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28 November, 2013

Archer Airguns 2013 Winter Seasonal Sale Starts Today - Great Bargains!

The Archer Airguns Seasonal Sale starts today - just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

These special offers are all listed in the Specials section of our store.

Here's some highlights...

The popular QB78 Repeater, pictured below, is now on sale at just $229.99. This is a bargain price for such an outstanding and innovative air rifle! For this deal click on these links: QB78 Repeater .177 cal and QB78 Repeater .22 cal.



Also, we have a number of special offers for Stoeger airguns. Everyone wants a GTX Generation II trigger mounted on their Stoeger air rifle and now Archer Airguns offers a free GTX trigger installed on select Stoeger models at no charge - that's a $42.98 saving.

The free, installed GTX upgrades are available on the Stoeger X50 combo, Stoeger X20 Suppressor combo and Stoeger X20 camo stock combo.

Another special deal is on the Stoeger X5 combo. This air rifle cannot accept the GTX trigger, so we've reduced the price by $20.00 as a seasonal saving.

But wait, there's more!

The ever-popular QB57 Deluxe - with hard case - takes a price tumble to just $79.99 for this Seasonal Sale.

The Xisico XS60C is in stock in both .177 and .22 calibers and Archer Airguns new "leak free" tube cap upgrade is included at no charge. This is a $19.99 value included at the outstanding price of just $99.99 for this interesting new air rifle.

And just a few "Seconds" Premium Silent Pellet Traps - "the best pellet traps on the planet" - are available at just $45.00. These seconds have cracks or filler in the wood, but are fully functional if you want the best pellet trap and don't care if the appearance is less than perfect. We have a few of these every year and they always sell out very fast.

Please note that most of these sale items are available in limited quantities at these special prices. When they're gone, they're gone.

All of us at Archer Airguns wish you a happy Holiday Season!

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22 November, 2013

Stoeger ATAC Muzzle Velocity Test Results. Surprise!

Like many people, I’m very dubious about some of the claims for muzzle velocity made by manufacturers for their air rifles. Somehow, these numbers are incredibly high and are not easy to reconcile with the “real world” test results we obtain when making Archer Airguns Gold Service tests on individual customers’ air rifles.

For example, the Stoeger ATAC has these claims for muzzle velocity, in .177 caliber:

“Up to 1200 fps with alloy”.

“Up to 1000 fps with lead”.

Yet in our Gold Service testing, we see muzzle velocities for the ATAC of between about 880 and 940 fps in .177 caliber. What’s going on?

In an attempt to answer this question, Paul and I conducted an experiment here at Archer Airguns.

We took one .177 caliber ATAC at random from stock and fired enough shots through it to burn of the effects of dieseling. We then took 9 different types of pellets, each of differing weights, and fired 5 shots with each pellet type through the same gun in succession across the Chrony.

The average muzzle velocities for each pellet type were then plotted in the graphs you see here.

The results surprised me! The ATAC does actually achieve - and even exceed - Stoeger Airguns’ claims for muzzle velocity. But it all depends on what pellets you use!

Here’s the data Paul and I gathered. (Click to enlarge the data and graphs).



Plotting the average muzzle velocities against pellet weight gives a graph looking like this.



As you can see, the muzzle velocity falls with pellet weight. Duuhhhhh..... Of course this is not very surprising, there’s only so much air in the compression chamber of the gun and heavier pellets will need more “push” to fire than lighter ones.

It’s immediately obvious that this ATAC - chosen at random - meets, or even exceeds, Stoeger Airguns’ claims for muzzle velocity.

With the lightest alloy pellets tested - 5 Grain Gamo Raptors - the muzzle velocity was 1242 fps. That exceeds the manufacturer’s claim of “up to 1200 fps with alloy”.

Testing with the lightest lead pellets - 7 Grain RWS Hobbys - gave a muzzle velocity of 1002 fps. That meets the claim of “up to 1000 fps with lead” right on the nose.

When the same gun is shot with 8.64 grain Stoeger X-Field pellets - the pellets we use for Gold Service testing - it achieves 916fps. That’s right in the 880 - 940 fps spread we find for these guns in Gold Service tests in .177 caliber.

