Holy Korea

[Saint]

I have just come across a new found respect for Koreans. I was doing some shopping for a new airgun and stumbled into a section of Pyramidairguns.com that I have never bothered to enter before because I did not like the idea of buying an air rifle manufactured in an asian country because of the crappy worksmanship I have seen in a lot of their products recently (especially in the airgun market). Anyway I am actually considering dropping a chunk of change on one of these bad boys. They are pricey but I would bet a 9mm or .50 cal airgun could be a LOT of fun. Plus I could cast my own ammo for it. That brings me to the reason I am posting in this section. Does anybody have any experience with casting for large caliber air rifles. Before I would be willing to spend that kind of cash I would want to make sure that I won't be stuck buying proprietary ammo. I would imaging walking into Sportsman's Warehouse and asking for .50 caliber airgun ammo might get some odd looks. Here is the link to the rifles they offer.
http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/show.pl?cmd_rifles=show_guns_manufacturer&Manufacturer=ShinSung

[44man]

WOW, thats what I have been looking for. I want to hear more about them. Ever since I read about the Lewis and Clark expo with the air rifle they carried, I have wanted a big bore.

[Ricochet]

The Koreans sure do build some nice guitars and amps. No flies on their workmanship.

[PatMarlin]

THere's been a lot of write ups in Predator magazine on them. In fact I belive there's a monthly article on them. They advertise there also.

I just never took interest as yet, so I haven't read the articles, but they are used by bonified EPA certified, classified, and sanctified hunters.. :mrgreen:

[PatMarlin]

http://www.pyramydair.com/career-dragon-slayer-review.shtml

[scrapcan]

There is a couple of guys that build large bore air rifles and do an african safari quite frequently. They are custom guns true a true.

Here is a link to Quakenbush Air Guns.
http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/

here is a link to Safari page
http://www.americanairgunhunter.com/africa2006.html

Here is a link to another large bore air rifle builder

http://www.glbarnes.com/index2.html

There is alot of confrontation in the large bore airgun arena it appears. I do not have comments aobut that , just thought I would share the pages.

You can also read accounts of the use of a 36 caliber airgun in the Lewis and Clarke journals. Pretty impressive technology that has not progressed as one would think it should have.

[jackley]

I don't know about you guy's but my compreser only goes to 125psi. I dove for the dept. and getting air tanks filled was not cheap. 3000psi atleast here is hard to come by. Would be cool though.

Jerry

[beagle]

A 9mm airgun is fun. One of my shooting partners has one and he fills it off a scuba tank.

Now, here's the cast angle...we'll use 358242s (125 grain) in it and it's deadly at 50 yards...kind of loses velocity at 100 yards though./beagle

[Scrounger]

Any idea what velocity you are getting? I imagine the pressure is quite high.

[scrapcan]

Beagle,

What make and model have you shot? Is it The Shinsung career? I have wanted to try one but no one local has one and I am a little short on change to buy one to play with. Your observations would be nic eto hear.

[carpetman]

Saint---A few years ago a fellow here had Lee make a run of heavy for caliber .177 molds. This "heavy" 24 grain bullet was going to carry farther (would that be further?-beats me)and penetrate deeper than anything the world had ever seen. This was contrary to what I wanted. I wanted a bullet with a parachute that opened as soon as it passed my fence(in town shooting). These heavy bullets were going to be good for up to cape buffalo,well maybe it wasn't capes but for sure starlings and grackels. Somehow the design and the performance were not what was wanted. The bullets tumbled. Some guy in Mexico said they were accurate if shot backwards. I tried that and didn't get accuracy and the penetration in a pine board was minimal. Dick Cheney was told to shoot them backwards and he wounded a couple people in the crowd behind him. These pellets were about 3x heavier than the normal .17 cal pellet. So yes I have cast some large pellets. But your question was has anybody cast large cal pellets. .177 is not large. So to answer your question I have not.

[No_1]

Ray,

Thanks for the explanation, I believe we are all dumber now.....

R.


