.177 QB57 is here...

After placing an order last Thursday morning for a .177 QB-57, I remembered this morning to e-mail SouthSummit for a tracking number to see how close it might be, which they sent. On the UPS tracking website, the big bold letters spelled out "DELIVERED". Huh?!?!? Then I remembered that they weren't gonna deliver it here at work like I'd hoped, but at home. So I looked at the delivery date- 12/3/07. What the...?!?! That was yesterday!! After a few seconds, all became clear and I realized that I hadn't gone in or out of my front door after getting home from work last night. My new baby must have been sitting out outside all night long, and couldn't even let me know that she was out there, all cold and hungry and what-not!!! LOL!

All this took place about 1/2 hour before lunch today, so I high-tailed it through the secretaries office mumbling something about "gotta head to the house" and "takin' an early lunch" and "be back as quick as I can". Since work is only 10 minutes from home, I thought I'd better get that delivery inside ASAP. As soon as I pulled up into the driveway, I got out, checked at the backdoor- nuthin' there- then ran to the front door. That box looked so lonely and cold having been out all night, so I grabbed it up and brought it into the warm house.

Opening the cardboard shipping box I removed the briefcase-sized plastic box and unsnapped the latches. Since I wasn't going to have time to do any shooting before heading back to work, all I did was a cursory inspection. After removing the relevant parts from the irrelevant protective wrap, I layed out the parts and mounted the barrel assembly to the rest stock and action. The dark stained wood of the stock and front grip look pretty nice under the protective oil-esque coating. That's all I really had time for, so I took it back apart and left the parts out in the open just in case there was enough moisture in the air (doubtful) to condense on the cold metal. There won't even be enough light to test-fire it this evening after some errands I have to run, but I'll spend some time cleaning her up and Goo-Gone'ing the bore, and loctite'ing the stock screws, etc.

So far, I'm really pleased with the feel of it (that metal sure is cold on the cheek ;~) and looking forward to seeing how she does. Tentatively, I'll be mounting a Leapers Golden Image 3-9x32 scope. Plus, I've got a lot of re-reading to do on the QB-57 posts by Jeff, Dan, Gene, et. al. to catch up on the current state of tune for the -57.

Bryan

PS- Hey Ed! Have you heard anything about yours yet??

[longislandhunter]

Congrats Bryan,,,,, nothin better than seeing a box with an air rifle in it on your front doorstep!!

Glad to hear you like it so far,,, feel and stock staining,,,,,, I think you're really gonna have fun with the gun.  Keep us up to date..  

BTW,,,,, my .177 just loves CPL's and predators....

Jeff

[shadow]

Mine should be here by the end of the week or early next week, just itchin to get started on her hehe. Ed

[USNCop]

Welcome to the '57 Club Bryan.
The rifle already has a bit of weight to it already.  I humbly recommend the Tasco 3-9x32A/O
like Longislandhunter uses.  The Leapers is heavier, I have one on my B26.
The Tasco is lighter and IIRC a bit longer.  The extra length helps on that bullpup design.
Some people really like the Leapers and so far my 3-9 is holding up.  But there have been alot
of posts regarding problems and Leapers' "warranty."
My 4 power Leapers bit the dust on my QB57 after just 6 mo. of careful use.
All I feel I should have to pay for is shipping to Leapers, not the 'processing fee de-shour.'
Rant over, just felt compelled to tell you.  

[dank]

Awe Brian, wait till you shoot it.
Not sure if I ever told you guys this but a friend of mine, who's opinion I respect and has been airgunning a lot longer than I, tried very hard  on a few occasions, to talk me out of buying my first 57.
Certain that he was confusing it with that other gun I went ahead and ordered it.
Sometimes we don't see each other for a couple of weeks but usually stay in touch by e-mail and he of course thought I was exaggerating when I wrote highly of the gun.
I knew he started to take me serious when he asked if I thought it was that good ? After I wrote him I was ordering a 2nd in .22
He finally got to shoot it. He kept repeating "Dam",  
"I must of been thinking of that other gun" and
"How much did you pay for this?"
He of course now owns one!!
I have scoped both with 3-9x40's One Tasco and the other an Nc-Star. I like the 3.5" eye relief of the Tasco better than the 3" of the Nc.
If you want a scope that doesn't out price the gun I've been impressed by the clarity of Daisy's 3-9x32 walmart scope.

Thanks guys! I got home this evening with just enough light left to put about 2 Tomahawks through it using the open sights. I didn't have any paper targets set up so I shot at a leaf in the pond offhand about 35 yards away. It hit pretty close to my point of aim without touching a thing on the sights. One thing I did notice is the first time I tried to cock it, the piston wouldn't catch till I manually pushed the trigger forward; same for the second shot, which means I'm gonna have to go into it to lube up the trigger and/or linkage so the return spring can pull everything into place like its supposed to.

Troy, I may just pull the Tasco GA off of my 440 to put on the -57, and stick the Leapers on the 440 since it can handle a little more weight and as you say, the QB already has some heft to it. But first I may try Dan's suggestion of using the Powerline 3-9 which I never did mount to my Daisy 1000S and has been sitting in the drawer with nuttin' to do.

