Coming soon from Air Venturi is the Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro CO2 BB Pistol. It’s described as a 1:1 replica with realistic ergonomics. The 1.25 Lbs weight and 6.5 Inches overall length are very close to those of the firearms original. Plus, the $79.99 Street Price is very attractive in the current market. The Hellcat Pro is a compact, “optics-ready” 9mm pistol. This BB-firing version also includes an “optic cut” and adapter plate to allow micro red dot sights to be easily attached to the metal slide. The pistol is designed to offer a realistic blowback effect , even when fired with a re ..read more

This is the final part of a series of three posts about airgun barrels by Daystate’s Tony Belas. Here Tony discussed barrel care and the better barrel. Take it away, Tony… Fair Wear And Tear Everything wears out, and the extreme dry-running environment of the barrel is no exception. Barrel life can vary from a few thousand rounds for a high caliber pistol to hundreds of thousands for an air rifle. But once rust has got a hold on a barrel that’s it, and the only real option is to replace it. All barrel life can be extended using a good cleaning regime (or shortened with a bad one) and the use o ..read more

Many air gunners are excited by the new Crosman 3622, rightly seeing this $150 air rifle as a breakthrough in price/performance for low price PCP airguns. But it’s interesting to note that the 3622 is not the company’s first attempt to produce a PCP air rifle at a market-leading price. In fact, there have been three attempts before it! Let’s look back at the previous price-leading PCPs that have been developed by Crosman and Benjamin across the past 16 years. It’s an interesting journey… For this history, we’re going to refer to four Hard Air Magazine test reviews, comparing these low price PC ..read more

This is the second in a series of three posts about barrels and barrel-making by Daystate’s Tony Belas. You can read part one here.   Rifling Patterns Many different patterns can be used, from a conventional “land and groove” pattern, to what is a polygonal shape, which is twisted. There are advantages to both but none rules supreme… Sometimes the lands can be very shallow – especially for airguns – and sometimes they are deep and there is a lot of them. There are even barrels out there with two groves in which a special bullet is inserted. Maybe a subject for another day? Below, you can ..read more

This is the first of a series of three posts about airgun barrels by Daystate’s Tony Belas. As many HAM readers will know, Tony has many years experience in the airgun industry. Before that, he served in the British army. In addition, he has always had a strong interest in historic airguns and firearms. He knows a lot about airgun barrels! You will find aspects of all this experience in his provocative, interesting thoughts. Take it away, Tony…   A lot is being said about barrels recently. They are, after all, the key link to accuracy of any air rifle. So the aim of this short series is t ..read more

Like many HAM readers, I loved the idea of the Crosman CHOPPA. In fact, it started me thinking back to another wild airgun, the Dual by Beeman. But here’s the difference. Like all outstanding April Fool’s Day pranks, the Crosman CHOPPA had just enough realism to be believable – helped by some excellent graphics. Yet the Dual By Beeman was real… Sadly, the CHOPPA is not a genuine product. If you had any doubts, check out the CO2 requirements. It’s 20, yes TWENTY, 12 Gram CO2 Powerlets per fill! To quote from the Crosman website: “Forget your puny couple of CO2 cartridges, this bad boy runs on ..read more

Now for the practical airgun barrel twist testing! Here’s some practical results that the HAM Team have found so far. Plus we’ve added another twist to the discussion (groan)… Barrel Twist Rate Testing Well, it turns-out that it’s not so difficult to test your airgun barrel twist rate. All you need is a cleaning rod, plus a jag or brush for the appropriate bore diameter, plus some painter’s tape and a cable tie. For this HAM testing, we used cleaning rods manufactured by Bore Tech. These include a convenient, simple system of markers to simplify determining one complete rotation of the rod. I ..read more

VALUE FOR MONEY At a Street Price of $1,795, the BRK Pathfinder is not exactly a cheap air rifle. Plus – of course – you’ll need to add a decent scope, rings and HPA charging equipment. It’s also a highly-specialized air rifle. Intended as a pest control tool, that’s the whole focus of the product. It’s clear that it meets that goal extremely well. So this is definitely a “working gun” for relatively short range use – out to ethical shooting distances only. With the short barrel, limited air capacity and adequate power, the Pathfinder is not intended for long range, competitive benchrest comp ..read more

HAM readers have already seen the RAW HM1000x Mini Chassis Rifle in our report from the 2024 SHOT Show. Now it’s shipping and is available at Airgun Depot. The HM1000X Mini Chassis Rifle offers the same action as the larger models in the successful HM1000X series. However, it’s fitted into an aircraft-grade aluminum chassis with tactical features and styling. It’s another addition to the range of compact yet powerful hunting-focused PCP air rifles that have become available in recent times. The stock features an adjustable A-B Arms, AR-compatible buttstock with ridged rubber buttpad providing ..read more

This is the second post in our series about airgun barrel twist rates. Airgun Barrel Twist Rate Assumptions First I’m going to start this discussion on airgun barrel twist rates with some guesses and assumptions. Are they right or wrong? Somebody will certainly tell me, or we will find out… Assumption 1. Before we start looking to find data in confirmation, my guess is that one of the most common twist rates for .22 caliber airgun barrels is 1:16. We’ll find out if this is true in future. Assumption 2. It seems that the “traditional” and most common twist rate for .22 Long Rifle firearms barr ..read more