Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

The Next Generation GX CS4 PCP Air Compressor Is Amazing!

Life is a funny thing – I grew up with firearms. Yeah, my dad had these two old pump action Daisy airguns that were fun to shoot tin cans with but starting at a pretty early age I liked things that went “bang”! Sometime in the early 2000s, I got back into airguns to deal with pests. I started hearing about a class of airguns called “pre-charged pneumatics” (PCPs) that used 3,000 PSI high pressure air cylinders somewhere on the rifle to propel the pellet. They were reported to be accurate, reliable and capable of rapid repeating fire through through the use of a manually operated bolt and a magazine.

I thought that sounded so neat – especially the rapid follow up shots. What stopped me from buying one was that they had to be refilled from a SCUBA tank that was filled at a diving shop. Well, I eventually found out there were specialized hand pumps and you didn’t need to spend a fortune on a tank and hassles with going to the dive shop. I bought a Hill Mk.4 hand pump along with a .22 Hatsan Gladius Long that I used for a few years.

Along the way, I found out that high pressure air compressors were falling in price. Those things used to be well past a $1,000, large, noisy, heavy and there was just no way I could swing one. In the fall of 2020 while surfing around on Amazon, a very affordable high pressure air compressor was doing really well. It was affordable, getting great reviews, portable and I didn’t have to mess with all kinds of oils and ice water cooling baths. It was the CS3 air compressor from GX. I bought one for $529.99 on November 23, 2022 – Amazon is cool in that I can search order history and pull up dates that I would have forgotten otherwise.

I wrote a post about buying it and also one about setting it up and testing it. I almost always used the CS3 to top off a really nice little Omni 18 cubic foot tank that I would then use to fill my growing number of PCP airguns. It really worked well – the tank was really convenient to pull out and top off an airgun and I would only occasionally need to bring out the CS3. Sure, I could have filled the airguns directly from the CS3 but I wanted to keep things simple.

Fast forward to January 2023 – I bought a .30 Umarex Gauntlet with a big cylinder and was planning to get one or two other high air consumption PCP rifles in 2023 so I started thinking about how to feed them. It was a total coincidence that GX unveiled their next generation CS4 compressor on Amazon. There were just a few four or five reviews at the time and I decided to gamble on the new pump and bought it on January 29, 2023. I took the leap because I had such a positive experience with the CS3 and I knew I could return it to Amazon if it turned out to be a problem child. [Yes, I bought this so you are getting my honest observations – click here for the Amazon CS4 product page.]

On January 31, 2023 the Amazon driver brought be a big heavy cardboard box with the GX CS4 and I started getting my stuff together to do some testing plus a time slot to fill a big 6.8L carbon fiber tank from empty to 300bar which would take 2-3 hours I figured.

Now, I’m going to tell you something – it is slick. It is really, really slick. I’m telling you this so you take the time to read more in this post plus one about setting it up and testing it.

What is the GX CS4?

The CS4 is an additional pump offering from GX for people wanting to fill larger cylinders than the CS3. It also reflects design advancements to the CS3 unit – here are the features that really caught my eye:

CS3CS4
Working Pressure
(Mfg supplied)		30MPa/300 bar (4,351 PSI)40MPa/400 bar (5,801 PSI) – 33% more pressure
Air volume
(Mfg supplied)		7 liters/minute (0.247 cubic feet/min)11 liters/min (0.388 cubic feet/min) – 57% more air volume output
Suggested Maximum Air Cylinder Size2.5 Liters6.8 Liters
CoolingAir with fansCoolant with radiator and fan
Power
(Mfg supplied)		12V 250 Watts12V 350 Watts – 40% more watts
Duty Cycle (Mfg supplied)30 minutes working and 20 minutes cooling5 hours continuously working. Manual says to let it run for 1-2 minutes after pumping is complete – 10x longer duty cycle.
Sound Level (Mfg supplied)75db70db
Pump lubricationNot needed (until it slows down – mine hasn’t so far)Has a grease pot to add grease every 4-6 hours of run time
Limit switchSimple rotary dial limit switchProtected twin pin design where you can set both the limit and failsafe limit
Hose19.6″ permanently attached hose19.6 hose that is removable via a quick connect foster fitting
Weight (my digital scale)19.4 pounds29 pounds with antifreeze – 55% heavier
Dimensions (me with a tape measure)5-3/8″ wide (about 5-7/8″ wide including the wire spool on the side) x
9-1/2″ deep (10-1/4″ if you include the release valve) x
10-1/2 high at the top of the case (about 11-1/2 overall if you include the handle)		6″wide case (6-1/2″ wide with the wire spool) x
11-78 deep (12-3/4 if you include the release valve) x
12-1/2″ at the top of the case (about 13-1/2 at either the top of the grease pot or the folded handle) – about 62% larger overall

For me, the really long duty cycle is what I was looking for. The 57% increase in air output is a welcome enhancement to have over the CS3. Since I would fill my guns from my tank, I was never in a rush. Now that I have 6.8L tank, the fills will probably be less often but a lot more volume will be needed so it’s good to get that increase.

