The Medium Reservoir

The Medium reservoir is 1.60in or 40.64mm in diameter. It was unofficially and un-inspiredly christened The Medium because at the time we were testing it, its outside dimensions fell almost exactly between our regular reservoir at 1.26in/32mm and the Bigboy reservoir that was 1.9in/48.25mm. The name stuck and the rest is history. We've noticed other makers call their similarly sized reservoirs Medium as well. At least it wasn't the first time we started a trend by accident.

Here are a couple of examples:

This is the Caiman in Light Hunter config, with a Medium reservoir and carbon fiber silencer.

This is one of the first shrouded Caiman Carbines that used the Medium reservoir.

Caiman B-Type

We were toying with the idea of a bottle-type Caiman, and this is what we came up with:



Our new toy's got a 15-inch .22 cal brass barrel and is currently spitting out JSB's at 860fps for roughly 65-70 shots. I'd consider it a carbine, 37 inches OAL with moderator on, and 30 inches off. That's just a 3-9x40 Leapers scope on top, so you can judge the relative size of it.

It's got a pretty unique gauge position:



A simple tilt up will give you a look at the reading. There's a foster quick fill on the other side:



We found it was much easier to recharge while holding the rifle firmly about the middle, instead of fumbling with something at the muzzle end of the reservoir.

Accuracy?

We've only tested it at our 20 yard range so far as we haven't had time to hit the 50 yard one (which is quite a ways away from the shop), but I'm pretty satisfied that it meets our standards. Those are .22 cal pellet-sized targets...



And it comes complete with video. You may note I'm fumbling the 2nd shot because I noticed I stuck a JSB pellet in with a bent skirt (that's the nice thing about the Caiman's direct loading function), so I was trying to pry it out. I was aware the camera was running so I gave up on it, hehe.



You may also note the new thumbhole stock style, with a big indent for those who prefer a thumbs up position, and easier access to the hammer. Nice thing about it is, lefties like me can still shoot it comfortably.

I sure wish we had more time to get into this, but we're too busy at the shop right now. I do think it's got future potential. I like it, too bad Noli called dibs on it first.

Code name: Caiman B-Type, because I'm imaginative like that.

Figures and Grain....

For those wondering how the Caiman might look like dressed in walnut, look no further:



That's the client's own walnut blank, he was very lucky to get the nice figuring on the forend.

Breakin' Fifty....

I'd like to draw your attention to Noli's latest project gun. Seems after our blood pressure raising export order run, he needed to do something to relax.

This Caiman started out with a standard tank and a 17 inch shrouded barrel. It now sports an extended Mid tank and reworked internals that help propel 21 grain .22 caliber Kodiak pellets at 1,050 ft/sec, giving it more than 50 Ft-Lbs. The 600cc, 3,000psi reservoir supplies enough air for 40 balanced shots. The new 24 inch HW barrel is still wrapped in a T3 aluminum shroud, and the black/pepper laminate stock was redone to take the medium tank. I believe the proud owner will be using it to compete in the local airgun benchrest competitions that are growing in popularity lately.



Here it is compared to a standard length shrouded Tornado.


A closer look at the butt plate...


The Mid tank it uses is 40.5mm in diameter, which puts it squarely between the standard (32mm) and the Bigboy (48.25mm). This new size reservoir looks promising as it offers a compromise between the size of the standard tank and the capacity of the Bigboy.

The local benchresters better watch out, this monster is the one to beat =)

Targets and Tocino...

Ok the title of this post is an inside joke...but here's a Caiman rifle with our new batch of stocks in silhouette style. New owner is Mr. Hizon who test fired a few groups for us at 37 meters.







6 shots at 37 meters.

Skeletons In Our Closet

Here are a couple of Bigboy tanked Caimans that were made to order with "military" style folding stocks. Please don't let the flowers on the furniture distract you from their cool, rugged para-military looks, hehe.

These are special order only, check this post to see our standard folding-stock models with the full wood butt stocks.

November Gunshow Update and Pics

The 2nd 2006 Defense and Sporting Arms Show was held last week from thursday till monday. We almost weren't able to attend because of some snafus, but Fields & Forests were gracious enough to help us display our wares, we owe them a lot.

