I've had a growing interest in 10m target shooting over the past year or so. I'm not quite ready to jump in with both feet and invest in a high end 10m rifle such as a Feinwerkbau, Anschutz, Walther, etc. I decided that a good start would be a moderate cost CO2 rifle. Having done business with Mike Melick of Flying Dragon Rifles in the past, I knew there was no better place to go for a tuned QB rifle. I asked Mike to build me a AR2078A, tuned for 10m shooting.
The AR2078A is the target version of the QB78 series CO2 rifles. The AR2078A has the heavier target stock with a near verticle pistol grip and full, squared off forend. The barrel is 1mm larger in diameter than the sporter QBs, with a front barrel weight affixed. The rifle has a two stage, adjustable trigger. The rifle comes with a tunnel front sight that accepts interchangeable inserts and a diopter peep rear sight. The rifle also comes from the factory with a conventional receiver mount, blade type rear sight. The receiver itself is dovetailed with 11mm grooves and the AR has a sight rail attached to the rear receiver grooves. The rifle also comes with a bulk fill end cap for the gas tube and a bulk fill hose. Another accessory that comes with the rifle is a degassing key for the receiver that dumps CO2 without having to shoot the rifle empty, this is a neat feature on the AR and QB79s that I have used several times. The rifle is listed at 8.8 lbs, I think this is a bit high, I would guess this is about 1 lb. too high. I weighed my rifle on my decidedly uncalibrated bathrrom scale at 7.5 lbs. The listed length is 38.2." The length of pull is about 13" from the factory. This is a bit short for an average sized adult, it certainly was for me, (easy to address, more in a bit).
Mike tuned the rifle for me and was really good about E-mail communication on his progress and the rifle's performance. Mike did his magic on the trigger, gas port and valve, recrowned the barrel. Mike reported to me that he chronied the rilfe at about 610 fps (612,613,617,614,610,611,611,611,613,615). He found the rifle shot best at this velocity, and you can see the standard deviation in velocity is very impressive.
Build quality is the typical Chinese mix of QC. Stock finish is a bit uneven it a few spots and there was a bit of excess varnish in places, this cleaned up very easily. The bluing is a decent, even satin blue on the barrel and gas tube. Metal finish is middle of the road Chinese. The one aperture front sight insert was drilled a bit off center, but was useable. I fixed this issue by ordering a set of Lyman front sight inserts (Lyman Mod. 20 and 93 sight insert set, standard 18mm Anschutz size). The Lyman inserts are just a tad larger in diameter than the Chinese insert, but do work well and are of much better quality. The rear sight is a Chinese copy of the standard German Weihrauch, Walther type older diopter sight. The sight is all steel construction, with 1 MOA adjustment for elevation and windage. A pleated rubber eye shade is supplied for the rear aperture.
I have got about 250 +- pellets through the rifle now and continue to be more and more pleased with the performance of this very moderate priced target rifle. The trigger is very smooth, has a longish, light first stage, and a good second stage that breaks at about 1-1.5 lbs. I started out shooting Gamo Match, 7.5gr wadcutters when I received the gun, this was all I had on hand at the time. The rifle shoots quite well with the Gamos, consistently shooting ragged one hole, 5 shots groups. The best group I got with the Gamos was .220", measured to the outside. I have since received a lot of RWS R10 heavies, 8.2 gr wadcutters and this rifle really likes these. Best 5 shot group so far measures .210" to the outside, four pellets in one .177" hole and a flier (my fault). These groups were shot from an informal bench rest, rifle forestock in my cupped hand on the rest, rifle butt unsupported on my shoulder. The shot groups are pictured below. I have a lot of work to do on my 10m standing stance, but this rilfe encourages me to practice.
As I mentioned previously, the length of pull is a bit short at 13." I remedied this by ordering an Archer Air Guns stock extender kit. The kit is a simple, elegant fix. It uses polymer extender tubes and longer butt screws. The kit comes with extender tubes to alter length of pull by 1" or 1.5." I found the 1" extension to work just fine.
All in all, I'm very pleased with this little CO2 rifle. I would highly recommend this rilfe for anyone that wants an informal target gun, a really low effort plinker, or a great platform for a minisiping rifle. The rifle is easily scoped and would make for a good backyard pest gun at 20-30 yard ranges. My thanks to Mike Melick for a really nice rifle. As many already know, Mike is the "go to guy" for QB series rifles.
Pics below of the rifle and 5 shot groups (Gamo on the left, RWS on the right):
