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The Hammerli Razor is a Spanish-made gun from the long-established Norica firm located in Spain. Norica, not to be confused with Norinco (which is China North Industries Corporation), has been making airguns for nearly a century, starting around 1917. And making arms of some sort or another in this part of Spain can be traced all the way back to 1482, before Columbus made his historic voyage.

The Hammerli Razor that I have been shooting the last few days is a .22 caliber gun set in a nicely finished wood stock that features checkering in the pistol grip area and along the forearm. After shooting the gun for awhile using six or seven different brands of pellets, I ended up with the Crosman Premiere’s as the pellet of choice, followed by the Beeman Ramjets as the second place winner in the accuracy department. The Crosman pellets were clocking and average of 718 fps, which delivers just over 16 fpe (foot pounds energy), plenty of power for pest control and small game hunting. With a cocking effort of around 35-38 lbs of force, it isn’t unpleasant to use for an extended shooting session.

I initially thought I had a problem with the gun’s dovetail mount being cut crooked, but as I eventually found out, it was the scope rings I was using that was causing the scope to mount crookedly. After changing mounts, I finally got down to business trying to wring some accuracy out of this gun.

Unlike the Hammerli Storm, the Razor’s little brother, the Razor features an adjustable trigger made of molded plastic, as is the trigger guard. . After shooting for a couple of hours, I started adjusting the trigger and finally got it to my liking. As I mentioned above, I ran through quite a few different pellets before finding the one that shot the best overall. I tried Gamo Hunters, Gamo Targets, JSB Exacts, RWS Superdomes, RWS Hollowpoints, Beeman Kodiaks, Beeman Ramjets, and finally Crosman Premieres. The Crosman and Beeman Ramjets came out on top, with my best 5-shot group being covered by a dime at 20 yards. It took me awhile to get this group, but I finally got it. (We always show our best group, don’t we?)

This gun is similar in design to the Contender 89 from Tech Force, though manufactured in a different country. The front screw holes are covered with the same plastic insert that at first appearance seems to be a spanner-head screw. The checkering mentioned above is nicely pressed into the wood, and the wood has received a nice stained finish that is attractive to look at.

If scopes aren’t your sort of thing, you will like the open sites on this gun. With a green fiber-optic rear site and a red fiber-optic front site, hitting your target is no problem. The rear site adjusts firmly with a clickable dial, and I had a good time making a plastic bottle dance a jig across my backyard before I started using the scope on a paper target.

With a price point of $275 at Airgundepot, and a 1-year warranty from the manufacturer, the Hammerli Razor will compete for your airgunning dollar with the Gamo Hunter Elite and the RWS Model 34 Scoped combo. It is a well-made Spanish gun that is deserving of your consideration.

Posted by Randy Mitchell at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Hammerli Storm is a Spanish-made gun from the long-established Norica firm located in Spain. Norica, not to be confused with Norinco (which is China North Industries Corporation), has been making airguns for nearly a century, starting around 1917. And making arms of some sort or another in this part of Spain can be traced all the way back to 1482, before Columbus made his historic voyage.

I have been shooting the Hammerli Storm in .177 with a synthetic stock for the last week or two. A truly ambidextrous gun, it is at home for both the left-handed and right-handed shooter. Break-barrel in design, the gun used a ball detent to lock the action firmly in place after loading and cocking. The synthetic stock is stippled on the forearm and on the pistol-grip area just behind the trigger, aiding in maintaining your grip when holding the gun under wet or otherwise inclement conditions.  Featuring a 19 ½  inch barrel, the entire gun measures out at 45 ½ inches from stem to stern.

The sights on this gun are fiber-optic, with a square notch outlined in green for the rear sight, and a round dot that is red for the front sight. A nicely adjustable click-by-click feature is also to be found on the rear sight, while the front sight is covered by a hood. If you are interested in mounting a scope, there is an 11mm dovetail cut into the receiver to facilitate the scope of your choice. The manufacturer thoughtfully included a scope stop at the rear of the receiver as well.

This particular gun uses a ball detent for the latching mechanism. The seals are synthetic as most lately-manufactured guns are, and cocking this gun requires around 25 lbs. pull to accomplish the cocking maneuver. This is a gun that you could shoot many times during the day without over-tiring your muscles, especially if you are used to cocking some of the more powerful springers available today.

The trigger and safety are simple affairs, with the trigger pull coming in around 4.5 pounds according to the manufacturer. I don’t have a means to accurately measure the trigger pull on the example I was testing, so I’ll have to go with what the manual and website info at Umarex claims is accurate. The safety is mounted within the trigger guard, just in front of the trigger, and is easy to reach and operate. I could not reset the safety once I placed it in the firing position. Once cocked, the gun will need to be fired unless you are fond of trying to catch the barrel with your free hand while working the trigger to uncock it. It makes an unpleasant sound when the trigger does release, and it can’t be good for the gun to do it that way. I imagine the anti-beartrap device places this gun in the “once loaded, must fire” category.

