El-cheapo Artemis PR-900 - the mule

[T 20]

Ouch!
Had no idea, sorry!
Should i delete the thread?

..and thank you

No need to apologise or delete anything --- please continue.




All the best Mick

[Racing]

Well then, thx lads.

@ Eyebull.
The concept of SSG is simple after all and seeing the build the Artemis PR-900/Diana Stormrider is it at least to me came out as the obvious solution.
Point being that it hands adjustability, and more so in the right spot.
"Air hogs" are no fun at all, and setting a SSG up to minimize hammer bounce and the likes certainly IS doable. Best thing since sliced bread? Far from it, but as noted the 900 lacks provision for anything more elaborate really.
That would, in such a case, bring a complete redesign of the rifles rear me thinks.

Yes. The application of a SSG in this case really does save the day, at least to an extent. No matter the power level of a PR-900 the size of the stock tank isn´t exactly anything to write home about why every little bit helps.
In fact making such a setup work for a sub 12 footpound setup would in my book be a viable thought no doubt. Seeing that very limited 100cc capacity..
In the case of the mule though i´m giving serious thought to a buddy bottle with a regulator. Reasons i guess are clear enough, but again.. might very well be something to at least ponder for sub 12 guns too.?

One thing that has struck me like a ton of bricks with these Artemis offerings (currently die hard into a P15) is their weight. Other end of the spectre there´s guns like the Hatsan BT-65 and what not, that thus in my opinion fail to realize on what the PCP concept, for lack of better wording, brings.
Love that about the PR-900 and P15 both, that they´re feather light.
Enter buddy bottle, because as i stripped the stock of the 900 of its original finish and revealed that wonderful piece of lumber beneath it about blew my sox off.
After all, this is an el-cheapo PCP gun if ever but to be quite candid that there changed face of the thing. Looks, but more importantly FEELS, lika a million bux in comparsion.
The P15?
We´ll see..

That said them "kilos not there" sure makes for a difference touting the thing around, which i guess to an extent is my point in case. Ditto for the P15.
I own a BT-65 as well and.. well, let´s just arrive on that it at the moment is the LEAST used PCP gun of mine. No matter who´s to shoot it.

One point where the P15 brings home all the marbles vs the 900 (and the BT too for that matter) is its side lever setup. Spoiled, to a degree at least, by the Impact of mine. So. To be clear on that.. sidelevers from hereon out.

Looking into getting me yet another PCP at the moment actually and have given thought to a semi auto Kral in 25cal. A tad curious as far as the semis, being all to aware of the full auto ones too that are completely off the charts IMO. Yanks and their fabless for anything full auto.. I don´t care.
Like Townsend Wheelen once said, "only interesting guns are accurate guns as the idea of shooting is to hit what you´re aiming at".
Indeed.
Not like i would ever even consider going full auto on anything alive.. so BS to me.

Repeaters and semis though, different matter all together.

[Shed tuner]

nice work.

I too have no problem working on cheap PCPs, and agree with you, it's more about fit and tolerances than inherent design / component quality (although some materials can be poor). The Krals, for example, are a great platform to build on.

One question however - do you not think that 80 Joules is a bit excessive for shooting rats ? Or are you a very long way away ?

And the ergonomics of that massive t-handle bolt.... no comment !

[eyebull]

One question however - do you not think that 80 Joules is a bit excessive for shooting rats ? Or are you a very long way away ?

I'm envisioning those pest control sessions going a bit like this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KSfsE9FiCto

[Shed tuner]

...the PR-900 "Vapouriser"

[T 20]

One question however - do you not think that 80 Joules is a bit excessive for shooting rats ? Or are you a very long way away ? !

Strangely, Jon.

The Swedish Government don't seem to want anyone shooting vermin with an Air rifle under 12ftlbs, whereas our Government believes that 12ftlbs is more than adequate to shoot vermin. :-


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All the best Mick

[Shed tuner]

Strangely, Jon.

The Swedish Government don't seem to want anyone shooting vermin with an Air rifle under 12ftlbs, whereas our Government believes that 12ftlbs is more than adequate to shoot vermin. :-


image.jpg



All the best Mick

yeah I saw that - their minimum looks around 16 J / 12FP - whivh is pretty reasonable really. But 60 FP for a rat

[MartynB]

. But 60 FP for a rat

Won't be much of it left

[Tony.T]

Great thread!

I bought a PR900 a couple of weeks ago off here and I'm in the throes of fitting a reg and setting it up. Great little rifles if anyone is thinking of going in this direction- good for learning about pcp's.

