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JTS Dead Center pellets are one of a large number of new brands that are blossoming in today’s expanding airgun ammunition market. In fact, they were first shown – to my knowledge – at the 2023 SHOT Show. Already these new pellets have been the subject of enthusiastic discussion in the HAM Community, in this thread, among others. And now they are being advertised by Pyramyd Air, which answers one of the common questions: “Where do I buy them?” So far, Dead Center pellets are mainly available in a domed configuration. However, there’s also some interesting “semi-domed” pellets included in the range, too. Reflecting the current US airgun market dynamics, JTS Dead Center pellets are available in three calibers: .22 cal, .25 cal and .30...

The new Air Venturi EC-3000 Compressor by Hill is the latest model from the British manufacturer Ernest Hill Ltd. The company says that it’s the result of no less than 182 years of engineering, research and development. The unit is also designed, manufactured and assembled by Hill Pumps in their Sheffield, UK factory. Hill says that the EC-3000 Compressor has a number of changes and improvements including some new features, making the compressor even more reliable, durable and providing a better user experience. This new model incorporates a built-in automatic air pressure purge system. This kicks in whenever the motor on the compressor stops, for example when it goes into a cooling cycle and when a fill is paused or finished. Hill...

With the ever-increasing numbers of airgun slugs becoming available, it becomes ever more difficult to decide which to buy. The new H&N Slug Sampler Packs that are now available at Pyramyd Air make that much easier, however. In fact, there’s no less than four new slug sampler packs available. All are for H&N’s latest “Slug HP II” configuration. These slugs incorporate the company’s latest “T head” profile that provide a larger wound channel and considerable flattening of the slug on impact. HAM covered this new configuration back in November 2022. However, here’s a close-up of the head design as a reminder. Below we see a photograph of the new “T-Slot” head design. Here we see that there’s an additional deeper, sharper-angled...

Just back from the 2023 WFTF World Championships in South Africa, Cameron Kerndt – or Cam as he’s happy to be called – spoke to HAM about his outstanding shooting in that competition. Cam finished as the WFTF Piston World Champion with a total score of 123. That made him the top-scoring shooter in the USA team. It also put him into eighth place overall – including all the PCP shooters. WOW!!!!! How does he do it? Hard Air Magazine spoke to Cam to find out… Hard Air Magazine: You are a long-time member of the USA Team shooting WFTF Field Target, always with great success. But this recent win really took the cake. Congratulations! Cameron Kerndt: Thanks! Actually my score should have been even better except that I missed six shots...

Congratulations to Lauren Parsons! She won the Ladies Field Target Champion title at the WFTF World Championship held in August 2023, shooting a Daystate Red Wolf air rifle. That’s Lauren above, together with second place winner Danel Van Tonder from South Africa and third-placed Ana Pereira from Portugal. [Photo courtesy Gert Vrey]. In fact, this is Lauren’s THIRD Ladies World Field championship title and she has no intention of quitting any time soon! [Photo above courtesy of WFTF]. The 2023 WFTF World Championship was held in South Africa between 22 and 27 August. The event was run by the South African Field Target Airgun Association. The venue was the Kommandonek Resort on the banks of the Hartbeespoort dam at the foot of the...

Let’s face it. In the airgun world, a BB speed loader is not exactly high on the list of exciting products. Unless yours doesn’t work that is! That’s why the new “Gen 2” loader from Barra Airguns is important. Because this could be the best BB speed loader ever… It’s probably fair to say that BB loaders are accepted and tolerated by their users as a necessary evil. They’re a cheap, semi-disposable product that seem to jam or break just when you don’t want – that’s whenever you’re using one, of course. Particularly if you’re using a BB gun that mandates the use of a loader – like the HAM Gold Award-winning Barra 400e airgun, for example – then that speed loader becomes a vital, yet weakest link of the shooting experience. So...

The Field Target woods course at the Cardinal Center, Marengo, Ohio was the setting for the 2023 Pyramyd Air Cup FT competition. This Field Target woods course was a peaceful, quiet and cool haven for the more than 100 shooters taking part in this event. In fact there were two Field Target courses (Yellow and Blue) in the woods, with firing points running down either side of a central pathway. However, a small number of lanes was set-up in a small field, so there was some “open” shooting, too, for variety. As with the 100 Yard Benchrest competition, a wide variety of air rifles were to be found among the Field Target shooters. However these were generally quite different to the models found on the benches, as we’ll see here…...

