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Air guns for indoor winter practice

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alemonkey

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Joined
Nov 22, 2007
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1,678
Location
Lincoln, NE
I'd like to see some air gun porn along with any backstops you might have made for indoor practice. With the blizzard here I'm getting cabin fever pretty bad. I haven't made it to the range in a while and I have some scrap wood around so I'm going to build a backstop today. I'm heading to Loewes today to pick up some duct seal to stop the pellets. Has anyone else built one like this?
 
I recall seeing at least one thread on this subject either here, or on the CMP forums. I searched for it, but "air" is too short to be included in the search, so I got a bazillion hits on "rifle".

The CMP sells one for somewhere around 225 including shipping (the Daisy M853). http://www.thecmp.org/airrifles.htm

I am also interested in this. I haven't bought one yet.

Personally, I would only be interested in shooting targets (not competing or anything) with it, and would love one with good iron sights to help me shooting with irons, but don't want to spend $200.

Good luck, and if you find some good deals, I'd appreciate it if you could share them with me.
 
i bought they boys some decent airsoft rifles for indoor/outdoor use. we use them indoors in winter and use a sticky target to collect and not lose any 6mm bb'.s. the guns are really accurate at point of aim. fun shooting and total cost with guns an bbs is cheap!
 
gamo makes a nice setup for 150 with the scope...most spring piston air rifles whether break barrel or wit a fixed barrel and a charging lever will run anywhere from 110-600 for ones not built specifically for competition...i have a gamo big cat and i love it, works great for targets and the occasioal rabit at 1000fps...airsoft are fun...best part you can play with full auto without a license/permit with an airsoft
 
Just picked up 10 lbs of duct seal from Lowes to use as a backstop. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to go out to the cold garage and cut some wood or wait until tomorrow.

Come on people, I want some airgun porn! I just have an el cheapo Chinese B3 springer. Nothing fancy.
 
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I built a trap using duct seal and it work wonderfully.
My main pellet rifle is a Sheridan Silver Streak, a classic American pneumatic rifle. for plinking in the garage 2-3 pumps is all thats needed. Its a lot easier on the arm then the 1000 fps break barrel springer I have and not nearly as hold sensitive.
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A couple of old Crosman .22s. I have had the 140 rifle since the 1950s, the handgun was my grandfathers and I don't know how old it is.

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Here's a little airgun porn for you. Most of these are homebuilds. I've got some nice European stuff too, but no pictures of those.


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On top is my daughters Crosman 2260. It's the original stock, just cut down and reshaped with the cheekpiece raised. It's got a Boss valve in it, Mac1 breech and B&A bulk kit. In hot weather it develops close to 20 fpe. Below that is a stock rocker safety Sheridan from the 60's and on the bottom is a .25 cal QB78 PCP conversion. When I got that one it was literally beat to s**t. The only reason I paid anything for it was because it had a nice .25 Lothar Walther barrel on it. Aside from that, you really wouldn't believe how hammered it was.

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A Crosman 2240 PCP conversion with a Quackenbush .25 cal barrel/breech.

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On top is a QB78 with a homemade stock running on 1500 psi HPA. Below that is the same Crosman pistol. Below that is the .25 QB before I converted it to PCP and painted it. If you look closely, you can see the charred stock where the prior owner tried to solder the barrel to the gas tube using a blow torch, (he didn't remove the stock first!). I'd already done some major repairs to it at this point. And on the bottom is a refinished KL3B Fast Deer with the barrel chopped. It used to be you could get those shipped to your door for $33.
 
This is the one i own
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Dont know if they make them anymore beeman gs1000 3-9x32 scope combo
 
Very nice elmerfudd, I've been thinking about trying my hand at some airgun modding. I know there's a lot you can do to the Chicom B3's to make them perform better.

I just finished up my duct seal trap. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to try it out though since I've had a couple of glasses of wine.
 
When it comes to modifying airguns, I think the QB's are more rewarding than the B3's. They cost about 3.5 times as much, but they're still well under $100 and the skies the limit with how much you choose to modify them. I get 50 fpe out of that .25 QB and it will put all the pellets in a 2" circle at 50 yards. That's not real impressive accuracy, but I doubt many B3's could equal it.

Don't let me talk you out of getting one though. At $20 each you definitely get your moneys worth and then some. It's just that no matter how much you modify them you're still working with a very primitive trigger, (the trigger is the sear that holds back the piston), and it doesn't matter how much you polish it, it's never going to be better than mediocre. Also, when you're dealing with a $20 gun barrel quality can be lacking.

It costs a little bit more to build up a Crosman 22xx than a QB, but they have a lot of potential too. If I were planning on spending some money and doing a lot of mods I would probably choose a Crosman.
 
Who makes the QB's? I'm not familiar with them. I already do have a B3 - it is what it is, cheap Chinese junk but it was worth the $20 or so that I paid for it. I like to tinker so I'll probably tear it down one of these days.

