Turkish Tempests

[zooma]

Tonight at RMTC I was lucky to gain the assistance of Graham and Phil to help me put some lead down the barrel of the .177 Turkish Tempest (TT) so we could compare it against my well-run in .177 British Tempest ( BT).

Between the three of us ( and without giving away any age details other than my own) we could easily call on well over 100 years worth or target air pistol shooting experience - seen - done it - got the T shirt Not a bunch of Muppets but a determined group of three that really wanted to put this much discussed topic to the test.

The TT started as being a nasty tight little pistol that was hard to cock - but felt nice and taut when fired. We were all of the opinion that if this pistol had been shot at all then there was no evidence of it to be seen or felt - it was in effect tight, dieseling, and to all intents and purpose's new! The BT in comparison was much easier to cock and felt a lot smoother.

Cocking the TT pistol was heavy going, but after we had all had several rounds of shots it came around to my turn to apply the muscle again and I noticed when returning the barrel to the closed position that it required almost as much effort as it did when cocking it !

Fortunately Graham had a spray can of a certain gun oil with him so the linkages and the barrel stirrup were given a spray to see if that would help - and it did ! After just a few shots more the pistol became much easier to cock and the barrel returned to the closed position without too much resistance at all - big change.

Now shooting it was a lot less work and we actually began to enjoy it and started adjusting the sights until we found a position that ( surprisingly) suited us all.

We were aiming at a RedRob bell target and constantly painted the surface so we could keep a close eye on the groupings we were all achieving with both of the Tempest pistols.

Graham started the bell ringing and then Phil and I followed. Now the groupings were getting nice and tight around the bull with the TT - apart from the odd "called" flyer.

The start of the night when the TT pistol was so hard to cock had taken it's toll on all three of us as the night wore on - but now we were beginning to enjoy it and also adjusted the sights on the BT as well......and a .177 Senior that I had picked up earlier today

The results of our sustained Webley shoot-out was shocking as the Turkish Tempest not only produced the tightest groups, but also had a better trigger than the British Tempest...and just to really put the boot in, it also blew away the Senior as well

To compensate for the shock defeat of the British made products we all agreed that the shiny plastic front guard on the TT did not look very good against the matt black body and matt black grip - even though the finish of it was actually better than the BT.

As we evaluated the results of our full and exhaustive evenings testing we had to conclude that the TT was the most accurate of the pistols tested by consistently producing the tightest groups, it also had the nicest trigger and the best finish.

Neither of the Tempest pistols had been adjusted or "improved" in any way and both started the night being shot with Eley Wasp pellets before we switched to HOBBY as the control pellet for most of the shooting and all of the comparative testing.

The Senior did not get anything like as much shooting as the Tempests because it was not really part of the test, but it did feel very nice and smooth to cock and close, and the trigger was the lightest of the three Webleys we were shooting - but the groups were the worst by some margin (!) so at the end of the night Dr Graham took it away with him to see if he could do anything to improve it by the next time we meet.

This result was NOT what we expected, and since we all admire the fine British craftsmanship we enjoy to see and feel on the "proper" steel Webley pistols it was not the result we really wanted to see either - but it was what we found during this concentrated test

..but we will be back with the .177 Senior following it's medical, and hopefully with my "F" type mint Premier ( as soon as I can find a .177 barrel for it) so we can see if we can get any closer to the Turkish Tempest's very surprising victory results !