So, this gun chosen at random gives very representative results for muzzle velocity from the ATAC. The Gold Service muzzle velocities we see with Stoeger X-Field pellets (880 to 940 fps) represent the muzzle velocity tested in this gun with a spread of just +2.5% (940 fps) to -5% (880 fps). I’d say that this is a very respectable performance given that we are always testing new guns that have not yet had time to "settle down" with use.

Interestingly, the ATAC gives a reasonably uniform level of muzzle energy - in the 15.5 to 17 ft/lbs range with any tested pellet, as is shown by the data and the following graph. (This is not always the case with other air rifles we've tested).



Now, this was a muzzle velocity test only. An accuracy test would certainly not prove the fastest pellets to give the best accuracy! But it does show that the muzzle velocity claims made by Stoeger Airguns for the ATAC are credible and achievable by average production guns, so long as the lightest possible pellets are used to achieve their claimed muzzle velocities.

We’ll continue Gold Service testing with mid-weight X-Field pellets because that more closely represents the weight of pellets chosen by experienced users of these air rifles.

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21 November, 2013

But Wait - There’s More! Archer Airguns Provides a Second Gift for the Yellow Forum 2013 Christmas Spirit Raffle.

The second gift offered by Archer Airguns for the Yellow Airgun Forum 2013 Christmas Spirit Raffle is this beautiful Benjamin SuperStreak model B1500STM air rifle.



The .177 caliber air rifle has been used mainly as a photographic model by us - it’s in completely “as new” condition having been fired less than 50 shots. And that includes the 10 shots used to generate the Gold Service test target that’s supplied with it!

This SuperStreak is offered complete with a mounted, sighted-in 4 - 15 x 40AO Adventure Class CenterPoint scope. The stock is also beautifully camo-dipped with an attractive Proveil Reaper pattern chosen to match the brushed steel surface of the barrel and compression tube.

This is an air rifle that will be ideal for hunting small game. It’s a powerful, long and heavy air rifle that requires strength to cock and shoot.



As you can see from the test target below, this gun delivers a genuine 1,000+ fps with “real world” 8.64 grain pellets for a muzzle energy close to 21 ft/lbs. This is a genuine magnum springer!

This gun is valued at around $250 and it could be yours, free, if you are a winner of the Yellow Forum 2013 Christmas Spirit Raffle.

Good luck!

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14 November, 2013

Archer Airguns Replacement Tube Cap Fixes Problems with Umarex Fusion and Xisico XS60C

I’ll go on record as saying that the Umarex Fusion - and its very close cousin the Xisico XS60C - is a very innovative CO2 air rifle with some excellent high-level design concepts. I like it!



But it’s sad to see that there are often some major issues with this air rifle as it is currently shipping. These have been highlighted in several places on the Internet, and a number of customers have written to me asking for help. Basically the problems are:

1. The guns can leak unacceptably. Leave it gassed-up and 24 hours later it’s probably empty. This is in stark contrast to QB78-type air rifles which can remain gassed up for weeks - and even months - at a time.

2. The tube cap is very complex. It’s confusing to operate and you may need to wait as long as an hour after releasing the CO2 from the gun before it’s possible to remove the tube cap. Again, this problem does not exist with QB78-type air rifles.

3. The tube cap O ring is very soft. It swells like a balloon when the gun is gassed-up and is quickly damaged by blistering and cracking when the tube cap is removed - this leads to further leaking. These O rings can have a very short life before they require replacement. The QB78? Guess what? No problem.

Again, I want to say that I think the degassing tube cap fitted to the Umarex Fusion and Xisico XS60C is an outstanding and innovative concept. But somehow it’s just not up to the task at hand. My testing shows that the tube cap is THE major source of gas leaks from the Fusion and XS60C, and then there’s the issues about the O ring which is the cause of difficulty in removing the tube cap itself.

So........

Archer Airguns introduces a Replacement Tube Cap for the XS60C and Umarex Fusion Air Rifles!



The Archer Airguns Replacement Tube Cap overcomes the leak issues, allowing these guns to remain gassed up for an extended period.

It’s very simple to use. Just screw it on and unscrew after use. There’s no need to wait after the CO2 is used before removing this tube cap.

