A very common question I get asked is "How Long Can I Leave CO2 in My Airgun?" So what do I do when I get asked a question over and over again... Well I make a video and give you my answer to the question.

Some CO2 Related Questions I seem to get over and over again are:

1. Can I leave an unused CO2 in my Airgun and for how long is it safe?

2. Can I reuse a C2 once it is empty?

3. Can I use my gun without CO2?

In this YouTube video I address questions 1 and 2, I kind of forgot about question number 3 since it is not as often but it does come up from time to time believe it or not and the answer to being able to use a CO2 airgunwith out CO2 is "NO", It's kind of like trying to drive a car without gas, or turn on a light without electricity or stay alive without food...

So anyways, watch my below Vimeo video for answers to questions one and two:

This may be a bit controversial for some people who don't like the thought of using an gun for hunting or extermination of unwanted pests. But weather or not it is accepted by all, it is a practice that many people still embrace including myself when done in a humane way.

Let's start off by addressing this topic by asking some questions and filling in some of the answers. Keep in mind I go into much more detail in my Vimeo video below.

What is the reason that you need to Shoot or Hunt an Animal?

Are you shooting an animal out of need or just for fun, sure there is a thrill in the sport of hunting but after taking down your prey, the animal should not be killed in vain as the meat should be eaten. There are also times when pesky critters get into your gardens, tree farms, feeding stations garbages and who knows what else? I personally think shooting an animal that has not done you any harm or that you don't plan on eating is not ethical. So question your motives wisely?

Can you use an Airgun for Hunting and or Pest Control?

The short answer is yes! As long as you choose the correct Airgun for the job, one that has enough power and accuracy to get the job done in a humane manner. Using an underpowered or inaccurate gun of any type for the chosen target will lead to the animal being wounded and possibly getting away to suffer unnecessarily.

What about Pistols versus Rifles?

Given the choice, a rifle will always be your best bet, rifles tend to be more accurate since they are more stable to hold and the fact that the sights are further apart which improves the guns accuracy. Most rifles also allow for enhanced sighting systems like red dots or magnified scopes for even further accuracy improvements. There are some pistols made specifically for hunting and target shooting that can be accurate but I would limit their use to shorter ranges.

What about Pellet guns versus BB guns?

BB guns in general are not meant for hunting or pest control, and in most cases they are underpowered and not as accurate as their pellet shooting counterparts, especially out at longer ranges where most pests keep their distances to. If you plan on doing some hunting and or pest control, please invest in an adequate pellet rifle to get the job done humanly.

What type of Ammo is best for Hunting and Pest Control?

There are lots of types of pellets available, pointed, rounded, flat, hollow-point and even pellets that have nylon tips. At the end of the day, use the pellet that is the most accurate in your Airgun because shot placement will win over pellet shape any day of the week. The reality is that as long as that pellet hits the target with adequate velocity, it doesn't matter what shape it is, it's more than likely going to pass right through the animal.

What is the lowest FPS that I can use?

I would rather ask the question, what is the highest fps I can get away with since more fps will give you more margin for error, since it will have a flatter trajectory and will do more damage even if your shot is off a bit. An experienced shooter could make a kill shot on a small pest even with a 400 fps airgun but the shot would have to be perfect and the range would have to be close. Of course when shooting larger game, you will need larger caliber pellets with higher velocities. Also when using a high velocity airgun you need to consider what is beyond your target, if you miss, where is that pellet or bullet going to end up? You need to make sure you do not injure anyone by mistake as pellets/bullets can travel a long distance.

How large of an Animal can an Airguns Kill?

This is really dependent on the Airgun being used, Airguns come in many different calibers, from .177 right up to .50 caliber, some PCP Airguns can even take down a deer! You need to do your research and make sure the Airgun you choose has both the power and accuracy you need for the intend prey.

Where can I use an Airgun for Hunting and or Pest Control?

This is a question you need to ask your local authorities as laws and hunting regulations are different just about everywhere. Even shooting pests on your property may require a permit so be careful to obey your local laws.

In many of my reviews I show the loading process of each gun but sometimes I either skim over this part or assume most people already know how to load an Air Pistol and skip it entirely. Well as it turns out not everybody does know how to load up an Airgun or they are unclear on certain areas, like do you actually need the CO2 and how long can you leave CO2 in an airgun?

So I made a video specifically to cover how to load CO2, BB's and/or Pellets into your Air Pistol.

Now even though this video is targeted at 4.5mm Steel BB and Lead Pellet Pistols, there is a crossover with 6mm Airsoft Pistols so this video may also help an Airsoft shooter.

Our Family Bearded Dragon (Dijon) was looking rather sad and lonely today so I figured he could hang out while I made the video, he really doesn't do much of anything most of the time so why not give him a special appearance in one of the Replica Airguns Videos ;)

Two questions that come up over and over again and to be honest I just hate answering, mainly because both of these questions to me are kind of common sense questions. I feel if someone where to stop and actually think about teh question, the answers would become obvious.

That said, common sense has to be learned somewhere and not all of us are exposed to the same life experiences so here goes...

The two questions are:

• Will this Ammunition Work in my Gun?

• Can I Convert a Blank Gun to a Real Gun?

