Stoeger X20 Wood .177 Break Barrel Air Rifle Review

It is not very often that I go and buy something that I haven't researched thoroughly, but sometimes, these things happen. A gal will go out window shopping and come back with bags and bags of new stuff, or a guy will go to the local Best Buy and come home with a GPS and a new PDA. Heck, my Dad pulled one on my Mom years ago, when he went out and bought a new vehicle and she was surprised to see this new butt-ugly gold minivan in the driveway.

I am not that bad, but I suppose I have inherited a bit of my Dad's occasional spontaneity in terms of shopping habits. Surprisingly, what I ended up buying was something that I would normally read a lot about. Good air rifles aren't exactly cheap and with Canadian firearm licensing laws, there's a bit of an administrative hassle in purchasing an air rifle, so you would think I would exhibit a bit of research when I bought my Stoeger X20 Wood .177 Break Barrel air rifle very, very recently.

I am sure I am not the only one who has noticed that the X20 looks very nice asthetically - frankly, this was the first drawing point for me - which is no surprise, since men tend to be visually-oriented; case in point: there is a Diana air rifle (50 or 60-something that is like, over $550.00), but it is the most butt-ugly thing you have ever seen - for that reason alone, I would not buy it. But the Steoger X20 that I bought has a hardwood montel-carlo style stock with checkering (also comes in camo as well as synthetic), has a modern look to it, has an onboard muzzle break, and the inclusion of a 3-9x40mm scope seems to make the price tag of $250.00 more palatable, especially during the cash-strapped Christmas period. Truth be told, my finances took a dive this year, as was the same with most people's pocketbooks, but with the cost of guns and ammo rising this Fall and the expectation that it will continue to rise with an Obama (yech!) administration come next year, it was a good time to buy it.

Having to break the news to my wife that I was planning on buying myself a Christmas present was, I assumed, the hard part. She is not big on guns, but tolerates them enough to respect my interests. To my surprise, she offered to come with me to the gun store to pick it up, our baby daughter in tow.

The fellow I deal with at the gun shop said that I came at the right time - there was only one wood one left. They had received about 15-20 the week before and they went like hotcakes. That, to me, was a good sign. Of course, he said, these are still relatively new offerings and Stoeger isn't really a known brand for airguns (unlike established brands like Gamo, Crosman, Daisy, Beeman, RWS/Diana, etc.) In fact, he hasn't even had a chance to check them out since they've gone so quickly. Since I had the day off work and had another hour before I had to pick my son up from school, I said to him, he can feel free to open the box and check out the look and feel of the gun if he wants - I'm in no rush.

OK, some specs on this gun. It is a .177 caliber break barrel, advertised velocity is 1000FPS with lead, 1200FPS with light alloy (ie. the Gamo PBA ammo). Obviously, due to its velocity, one would need a firearms licence to buy the X20 in Canada. The only Stoeger air rifle that shoots under 500FPS (no gun licence required) is the X5 series. Anyway, the X20 features fibre optic sights, a rear safety like my Hammerli 850 which I like (not a trigger-type safety), two-stage trigger, and the aforementioned muzzle break and wood. The weight is around 7lbs. I mentioned the scope already and the first thing I noticed about this scope is that it was not mounted like the Stoeger marketing material said. My buddy at the gun shop had to double check the marketing specs to confirm it came with a scope and then subsequently realized that the scope was included, but separately in a small box with the package (the scope was not padded in any way). The box itself was a standard air rifle box - flap opened and the packaging / insulation was nothing to write home about (unlike my Hammerli 850 which has perhaps the best packaging of any airgun/air rifle I have seen).

There obviously isn't much testing you can do in the store itself, and upon confirming that everything seemed to be in order, I bought the thing, with my wife standing beside me, looking at the mounted deer head in the gunshop as well as the the Remington marine magnum 12-gauge that I was racking when she walked in. My little daughter seemed mesmerized by all the rifles sitting in the racks, but even she had her fill of sitting in the gunshop with me, listening to my buddy and I talk all manner of firearms.

Took it home and mounted the scope, which did not take too much effort since it came with the rings and mounts and all. Also read through the manual, which is considerably thicker than it needed to be, since it has the same 10 or so pages in a number of other languages. With the scope mounted, I took the air rifle in my hands it was pretty heavy (remember, I'm only around 5' 5", 140lbs), and the rifle is about 7lbs without the scoope. Since I had some vacation days, I decided to use a half-day to run some errands, not the least of which was going to a local range to try out the X20.

Now, I can tell you a few things definitively. One is that I found it difficult to cock this rifle - probably my size and lack of upper body and arm strength no doubt, but as this was my first 1000FPS+ air rifle, maybe that had something to do with it. I also own a Gamo Viper Express air shotgun/.22 cal break barrel that shoots around 750FPS with .22 cal pellets, and that is nowhere near as hard to break as this one. The spring is either very strong, or I am not. Anyway, that surprised me a bit. Anyhow, I sort of sighted in the X20 and went to work testing it. I used standard Crosman .177 wadcutters as as Crosman .177 Premiers, and also Gamo Master Point .177 pellets.

I can also tell you that when I used the Crosman pellets, the X20 was considerably loud. Now, at the range, I am mandated to wear ear protection and I had on a pair of Browning ear protectors and slip over the head. Of course, being so near to Christmas, there wasn't anyone else at the range when I was there and so I thought I'd take off the muffs for a minute to see how loud the X20 was. Let's just say that I wish I hadn't have done that - it rung my ears and gave me a headache that didn't go away for a few hours. Now, it could have been my reduced hearing, but the Gamo pellets seem to be slightly less loud when fired. I know that for sure, since every Crosman pellet fired without the hearing protection gave me a sharp pain in the ears. This may have been due to the shape/manufacturing of the Crosmans, the fact that the X20 was dieseling (burning off excess oil/grease when shot), or just naturally loud. Probably should have cleaned it before shooting, but I didn't.

Accuracy. The range was around 50 yards or so. I won't get into measurements for my groupings, since I am hardly sniper-caliber, but let's just say I was overall somewhat pleased by the accuracy of the rifle, given the fact that I was giving my arms an extreme workout cocking this thing, I did OK. I did have to make some minor adjustments with the elevation, but other than that, it was a good experience.

I found that the trigger pull was a bit heavy - I am not sure and don't remember if the trigger is adjustable, but I did find that the trigger could be lighter.

I imagine that this rifle was designed for hunting rather than target shooting, given its power and weight. But for what I paid, I can't see anything that would have soured me on the rifle.

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FEBRUARY 2009 UPDATE: Since my original review, I have read some more about the rifle and some other reviews as well. My original review stands as it is, even though I have since found out that while the rifle may have been designed by Italian Engineers (I believe Stoeger is owned by Benelli), the actual unit was made in China. Now, I know that Chinese airguns have a love 'em or hate 'em type of following, but I haven't really seen anything from a qualitative standpoint that would make me dislike this gun. Further, I have read others who have written about issues regarding mounting the scope but I did not have the same problems - perhaps Stoeger fixed the earlier problems their later releases. I have also heard that the X20 is pretty much a rebranded BAM (Chinese brand) XS-B19 since the parts diagram is almost identical, but without experiece with the B19, I can't comment further.

Airguns For Self-Defence? Don't Even Think About It

This past year, I worked with a new fella in my office, who I found out later, owned an airgun. This, I would consider unusual in the very liberal Toronto, and especially in a white-collar industry like IT, where opinions, just like the technology are considered and even expected, to be progressive. You can imagine how much I stick out like a sore thumb, and being an Asian gun enthusiast as well, which nowadays is pretty rare. There are less than a handful of people on my whole account (and customer site) who own any type of gun, much less holds a firearms licence. So it always intrigues me to meet people who have even a passing interest in guns.

