VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

Dead Head - I Think I'll Check and See How Much Air Is Left - In My AirHog - Carbon Fiber Tank

Mac1, "Dead Head."   

Back in January, I wrote a blog story about carbon fiber tanks, hoses, fittings, and adapters.  That story got into the equipment, and some of the various pieces of gear involved with filling PCP (Pre-Charged Pneumatic) airguns.    

One other small piece of equipment, that I didn't mention in the previous story, but is very useful, is an item called a "Dead Head."  This is a small fitting with a male Foster on one end, and a plug on the other. (See above picture) It essentially seals the end of the fill hose, where either a fill adapter, or an airgun like the Marauder would normally connect.

(Shown below) "Dead Head" ready to snap onto the end of the fill hose. The main valve is closed, and the gauge reads zero.

(Shown below) "Dead Head" snapped onto the end of the fill hose.

Normally, when filling your PCP, the gauge on the tank is reading the pressure in the gun as you fill it. If we replace the PCP on the end of the fill hose, with a "Dead Head" and open the main valve,  the gauge will now be reading the pressure in the hose.  

Since the proper high pressure hose for this application, is rated for much higher operating pressures than a PCP's air tube, or even the 4500 psi in a full 4500 psi carbon fiber tank, we can now open the valve on the 4500 psi carbon fiber tank all of the way, it will fill the hose to the highest pressure left in the tank, and the gauge will indicate that pressure. You now know how much air pressure is left in your tank.

To safely remove the "Dead Head" from the fill hose, the hose must first be bled of the high pressure air that was left in it, when the main control valve was closed.  That is done by using the bleed valve that is located next to the main control valve.  It is now safe to remove the "Dead Head" from the end of the fill hose. 

(Shown below) "Dead Head" on the end of the hose, with the main valve opened all of the way, and the gauge reading the remaining tank pressure of 3300 psi.

The remaining pressure left in your carbon fiber tank, is very useful information to have at your finger tips. Nothing like getting into a lengthy pellet testing project for example, only to discover that all you have left air wise, is a couple of full pressure fills remaining in your tank.

As can be seen in the picture above, this tank's remaining pressure is down to 3300 psi.  Since I fill most of my guns to 3000 psi, or there about,  it's getting close to the time, to go and see my friendly neighborhood Dive Shop for a fresh 4500 psi fill.

I purchased my "Dead Head" from Mac1 Airguns for $14, a real bargain. It gives me a convenient, inexpensive way to quickly check the remaining air pressure in my carbon fiber tanks.

 

 

I've Set The Marauder Pistol Up - To Shoot Video While Hunting

I want to shoot video footage of this rig taking ground squirrels, so I've pulled the compact Hawke 2-7x32mm scope, and replaced it with a Bushnell Legend that I had laying around.

I needed a scope with a longer tube, to allow room for my camera mount.  I used the same scope mounts that were on the Hawke.  I wasn't sure they would be high enough to allow theLegend's AO to clear the barrel, as well as have enough clearance for the turret housing to clear the top of magazine.

The good news is, both clear just fine.  Not a lot of room to spare, but just enough for everything to fit together perfectly.

With the Legend and Camera mounted, the weight has gone from 4.75 pounds, to just about 6.25 pounds.  The balance point is right where the rear of the forend piece, contacts the front of the trigger guard.  It's nicely balanced between my hands, and is fast and easy handling.  

The below picture shows the turret housing clearance.  I couldn't quite get the camera angle just right, but the actual clearance is about twice what that thin white line between the turret housing and top of the magazine shows. 

As seen below, with the scope adjusted for my eye relief, the AO housing just clears contacting the barrel band, and has plenty of barrel clearance. All in all, I think the scope swap came together pretty well.

 

Now, I just need to get her sighted in with the tin pellet of her choice, and we'll be ready for some serious California Ground Squirrel hunting.

 

Benjamin Marauder Pistol - Shooting DYNAMIC SN-2 Tin Pellets - Over The Chronograph

On my previous blog post, I put up the data from chronographing the DYNAMIC PCP-2, 14.5 grain tin pellets in my Marauder Pistol. This time, I'll put up the results from shooting the DYNAMIC SN-2, 12.8 grain tin pellets.  

Normally, I wouldn't have even considered trying the SN-2 tin pellets in a PCP, because they are specifically recommended by the manufacturer, for use in spring/gas ram powered guns.  However, another Marauder pistol owner had tried them in his pistol, and found them to be very accurate.  Since I have a small quantity on hand, I thought I would give them a try also.  

