Building a 22 Air Rifle

[303Guy]

I'm looking for ideas or designs for a air rifle build using a 22lr barrel. The barrel is quite long so I'd be expecting a fair velocity. A pump gun seems to offer portability but that would add weight. Running off a compressor would be great for back yard target practice but I'm not sure what pressure would be required.

Any thoughts?

[sackot]

Not sure whether this is the sort of thing you're after, but just in case:

Howard Buckley (UK) has a couple of published air rifle designs, in the form of books. They use standard air rifle barrels (ie 22 but even smaller than 22lr) and are aimed at 12fps UK legal guns. I have both books but have not yet got around to trying one. You will find some builds on the web.

I think one of them might be suitable to modify to your requirements. It is a lightweight design using a "buddy bottle" as part of the stock. It looks quite practical to build. You will lose shot count at higher power levels, but could carry precharged bottles with you and replace them as required.

I'm away from home for a while, but if you're interested but can't track this down, I can give chapter and verse in a couple of weeks.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Are you looking for a completed Air Rifle to shoot, or are you looking for a project?

It could be a fun project,,,, Are you a machinist with machines to make parts on?

If the intention is just to shoot then you might be better off to just buy something.

Randy

[rsterne]

The .22LR barrel is larger than what is required for airgun pellets, it is 0.222" and pellets are 0.214"-0.219" with most (good ones) running 0.216"-0.217".... so right off the bat, starting with a rimfire barrel is pretty much a waste of time, accuracy wise, not to mention wasting air from blowby.... Secondly, shop compressors run about 100-125 psi, and even CO2 runs about 850 psi, and pumpers and other pneumatics run closer to 1500 psi.... and PCPs 2000-4500 psi.... so a shop compressor is a waste of time from a power point of view....

Bob

[303Guy]

Thanks. So unless I can make projectiles it will be a non-starter. And yes, it's a project. I have a lathe and a milling attachment so can make parts. For now I'd like to find out how to produce the air pressure required.

Maybe I should look for an air rifle to rebuild/restore and add more power at the same time. I can't afford a new one - I have funeral costs to cover.

It's just that I have the barrels and a perceived need for lighter projectiles that don't have the same carry-over range and effect of a 22lr.

[Shooternz]

Hi 303, check this site http://nzairgun.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=7d3lt3nvnenjkj12lgnq4tilp7&topic=568.0
I have read some of his articles they are very good lots of info, I am new to the air rifle scene so am doing a lot of searching for information, don't intend to build one just want one to shoot silhouette

[lastmanout]

Building a PCP air rifle is quite an undertaking. Working pressures are 2000-3000 PSI. I would check out Flying Dragon airguns- Mike M is a great guy and sells whole rifle cheaper than you could build. --- Sorry to hear of your loss.

[Little Doc]

what lastmanout said
Mike at FD has a pcp for $100. shipped .177 or 22. he says it is a tinkers gun. maybe a good place to cut your teeth.

[Multigunner]

303 Guy you should check out the trank gun prop weapon used in the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" TV series. Most of their props and costumes came from Canada so the prop rifle is made from No.4 or No.5 Enfield actions and the No.5 flash hider.
That rifle may be non functioning but the design features are sound.
The air bottle is hung from a magazine well insert which would form the valve body. An extension of the cocking piece would trip the valve. A probe with O-rings would replace the bolt head.

Also there have been .177 or .22 pellet gun conversions of the Enfield rifles in more recent years. I think these are CO2 powered. The mechanism for these is entirely hidden and made up mostly from off the shelf airgun parts.

[rking22]

I agree with Lil Doc, the QB 79 would be a great place to start. The older QB78 I have has a great barrell, just need to dissassemble and clean all the chips out then deburr. there is lots of info out there on tuning them. If you want to leave the CO2 then look into HPA regulators for paintball. You can make a multi stage compressor to charget the approiately rated tank .... I started a design to use an exercise bike to fill tanks while I exercized.Never finished it due to the exercise thing! If I'm gonna ride a bike it's gonna be going somewhere. Found a hand pump about that time too for 189$.

[camotes2]

Well, a PCP is a bit of an undertaking for a first home build, but not impossible. Here is a link to mine, http://talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1235&hilit=bullpup+condor Just made from allot tube from the supply house, all bolted together, uses CO2, or HP air. .22 cal a rimfire bbl. also has an arrow bbl. and a .311 Lee Enfield bbl. Swap bbl. in about 10 minutes.
I had never made an airgun before, but some other gun work yes, like the one in my avatar. .22 rimfire bbls are ok, but you might have to get pellets with a larger head size so they do not droop in the bore. And a 48gr buckshot at 850 fps. is not to be trifled with, never seen a starling fly away from that. But, my quest for power has made it somewhat impractical for urban use. Now it is wearing the .22 bbl most of the time.
Just my input, I had a hoot doing this build, So don't be shy about building, you can always sell off your shavings for scrap, hehe
camotes2....

