Hector's Airgun Blog

Upgrading the Venerable Slavia ZVP

6/23/2026

Courtesy of our friendly legal counsel:

Disclaimer:
Modifications made to this pistol were performed by an experienced professional airgunsmith.
And, proved safe in THIS gun.
No warranties are implied nor extended.
We have no control of what you do on your own.
If you do decide to make ANY modification to an airgun, be conscious of which elements are under force or pressure and realize that, even a "little pre-compression" or as little as 10 BAR's CAN cause SERIOUS bodily harm.

Again: Be careful! You are the only guardian of your health and safety.

Among the many things that CZ has built at the plant in Brno, now in the Czech Republic, or Czechia under the current map naming convention, I am sure there are rarer things than the ZVP.

The ZVP had a relatively short life (1960 to 1970), being superseded by newer/more sophisticated models.
Reputedly, most of the 150k specimens built were sold to the USA.... go figure.

Now, being "un-sophisticated" is not necessarily bad, it's simply a historical fact.

In the case of the ZVP, being unsophisticated, does NOT mean being coarse, or unrefined.
It is, as a matter of fact, a VERY well made pistol.

Well made, of solid materials and simple design, everyone says they are "built like a tank", but I don't agree. Yes they are solid, and robust, and somewhat "thick around the waist" if you catch my drift. But they are well made, nicely finished; like a simple, hardworking, honest to goodness, country girl.

A few shooters have reported MV's in the 350's (fps), with some undefined pellet, I found that, without dieseling, they can come close, but they are not powerhouses.

And here comes the trick question:

¿How can you run a leather sealed airgun without some dieseling?

Well, the answer lies in two aspects:

1.- The lube you choose needs to have a very high flash point because, to "diesel" the liquid needs to be vaporized and then ignited under pressure to close the "Diesel cycle". So, making sure the leather seal works with modern, high flashpoint lubricants is one aspect. Before we move forward, I have to say that I STRONGLY disadvise trying to use Silicone based synthetic olis. It is almost impossible to really find out what "silicone" is in there, and some silicones will degrade molecularly under pressure and heat (both conditions available in a spring-piston airgun's compression chamber) into Silica and its oxides, both are well known abrasives. So, USE TEFLON or Hydrotreated petroleum distillates based lubricants, mixed with natural lubricants in any re-build / resurrection project.

2.- The second aspect is a powerplant design that ensures maximal energy transfer in a very short barrel.
ZVP's barrels are 7¼" long and the stroke is barely 2½" in a 1" chamber bore (approx). So, the powerplant needs to deliver a fast de-compression of the spring and MUST keep all elements in line, avoiding chatter and all the energy losses that come from out of line movements.

To take down a ZVP, I would recommend making a "holding tool".
The ZVP is too short for most spring compressors and it DOES have a substantial amount of pre-load.
So, unless you have a personal assistant, or have three hands, it is best to create a specialized "vise" to hold the action for disassembly, repairs, assemblies and tests.

It is nothing too complicated to make, just two blocks of wood that can hold the rear end while you unscrew the action-closing cap in a solid enough manner that noting goes amiss.

So this is what I made:

The holding block was made using two blocks of wood, then drilled at the center and then a boring bar-turned fly-cutter was used to reach the right diameter

The bore in the holder should be only 1.5-2 mm's smaller than the ZVP's cap.

The disassembly itself is fairly straightforward.

Start by removing the grips side-screws, use a properly fitting screwdriver. NOTHING says more about a quality, well-cared gun than perfect screw slots.

Then you will need to remove the grip slotted nut.

Use the proper screwdriver! Using pliers or knocking the nut with a chisel sideways is NOT the way to treat a gentle lady like the ZVP.

Then you will need to remove the trigger guard screw. Again use the proper screwdriver.

That should allow you to pull the action out of the grips.

Now, it is time to disassemble the action itself.

Be careful with a very, very, small screw at the bottom of the cap.
That very small screw locks the cap in place by diving into a slot, and needs to be undone before attempting to disassemble the pistol's action.

Hold the cap in the holder and slowly turn the gun.
Keep control of the gun at all times because there is quite a pre-load in the spring.

Once you have reached the end of the threads in the cap, then the powerplant can come out:

The inside of the cap has a recess where the guide's thrust washer fits.
Once the spring and guide has come out, you can disengage the barrel from the action by removing the locking screw and the axle screw.

In my "patient" the previous users had tightened too much the forks, so I had to make a shim from 0.002" Stainless steel material. Working with VERY thin material is a challenge, LOL!

With the barrel disengaged, the pins that hold the trigger and the sear can come out. Remember to ALWAYS drift pins from left to right.

With the trigger guard's pin driven out and the trigger and sear out of the way, the cocking linkage can be lifted from the piston's body, the barrel/cocking linkage assembly can be removed, and the piston can be extracted.

Checking the seal, it was not bad at all:

It was a bit dry and needed some cleaning, but apart from that I judged it to be in serviceable condition.

What was NOT in serviceable condition was the compression chamber:

The crud of the centuries!

With some Brake Cleaner, plus some Thinner, Acetone, and then "Simple Green", we got to the bottom :

I still wasn't satrisfied, so I put together a "bottom sanding bar" put some green Scotch Brite on it and polished the face of the compression chamber.

