Nice Rack

When I say Nice Rack, I'm not talking about Santa's Reindeer or the Buck I didn't get this season or anything else you guys might be thinking.  I am talking about the Beautiful shipment of Theobens that just arrived!  What a great choice for the New Year, be sure and consider Theobens Rapids.

For those of you not familiar with Thoeben, they are considered to be one of the best all around sporter pcp's built.  One of my favorites because of their tried and true, simple and robust design.

The Rapids received their name based on their quick cycling,  bolt action which operates a 12 shot magazine.  They can also be easily single loaded through the side of the scalloped receiver.  Rapid MKII's are available regulated and non-regulated.  Non-reg'd guns have capabilities of producing slightly higher power.  Regulated guns provide a longer, more consistent shot count.

Sporter Walnut Right Hand Stock is standard, CS800 Right Hand Walnut Thumbhole is offered as an upgrade.  All rifles in this shipment feature factory quick fill and gauge.  A very slick set up that includes a threaded on dust cap that sits recessed in forearm of stock.

Standard 400cc bottle can be upgraded to a 500cc bottle for an additional $20.00 when purchasing as a factory option rifle.

.22cal & .25cal available

Engery Levels vary between 30 ft/lb - 50 ft/lb

Pricing starts at $1,859.00 with factory quick fill and gauge

$1,934.00 with regulated factory quick fill and gauge
$2,190.00 CS800 with quick fill and gauge
$2,265.00 CS800 with regulated quick fill and gauge

 

January 5, 2012 - Indoor Airgun Bench Rest

Join us on Thursday, January 5, 2012 for an Indoor Airgun Bench Rest.  Just for Fun  We will be using Official 25 yard Airgun Bench Rest Targets and shooting at 50 feet.  Any airgun rifle or  pistol, scoped or non-scoped.  Maximum 30 ft/lb.  $5.00 covers targets and range fees.  5:00pm - 9:00pm  Please call 248-969-0377 to reserve you spot.

Local Customer Receives Award

On December 3, at the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) Lodge #130 in Oakland County. The lodge held their annual installation dinner.  Our local customer and friend Dave Lovio received an award of Special Recognition.

 Dave is a member of FOP Lodge #112 in Macomb County. "To receive this from a lodge other than my own is really a great honor," said Lovio, who does building improvements for both lodges and came to #130 for help with Katrina relief.

David Lovio - Shown first person, top left row

"We had a drive for clothing, food, furniture -- anything that someone who has lost everything could use," Lovio said. The Louisiana State University grad missed watching the LSU football game to accept his award. "LSU won and so did I," he said.
Congratulations Dave!
To Read The Entire Story Click Here

TM1000 by Rapid Air Weapons

Rapid Air Weapons TM1000 has arrived.

The highly anticipated Target PCP from Rapid Air Weapons arrived late last evening.  It was almost 10:30pm before I had some time to test fire the new TM1000. In a few words "It did not disappoint".  Rifle has a very solid feel to it.  Easy side lever cocking. The aluminum parts have a light grey anodizing.  The barrel sleeve is bead blasted stainless steel.  The Walnut Thumbhole stock has a grip area and feel that is reminiscent of Theobens Vanquish Stock.  The end air cap that covers the fill nipple is threaded on as opposed to snap on, snap off, and works very well.  The top of the receiver has a standard dove tail, along with three larger than average barrel screws to hold the barrel securely in place.

Factory .177cal barrel - in doors shy 25 yards

                                                    All four groups, 5 shot groups

         

Standard Theoben Barrel shown on top
Factory TM1000 barrel shown on bottom

 Caliber changes are as simple as loosening the three screws, removing barrel and replacing it with the caliber of your choice.  No need to change anything on the bolt assembly. Looks like any Theoben Rapid barrel should fit on this action.  

In the time it took me to talk about it, the change was completed.

 Install .22cal barrel, Using the rickety bag set up below
 I fired one 5 shot group @ 60 yards, which can be covered with a dime.
Yes, that's 60 yards...
 Some wind and the usual window mirage.

Rifle came in shooting at a full 20 ft/lbs in .177cal. After barrel swap of Theoben .22cal Rapid barrel, gun is shooting at 25 ft/lbs.
Trigger came out of the box shooting at 4oz.
JSB 10.2 in .177cal
JSB 18g in .22cal

TM1000 with Factory Muzzel Break permanently bonded to gun. (Optional
                                                                                                                                         

The all new TM1000 Side Lever Target Rifle
Designed and built using the latest in Computer engineering 

at Rapid Air Weapons factory in Tennessee

Side Lever Action

Dovetail mount rail

Weight: 10lbs unscoped (long barrel for HV)

80 Regulated Shots @ 19.5 ft/lbs in .177cal

40 Regulated shots @ 30 ft/lbs in .22cal

180cc bottle capacity with Quick Fill

Foster style female coupling included

10" long accessory rail underneath forend

Adjustable Recoil pad

Adjustable cheek mechanism

$2,000.00

FREE SHIPPING UPDATE

Holiday Free Shipping Update: Daystate Huntsman Special is not included in this free shipping offer.