This take-apart gun with its attache case makes me feel like a double-nought spy ;~D

And thanks again for all the info everyone has posted on the -57. Ain't this a great place to be?!?!

Bryan

[r1derbike]

BakonAir said: "So far, I'm really pleased with the feel of it (that metal sure is cold on the cheek" ;~)

r1derbike said: "Ahah! Another lefty in the house!"

EDIT: Don't forget to pull the cocking lever out slightly, then tighten the barrel ring fully!

Charles

[longislandhunter]

That's true about the cocking lever,,,, lets you really tighten that barrel ring fully.....

Jeff

[r1derbike]

LIH, I'm curious; is the squirrel in your avatar still, well, living? :-}

Charles

Well, even though I can manage some things just as well left-handed as right (sweeping the floor, shoveling, hammering), I'm pretty much right-handed. The exposed receiver tube was just as cold as the cocking lever ;~) I always figured I could probably shoot either way just as well (or just as badly) since neither of my eyes ever tended to be strongly dominant, but over the last couple years, the vision in my left eye has been getting noticeably weaker than my right eye. That means two things- I'm a right-handed shooter and I'd better get off my hind-parts and go see the eye doctor one of these days about getting fitted for glasses. Did I ever tell you I can procrastinate with the best of them (another thing I do just as well left-handed ;~)?

Also, one of the first things I remember being written by you guys on the QB57 was about pulling the cocking lever out to tighten the barrel nut fully; that bit of info did seem to stick in my pea-brain at least- LOL!

I'm looking forward to working with it this weekend.

Bryan

I had a little time yesterday eve to play around with my -57. I ran a dozen Goo-Gone patches through the bore followed by a couple or three dry ones, then took the stock off of the back end to see what might be causing the trigger sticking. It was pretty obvious looking down from the top at the area right behind the opening for the trigger. There was a shiny 1/2" long x 1/16" wide track pressed into the wood extending from the back of the opening where the trigger linkage rod had been rubbing- that's some pretty rough routing they've got in these things. I doubt it would pass muster at Mike's or Martin's or Dano's or etc. shops.

It was easy enough just to grab a small gouge and hog out a little shallow trough so there won't be any contact between stock and rod. I also used a little lighter fluid to clean rest of the junk off of the finish, which reminds me of old surplus military rifle stocks. Once I got it back together, I had enough light outside to take a few shots. The trigger had no sticking problems at all, and actually didn't feel too bad considering I haven't done any honeing, smoothing or lubing. Still with open sights, it was hitting close to where I was aiming both at 15 yds and 40 yds. It's supposed to be pretty nice around here tomorrow, so I'll try setting up some targets and a bench to see what she'll do. Maybe stick a scope on her.

One more question regarding the locking ring. With the cocking lever and the breech block fully open, and the ring tightened down as far as it will without using pliers, there's a tiny bit of play where I can twist (ever so slightly) the barrel in the receiver. When the lever and breech are closed, I don't feel any play, I guess due to the fact that the breech block is locked up against the loading port/back of the barrel. Is that slight play normal for other's QB57's while loading?

As I say, I don't think it should affect anything when it's all buttoned up and closed, but I'm a little curious.

Thanks,

Bryan

[daveshoot]

I just received two identical QB57 in .22 last night. One will be a present, one for me.    I guess I will keep the one with the big nicks in the stock.

I noticed exactly the same thing about the barrel assembly twisting... seems like I am not getting those suckers seated all the way or something. I did open the cocking levers and retighten but it is still not as snug as I thought it should be. Both are the same way.

I haven't fully disassembled yet, but Goo-Goned the barrel and degreased all the outsides.

Maybe a more thorough de-gunking will help, and a check of the threads. It was pretty late when I finished cleaning them up.

Will take any pointers at this stage, but I reckon I will need to launch at least a little lead tonight.

It's hell having twins!

Me too. I thought it was the forend screws that were loose on mine, and they were, but that wasn't the whole problem. I ended up tightening up the the locking ring ever so slightly with a padded pair of pliers, while holding the cocking lever back. Then I tested it with some RWS super domes. They went into one ragged hole with one shot opening the group to about 3/8" at 10 meters , for a five shot group. Before that ,the groups were around 5/8" at best and the POI would wander.  All groups were shot with the cheap little scope that came with the gun.I'm thinking a good thing to have along with this gun, is one of those padded channel locks (or a similar tool) like Brownell's sells to tighten down shotgun barrel nuts. I won't be taking mine down a lot.  It's just like my scoped, pump shotgun which will change POI  slightly with slugs when you take off the barrel to clean  it or change to another. I don't take that down either until the season is over, then I have to check the sighting before I'm going to hunt with it. Another thing I learned about this gun was that I could shoot Beeman perfect rounds in it. They group around 3/4" to an 1" at 15 yards or so. Every other .177 I've tried with these, has them just rolling out the barrel. They are fast to load in the QB-57, without  looking. Also mine really likes the RWS super domes, and Gamo hunters.

[longislandhunter]

I used a padded pair of pliers also on both of my 57's to get that extra little bit tightened and so far haven't had any problems.....

Jeff