This guy I worked with happened to own a similar airgun as one of the many that I own. He owned a Walther CP Sport. I have since sold mine, but I have a review on this blog, so check it out if you are interested in this gun. But anyway, it's a CO2-powered semi-automatic .177 caliber air pistol. It's also one of more weaker airguns out there, shooting at a maximum of 360FPS, which, I will concede, is not as weak as airsoft, but don't expect it to be a pest control gun.

My colleague, keeping his voice low, shared with me that he bought the airgun with the sole purpose of using it as a self-defence weapon. When I heard him say that I was shocked. I asked him how many guns he owns, and he said just that one. He said that he thought it was pretty powerful. I asked him if he had any idea what the impact of a .177 caliber pellet at 360FPS (maximum) would be? He didn't, so I gave him some perspective. The Canadian firearms classification starts with fired projectiles travelling at 500FPS or higher AND generating more than 4.2FPE (foot pounds energy). You cannot even humanely kill or even injure a squirrel with a 450FPS airgun (a small mouse, yes, but nothing larger). So don't expect to take down a home invader.

It has been said that part of the Canadian government's classification numbers may have to do with the penetrating effect of a projectile, given a certain velocity and transfer of energy. I have never heard this officially substantiated by the Canadian Firearms Centre, but it does make some sense, in terms of how to classify something as a firearm (ie. can it cause serious or lethal injury).

I gave him some more perspective - a CO2 semi-automatic may sound cool, with rapid fire and an eight-shot magazine, but as anyone who knows anything about airguns can attest, the faster you fire a CO2 gun, the more velocity you lose on subsequent shots - it's because of the cold gas that is released by the CO2 cartridge everytime you pull the trigger. A colder environment inside the gun makes a pellet go slower (another knock against CO2 guns being used in the wintertime). So that maximum 360FPS will turn out to be in the mid-200 to 250FPS, which will cause a slight bruise for someone running around naked, but will hardly penetrate thick clothing, much less skin. If nothing else, your home invader or bad guy will simply get irritated at the fact that you're trying to shoot him and now it gives him the licence to exact maximum injury on you, now that he knows you don't have a "real gun". My friend said that the replica nature of the CP Sport may be a deterrent enough. Personally, I wouldn't put my life on the line for a possibility.

Finally, I shared with him the fact that the most powerful airgun I own is the Gamo Viper Express .22 Caliber Air Shotgun / Rifle combo. This gun requires a firearms licence, and shoots either a very limited of #9 lead shot at around 1200FPS (maximum) or with an chamber adapter, shoots .22 caliber pellets at 850FPS (maximum). Remember, a heavier pellet like a .22 will impart much more energy on impact than its smaller counterpart, at the same velocity. All that being said, despite the fact that the Viper Express is a firearms-rated airgun, I would not recommend anyone to use it for self-defence. The power is just not there. Some self-defence experts would even contend that the lower-velocity rimfire type of firearms are inadquate for self-defence, despite the fact that they will shoot a .22 caliber bullet at generally over 1000FPS. In my view, where you can maybe come close is having something like a Ruger 10/22 with a Butler Creek 25-mag, full of CCI .22 LR Stingers. Those will shoot over 1600FPS, but their accuracy suffers. But problem with using anything rimfire is that likely you will need more than one shot, and that's going to be hard to explain to the cops why you shot the bad guy full of holes.

Some have said that having something is better than nothing, but I disagree. Having nothing at least poses no resistance to the perp, and unless he's hellbent on killing or raping you, it may be in your best interest to simply let him take whatever he wants. Now, I know home invasions don't always work that way, but imagine this - you are stumbling in the dark, reaching for your airgun, hoping that the CO2 still will carry at least 8 shots. Even if you get your shot off, you are looking at reduced stopping power for subsequent CO2 shots. That is the nature of a CO2 gun. You will need a lot more than one shot to stop the intruder, and so a CO2 airgun is a really poor choice, even a CO2 repeating air rifle that requires a firearms licence. In essence, with airguns you are stuck with several problems: 1) multiple shots are needed, but the effect of subsequent shots make it useless on a CO2 gun, 2) there is no no-CO2 repeating airgun, and 3) you definitely don't want to rely on something that is single-shot, spring-action or break-barrel.

Now, the one caveat here - an airgun can be used IF you are such a good shot that you can hit the bad guy in the eye every time. Most airguns will rupture an eyeball without much difficulty, but getting to the point where you can take out an eye is a pretty gruesome thought, and given the fact that the conditions in which you may actually have to do this are less than ideal (low light conditions, time of night and exhaustion issues, movement and space issues, not to mention the fact that you're likely crapping your pants at the time), it's probably more pie-in-the-sky thinking than anything else.

Have airguns ever been used successfully to ward off an attacker? Probably. In fact, I know of a case in South America where a guy was able to chase away a bad guy by shooting him with a relatively low-powered airgun. But remember, if you put all your eggs in one basket with exceptional-case scenarios such as this, you are not looking at the possibility that there are many criminals who aren't so easily chased away. Remember, the criminal mind does not think long-term. Some criminals will kill you for looking at them the wrong way. Don't assume that you'll be able to scare off or chase off most criminals. If they are indeed packing heat, then you pulling out an airgun has just authorized them to shoot you with a real gun in supposed self-defence. Do you want to take this chance?

I have heard of people who still believe airguns are worth using as self-defence and will alter their airguns so that they are multiple times more powerful. Personally, I think these people are playing with fire, since doing this is not only illegal, but can likely get your arrested, since if you alter an air pistol to shoot over 500FPS, you are now looking at a restricted or even a prohibited weapon, according to Canada's fiearms classifications. Very likely the gun will not even be classifiable, since it wasn't manufactured that way and registered with the Canadian government. But let's hypothesize that it was legal to do this (which it definitely is not, I want to emphasize). I still don't believe an airgun shooting a .22 CAL pellet at around 16.2 grains, at a velocity of 500-1000FPS is suitable. Remember, rimfire .22 bullets are around 32 or 40 grain, go at least 1000FPS in general, and I (and others) do not consider them to be viable for self-defence.

Then there are the obvious legal issues. Now, I have previously said that if you are planning to have anything for self-defence, that you had better be prepared to use it to STOP the bad guy, only in situations where you fear for your life or the life of a loved one. Never shoot to kill - your intention should not be pre-meditated killing. Shooting someone for stealing your TV is not excuseable. That being said, the ability to stop the bad guy is not so much determined by your skill level or shooting ability than by what you choose as your self-defence weapon. As I already mentioned, I do not believe airguns to be sufficient. In my humble opinion, the best home defence weapon (for reasons beyond the scope of this blog entry, though I write about this elsewhere on this blog) is a 12 or 20-gauge pump action shotgun, that you can quickly load with something like #3 buckshot, or lower. Be forewarned though - this is a very lethal combination and if you plan to use this, be prepared to accept responsibility for your actions.

In Canada, specifically, buying arms for self-defence is frowned upon, and discouraged. Reason is, unlike the U.S., there are stringent safe-storage laws in Canada. So a person who has any type of firearm in Canada is legally required to keep them unloaded, and locked up in a suitable gun cabinet or safe. The ammo also needs to be locked up separately. Now, think about this - given these legal requirements, how likely is it that you can have a fully functional ready-to-go self-defence arm? If you happen to be very fast and can get to all these individual components, unlocking / relocking and loading your arm all within the span of a couple of minutes, the Canadian government can charge you with unsafe storage, no matter what you say otherwise (their argument is that the laws make it virtually impossible to get to your gun for self-defence, so there's no way you should have been able to do it unless you weren't following safe storage laws). Moreover, if you end up shooting someone, even in a justified self-defence response, and they somehow manage to live, be prepared to be tried as a criminal and having your firearms confiscated as a result, even though you're the one who was violated. Sad, isn't it. Welcome to Canada.