It was time to setup the piston for a resurrection:

The liquid is a 50-50 mixture of Neatsfoot oil and Kobalt Synthetic Air Tool Oil. According to the MSDS, there is no silicones in this oil, and has a high flashpoint (> 350 °F) and an even higher auto-ignition point..Neatsfoot oil is fairly common, just try to get something that has no additives.

The piston stayed in there for 3 days. After which it was cleaned, polished and a new guide system was designed for the piston.

Here is a comparison of the old and the new:

On the old version, the spring has space enough to buckle a little and vibrate, on the new system, the rear guide prevents vibration, while the forward tophat / telescoping portion of the guide grabs the front end of the spring and centers it in the piston.

As the two guides telescope into each other, with the closest possible tolerances, there is no room for the piston or spring to vibrate or chatter during the spring's decompression / Chamber compression cycle.

This is how the spring now enters into the piston:

The re-assembly is just the reverse order.

I am going to replace the pins for spring-pins. At this size (3 mm's) the spring pins are solid enough for the duty performed and they will remain straight, as opposed to the OEM pins that always end up crooked.

Once everyting is said and done, the gun is performing within the original specs:

JSB 7.33 Match.- 297 ± 3 fps
RWS Hobby.- 312 ± 6 fps
RWS Diabolo Basic.- 303 ± 4 fps
H&N Excite 335 ± 3 fps

Hopefully, this gun will keep on shooting for its next 60 years.

;-)

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

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Tommy's Fatal Flaw

6/12/2026

0 Comments

Courtesy of our friendly legal counsel:

Disclaimer:
Modifications made to this rifle were performed by an experienced professional airgunsmith.
And, proved safe in THIS gun.
No warranties are implied nor extended.
We have no control of what you do on your own.
If you do decide to make ANY modification to an airgun, be conscious of which elements are under force or pressure and realize that, even a "little pre-compression" or as little as 10 BAR's CAN cause SERIOUS bodily harm.
These modifications have not been reviewed, nor approved by Webley / Hatsan or any other brand
Again: Be careful! You are the only guardian of your health and safety.

Foreword: A Shakespearean Experience

When I was in 7th grade, my English teacher got us started reading "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare
It was intentional. The girls in the class went head over heels for the romantic parts and the boys were excited by all the swashbuckling and swordfighting that went on.
Almost at the beginning of the school year, Zefirelli's film came out. ROFL!
We made it our business to organize "group viewings" (one of the few ways to get the girsl in OUR class go out with us ;-) )
Of course, our teacher found a way to put into the tests all those parts that were NOT in the movie, ROFL!

And that is how it became obvious to all of us our "fatal flaw".

Our serious shortcoming. Our main defect. We trusted too much the film and some of us paid less attention to the literature behind it.

After the first three quarters, our teacher was kind enough to provide "remedial study hall", during recess, for all.

A true life lesson. Along 8-12th grades, we went on to seriously study MacBeth, Hamlet, and other Classic English works, and learned how to enjoy them.

She was a great teacher.

Since then (and I am talking 1971), this idea of "Fatal Flaw" has played a good role in my life.
"Everything has flaws", "We're all Human", "Perfect is the enemy of Good and Done"; all aphorisms that help us deal with life's challenges are formed at an early age.

So, when I find something that is "afflicted" by a fatal flaw, I look for ways to correct it without making it perfect.
Because things have to be finished, and perfection is a never ending quest.

And a quest this was going to be, LOL!

A friend asked me if I would consider looking at a Webley Tomahawk ("Tommy" for short) that he had obtained at a very good price with a pristine walnut stock and absolutlely no blemishes.

To put it mildly, those three things in the same sentence piqued my interest and I said Yes!

The rifle arrived

Scope was added for testing

Because the stock was in such a pristine condition, my friend was wary of shiping the rifle complete.
I suggested he disassemble it and ship it in a take-down shotgun hard case.
He did so, and the gun arrived.
It was truly in excellent shape, except that it wasn't cocking and I was told it wasn't creating any pressure. It had a super-stout spring. Which was contrary to what I had read about the Tomahawks.
When I disassembled the rifle I found the cause: a badly 'upgraded' gun.
The fact that all the screws were socket type and all made for the same Allen wrench told me that someone had gotten inside the rifle and tried a "full customization".

Hmmm m m m m. . . . . so much for a "very good price" I thought, this was going to take some serious time and time is money.
But let's keep to the track:

Disassembly

The disassembly of the Tommy posed some problems:
First and foremost, ALL the cocking parts' pins were flared at BOTH ends.
There is no way to disassemble without affecting that arrangement.
For a manufacturer to "rivet" the pins on both ends either makes it clear that the product is disposable/hard to service, OR that they want the guns returned to factory for service.
The problem is that the first is not a smart way to sell the product and the second is doomed to failure in a globalized market.
Clearly, when the gun was designed, the idea of "Think Global/ Act Local" had not reached the designers frame of mind.

Now, when you look at the trigger, then the problem is the completely opposite one: pins are just inserted and "glued" in place with grease.
If you clean the trigger, pins fall out all by themselves.

So, disassembly starts by removing all the stock screws (4), then you are left with the whole barrelled action.
The "Muzzle-Brake" is well fit and unobtrusive, there is no rear sight, so the whole can go into the spring compressor.
At the rear of the action there are two closing pins on the block AND there is an additional screw retainer/standoff that acts on the closing block and receives the fourth stock screw.