Saint---A few years ago a fellow here had Lee make a run of heavy for caliber .177 molds. This "heavy" 24 grain bullet was going to carry farther (would that be further?-beats me)and penetrate deeper than anything the world had ever seen. This was contrary to what I wanted. I wanted a bullet with a parachute that opened as soon as it passed my fence(in town shooting). These heavy bullets were going to be good for up to cape buffalo,well maybe it wasn't capes but for sure starlings and grackels. Somehow the design and the performance were not what was wanted. The bullets tumbled. Some guy in Mexico said they were accurate if shot backwards. I tried that and didn't get accuracy and the penetration in a pine board was minimal. Dick Cheney was told to shoot them backwards and he wounded a couple people in the crowd behind him. These pellets were about 3x heavier than the normal .17 cal pellet. So yes I have cast some large pellets. But your question was has anybody cast large cal pellets. .177 is not large. So to answer your question I have not.

[jackley]

[QUOTE=beagle;324744]A 9mm airgun is fun. One of my shooting partners has one and he fills it off a scuba tank.


To get a dive tank filled, you have to be a certified diver.

But I don't know about paint ball guns. What kind of pressure do they use.

Jerry

[jackley]

I looked up their accessories Hand pump $250, pellets $16.38 for 45, Suba tank to haul air in $625. Looks like this is pretty pricey to shoot. And the reviews to noisey needs more power. But at 50 yards would clover leaf them all day. Shoot a flintlock 50 cal. alot cheaper.

Jerry

[flhroy]

Saint, go to Veral Smiths URL. I believe there's a link on graybeardoutdoors. He has cut moudls for large caliber air guns.

[JIMinPHX]

[QUOTE=beagle;324744]A 9mm airgun is fun. One of my shooting partners has one and he fills it off a scuba tank.


To get a dive tank filled, you have to be a certified diver.

But I don't know about paint ball guns. What kind of pressure do they use.

Jerry

My local scuba shop waives the certification requirement on tanks & air if you tell him that it's for a paint ball gun. The usual restrictions still apply for regulators, BCs & the rest of the stuff.

[JIMinPHX]

I know that Daewoo heavy Industries of Korea makes very good quality CNC machines. I ran one for years. Some good stuff does come from over there.

The price of ammo for that thing is just silly. $16 for 50 9-mm pellets is just too much. I can buy 9mm Lugar ammo for much less than that, even these days. Those pellets look like a PITA to cast, with both a hollow point & a hollow base. Swaging may be an option though.

It seems like a nice thing to have, but for the money, I think that I’d just buy myself a new rifle that takes regular ammo.

[beagle]

We didn't chronograph it./beagle


Any idea what velocity you are getting? I imagine the pressure is quite high.

[beagle]

No idea what model it was. It was a fun shooter but naturally, lost velocity pretty quick with the heavier cast bullets. Th e9mm pellets were swaged and did much better at long range./beagle


Beagle,

What make and model have you shot? Is it The Shinsung career? I have wanted to try one but no one local has one and I am a little short on change to buy one to play with. Your observations would be nic eto hear.

[beagle]

Things are not so strict here in Kentucky. He probably filled the tank at work as he works in a big shop with huge air compressors.

I know the first time we pumped up the reservoir with a bicycle pump and it took forever for one tank full. I quickly lost my enthusiasm. Next time he had the tank./beagle

/
[QUOTE=beagle;324744]A 9mm airgun is fun. One of my shooting partners has one and he fills it off a scuba tank.


To get a dive tank filled, you have to be a certified diver.

But I don't know about paint ball guns. What kind of pressure do they use.

Jerry

[Blammer]

what would really be entertaining is the 9mm airguns with the glueblits in it. :)

[IronAir]

You want to something really interesting...

http://sniper99.wordpress.com/

He actually uses an airgun to kill a Bison. One of the videos shows him shooting a 510 grain, 458 boolit at 700 fps!

Now that's a powerful airgun.

Link to the Bison hunt page

http://sniper99.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/american-bison-hunt-a-hunt-to-remember-story-with-pics/

[nicholst55]

Saint, you probably just cost me some cash! Since I just moved back over here to Korea for the Army and I'll be here for several years, I need something to keep in practice with!

First thing I need to do is check into the local laws covering air guns, and then do some price checking.