Have You Considered Your Home Defence Options?

Well, my son is still battling a fever tonight, and I've been up several times, so there is not much use in trying to go back to sleep (I'm sure you know the feeling - you get into deep sleep for 30 minutes or so and then get woken up, only to feel more gross than you would feel had you simply stayed up - that's sort of where I am right now). Besides, with new daughter in tow, I've been meaning to write about a topic that I've been thinking about for several years now.

Back in the summer of 2005 or 2006 (thankfully, it was long enough ago that I am starting to forget the incident), we had a rather scary situation where a agitated woman showed up on our doorstep (literally) at around 10:30AM on a Saturday night and tried to kick our front door down. My son was considerably younger back then, so we originally thought that it was him crying, but it turns out it was a lady in her 20s who was extremely irritated. She was shouting at the top of our lungs for us to open the door and started to kick at our door. She sounded like she was in great anguish, and an error my wife and I made that night was to open the front door to investigate.

Turns out that she had thought that someone in our household had kidnapped a child of hers, or at least the child in a photo that she was carrying in her wallet. So here I was in the doorway of the house, with my wife behind me (and my son soundly sleeping upstairs), and this lady is demanding to get into my house. Realizing that she wasn't kidding, I had to be firm in insisting that there was no way that she would get by me, since we do not know here nor did we kidnap that child. I suspected that she was inebriated or on some sort of illegal narcotics, but regardless, it was the first time I actually felt a bit frightened in my house. Now, this lady wouldn't relent and I thought I was about to get into a fistfight with her (something I didn't really want to do, since it's been 20+ years since I got into a physical confrontation with someone and I'd rather it stay that long). My wife wisely decided to call the cops, which we should have done once we realized she was trying to kick the door down. In the meantime, several neighbours had gathered outside our house, and were witnessing the whole thing. The lady (and I use that term loosely), upon realizing that I was not about to afford her entry, then started a profanity-filled, racially-charged barrage of racial epithets, most of which I have not heard in many years. I tell you, I was tempted to slug her one, but that is hardly a good example to my family, since I didn't exactly fear for my life by her name-calling. Anyhow, once I told her that we called the cops, she immediately rolled into her minivan and backed out of our driveway, but not before we recorded her licence plate number and before she crashed into lamp post in front of our house, causing all manner of external car parts to be strewn at the end of our driveway.

Cops showed up - this big, big dude named Police Constable Nigel showed up - I was admiring his muscles throughout our conversation, but I am glad my tax dollars pay for beefy cops like him. He ran her plates and proceeded to tell us that she was a known schitzophrenic who happened to have trashed a Tim Horton's the night before. He indicated that she was likely off her medication and was driving around aimlessly and happened upon our house, which was fairly visible on the street. He said that chances are, by the next day she would not even remember the incident, but they'd pay her a visit anyway to check up on her. They would be sending one of their cops who she thinks she is married to...I wasn't interested in hearing more of the soap opera, so I thanked him for looking into it and his assurances that it was probably a bad coincidence that she showed up at our door. We haven't heard from her since and have not had any such incident since, of which we were aware.

Now, some advice from the officer, and this was well received. It is not paranoia-based chain-mail B.S. that you get in your inbox that you are to circulate to all your friends. This came from the mouth of a police officer with whom I spoke. The first thing he said was that we made several tactical errors that night in assessing the situation. I don't disagree with him. The first was that we didn't call the police right away when we determined someone was kicking at our door. The second was that we opened our door. And the third, while the officer did not necessarily suggest this - when I suggested whether it would have been good if I was somehow armed with something at the door (and I don't mean a firearm, but anything that can more or less be used in self-defence like a baseball bat, a knife, or whatever) - he said that it wouldn't hurt, but obviously much care is needed, since citizens have been known to be disarmed of baseball bats and other forms of self-defence objects by perpetrators, and worse, these objects have been turned on the homeowners. I doubt that the police are at liberty to suggest homeowners arm themselves, like they seem to do more of in the States than in Canada, but it was interesting that he did not dismiss the option.

All that being said, I have had at least a couple of years (I believe it was 2005, so I had a few years) to think about what happened, and I can tell you that it is worthwhile for every homeowner to at least have a game plan in place in the event something as distressing as this happens. Now, I realize we're not in the wild-west mentality of the U.S., but let's face it - suberbs like where I live are not immune to crime. In fact, just down the street from me a few years back, a Marijuana grow-up was busted. About 5 minutes north of me, there was a major methanphetamine lab that was broken up - the cops who did that case reported in the news that they were surprised that the residence did not explode, due to the amount of volatile chemicals found in the house. And that was in a house that was valued at $525,000 Cdn., so it wasn't like we are talking in the housing projects here. About 15 minutes northeast of me, a double-murder took place in a home very close to where our good friends live. And despite our area's generally low crime rate, home invasions do happen - our youth pastor witnessed a police take-down of carjackers, which resulted in police drawing and using their weapons - this was less than five minutes away from where I live, and it only happened late last year. My former colleague at work, who has four kids of his own, has told me of problem neighbours that he has had that forced him to build his own home security camera system which feeds video into his computer.

OK, maybe these are all isolated incidents, but can you really afford to dismiss them as something that will never happen to you? I've learned only in the past few years never to assume that something will not happen to you. Anything can happen to anyone, so I feel it is prudent for the homeowner to at least consider what they would do (it may turn out to be nothing, but at least think about it) if they were a victim of a home invasion. As for me, I have a plan in place, which I don't advertise, and I have actually ran through the plan several times to test timing, etc. That being said, I still make tactical errors, which I have been correcting over time (ie. most recently, the house alarm was set off by a loose window and I bolted downstairs to turn off the alarm without carrying adequate protection with me (by protection I mean a home defence object, not a condom). Now, maybe it's because we just got home from the hospital with our newborn and I didn't want the kids awakened by a rather shrill and very boisterous sounding house alarm in the middle of the night. But still, in the heat of the moment, I should have assessed things properly and at least carried something with me downstairs, analyzing the situation in the process. One thing I have been thinking of doing for these sitautions is to put a corresponding alarm panel upstairs, so that I can arm the house from upstairs or contact the police/fire department from upstairs, rather than rely on the panel downstairs near the front door. At the very least, I can accurately assess what triggered the alarm and whether it was legit or false. In this case, I would have known it was a false alarm as we were in the room where the window's inside sensors had moved (we have older windows that shift a bit after a windy night). Installing a supplementary panel upstairs, while it would involve extra costs, is still something that is considered more of a passive option than an active one.

