Phil's B3 Repair

Phil, an Archer Airguns customer, recently purchased a QF-2 Cleaning and Parts Kit for the B3 Air Rifle from us. Recently he sent this email describing how his old B3 has gained a new lease on life!

Here's Phils' message and a photograph of his B3...

"Hello there folks, I just wanted to give a little feedback on the replacement spring. I've had my B3 for about 10 years and have put 1000s of rounds through it.

I recently noticed the trigger was a bit sloppy when the gun was not cocked and then alarmingly it started firing during cocking. Luckily I practice stringent range safety and never point it at anything I wouldn't want shot so no harm done.

I stripped it down and reassembled it a few times to no avail everything seemed in order. I was about to trash it when I happened across your site. After ordering the kit and replacing the spring (kept the old sear in place) it now cocks and shoots like a champ! Well worth the money even if the gun only cost $20. I'm quite fond of the old clunker. So thanks..."



Thanks Phil!

Archer Airguns has a range of B3 spare parts that could help keep your old air rifle shooting, too.

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QB78s in .20, .25 and .30 Caliber from Roy Weid at Mountain Custom Airguns

Sometimes, we're asked if Archer Airguns offers QB78 air rifles in calibers other than the standard .177 and .22 cal. The answer is that we don't, but there are specialists who do. One of them is Roy Weid at Mountain Custom Airguns.

Roy builds custom QB78s - and many other air rifles, too. He can build custom QB78s in .177, .20, .22, .25 and .30 caliber. Here are some photos of a couple of Roy's custom QB78s. As Roy's creations are individual custom guns, each one can look different. For example, these photos show barrels that are blued and un-blued (in the white).

As always, double click on the photos to see a larger version.




If you're interested, contact Roy direct at Mountain Custom Airguns.

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A preview of the new April 2013 Airgun Hobbyist Magazine

The next issue of Airgun Hobbyist magazine will ship out to subscribers on about 25 March. Here's a preview of the cover page and the contents.



There' a wide range of interesting articles, including features on the Ruger Air Hawk, Hatsan's AT44, the Webley and Scott Rebel and QB78 air rifles. Also included is a review of airgun interest at the recent 2013 SHOT Show.

The Contents page is here, so you can see full details.



Not a subscriber yet? Simply click this link to get started Airgun Hobbyist magazine

Just want to read the current issue? You can order one Airgun Hobbyist magazine here. You'll find much of interest to read!

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The 13/22 SuperSear is Back!

After a short pause in availability, the 13/22 SuperSear is back and just as good as ever!

The 13/22 SuperSear is a drop-in replacement for the standard factory sear used in Crosman 1377, 1322 and 2240 pistols - together with their many variants. In Archer Airguns testing, it gives a significant reduction in trigger pull weight of about 2lbs: that's a 40% improvement compared to the factory sear.

Of course, this sear is another product of the noted airgun upgrade designer Steve_in_NC.

This new "Version 2" of the SuperSear features the same geometry as the earlier version, only the method of manufacturing is changed - NOT the performance. The body of the sear is now CNC-sculpted from aircraft-quality Aluminum, with alloy-steel, load-bearing, wear-resistant, precision-machined pins at the bearing points. Please note that there will be compression marks on the surface of the sear, this is an artifact of the manufacturing process and has no effect on the geometry or performance of the 13/22 SuperSear.



The 13/22 SuperSear is installed by simply removing the right side pistol grip, removing the factory sear and replacing it. Full instructions are included with the kit. The included stainless steel washers help to center the sear and trigger, removing the objectionable side-to-side "slop" that's felt in the factory trigger assembly.

Note that the Archer Airguns 13/22 SuperSear is designed for use with UNMODIFIED Crosman 1377 and 2240-type air pistols. It may not work - or even be dangerous - if installed in combination with other trigger modifications such as weaker sear springs. If you've already made other trigger mods to your pistol, please don't add a 13/22 SuperSear!



Many Crosman pistol shooters have been very happy with their 13/22 SuperSear. Now you can appreciate its benefits too...

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Hammers Scope Rings Are Great Value. But Do They Beat Leapers?

New to Archer Airguns are Hammers airgun scope rings. These great value rings fit scopes with 1-inch tubes and they clamp firmly onto standard airgun dovetails. Both Hammers Medium rings and Hammers High mount rings are available.

Below, Hammers Medium Airgun Rings. Read on below for an explanation of that improved scope stop setscrew



When I first saw these rings, I thought "Hey, these are just like Leapers rings but they cost 30% less!" Well I was wrong. Yes there are superficial similarities between the Hammers and Leapers rings, but there's more differences, as I'll explain here.

The Hammers rings have 4 ring clamping screws and 2 dovetail clamping screws, just like the Leapers rings. This is far better than the rings supplied as standard with many "$100 and 1000fps" spring piston air rifles that are widely available, such as the Ruger Air Hawk, Crosman Optimus and Beeman RS2. More and larger clamping screws are among the hallmarks of strong scope rings.

The increased number of screws compared to the scope rings on those air rifles makes for more stable scope mounting and improved accuracy potential. Both Leapers and Hammers rings feature a scope stop screw in one of the rings that is used to counteract the strong recoil of high powered spring/piston air rifles.

Leapers and Hammers scope rings comparison review.

Hammers uses the same size machine screws - M4 - as Leapers to secure the rings around the scope. Honors even!

But the screws used by Hammers to clamp the rings to scope rails are smaller than used by Leapers. Hammers uses M4 while Leapers uses M5. Leapers moves ahead...

Leapers uses an M5 setscrew for the scope stop. Hammers uses a huge M6 setscrew here. But there's a problem. Hammers supplies a pointed setscrew that will eat into the metal of the scope stop hole or slot under recoil of powerful spring/piston air rifles. The result is inaccuracy due to a wandering point of impact as the scope moves back on the gun. To overcome that problem, Archer Airguns is supplying a really solid M6 dog pointed setscrew with each pair of Hammers airgun rings. That fixes the problem for good.

So which company wins the scope stop comparison? Hammers - but only if you buy them from Archer Airguns and have the extra scope stop screw. If you buy them elsewhere, it's Leapers.



Above, Hammers High Mount Airgun Rings.

Here's a summary of the comparison, shown for the medium profile rings:



For confirmation, we're comparing the Hammers rings against the Leapers Accushot Medium Airgun Rings, Model RGPM-25M4 and Leapers Accushot High Profile Airgun Rings, Model RGPM-25H4.

I feel that the Hammers rings offer good quality at an excellent, low, price. Are they better than Leapers great products? If you buy them from Archer Airguns, the price gives Hammers an advantage.

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Upgrade Your Beeman RS2 Air Rifle With These New Barrels

Newly arrived at Archer Airguns are some new barrels for the Beeman dual barrel airgun known variously as the RS2, Grizzly X2, 1073, and the Walmart Beeman.

These barrels are factory original barrels that are used on the upmarket 1074 versions of the Beeman Sportsman Series air rifles. They have no front sight: instead they feature a very nice vented steel muzzle brake that looks great and is convenient to hold when cocking the air rifle. The muzzle brake is strongly fixed to the barrel with setscrews and extends beyond the end of the barrel, so providing greater leverage and a slightly lower cocking effort.

These Beeman barrels are available in both .177 and .22.



As you can see from the photographs, these 1074 barrels are a big improvement in appearance compared to the standard barrel. They fit straight on to your existing Beeman dual barrel air rifle (with the locking screw underneath) and are an ideal upgrade, especially if you need a replacement barrel anyhow.



Archer Airguns carries a range of spare parts and accessories for these Beeman dual barrel air rifles, as well as for many other airguns.

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