Black
Powder by Chris Risebrook
It is fussy over pellet length, although it is adjustable in this respect. I find RWS Hobby wadcutters work fine. Filling is a pig from an air bottle - there is no bleed-off valve on the adaptor - I tend lose more air than I put in. In practice I find it easier to use a pump which quite easily gives me enough power for 25metres. Power is adjustable, although at our
12ft.lbs limit, this is not of any practical use. In more enlightened countries these carbines can be tweaked up to
60ft.lbs, and the power reducer would then make some sense. The trigger is not of match quality, but it has done duty as a substitute competition gun when my little 22 Anschutz has been feeling poorly. Unmodified it makes one heck of a noise. Fitted with a Logun silencer as in the photo, it is nearly silent - but looks self- consciously stupid.
Finally, this photo shows a Chinese Norinco 22 hammerless rifle I was able to get my hands on to test. China North Industries Corporation works mainly in the defence industry, making everything from amphibious assault vehicles to guided missiles. However, they also make rifles for the military and civilian market, and the rifle illustrated is a JW21, a sort of Winchester 9422 alike. We are so used to seeing bits of plastic and monkey metal on today’s guns, that it is quite refreshing to find a modern product made seemingly of wood and steel. Indeed, the only plastic I could find was the magazine follower.
curves the wrong way on semi-pistol grip lever actions. Overall, the impression is of a workmanlike tool - ideal for its intended purpose of bunny bashing, and good value at its price point of around £250.
Now that the Winchester is out of production, this would make a viable alternative to the Marlin. Its instruction booklet is a riot but then, I don’t speak a word of Mandarin, so I shouldn’t be too rude. Disassembly is quite straightforward and involves the removal of just one screw. This enables the butt to be separated from the action - with the application of three hands and much swearing. The edges are sharp, and a First Aid kit should really be included in the kit.
A push with a screwdriver permits the two piece bolt to be removed for cleaning, and this is probably as far as most people will want to go. Watch out for a ‘widgy’ coil spring between the two halves of the bolt. If this takes off, you may not see it again. Re-assembly is straightforward, if fiddly, and gardening gloves help - those sharp edges.
A trigger job and a bit of ‘poshing up’ of the stock would work wonders. A nice winter’s project would be to strip and stain the stock, oil finish it, and either cut two panels of chequering for the pistol grip, or more simply to mark our the panels and fill them with walnut dust. I have found this gives an excellent grip, looks quite attractive and is less tedious than stippling and considerably less nerve racking than chequering.
The wood is a plain piece of hardwood with a heavy coat of varnish which would be more at home on a boat. The metalwork is reasonably polished and evenly chemically blued. Sights are the usual bead and sliding V rear and the action is grooved for scope mounts. Trigger pull is clean but heavy. The rifle weighs 6lbs. and has an overall length of 29 inches with a 19.5 inch barrel. The tubular magazine holds 15 rounds and fed flawlessly. The action was somewhat stiff and this is not helped by the lever which always
Of course there are numerous other lever actions available on the market in a plethora of calibres, but the pistol-calibre guns are the way to go for gallery rifle and carbine shooting on pistol ranges. There are some fascinating vintage Winchester, Marline and Savage lever-actions on the market, in obsolete calibres but they are now fetching thousands, which somewhat dulls their attraction. I regularly drool over these treasures at Arms Fairs but they will have to stay in dreamland.
84
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102