Posted this last night ... during website maintenance, and it got broomed. So - I"M BACK!!! hahah.

I haven't been able to shoot along with the indoor 10 yard Winter Games, cause I didn't have a rig shootable. I had my permenantly unfinished ball reservoir test bed rifle, but the aluminum tape sights are not ... perfect ... for shooting fly specks at 10 yards. And, the test 34 caliber barrel shoots great ... but I never made 34 cal. ammo ... so I was sizing oversized buckshot into what I named "buckballs". Works fine ... and is pretty accurate too,. however; on these targets of 30-54 shots ... too much work. So, I fiddled with the gun and stuck on a Barnes 25 caliber and scope rail.



Joebill, I'm not sure if this stock is Spruce or Hemlock. Can you tell? It was 2 by 8 though, I believe.

Right ... when I was designing my ball reservoir and cone reservoir, many years ago, I made them with overfill relief valves, and quick fill ports. Here, I threaded in the quick fill, and just line fed it to 1,900 psi. I have the relief valve set to weep above 2,000 psi on this unit. I pressure tested this ball to 5,500 psi when I made it. That's one of the reasons I just never went with public sales of the ball. I like the 4X safety numbers of the chrome moly reservoir tubing. I run this just above 1/3 it's test (and of course, that was not a test to destruction ... just to a happy safe number well above 4,500 psi of carbon fiber tanks). So, I continue my long term research with the ball gun.

The OTHER little matter is that of the top hammer. Can't really have it slamming into the scope. hummm. So, I mono-pod mounted one of my famous Gary's Simmons 4X fixed power Turkey Federation scopes with the diamond reticle. And, even though it's a long eye relief shotgun scope, it still needed to be farther forward. I corrected the "fuzzy perimeter" of the eye pc. lens, by adding a reduced occular disc.



This gun has a single stage trigger, that works very nic. No trigger guard for real men ... (here I'd use a "real men" smilie, if I had one). The hammer is made to "trip" the firing pin, and then go past it. It resets upon cocking each time. Neat.

So, I sighted it in (with 25 caliber Hornady buckshot ball). And, then I decided to shoot some trick targets, to see if I could handle the rig.



Four pop sickle sticks in the rack, in front of the trap.



Four shots in a row for four sticks broken. Wow ... that 4X crosshair against the dark trap ... But - it worked. And it shoots straight.



4th stick shattered, if not severed.



I decided to shoot my "illusion target" for the winter games. And ... I dropped the ball. Missed what should have been an easy shot ... and lost my concentration. I have to concentrate to center the scope. No laying back.

Oh well ... thank God ... there's always coffee ...



Here I'd use some other clever smilie ... if I had one.

Gary

Way to get in the game Gary! All it took was a gun mod, bench mod, and scope mod. (good place for a "working hard" smilie)

I know %?{ ...... if we only had one. Perhaps .... perhaps after another 1560 posts, I will get some ....

as per our discussion .... if you pull back the corners of your eyes, and squint hard ... this smilie looks sort of .... new.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2009 04:48PM by barnespneumatic.

OK ...this is silly. 33 reads and only Jerry says a peep? Or, is the site only accepting comments from admin. persons after the maintenance? Could I, perhaps, PAY someone 5 bucks to post a word or two? I've not seen a posted comment on the site, on any thread, in days.

Gary

It's all Jim's fault !!!!

I say ..... "SPRUCE" - but if you want some funky wood I can probably come up with some...

BTW, I figure at $5/2 words - you owe me about $50 - hehe

I have to try to remember to post my target (those words are free!)

Thank you Joebill,

I know you had to leave someone "clamped off" on the operating table to post, but you made five bucks! And in doing so, you have verified once again; that the parade of names across the bottom of the page "could" post.

I fear that you chose to exceed the specifications of the monetary offer ... I regret that this is not one of those times where that nets out for you. haha.

Spruce you say ... hummm. I was really leaning toward hemlock ... pity.

I'll have the accounting dept. cut you a draft ...