The increase in air pressure is overkill right now – there aren’t affordable 400 bar working pressure tanks as of yet – they are out there for specialty applications but are in the $1,500-2500 range. I’m sure the price will come down over time but most carbon fiber air tanks that PCP shooters are using are in the 300-310 bar working pressure range. If you see 400 bar, read the ad again because they may be talking about the test pressure and not the working pressure – you fill to the working pressure only – never to the test limit.

To be clear, the GX CS4 is not replacing the CS3. They have added the CS4 to fill larger tanks faster. They identify the 6.8 liter tanks as being the target max size for the CS4 and for me the duty cycle is the more important number. You can fill anything you want as long as you don’t bake the pump.

With the CS3 for example, the 20 minute duty cycle is what limits a convenient tank size. If I needed to fill my Omni 100 cu in (1.64 liter) tank from empty – I would let it run for 20 minutes and then I would stop the pump but let the fan run until it cooled down to room temp. I’d then close the cylinder valve, bleed the air out of the line, start the air pump again and as it came up to speed I would open the cylinder’s valve again. It took a while but it worked just fine. I tried to always be mindful of the duty cycle and give the unit a chance too cool down before I either shut it off or resume – I’m sure that’s one reason I’ve had zero problems with the CS3 since I bought it.

A five hour duty cycle with the CS4 is pretty amazing. I’ll tell you more about it when we get into the setup and testing.

Out of the Box Pictures

Let’s take a look here:

The CS4 was well packed. Amazon’s delivery group sometimes smashes delicate packaging so I was glad to see the unit was well protected in a plastic bag with styrofoam holding and protecting everything inside of the box.
They are using the same 12 volt 46.2 amp power supply. This allows you to either power the pump with a car/truck battery or use this power supply to charge at home. You can see the removable air hose under it still sitting in the styrofoam.
This is really nice. With the GX CS3, the air hose is bolted to the unit and gets in the way at times. With the GX CS4, there is a standard Foster quick connect. Notice the thought put into the hardline portion on the left side of those – this is the end that plugs into the pump and the metal line bends at an angle thus avoiding collapsing or weakening a flexible airline. It’s a well thought out change.
Starting from the top back – the silver cylinder is the grease pot that you use every 4-6 hours to introduce grease into the cylinder. The brass fitting is the safety burst disc. A burst disc plays an important safety role – it will blow out before an extreme pressure situation could cause a catastrophic failure of the pump. The clear circle has the pressure gauge and the two limit switches you can set. On the left is the power wire spool. The silver nozzle sticking out is the male foster fitting that the quick connect air hose goes to. On front side (colored black) – top right are the on/off switches for the pump itself. The red master switch turns the unit on and both the fan and coolant pump begin working. The black knob is the pressure release / bleed valve. Behind the circular slots sits the CS4’s radiator that has a fan cooling it – the antifreeze/distilled water flows through it to cool off.
The pressure gauge and limit switches surprised me. I went to rotate the switches by turning the silver knob and immediately felt a weird springy resistance. On the CS3 I always checked the pressure because if you bumped the knob the pressure limit changed. Well, now move the top silver “finger” around and push down to turn either limit switch. It’s less prone to being bumped and you have two limits – not just one. It’s not absolutely goof proof but I think it is a good next step from a safety perspective.
With high pressure systems, play it safe. My tank gauge vs. the pump’s gauge don’t match so I go with the higher of the two pressures. It’s called “conservativism” – go with the most conservative or safe number given the situation – don’t base your fill on the low-reading gauge, go with the one that says there is more air pressure just to be safe. In my shop’s air system I probably have a dozen pressure gauges and they all read slightly differently – I guess it is just the nature of the beast unless you want to spend a mint on calibrated accurate gauges.
On the back of the unit are vertical slots and when you look in you can see the cooling fins of the first stage cylinder liner.
The larger CS4 is on the left and the CS3 is on the right. The CS4 is intended for filling up to 6.8L bottles and the CS3 is targeted for smaller bottles and/or airguns. Note: GX makes two versions of the CS3 now – one with the external 12 volt power supply like I have as well as one that just plugs directly into the wall and does not have a 12 volt supply.
CS3 on the left vs the CS4 on the right.
One last comparison photo – the CS3 is on the left, the CS4 is on the right and the dogs’ water bowl is in the back 🙂 See how the air hose just dangles on the CS3? Being able to remove it completely from the CS4 really cleans things up plus opens the door for future hoses should you need them.