As much as I wished I could be there to help out, I was not able to make it and Noli had the whole show to himself. Not something to look forward to since the last show there were three of us and we all lost our voices, but I'll leave the show details for him to tell. What I do have are the pics that he sent me. This show marks the debut of the shrouded versions of our rifles, as well as the new design of the folding stock Caiman.

Check out the slideshow below or click here to see the rest of the pics...

Our line up






A close up of the new folding stock design


The crowds were there again






The Fields & Forests team

Double Vision

Congratulations to the proud parents of our two latest shrouded Caimans. One sports a T3 aluminum shroud that will be offered as our standard shroud in the future. The other one has the optional carbon fiber shroud, very nice eye candy!



More pictures to come later...UPDATED!

Thanks to proud new owners Robert and Tim, here are a few more pics. Notice also that one has the ambidextrous thumbhole stock.

Jetlag and Silhouettes

So I hopped on a 17hr plane ride to Manila to help Noli take care of the shop and our export orders. Rough, but I had to do it. He mentioned in passing that I will be just on time to make the trip to the 1st Calaca Batangas Metallic Silhouette Mayor's Cup. What I wasn't expecting was it was the day right after I arrived in Manila hehe.

Turns out, the MS competitions around here are really fun and exciting events. There was a big turn out by some of the best shooters in the country. It was nice to see families show up to support their own. There was even a whole family of shooters too! It was also exciting seeing the different rifles brought by the competitors, there were side lever co2 rifles, custom compressed airguns and air pistols, the works! I had with me a .20 cal Caiman in a sporter stock that was assembled the day before hehe. To digress, when I was telling my dad about this event afterwards, he reminded me about the movie, The Ghost and the Darkness, where the protagonist took an untried rifle to hunt a lion, which eventually misfired, almost causing him to be a lion's lunch. That was just my dad's nice way of calling me "stupid" for competing with a brand new rifle with a brand new barrel. Hehe. I told him I just had a lot of faith in our guns...but yea, note to self, PRACTICE.


The shoot went off well, according to Mayor Nas Ona, they had a preliminary round for beginners the day before, and they had 60 shooters turn up with their foot pump pcps hehe. It's a great way to get people into the sport. The next day it was our turn as about 40 - 45 shooters showed up to compete. We sorta ran out of daylight near the end, as the re-fires piled up, but all in all, it was a great experience. Especially when you have to pass by picturesque Tagaytay on the way home and eat that special bulalo ... yum!

On to the pics:

Noli and Calaca Mayor Nas Ona


I had to squeeze in there hehe...




One of our clients, Rowell, with his Tornado dressed in royal jacaranda laminate...


Randelli with his Caiman in black/pepper laminate, in a new gloss finish, verry nice!


Rico Laurel and his custom sporter stocked Caiman, one of the lightest rifles we have. Note the cool pellet holder/dispenser.


That's me gettin' ready to shoot. In my hands is a walther .20 cal barreled Caiman flinging 14 grain Crosman Premiers at 970 - 980 fps. Its trajectory was almost laser straight, dead on from the chicken all the way to the boar, and a pellet's width hold over on the ram's back. Scope is an Elite 4200 6-24 with target dots.






Our "automatic" sillywet resetters ... they automatically reset the sillywets when Mr. R.O. Kit Ello tells them to go.


Maaaaaaster Kit Ello and his weapon of choice...


Our official Re-Fire King, Wilson Katanus, who is going to go on to win 4 trophies before the day is done. He's using our totally beat up Tornado prototype.


The Bigboy Caiman Carbine that Noli was using ... also newly assembled hehe. We should call ourselves Team No Practice.




The firing line, note the active wind flags...



Some shots on the practice range. That's a Caiman rifle with a Bigboy tank in the foreground, and a Tornado in Royal Jacaranda Laminate in the back.








A nice side lever c02 rifle ...


A handsome stock, called "Kamagong", or ebony wood...


Some of the nice hardware present ...


A Filarms Trio on the firing line...


Mayor Nas Ona giving out the trophies. He graciously purchased a Caiman to be raffled off at the end of the event.


The lucky winner of the Caiman...


Wilson and some of his trophies...hehe.


Kudos goes to Richard Fernandez and crew, Sir Kit Ello and most especially Mayor Nas Ona for hosting this event, it was a blast and I can't wait for the next one.