Over 100 shooters took part in the Field Target Competition at the 2023 Pyramyd Air Cup. Here are the Field Target winners in the different categories… As with the Benchrest competition, the prizes were presented by Match Director Tyler Patner. Also there were beautiful cups for the winners – see the photograph above. However the Benchrest winners received cash prizes while the Field Target winners took their choice from a range of mouth-watering airgun-related prizes laid out on the table. Gerald Long (above) was the first winner to be called. With the top score in the WFTF PCP category of 114, he chose the FX Panthera as his reward! Next up was the winner of the Hunter PCP class. This was – by far – the biggest category in the...

In this post, we take a look at the benchrest guns to be seen down the line at the 2023 Pyramyd Air Cup. There was a big variety, as we’ll see! The first obvious observation was that there was a large number of FX airguns down the line – as we can see in our heading photograph above. These included many Impacts, but Pantheras, too. But looking closer, we could see that there were, actually, many brands and models represented among the shooters. Another clear trend was the proliferation of heavily-customized benchrest guns. This was in the form of accessory chassis and other aftermarket parts – as we see above. But also, bright colors were also “in”, like this blue Skout below… The days of the relatively standard, “non...

Big news from the 2023 Pyramyd Air Cup is that Thayne Simmons wins the prestigious 100 Yard Benchrest competition with a score of 232 x8. That was great shooting by Thayne who won against a large field of talented competitors! Our photographs show the winners being presented with their prizes by Match Director Tyler Patner (on left). Close to 200 shooters had registered for the 2023 Pyramyd Air Cup – or should that now be “Pyramyd Cup” after the company re-branding? Whatever the name, everyone was delighted to meet-up again at the vast Cardinal Center shooting grounds in Marengo, Ohio, after an unintended break of four years. In second place was William Squillace. He also scored 232, but his x2 placed him just behind Thayne...

HAM first brought you information about the SIG MCX Rattler BB gun back in February 2023. Now we have one in-house and can share more information about SIG’s first BB-firing long gun. First, let’s take a look at the two different SIG Rattler airguns. The HAM Gold Award-winning pellet shooter in on the left of this photograph. The new BB gun is on the right. The new SIG MCX Rattler BB gun is definitely a much smaller and more compact unit, as you can see. The side-folding stock makes it even more so. It’s also much lighter than the pellet-shooter. As you can see above, the new BB Rattler is supplied with high front and rear open sights. These can be folded down if required. Or removed as we did for our testing. Instead we...

There’s a new MTC Viper Connect riflescope from UK-based MTC Optics. This 4-16 x 32 scope is notable for having a super-short eye relief of just 17mm. This short eye relief provides a much broader field of view. The manufacturer claims it’s close to double that of a conventional scope. In fact, the field of view is claimed to be no less than 60.9 Feet at 100 Yards. That provides many benefits for target acquisition, however, it does mean that the scope is suitable only for low-recoil PCP airguns. Don’t use this scope with a springer or gas ram airgun, otherwise, you’ll get a bad case of “scope bite”! This new MTC Viper Connect riflescope uses a Second Focal Plane reticle. This is of the manufacturer’s AMD2 type and is provided with...

Pyramyd Air is now Pyramyd AIR. The AIR signifies Adventures In Recreation. It highlights the company’s move into a broader range of outdoor recreation products and experiences. The company re-branding is launched today. There’s a new logo and a new look to the website. But, the vital website location – pyramydair.com – remains the same. Val Gamerman, President of Pyramyd AIR said, “Our customers are passionate about experiencing the thrill of the outdoors, whether target shooting, hunting, or being outside. We’re excited to offer a growing portfolio of products to fuel those passions, experiences, and adventures.” “The new name, Pyramyd AIR, signifies the company’s mission to outfit customers’ outdoor experiences wherever they...

HAM has carried a couple of stories already about the Crosman 362 Limited Edition air rifle. But now we have one in our hands – and on the workbench! – we can really see that there’s a number of secrets about this gun that the manufacturer has not yet revealed. So, let’s look at the Crosman 362 Limited Edition secrets… Crosman 362 Limited Edition Secrets 1. It’s NOT Just a 362 in a Wood Stock! In common with (I guess) most people, I thought that the limited, anniversary edition Crosman 362 was basically a regular 362 in a wood stock. Oh, plus the fancy packaging. Well, I was wrong! The clue is that this air rifle actually carries the Crosman model number CR2023. This indicates that – in Crosman engineering terms – that this is...

