, there is no pumping the gun, no worry about the outdoor temperature, and you certainly don’t have to learn any special gun-holding techniques. Just shoot and shoot, until the gun needs to be refilled, which these days won’t be for many shots.

Filling is the problem
Precharged guns are so desirable that once shooters hear about all their benefits they want them. Until they learn about the filling! Until now you either had to fill a PCP gun from a scuba tank or from a special high-pressure hand pump, either of which was a significant additional expense. The standard fill pressure of PCP guns has hovered around 3,000 pounds per square inch (psi), which is difficult to achieve with a hand pump. Up to about 2,000 psi the pumping is relatively easy, but above that point it gets progressively more difficult, and over 2,500 psi, there are adult men and women who lack the strength and body weight to operate the pump. So filling PCPs has been a major drawback.

And so is cost
PCPs have traditionally made by companies catering to a few thousand shooters in each country, shooters with the financial resources to afford the best guns. Because the guns are so inherently accurate, the makers have naturally used the finest barrels, finishes, wood stocks and expensive internal components like regulators - all of which has driven the price of the guns very high. Most European PCP rifles today sell for $800 and higher. The few models that cost less than $500 are Chinese airguns of questionable reliability. So cost has been another major roadblock to the popularization of the PCP.

Crosman could change that!
My flash of insight was that the Crosman Corporation could change the face of PCP airguns if they put their resources to the problem, and if they didn’t go about it in what many would consider the conventional way. If Crosman could convert a CO2 rifle to operate on air, and if the pressure at which the firing valve operated was 2,000 psi instead of 3,000 psi, the world would have the first affordable PCP that could also be easily filled from a hand pump! And Crosman could keep the cost down on such a rifle like no other airgun company in the world. That was the foundation of my idea.



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Airgun Hunting

Posted On at 07:05  


Ethics of Airgun Hunting:

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from hunters that use more conventional weapons is “is it ethical to hunt with an airgun”? This is a fair question, and the short answer is yes. If one knows their gun and what it is capable of, both in terms of power and accuracy, they know what they are capable of with respect to marksmanship. They know the animal being hunted, and they can ethically harvest game. This is of course the same set of criteria any hunter, using any weapon must exercise. As a matter of fact, I can make a strong argument that an airgun hunter able to practice in their basement or backyard and shoot hundreds of pellets per month throughout the year, is going to become a more proficient marksman than a firearm shooter that may put less than a hundred shots per year (often far less) before heading out after game. I hunt with firearms, archery equipment, and airguns; but it is my airgun that makes me a better shot and a better hunter overall.


Ethics are not simply a question of the tools used to harvest game, but how those tools are applied. I will say that after thirty years in the field hunting with firearms and twenty using airguns (concurrently thank you very much), that airguns are a viable option for making humane kills on small game and for pest control. To summarize; pick the proper gun and pellet, keep it to the appropriate range, know your skills, and you can indeed hunt ethically with air power. It is one of my objectives to demonstrate that the Marauder is an air rifle well suited for this application in every respect.

Pest Control
The application for which most airguns are purchased domestically would be for plinking and informal target shooting. However looking at guns purchased with the intention to shoot quarry, without a doubt they are most frequently used to shoot vermin and pest species. This can range from shooting the squirrel or starling raiding the backyard bird feeder to professional pest control removal of roosting pigeons in factory buildings or rats raiding feeders in the farmer’s barn. Most states permit the culling of pest species with an airgun, and even allow some game animals to be taken out of season under a depredation permit when they are causing damage to property.

Some species are by their very nature considered pest animals, ones that are vectors for diseases or cause damage to property such as brown rats. There are other animals that are not usually considered a pest species, but due to population explosions caused by an abundance of food or lack of predators, become pest. The most common pest species shot with airguns are rats, ground squirrels, sparrows, starlings, black birds, pigeons and other animals causing a nuisance or depredation on private property. Under certain conditions, a small game animal such as cottontail rabbits on a golf course or tree squirrels in the attic become a pest animal …. Once again you need to check your local ordinances.

