The QB78 Carbine is Back - and Better!

The CAR78a - Archer Airguns’ QB78 carbine is now available again, with dramatically increased muzzle velocity and other improvements.


So what’s new?

Well, this new QB78 carbine is only 35-inches long, that’s 1 1/2-inches shorter than the previous version and a full 4 1/2-inches shorter than the standard factory QB78. It also incorporates our new muzzle brake which has a beautiful deep blued finish and fits deeper onto the end of the barrel - hence the length reduction.


But the big news is the higher muzzle velocity. The carbine now shoots to the same specs as the full-length QB78. That’s around 600fps in .177 cal and 500fps in .22, both at 65 degrees F. Like all CO2 guns, the muzzle velocity increases with temperature and these specs mean you will see around 640fps for .177s and 540fps for .22s at 85 degrees F.

This muzzle velocity increase is achieved by using an improved breech seal to overcome the unintentional velocity restriction caused by the standard factory part. (See our YouTube video on how to make this change yourself) The shorter barrel reduces muzzle velocity, but the breech seal brings it back up again. The previous version of the carbine had a 10% lower muzzle velocity because of this reason.

And again, accuracy is - if anything - superior to the QB78 in standard factory trim. This is due to the solid steel muzzle brake, which dampens barrel vibration when shooting.

The stock is from the QB78 Deluxe - Chinese wood is getting better all the time and these stocks look good, many having some nice grain and/or figuring to the wood.

There's no iron sights on this rifle, so fit a compact optical sight such as the Leapers "Bugbuster" or red/green dot scope, such as the one we're used for the photograph. Of course, these are an additional cost item!



This new QB78 carbine is now available in both calibers at our store. Have fun and enjoy the great handling it provides.

Read more...

How Do I Use The De-Gassing Key on My AR2078A Air Rifle?

The instruction manual that accompanies the AR2078 and AR2078A air rifles gives an explanation of this, but unfortunately something was lost in the translation and it’s not easy to understand. Fortunately it’s easy to do and works well.

The de-gassing key is used to exhaust the remaining CO2 from an AR2078 or AR2078A air rifle after the point of impact begins to drop as the gas is shot from the gun. Of course you can “shoot the gun dry” by simply cocking and firing it without pellets - this is the normal method for those QB78 family models without the de-gassing facility, such as the QB78 Deluxe and the standard QB78.

But the de-gassing key offers a much easier, faster and more convenient way to empty your AR2078 or AR2078A air rifle of gas.

First cock the bolt, do NOT load a pellet but pull the trigger.
Now insert the de-gassing key through the keyhole in the side of the stock. Rotate it counter-clockwise 180 degrees and the key will open the valve by camming the hammer forward against the valve stem. The CO2 exhausts through the muzzle.
Once no more gas escapes the barrel the gun is empty of CO2 and you can re-fill as normal for more shooting, or leave empty for storage.

That’s it!

Read more...

Workshop Videos and Manual for QB78

We now have two workshop videos available on YouTube showing simple modifications or repairs to the QB78 family of air rifles. Just click on the thumbnails in the left column of this blog to view. I hope that you like them!


But for those who want to go further, there's a whole lot more information available in our QB78 Family Workshop Manual. This 88-page book covers just about everything you wanted to know about these air rifles. And, unlike those other workshop manuals that unhelpfully tell you that "reassembly is the reverse of disassambly", we actually describe how to put the gun back together and test that it works.

You can discover more about our Workshop Manual on our store site.

Read more...

Testing, Testing and Improving...

Here's one from the archives.

Carefully packed among some product we received from the Shanghai factory a while back was this "Certificate of Inspection" with attached test target - obviously from the QA Department.

It's notable for several things...
1. It gives a specification for the accuracy testing - 3 shots at 10 metres with a maximum CTC of 8mm. The test target shows a CTC of 6mm. A pretty good group.
2. It's a test target for an AR2078B or AR2079B - the very rare versions of the AR2078A and AR2079A that are cocked by a slide lever mechanism, rather than a bolt. Very few of these guns have ever made it to the US and I've only handled them myself at the SHOT Show. And "B" models were not among the products we received in the shipment.
3. The serial number on the test target - 08682567 - does not match the serial number on the Certificate of Inspection it's attached to - 08682566. Oops!
4. It shows the characteristics of the gun that the factory tests for quality, bore diameter, accuracy, trigger pull weight, overall weight (this varies quite considerably between individual units due to differences in the wood used), functionality of the rear peep sight, performance (probably overall operation), and finish. It also gives a grading system "Result" to the inspected product.

