TargetTalk

First, I just want to say "great forum"..glad I found it!

Just received my IZH-46 on WED and shot it that night. Obvioulsy, I didn't have time to shape my grips, but it shot very well. No score keeping yet, but a lot of "chicken standing" hits (a little game my friend and I play when we get bored with targets...basically sillhouettes at 10m). Rested, the gun wil easily group 10 pellets inside the 8 ring. While this isn't shocking to most folks on this board I'll say its pretty hard to get the gun to settle with the pump arm in the way. I think with some grip mods my groups will get tighter. Actually, I'm not sure my shooting would get any better with the grip mods, but I still have fun!

The gun is well made, which is what I expected from the old world. Some of the machine marks were present, but overall I think the gun is wonderfully made and engineered. The crown was sharpy cut and all the rifling lands were square, sharp and uniform around the circumference of the muzzle. Basically the gun is built like Russian aircraft...robust and gracile at the same time!

I will say that the adjustment screws are pretty soft and you *must* take your time or you can peen the slots until they simply brake away from the screw body. Its probably wise to screw in a few turns, then back out 2 turns and repeat the process...essentially chasing the threads. I didn't and had to ask for a new screw under warranty. Bummer.

I think the neatest part of the gun is the way the air valve opens. From what I can tell from the schematics and from adjusting the trigger, the valve is almost opposite of what I have come to know in the paintball and crosman world of air valves. After tripping the sear, a lever arm moves rearward allowing the valve to open like a cork in a champagne bottle vice a hammer hitting a valve stem and opening a poppet valve. Pretty neat. These valaves may be typical in Olympic class pistols but its a first for me! No wonder these guns have little to no felt recoil.

The trigger adjustment overall is wonderfully simple. Taking off the grips will give you far more insight into setting initial and secondary creep. Trigger over-travel is self explanatory and works really well on this gun. I didn't mess with the trigger weight screw under the trigger housing (biggest adjustment screw) because I don't have a scale with which to measure it.

I switched out the front blade for the thinnest one included in the box, and rear adjustment was as easy as a few clicks for elevation and windage. Overall I really like the sights on this gun!

I got around to shaping the grips today and I think they turned out well. I did get a little over zealous under the pinky region, but it doesn't seem to affect my grip...mostly cosmetic as it is no longer square with the heel rest.

Anyway, I think for the money; $280.00 shipped, it is a SUPER bargain!

Once I figure out to host pics...I'll post 'em here!

R/
Dustin[/img]

For more information about the Izzy, take a look at:
http://www.airguninfo.com/46index.shtml

I have one of these, with a modified grip. I too like it very much. Great starter gun that will be all most shooters ever need. Quite capable of outshooting the vast majority of air pistol shooters.

A little nose heavy, but easy to use and AFFORDABLE.

I also have a Pardini K2S. Fine air pistol - but, I shoot no better with it than with the Izzy. The cost difference was about 4X. As a bonus, the Izzy needs only a tin of pellets for support equipment. No tanks, adapters, hoses, of anything else.

Rested properly, the Izzy is quite able to shoot ragged one holers.

It is the most gun for the money available in today's air pistol market. Our host stocks them.

Bill,
Thanks for the link...I've had that in my favorites for a while and its what pushed me over the edge to buy one. The gun clearly shoots better than I can any day of the week.

One thing to be said at starting at the bottom...nowhere to go but up....

R/
Dustin

Dustin,

Looks good and yes its a fun pistol for sure. I just got mine around christmas! I have been enjoying it ever since.

Out of curiosity what did you use to modify the grips. File, dremel.?? I have been too chicken to touch mine yet cause i dont want to mess it up.

Thanks

Ross

Ross,
I used a pencil to trace my fingers while I held the gun and made some reference marks as to where my knucles were, length between knucles etc. Obviously, as you remove material the relationship between your marks and where your fingers actually rest will start to change. However, its pretty intuitive once you start cutting.

I used a drum sander on the dremel intially to cut out the rough shape, following some of the reference marks on the grips. The dremel makes short work of the wood, so I really didn't use much pressure and used a high grit drum. The dremel moves fast enough that I burned the wood in several areas, but they sanded out pretty easily. Also, the dremel will tend to make "facets" on the surface...basically looked like a bunch of flat spots making the rough shape.

Once that was done, I used a half-round, rough file to knock down the high spots and smooth the concave portions of the finger lands. I didn't really intend to make finger grooves as per Mr. Nygords article, but they just kind of developed. I did soften them out considerably from the inital dremel work though. My file kit also came with a small, round, fine-toothed file and I used it to get into radiuses that were smaller then the half-round. Once all that was done I used a fine sand paper to smooth out the gouges caused by the half-round...pretty easy.

If I were to do it again, I would have simply used the half-round file and skipped the dremel or used it to only take the inital 90* angle off the grip. You'll have a ton more control, won't burn the wood and it'll make nice, smoothe radiused cuts with every pass. Can't say that about the dremel. After my initial work with it, the surface looked really uneven, rough, and burnt. However, it did save a ton of time, so there is a trade-off.

All in all it was a pretty, straight forward project, but like you, I was a bit hesitant. When you first touch the grip with the dremel though, there ain't no turnin' back so I just kept cutting. My "out" was a commitment to order a nice grip if I screwed this one up. As well as it turned out, I'm not sure about getting a new one now....

If nothing else, I would think that continuing to shoot the gun with non-shaped grips would just get down-right painful! :-) Give it a try, its really not hard, and that was my very first set (I SUCK at wood working...and I'm not trying to be modest....I really do suck at it).

R/
Dustin

Dustin,

Thanks for the comments on how to do it. I got brave this past sunday and with pencil in hand and dremel tool at the ready I held my breath and started...when ti was all done I was pleased with the results. Came out much like yours with the finger grooves in it. Much more comfy to shoot now :). I have big hands so the blockiness of the grip wasnt horrible to me untill i now realized how much nice it is rounded off with the grooves :)

Thanks again for the tips

Ross