Holiday Specials

The Holidays are Fast Approaching, so we wanted you to be aware of the Specials that Precision Airguns and Supplies are offering the season. Feel free to check out the Holiday Page often, as the list continues to grow.
HOLIDAY SPECIALS CLICK HERE

Air Arms Walnuts ARE BACK

In has been months since we have seen walnut stocks on any Air Arms PCP's.  I was under the impression that they were discontinued. Low and behold, walnut stocks arrived on our last shipment.

The .22 Carbine shown has the classic length air tube. This is a good combination which offers a shorter and lighter rifle, but still provides a decent shot count, estimated at 3 magazines or 30 shots on high power.    

Air Arms S510 Walnut Thumbhole  $1,099.00
Air Arms S510 Walnut Sporter  $1,059.00

Air Arms S510 Poplar  $961.99

Vortek Visits Precision Airguns

Tom Gore-owner of Vortek Products came by the shop today.  He was gracious enough to allow me to test fire some of his new OnX12 Spring Kits (12ft/lb). Tom brought a HW97, as well as a TX200, both rifles cocked and shot very smoothly.

He also brought a HW30/R7 with his new kit installed.  The HW30/R7 was shooting at 7.5 ft/lbs with JSB 7.9, quick short shot cycle without any spring twang.  Now we just have to hurry up and wait, as kits are still in final production, hopefully we will have them in the shop by the end of the month.

Thanks Tom - Always a pleasure to have you stop by the shop.

Now Offering Styer Air Rifles

STEYR - AIM TO WIN - A CLASS OF IT'S OWN - SPORTS UNLIMITED
We are excited to be able to offer you Steyr Air Rifles.  Our first shipment is arriving early next week to include the Steyr LG110 High Power, Steyr LG110 Field Target and Steyr LG110 Hunting Versions.  Here are just a few details about the models we will be offering. 

Stery LG110 Hunting - The air rifle for Hunting!
The LG 110 HP HUNTING is a combination of maximum shot capacity, lowest ammunition costs and highest safety! With a possible energy of up to 30ft/lbs in .22cal this rifle is as accurate as a small bore rifle at shorter distances and has less muzzle noise – especially important near inhabited areas.
Available in .177, .20 & .22
Power Levels: 5.64ft/lbs - 30ft/lbs
$2,495.00

Steyr LG110 Field Target - Pure Quality and Precision

Highest precision plus adjustment within seconds are necessary target acquisition even under
extreme conditions – this made the Steyr field target air rifle a class winner!
Available in .177
Power Levels: 5.64ft/lbs, 12ft/lbs, 18ft/lbs
Air Cylinder color choices: Blue & Silver
$3,195.00

 

Steyr LG110 High Power - For Outdoor Adventures!
Available in .177cal, bounce free due to compressed air propellant, Steyr stabilizer, ball bearing trigger, compressed air cylinder with pressure gauge.
The ergonomically perfectly fitted stock for left and right hand shooters reduces weight and allows easy handling and quick site acquisition. The STEYR LG 110 HP is perfect for Field Target-competitions, but its main domain is still the rough ground.  

Available in .177   Power Levels: 5.64ft/lbs, 12ft/lbs, 18ft/lbs  $2,150.00
Available in .20  Power Levels: 12ft/lbs, 18ft/lbs, 25.5ft/lbs  $2,200.00
Available in .22  Power Levels: 12ft/lbs, 18ft/lbs, 30ft/lbs  $2,200.00

**Note-Rifles do not include scope and mounts

Saturday November 5th - The Shop Will Be Closed

FYI: Due to Hunting Season, Saturday November 5th the shop will be closed, hopefully I'll be back in the shop on Monday, it gets to be pretty challenging when they start to shoot back.  

Kingston - Home of the Monster Squirrels

 Sunday morning after an awesome breakfast in Dryden, MI, Cake Dave and myself headed up to Kingston, Michigan.  Kingston is one of those neat places that people visit and time forgot, water seems to flow up hill and the squirrels are massive! One squirrel will feed a family of four for a month.  As the picture of the squirrel in front of my jeep clearly shows, I was the squirrel hunting master of the day using my Theoben MKII .22cal and JSB 18g.  30 ft/lb of energy was all it took to drop these monster squirrels with properly placed head shots.  