Happy New Year Bill,
Gary

Hey! I'm going to have to file a grievance or some such thing with someone! I should qualify for a new Caribou by now!

Nice shooting! I think you qualified to deal with that one.

OK, I'll take an IOU.....well, what the heck, Happy New Year - consider it a freebie!

anyway, here's the illusion target

Very fine shooting, indeed Joebill. Good eye, and your rifle must be doing a fine job. Probably that blue wood helps.



Gary

Dang Gary,

It it take a re-barrel and an all-new sighting system just to compete, you're gonna have to borrow Kellys rifle once in a while. If she'll let you, that is. Personally, I think she's a-feared that she'll get it back in a whole 'nother caliber, with a strange scope, and the trigger fiddles with, and....

you know how it goes.

Gary, that's quite some indoor plinker you have there! Can't believe you didn't sever that last stick though The hammer looks interesting and seems to have a fair amount of travel..? And if it was to be a finished item, how would you go for sights, with the hammer finishing up quite high up?
Cheers
Neil

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the comment.

The barrel sets to the left of the hammer. Peep sights are small and narrow ... so they pose no problem. Putting a scope on a gun never intended for scopes was the issue. Of course, even a small scope is bulky ... so it had to be forward of the hammer travel, in order to be over the barrel.

The hammer does have alot of travel. And, the trip bar hinges out of the way for the return stroke, during cocking. The whole thing works exceptionally well. Just designed for a sort of antique rabbit gun, not a fly spec. shooter. haha.

Gary

Hi Rotor,

I missed this earlier.

Ah ... alas ... Kelly's rifle never made it to Kelly. She suffers from the same "disappearing rifle phenomea" which strikes me. Whatchagonnado?

Gary

Nice shooting Gary and Joebill.

Joebill, what mods did you have to make to be able to shoot that target so much better than Gary?

Gary if a new cut smells of "piss" it is hemlock. We have a lot of it here in the Great North Wet. Spruce is the whiter, and the lighter of the two.
My Thanks to all of you on this site for your good posts. I will have little to say till I can get a BBB gun (Barnes Big Bore ) to talk about. Till then I will just keep shooting my Tony Tuned .25 Conder ( 130 fpe with 88.8 gr. slugs ). YUP small deeeep holes. OH Gary, thank you for the tip on the #3 buck shot hor .25 cal. A lot of fun and low cost. just the way I like it.

The Mad Rabbit

Hey Rabbit ...

Great to hear from you. Drop in now and again. We need the variety. Don't have to have a BBB. ;?) Hey - you see what I cobbled together to make holes with. I have to do that to keep anything at all. I might paint it pink and hang white streamers from the ball reservoir. (didn't have any white streamer smilie Jim ... hehehe)

OK ... you keep shooting those long 25's. I suspect those are my slugs from Jerry? How are they working out for you?

Happy New Year Mad,
Gary

Hi Rabbit!

Got any pictures of those deep holes? We'd love to see some carnage here!

Scott

gee, don't be getting me in trouble now !!!!

No mods at all....but I was using a .22, so smaller holes help you avoid the lines

not to mention...I actually had a regular scope mount, a 9x scope and a funky stock - hehe

Having shot the same guns as Gary at one of the events, i can tell you I am not as good a shot as he is..... nor as good as Jerry either !

Had fun all the same, though - can't post too many targets or Gary will come to expect it

Yes, only the best slugs for my condor. Jerry's 9-rings. no pics, as I have no cam. Saving up my coins for a BBB gun.

The Mad Rabbit

Hi Rabbit,
You mean to tell us that you have nothing that will make an image that you can post of a target you shot? I always thought of y'all as inventive folk with lots of problem solving skills! Besides there have been four "off brand" guns used in the competition and all are welcome. Take a shot at it...go ahead make my day.

That's the best I can do to egg him on guys,(no wait , that's everything now) if he doesn't shoot now there is no hope.

Thanks for posting Rabbit,

Kent

If necessity is the mother of invention, knowledge is the cradle.

A truely respectable effort at encouragement there Kent. And, I might add, a masterful display of smilie usage, given the meager store of tools at our disposal ...

