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PCP - HPA - C02 Gate => PCP DarkSiders Forum => : DanoInTx April 07, 2008, 02:36:04 PM
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Got home from work today at 15 past 5p.m.. First check was the front porch, then the usual mailbox check, then when all were empty with my head hung low I went inside. Nope, no gun there either:( My mail comes around 11a.m., so I would have to wait till tomorrow. So then I was in the kitchen and thought I heard a truck. I wandered out the garage door and there it was, the mail truck! Got a new mail lady, apparently I am late on the route now instead of early. Brought the box in and unpacked the new PCP. First thing I noticed is that the B51 stock actually was designed to fit a human instead of an ape like the B50 stock, the LOP feels shorter, and the grip area doesn't leave your fingers dangling looking for the trigger. Haven't actually measured the LOP, so I may be wrong, but this stock definately feels better. Spent the next 30 minutes or so getting my new scope mounted up on her. Picked up another Centerpoint 4x16x40AO from Wally World last month, and roosted it on top of some Accushot medium rings. The scope just fits on these rings, but the objective scope cap doesn't fit, so I chopped it up a little to make it work. Put it on the pump and took it up to 2000 psi. Ed tuned this gun for a good shot count, in the 850-900fps range with Crosman Heavies (10.5 grain) and a low fill pressure. I also had him install a de-pinger during the tune to get rid of that annoying PCP "ting!" sound they make. Once I got her all scoped up, pumped up, and ready to go I went out to my little 13 yard backyard range to sight her in. I don't know what all Ed does during his tune, I know he changes the hammer spring as part of it to conserve air and make a better shot curve, but in the process without wasting all of that air, the gun gets REALLY quiet! There is more noise from my pellet hitting the trap than the gun makes, and I shoot into duct seal....it's really quiet. Took me a few shots just to get it on paper, it was shooting really far to the left. I finally got it zeroed and that was a good thing because I was completely out of windage adjustment. Anyone who knows the BAM PCP's knows that they have a habit of losing zero after a good thump on the muzzle end, well courtesy of the USPS mine must have gotten a good thump. 2 minutes with an allen wrench and I had the barrel band loosened, the barrel pushed back on center, and retightened. Took it out for another sight in. ONE HOLE GROUPS!!!! This is with a factory barrel that has been recrowned by Ed on the lathe. Of course the real accuracy tests will happen when I can get some long distance shooting, but overall I am very happy with my new shootin' iron. Ed was really good about building my gun the way I wanted it and I would gladly do business with him again. I think the turnaround time was right at about 2 weeks, and that is really good considering Ed was down sick for a few days,....I honestly don't think my last purchase from Best Airgun went as fast, and that was with no tune.
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Sounds like you got a good one this time Dan . I've considered a Bam B51 from Big Ed a couple of times. Just hadn't got around to it yet . Hey, by the time I save up enough money , I can probably buy yours. hehehe . Good luck with her Dan. Welcome back to the dark side !!! LOL kirby
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Congrat's Airbud and were looking foward to some great pic's and your complete review of her. Ed
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Congratulations I will be looking for your review on it in the future. I kind of wish I would nave known about his tunes a little sooner . I was considering a B 51 myself when I ordered my Discovery last week. But the cost and what I thought was a fill of 2700 psi turned me the other way. But that thumb hole stock sure would be nice on my Discovery which will be here on the 10th. There is a reason for every thing and since I did not here about the lower fill rate untill Saturday and my Discovery was on the way it just was not meant to be this time . Marvin
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Cool Dan,I`m sure your gonna love it!
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Wait till DaveD hears all about your new baby Dano..:) He will be jealous for sure.. hehe I hate to bring this up Dano but can you give me a PM and let me know approximately when you will be putting it on the chopping block? I need to know in order adjust my budget in order to have enough money to buy it from you.... hehehehe
Congratulations Dano and I hope this one is a keeper for you..:)
Gene
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Congrats Dano, sounds like BigEd worked some voodoo to get the curse off of this one. I think you'll be surprised if you measure the LOP. On the couple of t-hole I have made, a 14-1/2" LOP feels much shorter than the same LOP on a sporter style stock.