Available in both .177 and .22, I received the .177 version to test. The claimed velocities are well within reach for this gun. It claims 1000 fps in .177, and when using average-weight pellets such as RWS Superdomes, I was still getting in the mid 900’s. So with a lighter pellet, which is usually used in testing velocities, this gun is quite capable of achieving that 1000 fps.

The accuracy of the Hammerli Storm is right up there with other guns in the price range of $199, but this particular offering comes as a combo, so you get the added bonus of a 4x32 RWS scope and rings to sweeten the deal. And the scope rings have a nicely padded surface that assists in not marring the finish on your scope tube…..a nice addition, I thought.

If I were to offer criticism of any kind on this gun, it would be the trigger. It is simple, and as such, does not offer an easy means to fine tune or lighten the pull down from the 4.5 lbs. it currently is set at. This strong of a trigger pull does little for improving accuracy, but even with this stiff of a trigger, I was able to get sub-3/4” groups at 20 yards. Shooting well within range of the advertised velocity, and coupled with the acceptable accuracy I was able to achieve, I would not hesitate to suggest this gun to the airgunner whose needs include casual plinking and pest control of the small variety.

So, $199 for a gun that shoots at the advertised velocity, with an all-weather stock that is ambidextrous, and which comes with a 4x32 scope and rings, all in one package? Not a bad deal at all.

Posted by Randy Mitchell at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pellets come in many different sizes and shapes. And with the many designs available today, it can be a bit daunting figuring out what pellet is best suited to your needs. In this article we will discuss which pellet one should use for each particular kind of shooting.

Airgun pellets have many variables….but most are of the diabolo design. Diabolo is a term used to designate a pellet with a pinched waist, and most, if not all, have a hollow skirt that produces drag on the pellet just like the skirt on a badminton birdie, or shuttlecock. This drag is what keeps the pellet from turning end over end, aiding in accuracy. And if you take a look at the many different kinds of diabolo pellets, you’ll find many variations in the skirt…..thick or thin, long or short, and with varying hardness to the lead which affects how well the skirt flares upon firing to engage the rifling and seal the air behind it as it travels down the barrel.

You can divide the different kinds of shooters into 3 basic groups: 1) Target shooters, 2) plinking/fun shooters, and 3) hunters. Each group has specific needs that will determine what kind of pellet they should use.

Most of the major pellet manufacturers offer a pellet design for the above three groups.  Crosman, Daisy, RWS, Beeman, Gamo…..all are vying for a place in the market. With the many offerings out there, you are sure to find a pellet that will fit your needs for your intended shooting pastime. Use AirgunDepot’s product finder to aid you in your search for the pellet you need.

Target Shooting

Most target shooting in formal competition is done at the distance of 10 meters. The airguns used for such shooting are very precise, phenomenally accurate, and extremely smooth shooting. They shoot wadcutter pellets that cut a precise hole in the card stock that the target is made out of, which enables officials to score more accurately to determine the better shooter.

Wadcutter pellets have a flat head, pinched waist, and are designed to be shot at lower velocities. The need for extreme accuracy is aided by a slower moving pellet, since projectiles that approach the speed of sound (around 1100 fps) tend to be adversely affected by the sonic wave they produce at that velocity. Keeping the wadcutter moving at a more sedate 500-600 fps, or even slower, results in the extreme accuracy needed for formal competition. Wadcutters have an added advantage for the pest control shooter in that they deliver impressive knockdown power at shorter ranges due to the wide surface on the pellet head.

Plinking for Fun

If you aren’t shooting for extreme accuracy, and simply want to bounce a plastic bottle or tin can around, your choice of pellet opens up quite a bit. Pretty much any kind of pellet you have will work for close-range fun shooting, but if you want to stretch out the distance, using a round-nosed diabolo pellet will help you reach out a little further. Wadcutters are the least aerodynamic pellet available, shedding velocity very quickly. At 10 meters that is of little concern, but for fun plinking at longer ranges, a good quality round-nosed pellet is hard to beat.

If you want to really enjoy the reaction of a child when just plinking, let them shoot at a reactive target. There are manufactured targets such as Daisy’s Shatterblast targets that give a very satisfying burst when hit, which will delight a child enormously. Another idea is to use cheap, unopened soda cans. Shake them up, and when hit, they will spew the contents in a geyser of foam. Popping balloons is also a favorite pastime of many fun shooters.

Hunting

When hunting, there are some issues that seem to always pop up among airgunners. Many desire the gun that shoots the fastest, while others swear by one pellet or another in terms of taking the game of their choice. So let’s look at some of the pellets one might use for hunting purposes.

Accuracy is king when hunting with an airgun. Placing that pellet on target at a lower velocity will always be more lethal than missing the target at a higher velocity. Remember the saying from the firearm world? “A hit with a .22 is better than a miss with a .44!”