Here are the GX compressors from the CS4 down to the CS1

Summary

The CS4 compressor is a great new product offering from GX. Click here to see it on Amazon.

In the next blog post I will walk you through setting the unit up and then testing. I’ve already done all of this so I’m telling you right now the CS4 is a solid unit. In the next post I’ll explain why I am so impressed along with what I did to set up and test it.

1/28/24 Update: Had to fix Amazon links so they work in the list above the summary. I’m still using my CS4. No problems.

6/12/23 Update: Fixed the wording about being conservative. Thanks KG!

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Politics - EOs, Regulations, Legal

The ATF Conducted a Webinar for FFLs Regarding Stabilizing Braces on 1/31/2023 – Here’s a Copy of the Slides

The ATF conducted a webinar on 1/31/2023 to help FFLs understand the new brace rule that went into effect that same day. That means anyone with a braced pistol needs to decide what course of action they are going to take because they have 120 days to comply.

Unless someone gets a temporary restraining order issued to put a hold on this regulation, people must figure out what they are going to do and when. Please notice I said “and when”. Figure out what option you are going to take and when you must start doing it. For example, if you plan to remove the brace and destroy it, when must you do that by? If you plan to make your pistol into a rifle, when do you need to order parts and do it by? Always remember that a whole bunch of other braced pistol owners will wait to the last minute and then get upset when they can’t find parts, their gunsmith doesn’t have time, etc.

So, if you are looking for a quick summary of what the ATF is thinking, click here to get a PDF file copy of the slides they presented on 1/31.

Click here for the ATF page that links to all of the published guidance they have involving braces including the full text of the new rule and frequently asked questions.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Politics - EOs, Regulations, Legal

ATF Brace Ruling Published Today – 120 Day Compliance Countdown Starts Today

The ATF’s ruling on stabilizing braces was published in the Federal Register and now the 120 day compliance timer starts. Here’s the link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/31/2023-01001/factoring-criteria-for-firearms-with-attached-stabilizing-braces

We still have to see what the ATF continues to try and clarify. They have said 922r does not apply and they also said the 88 day background check issue still applies so keep tabs on things.

It’s really an unsettling unsettling time for owners of pistols with braces to be in. The four options in my own words:

  1. Remove the brace and go back to having just a pistol. Destroy the brace.
  2. Turn the pistol into a rifle either changing the barrel to over 16″ or adding an extension. Remember the 26″ minimum overall length limit.
  3. Go the SBR route and register your weapon. Bear in mind selling it down the road would require working with an 03 FFL and not a basic FFL.
  4. Turn in your braced pistol to the ATF to destroy it (I hope nobody has to go that route.

Speaking for myself, I’d either go for #1 or #2. If you’ve always wanted a SBR, then go that route.

The ATF has a web page for this whole mess – click here for it.

Now that the timer is running and the ATF had a webinar for FFL dealers today to try and explain what is going on, I guess we will find out more.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Automotive

Upgrading Your Toyota From A Plastic Oil Filter Cap or Housing To a Far More Durable Aluminum Unit

A number of years back, Toyota decided to move from the old spin-on canister-type oil filters to the use of cartridges encloused in a housing. The cartridge is really just the filter element so that’s what get’s tossed, burned, recycled or whatever and the housing is re-used. The problem is that they made the cap of the housing out of some form of polymer and it can crack or chip over time.

In the case of my daughter’s 2013 RAV4 XLE, the polymer cap was chipped near the bottom (closest to the road) and was starting to crack. We bought it when it was returned to the dealer at the end of a lease so who knows who was doing the oil changes or how much they cared.

At any rate, it puzzles me why Toyota went with Polymer. Maybe they wanted to to be softer than the aluminum. Maybe it was cheaper …. not really sure. On one hand you could validly argue that the cap lasted almost 10 years. On the other … it’s polymer and can crack. After asking around, friends recommended I move to an aftermarket aluminum housing to avoid future problems.