Shooting pest animals makes a lot of sense as the other options are either setting traps or laying poison, both of which have many negative attributes. They are both indiscriminate, you don’t want to poison the barn cat along with the rats, and you don’t want your dog sticking his nose in a rat trap. Shooting can also be more effective allowing several individuals to be culled in a single session and a whole population eradicated over a short period of time. To be successful the shooter needs to keep the pressure up, as these animals tend to breed very rapidly and can quickly build the population back up if allowed to.

It should be understood, the objective of pest control is to kill as many animals as possible, effectively removing the population from a specific area. It is not hunting in the pure sense of the word, you are not interested in sport or giving the animal an advantage, only in removing them (or significantly reducing their numbers) from the ecosystem. In this context, the pest control shooter should not hesitate to cull young animals or females, and unless there are local regulations there should not be a concern over season. The purpose of true pest control is to remove every member of the pest specie that you can. As a matter of fact, if a farmer or facilities manager gives you permission to shoot on his property, it is your responsibility to clear every varmint you can. Using airguns to shoot these pests makes a lot of sense, as they are uniquely suited to the task. They are powerful enough to effectively dispatch a pest animal at 70 yards, and the Marauders discussed in this book are capable of tack driving accuracy. If you do happen to miss, the projectiles will not travel a mile or cause excessive damage to surrounding equipment or buildings. And lastly, with a shrouded barrel this rifle is almost silent. This means that you will not become a pest species to your neighbors as you move around a property clearing out the starling population, your pest might be their cute little bunny … so stealth has its place.

Small Game Hunting
For me, small game hunting with an airgun is a favorite hunting past time, and a couple of my favorite guns are the Marauder and Discovery pre-charged pneumatics. I love being out in the Midwestern woods in fall and winter with an air rifle stalking squirrels, or glassing the landscape in pursuit of rabbit and quail out in the California high desert. I also love taking these guns on my big game and predator hunts; as you’ll see in this book additional opportunities will always arise even in game rich areas such as South Africa!

We are blessed with a lot of small game animals in North America, with squirrel and rabbits by far and away the most popular quarry. But in some areas turkey, quail, grouse, and other game birds are on the menu as well. Some animals, such as fox, bobcats, coyote, raccoons, and nutria are sometimes considered game animals, sometimes furbearers, and sometimes pest species, and in many jurisdictions can be taken with air powered guns. On my airgun hunts in South Africa game such as the many types of doves and pigeons, crows and ravens, Guinea fowl, geese, several types of starlings, mongoose, fox, hyrax, wildcats, porcupine, rabbits, springhares, and various rodents large and small gave us great hunting and shooting opportunities when not out after big game.

Why use an air rifle rather than one of my firearms as a method of take? I still like to hit the field with my .17 and .22 rimfire rifles and handguns, but find that airguns make it more about the hunting than about the shooting (not saying the shooting isn’t fun or important mind you). That forty to fifty yard airgun range can be a real obstacle to overcome when moving through the forest, knowing that a snap of a twig on the ground will send every squirrel in the area running for cover.

Another major plus for me is that as stated, airguns open up a lot more territory for hunting. At home in Indiana, it seems like there is a lot of open space on one hand, but on the other there seems to be a house on the corner of every forty acre parcel. I am exaggerating, but my point is that there is more limitation on hunting space than out west. I have found that a lot of farmers out where I live will let me take an airgun around their farms, but not a firearm due to the carrying distance and noise generated. A side benefit of the airgun is that the precise placement of the pellet, usually on the head, causes less damage to the meat. These animals are destined for the larder so this is not an insignificant advantage. But one of the most important advantages of airguns in most settings is that they are so quiet. This is very important when hunting around farms and near habitation, but even when using an airgun during down time while on a big game, is a great attribute.

On this trip to South Africa, my primary intent was big game hunting. However, there was a lot of down time in which I could get out with an airgun for both pest control and small game hunting, where the report of even a rimfire would have caused too much disturbance.


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200 meter shooting

Posted On at 06:52  


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REALLY tuning a PCP!

Posted On at 06:24  

I just have to write this post, so forgive me if it's not to your taste. Yesterday, I got a question from The.Man regarding air usage in a Talon SS, which is a precharged pneumatic. He wondered if he installed a 24" barrel on an SS that normally has a 12" barrel, if he could get a greater number of shots at the same energy level as the standard 12" barrel is able to produce. I told him yes, he could, but then my brain went into gear, and I had to carry the thought through to completion.

