Walther LP Model 58 Air Pistol .177 caliber

Walther .177 Caliber Air Pistol, Model 58

 

The Walther is an inheritance from my dad, who loved airguns, particularly German ones of highest quality!  The bluing on this one is getting a little weak on the barrel side, but otherwise it cocks and seals great.  I brought it to Madison and decided to give it the same workout with the Daisy ammo of three types that I did the Hammerli.  When I got set up; no rear sight!  Just the mount and the elevator dial, which I then proceeded to use for a rear sight for the purpose of making the same shot over and over and finding out what kind of groups this pistol will shoot.  It shot very low and I had to adjust my visual picture to accommodate.  I did get 9 groups that I could measure, however, with slightly different results from the Hammerli.  The tightest group I could produce was 1.7" with the hollow-points. The next was a 2.2" with the pointed, hunting ammo, and third best was the diabolo shape with a couple of 2.8" groups.  The diabolo did produce a 4-shot group within an inch and a half, but the fifth shot was off the paper, so sadly, I could not in good conscience score it.

 

Pointy          Diabolo          Hollow-point

 

2.2          2.8          1.7 

4.2          2.8          2.2

4.8          3.8          2.8

 

The hollow-point style clearly produced the winner in all three starts and I'll have to mount a rear sight on this gun, sight it in, and return to this task and see if that is truly the case.  Nonetheless I was pleased that there weren't any mechanical or seal issues.  For now, I'll move on to another pistol.  

 

 

 

Footnote S: YouTube breakdown and reassembly of Remington 7400

Breakdown and assembly of Remington 7400

youtube.com/watch?v=bvml8dV8Cq8

Footnote R: Exploded Diagram Remington 7400

Exploded Diagram of Remington 7400

Footnote Q: .177 cal ammunition holdings

.177 caliber ammunition stock in Akbar's Armory

I have a good many rounds of pellet ammunition, probably more than I can shoot.  Much of it was inherited from my dad who was a pellet rifle and pistol afficiando.  Since I just ran an experiment on some Daisy ammo that I picked up at WalMart, with the Hammerli pistol, I dug out my storage case and made a list of what is available to shoot at caliber .177

Diabolo-Kugeln Match, two cans of 500 and 8 tins of 100 each, packed in foam = 1800 rounds
Meister-Kugeln, 3 tins of 100                                                                               = 300 rounds
Bimoco-Diabolo,                                                                                                   =750 rounds
Minuteman (UK)                                                                                                   =500 rounds
Daisy (3-style packs)                                                                                             = 450 rounds
                                                    Total = 3800 rounds

CO2 cannisters, short                  Total = 17 cannisters

The first three are German manufacture and probably cannot be obtained any longer. I think I could reduce my supply down to about 2000 rounds before worrying about restocking any, but it is tempting when either bargains or something new come along.  It is very fun to test different shapes of pellets and compare the tightness of the groups they produce.  It is a way of competing against myself and having different guns compete against one another.

Remington 7400 Semi Auto Rifle, Caliber 30.06

Remington 7400 Semi-Auto 30.06 Rifle

 

I got this rifle from a friend, traded a Kawasaki 400 motorcycle for it, in essence, but the nature of the relationship is that I would return the rifle if asked.  It is a complicated issue, not in need of discourse here.  The rifle is a recoil-operated automatic but is missing the clip.  I took it on the back 40 and shot at a sighter chart marked off in arc-seconds at 100 yards (inches) and shot three 3-shot groups as carefully as I could from a rest. 

 

Group #1 was 150-grain

The group was 8.3 arc-minutes wide at 100 yds

Center of the group was 5.6 arc-minutes off the bull

4 arc-minutes to the left

3.5 arc-minutes low

 

I did not change the scope adjustment for the subsequent two groups

 

Group #2 was 150-grain

The group was 4.8 arc-minutes wide

5 arc-minutes low

3.8 arc-minutes left

 

Group #3 was 180-grain

The group was 7.5 arc-minutes wide

Left/Right was dead on

4.7 arc-minutes low

 

These are figures for the Center of each group

Footnote P: Ammunition for 30.06

5/9/13 I purchased a box of 30.06 shells, 180 grain for $ 19.89 at Farm & Fleet in Baraboo. I have quite a stock of 30.06 but want to do some 3-shot groups with several rifles, so I will be depleting some.