[rayfil]

I have a Sam Yang 909. It is 45 cal. Started with hand pump but quickly purchased a tank. Aluminum scuba tank used goes for $50 and if necessary visual certification and hydrotest is $30. Tank fill cost $6. Do not need to be SCUBA certified in my area. Can use tank until its pressure starts to drop (10-15 recharges) and then use hand pump just to top off gun to 3000--3200 psi after tank fill. Balls work fine to 25 meters in my gun but are giving me problems at 50 meters. Shifting to cast bullets. Will see how it goes. 700-750 fps is in the range for Hornady balls at .454 diameter. Gun can be boosted to higher velocity but loose the number of rounds between recharges. Now I recharge after 6-8 rounds. Could go further but then get pronounced vertical stringing. Have been told to use pure lead as opposed to hard cast. Just got a Lee 454-298 for initial try but have been told bullet is a little too heavy. Will next try button bullet mold at about 150g. Told with right bullet can get 2 - 2.5 inch groups at 75 meters. Will see. Sam Yang now makes 909S model. It will set you back somewhere near $500-550 depending on source. New pump can set you back approximately $180-230. Can also buy used. Now to the semi high end hunting--Quackenbush makes a great 45 cal that goes for about $700 new but there is an at least 6 month wait. Used cost more than new. His provides 500 foot pounds of energy. His rifle can give you 600fps with some modification but reduces number of shots. Peope report shooting 100 meter targets with 3 inch groups. He use a heavy bullet. High end on tanks is fiber wrapped 4500 psi tank. Light weight and can fill the guns to high side. About $650 new but $300 used. Be sure to see how much life is remaining on tank for used models. Tougher to find refill stations in my area for the 4500 psi tanks. 3000 to 3600 easy because at almost any Scuba shop. Nice toys for big boys.

[dominicfortune00]

I think that somebody makes a special multistage hand air pump for those airguns with high pressure resevoirs .

[Southern Son]

I don't know if it is any help, but some time in the last 7 or 8 months Shotgun News did a bit review on alot of these big bore air rifles, even made mention of some of the modifications guys make to get more power IIRC. Some of the .45 guns just used 45/70 moulds. I did get a kick out of reading the article. I remember getting to use a Sheridan 5mm air rifle when I was young, you had to pump the front grip to charge the air reservoir. 3-5 pumps good for shooting cans, 5-10 would be enough to kill a starling, but you needed the upper body of a gorilla to get more than 15 pumps into (well it seemed that way to a 9 year old). We thought that Sheridan was the most powerful air rifle on earth, but it is pretty soft compaired with some of the stuff out there now.

[PatMarlin]

Interesting- sure would have fun with one. I've got so many 45 molds. Soft lead definitely would be the ticket. I wonder if lube would help at all?

I wonder how many cfm's you would need from a compressor to refill a tank? Certainly don't need a fresh air compressor. I've got air tanks my fireman buddy gave me.

[PatMarlin]

Welcome to cast boolit heaven by the way Rayfil... :drinks:

[Butcher45]

Hey Rayfil, any updates on your cast boolit results with the 909?

I have a souped-up 909, and it shoots the .45Slim, EPP/UG, 180grain BBC BP Swaged Pistol, Lyman .45266, and Maxi-Ball slugs very accurately. I am shooting the .45Slims and EPP/UG's. at about 800+ and 860fps. Killed a few critters with it, too.

[GSM]

I think that somebody makes a special multistage hand air pump for those airguns with high pressure resevoirs .

A couple of companies make the high pressure pumps (150+ bar, 3,000 psi). I don't know about multi-stage on a hand pump.

If you need a work-out, the hand pump is the way to go - just don't fill the cylinders and then try to shoot. It takes a little while for the muscle tremors to subside......

[Butcher45]

A couple of companies make the high pressure pumps (150+ bar, 3,000 psi). I don't know about multi-stage on a hand pump.

If you need a work-out, the hand pump is the way to go - just don't fill the cylinders and then try to shoot. It takes a little while for the muscle tremors to subside......

I actually appreciate the work-out as I am shooting. Not so great for testing the absolute accuracy of new and unknown boolits, but excellent for establishing your maximum effective shooting range when preparing for a hunt. I can still keep a few shots inside an inch, to an inch and a half at 50 yards after having used the pump to refill a few times (off the steady stix, of course.)

The rifle is capable of .45 inch center to center at 50 yards shooting the .45 Slims (my best group off the stix yet).

Oh, and the pumps are not all that bad if you keep them well lubed with Divers pure Silicone grease. My HillPump was a real pain to use until I realized how badly it needed to be lubed. Greased it up, and it practically pumps itself in comparison to what it was before.