It has been written that in the Old West (whatever that was), some "Pistoleros" used to pay dubious characters to go into town a couple of days before they did and spread the word about how fast and deadly the "Hombre"  was.
Were they looking to draw out the real fighters? Or to avoid the gunfights?
Who knows, it could have worked both ways.

It is a fact that many of them took advantage of the "press" of those days and gave freely of their "experiences" (colorful, and colored, undoubtedly) to journalists (really novelists) that wrote about the "life on the frontier" for newspapers, whether East or West Coast; the newly created class of "urbanites" had little excitement in their lives and, specially the ladies, simply devoured those accounts of shooting, rampaging  and pillaging.

If you think across time to the "Real Housewives of . . . " you see that humanity has not changed much in 200 years.
Sad, or funny; it all depends how you look at it.

Bottom line here is "Caveat Emptor" (Buyer Beware), the words that were chiselled into every Roman market's entrance lintel for all to see, if only they kept their gaze above the ground.
For our purposes it means that EVERYONE should understand that airguns are fickle beasts and that no two barrels are the same.
Therefore, even the "best of pellets", may not shoot from a specific barrel and some barrels may shoot VERY well really cheap pellets.

I have come across people that vastly prefer the second case. They argue they can buy a bunch of pellets for the same outlay and shoot a lot, thereby "practicing" and becoming better shooters. The problem comes when that brand disappears, or changes "maker" for the sake of economy and/or improved margins, those shooters end up down river without a paddle.
​
Personally, I prefer to pay more for pellets as long as the quality and consistency is there. Sometimes, even the best pellets differ from batch to batch and that creates the peculiar problem of having to buy the whole batch, or at least a case (50 tins of 500), just to get through a season or two of shooting. My only advantage is that 99% of the time, when I shoot for myself, it is the same gun.
Remember the "Beware the man with one gun  . . . ."?

Anyway, what this entry is about is consistency, and quality. And it will be a surprise for some of you because it comes from a completely unexpected corner of the world.

But let's go back a little more than a year and tackle the story from the beginning:

I was commissioned by a friend, and customer, to look into an old Match Pistol. Good brand, no longer made, in need of resealing.
With no spare parts available, you know how hard that can be.
This particular gun, which will remain unnamed, because the brand is irrelevant, got specially turned/"cast" in place (plastic) bronze seals which worked like a charm because the compression chamber was an absolute jewel. Consistent and homogeneous to the 0.0005" so we thought the gun was worth recovering from the dead and the customer was willing to pay the intricate job.
However, after getting the power plant up to snuff, it was discovered that the gun would not shoot as accurately as a Match gun should.
In the end, we narrowed the problem down to the barrel.
So, a new barrel was made but then the new barrel was "Inefficient". The gun would not yield the necessary MV for proper Match shooting (a problem encountered by most entry level pistols of current manufacture). The holes were hard to score and sometimes it would be more a tear than a hole.

After gauging the slug from the original barrel, it was discovered to be oversize. That is how it originally developed enough power to punch neat holes, and the accuracy came from the absolute consistency of the powerplant.
Interesting as a concept but not really what we were looking for.

Testing some different barrels I found that a L-W polygonal barrel of our own design was providing improved efficiency, so I decided to test one of those barrel sections (without the choke to retain as much energy as possible) in this pistol. And then the pistol shone as it should. BUT, the pistol needed pellets of ABSOLUTE consistency.
R-10's didn't cut it, H&N FM's didn't cut, finally, a friend of mine that is a good pistol shot (he shoots FT "hands only" and he scores well with iron sights, he is that good), told me about some "Chinese Olympic pellets" that had proven VERY good from his pistol (a Project Alfa).
I really didn't know where to start, and I had to go IWA (remember this is 2018).
So, I put the project on hold and off I went.

IWA 2018 was very good to me, I enjoyed it immensely and we started our formal collaboration with DIANA.

As I was walking down the aisles, I saw a stand of a Chinese company that was almost empty of "giveaways", except for the flyers and documents, they did have a super-sized domed pellet "sculpture" (imagine a 6.00"  cal pellet)  that looked extremely interesting. I approached the stand and found out that the domed pellets had been held at Customs and they didn't have any to give for testing.
But the persons at the stand were knowledgeable, spoke reasonably good English, took notes, and overall were very professional. Upon departure they gave me a flyer about their "Olympic Grade" Match pellets.

Ah! That rung a bell in the back of my overcrowded brain.

When I got home, I looked for the Qiang-Yuan (QYS for short) pellets, found them at Pyramyd Air in boxes of 200, balked a little at the price but bought them and tested them in the "Paleo-Pistol"; lo and behold! They WORKED!.

Now, those of you that know me, know that I deeply dislike weighing and sorting pellets. Back in the day I used to sort the Crosman Premier 0.20"s using a BIC pen's barrel. That helped me measure not only the head diameter (MOST important in a Crosman Premier, if you need to understand why read this), but the overall fit of the pellet to the chamber and therefore it was a good predictor of the proper seating of the pellet in the barrel just before it got launched. In a 20 ft-lbs PCP it was very effective.

But in spring-piston airguns that is not as important as other aspects, mainly the harmonics developed in the barrel by the violent piston movements (read more about it here and here). So I no longer test/measure/weigh pellets. Too much work for relatively little gain.
​
BUT when it is time to get a handle on the capabilities of a manufacturer, then that MERITS a special effort and so, when the QYS Olympic Grade pellets did provide the wanted results, I got out my gauging tools and started gauging and weighing.