Well Done Indeed!

Gary

Well now CJ littl'ol me ( 265 lb. ) has spent the frist 5 yrs. living in a tent on this land as I try to pay it off. Then I got an old moter home for $500. to add to the tent for the last 4 yrs. Living off the grid, past the end of a dirt road. Lights, radio, and comp. are run off one solar panel and two batts. with a AT&T modem for the comp. Trying to save the coins to get a BBBgun, or wood to bild a cabin. which way do you think I auot to go? As it is I shit in a buckit and compost it. Bild out of 55 gal drums with hand tools ( not power ) wood stoves to cook and heat with. Thank goodness I have a gas chain saw. Grab rain water to drink, cook and wash. I now have my newest ever truck ( 1988 F-10 Ford ) . And all from you, A man that has the best air gun in the world named after him. Oh how will I ever stand up under the shame. I gess I will just have to go shoot some thing.
Yes it is all true, with a smile and hope for the year to come. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Mad Rabbit

Hey Rabbit,

Well, anyone who'd go to such effort, to join us here, is mighty welcome and appreciated.

I honestly don't know if you should build a cabin, or sit around your barrel stove, under the stars, polishing your Barnes rifle. Let me spend a bit tossing that around ...

Hey, I've been your size, and above, all my life. And, I do mean pretty much all my life. haha. Probably why my mom never liked me ... Anyway, until my trip down medical lane took a detour, now I eat nothing but leaves and bark. Not too much bark (carbs) ... and I've been fading away to barely 258 the other day. Still not sure I could get in a tent, unless it was pretty tall and didn't require crawling into.

You stay well fed. Keep dropping in here.

Happy New Year to ya.
Gary

Rabbit I love your sense of humor!!! It's all the better that it is all true. The "in your face" grittiness of your post tickles my twisted funny bone to no end..

From the lush detail of your post, I can tell you relish every dump you take in your composting buckit as much as the efficiency of your hand made stove/furnace. This must be like the feeling I get when I pull my '96 Dodge Cummins into the doctors lot, barely missing the new Benz and Beemer on either side with my towing mirrors. This is my one and only vehicle that I bought new (this replaced my '72 Olds Cutlass) and I'll keep it forever, or as long as I can continue to burn any kind of carbon based fuel. (I have plans for the peanut oil from my turkey fryer if Al Gore takes my diesel away!)

Despite all of your possible choices, you have maintained your priorities and have acquired a Condor and a computer to surf the web and join in the fun here. This fascinates me as to the uses these items are put to. I'll bet that Condor has put many a meal on that 55 gal stove. Now the computer must allow you to be the largest ebay retailer of ? , or am I way off on this one?

I suspect if the crowd in DC keeps going we'll all be asking for the plans for your composting Crapper (capitalized to honor Mr Crapper).

Wolverines!!!

Merry Christmas Rabbit, and all who come to participate or just visit Airgun Rendezvous.

BTW, If I mistook the tone of your post and you took any offense to mine,..... Lighten Up Rabbit, But still from my heart, peace and best wishes for the new year! Please keep posting we have lots to learn from you and your experiences.

Kent

Oh Gosh, thanks folks for the welcome. As to the Crapper, it is not. Just a 5 gl. buckit with a to small seat that I pulled off of the head from my last sailboat. Relish ? You bet. Just to be able is a blissing.If you wish to know more, look into the book "Humanuer" it is good stuff. The biggist thing that you can do to help the Earth we live on and from.
Been doing stoves for a time or so. This one is the bottom 1/3 of the drum cut to take the lid and band. Turned over with lid on bottom. Super heating down draft in door to send hot air on to the coles. This gives a 2' flat cooking top, that takes 23" wood and once started will hold a fire 12 + Hrs. All done with tin cans , a hammer, a hacksaw and a chain saw file. Keeps the moterhome at 60 most of the time when it is 30 outside.
I try to hold my life within the law. Hunting with an airgun is ill-legel in Washington. The loophole is if something is predating on your pets or live stock. My 2 chahuahuas like to hang around the roses. And I can tell when one of those deer is going to stomp one of them. Well at least that was what it looked like. Deer don't eat roses do thy ?
I shuld have know that someone winh the monaker of "Cajun Justice" was going to have good taste. A Cummins is the best thing you can do for a Dodge. As to insults: Not happening. You can't insult me with a bucket of hog slop. I just pick out the peas and eat them, then suck up the juice.
Mr. Gary just for info, the tent is from Wal-mart and 10' W/ 20' L/ 6'1" at door . No crawling needed.

