"New" Izzy from Air Venturi

[-TT-]

Yes, the Izzys have a 30+ degree crown. The AV's is more like 170, barely more than shaving off the rifling lands. They end several mm before the muzzle. It's certainly different, but as I said, the pistol shoots beautifully in my testing so far.

I have a borescope, if I can get some internal close-ups I'll post them.

[-TT-]

My borescope is 5mm, too large to even get into the crown. But I lined up a little bit outside it for a closeup.

The lighting is poor and the reflections make the crown look rough, it really isn't. But what it does faintly show is that the actual crown angle is not flat, it goes in as a 5.8mm cylinder at first, then seems to take on a ball shape. Interesting.

Closeup of internal crown

[Rover]

I have posted about "cleaning up" a muzzle using a round head brass screw coated with valve grinding compound in a drill.
It wouldn't surprise me if they did something like that at the factory.

[-TT-]

Here's an impression using modeling clay. It's more of a bullet-shape!

Crown is about 4.75mm deep, from end of rifling to surface of muzzle.

Crown impression

[kevinweiho]

The folks at Alfa precision know how to make their cold hammer forged barrels.

http://alfa-precision.net/airgun


The IZH46M pistol is not shown in the Baikal website, they might have sold or licensed the rights to Alfa precisión...?

https://www.baikalinc.ru/

[-TT-]

The name is spelled differently, and I don't see any pistol barrels, but it's certainly plausible. Moving up the value chain, maybe by contracting the Baikal factory itself?

The barrel on my AV-46M is 280mm long, 10mm O.D., N = 12, btw.

Here's a better closeup of the breech:

Breech closeup

[nikonjockey]

I have a 20 year old IZH-46 that's still going strong. Do any of you know if I can lubricate the trigger mechanism, especially to put a bit of moly grease on the sear engagement (not sure if this term applies to airguns)? I see no obvious way to access the trigger internals, and I have no business tearing this pistol down.

[-TT-]

Do any of you know if I can lubricate the trigger mechanism, especially to put a bit of moly grease on the sear engagement (not sure if this term applies to airguns)? I see no obvious way to access the trigger internals

There are two sears, and I'm not sure I'd recommend applying moly. You can access most of the important surfaces after removing the grip. There are two holes on either side of the frame, and a gap at the very back. A drop of light oil at a couple of points is probably the most this pistol needs.

What's the issue?

[kevinweiho]

Do any of you know if I can lubricate the trigger mechanism, especially to put a bit of moly grease on the sear engagement (not sure if this term applies to airguns)? I see no obvious way to access the trigger internals

There are two sears, and I'm not sure I'd recommend applying moly. You can access most of the important surfaces after removing the grip. There are two holes on either side of the frame, and a gap at the very back. A drop of light oil at a couple of points is probably the most this pistol needs.

What's the issue?

The sear engagement is not a high stress wear and tear area of the pistol, whereas the cocking lever linkages will need a dab of moly grease. I would also advise only to use a teeny-tiny little bit of light oil if you insist on lubricating the sear.

[nikonjockey]

There is no big issue. I just thought that perhaps those metal bearing surfaces deserved a little lubrication every couple of decades, or so.

[B Lafferty]

Do any of you know if I can lubricate the trigger mechanism, especially to put a bit of moly grease on the sear engagement (not sure if this term applies to airguns)? I see no obvious way to access the trigger internals

There are two sears, and I'm not sure I'd recommend applying moly. You can access most of the important surfaces after removing the grip. There are two holes on either side of the frame, and a gap at the very back. A drop of light oil at a couple of points is probably the most this pistol needs.

What's the issue?

The sear engagement is not a high stress wear and tear area of the pistol, whereas the cocking lever linkages will need a dab of moly grease. I would also advise only to use a teeny-tiny little bit of light oil if you insist on lubricating the sear.

I've put a drop of Crossman pellgun oil on those cocking lever linkages every year or so in the past. Seems to do the trick.

[B Lafferty]

I just ordered an ambi grip for my Baikal from Andrew at Precision Target Pistol Grips. He doesn't know for certain that the Air Venturi Baikal is identical to the 46M, but thinks that it likely is the same dimension-wise.

[Blaze9t8]

I got my "New" Izzy between Christmas and New Years. First thing I did was take a riffler file to the sharp corners on the grips and made a new front sight mount with a fiber optic. I made one for my original "Izzy" too.

[-TT-]

I did receive an email informing me the gun needs to be re-adjusted to "Air Venturi specification", as it was detuned for import. I have not checked with a chrono, but I'm not itching to send it back just yet. I'll call them first. It's firing RWS 7gr pellets quite beautifully, though I've only put several dozen through it.

Looping back on this, I discussed with Air Venturi and they confirmed that they would simply adjust the compression piston to the maximum spec. I decided to shoot it for a while, and had good results, but of course I got the itch eventually.

Today I popped out the levers and backed out the adjuster piston 2 1/4 turns. There was contact when fully plunged at 2 1/2, while it was perfectly free one notch under. The cocking effort is significantly higher, but it drops into position without resistance, and it fires much more strongly. I have no chronograph, so I'm unable to measure any comparisons.

The job was not difficult. It requires pulling the two pivot pins, twisting the pivot blocks 180 degrees so they clear the front sight, and gently tapping them out the front of the compression tube. The piston remains trapped by the metal tab that releases the breech block, but that is plenty far enough to rotate the tiny locking screw into view. After backing out the screw and retracting the plunger to the normal compression stroke starting point, it was easy to adjust, test-plunge by making sure the pin "dropped in" to the linkage at full stroke, and reassemble. Sorry, no photos.

Still very happy with this new version of the pistol. Mechanically, I'm not sure if it's any different from the earlier models, but the new grip style is nice and it's giving me more than enough 10M satisfaction.

[northpaw]

the new grip style is nice and it's giving me more than enough 10M satisfaction.

Congrats.

[Timberwerks]

Is the grip shown a one piece or two piece. Mine just arrived today and it looks and feels like a two piece. Hoping its not a crack down the whole grip.

[m1963]

The AV-46 has grips made by Minelli. They are two pieces that are glued together to make a one piece grip. The seam is slightly visible, but is not a crack. The Minelli grips certainly seem to be a weak point for these pistols. Which, is why we have Rink grips on ours. I attached a photo of the ones we have in a drawer, at the range.

https://minelligroup.com/shotgun-stocks/

[Gwhite]

The college where I help coach uses the new IZH's for an air pistol physical education class. In very short order, several of the heel rests broke. They have the "grain" of the laminations running the worst possible way, so the forward section is exceedingly weak. I 3D printed replacements, including a bunch with added thickness on top for students with small hands. Those have been working well for almost two years now.