I've only been able to shoot them at 15 yards indoors so far, but they do show promise. The group in the upper left corner of the target shown below, is how they did at 15 yards.  All of the groups shown, for both the PCP-2's, and SN-2's, are 8 shot (one mag) groups.

On the first string that I fired, I used a 2600 psi fill, the same that gave me the best results with the PCP-2's, but the result looked like a slightly higher fill pressure would be better.

I next tried a 2650 psi fill, and got the result that I was looking for.

Here's a 24 shot string, using a 2650 psi fill.

1 - 667     10 - 682     19 - 682

2 - 672     11 - 683     20 - 681

3 - 676     12 - 685     21 - 679

4 - 682     13 - 688    22 - 674

5 - 674     14 - 688     23 - 671

6 - 679     15 - 685     24 - 667

7 - 677     16 - 688

8 - 681     17 - 685

9 - 684     18 - 682

AVG - 680 fps

ES - 21 fps

FPE - 13.1

The sequential shot to shot consistency is very good.  It'll be fun to get the SN-2's on paper at 40 yards, and see what they can do.  That'll have to wait a bit though, because we already have about two feet of snow on the ground, with another storm expected Saturday.

This is going to be a really fun gun to hunt with.  It is about 4 pounds lighter than my R9 .20 cal, and almost 6 pounds lighter than my blue laminate .20 cal HW97, all in a package that is producing power equal to my stock R9, and HW97, yet is recoilless, and an 8 shot repeater.  What's not to like? 

 

 

Benjamin Marauder Pistol - Shooting PCP-2 Tin Pellets - Over The Chronograph - This Thing Is Amazing

I finally had a chance to set up my CED-M2 Chronograph, and run some shot strings with my Marauder Pistol, shooting the DYNAMIC PCP-2, tin pellets.

The gun is just the way it came to me from Tim at Mac1.  In his presale prep, he does things like cut a new crown, polish the leade, upgrade the "O" ring in the breach, and adjust the trigger.  As far as the guns settings are concerned, they are just as they came from the factory.

When I heard that Crosman was going to bring this pistol out, I was hoping for a gun that would give me 11 to 12 fpe at the muzzle, and at least 16 shots, with an extreme spread of 20 to 25 fps.  

Shooting the PCP-2, 14.5 grain DYNAMIC tin pellets, she is giving me 24 shots, (three 8 round mags) with an extreme spread of only 20 fps, at an average muzzle velocity of 644 fps, for 13.4 fpe.  I'm a real happy camper. The California Ground Squirrels won't be though.

The first string I shot, I used a 2800 psi fill.  It became real obvious, pretty fast, that I had started with a too high fill pressure.  The next string,  I started with a 2600 psi fill, and it was just about perfect.

Here's a 24 shot string, using a 2600 psi fill.

1 - 634     10 - 646     19 - 645

2- 634      11 - 643     20 - 647

3 - 639     12 - 646     21 - 643

4 - 638     13 - 652     22 - 642

5 - 637      14 - 654     23 - 639

6 - 643     15 - 648     24 - 635

7 - 646     16 - 647

8 - 648     17 - 650 

9 - 651      18 - 649

AVG - 644 fps

ES - 20 fps

FPE - 13.4

This performance is better than I hoped for.  The picture below shows how she shoots the PCP-2's at 15 yards indoors.

I can hardly wait to get her out of doors, and get her sighted in at my zero range for this gun, which will be 40 yards.   Most of my shooting with it will be between 30 and 50 yards, with the occasional shot out to sixty. My R9 .20 cal is doing this same fpe, and I use her to take ground squirrels with, out to 60 yards all of the time.  I also use my FWB 300S rifles to hunt ground squirrels with.  They generate 6.2 fpe at the muzzle, and I use them to kill ground squirrels with out to 45 yards no problem. I'm sure this rig, set up as a carbine, will take ground squirrels to 60 yards with energy to spare.  

I'm thinking about putting a Bushnell Legend on her, so that I have enough room on the scope tube, to mount my video camera.  Shooting video of this rig taking ground squirrels would be a ton of fun. 

When I have a chance, I'll set up a steel soup can, and see what kind of penetration I get out of the PCP-2's at 60 yards.  I'm thinking probably, through and through, but we'll see. 

