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"mac-1" being timmy mac.
And we are talking about the "USFT" rifle right? 
LD pretty much designed it originally & Tim was allowed to contract out the parts & make the USFT - which is slightly different than the original perhaps but no in anyway that matters. In there prime they came accuracy tested and not too many rifles did. Most modern version uses the Ninja paintball tanks ( as in the Guantlet & many homemade/converted airguns but you should still be able to get the tube model.
A big feature was, LOW fill pressure, Sat 1,800psi and you could get 40+ shots on some models and with the ninja bottle you could shoot an entire FT match w/out refilling. Now many rifles have an even better shot count ( using more psi) and dont have the "bag o pipes" look.

Most modern airgun folks would consider them HEAVY and oddly shaped, great for FT or BR but not well suited for hunting & such.
If you really would like to know more just call Tim. I recently read he has another batch he can assemble and he loves to talk.

John
Hunter model
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and I've seen one with bugs
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Some shooters use Mac1 USFTs at our local benchrest matches and do well with them. Tim McMurray of Mac1 comes to most matches. Besides building air rifles he also repairs and rebuilds them, supplies compressed air for the matches, and helps run and score the events. Besides being a wealth of airgun knowledge and experience, Tim is a character and his range dogs are friendly.
 
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What I know about the Mac1/LD guns-a lot of this is here-say so if you know otherwise, feel free to correct me.

The Mac1 USFT/Hunter gun was originally created by Larry Durham. He made one of these for himself in his garage and I was told it took lots of trial error to get to the point that he envisioned for the gun. It was so impressive that he was convinced to make seven more prototypes out of that garage. At some point, Tim McMurray, who is Mac1, worked it out with Larry to put the gun into production. This is all in California. From what I can determine, it seems like those first production guns were done sometime in the early 2000's. 

I purchased a Mac1 from Tim recently. I ordered it right after Labor Day and received it about 7 weeks later. I had him set it up with a polygonal barrel in .177 and 20 fpe. I also had him machine a .22 barrel which has yet to go on the gun to be tested. My barrels are both LW barrels as Tim explained that they are the best barrels being made right now. When the Mac1/LD gun first started, HW was making good barrels and Tim used those. He also at one point was able to get a .22 two-grooved barrel that was extremely accurate (see Teds Holdover video on YouTube). He told me that company no longer makes exceptional barrels so it appears that he uses the best barrels available at a given time. I ordered mine in the upright version that he designates as a "hunter" versus his canted grip "usft" version of the gun. When I ordered it I was told it would be the #264th usft/hunter gun he has made. He seems to have a different numbering system for the hunter versus canted version because my receiver is number #165. He is calling this run the third generation. I asked him to save weight wherever he could and my barrels measure slightly under 16mm. While I have not weighed the gun, it feels like it weighs about what my laminate stocked HW77k does. When I compared my gun to a friends first gen, there have been noticeable improvements made, mostly in the amount of adjustments available on my third gen. For example, mine has an adjustable thumbrest, a more adjustable "stock," a threaded hammer to which weights can be added to increase fpe, the oring that seals the barrel is now on the swing port to eliminate the need to cut an oring groove into each barrel, and a transfer port that can be reduced/enlarged for fine-tuning of fps/fpe. Tim told me there are other less noticeable improvements like a glanded sealing system in the tube.

I was intrigued by the low fill pressure tubed version vs his higher pressure bottle guns so I had him make mine as a tube gun. I am getting 55 shots within 10fps with a fill pressure from 1600 to 1300. I have an 80cf SCUBA tank that started with 2800psi when I got the gun. I have only used the tank for the Mac1 gun and am down to a little under 2300psi. That 525ish psi from the tank has gotten me about 1200 shots out of the gun so far (I am not quite halfway into the third 500 count tin). I am quite happy with my air usage/vs number of shots I am getting as it appears that I should get about 5-8 tins of pellets from a full 3000psi fill down to 1600 in the scuba tank.

When I first got the gun I ran a few strings through it from a bench at 55 yards to minimize shooter influence on the guns accuracy. From a rest, my copy of the gun will make 1 hole groups at 55 yards in low wind situations. I was able to pull off multiple 10 shot groups that the colloquial dime would cover. Paintballs at 60 yards are not much of a challenge from a steady rest. It is much more accurate than I am.