Now, if you are considering active options of defending your home (which is your right since it's your property), you should think through the consequences. Very easy for someone to carry a baseball bat or golf club or a kitchen knife to confront a burglar or a home invader, but the question you need to ask yourself is...are you prepared to use it? I am willing most people don't even know where to properly strike an attacker with a knife or bat to neutralize the threat, if they are even willing to do so in the first place. If you have a firearm, you need to consider that you may be using lethal force to stop someone, and there are certainly moral and legal issues that will arise as a result. Personally, I would never consider killing someone over theft of property - as long as our family is not threatened, they can have what they want for all I care. If you threaten my family, then all bets are off and you just authorized me to use lethal means if necessary. However, even then you need to think things through - a court of law would not look favourably on a person who shoots and attacker in the back or fires on a fleeing suspect. And of course, you have no doubt heard about the warped courts who find in favour of the felon or perpetrator who managed to successfully sue the homeowner for damages or injury. That being said, I still don't believe that we should develop the "shoot to kill" mentality. Lawyers will eat you for breakfast, painting you as a cold-blooded pre-meditated killing machine, even if you killed in self-defence. Most of the home defence experts will suggest that your mentality should be "shooting to stop"; that is, stop the attack on yourself or your loved ones. And while I am not entirely comfortable subscribing to the mindset that it's probably better to make sure that you kill the attacker so that they don't get a chance to finnegle the legal system to sue you later, I still place enough value on life to suggest that lethal force should always be the final option, unless your life is being immediately threatened at the time. Again, I know it's hard to hypothetically go through scenario after scenario, but the thought process is good to work through what you may do (and even then, I accept that people may do something totally different when confronted with that situation).

So, let's look at home defence options. Again, I am not going to reveal what my plan or options are, but I can tell you that in researching this topic, like everything else, different things work for different people. But one thing I can say for sure - forget the TV-and-movie based approach where people grab baseball bats and tennis racquets or fireplace prodding sticks or other such things. Unless you have training in hand-to-hand or close quarters combat, this is a complete waste of your time and the likelihood of a stronger attacker disarming you is very high. Not to mention, if it is an armed home invasion or an armed rape or kidnapping attempt (for the women who live by themselves or whose husbands are not home), taking out a tennis racquet will, I am sure, not neutralize the threat. A kitchen knife is a waste of time and even if you had a cold weapon like a hunting knife, Buck knife or a fillet knife - are you prepared to stab someone with it should the need arise? Do you know where to stab to stop the attack? Inflicting a superficial wound would no doubt piss off the attacker and you will likely have the object turned on you.

Now, I will address something quickly that I have heard people mention to me, who are avid airgun or air pistol shooting enthusiasts. I don't care what anyone says, airguns and air pistols (even PAL rated firearms-grade ones) do not have enough stopping power to put down an attacker. While it has not be conclusively proven, sub-500FPS velocity airguns are within legal limits for a reason - I have heard that any sub 500 FPS airgun projectile - whether the standard .177 or .22, will not break skin and the only way you can use it to protect your life is to shoot the perpetrator in the eye. In the dark, and in distress, I doubt many can make such a good shot. The firearms-grade airguns are mostly single shots and even then, are mostly .177, which is fine on a squirrel, but stopping a two-legged predator requires significantly more stopping power. So let's end that discussion right now. Air guns are used for target shooting and casual plinking, nothing more (OK, the occasional small game hunting or pest control).

There are some who argue that firearms are the answer. This is partially true. But even here, there are some issues. One is that, unless you live in a rural area, the chance of you having neighbours is very high. In many suberbs, the houses are built fairly close together. The last thing you want is using a firearm that shoots through walls and kills an innocent bystander on the street, in another room or even in another house. As such, I am not in favour of using centerfire or high powered handguns for home invasion. Again, in both cases in the dark and being a bit drowsy likely at night, what are the chances of you hitting your target? Handguns are also easily disarmable, especially if the owner does not know how to use it. I am not a fan of handguns at all, so that would not be an option. Centerfire weapons increase the risk of collateral injury/death, and are not really an option in the city. Another option is rimfire - .22 caliber - but studies and police reports have shown that it may not necessarily disarm your attacker - no one wants to get shot with a rimfire rifle, but there have been reports of bad guys who are strung out on drugs who simply ignore the small caliber bullet wounds. Of course if you get a large capacity mag and fire like crazy, you may get somewhere, but that doesn't look good in a court of law. If you must use firearms, then I would strongly recommend a shotgun - good for short range, and you really don't need to aim it per se - since the shot covers a wide area. Even then, the shotgun is only as good as the shotshells you use - I have read that using a shotgun with birdshot is a very poor choice - it will leave a grievous wound on the attacker, but it may not stop them on the spot. What I'd recommend is using 00 or 000 buckshot, but even then that may be overkill. I read that #3 or #4 buck is sufficent. A 20-gauge is probably preferrable to a 12-gauge, due to recoil issues (remember, you're sleepy at night), as well as the less likelihood of collateral damage. From what I read, if shotguns are used for home defence, there are really only two models to consider - the Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500 - they're essentially the two big models competing against one another. If you ask me my opinion, I'd go with the Remington, since cops use the 870, so what's that tell ya? The Remington comes in various models, and has lots of mods (like interchageable short barrels, which is a must for a home defence gun). I've handled both and the Remington has a much more solid feel to it. There's nothing like the sound of racking the 870 to cause your bad guy to think twice. That being said, the chance of inflicting a lethal wound with a shotgun with buckshot is tremendously great, and if you use this method, you really will need to explain your actions in a court of law, not to mention deal with the mental consequences of taking another life. In this regard, someone once remarked, "better to be tried by twelve, than to be carried by six."

I can't speak on whether a 28-gauge or a .410 caliber shotgun would be effective or not (the .410 probably not, though some have argued otherwise - my guess is that it's probably as effective as a .22 rimfire) - I don't know enough about either to make a definitive statement. Stick with the 20 gauge - it's a great all purpose gun - you can use it to hunt, shoot skeet/clays/trap, and of course, for home defence. I also believe Stoeger makes a short-barreled coach gun (it's pretty ugly but I read that it can be suited for home defence). But there are still also other options...

A crossbow is pretty intimidating and as I've seen people use it to take down rather large animals, it is an option, though I suspect with a two-legged pest, its stopping power may be negligible. You'd have to fire many arrows in succession, or coat the razor-sharp arrowheads with some sort of incapacitant in order to stop the intruder in his/her tracks. Of course, you better be able to load the arrow quick and aim well. Tasers and stun guns are both wonderful short-to-medium range options which allow you to incapacitate an intruder, albeit doing it without resorting to lethal force. This would be on my recommended list, but last I heard, tasers and stun guns are illegal in Canada. Besides, you have likely heard of some very public incidents of tasering by security or law enforcement folks, which have gone horribly wrong, in some cases causing death. A downside to the taser and stun guns, aside from their illegality, is the fact that you still have to more or less aim it and in a tense situation where your hands are likely shaking and you're crapping your pants, your aiming technique may not be at its best. As a result, I'd have to apply the same logic to using stuff like bear spray or pepper spray - of course, both of these also carry much higher risks of being turned on you if you are not careful.

One option that is a generally good one is learning close-combat self-defence techniques - it could be martial arts or something like krav maga, which I am signing up for this summer. This training, however, should only be used to complement an existing home defence strategy - I don't recommend it to be used standalone and the reasons are obvious (if the attacker has a gun or something, unless you can confidently disarm him, you're up the creek).

Of course, no home defence discussion is complete unless the topic of guard dogs is brought up. This is an extremely attractive option for people, as dogs are alerted to the slightest noise, generally their bark scares the crap out of potential burglars, and assuming that the dog is a fairly large dog, it can pounce on an attacker like white on rice, and render the intruder useless until the owner or the cops decide otherwise. However, a knock against dogs is that they're only good if the intruder does not come armed. For me, dogs are not an option, since I am not fond of them (anything that sniffs and licks its ass and then proceeds to try to lick my face...no thanks - I've never understood people who enjoy playfully French-kissing their dogs, knowing where the dog's mouth has been - freaking gross, if you ask me). I also don't like the smell of dogs (or cats or hamsters) Also, I couldn't be bothered with all the maintenance that goes with a dog. I also have young kids, and while they may like dogs, I can't guarantee that the dog will always like them. But I can see the advantage of having a guard dog - the result of a dog attack is generally less lethal than having a firearm fired on you within close range. But just the presence of a guard dog is likely enough incentive for would-be home intruders to select another residence.