I did some digging on Amazon and sure enough, there was a surprisingly affordable aluminum replacement unit that got very good reviews. It’s made in China and sold by “RJSPHH” with 4.9 stars and a relatively few 20 reviews. Normally I would want more reviews but gambled and it paid off.

Note, others make replacements also – click here to see them.

What Toyota Part Numbers Does It Replace?

RJSPHH figured out that by having the same cap and different filter tubes internally, they could cover quite a few Toyota oil filter caps for Avalons, Camrys, RAV4s, Tacomas and more – you actually need to go to their Amazon listings to see all of them. The Toyota oil cap part numbers this particular model can replace are:

15620-0S010, 15620-31040, 15650-38050, 15620-31050, 15650-38010, 15620-31060, 15620-38010, 15620-36020, 15650-38020

I’d recommend you confirm the part number your vehicle uses by looking up the part number on the Toyota parts website or by using your favorite parts website. This way to can verify both by year and model as well as the OEM filter canister part number just to confirm. For example, I used the Toyota site and confirmed the housing or “cap assembly, oil filter” as they call it is part number 15620-36020. I could then confirm that number on the Amazon listing. That was good because they didn’t list the XLE trim level in the Amazon post. Sometimes those details matter and sometimes they don’t – in this case it didn’t.

How To Assemble It?

In the Amazon listing, they tell you which of the three lengths of tubes to use. You can also just set your original housing assembly next to the new RJSPHH unit and figure that out in a hurry too.

They do have a brief video and assembly in the video. I watched that and the only thing that threw me for a minute was the actor was holding an o-ring at one point when putting the base plate in that the spring sits in. I’m pretty sure that was a spare o-ring for the small cap that can be removed to drain the oil from the canister first if you want to. You don’t use it when installing the tube.

The cap is nicely wrapped and you can see the three tubs that come with it. All of the parts are well made and do not feel weak or cheap.
The drain plate on the left goes on the bottom with the flanged portion facing up to cup the spring in place. The tube of the correct length is then pushed down, rotated into position and released. The filter cap is then assembled.
When you push down the tube, rotate it so the tab goes between two holders on each side of the casting.
I like using Wix brand filters. Here is the 57047XP cartridge for the 2013 2.5L Rav4. It comes with new O-rings both for the the main canister of the cap as well as the small drain plug / drain cap on the end. Even though the Chinese cap came with new O-Rings, I saved them for later just in case and used the brand new O-Rings from Wix.
By the way, make sure the drain cap/plug is on. In case you didn’t know it, that cover with the 3/8″ socket square in it comes off and is used to drain the cap. It should have an O-ring behind it and that o-ring is something you replace when you change the oil. Make sure the O-ring is there and that plug is snugged down so the O-ring can seal.
If you don’t have one, get the correct oil filter wrench to engage the cap assembly correctly to remove it. This is a Motive 2320 that I have used for years and it works great. There are many other wrenches out there as well.

Summary

This is a solid part. It fit easily with no fitting required on my daughter’s RAV4 and we haven’t had any problems. If you are looking to replace a polymer unit on your Toyota vehicle and are considering this one, I have no hesitation recommending it.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Automotive, Tools

Using a Vevor Air Bag Jack To Lift Vehicles To Work On Them

Hi folks – back in 2020, I wrote about buying a Mophorn 3 ton pneumatic/air- pillow jack to work on our vehicles. Actually, I bought it in 2019 and it’s still going strong. This past Fall, I decided to get a second air bag jack but decided to get one with a higher lift capacity to better jack up my 2021 Ram 2500.

To give some background, I wanted an air-pillow/air-bag lift for speed and to save my shoulders that could no longer handle pumping a hydraulic jack arm over and over to lift a vehicle. I have an air-over-hydraulic bottle jack but it is tall and slow. The air bag jacks use compressed air to inflate a rubber cylinder that then lifts the vehicle – like what you see in air-ride or air-lift suspensions on trucks. They are called by a variety of names as you can see in this post: pneumatic jacks, air bag jacks, air pllow jacks, pillow lift jacks. Air-over-hydraulic is a different creature – air is used to actuate the hydraulic pump vs. you hand pumping to move the hydraulic pump up.

Always Use Jack Stands

Once the vehicle is in the air, I always put jack stands all the way around to support it. This is always a good idea regardless of jack type you use and the air bag jacks are no different.

Vevor 11,023 Pound Jack

I did some of my usual digging on Amazon and tool sights and decided to get a Vevor 11,000 pound air jack. I bought it in September 2022 and started using it right away because it’s really speeds things up to be able to lift both ends of a vehicle without repositioning the jacks.