Good Evening Rabbit,

It's windy and cold here tonight. I just turned the shop heat down to 40. I let it simmer there at night.

This shop, when I got here, and the place was smaller, started each day with building a fire in a tin stove from the hardware store. A bed of sand on the bottom of the stove kept it from burning out right away. ;?) There was no warm fuzzy greeting from the shop in the morning, I'll tell you. haha.

I've made a couple of stoves myself. Burned coal for a long time as well, in the 80's. When I bought this house in Feb. 80 (after the house I'd been renting burned while I was at a knife show, with no harm to, and thru no fault of my family - thank God), this house had a smallish oil furnace -providing hot water to the orig. radiators. It was way under sized, but somehow had kept the widow Marie warm enough.

Well, I'd been indoctorinated about the joys of coal, from an old knife maker who was daily waiting for the world to end. And, being 24 years old, I figured I'd give it a whirl. I drove up to the Amish country in Lanchaster county (where they were as busy as bees making plate steel and fire brick stoves for the eco crowd of the 80s) and I installed a fancy cottage industry bought coal/wood stove of a large scale, and I fashioned a contrete block room in the basement for it. Fire code door and ceiling. I arranged two vertical "stacks" in the house up thru the floors. Plastered them in - just frame air chases you could stand inside. One collected cold air from the house, and provided the furnace with air to burn ... the other provided an exit for the hot air - thru metal filters, into the stack system of rising hot air. Thus, with no fan or electricity, the "air intake tunnel" inside the furnace room would blow your skirt up. I formed up a concrete block coal bin in the basement of this old Victorian barn, and shoveled coal on and off my truck, and carried ashes for years. Young is good. Young and influnced by silly notions, is exhausting. Fuel oil was probably .35 cents a gal. then. haha.

The system worked a treat, however: it was alot of work, and it produced way too much heat. I mostly kept it banked down hard, and it would last very well. I had to ride it hard though, to keep the stack heat down. I actually hung oven therometers inside the stacks, and looked thru the wall vents to check them. Could have baked a turkey in there no problem.

I gained enough "experience" with this that, in 87 (after coal had risen so much from all the back to nature types using it), I had copper baseboard and a new oil furnace installed. Saved me a fortune to go back to 1950 technology. What a luxury!

I burned up a couple of stoves. As the shop grew, I needed more capacity anyway. I built one big shop stove from a 1/2" thick ductile iron pipe "cut-off" I got from the salvage yard. The thing was about 40" long and about 24" round. It snugged right down on top of a huge cast iron fire pot I found at the junk yard. I built grates for it, welded up a clean-out door, hinges, and latch. Made a slide air damper, grate shaker, and used a truck rim for the top. The thing was another bit of a "big bore" stove ... haha, and would nearly take telephone poles upended in the top load. Way too much stove - way too little shop. I took out the huge pipe, made a collar to join the truck rim to the firepot, and the thing would burn 100 pounds of coal and worked beautiful. Still, alot of work.

One day, on my rounds, I saw an old house being torn down. In the front yard, by the road, was an oil fired hot air furnace. $20. You bet. I got the oil tank too. And, it worked for years. Only problem was, about five years later, it cost me $1,200 for a new one. hummmmm. Whatchagonna do once you go soft? hahaha.