Finally, I want to discuss the option of passivity and non-resistance. I know a lot of people who would likely resort to this option and it's not a wrong choice, by any means. It certainly has its place, and it is part of my plan depending on the scenario (ie. it's probably not a first option in the case of sexual assault, though I have read of women who employ this in order to stay alive). However, if you are doing it because you believe in a Biblical ethic that teaches to "turn the other cheek" and not retaliate, I suggest you re-look your Bible and study the passages in question contextually. I don't believe the Bible preaches passivity and pacifism. The turning the other cheek and non-retaliatory ethic is understood in the spirit of not succumbing to one's pride - ie. you wrong me - out of spite or having my pride hurt, I lash back at you - that is sinful. Self-defence is not. I really resent how these liberal pacifists have turned the Bible into their reasoning behind just letting someone beat the crap out of you. Sure, people cite Jesus not striking back when he had was flogged and had to carry the cross with people spitting, kicking and throwing all manner of stuff at him - but remember, Jesus had a wider purpose in mind in accepting the fact that He will be dying for humanity and the abuse came with it. I can understand that people may read into this , with their "What Would Jesus Do" mentality and say that one should just sit back and not fend off attackers. How many of you (men) who advocate this position, would sit idly by while someone came into your house and helped themselves to your wife? Would you argue it is Biblical to simply let an intruder rape your wife while you watched and cited Bible verses at them? What about if they broke into your house and started attacking you with a knife? Would you simply sit back and let them stab you? Why or why not?

There is a place for non-resistance. There is a place for negotiation and mediation. And I agree, material things are not worth killing over. But when your life is threatened, I can't think of too many people who I know will stand idly by and let their life or their loved ones' lives be taken from them, without a fight.

Crosman Phantom .22 Caliber Air Rifle Review

I had thought that I had pretty much sworn off on Crosman airguns. There are those in the sport who would say that they are decent, value-priced guns that perform decently and geez, they are made in the good ol' USA. Then there are those who say that due to their price point, you can't expect Diana/RWS-like quality. And then there are those who avoid them like a bacterial infection of the rectum. I tended to waver between perception number two and three, more so due to my previous experience with a Crosman T4. Now, I know what you may be thinking - just like anything else, you can't judge your overall view of a company based on one experience. That is generally true and it is a principle I hold when buying things from companies. My Dad reminded me of this fact lately as I was griping about the really crappy Honda dealership, of which my wife and I used to be regular patrons.

So, seeing how I would like to take my own advice on things like this, I thought I'd give Crosman another chance. This wasn't a CO2 pistol anyway, so we're talking about a completely different animal here (the Phantom is a break-barrel/hinge action spring rifle). What I got was the Canadian .22 caliber non-PAL version (even though I have my firearms licence, I still enjoy checking out under-500 FPS offerings). I say Canadian version because as far as I am aware, you can't get a .22 caliber Phantom in the U.S. And the higher velocity Phantoms are all .177 caliber anyway. I bought this in December 2007, taking advantage of a generous store-wide discount that was available.

It so happened that I bought the last one in the store, and heading out of the store with it, one of the gunshop guys remarked, "Why are you buying that? It's a toy!" That didn't exactly give me the warm fuzzies, but for $100.00, I was willing to check it out.

The first thing I noticed was that the box was pretty heavy. I was pretty sure it was the rifle, not the packaging. And sure enough, I was right. As far as air rifles go, the Phantom carried a decent amount of weight (I think it was 6 lbs+ - more if you scope it). It came with the manual and the frequently distributed plastic Crosman cross-block trigger lock. As it was sub-500FPS, I wasn't going to keep the trigger lock on it - may sell it on eBay if I get a chance. After taking apart the contents, I took it to the local range to check out (can't really shoot it in my backyard (neighbours too close and municipal bylaws) or in my house (kids and municipal bylaws). The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't break the barrel. It was solidly stuck. Now, I am not a strong guy, but I am not a weakling either, and based on my previous experience with several break-barrel rifles, this wasn't normal. I spent considerable amount of time trying to break the barrel before I realized that I probably bought a lemon. So I drove back home, but not before taking the barrel and hitting it against a chair in disgust - it actually broke at that point, but no way I am going to be hitting it on a chair every time.

I looked online for suggestions and it turns out that this is common with the Phantom - that you need to "slap" the barrel, sometimes significantly hard, in order to get it to break. That really sucks. So I said, "forget this", and proceeded to take it back to the store, from where I bought it. The guys in the gunshop, to my surprise, indicated that there is nothing wrong with it, and they were easily able to use the open side of their hand and slap that barrel to break it. Even after breaking it, they indicated to me that the spring was REALLY tight, and that likely, I may have an anomaly on my hands - that is, that I may have a spring that will produce velocities of well over 500FPS, putting it into firearms grade (interestingly enough, even though I verified this, they told me I need not worry about contacting the Canadian Firearms Centre to register it). Anyhow, they told me there was nothing wrong with it; that higher end spring-loading air rifles occasionally need a snap. Besides, at least I know the locking hinge is working properly. I suppose. So I took it back and figured that if it really became a problem, I'll just send it back to Crosman Canada (which has since turned over its support and parts operations to a company called Gravel Company in Quebec).

So back to the range I went, with the knowledge that to use this Phantom, I would have to give the barrel a big old slap (which on a skinny solid metal barrel, does hurt the hand somewhat). Most times I needed both arms to pull down the barrel to cock it. I suspected that maybe the guy was right - that the spring was indeed a Phantom 1000FPS version - that would make my gun a very rare item. Anyhow, I'll worry about that later. After exhausting myself in cocking the rifle, I loaded a pellet into the barrel, but not before I noticed that there was a tremendous (and I mean tremendous) amount of grease all over the gun. In subsequent research sessions, I also found out that this was not unusual with the Phantom, but it's still kind of gross having to get grease all over your hands. But that's a minor thing. So I simply decided to test-fire it (not dry fire, which you never do with a spring loader).

Well, after my first shot, I smelled this nasty burning smell. I knew it wasn't from any gunpowder or primer from people around me, as there was no one beside me on my lane at the time. Of course, it was only a minute later that I realized that the burning smell came from the rifle, as smoke started rising from it. No word of a lie - white smoke from an air rifle. In subsequent research, I learned that this was also not unusual and in some air rifles, this smoking gun effect, called dieseling, was simply a way for the gun, when shot, to deal with excess oil and grease (of which the Phantom had plenty). I'd say after about 75-100 shots, it went away. But between that and the barrel not breaking without slapping it, I wasn't overly impressed.

The Phantom, despite common perception, is actually not the same rifle as the popular Crosman Quest. Some believe it is the same rifle, with only a synthetic vs. wood stock being the only difference. The Quest has its own share of quality control problems, but that is another conversation for another day. Anyhow, the Phantom is more along the lines of a stripped down Crosman TAC-1 tactical air rifle (which is not cheap, but mostly due to all the crazy stuff that comes with it).

As for performance, I finally have some good news. The Phantom hits the targets hard and is very accurate (I had on it initially for my tests my Bushnell Sportsman 3-9x32mm w/ AO scope, though I have since moved the scope to a better rifle and put the cheapo Crosman 4032 4x32mm scope on it - both scopes were fairly accurate within 30 yards, producing somewhat close groups (I won't give the actual measurements since I'd like to believe what I shot was considered close groupings, though in all likelihood it probably wasn't). Now, I had to satisfy my curiosity about the theory that I inadvertently received a stronger spring in my rifle, so I decided to take my trusty F1 Chrony and measure velocity. Well, I can say that I won't have to deal with legal issues with having a "oops" model - the chrony recorded average velocities between 470 - 480 (the box advertised it as up to 495, which was obviously correct).