In the course of doing some shooting @ 100-yds with 30.06, I shot up 6 150-grain and 3 180-grain studying some 3-shot groups.

My supply of 30.06 Springfield is:

          150-grain         3 boxes + 11 rounds

          180-grain         2 boxes + 19 rounds

           130 rounds in all.  I plan to accumulate another new box when I notice a good price or when I
                  begin to think about shooting some more groups with a different rifle.

         

Footnote O: 12-Gauge reloading session and prices

12-Gauge shotshell Reloading Session

I stopped at Recob's in Baraboo, WI, which is the most reasonable place I am aware of so far for reloading supplies.

I bought the following:
     W209 Winchester primers @ $ 14.09
     25 lbs of #8 shot @                    40.99
     4 lbs of Green Dot powder @    63.59
     500 Dr XL green wads @            8.99

I also purchased a 1 oz shot bar for my MEC reloader to drop down from 1 1/8 for trap shells. That set me back only $ 14.09

Took it all to the farm and had a reloading and Jack Daniels & Coke session.

Calculating cost per shell, I figure the following:
     Powder $ 63.59 / 1552  = .04    per shell
     Shot $ 40.99 / 400  = .10  per shell
     Primers $ 14.09 / 1000  = .01  per shell
     Wads $ 8.99  /  500  =  .02  per shell

     Total    =   .17  per shell X 25  =  $ 4.25  per box.  That's pretty good considering that trap loads are running about seven dollars per box now in most stores. 

I was able to load 14 boxes of AA's, which are the best and four more boxes of other hulls that I had lying around before I ran out of my shot.  I had some adjustment problems with the crimp which turned out mostly to be the pre-crimp.  I may have had varying size hulls later on; it was very frustrating and I made some really ugly rounds and had to jettison some as well.  I even sealed the holes on some with candle wax.  I would say that it was a pretty amateurish production, but the AA's mostly came out with good crimps.  I will have a pretty low standard set for next time.  In fact I can hardly heft a box out of the whole lot that doesn't have BB's rattling around in it. That worries me.  Next time will be a 2-stage process. I will knock out and replace all the primers in one session, which is very tiring.  Then I will have a much more careful loading session where I can attend to the fine adjustments on the cam and make sure all of my crimps are proper.  It didn't help that I loaded about 2/3 throwing ounce-and-an-eighth shot and the rest with 1 ounce bar that I bought. I had to use up wads.  I also used up 50 wads that were marginal for the recipe and loaded soft.  That won't be necessary next time.

It is a good time to take stock of 12-ga ammunition in the armory:

Trap Loads South = 12 boxes
Trap Loads North = 25 boxes
#8 Game loads      = 1 box
#7 1/2 Game loads= 2 boxes +5
#6 Upland Game   = 3 boxes
#8 3" target            = 4 boxes
#2 Steel shot          = 10 shells
#7 3" Turkey          = 7 shells
Slugs                       = 64

Footnote N: Pellet Comparison Using Hammerli .177 Pistol

.177 Pellet Comparison at 10-meters Using Hammerli .177 CO2 Pistol

I shot some 5-pellet groups at 10-meters indoors using the Hammerli:

Daisy makes a round box of .177 ammo which is divided into 3 compartments, pointed, hollow-point, and the flat-head diabolo shape.  The Hammerli shot high and to the right, but I was concerned only with tightness of groups at this point and did not alter the sights.  I was able to get at least five groups from each pellet shape before running out of CO2 after roughly 135 to 140 shots. 

          Pointed          Hollow-point          Diabolo

          1.4"                1.0"                         1.0"
          1.5                  1.4                           1.4
          1.9                  1.4                           1.6
          2.2                   1.9                          1.6
          2.5                   2.6                          2.0
                                  2.9                          2.0
                                                                 2.6

It is obvious that the Diabolo shape was somewhat more accurate for two reasons: 1) I was able to keep more 5-shot groups on the paper with that shape, the hollow-point running second, and the pointed, hunting type round third.  2) assigning points for best group in each column for only the five best groups of each type round, Diabolo earns 14 of 15 possible points; Dented earns 12, and the pointed round earns 6.  This result is consistent with the common opinion among good shooters that the diabolo shape is optimal.