I know by the way she's shooting the PCP-2's at 15 yards indoors, she will be excellent with them when I can stretch her legs to 40 yards.

We've got two feet of snow on the ground right now, so I'll have to wait for the roads into the forest to clear up a bit, before I can get out there and shoot her at longer ranges.

 

I also shot the tin DYNAMIC SN'2's over the chronograph today.  I'll post that information next.  

 

Benjamin Marauder Pistol - Shooting PCP-2 - and - SN-2 - Tin Pellets.

Well, the intent yesterday, was to do some chrony work with my new Marauder Pistol, but for a variety of reasons, that didn't happen, so I decided to do a little preliminary pellet testing instead.

I had my fingers crossed, that the gun would shoot DYNAMIC tin pellets well.  Why?   Because I want to hunt California Ground Squirrels with it this year, and the ranch I hunt requires the use of non-lead ammo.

Because of other things going on in the house, I couldn't get my usual 20 yards, and had to settle for 15.  That's okay, because even at 15 yards, it's possible to get an idea about how well a gun and pellet combination may work together.  I've tried some pellets, in some guns, that you couldn't cover the groups with a fifty cent piece at that range, and they don't get better when you take them outside at longer ranges.  I'm hoping for ragged holes at this distance.

The first thing I did, was to give the barrel a thorough cleaning.  It wasn't bad at all. Eight patches later, and I was done.

Next, I mounted the carbine butt stock, that the Marauder Pistol comes with, set up my pellet trap, shooting stand, and got ready to shoot some groups. Before shooting for group though, I shot a half dozen tin pellets down the barrel to condition the clean barrel to the new metal.

I especially wanted to try the DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets, with the 5.54mm head diameter in this gun.  These pellets shoot exceptionally well in my PCP rifles, so I was curious to see what they might do in the Marauder Pistol.  

I also wanted to try some DYNAMIC SN-2 tin pellets in it as well.  Those are specifically recommended for spring, or gas ram powered .22 cal rifles, but someone on one of the forums, had said that they shot great in their Marauder Pistol too.  Since I have a small quantity on hand, what the heck, I decided to give them a try also.  I shot 3 groups with the PCP-2's, but since I didn't have very many of the SN-2's, I only shot one group with them.

I had the forend rested on my Caldwell Shooter's Bag, and the butt rested against my shoulder.

Both pellets show great promise.  All groups are 8 shots, (one full mag).

 

The SN-2's weigh 12.8 grains, and the PCP-2's are 14.5.  It'll be fun to see what they can each do at 40 yards.  We are expecting 16 inches of snow by Sunday night, so 40 yard testing is going to have to wait a bit.  

As soon as I can get the chrono set up, it'll be interesting to see a shot string from each pellet too.

With butt stock mounted, this rig makes for a really fast handling, light, .22 cal carbine.  I put it on a postage scale this morning, and with scope, rings, and butt stock, she comes in right at 4.75 pounds.

Hopefully, sometime this weekend, I'll get a chance to set up the chronograph and run some shot strings.  Stay tuned, more to come.

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Marauder Pistol From Mac1 - Just Arrived - This Thing Looks Like A Ton Of Fun

Many years ago, back in my powder burner days, I did a lot of hunting with Remington XP-100 pistols. The above pictures show one of them, that I had custom made, chambered for the 6mm Laser wildcat cartridge.  

The new Marauder Pistol is giving me flashbacks, and is bringing back a bunch of very fond memories.  I am really looking forward to getting her into the field for some hunting fun of her own.

This is the fifth Crosman/Benjamin PCP that I have purchased from Mac1 Airguns.  I like to support the small Dealer, having been one myself for 14 years.  I also like the pre-sale prep that Tim does on the guns he sells.  It isn't a perfect world, but every one of the guns I've purchased from Mac1 has been a shooter.

Tim's basic prep consists of cutting a fresh and true crown, polishing the leade into the rifling, adjusting the trigger, and upgrading the "O" ring in the breach.  To me, it's well worth a very reasonable up charge to have the gun gone over by one of the industries premier airgun smiths, before it gets shipped to me.

I had a Hawke 2-7x32mm scope laying around, so I put that on her for starters.  I'm not sure that will be my final choice, but for now I think it'll do.

We are supposed to get up to 16 inches of snow, between now and Sunday night, so in between running the snowblower, it sounds like the perfect time to set up the chrono indoors, and do a bit of testing.