Gary

Hi Rabbit,
All this talk about feeding stoves takes me back to feeding the Franklin stove as a teen. The house I grew up in was originally heated with oil in the original part and all electric baseboards in the addition added in the 70s as our family grew to 9 kids and my folks. To make ends meet my dad had sealed off the fireplace in the family room with a 1/2 in piece of scrap plate with asbestos gasket around the edges. A hole torched for the stove pipe was made and the stove was set on a resistant base. This arrangement would run you out of the family room but poor circulation was always a problem as the baseboard heat didn't require ducts which would have been great to get some of that air moving. Well it fell upon me and my next older brother to keep the wood stocked and the fire stoked. It seemed as if everything would be covered in a fine ash despite what seemed like due care on our part to clean the stove carefully. This ash and the mild winters here in Mississippi kept me from having a fireplace in this house. I now get my pyro bug fed by using my smoker and dutch oven outside. It's a wonderful thing to smell that pecan wood when walking in the yard, even when its not burning!

I do some composting for the garden as the soil needs the organics to break up the sandy clay here in Longleaf pine country. I had a much easier time of it in Indianapolis as the grass clippings and yearly leaf drop gave me several cubic yards of material that went to mulch with little turning. The pine straw we have here is so tough and full of pitch it takes forever to get a good heat up. I've taken to adding my crepe myrtle clippings directly to the ground between the rows of the garden and then tilling it in at the end of each growing season.

You're right about the Cummins, but it has to be the 12 valve 5.9. Mine is getting 20 MPG, the new 6.7L with all the EPA clean gear gets 12 MPG. Now tell me how is that good for anyone? I've put a Krantz toilet paper oil filter on it so the oil changes are few and it will be sure to go far.

Keep those doggies safe and keep com...posting,

Kent

One man's fecal matter is another man's compost.

Kent,

Some of your "quotes", simply bring a .... tear ... to the eye.

Language can be a beautiful thing ...

Gary

Hey, 6 cylinders is plenty when they're built right. I'm on my second Dodge, an 05 dually with 4wd and the auto. It's a great truck, gets 20-21mpg on the road, and about 16 around town despite it's 8000 lb empty weight. That's about twice the mpg of our little 3000lb Jeep Wrangler with it's 4.0 liter six, go figure. My first Dodge/Cummins was a 98 3/4 ton quad/4x4, and it also got right at 20mpg on the road despite having only about half the HP that my newer truck does. The common rail fuel injection CAN be a good system, but they went and crapped it up with all the latest and "greatest" emissions junk and screwed up a good thing. It still puzzles me that nobody builds a 1/2 ton pickup with a diesel designed for good MPG instead of just the max HP. I think they'd sell like hotcakes if they could keep the cost reasonable. Virtually nobody really needs 300hp in a pickup, but plenty of folks could use a truck that hauls a reasonable load and gets 25-30 mpg.

Sure ... brag on you guys.

However; "I" got the HEMI. Now THERE'S the way to BURN fuel! By Golly, I can get rid of tank after tank, with no effort at all!



Gary

Cummins makes a 4 cylinder B series engine that would be great for such a truck. The EPA hates diesel (and you exhaleing CO2) so I doubt any one will be making one. Shame since we all can remember the 50 MPG diesel Rabbits and Jettas of the 80s that ran forever. Wonder why they went away?

Gary I figure if I post enough original quotes one will stick and I'll be famous. Or I could get a big'ol balloon...fill it with...helium...now where did those kids go....

Kent

The EPA is for 'sensible' regulation as Gandi was for 'sensible' dieting.

Yup Gary, it's a good thing gas is so cheap.
You know what they say about vehicles with Hemi engines, "they can pass anything on the road... except a gas station."

As per the diesels, well, things will change if and when the US every considers carbon dioxide a regulated emission like NOX or CO or whatever. When that happens, diesels will suddenly be the cats meow. Of course THIS time around, they won't be the old POS engines that GM put out in the gas crisis years, since the europeans and the japanese and everyone else have gotten a 20 year headstart on us.