Generally, a heavier pellet is desirable for most hunting. In .177, this translates into 10 grain pellets or higher. For a .22 pellet, figure about 18 grains or more for a good heavyweight pellet. The weight of a heavier pellet allows hunters to use the higher-velocity guns on the market, yet still keep the pellet below the speed of sound for optimum accuracy. This results in the most foot-pounds of energy (fpe) being delivered on target. You can take a Gamo 1250 in .177 and shoot a very light pellet of 6 grains or so out of it, and you will have some awesome velocity. You will doubtless break the sound barrier, have a supersonic crack that will make the gun sound like a firearm, and deliver a pellet somewhere downrange…..but I doubt you will be pleased with the accuracy. When that light pellet breaks the sounds barrier, the sonic wave plays havoc with its flight path. If you take that same Gamo 1250 and shoot a much heavier pellet out of it, the resulting reduction in velocity will translate into superior accuracy, which is what allows the hunter to hit his target in the desired kill zone.

I have hunted with a variety of pellet types in different airguns that range in power from about 600 fps to some real barn burners pushing pellets over 1100 fps. And experience has shown me that when I am pushing a pellet at top speeds, I get better accuracy with heavy, round-nosed pellets such as the Beeman Kodiak, or the ultra-heavy Korean Eu Jin pellets, regardless of the caliber. If I lower the velocity down into a more sedate range of 750-900 fps, many of the mid-weight pellets such as RWS Superdomes and Crosman Premiers provide excellent results.

For a look at the wide selection of pellet weights available, check out this link which will give you the approximate weight from a vast number of  pellet manufacturers, several of which are carried by AirgunDepot:

http://viriato.net/airgunning/techinfo.html

Hollow-point pellets are available in each popular caliber and provide another option for the airgun hunter. But in order to take advantage of the hollow-point’s design, you need to use them in the higher-powered airguns that are pushing the pellet along at a really good pace. Without the higher velocity, the expansion of the hollow-point is negligible, and you aren’t really gaining any advantage over a domed pellet in terms of knock-down power. At low power, the hollow-point pellet hits much like the wadcutter. That isn’t necessarily bad since the flat impact surface translates excellent force to the game you are shooting. And if a particular brand of hollow-point pellet shoots best in your airgun, by all means use that one!

Let me include a brief comment on round balls shot from airguns. If your airgun can shoot them accurately without damaging the working mechanism of your gun, you will find that roundballs penetrate better than the diabolo pellet. This is an advantage under certain hunting conditions, but keep in mind that the roundball leaves the smallest wound channel in living flesh. A test performed by noted airgun writer Tom Gaylord confirmed this information, and if you want to duplicate his results on your own, try shooting a pointed pellet, a round-nosed pellet, and a roundball into a bar of Neutrogena soap at point blank range. You will be able to visibly see the results of what I’ve just described.

So what pellet should you use? Keep in mind the target you are shooting, the power of your airgun, and the type of penetration desired, and you can begin to zero in on the type pellet you will want to use. For additional information on hunting with an airgun, check out the blog entry titled “Small Game Hunting with Airguns”.

Posted by Randy Mitchell at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

From time to time I'll take a trip somewhere for a hunt, or maybe to see family. And I usually pack along an airgun or two for some fun shooting with kinfolk, or if I'm on a hunting trip, for the express purpose of taking game.

Traveling with airguns has gotten a little more tedious since the events of 9/11. Airguns are now treated as firearms for most practical purposes when it comes to traveling with them. On a recent overseas trip, my friends and I were going on a 7 day safari with each of us carrying along 3 different airguns. To satisfy the airlines as well as other governmental rules, we each had to purchase a lockable gun case that was made for this purpose. We opened them at several checkpoints along the way to veryify serial numbers, etc. We also learned that if you are traveling with a high-pressure container, such as a scuba tank or air tank you plan to use for filling the airguns, then you need to empty it and remove the top so that inspectors can see down inside the tank. We had one of our tanks confiscated, even though it was empty. The fact that they couldn't see inside it was the deciding factor in its being seized. The owner eventually got it back, but we had to make do without it on the hunt.

If you are traveling by car, check the rules of the states you will be traveling through. The best way to carry your airguns would be out of reach of any of the occupants, such as in the trunk, unloaded, though you could leave air or gas in the reservoirs if they are a PCP or CO2 gun. The use of gun cases will help protect them from shifting and the usual bumps along the way, as well as protecting the finish on the gun itself. A case such as the Doskocil Gun Guard is a great way to protect your guns during travel.

One factor that needs to be addressed is security. A friend of mine stumbled upon the fact that two slim plastic gun cases will fit quite nicely into one of the rolling golf cases, which helped disguise the fact that he was traveling with airguns. The security at one of the airports he used even commented on how neat a disguise it provided, which of course added to the safety of his airguns and lessened the chance of them being stolen.

When you arrive at your destination, before shooting in earnest, take a few practice shots to ensure that your scopes and sights haven't shifted during the transportation. Nothing messes up a hunt than to have your sights unknowingly out of whack. It's a frustration to you, the shooter, and less than ethical to hunt with a gun that isn't shooting straight.

So on your next journey,  pack your guns well, check the rules of the route or mode of transportation you are using, and above all, be safe. And if you have the chance, teach someone else the joys of airgunning at your destination.

Posted by Randy Mitchell at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)