New Sporter Rifle

[coach between schools]

http://www.airforceairguns.com/sportair.html

Does anyone have these in their program yet?

[GaryL]

Unless it's aprroved by the National Three Position Council (CMP) we, KS 4H Shooting Sports, unfortunatly, won't use it.

Looks like a nice gun though.

[jhmartin]

Ditto for VC4HSS in New Mexico. A 4-H club usually does not have excess funds to spend to try out a new rifle .... we're usually a few steps behind.

I've been hearing about this project for a few years, and it's nice to see a photo.
My $0.02 from the picture
=================
1) Buttpad will probably have to be reworked (some of the adustment holes removed. The rules now say that it has to be fixed in the center position. Where the buttpad is now is not center. If they removed the other holes, then there is no issue (IMO)

2) Appearance ..... hmmmmmm. I'd love to be the mouse on the wall in the committee meeting. Some of those folks like a more "conventional" looking gun.

3) I wonder what the minimum LOP is and how light you could make this. Even an XSV-40 is a bit heavy for my youngest (8-9 year old) shooters. If this was light enough, heck yeah I'd scrimp to get one or two.

4) Cost. 3PARC is touchy about the price point ... The sights appear to be very well made. Can they offer this for under the "catch point"?

5) Hopefully the cocking lever is on the other side.... I'd hate that foregrip to be the cocking mechanism.

Overall .... looks promising....

[gvmnt45]

I saw and handled this rifle at the NRA convention in St Louis this year.
I did not get to shoot it though. They had just made the rifle shootable for the show and was no where near a production quality rifle.
It was at the show with the following if my memory serves me..

Extruded aluminum stock and integral riser for rear sights as part of the extrusion.

Valient trigger set up. Although the trigger set felt much different from the Valients that we have in our club.

Gamo sights front and rear.

Front sight had a huge riser on it. This looked and felt precarious at best. I hope this is addressed prior to production.

The stock is absolutely ambidextrous, and the bolt is useable in either left or right configurations.

It has a Walther barrel.

It is very light, with really nowhere to add weights.

The but stock looked cheap and poor construction.

With all this said, with a bit more work and thought, the rifle would something to consider.

[jhmartin]

Got a chance to handle this rifle at the National JO's.

Seems nice and the Rep had said that the committee was looking favorably upon it. Anyone know what the committee decided?

He said that they had committed to about a $450 price point.

One thing I do know, I measured the front sight center to center of bore and it is about 72mm. This means that this is a sporter only, this is too high of a sight to shoot in a precision match. (60mm is the limit)

We have previously taken our sporter guns and fired in the INTL JO's where a gun is a gun and the sporters meet the precision requirements. This rifle cannot be fired in a match like that and meet the dimensions

[SRichieR]

The man displaying the rifle with AirForce Arms at the JO's told me after the meeting that it had been approved.

A few points I thought were interesting:

1. They plan to make their own sights and they believe them to be useable on other sporter rifles. They are similar to Steyr sights but still in protype.

2. The gun is PCA but has no regulator similar to some field target guns. It will be interesting to see how it performs.

3. Adjustable comb and butt stock. I'm sure it will have to be locked into place during a match.

4. Sight height above the barrel centerline is too high for precision. This is required due to the straight line design of the action and stock much like an AR-15.

5. At $450 we can't afford to purchase one for evaluation.

[mikeschroeder]

Hi

Since it was approved, and since it was mentioned the the committee really likes more conventional looking guns, is there a pretty good chance that the committee is starting to get flack for being too Daisy?

We've had TWO crosman 2000's and we were always repairing them. The Valiants were great, but they were allowed, grandfathered, not allowed, who knows. Besides the Daisy line, wasn't that the whole sporter ball game?

On the air force, where's the rail for the sling?

Mike

[SRichieR]

The forestock is adjustable along a rail underneath the barrel/frame. I was told that they would probably put several sling attachment/hand stop holes in the forestock. The shooter could pick which hole works best for them and then adjust the forestock along the barrel.

[GaryL]

Some competition for Daisy will benefit everyone. And yes the committee is to Daisy friendly.

Now if we could get some one to build a competitor to the 499 BB gun we might just get back to metal parts!

[brandon maloy]

how long does it tkae the council to aprove a gun?

[jhmartin]

how long does it tkae the council to aprove a gun?

If you take the Edge as an example ... multiple years

As a group, I believe the council only meets once a year at the 3-P JO's

[Quest1]

Scott has been mentioned in a previous post that the rifle has already been approved by the council.

[GaryL]

Miracles do happen. The grip of Daisy on the council is loosen even further. Which is a good thing. Competition will benefit the shooters. But the list needs to grow even larger.

I applaud the councils action.