The Phantom comes with a trigger safety (pull it toward the trigger to activate the safety) inside the trigger guard. The length of the rifle is around 44.5", which is a pretty decent length. With the scope attached, you definitely feel the weight.

All that being said, I think it's safe to say that my opinion of Crosman hasn't changed. And since then I have also heard that Crosman has pulled all of its "fireball" pellets off the shelves for serious quality control and worksmanship issues (inconsistent skirts on the pellets, nicks on the same, etc.). I won't return the Phantom, even though it's under warranty, since I already got by the dieseling issues. The slapping of the barrel is a royal pain in the butt, but I can live with it. I'd just hate to sent it to Gravel and get a replacement that has the same issue (in the past, Crosman has been known to simply issue a new replacement, sealed in package), or worse, send it to Gravel, and I never see it again. But I'd seriously need some convincing to buy another Crosman product. Sure, the Discovery is out and the Benjamin line is great, but the old adage applies - you get what you pay for. Crosman is great for backyard plinking and not-too-serious target shooting, but if you're looking for performance and quality, you'd probably want to consider some of the other brands of air rifles on the market.

Hammerli Air Magnum 850 .22 Caliber CO2 Rifle Review

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last posted. I've since become a father once again (yay!), so I've been taking it easy for the online activities. Anyhow, I have a few moments between diaper changes and such, and since my son is sick today, I'm home with him. He's napping now, so I have an opportunity to get back into the swing of posting here.

Well, lots to post about, and we can talk parenthood and fatherhood and childrearing and what not in future posts for sure, but for the avid air gun and air rifle enthusiasts out there, I want to make sure I put a review in your hands of what I consider to be the absolute best air rifle that I have owned thus far. It is the RWS (rebranded Hammerli by Umarex) Air Magnum 850, in 22 caliber. This is, without a doubt, the sweetest shooting CO2-powered rifle one can get their hands on. In Canada, this baby requires you to have a gun licence, or a PAL, so if you want one of these, go for your CFSC safety course and exams and be prepared to wait a bit, not to mention the mandatory registration of this rifle with the Canadian federal long-gun registry.

First, a little about the rifle. It is an all-black synthetic stock CO2 rifle, which uses an 88gram canister. I guess for those who play paintball, you'd be used to 88g markers, but make no mistake, this ain't no paintball gun, folks (the fact that you need a firearms licence to possess would make that obvious). It comes in .177 and .22 caliber, but why anyone would want the .177, I do not know. It weights around 5.5lbs, and is a little over 40" long (maybe 43 or 44"). It has rails built-in, should you wish to add scoping optics. It uses an 8-round cylinder magazine, which is extremely well made. It also features and automatic safety, and it uses a bolt action system. The factory specs on velocity for .177 and .22 are 760FPS and 655FPS respectively. On a 88g cartridge, the manufacturers say that you can get around 200 shots with it.

At around $250.00 + tax, this rifle is not one of the cheaper ones. But once you get the box in your hands, you'll know that like anything else, if you want quality, you're going to have to pay for it. The rifle arrives in a fairly large box, which upon closer inspection is actually a fitted foam box with an outer wrap-around cardboard shell. Regardless, you should know that your rifle will not arrive damaged. It is packaged really well, with the rifle itself being wrapped in a plastic bag, and includes a nice big bag of silica salt to ward off moisture (of course, I just bought a huge box of silica salt the week before, but that is neither here nor there). It comes with a manual, and two 8-shot magazines. You'll have to buy your own CO2, but that's OK, since they're around five to six bucks per 88g canister.

The feel and weight of the gun is really good, even for my stature. The CO2 is inserted in the front of the gun in compartment, of which the snappable plastic cover removes quite easily (the downside is that it feels a little too plasticky and can eventually break). The CO2 canister is screwed in tightly and then turned about a 1/4 turn counterclockwise (don't worry, the gas will only leak for about one second). Now, with 200 shots, you're probably thinking whether it's wise to get this, since you may not use 200 shots and as such, be releasing the rest of the gas out, wasting it. I know of this concern, as I had it myself, but in looking further and talking with airgun experts, it is actually OK to leave your CO2 cartridges in your rifles and pistols, despite what the manufacturers say. More damage can be done to the O-rings if you were to release the gas manually, freezing the rings. Besides, leaving the gas cartridges in the gun keeps the seals from drying out, and dust out as well. I've done this with no adverse effect on any of my CO2 guns. Still, if you're ultra-paranoid, you can always buy the additional attachment that allows you to use two (2) 12g cartridges instead of a single 88g unit. However, the adapter runs around $100.00, and in my opinion, is not a worthwhile expenditure.

The automatic safety is right on the back of the breech, and you need to manually disengage it with your thumb before taking the next shot (it's a two-stage safety, more or less, with a bigger external button and one inset button that have to be pressed to disengage the safety). This is OK the first time, but when you have to do this 100+ times in a row, it gets a bit annoying.

The bolt, I will have to say, is one of the nicest features on the rifle. It is a huge side bolt and pulls back very nicely. The cylinder magazine is loaded from the left hand side and is locked into place by a switch on the same side. The rifle features fiber-optic sights, but no doubt you'll want to put a scope on this thing. Another additional item you can add is the muzzle-brake, to give it a more tactical look (my wife thought it looked like a silencer, but it's not, since silencers are illegal in Canada).

OK, performance. I found that out of the box, the 850 Air Magnum will shoot around 620FPS when chronied. Now, for a firearms-grade airgun, that may seem rather low, but this is not a hunting rifle, and you can't expect supersonic performance with CO2 anyway. This is probably the fastest and most powerful CO2-powered gun you can buy. Of course, bear in mind that with CO2, the faster you shoot a repeating airgun, the lower your velocity will drop. So while you can probably train yourself to cycle the bolt and safety pretty quickly, don't expect consistent velocity as a result. This rifle's use is really in plinking, target shooting and if you must, small rodent control (and I mean small rodents). The report of the rifle (sound) is not too bad - lot loud at all, and shooting decent groups is possible (provided you have a half-decent scope attached - I use the Bushnell Sportsman 3-9x32mm with AO).

I don't believe you get get a better rifle for the money. There's not a whole lot of .22 caliber CO2 rifles out there anyway, and even less in the firearms-rated range, so this is definitely a must-have for any airgun enthusiast.

JUNE 2008 EDIT: It has become abundantly clear to me that this gun is not designed for Crosman Premier Hollowpoint .22 pellets. Avoid these at all costs. The intial few were fine, but then I started experiencing extreme jamming when the cylinder magazine was cycled. Then somehow, one of the pellets fell back into the bolt action (DO NOT LOAD THE MAGAZINE WITH THE RIFLE POINTING UP). That jammed the bolt action to the point where I could not even remove the magazine since the bolt pin was in the way. Eventually, through shaking it here and here I managed to get the magazine out, but then the bolt would only retract 90%, which of course is useless. I was about 10 seconds from looking to disassemble it (and knowing me, I would have likely destroyed the gun as a result), when I put a Q-tip into what I could see of the bolt and trigger assembly and did some more shaking, and lo and behold, the bolt cycles now. That being said, I looked online and from the people who have experienced similar bolt problems, they said it is either Crosman Premier's or Beeman pellets that contribute to these problems - not to mention a poorly designed cylinder magazine with which the pellets can fall out, skirt-first, into the action. I have read that RWS Hollowpoints or RWS Hobby pellets are the only way to go here, as the mag is only designed for RWS (but not Superpoints). *sigh*

Beretta M92FS .177 Caliber CO2 Pistol Review

Just like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. Just like there are cheap cars out there (a colleague of mine years ago rolled into work in his new Kia Rio subcompact car, which he said cost him under $10,000) and there are your more higher end cars like Lexus and BMW. Hard to be able to compare a Lexus and a Kia.