Airguns of Arizona is running some Brocock Sniper deals right now. They’re sure to be popular and one of them – at least – is for a limited time only. If you’re looking for a .22 caliber Sniper Magnum XR, AoA has them on sale as a limited time deal. The “Magnum” gives power levels of up to 46 Ft/Lbs in .22 caliber. At a deal price of $1,579.99, that’s a saving of $274.01 compared to normal. The Brocock Sniper Magnum in .22 caliber earned a HAM Gold Award on test, with a 96% score. It doesn’t get much better than that! If you don’t need so much power, there’s also an alternative deal. AoA has the compact, .22 caliber Sniper XR – non Magnum – available in “Sahara” finish for just $1,195.99. That’s a saving of $703.01 against the...

The latest introduction into the new, vibrant Hard Air Magazine online Community is a category for Airgun Modding and Theory. Few of us airgunners like to leave our airguns alone! We can’t resist changing something to personalize our guns, improving – we hope! – their looks, performance or handling. It seems that everyone has some change that they have developed. This ranges from the best way to clean a barrel, through tuning, right up to complete rebuilds. The HAM Airgun Modding and Theory category is the new place to share and discuss these changes and improvements. Of course, there’s many very competent machinists and mechanics who shoot airguns. Indeed I have always been impressed at the large number of airgun companies that have...

As reported in the recent comprehensive HAM Test Review, the new 10.5 Grain .177 caliber Benjamin Match Grade Pellets have a remarkably high Ballistic Coefficient of 0.033. Let’s look at the high BC benefits for this new airgun ammo… As everyone knows, Benjamin and Crosman are both brands owned by Velocity Outdoor. So it’s no surprise that most Crosman Premier pellets and the new Benjamin Match Grade Pellets are manufactured in the Velocity Outdoors airgun headquarters in Bloomfield, New York. Crosman Premier pellets have always had a good reputation for value. They are a great “stand by” as – while not always the most accurate pellets in any particular air rifle, they are almost always acceptably accurate for most uses and rarely –...

VALUE FOR MONEY At a MSRP of $19.99 for a tin of 500 these domed-head, 10.5 Grain Benjamin Match Grade Pellets work out to a price of 4 Cents each. This is a fair cost for heavy, domed .177 caliber airgun pellets at the time of writing. Of course, if you order in bulk from Pyramyd Air, Airgun Depot or other leading online airgun dealer, you’ll be able to buy four tins for the price of three, reducing the individual pellet price to 3.3 Cents. Many shooters will be happy to know that these Benjamin pellets are manufactured in the USA, at Velocity Outdoors’ headquarters in Bloomfield, NY. TEST DATA SUMMARY Price per Pellet 4.00 cents Most Common Weight 10.48 Grains Pellets at That Common Weight 22% Variation in Pellet...

The ASG 1911 BB pistol is a new introduction to the large number of Colt 1911-style replica air pistols in the market today. As you would expect, it’s a CO2-powered gun with blowback and a drop-free magazine. The mag contains one 12 Gram CO2 cartridge, plus 18 BBs. With a weight of just under 2 Lbs and an overall length of 8.66 Inches, the ASG 1911 BB pistol is pretty close to the specs of the firearm original. This, together with the blowback capability and the functioning controls, mean that it will attract attention as a trainer, as well as a replica. As ASG is not a common name in “hard air” circles, it may be worth learning a little more about the company… ASG stands for “Action Sports Guns”. It’s an international company...

Do you want to get in to the airgun business as a manufacturer? Or maybe expand existing product lines if you are already in the industry? Well this could be your chance as there’s an airgun company for sale. Extreme Big Bore Air Rifles is a division of Texas Machine Parts that has decided to move away from the airgun industry. This means that – effectively – they have an airgun company for sale. And it could be yours… In fact, Extreme Big Bore Air Rifles has been the manufacturer of two primary airgun product lines. One is the “Extreme Big Bore Air Rifles” range of PCPs. The second is the Extreme Booster Pump. So they are selling-up all of the following business elements: – Brand names and logos. – All CAD drawings and programs...