There was one thing in their product page on Amazon that confused me until I realized it was a metric term. They say it can lift 11,023 pounds / 5 tons. Well, being used to American measures, 5 tons if 10,000 pounds soI wondered if this was some kind of hype. The issue is that they mean 5 metric tons. A metric ton is 1,000 KG or 2,204.6 so 5 metric tons is 11,023 pounds.

Their stated operating air pressure range is 5-10 kg/cm^2. That comes out to 71.1 to 142.2 PSI. The airline for my driveway tools is at 100 PSI – most of my tools are 90 PSI. My guess is that given their operating range, the jack can’t lift its rated maximum capacity. I can tell you that it has no problem lifting the front or rear of either my 6.7L Hemi 2021 Ram 2500 or full size 2016 Ford Transit F150 van and that’s really what I wanted. The photo at the top of the blog is the Vevor with my Ram 2500 up in the air.

The lifting height is about 15.75″ and the minimum height is 5.3″. The minimum matters a lot when you are trying to get it under some vehicles. One trick I have found is to stand on the air bag to get the air out and then close the exhaust valve to make it thin enough to slide under some cars.

The Mophorn is slightly taller and you can see the Vevor has a larger diameter air bag.

One of the nice perks is that the handle has three positions so you can slide it in flat under a vehicle or at an angle if so you choose. My Mophorn jack’s handle is in a fixed position so that limits how far it can slide under some vehicles but it’s also more sturdy since it can’t move.

You can see the difference between the fixed Mophorn handle vs the 3-position Vevor.

With the Mophorn jack, the screws securing the botton of the bag to the plate started to come loose and the unit was leaking air. With the Vevor, they are in solid and really did not want to back off – I was going to add medium Loc-Tite but since they were in so firmly, I decided to leave them alone. They may even have a thread locker applied already – I’m not sure. I think out of all of the screws there were only one or two I could torque down further.

The Vevor has no problem lifting my Ram 2500 with 100 PSI of air.

Summary

All in all, the Vevor air bag lift seems like a solid unit. I’ve not had any problems at all. I sometimes wish the handle wouldn’t move so easily but its ability to fold flat to the ground makes up for that.

I’d recommend the Vevor11,000 pound unit off Amazon [click here to go there]. The Mophorn is always an option also – I’m still happy with that as well.

Last comment – Vevor has a ton of models with different configurations and lifting capacities – click here to open the Amazon listings in a new tab.

2/10/24 Update: Still using both – no problems. I don’t see the Mophorn unit any longer but this CXRCY 6600 pound lift unit looks identical. Chinese brand names come and go but this may be the same factory.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Boy Did I Get Lucky – Foster Coupler Blew Off Just Over 3,200 PSI And Hit Me In The Glasses

Time for a safety briefing and, yes, I am the cause of the briefing. This is not a blame game post – what happened to me will likely happen to me again and may happen to you as well. The important thing is to learn from it because I got real, real lucky.

I was topping off my new Hatsan Jet II with high pressure air from my Omega tank for maybe the dozenth time or more and thought I was being careful. I am respectful of high pressure air because I am a NAUI certified SCUBA diver and sometimes weld right with Gas, MIG and TIG torches. I have heard plenty of stories over the past 40 years (yeah, I am that old) about tanks, fittings and what not. Guess I got sloppy this time.

I connected the DonnyFL female foster fitting to the male foster fitting on the Jet II and gave a gentle tug to make sure it was seated. You always want to do this by the way. I really didn’t think a lot about it because I have refilled from a tank so many times. Bad routines can lead to bad outcomes and it did here.

I was holding the Jet II off at an angle where I could see the manometer (what they call the pressure gauge in the high pressure / pre-charged-pneumatic (PCP) airgun world. I’d guess the angle was about 30-45 degrees and may 18 inches away – these are all best guesses in hind sight.

I cracked open the valve and was doing a slow controlled fill. Somewhere just over 225 bar (3,263) PSI, the hose’s female fitting explosively slipped off the male fitting on the airgun and rocketed off. It happened so fast that I realized my face was numb, I had taken a direct hit in the polycarbonate right lens of my glasses and had heard something like a gun shot. I turned off the air and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror expecting to see blood. I was geniunely surprised there wasn’t any so then I started looking.

My right lens had a gouge where the fitting hit it and saved my eye. I had a small light bruise on my eyebrow but it really wasn’t bad. Luckily, I had spare glasses and grabbed them to be able to see.