Mike
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Nopers, just measured it, 14 1/2" on the B51 compared to IIRC 16" on the B50. The B50 has an almost unusable stock IMHO. I am a decent sized guy with rather long fingers and the dang thing was uncomfortable to shoot prior to chopping a little over an inch off of the buttstock, straightening the trigger blade and reshaping the grip area.....and then it was still uncomfortable, but shootable.
I'm pretty happy with the gun so far, but I am already seeing Bondo through the thick poly coating, you can actually feel warbles in the grip area where they filled it, then failed to sand it smooth. Outside of the stock Bondo, the rest of the fit and finish on the gun is exceptional. I hate to say it, but with a couple tweaks this could really give the Euro guns a serious run for their money. Hehe, if they stuck Big Ed at the end of the assembly line and paid him $100 a gun they could sell them for $200 more and people would buy them I am sure. Ed's tune was well worth the extra few bucks I spent compared to one off the shelf from Xisico, if I had done a little research when I bought my B50 I may even still have it. Voodoo is right, we could even call it "Taming the Air Gods".
Danged new job, too tired to shoot:(
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Oh well, I know the B-3 t-hole stock I'm playing with is 14-1/2", but feels like 12"LOL. I'll get it finished one day and get it off to John, so you can see. When you refinish the stock try a light stain, I did a B-3 stock full of bondo and it turned out great. Mike
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Ed does make them nice and they really do have pretty decent barrels except for the factory using a counter sunk wood bit or such for crowning,LOL. I would totally agree on the B50 stock being TOO long for darn near anyone, just swaping to a custom thumbhole stock added 25% to my FT scores. I would still like to get the trigger down a little lower but it works well at 8-9 ounces.
For the DIY folks who might want a B50/51 you all just need to click over to the yech page and download ChrisK's Bam "BOOK" that and a hammer spring will get you going though you may still need to re-crown it and I really like crowns cut on a lathe.
Enjoy your new rig.
John
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It`s in the library here,John
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Thanks John, I like it alot! The B50 wasn't a bad shooter once I got that lighter hammer spring from you, but I never did track down that danged leak and finally got tired of pumping it from zero everytime I shot it. The Big Ed B51 is in a completely different class than the B50 I had, it is just sweeeet!
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Told ya so..... :emoticon:
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Dano, I thought you weren't going to waste your time with another Chinese PCP?
You DO know that they recently invented this thing called the scuba tank, don't you?(hehehehe)
I bought my tank, for 60 bucks-filled, used, from my local scuba shop. It's a 50 cubic foot tank. Lighter than an 80 cf or bigger, and still holds plenty of air for shooting. Bought my refill clamp there, also, for about the same price. I need to do a tune on mine, and start shooting it again. I straightened the trigger blade, and adjusted the trigger. I'm thinking of cutting off the recoil (?) pad right in front of the ventilated part, so it's just a 1/4" rubber butt plate.
I have a BSA 4-16 scope, with green illuminated dot reticle, installed on it that I need to sight in.
I would like to install a heavier, LW barrel on it. I may recrown the factory barrel in my minilathe.
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BTW, Dano, I hope you don't take offense at me yanking ya a little on you coming back to the BAM PCP. I really am glad to hear that you bought another. I think the reason the thumbhole stock feels better than the regular stock is because the configuration of the wrist/grip is different, and puts your hand closer to the trigger. I only wish it would fit a southpaw like me.
I can't complain, though. My stock looks fantastic, except for the dents/dings it's received as a result of going tree rat hunting with me. My B30-1, and B40 stocks have suffered the same fate.
The good news is that when you steam out the dents in this chinese wood, it changes the appearance of the grain at the location of the former dent. That, of course, adds a little figure and character to the stock. I'm honestly torn between tung oil and bedliner for the finish on my B50 stock. My B40 needs to have some comb mods for my lefthanded comfort, so it'll get a good tung oil or teak oil finish. The B30-1, I may leave alone for now, but when I do refinish it, I think I'll go with an oil finish on it, too. Same goes for my fast deer, and one of my B3 underlevers. Now, my QB57, AR2078, and QB79, will probably get bedliner.