To prevent the pins in the trigger "unit" from falling out, I taped the whole thing (after having a number of pins fall out in a disconcerting and very obnoxious manner):

Once the gun is in the spring compressor, and the tension has beeen taken up by the compressor, the closing block pins can be pushed out, the trigger "unit" taken out, and then, the screw stand-off/retainer unscrewed to remove the closing block.

The fact that trigger didn't cock was a big issue. I could find no really useful diagram of the trigger assembly and the springs, mostly torsional, had a very peculiar arrangement, so peculiar that I thought that it was impossible for a maker to put a trigger together like that.

The trigger design itself is several thousands years old.
It follows the Chinese triggers for powerful war crossbows.
And it has been used in airguns for MANY years under different names:
HW has the "Rekord", AA puts these triggers in the TX-200 and the ProSport, Walther Sport (before it stopped making spring-piston airguns), put the same design into the LGU and the LGV
So, it's not that design itself is at fault, it is the execution the one that has shortcomings.

Trigger parts arrangement. Note the little holes in the Piston Hook and the Retaining Lever, these holes "anchor" torsional springs.

In the Tomahawk, the piston is stemless, so the trigger has to "lock" the piston's body itself. This requires a VERY substantial (heavy) piston.

In operation it is very simple:

The piston goes back pushed by the cocking linkage pushing the cocking shoe, this pushes the piston hook back, this rotates the piston hook that then pushes down on the retaining lever, and that allows the sear to move up and lock the three parts in place.

To release the shot, the trigger blade (that is screwed into the trigger bar) moves the trigger bar upwards, thereby moving the sear downwards and allowing the retaining lever to release the piston hook.
The piston hook then jumps down under spring torsion and allows the piston to move forwards, thereby compressing the air that flows through the transfer port and propels the pellet.
Simple.
When one of these triggers fails to cock, it is either a broken spring, a missing spring, a bent piece, a damaged piece, or a misassembled piece. In SOME cases, all of the above may happen.

As explained above the problems were that the gun was not cocking and that, when it fired, there was no pressure.
Therefore, at the time of disassembly, I did not pay too much attention to the trigger and focused on the powerplant.

Let's finish the disassembly of the rifle.

In order to get the piston out, you should not "unrivet" the cocking llinkage.
Instead you should look at removing the cocking shoe from the slot.

To do this, you need to disconnect the barrel from the forks, and that is done by removing the barreblock axle screw that needs to have the locking screw removed first.
You need to start by ensuring that you have the right screwdrivers.
British gunmaking is famous for using thin, shallow slots that need to be fit perfectly to the driver or risk damaging the screws.
So, first remove the locking screw:

Now you remove the axle screw:

This allows the barrel and block to be removed from the forks.
There are TWO washers located in "wells" on both sides of the barrel block.
One of them is flat, the other is slightly convex

This ensures that you do not have to "cowboy" tighten the forks to achieve a good friction fit of the barrel to the action.

Once you have removed the barrel/block from the action, the linkage can be extracted and you end up with a free cocking shoe.

Now the piston is free to slide out.

This is what we found:

The piston seal actually just broke into pieces once the piston was out:

Luckily, the piston had not been damaged:

And, the piston showed relatively little use:

One thing that became painfully obvious was that whoever attempted to "pimp" the rifle had used too long screws in the forearm, as the connecting bar was scarrred:

So, the pistion seals were ordered and, in the meantime, I looked at the trigger.

To start with, it is funny that all the parts are shifted to one side.

As I've mentioned when I received the gun, it wasn't cocking, and I found that the springs were not really doing their jobs.

Upon disassembly of the trigger section one part became painfully obvious had had some problems:

This is the safety plate, it is on the other side of the trigger, opposed to all the other moving parts, and, clearly, t had been banged.
So, we corrected that deformation:

The trigger bar was also interesting:

There is a nylon insert between the two trigger adjustment screws.
That insert serves as a "thread-locking"' device that prevents the trigger screws from moving away from their set positions.

After quite some time, I managed to get the trigger back in working mode.

The piston seal had been received and so, it was installed:

The piston was tried in the compression chamber, but there was absolutely no way it would travel the whole stroke.

So we decided to measure the inside of the compression chamber.
We broke out our bore measuring tool and after calibrating it, we proceeded to make some deep measurements:

It was a complete let-down.
The compression chamber measured 27.48 mm's at the "mouth" but only 27.00 at the bottom of the stroke.
There are precious few things a gunsmith can do with a conical chamber.
One is to change the piston seal to an ORing. That will take this difference in stride without loosing compression. But the owner did not want this, so what we did was to increase a LITTLE the frontal slot in the piston and sized the piston VERY carefully:

It took over 10 tries to get it JUST right.

With a "proof" spring (a spring that is designed to test functionality, but delivers 3 ft-lbs, tops), the piston will not go all the way to the bottom.

Was this unexpected? Not really. British literature has labelled these guns as "seal burners" , and with a normal procedure that would be real. With the way we fit the seal, we have given the seal some "room to compress" but not enoug to "set" at the diameter required to travel to the end of the compression chamber. At the same time, the "lipped" design of the seal will still do its job at all points in the compression chamber.
Thanks should go to Jim Maccari at ARH for providing seals with a good fit and made from a great material.