This is the lens after my optometrist bent things back correctly and cleaned then lens. The gouges are there to stay. I told her what happened and she told me I was very lucky to be wearing polycarbonate lenses because they can handle an amazing amount force.

What happened?

My next thought was “what the hell just happened?” The O-ring from inside the DonnyFL female quick connect foster fitting was still on the Jet II’s male foster fitting. Nothing had broken – no tears, missing metal or rounded edges.

I was the victim of stacked tolerances. This means that any given specification has a +/- allowance that the machinist can go over or under by and still be ok. The stacked tolerance problem is when you have those tolerances of parts combine to then be outside of specification. Please notice that I am not blaming any of the vendors.

The DonnyFL female quick connect foster adapter, which works fine on my Air Venturi fittings and FX Impact Compact Mk II had slightly different dimensions than the Hatsan male fitting. I had noticed since I first bought the Jet II that I needed to firmly seat the DonnyFL female fitting as it didn’t go on easy. With 20/20 hindsight, I should have realied that was a bad sign and switched to the supplied Hatsan female quick connect fitting. I didn’t make the change befoe because I thought the DonnyFL and was good to go since it worked on everything else. Turns out that was a wrong assumption.

I really don’t know why more harm wasn’t done. Maybe the fitting flew straight out, the end of the hose was reached and it whipped back with less energy. Maybe because my glasses flattened around my eye socket it partially absorbed and then distributed the force. I can tell you I feel real lucky that worse didn’t happen.

What did I do as a result?

All of my air fittings are made by Air Venturi – I buy different configurations of them and keep them in stock so that when I have a fitment problem I can change to an Air Venturi fitting.

In this case, I wasn’t about to take the Hatsan apart so I took the Hastan supplied female fitting and put an Air Venturi male quick connect on the end to get a solid connection both to the airgun and to the DonnyFL quick connect. The fittings go together very smoothly and I’ve not had problem after almost a dozen top offs.

The DonnyFL female foster fitting is above. The Hatsan female foster fitting with the Air Venturi male plug installed is at the bottom.
This combination seems to work really well. The DonnyFL works great with Air Venturi fittings and the Hatsan female foster works great with the Jet II’s make foster fitting.

Summary of Lessons Learned

The problem of stacked tolerances will always be around and thus one brand of fitting may not work well with another. So here are the lessons learned.

  1. Be mindful that when you have to push a foster fitting on harder than normal then that likely indicates the fitment is wrong and you must look at your options.
  2. Use the airgun supplied adapter (if they give you one) and then put a brand of fittings on it that allow you to safely mate the parts together if there is a fitment issue.
  3. I will use the pressure gauge on the tank and not the airgun going forward even though I thought I was at a safe angle.
  4. Do not get anywhere near the fitting during refills – especially with your head or face.

I hope this helps you out. It was a wakeup call for me.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Politics - EOs, Regulations, Legal

Pick Your Gun Rights Group Carefully

This will be a short piece but I want to take a minute and warn you about the tons of supposed gun rights groups that have popped up to, as they say it, “fight for your rights”. They are all fighting for your money – it’s just that some of them actually do meaningful things and others don’t. Remember that there is always more money and power to be made by creating division and thus fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) than there is on really solving the problem.

Expect Slick Marketing

All of the big gun rights firms will have slick website designers, emails and, in some cases, traditional mailings to tell you that the world is going to end and that they need your support.

You’ll see images of family, hunting, modern sporting rifles, scary politicians and evil government buildings all trying to punch your buttons. There may be a call to arms over some issue such as pistol braces or supposed “assault weapons”.

You can always bet near the bottom of that email, the link that you click on or in the end of the mailer you are reading there will be a call for money. You can be a patriot if you just act now. You can help them fight for your rights if you send them money … blah blah blah.

What Really Matters Are Outcomes

Plain and simple – you want to judge any gun rights group – do a search on them and court cases they have won (to me that is key) and lobbying efforts they were involved in – to me this second part is nice but it is hard to gauge a group’s contributions to a lobbying effort unless there is clear evidence they made a difference. Otherwise they can say they (and your money) made a difference and you really don’t know.

For example, let’s look at Oregon’s Measure 114, the Illinois Assault Weapons Ban and the unfolding brace drama. I will use Google to search on each and see who are actually spending the money to file lawsuits in those three cases and list the organization’s names so this shouldn’t be viewed as all-inclusive but to make a point.