To my thinking, The.Man has asked one of those fundamental life-changing questions that has the potential to open up airgunning for him. It's fundamental because it shows that he understands how pneumatic guns work. To me, pneumatic guns work very much like black powder arms. In a pneumatic, a longer barrel means more acceleration time, which equals more velocity. In a black powder gun, the longer barrel promotes more complete burning of the powder, which equates to more push behind the bullet and greater velocity. The two power sources are very much alike in this respect.


To continue the comparison, I have found most black powder arms have a preference for a certain bullet. Once you find it, don't shoot anything else. Also, find the right powder load and stick with it. A pneumatic pellet gun is the same. Find a power setting (if the gun is adjustable) that works best and the one pellet that's right, and you don't need anything else. Allow me to share the work done by another airgunner.

This airgunner took his Talon SS and added a 24" .22 caliber barrel. He knew that was the best combination for what he wanted, which was a lot of shots at a decent power level. Then, he selected a power setting on the adjustment mechanism. It wasn't wide open like you might think. He wanted a good number of shots with a good amount of power and a decent velocity spread so he'd have accuracy at 50 yards. He settled on power setting No. 8 in the power adjustment window. The pellet he chose was the Beeman Kodiak.

If you read the forums, you will see Talon SS owners trading power wheel settings back and forth, talking about setting 10.13, for example, which means the gross power indicator is resting on the number 10 and the power wheel is resting on the number 13. What they fail to realize is that EACH TALON SS WORKS DIFFERENTLY! You might get a velocity of 830 f.p.s. with a .22 caliber Crosman Premier on the setting 10.13 on your gun, while I might get 790 from the same setting on mine! I might have to dial up to 12.9 to get the same velocity you get on 10.13. Yet for both of us, 830 f.p.s. might be the maximum velocity our guns get with the .22 Premier pellet.


The AirForce adjustment mechanism is a wheel and an oval window cut in the left side of the frame. The round screw head (it's an Allen screw) in the window indicates the power setting. The reading is taken from the center of the screw. The power wheel on the left also has numbers that align with an index mark. These are the finer adjustments. Each revolution of the wheel moves the power screw one whole number right or left.


Install the 24" barrel and the adjustability becomes much more sensitive over a far broader range. The gun shoots both slower and faster with the 24" barrel installed.

Well, this shooter found a spot on his adjustment mechanism where everything was what he wanted, then he did one more thing - which is what this posting is all about. He loosened the two Allen setscrews on the SS top hat (the end of the valve stem that acts as the firing interface for the striker and also the valve stroke limiter) and adjusted the top hat to the point that the gun gave exactly the velocity he wanted. But if he adjusted the top hat to as little at two-thousandths of an inch less clearance, the velocity would drop. To do what he did requires a chronograph, a feeler gauge and patience. But a thoughtful shooter can really maximize his PCP's potential if he knows what he's doing.


The stainless steel "tophat" was the earlier Talon's method of adjustment. Today the adjustment wheel makes it unnecessary to ever move this tophat setting, which has 0.080" clearance from the factory. However, it is possible to adjust this to get a much more efficient setting for a single pellet at a single velocity.


What he achieved is what The.Man asked about - the optimum flow of air without wasting any. The results were incredible! Instead of getting the usual 35-40 powerful shots, he got over 90 shots in a tight velocity spread!


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Spring gun tuning part 2 : Building a mainspring compressor

Posted On at 06:21  

This is the most important tool a spring gun tuner owns. It may not be used for every job, but working without one when you need it is like walking a tightrope without a net. I now use a B-Square compressor, but for many years I used a homemade rig that did everything I asked of it. The plans for my compressor came from Tom Gaylord's Beeman R1 book. I've seen simpler compressors, but I've never seen one that was easier to make.

Mainsprings are under tension
To get maximum power from an airgun, the mainspring is usually under tension (compression). In modern spring guns, the trend is toward more compression than in the past. A few rifles such as the TX200 are under almost none - but they are the exception.

