Harve Curry asked;
"Butcher 45,
Please tell about your rifle.
What kind of noise is there?
It is louder than a .22lr but probably not quite as loud as a .38 or right close to it.
What FPS do you shoot? My rifle is a production Korean Sam Yang 909 that has been modified with a power/trigger tune. I have only done one run of serious chrony testing and there were a couple of things I needed to fix on my rifle at the time (o-ring and screw the barrel on all the way!). I imagine I'll get close to 15-20 fps more than the following results I had that first time;
144 grain roundball 856fps
180 BBC BP Pistol Bullets 780fps
205 grain conical 745fps
219 grain WFN-type .32 meplat Cowboy bullet 725fps
230 grain MaxiBall 690fps
255grain WFN-type .32 meplat Cowboy bullet 650fps
265grain Colt .45 standard Lyman #452190 635fps
What is involved in loading and charging your rifle?
There are two methods; the easy way and the hard way. We'll start with the hard way as everyone as this is the ticket to un-limited free air. Tha hand pump. It's basically a bicycle tire pump on steroids that enable you to pump up your air reservoir (with more than just a little effort) to it's approximate 3000psi fill. The easy way is with a scuba tank with a special yoke attached that enables you to easily fill your tank in seconds.
How long does a charge last?
The small-bore .22's and .25's get around 20-40 shots off a fill. The big-bores start out at around 4-7 power shots depending on the load.
The average scuba tank will only completely fill your gun a few times before your rifle's reservoir will need to be "topped-off" with the hand pump. I keep a pace of shooting a four shot group then re-filling to avoid burning myself out and over-heating the pump. Saving up for a carbon fiber tank that holds 9 times the air of a scuba and is much lighter to boot!
This rifle is about half as powerful as many of the custom made big-bore airguns out there; a friend of mine holds the world record for the largest land animal taken with an airgun. He killed a bison weighing about 2000pounds by putting two 510grainers through the lungs.
My rifle displays amazing consistency and accuracy. Four shots of 230grain MaxiBalls go 680, 690, 690, 684, then the fifth shot is about 660 for a nice finisher (won't need one after the first two at most). I was going to go out and show what this rifle is capable of accuracy-wise but I got out to the spot late and daylight savings time snuck-up on me. I had time to shoot only two groups.
The 35 yard group measured .5 center to center; the 50 yard group mesured .9 center to center. These were shot from the sitting position off of my Stoney Point Steady Stix.
I have no doubt that after a good day of shooting groups off the stix I will soon accomplish .5 inch 50yard and 1.25 inch 75 yard groups (those are my goals, anyway). This is using a compact 4X32mm scope.
This rifle is a handcaster's dream. As soon as your boolit's are cool enough you pick them up and load them right into the breech, close it, cock the bolt, and shoulder. You know what to do from there.
I'm going after coyote in a couple of days; got a partner to call them in for me (with a 12 gauge in case "big kitty" shows up).
Those Barnes rifles are like the "Fantasy Knife" of the airgun world. Best way to describe it. Way over-priced wall-hangers/bench rifles that you have to wait a few years to get. Would you go hunting with something like that? I'd be afraid of getting it wet or scratching it.
If you aren't happy with the rifle he sells you after your three year wait I believe you are SOL.