Oregon’s Measure 114

A number of groups, including the NRA filed lawsuits. The group with an innovating argument that won a temporary restraining order (TRO) was Gun Owners of America (GOA). GOA argued that the ban was unconstitutional at the state level because it would deprive citizens of the state from owning firearms when the right to keep and bear arms is protected in Oregon’s own constitution.

Note, a TRO is a delay go give time for the state to respond, more arguments to be heard, etc. It’s not that Measure 114 has been completely stopped.

So… a number of gun rights groups filed suit in federal court but GOA and the Gun Owners Foundation really drove in well thought out wedge to get a TRO at the state level. This then creates precedent and ideas that others can use to oppose gun control in other areas.

Other lawsuits are underway from other groups including the National Shooting Sports Foundation (the NSSF is an industry trade association), the NRA, and the Oregon Firearms Foundation.

Here are sample articles:

Illinois Assault Weapons Ban

And then we have the state of Illinois introducing an assault weapons ban that also has a TRO. The TRO was granted based on a suit by four FFL dealers and 862 concerned citizens. This is a clear example of Chicago wanting to run the state with their liberal policies and the rest of the state really not wanting to play by their rules.

Attorney Tom Devore, a former Republican nomineed for attorney general in the state, won the TRO but it only applies to the 860 people named in the lawsuit and not the entire state.

Other lawsuits are also underway including the Illinois State Rifle Association and Thomas Maag (an Illinois-based attorney).

Here are sample articles:

ATF Stabilizing Brace Final Rule

The ATF’s Final Rule on stabilizing braces will make millions of braced pistol owners felons unless they register their pistol as a short barreled rifle (SBR), lengthen the barrel, remove the brace or turn the weapon in to the ATF to destroy it. The facts are that none of those steps are that easy – unless you consider giving up a pistol to the ATF to be destoryed that cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars as “simple”.

GOA was one of the first groups to point out the deeply flawed logic that is essentially creating a trap for some gun owners if they go the SBR route. GOA is preparing to file a suit. Rep Matt Gaetz submitted a bill to defund the ATF that, while it makes a statement, is unlikely to go anywhere.

Here are sample articles:

Did That Surprise You?

You can see what a quick search turned up. Did you find it surprising? There are a lot of groups out there that will mention all of these fights and more and beg you to send them money so they can afford to fight on your behalf but if you dig, they are doing little to nothing.

Sorry, but I am old and cynical at this point. To be a non-profit just means you file tax paperwork. A lot of these firms are getting rich by scaring you half to death constantly. I even got an “EMERGENCY – Open Right Away” email from one group that wanted a donation because they were going to miss their internal fund raising goals. Seriously? F-off. I have never seen their names on any lawsuits or industry trade articles. I unsubscribed from their email list and added them to my spam list.

What Should You Do?

The next time you get an email or even a physical paper mailer asking you to donate to some gun rights group, do some digging and see what is said about them.

To be very clear, their own website, trumpeting their achievements and what they are going to do does not count – of course they are going to write “press releases” saying they are fighting the righteous fight. Look for articles, government statements, lawsuits, etc. Look for action – not just words. Again, a gun rights group’s own website with pretty pages stating their opposition do not count. Notice how I am stressing that?

I have no affiliation with GOA but right now they are the only gun rights group I am supporting. I used to fund at least three off the top of my head but stopped because they do fear-mongering, maybe some online email forms where I could fill out to contact representatives via email but that’s about it. By the way, very few politicians care about all of those emails you flood them with. They have spam filters too.

1/27/22 Update: I should mention that the NRA may be going bankrupt due to all of the lawsuits and reported financial shinanigans that went on. I was a member for years but stopped some years back. (click here for an article from Newsweek). I hope they get their act together because they had a lot of political clout back in the day.

Yes, We Need Gun Rights and Conservative Lobbyist Groups

As you can imagine, I am pro-gun rights. I do want to make a difference and I do that partially by treating the funding of gun rights groups as an investment – I want to see a return.

We are increasingly seeing a clash of cultures as the big cities try and force their will and beliefs on rural America and I am firmly against that. I will also always remember that criminals don’t care about laws and all of this political drama will have next to no impact on crime – just look at Chicago and LA for example.

To counter this, we need to work together. We need our voices heard. We need the pro-gun and conservative lobbyist groups to help with this. We must still be active and not just rely on these groups but they do play a key role.

In Summary

The whole point of this blog post is to tell you to be careful when it comes to picking which gun rights groups you donate your hard earned money. My email inbox is getting flooded daily by groups I have never heard of and I bet your’s is as well.

