Winter 2021-22 Antique Pistol Restoration Project

Antique "Sterling" .38 cal.rimfire restoration project update...

  It seems that I could have bought an E.L.Dickinson "Parts gun" a couple of weeks ago, but I passed, not realizing a the time, th...

Sunday, July 7, 2019

Airgun Ammunition


The ammo an Airgunner feeds his AirGun is as important as the AirGun.
I have a large enough stockpile of various types and sizes of AirGun ammo, that I will be shooting for yearsπŸ”«






H&N and Air Venturi both have great quality copper coated lead BB-caliber balls, which weigh a few grains more, and although the velocity drops, the accuracy may, and energy will be better than with steel BB's.


The Benjamin "cylindrical" .20cal. lead slugs are the closest ammo to the original Sheridan 5mm lead AirGun bullets/pellets available today.



10.85mm carbon steel alloy balls cycle and shoot in the Walther PPQ M2 T4E Co2 pistol, but they cost way too much, and only have a muzzle velocity around 160-70 fps.

























The .24cal/6mm carbon steel balls from Germany work amazingly well with the Kel-Tec PMR-30 Co2 pistol, and consistently shoot around 320 fps!
Not bad with a 0.89 gram steel BB!!!

My favorite .24cal/6mm airsoft ammo for Co2 powered airsoft pistols!
At 0.30gram, they are close to the weight of a 4.5mm steel BB.


My favorite 4.5mm steel BB's!! Hornady Black Diamond!!!


RIOT BALL .43cal. 13.3 grain PVC/Nylon roundball ammo!!!


Crosman TrapMaster 1100 Co2 shotgun shells are filled with 62 grains of #8 chilled lead shot.
The spent shells can be reloaded with one .375"/.36cal.  lead roundball


Friday, June 28, 2019

Crosman Airguns: Co2 & Pneumatic Arms

"Crosman Arms" was the first AirGun manufacturer's products that I handled & learned to shoot way back when I was a 11 or 12 year old Boy Scout.
When I was 18 or 19 years old I bought a Crosman 357-6 Co2 revolver + a full metal rifled 8" barrel from a Canadian Tire store near me.
It wasn't until I was in my late 30's that I discovered the 1322 Medalist .22 cal. multi-pump pneumatic pellet pistol, and started to learn about the history of modern Air rifles & Air pistols.

This one of my pair of Crosman model 2240's.
The 2240 is directly descended from the Crosman model 150 that was introduced in the mid-1950's, and was the first Air pistol design that used the 12 gram Co2 cartridge, or as Crosman originally named it: "Golden Powerlet"πŸ”«


Around 5 years ago I was looking at Mt. Marvin's website "AirGun Oldies" and he had this pristine Crosman model 150 variant for sale!
It was made by Crosman and branded : Hawthorne Montgomery Ward M-150
Mr. Marvin told me that in over 35 years of buying & selling AirGun Oldies, he has never seen a model 150 so close to brand new condition.
The sale included a 5-pack box of Crosman Golden Powerlets Co2, with 3 powerlets remaining, and a Crosman "spam" style tin of .22 cal. "Super-Pells" with less than 50 pellets gone!
It seemed as though this air pistol was purchased as a shooter's kit from the Montgomery Ward's department store as a gift, around 1955-57, and may have only been used once, and then packed away for over 60 years, until Mr. Marvin bought it at an Estate sale in 2014.
I had to understandably replace the Co2 cap O-ring, and installed a modern urethane O-ring, and it has held gas and shot as  hard as the day it was made ever sinceπŸ”«



Today, some of Crosman's AirGuns are made for them in Taiwan and other Foreign Countries and not in the USA, like their entire product line used to be during the Crosman Golden Age, which ended by 1980.
The select-fire ready,  PFAM9B is made in Taiwan by KWC and it is an ultra realistic replica of the Taurus PT-92 ...it's a fun and exciting Co2 pistol to own and shoot.

KWC make some of the most realistic "blowback" action Co2 air pistol replicas available today, and the PFAM9B is the latest version of their Taurus PT-92 replica.
In the past, this air pistol has been available from different brands/companies, like GSG, Swiss Arms as well as KWC's own house brand.