You can't contain it!
Never think you can contain the force of a mainspring. Eventually, you'll be able to do so with certain guns you have disassembled many times or even with certain gun models you may have learned very well; but the first time you work on a spring gun, you need to use a compressor.

Simple design
All a compressor does is restrain the rifle while relaxing (or decompressing) the mainspring with control. The task would be simple if all spring guns were built alike - but they aren't. I will address several different methods of gun design in a later posting. For now, just take my word that the compressor has to be very adaptable.

This compressor is built on a 2x8 piece of wood. All the parts attach to a plank.

The headstock, the bridge and the tailstock
The headstock contains the moving ram that compresses the mainspring. You can make a rugged one from a bench vise. There's really nothing to build! The vise is bolted to the plank and used in reverse. The tail of the vise puts tension on the end of the gun holding the mainspring.

The bridge is a tunnel through which the body of the gun passes. It keeps the body of the gun from moving sideways when the mainspring is under tension but not restrained by the gun.

The tailstock is a block of wood with the grain end exposed. The muzzle is pressed against it and the gun cannot move.

The bridge and tailstock are adjustable to accommodate different guns. They can also adjust for a gun that has the barrel on or off.


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Spring gun tuning part 1

Posted On at 06:17  

I'm going to show you the fundamental steps to tune a spring gun. Although I won't show every kind of gun, I will talk about how underlevers and sidelevers differ from breakbarrels. If you're clever enough to do this kind of work, you'll be able to figure out the particulars for yourself. I'm just going to show you the important points to get you started.

We'll begin by looking at the tools and supplies needed to work on spring guns. I assume you have a standard set of tools and all the screwdrivers and Allen wrenches you need for any job. If you don't have them all now, get them as you need them. Never try to make one tool do the job of another - that's how accidents happen and mistakes are made.

Pin punches
You need a good set of these, because there are hundreds of uses for them when working on spring guns. We will use them from the beginning, so get a small set of punches right away. Airgunsmiths need small punches, because most of the pins encountered are small. I bought my set at Sears, and it has four punches - 1/16", 3/32", 1/8", 5/32", plus a 5/32" alignment tool.

Plastic and rubber-headed hammer
This is also a general tool that's used all the time. Get one that's small and handy to use. This kind of hammer is essential. You can buy one at Sears or Home Depot; if you like shopping on internet

A vice
Vices are not as useful as you might think. Spring gun tuners have very little need for vices, save one. A fine, inexpensive mainspring compressor can be made with the right kind of vice. I will give you the plans for how to build a compressor, and I'll also tell you where to buy one if you don't want to build it.

Dowel rods and rubber bands
Get at least one half-inch hardwood dowel. You'll use it to lubricate the mainspring cylinder. If you have a screwdriver with an 18" long blade, it can take the place of the dowel. Also, get a supply of thin rubber bands, to use with the dowel. I will explain what to do when we get there. A dowel 36" long is more than enough. All you need for most jobs is about 18".

Lubricants
Lubricants are a major part of a spring-piston tuner's bag of tricks. Ten years ago, the market had the products you needed and they were easy to find. For example, Beeman sold M-2-M moly paste that was wonderful stuff. Well, they don't sell it anymore, so you now have to buy your lubricants elsewhere. I want you to at least get black tar and moly paste. I'm sending you to Air Rifle Headquarters for these things. They are also an excellent source for replacement mainsprings, piston seals, spring guides and other important parts you will need to tune a gun. They have already created drop-in tuning kits for many popular spring rifles like the Benjamin Legacy and the FWB 124/127.


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Does cocking a breakbarrel gun bend the barrel over time?

Posted On at 06:15  

The myth goes like this - "If you cock an airgun by its barrel, surely the barrel will bend over time." This is an urban legend and is completely false! But, it illustrates that some shooters are thinking about the strength of the barrel, and that can lead to some dangerous "experiments" that could bend a barrel in an instant.