As things continue to heat up, I will continue to evaluate which gun rights groups make a difference based on their actions and outcomes. Based on what I find out, I will invest accordingly. I’d recommend you do the same.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Update on the Hatsan Jet II – It’s Pretty Wicked!

I wrote a series of posts about purchasing a .22 Hatsan Jet II right after I bought it in early January 2022. After shooting it for a month I have some feedback to share.

I’d guesstimate I have just over a 100 rounds through it. I’ve changed quite a few 7 round mags – that much I know for sure. The first thing I want to tell you is that the performance and reliability are surprising. It reinforces to me that Hatsan can turn out some great airguns.

The Shroud Is True

I was a little worried about how true the shroud would be relative to the center of the barrel’s bore. In my Gladius, it was not. With the Jet II, it is. The way you can tell is that pellets are landing all over the place because they hit the adapter or somewhere in the moderator and spin out of control. In other words, accuracy is horrible until you remove the moderator and/or the adapter. The DonnyFL 1/2-20 male to male adapter screwed right and then the Hugget Sniper to it and accuracy was great.

Accuracy

Speaking of accuracy – I was very happy. Once I dialed in the scope I had no problem shooting 1/2″ 7 round groups using 18.13 JSB Exact Jumbo Diabolo pellets at 12 yards from a bench. To be clear – just me resting my arm on the bench. I didn’t have a true rifle stand.

That is 7 rounds of .22 18.13gr JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy Diabolo pellets at s12 yards. Ignore the blatant flier – that was my fault, not the gun’s or the pellets. I was firing supported from a bench but the Jet II was not in a bench rest. I’ll do some accuracy testing one of these days.

Now, another form of accuracy is to tell you about squirrells. I have cleanly dispatched 8 over the last three weeks. Distances vary from 12-16 yards.

The Jet II really likes these pellets. I really like JSB in general for all of my pellet guns.

The Charging Handle

In my first review I voiced a concern about the polymer charging/cocking lever. So far, it has worked just fine – no signs of any loosening or bending.

The cocking handle is doing just fine.

Air Use

I purposefully bought the Jet II due to the larger air reservoir than the Jet I. I could shoot two mags with no noticeable change in trajectory in my 12 yard test range shooting 18.13 JSB Exact pellets.

My usual approach is to shoot a mag and then top of the Jet II from my air tank at the same time I reload the pellets in the magazine. I have a spare magazine ready to go so if I was in a rush for some reason I know I have a little bit of buffer just in case I need it – I’m using the gun for pests and not target shooting.

I had it filled pretty close to the 250 bar max. What you see is the amount of air left after 14 shots (two magazines). I have not tried shooting more than two mags after refilling.

Snipe Moderator

I’m using the Hugget Snipe moderator and it almost makes the Jet II backyard friendly. It’s far quieter with it of course – I just wish it was quieter yet and will experiment some more with different cans.

The Hugget Snipe does a very good job. I wish it was even more quiet but that’s not really a negative reflection on the Snipe.
With the Snipe, the overall length is approximately 30″. From an overall length perspective, it’s a great combination.

Summary

At this point I am still very happy with the Jet II for it’s intended pest control purposes. It’s definitely effective and amazing for the price when you stop and think about it.

Here’s the listing at Pyramyd Air and I always recommend you use their 10 for $10 test service:

Hatsan Jet II 0.22

Hatsan Jet II 0.22

Hatsan Jet II Convertible PCP Pistol

Convertible pistol or rifle Includes removable synthetic stock PCP Two 40cc air cylinders fill to 3,625 PSI/250 BAR Shots at optimal velocity*: 48 (.177), 42 (.22), 30 (.25) Magazine capacity: 8 rounds (.177), 7 rounds (.22), 6 rounds (.25) Integrated manometer Max. velocity (lead-free): 810 FPS (.177), 700 FPS (.22), 611 FPS (.25) Max. velocity (lead): 788 FPS (.177), 700 FPS (.22), 608 FPS (.25) Max. energy: 9.7 FPE (.177), 15.6 FPE (.22), 16.5 FPE (.25) Length-adjustable buttstock Elevation-adjustable cheek rest Ridged rubber buttpad Flip-up fiber optic front sight Flip-up adjustable fiber optic rear sight 11mm Dovetail optics rail Picatinny accessory rail Barrel length: 7.9" Overall length (pistol): 15" Overall length (rifle): 22.8"-24.6" Overall weight (pistol): 2.4 lbs. Overall weight (rifle): 3.4 lbs.

* – within 85% of peak velocity.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

When Strength and Quality Matter Most