After running the 90 pellets I had remaining from the Paleo-pistol shooting tests through the scale and the head measuring template, I was astonished. They were the most consistent pellets I had ever found, bar none.

As far as dimensions are concerned it is, within industrial manufacturing tolerances, ABSOLUTE consistency.

My good friends at Pyramyd told me that the Importers of Record for these pellets were the good folks at Predator International, so I "bit the pellet" and got 20 boxes.

When the boxes arrived, of course, they were different batches, so I proceeded to test the second batch.

Same results.

And when comparing pellets of DIFFERENT batches?

You guessed it, same results.

Obviously, at this year's IWA I made it a purposeful visit to QYS's stand because last year we had talked about some "long range" pellets and that, obviously, piqued this FT shooter's interest.
I found that this year, not only did they have one version, but TWO, one they called "Streamlined" and another called "Domed".

Well, the domed is the time-honored shape of most domed pellets, a little bit more pronounced than the "English Bulldog" but less than the Crosman Copperhead Pointed's or the H&N Baracuda's, that do exhibit a slight apex.

​Since the introduction of the "Baracuda FT" about 2 years ago, I have been insisting with H&N on producing a "light" version of this pellet in the 8.5 grs. region, alas, the powers that control the production at H&N have repeatedly said  it was impossible: too deep a punch, too much "sticktion" upon extraction, too . . .

And, now, before my very eyes, I had it!

​There is also word of a new FT Premium pellet from JSB, so definitely, next year should prove VERY interesting for all of us long range airgunners.

But, let's come back to the present and see what the fuzz is all about.

I wrote above how much I dislike weighing and sorting pellets, but that does not mean that I don't do it when the situation arises and testing a manufacturer's capabilities is one of those situations.
​So, here is my setup:

At bottom, the excellent pellet gauge. The ONLY thing mine differs from the standard OEM version is that I add very slim washers between the gauge plate and the plastic face to make the face even with the tail of the skirt when the pellet's lip is hitting the gauge plate. The setup becomes almost unique to THAT pellet, as most pellets differ in length.
Why is that? because then the pellet tries to enter the gauge plate in a perpendicular manner. I avoid the measuring error of gauging an out-of-round pellet as a certain size because it managed to "wiggle" its way in.
And, to be honest, that is something each shooter should do for himself.
With the enormous variety of pellets in the market, Mr. Cupples would be hard tasked indeed to provide for all the possibilities.
The tool is excellent, it just takes some patience and a little knowledge to wring the best out of it.

The picture above was taken about halfway through the process, after measuring 50 pellets and finding ONE that was 4.49 while all the others were 4.50, I decided to quit. And even the 4.49 one, I would label as a "big 4.49"  because it did not drop completely on its own, just a touch and it dropped, but not on its own.
Surely some BR'ers will air gauge these pellets in the future, I just hope the manufacturer keeps the dimensions control he has so far.

Now, what about the weight?
Well, the weight is not THAT important as long as it is kept within reasonable limits.
Some shooters weigh their pellets to the hundredth of a grain and set classes within every two or three hundredth, some don't care too much for such differentiation and set classes of 5 hundredths (Half a tenth).
IMHO, the trajectory will not change much due to the weight variation, rather, large weight variations tell us that there is a SHAPE variation, and that is more important than the weight variation itself.

So, when I weighed pellets (again the Crosman Premiers in 0.20"  cal), I was contented with establishing classes by tenths of a grain, which was what my old Bonanza scale was able to differentiate, anyway.
Now I use a carat-capable electronic balance and have found that the reliability is within 2 hundredths. Meaning that the same pellet will weigh either x.x2, or x.x4 in several consecutive measurements. And that if I blow gently on the scale, the number will increase and then come back within 0.02 of what the scale measured before.

Previous runs of "Premium" pellets had yielded consistencies of all pellets within a tenth of a grain, and that was considered VERY good.
I am happy to report that these Streamlined pellets comply with that criterion

Again, after weighing 30 pellets, with ALL pellets within 0.1 grs, I decided to call it quits.

There were :
2 pellets at 8.54
6 pellets at 8.56
8 pellets at 8.58
6 pellets at 8.60
4 pellets at 8.62
4 pellets at 8.64

Total of 30 pellets.

Please consider that 0.1 grs is a tad more than 1% of the "base"  weight.
I will definitely not loose sleep over this.
​;-)

So, having ascertained that the pellets are all true 4.50 head size and uniform in weight, the next question is which barrels should we test them in?

For that, I have found that the best test is to put a pellet into the barrel and drive it with a plastic shaft to just before the choke.
This will tell us how closely the pellet matches the barrel and will allow us to weed those barrels out that have very little probability of shooting well.
Some may think that the test should include the choke, but my experience has been that if the pellet is allowed by the bore to enter/travel crooked, or to not engrave equally all around, the choke will not improve dramatically the results at the target beyond the 30 yards line.
This simple test saves a lot of time.
Knowing that QYS's background is Match pellets, it came almost as a confirmation of expectations that the most appropriate barrels would be those on the "tight"  side, in other words, barrels that come from the precision/match world.

This is a parade of 5 pellets that were driven through barrels of recognized quality.