We polished both ends of the piston:

We checked the OEM guide and found it had a peculiar design.
Checking the Titan XS fit guide, we should have used a Titan # 8, but the owner did not want full power, so we opted to use a Titan #10, which is the same spring that is suggested for the TX-200 and the Pro-Sport.
We assembled the gun taking care to glue flat washers to the forestock's screw wells:

We had already "slugged" the barrel and it had been clear that the barrel was a bit oversized, AND had NO CHOKE.
The British Airgun Pundits asign to this the issue of "seal burning", but I am not so sure about that.
It's a "largeish" bore and unless you have access to pellet heads in the 4.53 range, most pellets are loose.
With or without a choke, this is a problem waiting to happen. The "rail speed" that the piston can achieve without proper resistance from the pellet in the rifling will burn some seals.
So, with this knowledge at hand, we tested pellets with a known wide skirt and with "big heads"
Just to show a picture of the pellets' pass-throughs:

From left to right: H&N Baracuda Green, JSB 8.44/4.53, JSB GTO

Do notice that, while all the pellets have rifling marks at the head, there are virtually no tell-tale ring at one of the skirts, that tells us that the skirts are not completely obturating.
The H&N BG shows a SLIGHT ring, as well as the GTO, but the JSB does not

In this case, one of the possibilties is to use a very lightly constructed pellet, that will obturate under pressure.

On the left, a fired JSB 8.9, on the right an unfired version of the same pellet.

Do note at the very base of the fired pellet how the skirt DOES show the obturation ring.

Chrono MV's showed that, while not the most efficient pellet, the JSB Xpress did show higher consistency:

QYS 8.49 grs.- 788 ± 4 fps
H&N B.G..- 812 ± 7 fps
JSB GTO.- 860 ± 5 fps
JSB Xact 4.53.- 782 ± 4 fps
JSB Xpress.- 793 ± 2 fps

Using this information, we tested at 15 yards:

Not bad for a break barrel, huh?

And so, the gun was packed and shipped, and the owner and the gun lived happily ever after.
.
.
.
Hmmmm, nah!

After only a few shots, the gun stopped working altogether.

"Double, double, boil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!"
(Cue in Evil Witch laughter)

The 2nd Round

The rifle arrived back in one piece.

I took it apart and realized that the trigger had malfunctioned.
Do note that in the Tommy, the trigger "unit" can be taken out without disassembling the powerplant.
I happily disassembled and put together the trigger properly and got it working.
Shot a test group.

Frustration should be the name of this picture:

First shot smack in the middle, and then, all flyers? LOL!

Not a group, more like a shotgun pattern.

The owner also said that he thought the shot cycle to be a bit "harsh", so, we needed to do something

We disassembled the gun and this is what came out:

Yup!
The Patented OEM guide had torn out and broken:

We talked it over and we agreed to create a telescopic Rear Guide-Front Guide/Top Hat arrangement.
A rear guide was turned from Delrin incorporating a Teflon thrust washer, and a Telescoping Front Guide/TopHat was turned from aluminum.

Not the finished product, but you get the idea.

The whole thing was fitted and tested, and we now directed our attention to the trigger, this is what we found:

Apologies for the shakiness of the video. It is hard to hold the trigger in one hand, the camera on the other, AND trigger the trigger LOL!

Still I hope you can see that the Retaining Lever goes completely out of place rotating far more than it should

This is where the Retaining Lever should stop

This is where it ends when uncontained

And THIS is the Tommy's "Fatal Flaw".

I do not know if something is out of place or missing from THIS gun.
It may well be that whoever did the "stoning" to smooth the trigger pull shortened a part too much, or perhaps this stock is overly "ample" in the trigger well. There are many possibilities.
It is clear that the whole architecture depends on something that is not there.

When you put together the gun this is how the area looks like:

IF the intention was to stop the retaining lever from going overhead completely by using the stock well, then it is hard to justify such a large tolerance in the stock well.
IF the Stand-off / 4th stock screw was supposed to keep the retaining lever from going haywire, then the spec was wrongly drafted.
In any case, the "fix" was not as difficult as it would seem.
A simple shim to fill the hollow was all that was needed.

3 mm's thick, cut to size, PVC shim

It worked like that, but it rattled, LOL!
So I glued it to the stock's well:

The gun went back together without a hitch, and we proceeded to test again with a number of pellets:

SURPRISE!

Yes, it was a BIG surprise.
Same pellets, same shooter, same barrel, same spring; just the two piece telescoping guide.
30-40 fps more
10-13% more energy at the muzzle.
AND, more important, the energy level is more or less the same across different pellet weights.

It is also worthy of note that these were the first 100 shots for the new powerplant. So, some "settling-in" is expected as the parts "wear themselves in together" and the uniformity of the MV's and ME's should go back to whatever was "normal" for this gun.

It would have been interesting to test for accuracy the AA Fld Hvy, but, alas, the project had to end.
Gun was packed and shipped back to its owner.

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

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The 2026 Sherwood Forest GP; in pictures

6/5/2026

2 Comments

The world is in Turmoil.
We cannot deny that.
International Relations have not been as stressed as they are now for the last 90 years.
Those of us that remember the "Cold War" and the "Cuban Missile Crisis" for sure remember that the EXTENT of the stress and strain was different.
Still, life needs to go on and we should not worry about things we cannot control.
AND, we should still find joy in the simple things.

Perhaps someone will say that there is NOTHING simple about Field Target, ROFL!
AND I would say: "It's a different kind of simple"
;-)
After all, if you put the pellet CLEANLY into the hole, the faceplate will fall.

