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 =)

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

Why a shroud?

Some of you might ask, why a shroud? Well, installing a shroud accomplishes different purposes for different users. There are those who would prefer not to have a detachable silencer that they'd have to attach everytime they want to shoot. The shroud is a PERMANENT attachment that does the same job, without the potential legal and technical hassles that having a detachable silencer may present. Besides, they do look really really cool! :-)

Our choice of shroud material is 1in dia carbon fiber tube. It is extremely light (that 20 inch length is only 2 ounces), rigid, and very strong. As a follow up to our shroud experimentation, here's our progress on the shroud project.

The cf shroud was tipped with aluminum and has basically the same internals as our Thrust Vector Silencers. Testing on the DB meter showed similar sound characteristics too.

Shown here it is mounted on a Tornado frame and temporarily attached to a standard stock.








Here it is in final configuration on a Multishot Tornado with a laminate stock.









Note the extra length reservoir. =)

If the Caiman Had Wings

A part 2 to our on-going shroud project, first the carbon fiber, now this T3 aluminum tube to try out as shroud material. Note what it says on the pipe, AVIATUBE, I guess that's aircraft materials. Here's what they say about it:

2024 is a high-strength alloy most often used in aerospace applications. It has a yield strength that is roughly 10 percent higher and an ultimate strength of roughly 50 percent higher than 6061.

50% stronger, coooool. :-)