Oops, won't make that mistake again!

Rimfire bolt action rifles, lever action, pump action and self loading rifles. Air rifles.

Oops, won't make that mistake again!

Post by elnino » 04 Dec 2019, 9:20 pm

So I've been farming off a few sky rats around my place with my Nitro piston Gamo CFX .22 lately to keep them from crapping all over my stuff and i made a mistake that scared the crap out of me.

I calmly cocked the rifle, loaded the pellet, closed the rotary breech and took aim on the thing. Waited for the right moment and squeezed the trigger, only to get the biggest fright of my life! At first, I thought the rifle deiseled on me, it let out that much of a crack- like a .22lr. but i didn't get the usual smoky smell i did when i first got it (before i cleaned it all out) and it was louder!

I pulled down the cocking arm a bit to release the breech, rolled it open and there was the darn pellet! WTF???

As it turns out, the pellet somehow fell back out of the barrel without me noticing but stayed in the groove of the breech so when i fired, it was a complete dry fire! Ouch!

I have not tried firing it again yet but hopefully no damage and a valuable lesson learnt.
elnino
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Re: Oops, won't make that mistake again!

Post by wildcard6 » 05 Dec 2019, 8:12 pm

The mistake you probably made [and I see a lot of people do it] is to hold the rifle pointing up as you close the barrel. This allows the pellet to fall out of the breech due to gravity. The way to avoid this problem is to ensure the rifle is held facing downwards when you close the barrel. Hopefully you haven't done any damage, but you want to avoid repeating that mistake at all costs.
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Re: Oops, won't make that mistake again!

Post by Cooper » 05 Dec 2019, 9:04 pm

I had the same air rifle. I dry fired it numerous times over the years. Yeah it as loud as a .22 without a pellet in it.

Without seeing it is probably a bit confusing explaining the rotary breach and the fact that your not actually cocking the barrel but a level under the barrel.

Not exactly picturing how pellet remained in the groove? Of the breach though?
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Re: Oops, won't make that mistake again!

Post by elnino » 05 Dec 2019, 9:55 pm

I didn't think it could either but i confirmed it after it happened and it does it easily. Usually its just not quite in far enough and the breech will not close over and you mangle the pellet. Wildcard was right on how it happened but usually the pellet is quite snug in the barrel. Definitely from now on it will be muzzle down loading!
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