So What Do You Do When The Gas Runs Low in Your QB78?

Over the years, many people have asked this question, or something like it, so I hope this post will help those who are new to the QB78 family of air rifles and anyone finding a Crosman 160 and wanting to shoot that fine old air rifle.

Both the QB78 and Crosman 160 air rifles are powered by two 12 "Powerlets", each containing 12 grams of CO2. After 50 shots, or so, the liquid CO2 in the "Powerlets" is exhausted and only gas remains in the gun. If more shots are fired, the gas is used and the pressure in the main tube falls with each shot. Thus, the point of impact of the pellets falls. Eventually, you need to "mortar" the pellets over onto the target. If this is continued, eventually a pellet will jam in the barrel as the remaining gas pressure will be insufficient to shoot it out of the muzzle.

I normally stop shooting my QB78 after about 55 shots.



"So, what then?" people ask. "The gun's not shooting well any more, but I can't remove the Tube Cap - it's still locked tight and I can't insert new Powerlets".

Well, it's easy. Simply "dry fire" the gun (operate the trigger and bolt without shooting pellets) until the remaining gas is exhausted. It will take about 20 cycles or so to do this. You will hear the bang become softer and softer until all the gas is exhausted. Now you will also be able to unscrew the Tube Cap from your QB78 or Crosman 160. That's it!

If the Tube Cap is still too tight to be removed, there's still gas in the gun. Dry fire it until it's all gone.

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New "Silent" Pellet Trap for NRA Targets

By popular request, Archer Airguns introduces a new version of our world-renowned "Silent" Pellet Traps. This new model is specifically designed for use with the 11 1/2 inch x 12 3/4 inch, NRA 10 meter, 12-bull air rifle target, model AR-5/10. As with the other models in our range, this NRA pellet trap is officially-licensed from the basic design devised by Dr Joe Matusic. It brings the benefits of the "Silent" Pellet Trap to the NRA 10 meter target for the first time.

This new Jumbo Trap is available in two forms - assembled and in kit form. Like the other Archer Airguns "Silent" Pellet Traps, the Jumbo Trap uses Duct Seal to catch the pellets and prevent mess accumulating in front of the target face - as happens with other pellet traps.

We suggest you purchase the Duct Seal locally at Lowes or Home Depot to avoid shipping costs, but we have it available from our online store if required.
Above, we have the assembled trap. You can see this in our online store at www.archerairguns.com. The photograph below shows the kit version. More details are available here. Both versions are supplied complete with instructions and the assembled version also includes one NRA 10 meter air rifle target.
Video instructions for assembly of the Archer Airguns "Silent" Pellet Trap range are available on YouTube here. Although assembly of the Compact Trap is shown, the same principles also apply to this new Jumbo Trap.

If you shoot NRA 10 meter air rifle, I hope that our Jumbo trap and kit will be of interest to you :-)

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How to remove the front sight from an AR2078, AR2078A or AR2079 air rifle

Many times we're asked how to remove the front sight from an AR2078, AR2078A or AR2079 air rifle. It looks as if it should be easy, but there's a simple "trick" to do it. Here we'll show the removal in photographs.

First, remove the small setscrew holding the barrel weight in place. (First photo).


Now, you can pull the barrel weight back off of the AR2078 barrel - don't scratch the finish! Our second photo shows the removed weight and setscrew.



Now remove the screw and slotted disks. This is obvious and it looks as if the front sight should now slide off. But it doesn't! The secret is that there's actually a spring steel roll pin holding the sight assembly tight to the barrel. You can see it if you look carefully at the next photo.

Take a 7/32-inch steel punch and knock out the roll pin from its' "pointed" side, as is shown in the fourth photo, below.

Once the roll pin is out, the front sight assembly will simply slide off of the barrel, leaving you with the result in photo 5.


Having removed the front sight, you are left with a flat in the underside of the AR 2078 barrel for the setscrew seating and an unpleasant semi-circular slot in the top for the roll pin. A muzzle brake will cover these if it is long enough. In practice, I find that the barrel weight removed in stage one can be epoxied back in place around the front of the barrel - this makes a nice, clean job and this is how I finish our AR2078A "Custom" air rifles.

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Stop that QB79 barrel contact problem for good!

One well-known problem with the Industry Brand QB79 air rifles is that a standard 2-inch diameter paintball tank will often touch the barrel of these air rifles - with a consequent bad effect on accuracy.

To be fair, this is not actually the fault of the Shanghai Airgun Company, as the outside diameter of (nominally) 2-inch diameter paintball tanks has increased over the years and now stands at about 2.10 inches. With bad luck, this can cause the tank to contact the barrel when full and fitted.

Enter the JRA Breech Spacer Kit (photo above). This provides an additional 5/16-inch (8mm) of clearance between the barrel and tank on a QB79 or AR2079A air rifle. Archer Airguns has them in stock and also includes replacement transfer port tubing that will increase the muzzle velocity as well (not shown in our photograph)! The barrel then becomes free-floating as it's not possible to use a front band for support with any QB78 air rifle. I've not found this to be a problem in testing, however. If you are purchasing a new QB79 air rifle and don't want to fit the spacer yourself, Archer Airguns will fit it to your new QB79 for a very modest fee.

Our photo below shows the Breech Spacer Kit fitted to a QB79. The increased clearance is evident. This is an excellent addition to your QB79 at an attractive price.

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The Easy Way to Sight-In an Air Rifle Scope and other great videos.

Just published! The Archer Airguns Video Catalog 2010 is a new combination DVD containing all the videos we posted on YouTube during 2009. This DVD version allows you to view Stephen Archer's popular airgun videos on your Mac or PC, or play them on your television at home, instead of having to be on-line using the Internet.

Topics include:
- Air rifle and product reviews, including the QB78, QB57 and "Silent" Pellet Trap.
- Shooting techniques, including easy ways to mount and sight-in an air rifle scope. Also how to master the "artillery hold" that is so important for successfully shooting spring air rifles.
- Customizing and increasing the muzzle velocity of your QB78 family air rifle.

This DVD is ideal for those without high speed Internet access or for viewing in higher quality than is available on YouTube. You can find it for sale in the Technical Manuals Page of our store.

Enjoy :-)

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