Hunterdude
Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2021
- Messages
- 32
I don't know why but I have wanted a carnival style cork gun for years, I have looked up the carnival sources and found dedicated cork shooters converted from both the Daisy model 25 And Also the Red Ryder...prices have vary from $85-$130 and some of these do not have front sights and are also cork "only"...I just would not pay this for a cork only gun....also there is the Daisy "cork tube" that converts a model 25 to cork shooter and you can always put your stock shot tube back in But these are no longer made and the old rusty ones are advertised at $70-$140 plus shipping on ebay.
Fast forward to today I stumbled on a guy from Texas(on ebay) that makes a simple 3D printed plastic muzzle bushing that does what I have wanted to do all along, jump back and forth from shooting bbs to corks!
I ordered 2 units right away and have been shooting them, here are my results:
First thing I noticed when I opened the package is he must set up the 3D printer to build these fast, they have a rather heavy "record" player grooves in them from the layers of printing plastic, I know they can set a finer setting but it can take hours to print in a very fine setting....well I installed the unit on my new Adult size Red Ryder and it Does look much better on the gun than in the package.
The unit will shoot #3 size tapered corks OR 1/2 inch cork round balls, round balls are greatly prefured for accuracy and the #3 tapered corks give a slightly more satisfying cork POP! Sound. Also the #3 tapered corks would be Much easier for younger children to load.
There are 2 types of cork round balls, there are natural cork(machined round) and also Agglomerated cork round balls that are basically very uniform ground up bits of cork bonded to gather in a ROUND ball, the bonding "glue" makes the cork ball a little more heavy than natural cork and this gives the ball much needed down range energy.
I only have the #3 tapered corks and Agglomerated round balls on hand to test, my cork source was currently sold out of Natural cork round balls, but I will try them when back in stock.
Chrony test:
I get chrony speeds of between 92 fps and 137 fps....after first shooting a few corks in the yard I felt just sure the Agglomerated round balls would be Way faster, I was in for a surprise.
-First, both types shoot best if firmly seated in the muzzle, this is very easy to do with the tapered corks but the rounds present a bit of a problem, at first I thought there was no way the 1/2" balls would fit, but after working at it a bit I found they compress quite a bit and I was able to get a ROUND ball loaded, I now have an Agglomerated round ball I have shot 30+ times and after shooting the same ball about 6 times they get Much more easy to load, I have learned to take a new unfired ball and roll it firmly between my fingers to compress and soften it, also a little homemade ramrod tool that looks exactly like a short ball starter used in muzzleloaders takes all the work out of it.
Now here is where it gets interesting! A well used round ball and a new unfired #3 cork posted the 2 fastest chrony speeds! Here we go, slow to fastest.
-Brand new first load round ball -93 fps
-well used #3 taper cork -97fps
-round ball fired 30+ times 119-125 fps
-brand new #3 tapered -137 fps!
So the #3 shoot best new and quickly loose there ability to stick firmly in the muzzle and so the air pressure can not build up as high.
The brand new round balls stick just a little to well when new but perform best after having been shot a few times to soften them up.
Conclusion: I do recommend the product as great fun, and value priced, I may experiment with coning the muzzle a little to make loading "new" round balls a little more easy. When I get back near a machine shop I may like to make up a machined aluminum version of this to see if it performs any better? I do recommend installing the product with light taps from a rubber mallet to avoid damage, but it is great fun and you can Still shoot bbs.
I will try to post some photos and would be happy to try to answer any questions folks may have.
-
Fast forward to today I stumbled on a guy from Texas(on ebay) that makes a simple 3D printed plastic muzzle bushing that does what I have wanted to do all along, jump back and forth from shooting bbs to corks!
I ordered 2 units right away and have been shooting them, here are my results:
First thing I noticed when I opened the package is he must set up the 3D printer to build these fast, they have a rather heavy "record" player grooves in them from the layers of printing plastic, I know they can set a finer setting but it can take hours to print in a very fine setting....well I installed the unit on my new Adult size Red Ryder and it Does look much better on the gun than in the package.
The unit will shoot #3 size tapered corks OR 1/2 inch cork round balls, round balls are greatly prefured for accuracy and the #3 tapered corks give a slightly more satisfying cork POP! Sound. Also the #3 tapered corks would be Much easier for younger children to load.
There are 2 types of cork round balls, there are natural cork(machined round) and also Agglomerated cork round balls that are basically very uniform ground up bits of cork bonded to gather in a ROUND ball, the bonding "glue" makes the cork ball a little more heavy than natural cork and this gives the ball much needed down range energy.
I only have the #3 tapered corks and Agglomerated round balls on hand to test, my cork source was currently sold out of Natural cork round balls, but I will try them when back in stock.
Chrony test:
I get chrony speeds of between 92 fps and 137 fps....after first shooting a few corks in the yard I felt just sure the Agglomerated round balls would be Way faster, I was in for a surprise.
-First, both types shoot best if firmly seated in the muzzle, this is very easy to do with the tapered corks but the rounds present a bit of a problem, at first I thought there was no way the 1/2" balls would fit, but after working at it a bit I found they compress quite a bit and I was able to get a ROUND ball loaded, I now have an Agglomerated round ball I have shot 30+ times and after shooting the same ball about 6 times they get Much more easy to load, I have learned to take a new unfired ball and roll it firmly between my fingers to compress and soften it, also a little homemade ramrod tool that looks exactly like a short ball starter used in muzzleloaders takes all the work out of it.
Now here is where it gets interesting! A well used round ball and a new unfired #3 cork posted the 2 fastest chrony speeds! Here we go, slow to fastest.
-Brand new first load round ball -93 fps
-well used #3 taper cork -97fps
-round ball fired 30+ times 119-125 fps
-brand new #3 tapered -137 fps!
So the #3 shoot best new and quickly loose there ability to stick firmly in the muzzle and so the air pressure can not build up as high.
The brand new round balls stick just a little to well when new but perform best after having been shot a few times to soften them up.
Conclusion: I do recommend the product as great fun, and value priced, I may experiment with coning the muzzle a little to make loading "new" round balls a little more easy. When I get back near a machine shop I may like to make up a machined aluminum version of this to see if it performs any better? I do recommend installing the product with light taps from a rubber mallet to avoid damage, but it is great fun and you can Still shoot bbs.
I will try to post some photos and would be happy to try to answer any questions folks may have.
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