As the title says im thinking about purchasing a QB78 for hunting purposes. Does anyone on here have one and whats it like in the power and accuracy department? Enough power for taking any airgun quarry at about 30 yards and less?They vary a lot of of the box, some can, apparantly, be over the legal limit, most well under - a mate had one running at 4ft/lb!!After tuning they can be excellent, I've a QB79 giving me 10.5ft/lb and with the accuracy of the things - pellet on pellet at 30 yards, no problem - yes, fine for 30 yards or less. Get one run through a chrono and if it's got the power, you should be OK. If not, you need to either tune it or find someone who will - costwise, they're expensive to use compared to a decent springer by the time you've bought a silencer, scope, tune etc. I've had one and personally i wouldnt hunt with it.
They look good on paper. Esecially with the silencer as they are deadly quiet.
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However if you want to hunt with them you'll have to a) make sure it has a decent poundage and if you think its powerfull enough you should then open it up and clean it up. I was amazed at how poorly made mine was. Think of a lada's engine and your in the right area. Bits of swarf and rough enges everywhere.
Some of the seals were already corroded. They are exellent plinkers but your wallet will start to feel the pain as they guzzle co2 like theres no tommorow. Imo save up for a decent springer. You'll have to save a bit more but you'll be glad of it and in the long run you will save money by not having to by co2. HiBeen using our QB78 on CO2 - hardly used as range = U/S, but it is quiet.However last Sunday inserted two new co2 & it leaked out chilling the barrel between barel & cylinder tube.Its now strippedas far as I can take itTwo questions - Does the barrel come away from the cylinder bit - if so how, or is the seal I need to change the one that is between the brass & alloy bit that was in the far end of the cyliner tube?I'm tempted by the upgrading as I've a FAC which includes high powered air guns, just did'nt appreciate that what I had could be improved.Thanks, any advice appreciated.
If anyone is interested in bulk fill,I have a converted fire extinguisher made to hold bulk CO2, (I used to use it for growing aquarium plants)I used to get it refilled by a firm who service fire extinguishers etc.Would need the valving sorted out to enable running a gun or refilling a smaller cylinder as it is currently set upto trickle CO2 very slowly into an aquarium.Worth noting, with CO2 there are different grades, Food grade (pure. Clean) and non food grade (can contain recovered/recycled CO2). If these guns were PCP there'd be little problem but using one all year, as I do, CO2 pressures vary greatly between seasons.
(Interesting fact: CO2 maintains the same pressure for a given temperature so long as there is liquid gas in the reservoir. Only when the liquid gas has all evaporated, will the pressure drop. Unless of course, you've taken a few shots in quick succession, when the effect is to cool the gas reservoir, thus reducing the local temperature and therefore the gas pressure too). All this makes it difficult to shoot consistently over 30 or so yards.I did used to tune up for the winter (to around 11.5ftlbs with Verminpells - they are my favourite pellet for knocking down squirrels) on the basis that it would stay legal in the frigid air.
However reading various posts suggests that if my gun was taken off for testing, it would likely be done at indoor-temperatures ie. About 20c and this increase in temperature would immediately render it illegal.
Consequently I tuned it at 20c for safety and went out and bought a springer (Hatsan 85TH) for winter shooting!If tuning up yourself, it's very easy (check out YouTube, that's how I learnt) - I found the biggest improvement was to enlarge the transfer port to the barrel and replace the bolt probe (mainly because I knackered the original!) with a different shaped one (see pic, you can also see how rough the machining is on this gun). Reshaping the internal gas valve may well help a bit too, as will shimming the hammer spring a bit (though that makes the bolt quite heavy to operate and I ended up removing the shims). A very easy gun to work on, I would say, and the only 'special' tool I had at the time was a small pillar drill.
(Now I work in a school and have access to lathes and a milling machine:o) But as has been said several times previously, you MUST get a chrono to keep it all legal. Maybe one day I'll do a bulk conversion, though as intimated in my opening, a PCP conversion would be much more useful.One last comment - this gun definitely prefers heavier pellets for maximum power. Bisley Magnums work a treat, are very accurate and in full tune can go very illegal, very easily, so beware! (That said, I don't think it would be any value as an FAC weapon - go and buy a PCP or a rimfire.22 instead!)Edited May 26, 2011 by greywolf1958. If these guns were PCP there'd be little problem but using one all year, as I do, CO2 pressures vary greatly between seasons. (Interesting fact: CO2 maintains the same pressure for a given temperature so long as there is liquid gas in the reservoir.
Only when the liquid gas has all evaporated, will the pressure drop. Unless of course, you've taken a few shots in quick succession, when the effect is to cool the gas reservoir, thus reducing the local temperature and therefore the gas pressure too). All this makes it difficult to shoot consistently over 30 or so yards.I did used to tune up for the winter (to around 11.5ftlbs with Verminpells - they are my favourite pellet for knocking down squirrels) on the basis that it would stay legal in the frigid air. However reading various posts suggests that if my gun was taken off for testing, it would likely be done at indoor-temperatures ie. About 20c and this increase in temperature would immediately render it illegal. Consequently I tuned it at 20c for safety and went out and bought a springer (Hatsan 85TH) for winter shooting!If tuning up yourself, it's very easy (check out YouTube, that's how I learnt) - I found the biggest improvement was to enlarge the transfer port to the barrel and replace the bolt probe (mainly because I knackered the original!) with a different shaped one (see pic, you can also see how rough the machining is on this gun). Reshaping the internal gas valve may well help a bit too, as will shimming the hammer spring a bit (though that makes the bolt quite heavy to operate and I ended up removing the shims).
A very easy gun to work on, I would say, and the only 'special' tool I had at the time was a small pillar drill. (Now I work in a school and have access to lathes and a milling machine But as has been said several times previously, you MUST get a chrono to keep it all legal. Maybe one day I'll do a bulk conversion, though as intimated in my opening, a PCP conversion would be much more useful.One last comment - this gun definitely prefers heavier pellets for maximum power. Bisley Magnums work a treat, are very accurate and in full tune can go very illegal, very easily, so beware! (That said, I don't think it would be any value as an FAC weapon - go and buy a PCP or a rimfire.22 instead!).
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