Anyone fitted an Altaros reg to one? Any handy hints?

[Born Again]

yeah I saw that - their minimum looks around 16 J / 12FP - whivh is pretty reasonable really. But 60 FP for a rat

I shoot rats with rimfire, .22 subsonics at 99fpe. There is a much bigger margin for error than with 12fpe, just aim centre of mass and it's dead on the spot.

[Racing]

LOL.
Keep your pants on guys!....

@Born again.
I hear you. No offense but i presume hunting in general is "bigger" around here than in Britain. Like 1000lbs moose for instance, bears, lynx, wolfes and what not. Coupled with like a zillion wild boars, fox, deer, rough deer and so on and so on and so on....
Thing is, our law states that prey is divided into one of 4 classes. Class 1 is obviously "tough" and large game. Like moose, bear and so on. Class 2 is rough deer and the likes. Class three is where you´ll find beaver, mink and so on and in turn class 4 is all the little ones. Including rats.

Thing is that class 4 states that the rifle used must be CAPABLE of a 150J minimum and you´re not allowed to hunt any class 4 prey down with anything less. Say WUT? You need 150J to shoot a mouse?!? Yes.

Mark the words hunt down, cause keeping your dwelling free of rodents for instance is a different matter.. that´s one of a number of exceptions to the law that to this day states 22cal minimum and 180m/s.
Not one yota about pill weight. Nothing. Just 22cal and 180m/s minimum.

You know and i know that 20J suffice for this, and then some. However, like Born again here says putting them down with a 25cal Impact at 100J.. one hit. No movement no nothing and INDEED as the Impact is a rather accurate piece of kit.. you´re correct.
A 25cal for instance H&N "Grizzly" of 31 grains or a 34 grain JSB "Knock out" (both hollwpoint slugs) will decapitate the damn rat when you pull a head shot. Literally. There´s to the letter no head left.
Do it for the sport of it on occasion, because i can . From an ethics point of view, please don´t get me wrong here, putting them down with a dead silent Impact like that.. dispatch of them is sure fire. Rats, as you all know, are rather "soft" targets and TBH as you hit them basically anywhere with that 25cal slug travelling at 900fps and up.. they´re stone cold dead. On impact.
No "nerves make the thing jump around", no nothing, it is to the letter dead in its tracks. End of story.

When i HUNT (as in prey to put meat on the table and to fill the freezer) it´s a different matter all together. Wild boar for instance is a class 1 animal to us. Ie; use a 308Win or similar at a minimum.
That said being VERY well aware that with a PCP gun as accurate as my Impact (other ones are too to be quite honest) and at 120J.. put that hollowpoint pill just behind the ear of that hog and what happens is instant tilt. Knock out. It just freezes up completely and falls over. Dead as a doornail, right there.

That.. with a 25cal PCP. Deadly accurate and deadly silent. If you ask me, a win/win if ever.
But. The law is the law and indeed it works different in different countries i guess
For the sake of argument.. Got my shop on the absolute ledge of an industrial area. Closest neighbour is a smaller piece of forrest. This means, to the letter, that we´ve got wildlife around the shop you won´t believe. It´s the house and then like 500 square meters of lot. I´ve had moose, often so, at a distance of like 5 meters from the windows. We´ve had wolf tracks around the house (clear to see them massive paw prints in the snow). I´ve had a rough deer buck scare the living crap out of me as i put the key in the lock to open the shop up and that thing was at rest like 2 meters away from me in the high grass. Jumped straight up like a meter into the air before taking off like a bat out of hell!

Wild boar in turn is a downright ISSUE and within that industrial area alone we´ve got 4 packs, where none of them are of less that 13 pigs. The destroy everything in their path, gardens close by annihilated. What´s more they´re rather aggressive and "turf minded" too. Ie; not something you walk over to pet, and just imagine that.. a pack of 13-35 pigs grunting away in the dark maybe 10 meters out as you walk for your car.


PCP´s then.
Take that Artemis P15 i´m working on die hard ATM. As i got it, adjusted to a meek 10J and barely that, i fired away all in all one clip.