The Steyr HF means a Hammer Forged barrel from an LG-100, commonly called "barelycorn"  barrels in the US
The Steyr L-W means a button rifled barrel under Steyr specs from an LG-110
The DIANA T-06 is a button rifled barrel from a current production DIANA (Post Ense Move)
The L-W Conv. means a L-W (L-W specs) with conventional rifling
The L-W Poly label means a L-W (CCA Specs) with polygonal rifling.

But we cannot see too much from this angle and distance, so let's take a closer look at each pellet:

In this picture you can see the clear imprints of the relatively narrow lands and the wide grooves typical of hammer forged barrels, what is notable is that the head is lightly marked all around. Clearly this pellet should travel evenly and uniformly through this barrel.

Now we can compare a Button Rifled barrel more or less within the same specs (remember they are both Steyr specs). We see the land and grooves are closer in dimensions and the marks are smoother, the head is also lightly marked, telling us that the barrel holds the same internal dimensions as the original HF barrel had. Again, a typical result of a top quality barrel made with the button rifling process.

This is the result of using a DIANA barrel of current manufacture, you can see the wide lands and narrow grooves at the skirt, but what was not there (and I apologize for the picture) is that the head had absolutely no marks. This is worrisome because it means that this pellet's probability of shooting well out of this barrel is very low.

While it wasn't part of the original parade, the rifling marks of an old T-01 rifle are presented here. You can see the clear marks of the wide lands and narrow grooves that have been the halmark of DIANA barrels for a long time, BUT you can ALSO see the marks on the head. Light, but they are there. This pellet entered the "contest"  when I remembered that it used to shoot "thin" pellets real well, and the tests were not disappointing as we will see later.

Next in our parade of pellets comes the L-W conventional rifling. In here I have to make the precision that the rifling design is the standard L-W design, but since this barrel was specced for break barrel rifles, the steel it is made of is not the standard steel used by L-W. So what we see here is the result of my modest collaboration with an excellent barrel maker such as L-W. You can see the wider lands and narrower grooves that is typical of the L-W design, but the internal dimensions enable the pellet's head to be fully supported by the top of the barrel's lands.
This is something that definitely merits some future in depth testing.

Now, last in our Pellet Parade, comes the ultra-efficient, CCA specs L-W Polygonal barrel.
While this is still a project in testing phase, the engraving of the pellet tells us that a LITTLE more tightness of the flats of the polygon would be beneficial (probably just 0.02 mm's), and some fired pellet capturing should be in order because the pellet's skirt does not really fill the "corners" (in reality very small radii)  of the polygon.

Now, most of you will be tired of reading and wanting to see some groups, here is a battery run through a T06 (Post Ense move) DIANA Mauser AM03 that has been steel-springed, uses an Anti-Bounce Piston and is set to 12 ft-lbs:

You can see clearly that the short range groups (17 meters, about 19 yards) are not bad, but when the range is almost doubled, the groups "explode", clearly an instability produced by the lack of support of the head by the rifling.
On the other hand, I don't really complain about the gun or the barrel because it shoots real well the 4.53 head diameter Exacts.

After that test I didn't have great expectations from these pellets out of spring-piston airguns, and installing one of the barrels where it would perform, for sure, is not a question of a few hours of work.
Very few spring gun shooters would take the trouble of re-barreling their rifles.
​While theoretically possible in some guns, like the Walther LG and the AA TX family, it is very difficult in other guns. Hopefully that will change in the near future, but until there is a large number of easily re-barrellable rifles, these great pellets would appeal only to those shooters that already enjoy great accuracy from other pellet makers' products.

Suddenly, I remembered that one my guns seemed to like slender pellets, and so, I brought it out, scoped it, and shot two targets, one to sight in and then another for grouping.
It is always encouraging when the sighting in goes well and you can get it done in a few shots:

As you can see, the results were most pleasing because the black blobs are a little under ½"  across, and the distance was 37 yards (34 meters), so the gun/pellet combination is perfectly capable of putting the pellet into a 60T (½" at 30 yards) field target

NOT shabby at all.

Looking at the group in more detail, it is clear that the gun is still settling in, as there are two distinct "sub-groups". We will look into that at some other time.

I am in contact with QYS. The persons, again, seem to be sincere and understanding, and I hope that in the future, more shooters can benefit from this great offering.

Contrary to the situation at the beginning of our article, the "Durango Kid" that is coming to town is for real, and so are his capabilities.
The rest of the "hombres"  around should start honing their skills, or risk a defeat.

There is still work to do and I will try to tackle the "Domed"  version in another entry that will be Part 2

Till, then, and till these pellets are more widely available in the US, keep well and shoot straight!





​HM

It is not often that I invite someone to write an entry to my blog. As a matter of fact, I've refused offered money to accept blog entries skewed to some commercial purpose. Obviously, I don't want that for this blog. It is one of the few that remain completely devoid of ads/banners and other forms of propaganda.
So, when I find someone who is conscientious, dedicated, patient and perseverant enough to solve a problem many would have simply quit, or sent back to the retailer, I have to take notice.
Not everyone accepts the invitation, but those that do, usually end up writing VERY good entries, and so, without further ado, let me introduce Mr. Ken Wheeler.
Ken spent a good time battling some issues that the Stormrider has, he went through two guns to find the one he wanted to keep, and he listened to advise and was patient. The results he obtained are "professional grade". So I am happy to recognize Ken's dedication by publishing his adventure with the Stormrider.

Happy reading!