I'm familiar with the Cummins B4 series engines. They're pretty primitive compared to the uber-diesels that the germans are engineering these days, and not especially reliable compared to their 6 cylinder models. A friend of mine had two of the B4s in his gillnetter boat here, driving jet pumps. In the space of a year, he had one catch fire and the other throw a rod through the block. Fishermen are hard on engines, and marine applications usually call for full power a LOT more of the time than road vehicles do. Even given that, the B5.9s seem to last a good long time compared to the Cummins 4-bangers. They're a LOT smoother too, those little engines shake all the time.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Mercedes engine in a half-ton Dodge some day, though I doubt they'll ever pull the Cummins from the heavy duty lineup given it's fanatical following. The Sprinter lineup of vans that you see everywhere these days seem to get pretty good mileage, and they have the German diesel up front. It's too bad they don't build a 4wd version.

Hey Gary, have you ever thought about building a diesel airgun? Anyone that's shot a springer with too much lube oil has seen the power boost that a bit of combustion can give.

No - closest I ever came was an old Mercedes 5 cyl. diesel. Had some mystery milage beyond 250k on it when I bought it, and I ran it pretty good for about 8 years I guess. I went hunting, and Kelly "donated" the thing. Can you imagine that? (Yeah ... I knew about it). Heck - it needed windshield wiper blades anyway ...

Well, once again, we've managed to salvage an airgun thread and morph it into something interesting. Well done guys.

Gary

Well, since we're deep into automotive territory... I think I need new batteries for my truck. I went to move it so I could take the hotrod out and the darn thing wouldn't start. I got it charged and all seems fine but these things just never go away... I think 5 years is still about an average lifetime for batteries, isn't it? I suspect that lack of use, and FREEZING cold have conspired against me. I'll charge it over night but I suspect a trip to autozone in the near future.... not what I want to shop for!

Yeah, isn't it always a bear, to have to shop for stuff to just bring you back to where you were yesterday?

I spent half the day fighting the absolute zero and wind which was penetrating the areas I sealed years ago.

Joe ... I see your name down there. I ordered some materials I needed for your project ... and for the first time in years, the stuff didn't come in. Should have been here one morning ... it snowed, and it never showed. Then, there was New Year's Eve, Day, then the weekend. I guess it will get here eventually. Anyway ... it's cooking slowly.

Gary

I came by and made sure that Joe's materials would not be sitting around complicating higher priority projects.

Yes ... I realize that you heard that I would ONLY be working on YOUR project. Funny how the mind effects the hearing ..... haha

Gary

Oh no... I didn't mis-understand, I know you WANTED to work efficiently, I just don't care, so I took matters into my own hands. Just doing what it takes to make sure that you only have the materials on hand to work on MY project! I was trying to figure out how to switch off the machines that don't support my project in order but it got too confusing...and then you came into the shop and I had to hide...and it got cold... so I went home.............................with all of Joe's stuff!

On the plus side, I put a "Give me Bush!" sticker on your neighbor's car...

a friend of mine was complaining that when she was starting out in the morning , and pulling her horse box , her rangerover [petrol v8] was low on power , and would stall from time to time , so , after a bit of a think , off i went with a new , well brand new second hand,airflow meter half hor job to swap , reset the engine management and recalibrate the brain to the new meter , good as new ,,
upon investigation ,,, the choke cable had fallen off the carb linkage ,,,, moral , dont assume that technology is the answer. never even enterd my mind that there were still carbed rangerovers still running about out there , but boys were they simple things . i dont think i have yet seen a common rail injection system i would want to own . i like simple low tech no computer engineering , the kind you fix with spanners and common sense , and not a computer .
oh the good old days ,,
nostalga just isnt what it used to be...... !
t

Diver, that a big reason I keep the 12v Cummns with the mechanical fuel pump. None of my mechanics can work on the new computerized gizmos. The other reason my son thinks the "RATTLE" make my truck sound like a REAL truck.

Kent

like your style , if it sounds right , it is right .

Oh ... it's true. I had to loosen some screws on Kent's rifles, so they'd rattle for him!

Gary

Now c'mon Gary, from what the guys say, you've always had a screw loose somewhere.


Hey, if you're gonna lob an easy one like that out there, SOMEONE in this group is gonna take a swing at it!