Simple ¿no?

As many other sports and games, it takes 5 minutes to understand, and a lifetime to master.

It is in this context of simplicity and with an open mind that I started my trip to Steubenville.
A few days before I had received a concerned call from Keith Walters, the "Head Honcho" of the match asking:
-"I have you here as shooting 'hunter', is this a mistake? You ALWAYS shoot WFTF!"
- Nope! I laughed; I am taking a break from WFTF
And that, finally, sunk into my mind. I WAS shooting HUNTER!

:-O LOL!

It also made me think of how lucky we are to have people like ALL the MD's and ALL the people that help setup, take-down, repair/maintain targets, sponsor, or, in any other way, support FT!

As I always say, the BEST thing about FT is the PEOPLE in it.

So, as the Thursday came and I had already packed and setup the car for the trip, at 15:00 hrs I started the trek to Ohio.
Now, from Maryland, it is supposed to be a 4½ hrs drive, but with the traffic jams in different places, plus the extensive roadworks in PA, the trip took almost 5½ hrs.
Still, with all the complications, my little Golf TDi did not disappoint:

Let's see:
255 miles door to door.
At 50.1 GPM=> 5.1 gals
at $5.03/gal => $25.60
Not too shabby . . .

Getting there on Thursday, allowed me a good night's sleep and next morning, I was at the range.

Only ONE shooter!
So I took advantage and shot the breeze a little with Keith.

The sighting in range was very well set, lots of paper to sight on at all common distances, and some steel here and there just to provide some "musical feedback" (if you ask any FT shooter, he will tell you that the pellet striking steel, when the steel gives way, sounds differently than when the steel holds its ground. And that the sound of the steel giving way to the pellet is, literally "music to his ears") LOL!

AND, the sighting in range also tested scopes.
Anyone having problems with the orientation of the light would have problems somewhere in the Woods/"The Hollow" course.
Luckily, between my "Secret Sunshade" and a short sunshade extension tube it worked perfectly and I had absolutely no problem resolving the pellet holes out to 45 yards.
The 50 and 55 ones were a bit harder because they were in the deep shade and the backing was kraft paper cardboard. But still, not impossible. We had a bright sun and the pellet holes at times became like little "stars" shining through.
As the morning advanced, more and more shooters arrived. Especially those that were to shoot the Pistol course/Match

At the appointed time, the Pistol Shooter's Meeting was held:

And once they were off and running, we could use, again, the sighting in range:

From left to right: Doug Vinson, Ken Hughes and Mark Welker

With the Pistol Match done, and all the people, even those from far away, sighted in, we adjourned for dinner.

Day One:

Next morning, everyone was there , LOL!

Second from left to right, John Cerne

From right to left: Leo Gonzales, and David D'Agostino

And after the shooters' meeting, we all walked to the assigned course to start the match.
I was squadded with my good friend Brian Wagner. We shoot together at Palmyra (PA), and he is the Person in charge of the Looooong Range FT matches there.
We started on lane 4 of "The Hollow" .
As is customary in these reports, each picture gives an idea of the lane in general, and the next one gives some detailed view of the target placement.
I will NOT post a picture of EVERY lane, just the ones that were memorable:

Lane 5:

Lane 6 seen standing, Brian Wagner, Hunter Piston Winner for the Match, at the gate:

This is my POV sitting on the bumbag, crossed sticks (note the high tech) on the ground:

And why it was memorable, this picture is at 5X:

This picture is at 29X:

I did manage to hit it once, AND, for the next day, the target had been raised with blocks for the WFTF shooters that mostly shoot from bags.

Lane 7:

Lane 8:

Right target:

Left Target:

Lane 9:

Lane 10:

Can't see the far target? That's because it is over in the next county:

This lane had a farther and a farthest target, LOL! In a completely different direction:

Lane 13:

I THINK this one was in lane 14, LONG shot across an "avenue" running diagonal.
Add a whiff of wind and "poof!" disappearing pellet.

Lane 15 ended the march, and it was time to take a hike back to lane 1, which was the Offhand lane.
Last two lanes for us, were again uphill lanes. Too confused and kerfluffled after the misses in the long targets I concentrated on the shooting, sorry, there are no pictures.
Brian was kind enough to send me three videos, I am very grateful to him and glad to be able to include them here:

After finishing the Match, I went back to the most difficult targets and discovered that it had been VERY NAÏVE on my part to expect the trajectory to be the same here as back home.
Put some corrections into the app and made sure I was ready for the next day (or so I thought, LOL!)

Day Two

We had our early shooters' meeting:

I was squadded with Jeff Farr and we started at Lane 13:

It was a bit frustrating to see my short shots landing to the RIGHT of the KZ. Perfect elevation, just at 3 O'Clock.
Hmmm, not good. Clearly something was not qite right.
Compensated and got the monkey , at least once. That darned monkey is elusive!

After Lane 14, we only had lane 15 and then we hiked back to Lane 1:

Lane 2:

Do note there are FOUR targets visible in the following picture!
Which ones would YOU shoot?
Well . . . the ones to shoot were the near Crow, and the far Gopher!
Always make sure you have identified the target you need to shoot next.
An easy way is to follow the strings.

You were able to find the near Crow, Right?
What is not readily appreciable is that the wind played more than one trick:

Time your shot.

Lane 4:

Lane 5:

Could you find the near Turkey?

Lane 6 was the offhand:

Managed to miss all of them!

WHY?

Because I didn't take the time to "craft the shot". Tried to shoot in an unbalanced, unnatural position, all my shots went low.

FT has this way of "cutting you down to size" LOL!

Anyway, Lane 8 saw us back out in the open:

With two wdely separated shots:

The bunny on the right:

AND The Rat on the left?

Nope! there is Crow back there in the shadows, this picture taken two lanes down shows the position in relation to the rat:

Lane 9 were two "aerial" targets:

The Crow almost obscuring the far target:

The Dragon just peeks out behind the Crow's post and the leaves that, with the wind, came in and out of the KZ:

Lane 10:

Antelope on the right:

And NOW, we take the rat!

Lane 11:

A Tank and a Bunny.
It doesn't look like, but that bunny is as far away as the rules allow.

Lane 12:

A plane:

And a Fox:

It was a bloodbath! LOL!

Didn/t even break 50%!

Ah, well . . . live and learn.

As is my custom, I went back to the hardest targets and came to the conclusion that it was all my fault (not a difficult one to come to, ROFL!).

On the offhand lane, taking a proper stance and ensuring I was in the NSP ; 4 shots, 4 hts, on the dragon, tested the sensitivity of the trajectory to wind, taking shots with and without wind: 7 out of 10.
My only relief is that after many years of shooting WFTF, I am a "scaredy cat" about wind.
Need to practice more and establish a better protocol.
Of course, shooting in a "bowl" is complicated. At times my windicator was telling me 3 mph L-R, and I was seeing about 5 mph R-L at the target.
I also need to recover some of the practice I had reading mirage. It does require a special handling in crafting the shot and perhaps too much time,but it is worth exploring methods to use it.

By the end of the day (and the Match), these were the standings:

You can see that there were ties that needed to be "shot off"
There was a three way tie in Pistol
A two way tie in Hunter PCP for 2nd and 3rd
And a THREE way tie for 3rd in WFTF PCP

After lunch, Keith officiated the shoot-offs for Pistol and Hunter PCP, but Tyler Patner took over for the WFTF PCP one.

Shootoffs are ALWAYS thrilling. Regardless which rules you use, AAFTA has a rule that deviates slightly from the WFTF one. And that is OK.

The shootoffs were set near the sighting in range:

From left to right: Keith Walters, Doug Vinson, and Bill Rabbit

They all put down the near targets

Similarly, all the long targets fell down

So, the shooters were instructed to kneel

In this round Doug Vinson missed his kneeler and so, Bill R and Keith W went on to the long targets

After three rounds of both of them missing, Bill R scored his shot.

What a Match!

Very well setup and VERY well run.

It's impossible to prevent the deer from taking the strings away when they roam the field, as it is impossible to prevent some critters from chewing off the strings.
While it is true that electronically remote controlled target re-setters would solve these two problems it is also true that strings have more than one function and that it is part of the FT 'lore' to learn all the uses of the strings.

Am I enjoying shooting "Hunter" ?
Yes, by all means.
I will make small modifications to my rig, so that when I go back to WFTF, the experiences will carry over.
There are bigger changes in store when we seriously start planning on going to Canada 2027, as that WFTC's will be held in the Canmore area, between 3,000 and 4,000 FASL.
I am pleasantly surprised about the performance of the Vector Continental at 16X.
If you pay attention to what you are doing, it WILL resolve well the differences between 52 and 54 and between 53 and 55 yards.
The Thermal variations are proving manageable.
MOST of my misses were lip hits at 03:00 or 09:00 O'Clock of the KZ and so, my main issue is the wind.
I could see the pellet hit the faceplate, and so the shot cycle is smooth enough.
Rifle likes to be held firmly, which is, by far, my preference.
And the $5.00 High Tec crossed, sticks performed better than any other bi-pod tested.
Bum bag is still the same.
So, mostly, what this exercise demonstrates is that I am getting old, ROFL! I can no longer hold as steady without the stick as I used to.

I have purposefully omitted the social part of the event, to keep the entry within reason. I CAN tell you it was a BLAST!
Raffle was fun, and dinners with great friends at Naples, and LongHorn were memorable.

DO PLAN on going to the Sherwood Forest GP of 2027 (hint, hint.- It wil be the Nationals, LOL)!

Staying at Steubenville OH is a bit expensive but Weirton WV is just across the river, so that is something to keep in mind.

For those that say that these long range trips to shoot FT are "expensive", well I say that "expensive" is a relative term. To put come concrete numbers, this is a typical expense for ME:

Hotel.- $ 324
Gas.- 50
F&D.- 100
Match.- 100
Total .- $ 574

I stayed 4 nights (Thursday through Monday), so if you stay 2 nights, you can halve this
If you split the gas and the driving with someone, you can achieve the same I do.
If you do not order the most expensive desert in the menu ;-) , you can reduce the F&D item
And so on, we each have our ways to make it work.

Still, probably, this is about what you need to budget for Nationals 2027, or something close to this, as Nationals do require more prizes and more elaborate food, plus more preparations at the Match/Course level, so you can and should expect a higher Match Fee.
So, save $50-60 per month, make it a plan to go with your buddies, and you will have succeeded in your planning.

Remember that half of placing is just being there!

Hope you enjoy, keep well and shoot straight!

HM

2 Comments

The peculiar story of a "twice abandoned" D52

5/26/2026

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A gun can tell a story . . .

IF you "listen".

Sometimes the stories are fun, and good, and even glorious.

Sometimes they are sad.

This one is one of the latter, but I hope it will have a good ending.

So, let's get started:

Back in May of 1993 a gun was made at the old "DIANAWERKE" factory in Rastatt:

The action was one with the "shared model designation" ones. It could be mounted in a simpler stock, or it could be mounted in an elegant, slender and checkered stock of slightly longer length of pull and montecarlo cheek riser.
One of the first "nods" from the industry to the increase usage of riflescopes in airguns.
Also, a continuation of a trend that was caused by a legal change in the German laws that restricted anything above 7.5 Joules (5.5 ft-lbs) to the realm of the "firearms licensed holder" decades ago.

We're talking of the 48/52 models:

The world back then still valued highly the use, and profficiency of use, of the Iron Sights.
Out to 30 meters/yards, the Iron sights are more than adequate. Proper use of the right hold for the target in question (whether paper, or feather/fur), will give usable accuracy and precision.
With practice and dedication, it is not that hard to be VERY accurate out to 50 meters as the, now defunct, "Olympic Free Pistol" discipline showed.
With a clear knowledge of the different "tastes" on both sides of the Atlantic, DIANA decided to offer a user selectable rear notch.
Using a spring loaded plunger to hold the rear sight plate in place, the user can select between two shapes (Square and U) and two sizes (small and large).
In practice, you simply push on the holding plunger from the front, and rotate the leaf till the desired notch is in place.

A steel ball under the graduated elevation bridge gives detectable "clicks" and prevents accidental shifting of the sight's position.

There is no spring in this sight because the whole body is made of steel and the forward "fold" acts like a flat spring.
Do note that the sight is adjustable for elevation and drift.

The front sight is also adjustable. To allow for the wide variance in pellet weights and power levels, the front sight can move forward and backwards along a dovetail ramp:

The front "korn" (grain) is metal and could be filed by the user to different configurations.

Overall, the DIANA 52 provides the shooter with a good platform. Powerful enough for American tastes and some hunting (up to Groundhogs/RockChuck, O'Posssa, Badger, and other animals of similar size), and refined enough for European tastes that dwell a lot more on target shooting at rural / weekend properties:

With a compact scope, it is quite a capable rifle, though modern trends towards large objective lenses and high mounts will make for the need for an additional cheek riser.

So, given all the advantages and the 20-22 ft-lbs power level, unkown up to the release of the 48-52 family, why was the gun abandoned the first time, and when did it happen?

Well a bit of forensics showed that the last time this gun was shot must have been, at least, 35-40 years ago.
How can we know that? Why can we be so sure?

Well, look at this picture:

On the left, the pellet that was recovered from the chamber of the rifle.

In the middle a "push through" pellet and on the right a pellet that was shot into a "soft catch" tube.

The "Flying Ashcan" pellet was discontinued by Crosman around the year 1990, the Premier having been introduced in 1992 and the pellet recovered was not even engraved in the rifling, meaning that somewhere along the cocking/loading/closing cycle, the gun was badly operated and broken.
It is a fairly common occurence that people think of airguns as toys. SO, they cannot be that complicated to operate, ¿right?
Well, no, wrong. If you do not read the manual and do not release the protection DIANA placed so that in the worst case scenario of something failing while you were loading the pellet you would still have both your thumbs, and tried to close the action, the cocking linkage bends.
Yes, you may straighten it, but next time you try to cock, it will break.
That cocking linkage is helping you pull back more than 300# of force. So, yes, once bent, it will break.

This is what caused the first "rejection" the pellet abandoned in the chamber, the gun relegated to a closet for almost 40 years till someone found it and sold it for cheap.

And this is how it arrived to our workshop, with no cocking lever linkage between the cocking lever and the compression chamber.

A fairly simple repair, it was quoted as Labour + cost of parts, and the then owner agreed.
Once done, we had a problem.
The total cost should have been something like $100. Except for the fact that, due to the change in import regulations, a $35 purchase from Germany became a $164 total bill.
And it is NOT about the Tariffs. People insist on this, but this is not what is killing the micro and small businesses that were starting to rely on the importation of PARTS AND COMPONENTS to "MAKE in America", finished goods.
Tariffs amounted only to about $10, the rest of the $129 were fees and more fees from the logistics company.

And THIS is what caused the SECOND rejection.

Instead of crying over spilt milk, I offered to buy the gun "non-functional / for parts", and restore it.

I turned a CCA/Composite guide for the OEM spring, added a tophat, and proceeded to tune it a little.

It proved quite a capable gun:

Easily capable of "minute of squirrel head" out to 30 yards.

It has the scuffs and marks of any gun that is this old. Some of them clearly from simple handling.

It wil be shipped in an edge-reinforced cardboard box with contour cut foam spacers:

I do hope this fine example of German Gunmaking craft will find a good home.

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

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FTRPA's FT season 2026; Off with a great start

5/19/2026

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Falls Township Rifle and Pistol Association has been hosting FT matches for a long time.
In fairly recent times, the responsibility passed to John Stellwag and he has done a fantastic job juggling two different disciplines in his dutes as head of the "Adult Airgun" scene at FTRPA.

This last 17th of May, saw the first FT match of the 2026 season, and it was a great match.

Not too hard. With some challenges, but eminently "shootable". I would rate the "pucker factor" at around 7/10

I don't have official numbers, but it felt like a TDR of around 26-27, so, not hard.