There's no question that output quality from the Shanghai Air Gun factory is improving all the time and this document gives us a small view into the efforts they're making.

But, it also shows why Archer Airguns recommends "Gold Service' testing. Here we have evidence of a functioning QA system, but with some unfortunate lapses - the wrong test target on the Certificate of Inspection, and the document included with a completely different batch of guns as if someone knew they had made an error and didn't know quite what to do about it...

But don't laugh too loud, they're getting better all the time - and anyway, who's perfect?

Read more...

Lead free Pellets - Are They Any Good?

Great claims are made for lead-free pellets. Crosman claims their lead-free pellets have ultra-high velocity. Gamo says that their Raptor Power Pellets increase the power and velocity of your airgun up to 25%. But do they?

In this post we’ll see what happened when I tested four pellets through the same air rifle.

The air rifle used was a factory-spec QB78 in .177 caliber - the first one I pulled from the rack. I gassed-up the gun, sighted it in with a red dot scope and then shot four strings of 5 shots each from a rest in one session at 64 degrees F to ensure consistency, with the following types of pellets:
- “The Peak” lead wadcutters with an average weight of 8.65 Grains
- Crosman Premier Light lead domes weighing 7.96 Grains on average
- Gamo “Raptor Power Pellets” lead free, pointed and weighing 5.04 Grains on average
- Crosman “Silver Eagle” lead free wadcutters, average weight 4.40 Grains

I didn’t select the gun or the pellets. All were shot “just as they were” to make a real world comparison.

The results? Well sadly, the lead free pellets don’t perform well at all.

Compared to the slowest lead pellets - The Peak wadcutters - the Gamo Raptors were a pathetic 6% faster - in spite of the claims of “25% increased velocity” emblazoned on the packaging. Another claim on the Gamo packaging is that “If your gun shoots 600fps, velocity will increase up to 750fps. Nope, not with this gun, they don’t. Crosman is less extravagant in its claims, but the Crosman Silver Eagle wadcutters did improve muzzle velocity by 16%

Also note that the slowest pellets - The Peak wadcutters - actually had the greatest muzzle energy, while the Gamo Raptors (which again claim to increase the power of your airgun by up to 25%) actually generated 35% LESS muzzle energy than those slow old lead wadcutters. Hunters require muzzle energy for a clean kill, lead free pellets obviously don’t deliver.

Gamo also claims their “Performance Ballistic Alloy” improves accuracy by 25%. Not true, I’d say, based on the results of this test. Accuracy of the lead free pellets was between 2 and 3 times worse than the lead pellets.

As you can see, the Crosman Premier Light lead pellets were very accurate in this gun - a great choice. I use The Peak lead wadcutters for Archer Airguns “Gold Service” testing and have good luck with them: again we have an excellent group, but with one flyer half an inch from the main group. The Crosman lead free wadcutters made a ragged open group. As for the Gamo pellets - well we can see only four holes, so two pellets must have gone in exactly the same place, but then we have a flyer a full 1 1/2-inches away from the group. The lead free pellets tend to shoot to the right of the lead pellets.

Here’s the numbers, the test targets are below:
The Peak wadcutters 8.65 Grains weight, 577.7 fps muzzle velocity, 6.4 ft/lbs muzzle energy
Crosman Premier Light domes 7.96 Grains weight, 598.8 fps muzzle velocity, 6.3 ft/lbs muzzle energy
Gamo Raptor lead free pointed, 5.04 Grains weight, 614.2 fps muzzle velocity, 4.2 ft/lbs muzzle energy
Crosman Silver Eagle lead free, 4.40 Grains weight, 670.5 fps muzzle velocity, 4.4 ft/lbs muzzle energy

For those who must have the highest muzzle velocity, the Crosman Silver Eagle wadcutters increase the performance of this QB78 by nearly 100 fps. But is it worth the compromise?

Take a look at the test targets. What do you think?

Read more...