Dave, excelled at long range starling whopping.  He regularly drops starlings at 65 -70 yards with his .22cal Daystate Tactical Air Wolf using JSB 18g. Now if I could just educate Dave on the difference between the grey soccer ball he thought he found in the woods and a hornets nest, we would both be on the same page.  

A good time was had by all.  Looking forward to next weekend, which is the last weekend for small game before deer season kicks in...

Team Theoben Takes to the Woods

 Awesome Autumn Sunday in Michigan. My good buddy Rickey B and I took to the woods early Sunday morning.  The day did not disappoint. I dropped five squirrels with seven shots using my trusty Theoben Rapid MKII .22cal.  It was shooting right at 30 ft/lbs with JSB 18g.  All five of the squirrels were perfect one shot, one kill. All head shots, just the way I like it. Ah Ha, Ah Ha!  

It was up close and personal with the longest shot being an off hand approximatly 28 yards. The closest one, I kid you not was 10 feet.  Yes, that's correct 10 feet.  I spotted the grey squirrel coming down the treeline at me, got the gun up and on my knee, tried whisling, chirping, trying to get this sucker to stop before he ran right over me.  Finally at about 10 feet away, he stopped, realized something didn't seem quite right.  This close you have to aim high.  I've had my fair share of extreem close misses, but not this time!  When in doubt I always have my scope set at low power, 3-4X and 10 yard paralax.  This allows you to make the close unexpected shots.  My theory is you usually have time to adjust for the longer shots, as they are futher away which provides time and cover to make the necessary adjustments.  

Most of my action took place in  a section of butternut trees.  I bagged the last four in a 30 yard radius of each other.  One I missed with the first shot,  as the pellet deflected off a small twig a few feet in front of the barrel. Perhaps because of my state of the art camo application the evening before, (lol) or the quietness of the Rapid, Mr Squirrel made the mistake of presenting me with a second shot, and the Rapid lived up to it's name.  Squirrel number five was an off hand shot almost straight up. I hate these shots, who practices shooting off hand almost straight up?  Took a little more time on the second shot, and dropped him with a clean head shot.  

Jim's Rapid (top rifle)
Rickey B's Camo Wrapped MFR (bottom rifle)

As you can see in the picture above, Rickey B's Theoben MFR .22cal wins the best dressed award.  After the season ends, I plan on treating a couple of my air rifles to this camo system.  

Since I bagged my limit, I radioed Rickey, and we met in the trail. He pointed out his second squirrel of the day.  Still hanging out of the hole in the tree where he had shot it.  This could have been a Kodak moment,  had I carried the camera into the woods with me.  Something else I need to pack with me from now on.  I teased Rickey..."We can't count it as a bagged squirrel, unless it's actually in your bag"  As luck would have it, we found a long, skinny dead tree that had to be 16'-18' long, with Rick extended on his toes, he was just able to nudge it out of the tree. He had to quickly side step the plummeting squirrel as it almost smacked him on the top of his head.

Turning in the drive back at my place, we saw a HUGH woodchuck head into the culvert that runs under my driveway.  I use to give these a free pass, but not with all of the destruction they have been causing.  We staked it out, being in was a nice sunny day, we figured he would come out sooner than later.  And it was sooner, not even 5 minutes passed before he came out.  From a supported position, it was easy to hold the cross hairs steady on the side of his head, actually right on his ear.  Bam he was down.  This is as big as an animal that I would normally shoot with an airgun.  But 30 ft/lb of Theoben Power made a clean kill on this chuck.  Shot placement, not power, wins again.  I'm not sure how large woodchucks can get, but this one measures 27" and close to 11lbs. 

I love hunting with an airgun, you can't beat it!

Gladiator MKII FX's Latest and Greatest

The Newest FX Gladiator arrived here at the shop.  Unscoped the rifle weights 8lbs 7oz, measures 44", I'd call it a mid-sized air rifle.  The dual air tubes are calculated to give this air rifle 100+ shots on high power.   This particular rifle is shooting at 30 ft/lbs, 17 ft/lbs and a shy 10 ft/lbs with the new 18g JSB 5.53's.  

Now for some range time.

5 Shots 30 Yards

5 Shots 50 Yards Last Group of the day

Put my old trusty Leapers 3-9x50 that I have used to test so many rifles, on this Gladiator as well.  Trigger pull unadjusted was a little longer than I prefer, but they can be dialed in precisely.  As is common with these guns, they settle in after a few shots, as I did as well and by the 4th and 5th groups the gun was shooting sub dime size groups at 50 yards.  Actually Amazing accuracy for a sporter/hunter rifle.  Did a little plinking off hand and the rifle felt comfortable.  