This is the Crosman PFM16, which I think is  made by WinGun for Crosman...like the KWC replicas, this co2 pistol has been and still is available from different companies with different outer finishes and branding.
Blackwater, Swiss Arms and Gamo(Red Alert) have their own versions of this Beretta M-84 lookalike Co2 pistol.
WinGun also released this AirGun as the WG-321(I think that's the correct model#)
The Crosman PFM16 is a full metal, very durable & reliable Co2 pistol that consistently shoots 5 grain steel BB's around 400-425 fps and has comfortable, rubber-like grips, and a metal drop-free magazine.


I think that WinGun also made the C-21 Co2 pistol for Crosman, a well as the Beretta-ish C-31.
The Crosman C-21 resembles an H&K P-30 and this AirGun comes with a match style muzzle break & fake barrel extension.
This is a Co2 pistol that has a power rating up to 495 fps, and my chronograph tests record velocities above 500 fps on a regular basis.



Here is a page from the company catalog back during Crosman's "Golden Age" of AirGunsπŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«πŸ”«
I own two of the Co2 guns on this catalog page, the Single Action Six co2 revolver & the Model 150πŸ”«


Crosman model 38T .177cal. Co2 Pellet Revolver (1980)


The Crosman GI model 1911BB is a full metal, Colt/Browning M1911 replica air pistol that looks sharp and shoots greatπŸ”«

Here is my Crosman TrapMaster 1100 .380cal. Co2 Air Shotgun and the proprietary .380gage ammunition Crosman made for it.
Crosman made this Co2 Air Shotgun between 1968-71.

My Crosman TrapMaster 1100 Co2 Air Shotgun


This Colt Single Action Army 1873 replica airgun is an early version of Crosman's SA6, a .22cal Co2 revolver. My SA6 needs to be re-sealed.

...and lastly, it's  my customized Crosman 2240 that I named : G.K.ARMS "2240 Custom" πŸ”«
I found a person online who designed & 3D printed the nylon reinforced polymer Dual picatinny rail which enables the mounting of a pistol sight/optic and a gun lightπŸ”«

Steel roundball ammo from Germany...


This first photo shows over a thousand rounds of carbon steel alloy roundballs in the caliber 10.85mm and weighing at 4.8 grams/round.
That makes these 0.4 gram/round lighter than the chrome alloy steel roundballs which I bought on eBay for my .43 caliber Walther PPQ M2 T4E Co2 pistol.

(My Walther PPQ M2 T4E .43cal Co2 Pistol & Beeman P-1 Magnum .22cal. spring piston Pistol)

I ordered 2000 rounds of these carbon steel alloy .24cal/6mm roundball ammo for use with my SocomGear Kel-Tec PMR-30, Tolmar/Grand-Power X-Caliber, Steyr M9-A1  & TSD Sports M1911, all of which have muzzle velocities above 400 fps with .30 gram Aluminum alloy BB's, and should be powerful enough to shoot 0.9 gram steel balls.
These 6mm roundballs are being shipped from Germany on Tuesday, July 2nd, and should be here with 10-14 days, hopefully.



The 2000 rounds of .24cal/6mm  0.89 gram carbon steel alloy roundball ammo arrived the other day, an I almost immediately charged my SocomGear Kel-Tec PMR-30 and Grand-Power X-Caliber Co2 pistols with gas, loaded a half dozen rounds and shot them across my chronograph πŸ”«
The results were decent πŸ‘Œ
My Kel-Tec PMR-30 shot in the 310-325 fps range and the Grand-Power X-Caliber shot around 275 fps.
Based on the results,  the PMR-30 is obviously better suited for such heavy 6mm ammo.
I still have a STEYR M9-A1 and TSD M1911/Colt Defender to test and I will update this post after that.

(SocomGear Kel-Tec PMR-30 .24cal/6mm GBB Co2 pistol)

(Tolmar/Grand-Power X-Caliber .24cal/6mm NBB Co2 pistol)

As reported in a recent post, the SocomGear Kel-Tec PMR-30 just loved devouring these 13.3 grain carbon steel alloy balls!
With muzzle velocities consistently between 310-330 fps, this Co2 pistol and this projectile is a perfect combination.
From 10 feet it blasts the steel balls straight thru Campbell's soup cans!