Still . . . nobody cleaned it. LOL!

There were, IIRC, 16 or 17 entries (between Rifle and Pistol), and we all had a blast.

Winds were very low (though NOT non-existent) and the main challenges were the dappled light spots of the forest canopy, and the heat. Temp in my scope rose to 97° F while in the sun (it only took a couple of minutes), and went down to 86 °F while in the shade and in the cooling breezes of the lake.

I had a great day, as I was finally able to track correctly the temp shift of my scope, I am using a Vector Optics Continental 6-30X56 FFP @ 16X, and it ranges real well. Taking a look at my temp strip just before taking the shot and correcting for that specific temperature gave good results.

But, enough talking! I know that y'all want to see the pictures. So, let's get the show on the road!

As any good match, it all starts with the MANDATORY, Shooters' Safety Meeting:

I was assigned to start at lane 8 (the farthest down the line) because I was shooting "solo".
Yes, it is a bit annoying, but on the other hand, it did allow me the time to get pictures and track the temp. So, good learning opportunity!
As usual, we present the lane and then the detail of the targets:

Do you like my High Tech Shooting Sticks? LOL!

Clearly presented targets well within the alignment requirements.

Now we walk all the way back and look for lane 10, which was the offhand lane:

A detailed look at the targets:

Now, I'm hearing some of you shouting: "You skipped a lane!, You skipped a lane!, You forfeit all your points!"

Hmmm, well, yes, I skipped a lane, BUT under the direct instructions of the MD. Without questioning, without doubt. The MD is there for the welfare of everyone, so his decisions are not to be taken lightly. Sometimes we may not agree with them, but we all need to abide by them.

Once the lane 10 was done (missed 50% of my standers, :-( )

It was time to shoot lane 9:

Beautiful lane on both sides of the tree (nothing BETWEEN the tree, LOL!)

See if you can find the third target. . . .

Hint:
.
.
.
.
Way back to the right! A challenging shot due to the distance, and also because you had to choose your shooting position well.

From there, we went to lane 1:

This is the long lane at FTRPA. It is also the lane where little wind will create havoc because there is a road back there, JUST before the far target.

Can you see thje road? No?
Well, that is sort of the point.
You need to look for small hints of wind back there because the road behaves like a wind-tunnel, channeling a large volume of wind into a smaller opening, speeds can multiply by themselves easily.

After lane 1, we go to lane 2:

This lane is also long-ish, but it is a lane that tests scopes, this is why:

You see that Black Armadillo, with a dark grey KZ, just resting in the shade?
Well, it is a challenge when the day is bright, you are shooting from a bright spot, the target is in the shade, and there is little contrast between faceplate and KZ.
IF you "click" or have a FFP scope, the solution to the lack of resolution between KZ and faceplate is to reduce the magnification; something that even Hunter shooters can do, as long as when they reset the magnification they do not go past the 16X or immediately lower mark in their scopes.
Reducing the magnification should not affect the POI in a goof quality scope, and in a FFP scope, it will not affect the hold-offs.
I didn't have any problems resolving the KZ from the Faceplate, and that is an advantage of ED glass at the objective lens.
To ME, it is a bit annoying that some of the makers of the "top" scopes for FT are still resisiting the idea of using ED/HD/ULD glass for their objectives, but it is what it is. Caveat Emptor and all that.

After lane 2, we go to lane 3:

And, its detail:

Lane 4 presents the aspect that it is the first lane on the LEFT of the "path", and so, it is partially open to the winds from the lake:

The detail:

Lane 5 is again on the RIGHT of the Path:

Be careful not to mix the squirrels in this one!

Lane 6 returns to the LEFT:

That Weasel was a bit of a challenge for some.

Lane 7 is on the right again:

Was the last lane for me:

Shooting the back rabbit was a bit of a challenge because there were various leaves and weeds that needed careful analyses and a careful placement of one's self to avoid obstacles in the pellet's path.

By the time I finished (rather fast, being by my lonesome self), people were still shooting:

All in all, a great day in the forest, with friends and our well loved sport.

Thanks to all that helped setup, takedown, and to all that attended, it makes the sport what it is: a great place full of great People!

Keep well and shoot straight!

HM

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Hector Medina

2012 US National WFTF Spring Piston Champion
2012 WFTF Spring Piston Grand Prix Winner
2013 World's WFTF Spring Piston 7th place
2014 Texas State WFTF Piston Champion
2014 World's WFTF Spring Piston 5th place.
2015 Maine State Champion WFTF Piston
2015 Massachusetts State Champion WFTF Piston
2015 New York State Champion WFTF Piston
2015 US National WFTF Piston 2nd Place
2016 Canadian WFTF Piston Champion
2016 Pyramyd Air Cup WFTF Piston 1st Place
2017 US Nationals Open Piston 3rd Place
2018 WFTC's Member of Team USA Champion Springers
2018 WFTC's 4th place Veteran Springer
2020 Puerto Rico GP Piston First Place
2020 NC State Championships 1st Place Piston
2022 Maryland State Champion WFTF
2022 WFTC's Italy Member of TEAM USA 2nd place Springers
2022 WFTC's Italy
2nd Place Veteran Springers
2023 WFTC's South Africa Member TEAM USA 1st place Springers
2023 WFTC's South Africa
2nd Place Veteran Springers