If I can get all of our cats rounded up, and put upstairs out of the way, I will probably do some initial pellet testing indoors as well.

I'm hoping she shoots the DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets well, I would love to hunt ground squirrels with her in California next month.  I have a few places on the ranch I hunt, that would be ideal for using the Marauder Pistol.  

Because of the terrain in these areas, a long shot is in the 40/50 yard range.  I don't normally hunt there with my rifles, because I don't find 40/50 yard shots all that challenging with them, but I think the Marauder Pistol would be just about ideal for use in those areas.

Well, I think I'll go dig out my chrono and get things set up for some initial velocity testing.  Stay tuned.  More to report later. 

Benjamin Marauder .25 - Shooting The New .25 Cal Predator Polymags - At 55 Yards

A few weeks ago, the folks at Predator International, sent me a sample of their new .25 caliber, 26 grain Predator Polymag, polymer tipped pellets to try in my .25 Marauder.

At the time I received them, the daytime temps around here were running from about 15 to 28 degrees during the day.  Anxious to try them in my .25 Marauder, I shot a few groups indoors at 20 yards.  The results, shown below, were very good.

We usually get a bit of a warm spell around here about the middle of February.  Right on schedule, yesterday was forecast to be 60 degrees. Thirty plus degrees warmer than a few weeks ago.  I took the opportunity to get out into the forest, set up my gear, and shoot these .25 caliber Predators out of my .25 Marauder at 55 yards.

I don't have a lot of these to work with, because I sent some of the ones I received to a friend, so he could try them in his .25 Marauder.  I gave myself 10 pellets to shoot in this test.

I was shooting over my wind flags, so that I could better manage the prevailing wind conditions.  My wind meter indicated that the prevailing wind was running from 6 to 10 miles per hour.

After watching my flags for awhile, I noted that the wind would blow directly at me part of the time, and the velocity would drop a bit.  This was the condition that I chose to do my shooting in.  I would have to wait a few minutes for that condition to come back around, and then I could get off a couple of shots before it would switch ninety degrees on me.

The first five shots were used to make scope corrections, to get the group printing close to where I wanted it.  Those are the shots shown in sequence, in the above picture. My hold was at 6 o'clock on the half inch orange dot.

After shots 3, 4, and 5, I made another small scope adjustment, and fired the last five pellets for group.  As seen below, these pellets are very accurate at 55 yards out of my Marauder. The group measures just a hair over .5 inch, .554 to be exact.

I have about three dozen of the .25 Predators left, and I'm saving them to hunt in the prairie dog towns in late March, when the dogs start to come out from their winter siestas.  Because of the design of this pellet, the energy transfer from pellet to prairie dog should be very impressive. C'mon late March. 

Preparing To Hunt California Ground Squirrels - With My AA 410ERBSL .22 - Shooting DYNAMIC PCP-2 Tin Pellets

I'm heading over to California on business next week, and that will give me a chance to do a bit of ground squirrel hunting.  It's been awhile since I've hunted with my AA 410ERBSL .22, so she is the rifle of choice for this trip.

The weather was nice today, 60 degrees, with a little snow on the ground in some places.  I need to take advantage of it, because we have snow forecast for this coming Thursday.

I got her out into the forest, and got my gear set up to shoot at 55 yards. I have her sighted in to shoot 3/4 of an inch high at 55 yards with the PCP-2 pellets, and I just wanted to verify the zero.

I set my wind flags out, so that I could better manage the effects of the wind while shooting.  It was running from 6 to 10 miles per hour.  After watching the flags for awhile, it became obvious that it would sometimes blow straight toward me, and the velocity would drop a bit.  I chose that condition to fire each shot in.

She dropped pellet after pellet, right where I expected.  No scope adjustments needed. The zero hadn't changed since the last time I hunted with her.  I always check my zero before going hunting. Especially if I'm using a rifle that I haven't hunted with in awhile.  The group measures right at .490 ctc. 

I hope the weather in California cooperates next week.  This rifle and I are ready to do battle with some ground squirrels, and sooner rather than later too.  Hopefully, we'll have ground squirrel hunting stories, with embedded video to share soon.

LOGUN MKII - 35 Shot String - With .20 Caliber - 13.6 Grain JSB EXACT Pellets

The LOGUN MKII is interesting, in that it doesn't have a removable magazine. Instead, it has an inline magazine, that is part of the action itself.  There is a spring loaded follower that keeps tension on the column of pellets, and feeds them into the loading shuttle one at a time.