​HM

​Late last fall (Nov. of 2018) I entered into a struggle against the local gray squirrel population that was destroying my lawn and a playhouse intended for my grandchildren.  My initial weapon of choice was a .22 caliber Benjamin Prowler.  I chose this air rifle because it was inexpensive and readily available at my local Walmart.  Initially I was happy with my purchase and used it to dispatch several of the squirrels plaguing my property, but after a while I realized it was a rather difficult rifle to be accurate with, it was relatively loud and very slow to reload for follow up shots, so I began exploring other options.  This exploration led me to Pyramyd Air and GatewayToAirGuns.com where my eyes were opened to the large world of air guns.  These sources helped me decide I wanted a PCP and narrowed the options to a Diana Stormrider, a Benjamin Maximus or a Beeman Chief.  I read all the reviews and watched all the videos I could find on these rifles and had almost decided on the Beeman when I ran across Hector’s blog posts outlining the potential of the Stormrider.  Hector’s blog posts prompted me to reconsider and I took another look at the Stormrider.  Coincidentally at about the same time DIANA was releasing the second generation of the rifle which incorporated a better trigger, bolt handle and sound moderator. 

​The primary motivations for moving to a PCP were their lack of the double recoil of a spring piston (making them easier to shoot accurately) and no requirement for multiple pumps between each shot.  I also had a strong desire to be able to “tune” the gun to be back yard friendly (whatever that means), which is more difficult to do to with spring piston and multi-pump guns.  My goal was to eliminate, if possible, the pass-through shots I experienced quite often when shooting the squirrels in my back yard with the Prowler and reduce the volume of the report so it wouldn’t bother the neighbors.  According to Hector’s blog posts and the general research into PCPs I’d done it seemed the Stormrider was a good candidate, assuming I could install a regulator and find a source for transfer ports I could modify.  I decided to purchase a .22 caliber second generation Stormrider from Pyramyd Air.

​This began my initial love/hate relationship with this delightful little carbine.  I say love/hate because the first one I received was not the best example of the weapon.  The shipping box showed damage where the bolt handle had punctured it and the gun was slathered with a significant quantity of the preservative oil used by Chinese manufacturers (I hate that stuff), but this was just the beginning of my frustrations with it.  Once I cleaned it up and filled it with air I found it didn’t leak so I ran a few pellets through it and was pleasantly surprised at how well it grouped right out of the box.  I had to run close to 500 pellets through the Prowler to break it in before it began to group this well.  I let it sit for a couple days just to make sure it wasn’t going to leak (it didn’t appear to) and then decided to mount a scope and adjust the trigger.  This is where the frustration returned, first off there were (and as far as I know still aren’t) no instructions to be found anywhere on how to do this.  This is one of the primary advertised changes to the new gun and there are no instructions on how to adjust it.  Anyway, being the “do it myself” type I just dove in and figured it out, but in the process I also ended up completely degassing the gun.  Not a big deal, just pump it back up, which I did.
At this point I should comment that this first gun did not require the hammer to be cocked in order to fill from empty, I don’t know why but that’s how it was.
Anyway, this is when the frustration level really rose as I discovered the gun now leaked, it lost ~500psi overnight.  I found the leak locations using bubble juice, it was the fill port itself, the fill port cap where it threaded into the air tube and where the gauge threads into the sleeve.  So, I destocked the gun, took the fill port cap off and removed the gauge from the sleeve.  This is when I found the major issues that caused me to return this gun.  First, there was a noticeable quantity of the preservative oil and associated crud in the air tube.  Second, the o-ring at the base of the gauge was badly swollen and had to be replaced, fortunately a complete set of replacement o-rings is included with the gun.
I suspect the o-ring was exposed to and had absorbed the preservative oil ruining it.  I cleaned as much of the crud and oil out of the air tube as I could but could never get this gun to stop leaking.  
After finding these issues I thought it would be good for DIANA to be informed of the QC issue and remembering Hector’s blog I decided to inform him of my experience.  This began a conversation and ultimately a friendship.  This first gun ended up returned to Pyramyd Air for replacement. And in here I would like to thank PA for their great customer service.

​My experience with the second gun has been more positive but not without its trials.  I’ve had problems with this gun leaking as well but none of the QC problems of the first.  Yes, it did have some of that NASTY preservative oil on it when it arrived but it was reasonable. (DIANA: I suggest forgoing the oil and instead pack the guns in a plastic bag with a single desiccant pack).  After my experience with the first gun I kept in contact with Hector and let him know whenever I encountered a problem, partly to document it and partly to see if Hector had suggestions for resolution.  The issues were almost exclusively isolated to small leaks at the fill port cap.  In one particular email Hector commented that the machining on these guns is not the most precise and there are usually micro-burs present that when eliminated can resolve leaks.  This comment prompted me to tap the cap off the air tube and using a soft towel “polish” the threads on it and in the air tube.  This procedure along with applying lube to the o-rings in the cap resolved the leaks and I was completely happy.   Up to this point I was uncertain whether I’d keep this gun and if I returned it I planned to replace it with something besides a Stormrider.
To summarize the results and allow readers to come to their own conclusions, I implemented a "standard test" consisting of filling up the gun and shooting "economy priced" pellets to find where the powerplant exited the "sweet spot"  for that specific configuration, the results of the gun as received (but corrected for trigger pull and leaks), with open sights, no regulator, max fill 200bar produced ~12 usable shots with a max FPS of ~900 using Crosman Hollow Point 14.3gr pellets and a relatively loud report making it marginally back yard friendly.

​During our conversations I had informed Hector I planned to install an Altaros regulator and somehow obtain a transfer port that hadn’t been drilled yet to use in tuning the gun.  At the time I planned to tune it for ~12fpe thinking this would be a good level for backyard use.  Well, apparently I impressed Hector with my tenacity and attention to detail because he offered to sell me a gunsmith version of the Altaros regulator and a transfer port drilled to 2mm as a starting point.  He told me he felt confident I could install the regulator which replaces the stock gauge block, of course I agreed to the idea, although I have to say I was a bit nervous about the prospect of opening the gun again and taking all the guts out of the air tube.  So, we made a deal where Hector sold me the regulator, the TP, a new fill cap with a gauge and some additional o-rings.  Long story short here is I was able to successfully install the regulator without removing all the parts in the air tube.  I was able to extract the gauge block using a wire hook made from a hanger.  Maybe not the best idea looking back (if I’d scratched the inside of the air tube I might have created a leak that could not have been fixed) but its history and the gun does not leak at the regulator.

​Now I have a working gun with the regulator and the smaller TP installed, it’s time to see how it shoots.  Hector set the regulator to ~150bar and the TP has a 2mm opening, this was the starting point.
Here are a couple shot strings with this configuration:

​These show the base tune to produce ~15fpe while on the regulator and a slight rise then drop when off the regulator.  The gun does well with the heavier H&N BHE pellets giving about 27 good shots and more than 30 usable (I neglected to waste the first 2 shots after filling to settle the regulator) with a fill to ~210bar.
Falling back on the "standard test", the gun yielded15 good shots with an avg FPS of 695 and 20 usable shots if you’re willing to allow an FPS as low as 650 using Crosman Hollow Point 14.3gr pellets, starting at a 200bar fill, the report is still loud but the rifle is more backyard friendly.

​I then decided to invest in a Free Flight Hammer (FFH) device in a quest for a few more shots and a reduction in report volume (the gun is loud even with the “improved” moderator).  The only device I could find for sale relies on a micro-paracord arrestor for the hammer spring. I’m not thrilled with the design (it’s difficult to install and who knows how long the cord will last) but reviews online were positive so I took the plunge.  The goal of such devices is to eliminate hammer bounce, which I believe the stock Stormrider suffers from, and this device accomplishes it.  Here is a shot string with the H&N BHE after installation:

​With this configuration 31 good shots are produced, 33 or 34 usable and the rise/drop when the string falls off the regulator is gone.  If just the first 30 shots are examined a very stable setup is shown. Part of the increase in shots is due to a starting fill pressure of ~230 bar instead of 210.
​
Again, listing the results for the "standard test", the gun produced 25 good shots with an avg FPS of 690 and 31 usable shots if you’re willing to allow an FPS as low as 650 using Crosman Hollow Point 14.3gr pellets, the report is quieter still but still a bit loud for back yard. It is to be noted that this time the fill pressure was 230 BAR's

​My original plan was to “tune” for ~12fpe but I’ve changed my mind after reading one of Hector’s posts where he discusses the BHE and its terminal ballistics.  Coincidentally I had chosen the H&N Crow Magnum and Barracuda Hunter Extremes as my primary hunting ammo while I was still using the Prowler. Hector’s post reinforced my choice and convinced me to leave the gun tuned as is.  The Crow Magnum and BHE pellets need more energy than 12fpe to be the most effective.  In the time since I completed the tune I’ve taken 8 squirrels and 2 Starlings, only 2 of those shots resulted in a pass-throughs and those were relatively close head shots.  For me the jury is still out on this topic, the Prowler produces ~14fpe with these pellets but seemed to be more likely to produce a passthrough.

I added sling studs and a sling, as you can see in the pictures above.
This addition doesn’t increase performance but in my opinion adds the last bit that makes this carbine a very nice hunting setup.

I’m happy with the “final” result considering the goal was to create a backyard friendly pellet gun that can also serve as a general hunting rifle.

The one aspect of it that I find subpar is the magazine which was part of the original attraction of this rifle.  In real world use I find the use of the single shot tray to be more than acceptable.  Using it prompts me to slow down and take a better shot the first time and if a follow up is needed the reload time is not comparable to a break barrel.  Overall I would recommend the Stormrider to anyone looking for a first PCP or an experienced air gunner looking for a gun that can be made into a good hunting setup.

​Sorry for the delay in getting to this point. I have been extremely busy with some ABP's, but those are done and hopefully, we can now get to work on other things. Though an ABP would seem an ideal addition to the 430L, LOL!
I need to find a a way to make them less complicated.  ;-)

Anyway, after a full tin of pellets had been put through the 430L, we started testing pellets:

We tested the old trusted standby's, as well as some innovative pellets that I received  from unexpected sources. Funny how things happen just out of the blue, but it is rewarding to see that the Blog is read and respected all  over the world.
Rifle is a Brazilian company, they make pellets in two different "categories" the sport line (which we would call "plinking" here and the Premium line, that we would call "shooting" in the US.
Their Sport line produced "minute of can" groups, not bad, but not what we are looking for.
Their Premium line, however produced some interesting groups.
COAL is a Central European company that makes pellets the old way: rolled. And for the technology, they make interesting designs, however, none of their offerings produced acceptable results from THIS gun. We will be testing them in other guns and we will be offering some advice to the "Rifle Company" because they do have the potential, they only need to polish up some points in their production.

Having said that, we will concentrate then on four different pellets for the 430L:

First, the Baracuda FT, a pellet that is not easy to make shoot well. It has a very rear-wards CoG (Center of Gravity), and therefore requires a somewhat "tight" rifling, but it seems the 430L likes them.
Because the group in the test target above was "tainted" by another group made by pellets that I will not even name, I shot another test group, but this time 10 shots:

On purpose, I didn't shoot anything else in this target.
Just to show how clean the group is.
Now, 11.3 ft-lbs is nothing to sneeze at, specially if part of the interests of the shooter is an occasional FT Match here and there. But because the BFT (Baracuda Field Target) is a heavy pellet (9.57 grs.) the MV  is rather slow: 731 fps.
Those of you that went to Pyramyd Air Cup, received two samplers of this pellet, classified by lots.
PLEASE, if you have not tested them, do so. H&N went the whole 11 yards to get market feedback, and they deserve our attention.
You do not need to make public your findings (I will not), but a short Email telling them what lot you found best, or if no pellets shot good from your gun, and what gun / lube / MV you are using, is good information for them.
They are NOT doing this as a marketing gimmick, they are really and truly interested in YOUR results. So, please, take the time to shoot some groups, measure them and send the data to H&N. As airgunners WE WILL ALL be better for it.
The BFT is an interesting pellet when it shoots well out of the specific airgun you are interested in because it has very little susceptibility to wind.
Part is due to the weight, and part is the slow MV, but also part is the design of the head...
Will your gun like them?
You need to test, after all, it is part of the fun!

Curiously enough, I found that this particular gun likes the 4.53's JSB's (only offered in 8.44 grs.). It shoots acceptably well  the FT Premium, but the EXACTS are truly amazing.

Do remember that the black "dots" are a little under ½" and do compare the hole made by the S-100 pellets  (A Match WC) that is truly 4.5 mm's across.
It was notable that the JSB's 8.44's / 4.53's went into two distinct, but very close holes. There are three pellets in the top right section and two in the lower left. But they are so close together!
This points out to the need of controlling the barrel's harmonics, OR, preventing outright the generation of those. In here is where the ABP would probably help.
The S-100's shot better than the RWS SuperMag (a pellet I have found to be very accurate at or above 12 ft-lbs, where the normal Match pellets start destabilizing). But still the Exacts did prove to be the overall best pellet.

As to the Brazilian offerings, the Domed proved to be better than the WC, not surprising at this distance:

Although I have noted the ME's for the pellets of interest, just to provide you with the data and not make you reverse calculate the MV's, they were:

BFT.- 731 +/- 3  fps
JSB.- 784 +/- 6 fps
S-100.- 815 +/- 5 fps
Rifle Premium "Round" .- 794 +/- 4 fps

Now, in case you are wondering why these groups were shot a 25 yards instead of the usual 35 yds/ 32 meters, the reason is the weather:

There is a song in Spanish that says:

"Thank you, Life, for giving me laughs and tears
Through them I distinguish joys from heartbreaks
Specially through the eyes of my beloved"

And so, we need to learn to live through the winters and the summers; without both of them, life would be somewhat boring.

Now, indoor shooting also offers some rewards:

This doesn't happen as often as I would like, but when it happens, it makes you feel Oh, SOoooo Goooooood! LOL!

The 430L is definitely an improvement over the 430 and the 440.
It shows clearly how the persons on the assembly floor can contribute to the products, if only management is willing to listen.
The added barrel and lever length make the gun an enjoyable experience.

Accuracy and Precision potential are there, and that is as far as a manufacturer can go, the actual achievement of that potential is up to the users.

Yes, there is still room for improvement but that will take a bit more than getting different parts together. It will take a re-design of the cocking linkages. We'll see where we get on that end.
On the piston end, the gun does exhibit a definite re-bound. A gas spring with its more constant-force curve would be one solution, but then we're back to the large cocking force needed, and straight from the start. Plus the challenges of making the piston a non-rotating piston are not easily solved.
Another solution would be an anti-bounce piston (ABP), we'll look into that later, but we need to re-define (and refine) the design.
The current Muzzle piece almost precludes the use of a Harmonics Tuner, or Harmonics Reducer, we will continue thinking about that, but it would be a funny looking contraption.

Hope you all are enjoying the seasons, the changes, and the challenges that life brings; after all, life is a trip and the final destination is not that enjoyable, ROFL!

Keep well and shoot straight!





​HM

First of all, and to let everyone down from the start, I am NOT going to post MV's for the time being, neither am I going to mention which pellets I am using, just be assured they are "mid-weights".
There is little sense in chronoing and defining a pellet in a gun that has not been "run-in". 

In part 1 we looked into the history of the rifle; and in part 2 we looked into the gun itself.
​
On this part 3 we'll go into those first crucial shots.

The first shots of ANY barrel are crucial to the accurate life of the barrel. In SOME guns, this accurate life may be as short as a few hundred to a thousand rounds (Wildcats, like the 0.22" / 338 Wby Mag), in some other guns, that accurate life may have the potential to be as long as hundreds of thousands of rounds (airguns in general).
BUT, unless you want to find yourself in the need of some heroic measures, like fire-lapping the barrel, then your best bet is to simply do it right from the beginning.

It does require patience and perseverance, but it can be done, and as long as you keep the final goal in mind it is not THAT bothersome. It just takes time.

What you see here is the first target shot with the 430L

There are 70 shots in this card, 65 in the group at the bottom, and then 5, one at each little chicken on top.
The shots were taken indoors at 15 yards (though the target was designed for offhand shooting at 6 yards, the small size of the animals makes it a fun target to shoot from the FT position).

The ruler is set to 12 mm's (a tad less than ½") and the process to create the group (and to start the run-in of the barrel) was as follows:

1 shot, clean
another shot, clean
repeat for 10 shots (so far, 10 shots)
Now take 5 shots, clean
another 5 shots, clean
repeat till you accumulate 10 cleans (so far, 60 shots)
Now take 10 shots (5 into the group and then one at each chicken), clean
So in this card we accumulated 70 shots.

Time came to get serious and to go to the Monday night airgun practice at DIFTA.
The range there is 10 meters, so I took some targets that are designed for 10 meters, and used one target from those supplied by the club to do some more "running-in"" 

Each group is comprised of 10 shots, after every 10 shots, the gun got cleaned.
All groups were shot offhand at 10 meters, as required by the rules of the range.

At the same time that the groups were being shot, the scope was being sighted in, after group 4 I reduced the magnification from 9X to 4X (which is about the same as using match iron sights) and proceeded to shoot groups 5 and 6.

It is clear that the gun is starting to settle, groups are becoming rounder, and more controllable.

The fact that group 6 is a "doughnut" speaks more about the shooter's limitations (fatigue and lack of practice)  than about the gun's performance.

So, by this time, the rifle has gone through 130 shots and it has been on a regimen of shoot 10/clean for 7 times.

Because the range session was coming to an end, I decided to shoot a silhouette half course (20 shots), and I would say that the result (14 out 20) is about what could be expected from a new gun and the lack of practice of this winter (there has been no Zimmer-Silhouetten shoot this year, too busy). 

I did notice, though, one peculiarity of the ZR Mounts provided: Every time I loaded the gun (standing) , my body pushed against the mounts a little, and that was enough to alter the POI.
On the last row (the rams), I took the precaution of resetting the ZR Mounts for every shot (by pushing it forward and letting it go), and that improved the repeatability of the POI.

So, there you have it, the first 150 shots of the new 430L

All in all, I would say that, based on past experience, this gun can/should yield groups of about ½" at 30 yards when properly setup and using the pellets that the barrel will settle into best.
The shot cycle is very nice and completely vibration free. It is quick and authoritative. Nothing "mushy" about the gun, the lockup or the shot cycle.

It DOES take a special technique to cock for extended sessions, as the effort is concentrated on just about 5/8ths-3/4rs of the possible cocking stroke. So a good, sudden, pull that can JUST get the gun cocked is the best way to deal with this.

The 430, the 430L and the 460 share the same lock-up, and so, I will be attentive to detect if this particular model suffers from the same "weaknesses" as those other models. Luckily, those "weaknesses", are well documented and easy to solve.

Am I happy with my purchase? YES!, most of the friends at the shoot complimented the stock, and the looks of the gun, and some even complimented the shooting, LOL! But then they are good friends.

At this price level ($300 + Sh) it is clearly one of the most accurate 0.177" cal springers in this power range.

With this, we're halfway to the 300 shots minimum that I would consider essential to be made under absolutely controlled conditions, once we reach the 300 number, we can open the gun (to do some "looksee" and decide whether it would be wise to get it tuned and to what extent); work on the mounts and on finding the magic pellet; and ,hopefully, add a better scope worthy of the long range capabilities of this little gun.

Keep well and shoot straight!






HM

Sometimes in life, there are certain events that have the "smell" of poetic justice.
And this one just might be the case of one.
Let's start with some history:

Back in the days of the "Old DIANA" there were two projects that were supposed to launch DIANA into the world's circuits by making guns specific to a niche market that was, for historical reasons, a very vociferous one: the British market.

Of course the main limitation there is that rifles cannot exceed 12 ft-lbs, and most of DIANA's offerings were easily over that.
Do note the wording of the law: "Rifles cannot exceed 12 ft-lbs."
This, under proper English means that you can have a gun you THINK is legal because you have tested it with all the medium weight pellets that shoot reasonably good and it does not exceed 12 ft-lbs, but then some smart cop that "has your number" comes at you with light pellets.
¿The result?  you guessed it: You have an appointment with Her Majesty's magistrates and a long, hard battle to demonstrate that you are not intent on mass destruction of the Empire's Subjects nor Institutions.

At some point in time, the UK industry, and some companies that export to that market, agreed to self-police and some PCP makers even installed Anti-Tamper devices so that they could not be blamed for "making it easy" on perps to break the law.
DIANA never agreed to that. Studies were conducted using anti-tamper shoulder screws instead of the pins that close the rear of the action and it was found to be prohibitive. Besides, the market for DIANA was (and still is, up to a point), outside the Britannic Majesty's Royal Domains.

So the next solution was to create a short version of some of the actions that could, in most honest cases, limit themselves to about 12 ft-lbs.

And so was born the 430 (as a short version of the 460); and the 280, a short version of the 34.
In essence they share the same piston body length, so you could say that the 430 is the underlever version of the 280, or that the 280 is the breakbarrel version of the 430. Historically speaking the 430 prototype was prior to the 280, though the 280 was commercially  launched before. So, you take your pick.

We came across the 430 when the Stutzen model came into being.

