NEW PROJECT: Sam Yang Recluse 9mm

THIS JUST IN............YEP, yet another "PROJECT GUN".

Every since I bought and sold my old Career (Korean Big Bore PCP) 9mm Ultra, I've regretted it.  It was powerful, accurate and damned well built.  The problem back then was the fact that there was not very much AIRGUN BULLET CASTING knowledge back then as well as USER knowledge.  The point is, I personally didn't know much or anything about casting and projectile options.  Nor did I have any knowledge of measuring or slugging a bore and matching a slug to that bore.  I was just happy to have a big bore air gun and a well made one to boot.  But because of the lack of knowledge on my part and the lack of air gun info out there, I bought and tried many slugs but only found Ballistic Products RB's to be accurate.  They made great target and hunting rounds but offered no real variety.  Because of this, I later sold the gun.  The sell of this gun has had me in REGRET every since.

TIMES HAVE SINCE CHANGED. AND THIS BRINGS ME TO THIS POST...................

Introducing the Sam Yang RECLUSE 9mm:

 Here are some pics of the gun during its Maiden Voyage:

FEATURES:

Single-shot

Bolt-action

Rifled steel barrel (0.3543" to 0.359" diameter) -  12 lands and grooves (micro) with a .358" bore 

Double Air Tube (290cc)

11mm scope rail (use only compact scopes)

2 power levels (first bolt stop is low power, second is high)

3000 psi max fill pressure

Threaded muzzle with end cap

Built-in manometer (air pressure gauge)

Hardwood Monte Carlo stock with checkered forearm & grip

Raised RH cheek piece

Includes probe with 1/8" BSPP male threads

Scope - Bushnell AR223, 4x18x40mm

Barrel Length - Well, it depends.....lol!  22-1\4" excluding the rear of the barrel

GOAL with this gun:  Besides the fact that I've longed for another 9mm for years, certain things have changed or at least, become available.  For one, the knowledge of custom or match barrels have greatly improved.  The availability of said barrels has greatly improved also.  The rise of quality tuners and machinist has also increased.  More people now cast there own bullets and bullet casting info has spread across the planet when casting for air guns.  Pellets making techniques as well as available pellet calibers has also improved.  Things today are simply better than they were 5+ years ago.  Not only can one cast 9mm bullets for air guns (specially shaped and pure lead) but the advancement of pellets has come a long way.  Today, not only is the 25 caliber popular but so is the 30 caliber now.  Right after they introduced the 30 caliber JSB pellet, they brought out the JSB 35 caliber Diablo which previously only included the Korean 9mm Eun Jin 70+ gr pellet which has NEVER been of quality.  What I would love to do is with rifle is to shoot 81 gr pellets, 70+ gr round balls and cast bullets all from the same barrel and gun.  And to do it ACCURATELY to boot using the DUAL POWER SETTING feature built into the hammer (dual cocking slots milled into hammer) of this gun.

BARRELS:  1st - Let me make it clear that I'm not downing or complaining about the OEM barrel on this gun.  I just received it and I've only shot it informally from 45-125 yards.  By informally, i mean, NOT SHOT ON A BENCH USING A REST.  But, with that said, the OEM gun has shown some good accuracy with both pellets and my cast bullets.  I purchased a TJ Enterprises 357 barrel with a 1-16" twist at 25" long.  The OEM barrels bore measures .358 when slugged and mic'd and the TJ Enterprises bore measures .3572"

Initial Projectiles for this gun:

 JSB Diablo pellets that measure .358" at the head

 

 JSB Diablo's vs Nosler .357's

JSB 81 gr .35 cal vs Nosler 145 gr .357

 Accurate .360 109gr Boat Tail Air Gun Bullet

So, as you can see, the parts are all here and will slowly come together as time permits.  The gun has already proven in a short time to be what i hope for.  I can't wait to start the video comparison between the stock barrel vs TJ barrel.  Initial FPS with only a couple of internal mods has the gun pushing the JSB 81.02 pellets at 650+ fps on LOW power and 910+ fps on HIGH power.  The 110 gr BT bullets are stepping along at 470 on LOW and 830 FPS on HIGH.  THE BULLETS THOUGH ARE .002" OVERSIZED (.360" as cast vs the .358" bore) AS I DON'T HAVE A .358 SIZER YET!  Velocity will be higher with proper sizing.