Like i said, you guys in Britain are EONS ahead of us up here when it comes to the use of PCP´s. No two ways about that. But.. again, it works a little different around here.
Poaching is about non existent, apart from the occasional moose or two up north. PCP´s are "limited" to 10J but noone cares, they´re "just" air rifles and are thus sold sans any and all tampering devices.
Ie; a brand new in the box PCP of any form of quality, just lift it out of the box and adjust the hammer spring. All needed..
For those lacking a drill press or a lathe, "full on" transfer ports are sold over the counter everywhere you find air guns. Ditto for springs for springers or rams for gas ram guns.
What this brings is that in essence ALL PCP guns around here are "tuned" to greater or lesser extent. A completely die hard stock one would be a one in a million kind of deal.

So.
Were i to move by the law here i would HAVE to bring the Anschutz 22LR out. Issue is that a silencer for that (in contrast to a moderator for a PCP gun) is under permit, still.
It has been ruled that permits for silencers for rifles are to be let free.. just.. politics. But our Riksdag has ruled so a few yrs back. That brings that according to the law if i were to hunt the damn rats down i would have to do so with a 22LR rifle at a bare minimum. From a practical point of view though that would bring that i´d have "your" SAS boys at the front door of the shop in 3mins flat. A non muffled 22LR is sure loud enough.
A silencer for a 308 Winchester though, no worries what so ever. For those that believe it´ll turn the thing quiet, think again. The silencer will remove a lot of the felt recoil and from a sound perspective basically keep you from going deaf. But that´s about it. Super sonic ammo for you..

A PCP though, with a shroud and a moderator, as you are very well aware sounds of.. nothing. Thus i can dispatch of them rats to hearts content and noone cares.
Am i allowed? Yes, as it´s within my own dwelling. That brings, could i move under the same rule at my friends house him not present? No, cause that would be me hunting them down = 150J minimum and out the Anschutz comes...
Then? Is it alright to bring the PCP to a friends house with him PRESENT and go at it? Yep. As long as he´s there it doesn´t have to be him doing the shooting.

Moronic?
Might be, but rats and the likes pests are not really considered hunting per se and i guess due that the "rifle demands" have been set at a level that IS moronic.
You know it, i know it. But.. as stated.

That Artemis P15 in 22cal. All i did was turn the hammer spring adjuster and the thing spat out 25,4 grain JSB slugs @720fps. Ie; approx 40J. Just to get a "feel" for the thing i took it pesting (rats). Is there a difference in terminal performance on rats between a 40J gun and a 100J one? No doubt, yes.
From what i´ve seen them slugs start to expand for real as you approach approx 850-900fps.
That is however NOT the same as stating that it is needed! A rat will no doubt fall over dead from a regular el-cheapo pellet of X amount of grains from a 177 gun too. No argument there.
What i´m saying is that to benefit the real virtues of them slugs it takes a bit of speed on the pill.. To go test on it so to say.


But to toss and turn fellow shooters alike, from what i´ve seen on YT... what i´ve read up and so on you guys go at it with even 177 guns? That and a very popular pill is the Hades and the Barracuda?
I´ve tried, on occasion, using regular pellets like the 33,95 grain JSB heavy monsters and then leaving at like 850 or so. IME they basically just pass through and leave like a stamped hole? No expansion what so ever, or.. very little at least.

I´m kind of curious of that there you Brits pull off and have understood that you use these 12lbs rifles on rabbits, foxes and so forth as well? Where´s the limit at in Britain? Thinking larger prey.



As for the Impact i´ve been using an older ATN Aries for a while. Distances are limited after all but.. as late as tonight i picked a used Pard 008LRF up and installed it.
Big difference. Fact is all of the PCP´s sport some sort of night sight by now. From el-cheapo Asian ripp off deals with a screen to a Yukon to an ATN to a Pard.
All of them "work" from that regard i guess and in turn all of them have dedicated high power scopes to boot. But IR sure do make for a difference when talking rats..

On that note..



Can for the Impact. Have seen like 10 iterations by now and as is, it´s an "old" Mk1 Impact in 25cal as stated, i´m happy with it. It´s the one that sees the LEAST attention for the time being, i just pick it up and shoot it. Sorts.
The others are all in some state of "development" though. This Artemis PR-900 in turn, to be all candid never had i believed. Really.
Which is what inspired me to pick a P15 up and do that one, which i´m head over heels into right now. Thought i´d put a post up on that one too as it progress, but will do so sans the "power mods" i guess. LOL.
Pity as it is a somewhat.. "different" rifle to fool around with as you aim to push the envelope a bit. As for the PR-900 here it since a few days sport a completely home brew valve and what not too.
First trials have shown great promise, will report back on it.

Anyways.
Britain and prey. What gives with these "limited" guns?