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Yes, I know about SCUBA tanks, hehe.... Problem I have is that if I am going to invest in a tank I am going to need one that is at a higher than 3000psi pressure because I have other guns that like 3000psi fills. If I start at 3000psi then every fill will top my guns off lower and lower. Doubt I'll find a 4500psi tank for $60, then finding a shop that will fill it is another story, don't think there is much SCUBA diving going on here up by the Texas Oklahoma border, but I could be wrong, maybe people dive murky chemical filled Lake Worth? I agree pumping is not my favorite activity, but driving to a shop and paying to get a tank filled doesn't sound like a bunch of fun either. Nope, I'll stick to my old pump, just now I own guns that will stay filled between shooting sessions.
Wasn't gonna buy another Chicom gun, but then I started hearing of all of the wonderful things Big Ed was able to do with these things so I hadto give it a shot(pun intended). I figured if I got one done by a guy who knows how to do them right, well there shouldn't be anything to complain about...and if I still had complaints I could definitively say that I would never buy another. The B50 I owned wasn't a terrible shooter once I got it shooting, it was just by the time I had it shooting ok I was tired of messing with it....and it still leaked! This gun is like Night vs. Day compared to the B50 I owned, and I say that is how it is because of Ed's work...I would never buy another out of the box without a tune, I just don't have enough hair left to pull out:)
Shot it somemore yesterday afternoon. I just can't miss, one tiny hole, all day long, until boredom sets in. I need to take it out for some long distance shooting now, then I can really see how it performs, which I suspect will be great. It's tuned to shoot right at about the same speed as my friends AA S410 Classic, but in .177 with a heavy 10.5 pellet, his is .22 at the same speed with an average 14+ grainer...should sling it out there pretty good I reckon:)
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The LOP on the B51 is actually shorter than the B50, by almost 1 1/2". I agree what you say though about the ergos on the grip helping a little also, you need 10" long really skinny fingers to shoot the B50 without modification, and after modification you still need 9 1/2" fingers:)
Yank me about my purchases all ya want, I buy and sell so fast I don't have time to be offended...hehe!
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Speaking of buying and selling, put me on the list for when you get tired of the B51 :-)! I'm still not sure I'd have traded off the 50 if I'd gotten the t-hole stock in first, that thing really felt good. Still, it's pretty nice having 2 Talons, so I guess it all evens out. Later.
Dave
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HEHEHE....
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I wonder how much BigEd charges to tune a customer's B50. As much as I'd like to do it myself, I just don't have the time.
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Looks like $25 plus shipping both ways:
http://www.bigedmachining.com/
Check it out!
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Jaymo - 4/14/2008 6:10 PM
As much as I'd like to do it myself, I just don't have the time.
If you need your barrel crowned you may need someone else to help out but for a basic tune on the Bam you are looking at five minutes time.
Change the hammer spring, set the trigger and "maybe" the transfer port. five minutes work with the wrenchs it came with and Ed will sell you the spring.
http://www.klickcue.com/air_rifle/b50_51/technical_details_for_adjusting_the_bam_b50_51.pdf gives you a lot more than you need to know.
Stock except for the hammer spring change in .22 with a 2000psi fill will give you 865fps w/14.3g pellets.
John
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Mine chronographed at 867 fps with 14.3 gr CPHPs . It's bone stock, except for straightening and adjusting the trigger.
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My first B50 .177 would launch a standard weight pellet at well past the speed of sound, but accuracy was terrible at that speed. When the FPS dropped quite a bit, then it would group rather well. The problem with the stock spring out of the box was that the FPS curve was more like a straight downward ramp, possibly good for hunting where you only shoot a few shots during an outing, but not good for the long distance plinking I enjoy. There were a dozen or so shots though that were real good in the accuracy department, then the POI would start to drop. I'm pretty happy with sacrificing a bunch of top end grunt for many more accurate shots. Still haven't chronied my new one, usually dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home these days:( When I have had some time to put a few shots through it I have been very pleased with shot count and consistant grouping, but then I still have yet to take it out for a long range spin....so we shall see!
My next step is to make a better trigger blade at work. Ed straightened this one out, but it still feels like a cheap cast brass piece to me that doesn't match the quality of the rest of the gun. Not yet sure if I'll make a whole new piece, or just lop the blade off of the stock piece and just make a new blade. Maybe just reshape the current blade and add a shoe.......huhm, fun to find out what I do:)