It uses a different, harder, O ring that swells much less, doesn’t blister and crack with use. Yes, it still swells in use, so we supply a spare O ring with this tube cap. Simply roll off the swelled O ring, roll on the new one, gas up your Fusion or XS60C and keep shooting! The swelled O ring will return to size and can be used again by the time you need to reload with Powerlets.

The only downside is that there’s no degassing capability with this tube cap (although some would say that’s another benefit!). Again the solution is very simple, just “shoot down” the remaining CO2 in the gun in the time-honored fashion, as has been done with generations of Crosman 160s, QB78s and similar CO2-powered air rifles.

If you still want to keep with the factory tube cap, you’ll be needing replacement O rings!

So, Archer Airguns offers a pack of O rings for the Umarex Fusion and XS60C Air Rifles. These are for use on the degassing tube cap as replacements for the orange O ring supplied with the gun. These black O rings are the same as used with our replacement Tube Cap, they swell less and resist blistering and cracking much better than the factory O rings.



You may be asking “Why not fit O rings that don’t swell at all?” The reason is that these O rings - typically hard urethane ones - will not allow any current tube cap design to be fitted into the gas tube of the Umarex Fusion or XS60C air rifles. This is due to the design of the main gas tube itself, which will not allow hard O rings to be pushed into the end of the tube - that’s why the factory supplies those problematic soft O rings in the first place!

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05 November, 2013

The 2013 Yellow Forum Christmas Spirit Raffle

With all the current excitement about the Stoeger ATAC Suppressor air rifle, it's possible that folk have been ignoring the simpler Stoeger X20 air rifle.

The X20 is actually our favorite spring/piston break barrel air rifle to shoot for fun here at Archer Airguns - in spite of plenty of choice with other more expensive and powerful break barrel airguns. The Stoeger X20 is compact, easy to cock and not too hold sensitive. It has excellent accuracy and is just plain fun to shoot.

As a reminder of the benefits of the X20, Archer Airguns is providing a custom Stoeger X20 in .177 caliber as one of the prizes in the 2013 Yellow Forum Christmas Spirit Raffle.



This custom X20 has a value of $380. The synthetic stock is beautifully camo dipped with genuine Mossy Oak Breeze Winter pattern, perfect to blend in for a little Winter hunting! It's fitted with a Leapers 3-9x40 model U394FDT2 scope mounted in Leapers Max Strength rings - the scope is sighted-in ready to go.



As you can see from this Archer Airguns Gold Service test target, the gun shoots at a muzzle velocity of 849 fps with 8.64 grain Stoeger X-Field pellets. This gives a very useful 13.84 Ft/Lbs of muzzle energy.



This custom X20 is 42.5 inches long and weighs 8 lb 12 oz complete with scope. It will be sent completely free to the lucky winner whose name is chosen in the 2013 Yellow Forum Christmas Spirit Raffle. If you haven't entered yet, now could be a very good time to do so!

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01 November, 2013

Yes, Hammers Scopes Fit the QB78 and QB78 Repeater Air Rifles.

We've had several telephone calls from customers asking the very sensible question "Do Hammers scopes - which are supplied with a one piece mount - fit on the QB78?"

Well the answer is, "Yes, they do". There's plenty of space under the scope tube to load pellets, or magazine, as appropriate.

Both the Hammers 3-9 x 32AO and 3-9 x 40AO scopes will fit on to the QB78 and QB78 Repeater breech, and there's enough range of movement for the scope in the mount to provide the correct eye relief for almost all shooters.

Hammers scopes are excellent value. They have a mil-dot reticle, AO focusing down to 5 yards and good image quality. They are supplied with a strong one-piece mount. There's no fancy features that you don't need, just a simple scope that is ideal for many airgun users. They also hold up very well to the fierce recoil of powerful spring/piston air rifles.

The Hammers 3-9 x 32AO scope sells for just $49.99. The Hammers 3-9 x 40AO scope sells for $59.99. Both include the one-piece mount.

This photograph shows the Hammers 3-9 x 40AO scope fitted to a QB79 PCP air rifle.



And here's a Hammers 3-9 x 32AO scope fitted to a QB78 Repeater air rifle.


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About This Blog

This blog shares information, ideas and knowledge about air rifles. It compliments the information Stephen publishes on the Archer Airguns website, on YouTube and the Chinese Airgun Forum.

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