I recently discovered that sometimes it's not just name or brand recognition that differentiates similar products in varying price brackets. Most of my CO2 air pistols I have purchased for under $100.00 each. And I can tell some of the contributing factors to the cheap price - more plastic parts, less features, etc. But I was OK paying for more cheaper construction, as long as there was a decent modicum of quality in the gun.

Well, I recently thought I'd splurge a bit (last month or December - don't remember exactly when) and I dropped over $200.00 for the Beretta M9FS .177 Caliber CO2 Pistol. I have seen this in the catalogs and have been interested in checking it out. Now, there is a BB version, but as an aspiring competitive sport shooter, I wasn't going to make the same mistake as I did when I bought the Crosman T4. I am not interested in backyard plinking or in shooting tin cans. My desire is to acquire rifled steel barrel pellet guns that are decent for accuracy on paper targets. I was pretty sure that the M92FS wasn't going to be match-grade, but I thought I'd pick it up nonetheless.

Now I know why the gunshop is constantly out of these (I had to put myself on a 3-month long waiting list, before mine came in). This is a fabulous gun in almost every regard, from presentation, look, feel, and especially performance. It was $200.00+ well spent, and I can honestly say that if it weren't for the fact that my wife and I are expecting a child anyday now, and I need to save my cash, I'd probably spring for the sister-version of this pistol, the Colt 1911A Government. But enough of my wish-lists - let's get on to the review of this pistol.

The first thing that you will notice when buying this gun is that it comes in a nice, compact, hard plastic, foam-insulated carrying case. It's not security lockable, but it is only a sub-500FPS airgun, afterall. The case does lock with standard plastic flaps, but it would have been nice to have a lockable loop where you can hang a padlock or a keyed lock. The pistol itself is fairly authentic in its look and feel (the weight is close to 3lbs, and if you've ever handled a "real" handgun before, you'll know that the weight is pretty close). The gun comes with two (2) 8-shot rotary cylinder magazines, though I already had a few that I bought for my CP Sport (the cylinder magazines are interchanged with the other Umarex guns - Walther, Colt, Beretta, Magnum Research, Inc., etc.).

By the way, as an aside, I should note that while this gun is branded Beretta, it's actually made by Umarex U.S.A. (who bought the branding rights for the airguns from the above manufacturers). Just like the Hammerli guns you see out there are all made by Umarex.

Asthetically, the version that I purchased was the all-black version (some refer to it as a slightly blued version), though it also comes in nickel (yuck) and you have the option of wood grips. Because mine was all-black, it came with the default plastic grips - in fact, the grips are the only thing plastic about the gun - it's solid metal pretty much everywhere else.

The gun is similar to the CP Sport in terms of how the 12 gram CO2 cartridge is loaded. In other words, it's a severe pain in the butt to load - at least for me. You need to press the grip release on the left-hand side, and that pops the opposing grip out. I originally assumed by sight that the grip and its connectors are all plastic, and inferred that over time I can see something breaking, with all the snapping in and out. However, as a subsequent edit to this review, it was pointed out to me by a couple of folks that there is actually a metal lining inside the grip, which I obviously missed. This reinforces the grip and really makes it difficult, if not impossible to break by indvertent mishandling. As a result, my assessment of the grip is no longer negative.

Anyway, after you pop out the opposing grip, you pull out the lockable feet (at the butt of the gun) and then turn the notched wheel to lower the CO2 retainer. Then you place the cartridge in, start turning the wheel again to more or less lock it in place (not too tight) and then snap the feet back into place so it locks - I experienced the need to do this a few times as I wasn't sure how tight to turn the wheel initially - I still don't have that sense). Now, some have suggested that this system is better than other guns, but from a simplicity standpoint, no one can convince me that the loading of the CO2 in this gun is comparable or easier than, say, a Crosman 2240 or a Crosman/Benjamin EB22, where you just unscrew a cap, put in the CO2 cartridge, tighten the cap, and press the trigger to puncture the 12g powerlet. But I digress...

After doing all this, then snap the grip back into place, and try to do a test fire after taking off the safety (which is conveniently one switch connected to both sides of the gun near the hammer in the back of the breech - you can flick it on/off easily, unlike the pressurized one on the CP Sport). As you probably know, it's OK to dry-fire CO2 powered guns, so go ahead and test it out.

This gun's metal rotary cylinder magazine is easy to load - the slide release switch is on the left hand side. Once the magazine is loaded, pull the slide to lock into place. As for aiming, you have the standard front and rear sights, with the rear site adjustable for windage. There are no rails on which you can mount accessories or sights (I originally thought there was, but a reader had corrected me on this).

Now onto performance. Surprisingly, this pistol is quite accurate. The trigger was a non-factor - I liked the feel and weight of the trigger and while I believe the trigger is adjustable, I didn't have to do any adjustments. For the first 16 shots, I was able to get decent groupings, though I was only at 10 yards. Add to this the adjustments I made in getting used to the pistol, and I was quite happy with the initial performance. I used Crosman standard .177 wadcutter pellets - I have lots of these el cheapo pellets, though I wouldn't mind trying RWS or even Gamo in the future to compare results.

The sound was reasonable, and didn't sound like a bomb exploding, like the EB22 does.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this pistol was its gas economy. On all my other guns, I get around 50-65 shots on one 12g CO2 canister. That is pretty good, all things considered...of course, that is standard fare from my experience (except for the EB22, which gets around 30). Once I hit the 60 shot range, I was expecting to call it a day. But for reasons I can't understand, the gun still had gas in it. In fact, it wasn't until I hit slightly over 100 (that's right, one hundred) shots - around the 106 mark - that the pellets started to bounce off the target, and I was literally out of gas. But by then, I had looked at my target and it was awash with cleanly punched pellet holes within about a 3 1/2" diameter (which I know from 10 yard is nothing special, but many of my other guns will group 5" or so - it could just be my unsteady hands and my bad eyesight - or the other guns).

Overall, this gun gets my highest recommendation. With only the cheap plastic grips and the obtuse Umarex CO2 loading mechanism as the exception, I cannot find enough good things to say about this gun. Apparently, there is a match/competition version, but that may be for another day. I was quite happy with the feel/look and performance on this pistol and for over $200.00, it was well worth the money, in my opinion, especially given its accuracy and its incredible gas economy. You won't be disappointed with the Beretta M92FS.

Benjamin EB22 .22 Caliber CO2 Pistol - Quick Review

Last year, I had an opportunity to finally find and buy (at a greatly discounted price) the Benjamin EB 22 air pistol. I've always been on the prowl for a 22 caliber higher velocity (but still within PAL limits) CO2 pistol, preferably a repeater, but I don't believe such an animal exists, so when I had an opportunity to get the EB22, I didn't hesitate. I got it for around $127.00, though I also had an additional 20% taken off due to the discount I had, but then, 14% taxes were added back. Anyhow, it probably came out around $115.00 or so, all in, which was very good, considering the fact that last year, this was about $160.00 + tax.

My EB22 came in a box (very refreshing, considering all other pistols come in that modern age pain-in the-butt oversized sealed plastic) that was obviously a EB17 box with factory replacement stickers to cover anything that says EB17. So the specs on the box would not be accurate. It came with a manual (that covers the EB17/EB20/EB22), as well as a Crosman plastic keyed-trigger safety (that's one thing I have always liked about Crosman products).