At my first field target match with the gun I shot 85% (34/40). It was my first time shooting in the open class and therefore my first time shooting without my trusty bipod. I did not use a harness and was quite unsteady. 4 of the 6 shots I missed were my lack of a steady hold (I have some practicing to do). The other two were errors in ranging two targets due to them being set in very shady areas. In short, the misses were me, not the gun.

The open class of the recent Field Target Nationals in Arizona was won by an individual shooting a first generation Mac1 USFT. The same gun and the same shooter placed sixth in the Pro Class of the Knockdown Silo at the 2017 EBR. It should be noted that he was using a .177 caliber airgun at 20foot pounds to knock over .22 rimfire silhouettes. I was told he had to shoot some of the targets more than once because the low powered .177 would only rock the targets back into the headwind and they would settle back on their base without being completely knocked over. Most, if not everyone else in the Silo Knockdown use .22 airguns at higher fpe than the .177 USFT that took 6th.

The trigger on these guns is superb. I have shot 4 different usft/hunters and been impressed with the trigger on each of them.

My first firearm as a teenager was a single shot, break action .223 H&R Handi-Rifle. I shot many thousands of rounds through that gun. It uses an exposed hammer that must be cocked for each shot, in much the same way as the Mac1/LD guns. It just feels natural to me to load a pellet, cock the hammer, and carefully squeeze off the shot, knowing that the first shot needs to count because a second one wont be sent flying very quickly.

I have read in a few places where people have made comments like the above about the gun no longer being cutting-edge technology. I think they are alluding to the Thomas rifle or the RAW rifles. I have been around a few Thomas guns at matches and they appear to be a very similar gun, in how they function, to the Mac1. They of course cost nearly twice the amount but a good trigger, the ability to utilize LW barrel blanks, a swing-breech loading mechanism, and mostly aluminum construction seem to be shared features. As far as the RAW rifles, I know less about them but understand they use a regulator and higher fill pressure (both of which I wanted to avoid) so I went with the Mac1. I am not sure why the general consensus seems to be that Mac1 guns are no longer relevant but I think it probably has a lot to do with "newness." When it comes to vehicles for example, everybody always wants the latest greatest with the assumption that older vehicles don't have the coolest features. It seems like that is where Thomas guns are right now, everybody wants what appears to be the latest greatest. I wanted accuracy and longevity. I was able to get it for $2000 less than the Thomas and don't regret it even slightly. (Please don't take this as a bashing on the Thomas gun. It too, is a very impressive rifle made by a top-notch individual that spends an incredible amount of time on each rifle that he sends out-so I'm told. We all have choices in this hobby and I simply chose a Mac1 gun over a Thomas, that doesn't make me a bad person, a Mike Nisch hater, or a Thomas hater. It is simply what I chose to go with at this time-mostly because of the price.)

I have used the gun to pest with and have been equally impressed. I have a permission at a feedlot that deals with ground squirrels, starlings, and Eurasian Collared doves. If I set up in the right place, I can take shots at the ground squirrels and doves, with that caveat being that the doves are in a tree 65 yards away. I can knock doves out of that tree all day long with the Mac1-many of which are head shots (when they'll stop bobbing their head around long enough). In fact, two of the adult ranch hands and their kids, age 5 and 6, have been curious at what I was up to and came to check it out in two different instances. All four knocked doves out of the tree on their first shots with the rifle rested securely. The two younger boys have not shot much in their lives. One of the adults commented, "you just put the crosshairs on it and pull the trigger and it drops em every time." I agree.
 