Airgun barrels are strong!
To prove my point about the strength of airgun barrels, consider this. A Haenel barrel on a breakbarrel model made in the 1930s is still straight today after hundreds of thousands of shots and even some accidents over the years. What about a Diana model 65 target rifle used by a shooting club? Still in service after several MILLION shots by hundreds of club members since the gun was new in 1970, the barrel remains straight enough to win an important match. The mainspring may have been replaced 20 times by now and all the bluing has been worn off the barrel at the front sight where hands have grabbed to cock over the years, but the barrel is still as straight as the day it left the factory. Breakbarrels don't bend with normal usage.

It's EASY to bend a breakbarrel simply by mistreating it!
By deliberately mistreating an airgun, the barrel can be bent in an instant. What some "curious" owners do is break open the barrel, then fire the gun with the barrel broken fully open to see how fast the mainspring can close the barrel. Sounds like great fun, huh?

When the barrel closes with the force of more than 100 lbs. of spring behind it, the end of the barrel where the front sight it mounted wants to continue moving long after the breech slams into its locked position. The result is an upward bend in the barrel at the point where the barrel passes through the breechblock. You can achieve the same effect by running rapidly through a narrow doorway holding a stepladder sideways. The Three Stooges demonstrated that numerous times. Judging from what I see on America's Funniest Home Videos, there are still some idiots dumb enough to try it today!

Shooting with the barrel broken open is DANGEROUS!
A rapidly closing barrel will cut off fingers! People have been hit in the forehead by front sights when the rifle wrenches out of their grasp from closing rapidly. And half the time the stock splinters, in addition to bending the barrel. Stocks cost nearly half the price of the entire gun, so there are several good reasons to NOT TRY this DANGEROUS experiment.

The barrel-bending myth helps sales of sidelevers and underlevers
There is nothing wrong with either a sidelever or an underlever cocking mechanism, as long as you understand that both add weight to the gun. The breakbarrel will always be the most efficient design from a weight standpoint. Some people just will not accept that an airgun barrel can be strong enough to cock a gun millions of times without bending. I wonder how many bottle openers these people wear out in their lifetimes? Or crowbars? Or shovels?


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SAFETY!

Posted On at 06:13  

Whenever you shoot, safety is your most important consideration, so let's talk about few important aspects of how to be safe with an airgun.

Point that muzzle where you WANT to shoot!
Our No. 1 safety rule is ALWAYS point the muzzle in the direction you want shoot. I did NOT say to point it in a safe direction, because the only safe direction is the one in which a pellet can be fired and do no damage. Follow this rule, and you'll never have to say "I didn't know the gun was loaded" when you shoot something you really didn't want to shoot.

When you think about what would happen if your gun fired at any given moment in time, you'll always handle your gun's muzzle carefully by pointing in the direction you intend to shoot.

Keep your finger off the trigger until you take the shot
This is important with airguns for two reasons. The first one is obvious: if you stay away from the trigger, you won't violate rule No. 1. The second reason is just as important but not as well known: many spring-powered airguns can pinch fingers severely (even cutting them off!) if the barrel closes unexpectedly during loading. To help prevent that, STAY OFF THE TRIGGER until you are ready to shoot.

Wear eye protection when shooting
Always wear safety glasses while shooting. BBs are especially prone to bouncing straight back at you; at close range, lead fragments can also fly back and hit you. Safety glasses are a part of every shooting sport, so get into the habit of wearing them now. Safety glasses should be worn by everyone in the area - not just the shooter.

If you play games with airsoft guns, eye, head and ear protection is more important than any other piece of equipment. Airsoft is a lot safer than paintball, but that's no excuse for ignoring safety altogether.

Use a trap made especially for catching pellets or BBs
Responsible shooting means controlling where the shot goes after its fired. The mistake many people make is not having a good enough pellet trap for the gun they shoot. It takes a lot to stop pellets from a magnum rifle like the Webley Patriot. Wadded-up newspapers and phone books won't do the job. Invest in a trap like the Beeman pellet trap to stop your shots with a margin of safety.

BBs are harder to stop than pellets because they bounce off every hard surface they come in contact with. Crosman's 850 BB trap is ideal for this and is made exactly for this purpose.

There are other safety considerations, of course, so from time to time I will mention a few more. Airgun shooting is one of the safest sports in the world, but that's only because everyone tries hard to keep it that way. Do your part so we can continue to enjoy it!


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