Monday, June 7, 2010

Arrivederci

Well, it was bound to happen. Endless deadlines, cantankerous editors, and writers block - all the greats have suffered these perils of fame.

I guess I could deal with it like Hemingway, but that is perhaps a tad harsh. Mostly it’s that darn 399 book that keeps distracting me. Anyway, I am going enter a state of semi retirement on the blog. I do foresee numerous well timed come backs, but until then I leave you with this impromptu guest blog from Orin.

His style is unique in that it is written in the form of a comment, and the pictures have little to do with the story line. Utterly brilliant I must say.

So without further ado, here’s Orin:

I think I need to keep adding smiley faces to my sarcastic comments so people know I'm joking. Come on guys... FT scope on a plastic, CO2-powered 1077? I wasn't even able to get a rise out of anyone? S.L. – I might need you to pass me some tips.


Spotted these so grabbed the 1077

The huge scope looks absolutely ridiculous on the 1077, of course. For some reason, I never took the time to find the best pellet for this gun. I went through about 20 different types last night and discovered that it prefers Beeman FTS Double Golds and Kodiaks/Baracudas. Talk about expensive tastes for a $50 gun! Anyway, I was shooting from 20 yards at standard 10m rifle targets. Normally, the black centers make it really hard for me to see hits, even at 3-6x but at 24x, I had no problem making out my groups. As silly as it looks, it was certainly functional for pellet preference testing.

Then saw this and ran back in the house for the Benji XL


As soon as my 30mm Weaver mounts come in, it'll go on the Benji Trail XL for a while so I can do some 100-yard accuracy tests. Then who knows… maybe on a tripod for a spotting scope.

11 comments:

  1. Volvo,

    See - I knew you could do better than me! Now I'll have to finish writing the review. Seeing this work of art, I'm almost reluctant to send pictures.

    At least now I know what I was practicing for with those black-centered 10m bulls... T-Rex pupils!

    - Orin

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  2. Volvo,

    Surely you're kidding.

    You have so much to share. Early interest in airguns and why, powder burners keeping pace with your airgun collection, shooting technique, pellet testing shortcuts, scope preferences, tuners and why (sure there's and evolution of tuners in your history), recent flirting with lower powered guns and what you learned, etc. etc.

    I'm sorry I haven't had a lot of time to contribute but life has gotten in my way lately.

    I've read everything you've written and not only do I admire your writing style but what you say is very relevant. Take a break but don't stop.

    kevin

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  3. I didn't think anything unusual about your scope on that 1022. I mounted a leapers 3-12x44 on my crosman 760 not too long ago. I know, Iknow why? I just couldn't see what I was not hitting.

    Volvo, recently the thought of a marauder pistol with a rifle stock has been bouncing around my mind. What do you think about custom fitting a rifle stock to this pistol?

    Of course my goal is to have a marauder carbine and looking at the pistol, I'm not sure the end result would qualify as a carbine rifle.

    KidAgain

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  4. Hi,
    Has anyone ever placed an order at Dak Sports site before? It looks like it is in Canada and it seems to have good prices on HW30S and HW50S ($220 and $270 respectively).
    Thanks.

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  5. Volvo

    It is too hard to type through the tears.

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  6. KidAgain,

    PCP’s give up some power as the barrel gets shorter, so you may find that after you get your barrel to a good length along with the price of a custom stock you could maybe look at one of the lighter PCP's available currently.

    I don’t think it is any secret I am a big fan of the FX Cyclone, and Kevin owns a Cyclone along with the Ranchero pistol that is made from the Cyclone action. I would be curious how he compares the two. That could help you decide.


    Tdung,
    I have purchased a couple rifles from DAK, but only because they were not available in the States. Shipping runs about $60 -$70 from Canada, returns are impossible, and it takes about six weeks unless it is a special order, then up to 6 months.

    They are very friendly and nice to speak with, but I would only buy from them if it is a unique arm.

    Slinging,
    It is best you don’t look back. I finally have an image of you, it is the boy from Old’ Yeller as he is about to pull the trigger. Just do it, then turn and walk away.

    Kevin,
    Being on point, I was the first to realize things were changing in the winter of 2005. Since then permits for starts fell 75% from 12,000 a year to the current 3,000 per year. Everyone’s slice of the pie is much thinner.

    But now it appears things are starting to come back. It will certainly take another couple years, but I can smell it. I have been working seven days a week.

    Just like the housing decline gave me the spare time to participate over the last couple years, the climb back up the hill will make it necessary that I focus back on my craft.

    A 2012 Volvo and a whole new crop of airguns will be the reward.

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  7. Thanks Volvo. Maybe it is not worth going that route. However, I wonder how they can have such good prices in Canada but not here in the States. It's like a $100 more for us :(

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  8. Volvo,

    We'll forgive you if you only give us at least one blog a week, but not if you disappear altogether. No way, we will not, we cannot accept that! We will hunt you down and drag you kicking and screaming back to your keyboard and block you in behind a pile of 399 books.

    -AlanL

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  9. AlanL,

    I’ll see what I can do, but spend some time on the yellow and vintage forums besides the PA blog. You’ll get lots of info, some good and some bad but plenty to chew on in the mean time.

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  10. Volvo,

    Dammit man, it's no secret that I envy your smooth writing style. You write about airguns like Beryl Markham wrote about flying! It's obvious that you have a gift and a love for both airguns and writing. How 'bout you write and post as you feel the urge and find the time? We won't pressure you--though a post a day would barely suffice.

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  11. Volvo,

    You're exactly right about the marauder pistol / carbine project. For $1000 there are some really nice options that are spot on. The only reason this project is in my head is out of budget restrictions and now I'm back to square one.

    Thanks for the input. I'm missing your articles, come back to it soon.

    KA

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