New spinner target

The buffalo spinner target I won last week came today. Very nice target, I am really having fun with it. The Pellet Head forum had a giveaway last week on their site and I was lucky enough to win. They were giving away a Noteworthy Targets buffalo spinner airgun target.

I opened it up and took it to the backyard right away to get some plinking time in. It's quite sturdy and should last a long time considering that none of my guns are over 14 ft lbs. I used my 1740 "Raven" target gun for the shooting session. I used RWS Basics at a range of about 12 meters which is all too easy with the size of the target and the gun I'm using. This thing is a blast to shoot at! I shot at it for over an hour and stopped once my CO2 powerlet was empty. I can see myself shooting that target quite often since I had such fun. Much nicer than just shooting at cans and paper all the time!

Thanks go out to Noteworthy Targets for providing the target in the giveaway. Also thank you to Tom Krein and the guys over at Pellet Head Network. I will definitely get some use out of it guys. Here's a couple of quick pics I took of the target before and after plus the gun I used to shoot with.

Happy Shooting!

My Crosman 2240 "Poor man's match rifle" in it's current configuration

Here's a photo of my 2240 once I got all the latest aftermarket parts installed. Grant's alloy wide barrel band, stainless steel safety, alloy roller trigger and winged steel CO2 end cap. The rest by various makers; a brass bolt with extended probe by Mac1, aluminum bolt handle with rubber orings and stainless steel shaft from MountainAir, aluminum power adjuster by Art Braden, HDD from PSP Airguns, after market hammer spring and valve work by me, TKO sear pin and sear spring with delrin guide and stainless steel screw upgrades from Ace Hardware. The muzzle brake which isn't in this photo was made by Larry Rollins and is polished aluminum with a dovetail milled out for attaching a Lyman globe sight. The rear sight is a Williams peep sight with a .05" custom aperture. 24" Crosman barrel and a Crosman 1399 stock. She puts out an adjustable power range from 525-625 FPS with 14.6gr Beeman FTS. Super accurate. Lot's of shots(40+) on a CO2 powerlet with the HDD installed.

There was basically nothing else I wanted to do to this gun once I got it to this stage...except for one thing. I want a Grant Stace stainless steel breech with full dovetail so I can still use the Williams peep sight on the gun, then she is done forever! Grant is working on the breech for me when he gets some time. I look forward to it being finished and on my gun.

Crosman Quest 1000 gets some new goodies

I recently got some new accessories for my Crosman Quest 1000. I purchased a full length barrel shroud from Rich from Mich. a few weeks ago. Very nice little add on that I got mostly for looks. It does have another nice feature though, it acts as a very secure cocking handle. Now I have a nice fat grip to pull the barrel down with when cocking the gun. It gives you a little more leverage therefore it is easier to actually pull the barrel into the cocked position. I think it looks pretty good on the rifle myself, kind of gives it that "bull barrel" look. It is a 1" diameter aluminum tube shroud painted with a flat black finish.

I also got a new scope for it. I bought a Tasco 2.5-10x42mm Varmint/Target rifle scope. These are a very good buy for what you get. They are very sturdy scopes that will stand up to the recoil of most magnum powered springers. I was impressed by the scopes clarity and brightness and have been very happy with it thus far. It has a very nice mildot reticule as well and adjustable objective. I mounted it with an unknown maker 1 piece scope mount. It was given to me by a very kind fellow airgunner so I don't know what brand of mount it is. It definitely does the job though.

The rest is just a standard Quest 1000 with the addition of a GTX trigger to give it a nice 2 stage trigger pull. I got a pretty good gun out of the box, its accurate and not twangy or harsh at all. The worst thing about it was the stock trigger which was the first thing I replaced. Overall I am pleased with this setup and I think it looks and shoots great. Nice guns for the money IMHO. I didn't expect much for a $100 gun but I have been impressed for sure. Here is what it looks like in it's current configuration.

Until next time...

Daisy Model 188 Pistol...

Daisy Model 188 Pistol...Years Produced 1979-1993
New in 1979 Single shot pellet or BB repeater 215fps BB's- 180 fps pellets. Very few Variations, it went from a heavy Diecast to plastic around 1990. It became BB only around 1984.

That's about all the info I could dig up on this gun. Why you might ask am I posting about a Daisy 188? What's the big deal about it? Nothing as far as airguns go. But this particular model happens to be the first airgun I ever owned. I don't know what became of the original gun I purchased back in 1980 but I got this one from a nice gentleman on the Canadian Airgun Forum.

When I got this gun in my hands again it really brought back memories of my childhood. I remember saving up my money back then and when I had enough, my mom taking me down to TG&Y to buy it and some BBs. I opened it up on the ride home and started loading it with BBs in the backseat with mom driving us back home. Once there, I ran to our backyard and grabbed an aluminum soda can from the trash and set it up out in the yard. I loaded a BB, pulled down on the cocking lever, took aim at the can from about 30 feet and squeezed the trigger. Miss! LOL Well, what did you expect? I had never shot a pistol before. I loaded another BB, pulled down on the cocking lever, took aim at the can and squeezed the trigger. Ding! OWWWW! What happened? The BB hit the rim of the soda can and bounced right off, flew back at me and hit me right in my eyebrow. That sucks. Well, could have been worse, 1 inch lower and I'm a cyclops. Lesson learned.

So that's why I posted about this gun. Because it has a story attached to it for me. Hope you had a good chuckle at my expense! :)

Be safe and have fun shooting!

Solution to a common problem

I've heard a lot of stories about guys losing the tiny ball bearing and spring safety parts from their Crosman 22XX/13XX guns when they do some mods to the trigger. I have yet to lose either and I have assembled/disassembled my guns MANY times now. Here is why I haven't lost any so far.

When you want to work on your trigger, remove the entire grip frame from the air tube while holding the gun in the upright position. It's only 2 screws that hold it on to the action so it's simple to remove. This one extra step and you will never lose one again due to it flying out of the grip frame once you remove the cover. Once you have the grip frame off you will see the top of the safety spring with the ball being underneath the spring. Cup your hand over the spring and tilt the frame upside down and out slide the spring and ball, gently into your hand. To reassemble place the ball and spring in the little slot on top of the frame, once the cover is on the frame and you are ready to reassemble. Attach the grip frame back on to the tube with the 2 screws while holding the frame to the air tube.

I have yet to lose one using this method and it's only one extra step to do it. I hear of guys using dabs of grease and stuff to hold them in place, but why bother to put any gunk in there when you can easily remove the frame and take the tension off the spring? Easy solution and it definitely works.

Now go do those trigger mods and don't worry about that little ball and spring anymore!