I'm getting a Crosman 2300T pistol from my in-laws for Christmas this year, so I'll have at least one good quality air gun. I'm going to keep that stock so I can compete in the IHMSA production class matches at our club.

Edit: Google is my friend...apparently the QB's are another Chinese model. I might have to look into that.
 
I tried out the trap and it works great. I just threw together a simple box out of a 1x12, so it's about 12x12 by 2" deep. I stuck 10lbs of duct seal in it and taped an 8x12 target to to the frame, and I couldn't be happier. There is absolutely no sound when the pellet hits the trap, so practicing is extremely quiet. Pellets from my B-3 only penetrate maybe 1/4" at 5 meters.

I need to try some decent quality pellets in this rifle and try tuning it now. The pellets I'm using are the same Chinese junk as the rifle, and just looking at them with the naked eye you can see a lot of them aren't even round. I've noticed the worst of them nearly always end up as a flyer.

Anyone have a link to some good instructions for tuning a B-3? I believe mine is the B-3F.
 
Generally tuning Chinese spring guns involves smoothing out all the sharp and rough edges inside the gun, polishing the surface of the trigger sear, polishing the ends of the mainspring where they contact and lubing the main spring with a good quality moly grease or something like James Maccari's Black Tar. More advanced tunes might involve honing the cylinder, buttoning the piston, replacing the mainspring and making custom spring guides and piston seals.

The QB 78 is just a Chinese copy of a Crosman 160, but with scope rails added. They're a CO2 gun, generally about $80 and they come stock with a fully adjustable trigger that can be set down to a matter of ounces. They're also one of those guns like the 10/22, that people buy with the intention of tearing them apart and building them up. The inside guts are very similar to your 2300.

I like the Crosman 22xx design a little more than that of the QB, but the QB needs a lot fewer parts to make a nice shooter out of. Your 2300T really is a pretty nice pistol though and it already has a lot of stuff most people have to add later, like a steel breech and adjustable trigger. Just keep in mind that temperatures really play hell with velocity when it comes to CO2. I shot a 2260 once in freezing weather and you could literally see the pellets coming out of the barrel. In warm weather that gun shot at 600 fps, but I doubt those pellets were going more than 200 fps.
 
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I used to shoot this one in my basement for years. Exceptionally accurate and reliable. I tried to put at least 500 rnds a week down it offhand and 250 prone and 250 kneeling when I was working on my position shooting.

I found that you could get a big 20 lb pile of modeling clay, flatten it out and form a box to tack your targets in it. I sheet of 4x4 ft 3/4 plywood at an angle behind it will deflect any pellets into the floor.
 
I love airguns; I have a copy of the old walther p38 ww2, then I have a Chinese wood pistol, then I have a --- that's right-- a Daisy red ryder; lots of fun. sLOsh it around, by adding a ton of b.b.'s into the resevoir- seems like it will shoot forever.
and a Nice collector's type red stocked Dale Earhardt model of a lever type pump up rifle, with firefly sites, and heavy tapered front end. that rifle is very accurate. I think next I will have to get a Benjamin Pcp type...
 
Mine is a Beeman model 400 which is the same as a Dianawerk model 75. These were the competitors to the Feinwerkbau (SP?) 300 series. The rifle is a sidelever springer with dual opposed pistols so zero recoil and the barrel and frame does not move like the 300 series.

I used to shoot 3 position Air Rifle as a kid and competed fairly heavily. The rifle is exceptionally accurate. At 10m, it will put 10 shots through the same hole off the bench. That hole will not allow an unsized pellot through it is so small.

The trigger is 1.5 onz and a two stage. It breaks perfectly and is 9 way adjustable (front back, right left, up down, angle right/left, weight, preload and follow through off the top of my head.

I have shot it well over 100,000 times and used to try and shoot 1000 shots a week. 500 offhand, 250 prone and 250 kneeling. You had to practice every night to stay competitive.

I used to set up lifesavers (the candy) at 10 m and try and shoot through the center hole without breaking them. The goal was to see how many in a row before you broke it. Lots of fun!

As an aside, that is just the rifle. I don't have pictures of the palm rest, diopter sights, additional weights, slings/stops and shooting coat.
 
That's a really nice rifle.

I used my new trap again tonight. I'm really loving this, it's scratching that itch that occurs when I can't get to the range. I'm going to try to practice my positions too, but probably not as much as you did! I want to try my hand at service rifle competition this year so this should help me a lot.
 
Ruger AirHawk is not a bad way to go. I got mine under the 2 bill threshold you stated. It has very nice Iron sights, although my tired eyes need a scope. And along that line be sure to get a scope that is rated for air rifles... as the recoil is different from powder burners.

KKKKFL
 
Can the gents here who know how to make a trap out of duct seal tell us more?
 
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