Stay Tuned!

Tofazfou

LEAD: "Flowers", "Mushrooms" and "Pancakes".......ummmmm ummm!

If you've ever wondered how air gun projectiles perform when they hit objects, then wonder no longer!  These "objects" range from flesh to steel to fruit to water filled bottles/jugs to ballistic gel on down to rubber mulch and plumbers putty.



While many an air gun lacks the all out foot pounds of energy (FPE) compared a powder burner, the one thing that they do have is that just about all the projectiles made for an air gun is either PURE LEAD or a 20-1 mix (Lead to Tin).  Bullets and Pellets.  What does this mean you ask?  Well, pure lead is very soft and malleable and can often be scratched, dented, smashed, mushroomed, flattened, or even reshaped with just your fingers.  Airgun projectiles can be made from a variety of soft metals but anything other than pure lead will create a performance void when compared to pure lead.  Antimony, Tin, Bismuth or any other type of metal simply will not perform like lead will.  Especially at many air gun speeds/power levels.  Lead is one of our planets most plentiful elements and is normally only dangerous when ingested, inhaled or SHOT WITH....lol!  It is by far one of the best and cheapest metals for our sport.

So if lead is this soft, imagine what happens to lead when its pushed 600+- MPH and its hits an object that's soft or solid?  And this is the premise of this post...........

Let's take a look:

A MUSHROOMED .25 cal Predator Polymag pulled from ballistics gel at 10 yards (930 fps).

A MUSHROOMED 7mm 20-1 HP bullet after impacting 2 jugs at 110 yards away. 880+ fps.

  

 

MUSHROOMED Predator PolyMag in 20 caliber after impacting ballistics gel at 10 yards.  880 fps



 

PANCAKED.454 cal/220 gr bullets after impacting AR500 steel at 75 yards!  660 fps.



PANCAKED .308 20-1 bullets after impacting my AR500 steel swinger set at 100 yrds.  880 fps.













 

MUSHROOMED .457 310 gr HPs recovered from Plumbers putty set at 50 yards.  800+ FPS.

 

MUSHROOMED .257 cal HP shot into Ballistics gel.  900 FPS.

 

A FLOWERED trio of .251 slugs after hitting a electricians junction box from 100 yards away.



 

A MUSHROOMED .22 cal Predator PolyMag recovered from Ballistics Gel at 880 FPS!





MUSHROOMED .308 148.5 gr HPs after impacting Duct Seal from 55 yards away!



 

 

FLOWERED 7mm cast bullets after hitting my AR500 plate placed at 200 yards downrange!

 

MUSHROOMED 220 gr .454 cal Raptor bullet after impacting a pigs skull at 40 yards.  660 FPS!



 

A lastly, this is the aftermath of the OBJECT that these projectiles (above) hit:



 

Corsair 308 vs Jack Haley 457.  Jugs set at 91 yards.  Both guns using HP projectiles.

 

Pool ball hit by Corsair 308.  Set out at 55 yards.



 





So as one can clearly see, for air guns, pure lead is one awesome performer and helps the projectile tremendously in transferring its Foot Pounds of Energy on target.  With current bullet casting molds and practices and current pellet making techniques, projectiles and air guns are getting more and more accurate (when combined) and sophisticated (polymer tipped, tin and HP projectiles).

 

DISCLAIMER:  ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER AFTER HANDLING LEAD! NEVER PUT YOUR FINGERS IN YOUR MOUTH, EARS AND OR EYES WHILE HANDLING LEAD!

 

For more information on LEAD, please either Google and Wikipedia it.

 

Stay tuned.