We have always liked the Bergstutzen guns. Light and medium powered, they are ideal for mountain hunting. And so we supported the model.

Even though we warned all the users that the action was limited to about 12 ft-lbs, some decided to ignore the fact and then complain about the cocking effort needed. Yes it was a stout effort, but the guns were never designed to be all day plinking guns.

Fast forward a few years and we come to the present, where the model had been almost relegated because it was a fairly universal complaint that it took too much effort to get only 12 ft-lb back.

BUT, a few of the people at the plant, decided to do something about it, and they installed a long barrel with the 440 muzzle piece, and that allowed a longer lever.
The 430L was born out of the experience and knowledge of the working man. The guy at the plant that tests hundreds if, not thousands of rifles. The guy that puts those guns together.

No engineering degrees, no "Herr Doktor" titles. Just plain common sense trying to make something better.

And so we come to the current state of affairs.

Some were sold in Europe to good success, and at IWA 2018, Airguns of Arizona decided to place an order.

This is the run that we will be discussing here.

I ordered one under (almost) a pseudonym. Why? I didn't want to risk getting a "selected" model. Too often writers and reviewers are given, even without their knowledge, specially selected guns. I wanted to make sure that I got the run of the mill.
I placed the order on the last days of November, and it arrived today, December 5th. Yes, UPS ground is not the the fastest route, LOL!
I am not a fan of unboxing reviews, but this one merits it because it could explain why some shipments of this particular gun are being delayed.
Gun came "double boxed" but double boxed to a TIGHT degree. It took pushing with the legs another smaller box and pulling with all my strength on the outer box to get one box out of the other.

Inside the inner box there was a generous layer of eggcrate foam and spacers made out of pellet tin shipping material:

Scope was mounted and gun was tested (of all things with Baracuda 10.6 grs.pellets) at 20 yards. Why that choice, I really don't know. Odd choice anyway and not representative of the gun's performance potential.
The ONLY reason I can think of is to protect the gun by preventing the dieseling that COULD occur using lighter pellets.
I have not checked zero, that will come at a later date. But it does point out to the fact the AoA is not shipping out boxes. It is actually doing some work to the guns, and possibly the packaging was provided by AoA because it is not the DIANA standard box, nor the new cases that will come online soon.
Another tell-tale aspect is that the serial number is not part of the box

Someone took the time and patience to cut it out of a "Generic" box, maybe a case of 10 guns (normal size for DIANA).
​
Anyway

The gun is a little longer than the "normal" 430:

And indeed, this length is dedicated to increase the possible leverage.
Compare the length of the levers in the Stutzen (bottom) and the 430 L (top):

There is about 2" more lever in the 430L
A different view possibly tells a better story:

With the fulcrum points fairly aligned, you can see that the 430L has a slightly "beefier" stock (that is fully ambidextrous, BTW), and somewhat more length of handle to grip from.

Now, the measured difference in the lever lengths is of relatively little importance unless we get a meaningful result.
The fulcrum point of the levers is about ½" back from where the action screws are.
In this way, the leverage ratio of the original 430 is approximately : 13" : 3½" that is 3.7
In the case of the 430L the ratio is 15" : 3½" (the cast fulcrum piece has not changed), so that returns a ratio of 4.3
Assuming a compressed spring force of around 170 lbs, then the cocking force of the 430 would be about 45 lbs.
The cocking force needed for the 430L should be about 39½ lbs.
MEASURED values for the 430L can be seen here:

Fishing scales might not be lab-accurate, but for the purpose, they are good enough and, above all, they establish a reasonable comparison level.

So, cocking force is reduced by 10%, will this be enough? I don't know. It all depends on the shooters.
For many, the underlever presents a more "ergonomic" way to cock a gun because they can use both arms pulling away and down from the body.

For me, there is still room for improvement, and that may come later in a special edition, but for now this is the offering.

Gun is not a lightweight (DIANA's never are, LOL!), weighing in at 9 # 13 oz with the scope and mounts provided in the combo.
My FT gun weighs in at around 16#, so to ME it is a lightweight gun, but better to let know our friends the weight and let them decide for themselves.
The "Premium" STYLE stock bears some analysis. In this picture the 430L is on top and it is compared to a 34k Premium.
As you can see, the 34k P​remium has a much more "American Classic" flavour to it, straight MonteCarlo, and toe line, slender pistol grip, specially towards the front end, white spacer and slenderer forearm.
On the top, the 430L shows a more "Teutonic" appearance, with the "Ebern" (Boar) back that blends the Monte Carlo to the general curves of the stock, there is also a slight curve on the toe line.
The checkering is also more "restrained", being shorter and less "dynamic".

What it does have, is a fully ambidextrous cheekpiece, and that is, IMHO, progress.
Minelli definitely knows what they are doing.
In the next picture, the 430 L Is on the bottom, and the 34k Premium is on top:

Which would be the correct (not to say "right") side for a lefty to look from.

All in all I think it is an agreeable gun to hold, to cock and to shoot.

The fact that the prototype was cobbled together at the plant from existing parts, and then that prototype was refined to what we are seeing today is the most interesting aspect of the whole thing.

How will it shoot? Dunno.

The process of cleaning and shooting and cleaning and cleaning and shooting will start next week, and it is a long, tedious, and serious process.
Only after about 300 shots, and some serious work to the mounts, can we expect to get any reasonable indication of the performance potential of this carbine.

Stay tuned . . . ;-)

Keep well and shoot straight!






​HM