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Frank
most of what you say is true, not all
i have a cpl of USFT's and my son loves to shoot the one shown with regulated bottle and a poly barrel in benchrest
he even shot a 250 20X out doors with it in one of our matches, the other one is a low pressure long tube like yours
but is a 2 digit serial # :)
i also have some Thomas's and Raw's set up for benchrest which i shoot
and the Thomas is NOT twice the price of a USFT, you need to check prices
all 3 makes are accurate and fun to shoot
i like all of them :)

Dick

 
Since you've paid for both of them I'll have to defer to you in the price difference. I know what I paid for my Mac1 hunter a few months ago, but I've never called Mike about a Thomas rifles price nor have I find a price listed on his website. I was basing the two times as much claim on what the guys at the field target matches told me the Thomas's go for cuz it was twice the amount that I paid a few months ago. I'd like to add that whenever the price of a Thomas is discussed, it is accompanied with comments about how thorough Mike is with each rifle before he ships it out. I understand he spends an incredible amount of time ensuring the gun meets his accuracy expectations. Whatever the price difference is, KNOWING that it'll be incredibly accurate from day one is apparently worth it to a lot of shooters these days cuz it seems like he's selling alot of them.
 
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Big thanks to everyone who replied. God this is why I love this forum! The Mac-1 is my idea of a dream gun (design, accuracy and low pressure shot count being the main reasons). I own some high end (by my standards) PCPs and get lots of enjoyment out of shooting on my property. I have no interest in competitive shooting. Decades of clay target shooting have satisfied my desire to see who can pee higher. One of the old gun scribes once wrote something like "only accurate rifles are interesting". The Mac-1 to me is VERY interesting. I think everyone needs a dream gun. 
 
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You really should try Field Target, it is all about comradery , you will never know the nice person that wanyed to let you use thier gear is a World Champion, it just doesnt come up. Airguns are fun and the people are the best.

Just a couple of different USFT pics, all the low psi style as your leaning that way.
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Every owner happy to let folks test drive what they have, and most did want to try my low dollar Chinese FT rig as I learned all about what they shot.


John
 
I sent Tim my Crosman Backpacker. Told him to do whatever he could to make it as powerful and accurate as possible, no matter what the price. Already had the Buck Rail stock adapter installed. Everything else was his doing. Almost %90 of the internals were reworked. A fatter set of pistols grips and a chunkier pump arm. It's slinging 14.3 gr Crosman Premiere HP's at 800+ fps and doing dime sized groups at 40 yards.

I'm not a competition shooter. I'm a hunter/pester. And I have to say, Tim is the best at what he does.

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USFTs are very competitive air rifles. I won the Hunter class 2022 AAFTA GP with mine scoring a 299/300. with only four matches that season. Two 100%,, one 99%, and one 95% scores. They are as competitive as any field target rifle made today. I also compete well with my USFT pistol in the AAFTA pistol GP, recently winning the California State Hunter Pistol match. LD built 4 custom USFT pistols

LD and Tim are my friends and I'm a USFT collector... especially any USFT that LD worked on or built from scratch. When his health allows, LD continues to build a few guns for his personal use. Sometimes I can talk him into selling me one of them. He continues to make little tuning improvements and innovating his new ideas. I think I have about 12 in my collection/LD museum now that I don't sell, including the first prototype LD built, and 3 in stock Tim built, I can sell in our little store, airgunoregon.com

Tim got in an accident with his bike and was out of production for awhile. He's back in the saddle again, albeit not at 100%, but getting some orders out again.

I do prefer the low pressure tube versions. Not only are they accurate, easy to make fit your body / shooting style, and durably made, they are just incredibly dependable. How many of you FT shooters have seen a competitor drop out during a match from a failing regulator? I know I've seen a lot of them over my almost 20 years playing the game.

I'm 74 now, and LD built me another 12fpe tube USFT to compete again in the WFTF class so I can compete in the Worlds this year. I don't know how well my body will preform, but I know my rig is ready to compete. At the recent AZ Sonoran GP, my teammate, Randy took 5th with our other LD built 12fpe rig, and I took 6th in WFTF class. I was in 4th after day one, but couldn't keep it up on day two.... see ya at the Worlds in Nov.

USFT's are still competitive and in the right hands can win any match they compete in.
 
I shot an USFT for the past two seasons in HFT. Went from learning what a hold over was to tying for high score of a match once. I just acquired a .22 Hunter that I plan to shoot benchrest with. The rifles are simple to a fault. A they work wonderfully - most of them....
If offered a chance to shoot one - take it. May just open your eyes....