I've always liked the Benjamin series (the Benjamin airguns are all made by Crosman), with the all- metal construction and read hardwood grips. Sure, the 2240 is about 60% cheaper, but it's pretty plasticky. The EB22 is in the same family as the EB17 and EB20, the numbers obviously reflect caliber. The gun is a bolt action, with the bolt being at the back of the gun, not the side of the breech. Operating the bolt is pretty straightforward with a slight twist and pull (and push/twist to close). I'd prefer the side-bolt, since it seems easier to operate - believe it or not, you can actually jam the skin of your thumb on the EB22 bolt when you are twisting it if you don't do it right.

The weight of the gun feels good in the hands, and while I've never been a fan of wood grips (to me a grip is a grip is a grip), I can now see where I was mistaken. Plastic grips slip and are less comfortable than wood. The CO2 canister is inserted below the barrel and a twisting cap secures it in place. I believe the initial trigger pull pierces the powerlet. There is a manual cross-bolt safety in place, and while there are no onboard rails to mount accessories, I was able to purchase some add-on 3/8" two-piece dovetail mounts which clamp onto the breech. I don't have anything at this point to mount on it, but left the clamps on anyway.

As for performance, two things. 1) This gun is REALLY loud, even louder than the 2240, I would say. I'd prefer quite over loud, but since sound suppressors are illegal, I'll just put up with the noise. I am hoping the noise is not caused by the CO2 dispersal, but I am pretty sure it is, and if the shots per powerlet are any indication (I got around 24-28, which is terrible usage), much of the sound is caused by too much escaping gas. That should probably be fixed, since I can get around 55+ shots off one 12gram powerlet on the 2240. 2) The accuracy with open sights is really good (not just because it has a rifled steel barrel). The trigger pull is adequate and not long and I was able to get close groupings with all my shots at the range.

In terms of speed/velocity, I haven't an opportunity to chrony it yet. The marketing and Crosman website says it's up to 500FPS (pretty darn good for a non-PAL .22 cal), most other places say it is around 400FPS. There is a suggestion that the newer EB22s shoot harder out of the box. I can't qualify this, however.

Overall, I'd say that I am MORE than pleased with my purchase. I wished that I didn't go through so much CO2 with this pistol (and it wasn't so darn loud), but in terms of look, feel and performance, you can't go wrong with a Benjamin.

Beretta CX-4 Storm Semi-Automatic .177 Carbine Review

For those airgun enthusiasts who are looking for the ultimate tactical unit, I'd encourage you to check out the Beretta CX-4 Storm. This gun is not very easy to get - you won't find it at your local sporting store per se, since one of the well-known airgun collectors in Toronto told me recently when I visited his shop, that if there is one gun that is an exact replica of the "real thing", but uses gas-powered powerplants, it is the CX-4. Most stores don't want to carry it, just in case some psycho decides to buy it and then hold up a bank with it (or worse). Until recently, I only saw photos of the unit, and when comparing it to the actual CX-4 in photos, you will be hard-pressed to see the difference. Even in real life, it looks pretty authentic (some airguns look absolutely cheesy, but not this one).

Now, some quick comments on it. If you're looking for power, this is not the gun for you. On a typical shooting chrony (I have an F1 model), the Canadian model will get around 350-380 FPS on it (despite what the box says), well under the Canadian legal limit of 500 FPS. Apparently the U.S. version will go up to 600, but in all honestly, CO2 semi-autos as a general rule cannot fire the projectiles at a consistent rate with rapid pulls of the trigger - the colder the environment (and with each firing the CO2 canister gets considerably colder) - the slower the pellet travels. It uses .177 caliber pellets so we're talking not a whole lot of power here. All that being said, the big selling point to this carbine is the fact that it uses a 30-shot rotating belt-style magazine, which is very uncommon for airguns. As mentioned, it is a semi-automatic, that is powered by an 88gram CO2 canister. Some people have written that this airgun is good for target practice (I say yes) as well as personal defence (I would vehemently say no - most airguns are very poor self-defence choices, due to lack of power - the ones you get that are over 500FPS are usually rifles, and even then you are looking at mostly .177 caliber, which is fine for hunting birds and squirrels and such, but hardly has the stopping power for the two-legged variety of varmints.

You can get some mountable options such as scopes and laser sights for this. Even with open sights, the adjustment is interesting - the front sight adjusts for elevation, while the rear sight adjusts for windage. The carbine is fairly light at around 5 lbs., and its length is around 30 inches (maybe slightly more). Of course, the thing is black as night.

If you are looking for this airgun, you can get it through airgun-specific shops like D&L Airguns out of B.C., or you can find some local private dealers that can buy them directly from the manufacturer (if you live in the Toronto area and don't know any, just email me and let me know). At a little under $300.00 for these things, they aren't cheap, but if you're wanting the tactical look and don't care about the power loss, I'd say that it's a pretty good deal.

Gamo Recon Combo Scoped Rifle - A Great Value

I had the opportunity recently to test out a few air rifles that have been available for some time. Without having a PAL, I was legally limited to the under 495FPS set, which is really all I need, since I don't hunt and as a result, I don't need the additional firepower. Both rifles that I tried use standard .177 calibre lead pellets. Both are fairly entry level rifles.

I tried the Crosman Quest first (500 model). Not bad, but a bit too much of a heavy trigger. Seemed kind of heavy as well. Plus, I did not really like the wood stock. Cocking effort is not bad (most air rifles are break-barrel, which means that you literally pull the front of the barrel downward in order to build the air pressure in the rifle), and accuracy is OK. Sometimes, the pellets jammed in the Quest, so it wasn't a 100% good experience.

What I really liked was the Gamo Recon Combo. It's called a combo because it comes with a mountable scope (don't have the specs with me, but I believe it was an entry level 4 x 20). Now, Gamo is a Spanish company, and for whatever reason, people either like their guns or hate their guns. I think it's more the pistols that are on the crappier side, but I was impressed with the Recon Combo. I found it to be a slightly lighter rifle (around 4.5 pounds, compared to the Quest at between 5.5 - 6 pounds - and then there was the Hammerli 490C which was a whopping 8lbs.), and a a result, a shorter rifle, so it feels good in the hands of someone who is not that tall, and is asthetically pleasing to the eye as well (especially with the thumb holes in the stock). The trigger pull is of reasonable weight, and accuracy is really good, given the price of the unit - you do need to adjust your windage and elevation to get the rifle to shoot decently - once you set it, though, you can be assured of decent shots. The only downside is that the scope is pretty cheap and not that great quality (can't expect much else for the price), but at least it's included. The only other problem is that it appears to be pretty picky with the pellets. While it's true that most guns have their own preference (based on manufacturing, etc.) on what pellets it likes, this rifle seems to be extremely picky and that a change of pellet brand may cause some major differences in where the groups land, not to mention, causing constant adjustments to the scope. Of course, that is fixed by just using the same kind of pellets (find what you want that works) and getting a totally different scope (RWS, Bushnell).

The rifle does have several safety features including anti-bear trap locking mechanisms - it's not a big deal anyway, since the cocking effort you can do pretty easily. It has a manual safety as well as a trigger safety. It has a tactical look with a thumbhole in the stock for comfort and ease. It has a rifled bull barrel, and has an all-weather synthetic finish. Yes, there are some plastic parts, but that's OK. I haven't had a chance to chrony this thing yet, but since the box has 525FPS and the PAL limit is under 500, I'll assume it's 495FPS or thereabouts.