Inline mag empty, with spring loaded follower all the way down.

Inline mag, with follower pulled back and locked in place, ready to load.

Inline mag loaded, with follower released, ready to feed pellets into the shuttle.

When I pull the bolt back, that shiny metal square with the notch in it, (shuttle) will move to the left, and pick up the next pellet in line.  When I move the bolt forward, the shuttle will move to the right, and put the pellet it has picked up, in line with the bore. The last motion of closing the bolt chambers the pellet.

Because of the way the inline mag and shuttle work, it's like having a 35 round magazine.  Every few shots, I simply pull back the follower, drop in a few pellets, release the follower, and keep on hunting.  Pretty slick really.

Unfortunately, these guns are no longer produced.  This is the only .20 caliber PCP in my collection.  I sometimes wish that I had picked up a MKII in .22 also.  I like thumbhole stocks, and the one on the MKII is well designed, and very comfortable to carry and shoot with.

The accuracy is what you would expect from a quality PCP, top notch. It shoots several pellets really well.  The Logun Penetrators, Beeman Kodiaks, Beeman FTS, and JSB Exact's, all perform about the same in this rifle.  I use the JSB Exacts in it, because they also shoot really well in my .20 cal Springers, so I buy them a sleeve at a time.

One of the really nice features of this gun, is the rotating sleeve that covers the fill port on the air tube.  My other PCP's have either a plug, that you remove from the fill port, or screw on, or snap on covers.  They all work, but the removable ones are easily misplaced, and/or lost. (don't ask how I know that)  On the MKII, you simply rotate the sleeve until a hole in it lines up with the fill port.  Then rotate it 180 degrees, covering the fill port hole, when through filling.  Very convenient, and no chance of losing it.

The knurled sleeve that protects the fill port from dirt.

Knurled sleeve rotated 180 degrees, exposing the fill port. 

It's been almost a year since I've used this gun, so I thought I would run her over the chrony for some fresh numbers.

LOGUN MKII, 35 shot string with 13.6 grain .20 cal. JSB Exact's, on a 3000 psi fill.

1 - 919     10 - 918     19 - 937     28 - 934

2 - 920    11 - 924     20 - 940     29 - 928

3 - 918     12 - 929     21 - 937     30 - 925

4 - 919     13 - 927     22 - 939     31 - 921

5 - 921     14 - 931     23 - 929     32 - 922

6 - 924    15 - 935     24 - 935     33 - 920

7 - 918     16 - 937     25 - 940     34 - 919

8 - 921     17 - 937     26 - 941     35 - 918

9 - 922     18 - 936    27 - 937

AVG - 930 fps

ES - 22 fps

FPE - 26

I was primarily using this rifle to hunt California Ground Squirrels with, until the lead ammo ban came along.  Unfortunately, this one does not shoot the DYNAMIC tin pellets well at all.  The good news is, it's the only PCP of mine that doesn't.

A bunch of ground squirrels taken with my LOGUN MKII 20 cal.

 

RWS RAPIER - 30 Shot String - With .22 Caliber - 14.5 Grain DYNAMIC PCP-2 Tin Pellets

The last time around, I posted a bit of history about the RWS Rapier, and also posted a shot string with the 18 grain JSB Jumbo Heavy's.  This time, I thought I would show a string from my Rapier shooting the DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets.

I do a lot of ground squirrel hunting in California, and the ranch I hunt has a ban on lead ammo.  The DYANMIC tin pellets are excellent, and perform really well in quite a few of my PCP's, including the Rapier.

RWS Rapier, 30 shot string with 14.5 grain .22 cal., DYNAMIC PCP-2's, with 5.54mm head diameter, 3000 psi fill.

1 - 929     10 - 939     19 - 942     28 - 934

2 - 937     11 - 938     20 - 942     29 - 930

3 - 941     12 - 939     21 - 940     30 - 929

4 - 942     13 - 941     22 - 938

5 - 942     14 - 946     23 - 940

6 - 941     15 - 943     24 - 937

7 - 939     16 - 941     25 - 936

8 - 942     17 - 940    26 - 937

9 - 945     18 - 944    27 - 935

AVG - 940 fps

ES - 17 fps

FPE - 28.4

A few ground squirrels taken with the Rapier and the DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets.