Well, I bought one mostly disliked rifle a coupla weeks back. Interesting, I actually like the BSA, Defiant. I put a thread on it, it's back a few pages I'd assume. Even now, the more I shoot it, the more I like it, many-many magazines later.
Now...I've gone and done it again, I bought another mostly disliked rifle. I've liked the look of the Air Arms, Galahad since my first sighting on the PyramidAir site. But after reading about it's feeding problems over and over again, I decided against giving it a try. Well, the other day a refurbished one came up on the site for just over $900. Hmm...I thought. I gave them a call. The guy that I talked to did not know why the gun was returned, nore did he know why this black gun was much cheaper than the wood stock refurbished one also on sale. We talked the next day. The black gun was returned because...it did not index the magazine correctly..! They (Pyramid) apparently installed a second generation indexing pin and reassembled and tested the gun. The gun that I now own is under 1000 serial number, so it's fairly early. He also said that the open wood stock was a more desirable gun also, they apparently sell more wood stock guns than black guns.
Adam, by the way is a great guy to work with.
It actually got to me sooner than I was told by the UPS. While I've only put four magazines thru it so far...without a single hiccup I might add, I'm again, happy with my purchase.
The gun fits very nicely at the shoulder. The grip is also very comfortable. The cheek piece is not adjustable height wise, no big deal. I really do like the stock design. Smooth clean, no artsy-fartsy cuts into the wood. Just what's required for a comfortable hold, and not a piece that will win an "art school" design. The fit to the metal parts is very nicely done. No big nasty gaps anywhere. I don't know how much the black coating might hide wood blemishes, but I see no dings or dents anywhere. Nice stippling where it should be. Even a "T"-slot in the forestock for you bipod shooters.
The cocking mechanism is as you can imagine a little odd to get used to, but that's one thing about the human body, if you don't fight a bad thing, the body can get used to most any new thing...IF you let it..! The first 3/4 of the movement is very smooth and easy. The last 1/4 of rotation is a little hard. Smooth, but hard. The return rotation is the same, the first 1/4 rotation, a little hard, the last 3/4 rotation, easy and smooth. Nothing is felt of any pellet misalignment. I was feeling for that specifically. Again, I've only put four magazines thru it so far, but like I said, not a single hard / odd spot in the cocking action like it was having a hard time indexing the pellets.
The magazine is easy to load with pellets, drop in and turn, simple. No springs to overcome or let slip past your fingers. The magazine is also a snap to load into the receiver. Just align it and lightly push, and it falls into place, index finger and thumb, easy.
The silencer does a very good job of calming the bark. The gun that I received is the shorter version, but is still regulated. I may try to shorten the barrel sleeve, if the parts allow without a lot of work. Much quieter than most of my other guns.
One bad thing and one odd thing. The bad thing - the Weaver/Picatinny rail...isn't. A single support bar riser / scope / sight fits well, width wise. Width and angles are all good. BUT the slot to slot distance is garbage. If you have a single sight/scope/riser, with a single locating pin, you are fine. I have a riser with two support pins...it will not fit. I measured the slot width to other guns. More normal distance, slot to slot (front side to back side) width = .580". Air Arms = .567". I don't know, maybe some sort of bad Metric conversion, I don't know, but they F'ed up big time. The other, odd thing is, they installed a sight level. While this may be an ok thing, it's WAY to close to your face. I, anyway, can't even come even sorta close to being able to focus on it. Useless. Not concerned about it. I'll have to do a little work to be able to use the sight/scope riser onto the rail that I want to use, vs. the one that I am using now.
The trigger has a very nice, smooth first stage pull. Not overly long or too short, by me anyway. A solid second stage stop, and a nice crisp second stage pull to fire. While the second stage pull is a "little" harder than most air rifles, it is adjustable, which I have not tried yet. The trigger is solid in its housing, no side to side wiggle which is a very good thing. The trigger is a little narrower than most, again, not a big deal.
Shooting, I put a Holosun red dot/circle ring sight on it and I shoot offhand, so I won't be having many "hole in one" shots. Though I do have a couple of "Robin Hood" crossbow arrows that I've done in the past..! Anyway, in my first four magazines full 18.1 gr. FX pellets, I'm happy with it.
Yea, so far, glad I ended up with a refurbished Galahad, that had been worked over for the magazine indexing problem. If anyone is interested, have the seller check, over and over again to verify that this problem does not exist.
Mike
Now...I've gone and done it again, I bought another mostly disliked rifle. I've liked the look of the Air Arms, Galahad since my first sighting on the PyramidAir site. But after reading about it's feeding problems over and over again, I decided against giving it a try. Well, the other day a refurbished one came up on the site for just over $900. Hmm...I thought. I gave them a call. The guy that I talked to did not know why the gun was returned, nore did he know why this black gun was much cheaper than the wood stock refurbished one also on sale. We talked the next day. The black gun was returned because...it did not index the magazine correctly..! They (Pyramid) apparently installed a second generation indexing pin and reassembled and tested the gun. The gun that I now own is under 1000 serial number, so it's fairly early. He also said that the open wood stock was a more desirable gun also, they apparently sell more wood stock guns than black guns.
Adam, by the way is a great guy to work with.
It actually got to me sooner than I was told by the UPS. While I've only put four magazines thru it so far...without a single hiccup I might add, I'm again, happy with my purchase.
The gun fits very nicely at the shoulder. The grip is also very comfortable. The cheek piece is not adjustable height wise, no big deal. I really do like the stock design. Smooth clean, no artsy-fartsy cuts into the wood. Just what's required for a comfortable hold, and not a piece that will win an "art school" design. The fit to the metal parts is very nicely done. No big nasty gaps anywhere. I don't know how much the black coating might hide wood blemishes, but I see no dings or dents anywhere. Nice stippling where it should be. Even a "T"-slot in the forestock for you bipod shooters.
The cocking mechanism is as you can imagine a little odd to get used to, but that's one thing about the human body, if you don't fight a bad thing, the body can get used to most any new thing...IF you let it..! The first 3/4 of the movement is very smooth and easy. The last 1/4 of rotation is a little hard. Smooth, but hard. The return rotation is the same, the first 1/4 rotation, a little hard, the last 3/4 rotation, easy and smooth. Nothing is felt of any pellet misalignment. I was feeling for that specifically. Again, I've only put four magazines thru it so far, but like I said, not a single hard / odd spot in the cocking action like it was having a hard time indexing the pellets.
The magazine is easy to load with pellets, drop in and turn, simple. No springs to overcome or let slip past your fingers. The magazine is also a snap to load into the receiver. Just align it and lightly push, and it falls into place, index finger and thumb, easy.
The silencer does a very good job of calming the bark. The gun that I received is the shorter version, but is still regulated. I may try to shorten the barrel sleeve, if the parts allow without a lot of work. Much quieter than most of my other guns.
One bad thing and one odd thing. The bad thing - the Weaver/Picatinny rail...isn't. A single support bar riser / scope / sight fits well, width wise. Width and angles are all good. BUT the slot to slot distance is garbage. If you have a single sight/scope/riser, with a single locating pin, you are fine. I have a riser with two support pins...it will not fit. I measured the slot width to other guns. More normal distance, slot to slot (front side to back side) width = .580". Air Arms = .567". I don't know, maybe some sort of bad Metric conversion, I don't know, but they F'ed up big time. The other, odd thing is, they installed a sight level. While this may be an ok thing, it's WAY to close to your face. I, anyway, can't even come even sorta close to being able to focus on it. Useless. Not concerned about it. I'll have to do a little work to be able to use the sight/scope riser onto the rail that I want to use, vs. the one that I am using now.
The trigger has a very nice, smooth first stage pull. Not overly long or too short, by me anyway. A solid second stage stop, and a nice crisp second stage pull to fire. While the second stage pull is a "little" harder than most air rifles, it is adjustable, which I have not tried yet. The trigger is solid in its housing, no side to side wiggle which is a very good thing. The trigger is a little narrower than most, again, not a big deal.
Shooting, I put a Holosun red dot/circle ring sight on it and I shoot offhand, so I won't be having many "hole in one" shots. Though I do have a couple of "Robin Hood" crossbow arrows that I've done in the past..! Anyway, in my first four magazines full 18.1 gr. FX pellets, I'm happy with it.
Yea, so far, glad I ended up with a refurbished Galahad, that had been worked over for the magazine indexing problem. If anyone is interested, have the seller check, over and over again to verify that this problem does not exist.
Mike