[HollowPoint]

Well, a PCP is a bit of an undertaking for a first home build, but not impossible. Here is a link to mine, http://talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1235&hilit=bullpup+condor Just made from allot tube from the supply house, all bolted together, uses CO2, or HP air. .22 cal a rimfire bbl. also has an arrow bbl. and a .311 Lee Enfield bbl. Swap bbl. in about 10 minutes.
I had never made an airgun before, but some other gun work yes, like the one in my avatar. .22 rimfire bbls are ok, but you might have to get pellets with a larger head size so they do not droop in the bore. And a 48gr buckshot at 850 fps. is not to be trifled with, never seen a starling fly away from that. But, my quest for power has made it somewhat impractical for urban use. Now it is wearing the .22 bbl most of the time.
Just my input, I had a hoot doing this build, So don't be shy about building, you can always sell off your shavings for scrap, hehe
camotes2....

I've been a lurker over on the TAG forum for some time now and this is the first time I've viewed your particular build thread. I started visiting there to learn about the Airforce line of air guns in hopes of copying and building my own versions from scratch in the near future.

My problem is that I have great difficulty with following written build-instructions so I can't just do a build by reading step by step procedures. I have to have a physical specimen in front of me in the form of a picture-heavy video or the actual gun I'm copying. It must be some sort of dyslexia thing on my part.

I plan on buying a Condor this year with my tax return money and using it to clone my own design based on the AirForce line of air rifles.

The way you've gone about building your Bull-Pup PCP is the way I had envisioned building my own big bore air rifle from scratch. I love that kind of ingenuity.

As for 303guy's search for suggestions; I've followed some of your post on this forum and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I know you're well able. At this point the best suggestion I could give is to keep it as simple as possible. If not for the sake of your build, for the sake of those slow-learner dyslexic types like myself who may try to copy your examples down the road.

HollowPoint

[303Guy]

Thanks for the input. So if I can get larger diameter pellets I would still be in the running. I would make a bolt for the 22 action with a pin on the front to push the pellet up into the leade and fit the air passage up into the original chamber. Using a Lee Enfield action sounds like a good idea. A thought that has crossed my mind is to neck down a 303 case and use a primer with a small charge of Clays to drive the pellet. The idea being that the large case would absorb the gas volume and keep pressure low enough to not damage the pellet yet still provide enough pressure to get reasonable velocity.

[Pakprotector]

I would start with a base rifle, and learn/modify as you go. I'd take a Benjamin Discovery or Flying Dragon B50 as a minimum starting point. You can go pretty far with either of these...and learn valuable stuff as you go along.
cheers,
Douglas

[HollowPoint]

Thanks for the input. So if I can get larger diameter pellets I would still be in the running. I would make a bolt for the 22 action with a pin on the front to push the pellet up into the leade and fit the air passage up into the original chamber. Using a Lee Enfield action sounds like a good idea. A thought that has crossed my mind is to neck down a 303 case and use a primer with a small charge of Clays to drive the pellet. The idea being that the large case would absorb the gas volume and keep pressure low enough to not damage the pellet yet still provide enough pressure to get reasonable velocity.


I recently viewed a video of a new air rifle design in which the designer designed his air rifle to shoot by means of compressed air with small individual compressed-air-cartridges. I can't remember where I got that link from. It may have been someone here on this forum that posted it.

Essentially, each compressed-air-cartridge (similar to the small Co2 canisters you buy at your sporting goods store) is re-usable like the brass in our powder burners. These compressed-air-cartridges are re-charged after being fired and the projectiles are just hand or finger-pressed into the mouth of the cartridge. It's a single shot design but I've not heard anything more about it other than this one video.

In that particular video it was stated that the release of this design would be forth-coming.

I mention it because the description of 303Guy's Lee Enfield action idea sounds very similar; the difference being compresses air as apposed to powder and primer.

HollowPoint

[303Guy]

I would start with a base rifle, and learn/modify as you go. I'd take a Benjamin Discovery or Flying Dragon B50 as a minimum starting point. You can go pretty far with either of these...and learn valuable stuff as you go along.
cheers,
Douglas
That is perfectly logical but it defeats the object, that being to use an existing barrel and do a project. However, it might well be the cheapest solution - dump the spare barrel, buy the gun and start shooting! But you see, I want to do a project of some sort. Now I did find a way to use ordinary shop compressed air to drive a pellet and that is to drive the pellet into the rifling on loading. Velocity is not impressive but for target practice and fun it would be great connected to a compressor, so maybe I'll just do that with the barrel. I should mention that money isn't floating around my way - I have funeral costs to cover now (that wasn't easy to say - made my eyes water).

Here's another thought that crossed my mind, making a conversion kit for a standard bolt action rifle to fire air rifle pellets. Something like the 'pre-charged compressed-air-cartridges'. The Lee Enfield would lend itself to this because the bolt head can replaced with one that could 'fire' such an air-cartridge and I happen to have a 25-303. I'm not so sure how 'easy' it would be to build the air-cartridges though. A magazine well fitting air system with protruding canister might be an idea too.

Now I also happen to have a high pressure cylinder lying around (and all it cost me was a damaged back! It's heavy). Point is it could be charged up at home (after building a suitable compressor) and taken to sight for convenient recharging of air canisters or direct connection to the rifle via a hose (target shooting).