Another very impressive feature of this Gladiator MKII is how quiet it is.  On low power it's almost laughable, sounds like someone popping the top on a can of Pepsi.  On high power not much louder than that either.  All in all I really like this rifle.  My wife and partner Nancy knows I have a birthday coming up, hint-hint...

Note all groups were shot single loading 18g JSB pellets. Didn't use a tray on this occasion, but if I ended up owning one, I would prefer a single shot tray.  Gladiator priced at $1,595.00 includes one magazine.

Total of 5 50 yard 5 shots groups

Airgunners Dream Weekend-Part 2 FT Competition

Sunday morning I was off to the WWCCA (Western Wayne County Conservation Association) in Plymouth, Michigan for the last Field Target Competition of the 2011 Season.  I'm lucky to be only 1 hour away from this great facility. I would suggest anyone else who  is in close proximity to check out the WWCCA take advantage of all that they have to offer, especially for the Airgun Community.

I was anxious to take my AZ tuned Steyr 110 to the match.  Had not touched the gun since the Great Lakes 100 which was held at this same place.  Steyr's are usually tanks and very stable, once they are set up.  A few test shots at the test range show'd wind was going to be an issue, but everything else seemed good for the gun.  The  Leupold Competition with 3/8" target dot compliments this rifle well.  JSB Heavies were the pellet of choice for today. My wind guesstimates were all pretty good, did miss one 55 yard sitting target.  Wind blew the pellet a full inch or more out of the kill zone.  I aced the off hand with was 6 for 6 which is always a relief, but the kneelers killed me dropping 3 out of 6 including two at 35 yards.  As far as I know that 35 yard target still had shiny paint on it at the end of the event.  Scoring a 56 out of 60 proved to be a top score for the day.



The matches are scheduled for 60 shots over the course of fire.  The match is typically held on the Air Gun Walk through range.  A 20 FPE limit is imposed on their field target events, and WWCCA and AAFTA rules apply to all of the scheduled field target events.  A $10.00 entry fee also includes a hot lunch.

Click Here to see all of the pictures from the Field Target Match

To learn more about WWCCA check out:
http://wwcca.com/wp/airgun/

Airgunners Dream Weekend-Part 1 Squirrel Hunt

Saturday afternoon after the shop closed it was time for my second hunt of the season.  Considering I was only able to make three outings last season, two outings in two days, I was in my glory. With 70 degrees it makes for a perfect day.  The rifle that I chose for this hunt was my Royale 400 .22cal.  Didn't even bother with a mag. just strapped on a pellet pouch full of 18g JSB's.  I've got an old-probably 26 years old Leupold 2-7 compact, light weight, parallax non-adjustable preset @ 30 yards from the factory.  Back in the day, this was one of the few scopes that would hold up to the heavy recoiling springer and gas ram airguns.  This combo makes for a light weight, easy to handle hunter.  

The new section of woods that I have access to has a long line of mature hickory trees.  Normally these trees are squirrel magnets, however last year none of the trees had any nuts  on them, apparently trees go through some type of cycle or whatever, but this year, they are LOADED with nuts and squirrels.  Still having a lot of leaves on the trees, made it hard to spot the squirrels but the steady rain of cuttings falling from the tops of the trees was encouraging and exciting! 

  After a little patience I off handed a couple of  squirrels from the tree line.  Slowly worked my way further into the woods along a ridge which has even more mature nut trees and hardwoods.  The ridge is bordered by a nice little flowing creek.  Really made me feel like I was in the mountains of Kentucky or West Virginia.  Man, I love being in the woods this time of year.  Last squirrel of the day was a challenge. He was high in a hickory tree doing his thing, moving, cutting and dropping nuts.  I was in the seated position, resting against a smaller tree trunk, he had no idea I was there, and although I was getting anxious to make the shot, I knew that patience was part of the game.  As luck would have it, the first time he paused for a break, he was almost directly on top of a limb about a 1 1/2" in diameter.  Having a very stable rest and only about 30 yards away, I toyed with the idea of trying to shoot along the edge of the branch and catch the right edge of his head.  Patience Jim, Patience, there are better shots coming.  What's the hurry, this is hunting.  After this short break he started moving again, but paused long enough with his head cleanly exposed to make the perfect shot. Mr Squirell bounced off a few branches landing on the other side of the creek.  Time to go home with my 5th kill.  I kid you not, on my way out of the woods, I saw four more squirrels gathering their nuts for the winter.  This property will be on my list for future hunts.