The answer for both of these question is actually the same! Use the ammo made for your gun and do not try to use anything other than the ammo that was made for your gun. Do not try to modify your gun to shoot anything other than the ammo that was made for it, if you do, you may be breaking the law and could land yourself in jail. If you can follow these rules then your ammo and gun will work as intended :)

So that's pretty much it in a nutshell, watch my YouTube video below as I show you examples of ammo types with visuals on exactly why you need to use the ammo made for your gun. I also talk about the dangers of attempting to modify a blank gun to shoot some sort of real bullet and why it is a very bad idea in so many ways to try and convert a blank gun into a real gun.

Buy the ROHM RG-88 9mm P.A.K. Blank Pistol in the Canada Store

Buy the ROHM RG-88 9mm P.A.K. Blank Pistol in the US Store

This video should go "Hand in Hand" (pun intended) with my Best Two Handed Pistol Grip Tutorial Video that I did last year back in August. After that video I had several people ask me to talk about how to aim a gun. I guess if you have been shooting guns for a while you kind of take it all for granted but after teaching my kids the proper way to aim a gun at a target, this info is not naturally born into us ;)

This video demonstrate how and where to place your open gun sights on a target and also how you can compensate for a gun that may not be perfectly sighted in.

This is take 2 of my Modification to my F1 Chrony Chronograph. The purpose of this modification is to improve the low light FPS readings. In my first attempt I used LED Puck Lights but they where the kind that used flat panel LED's and they only had 4 panels per LED Puck which made each LED panel kind of bright. I did get OK with my first mod using LED Puck Lights but not as good as I would like to see.

So here we are with take 2 of F1 Chrony Chronograph LED Puck Light modification and this time around I am using standard bulb styled LED lights and to improve my chances of this working I went with and LED Puck that contained 24 LED bulb lights per puck, this way each light on it's own is a bit dimmer which I feel will give a more diffused lighting effect and hopeful consistent fps readings.

By the way I got these LED Puck Lights at my local dollar store for $2.50 each so not a very expensive modification, especially if they work.

Well... Watch the video and see how they perform...

This video was made to show you the results I got by mounting LED puck lights to the top of my F1 Chrony Chronograph defuser panel in order to improve the low light Feet Per Second readings when using 4.5mm Steel BB's.

I have been struggling with my F1 Chrony Chronograph during the fall and winter months as tit becomes overcast and dark where I live. There have been days where I have gone out to shoot my field test shooting video and not been able to get any Chronograph fps results which is very frustrating because much time and effort goes into the planning setup of each video.

I was given advice from several of my viewers to mount an LED puck style light on the back side of my Chronograph defuser panel and that this helps the Chronograph to read much better in low light situations.

I bought a multipack of the LED puck lights from my local Costco but they did not work as well as I expected them to as they had a panel style of LED rather than the bulb shaped LED which I think may diffuse the light a bit more. My next experiments will be done using LED Puck lights but with the bulb styled LED.

You can watch my video to see how my first attempt using an LED Puck light with my F1 Chrony Chronograph worked out.

I stopped by the ICS Booth, we don't sell too much of their products but have carried a few items from time to time. ICS caries some nice quality Airsoft guns including the M1 Grand with real wood stock, and some AK & AR variants.

One of our suppliers had the new FN Herstal Five-seveN Blowback Airsoft pistol, I believe made by Marushin. Like the real FN Herstal Five-seveN, the pistol is pretty much all polymer including the slide and frame. This pistol also uses CO2 in the full size drop out magazine which should make it fairly powerful.

Looks like there is another Dan Wesson contender available now in the form of a Swiss Arms S&W 357 Magnum 4 inch and 6 inch barreled version, they look really nice and like the Dan Wesson have the realistic reusable brass shells that hold the 4.5mm Steel BB's.

Ever considered owning a  mobile Gunsmith vehicle, look no further, I came across this pimped out Firearms Van complete with machine guns mounted in the front :) Inside was a complete firearms workshop.

Last but not least, we had some fun while in Vegas. I go down for the SHOT Show for business but I also bring my wife and we make time for some non business related activities. I generally stay at the WorldMark resort each time and this year the weather was pretty nice so we where able to get some sun by the pool a couple of days and I even got a tan line! Of course the food and entertainment is always awesome in Vegas.

We carry a lot of the G&G line and perhaps have as much in stock as you would find at the G& G booth ;) I did see a few items we do not have in stock so I will have to see what I can do about that. Some products that I hope to see added to our Canada Replica Airguns Store would for sure be the M1 Grand and our Canadian Military Colt C7A1/2.

One company I took notice of was Inokatsu, they make super high quality Airsoft guns. I was drawn to their Sig Sauer P229 and 1911 pistols that by the way are made out of real steel and as close to the real version as possible without it being a real gun. The Inokatsu pistols I looked at are not cheap and will set you back over a grand but are as close as you can get to a real sidearm as possible in an Airsoft version. They feel amazing to shoot with heavy blowback and that sound real steel makes when the slide snaps back.

Let me know if you're like me and would be willing to part with a substantial amount of money for one of these treasures? 

I also visited my friends at the ASG booth but for some reason I did not get a photo  of their booth? I do have some video walk through stuff I will show you in my YouTube Video coverage of this years Vegas SHOT Show. Most importantly I have lots of gun photos so let's take a look at them...

One of my favorite ASG pistols is the Bersa BP9CC, I have already reviewed it and I just really like how this gun looks and holds, ASG took it one step further this year by adding a two-tone silver version and I have to say it looks awesome in person, my photos do not do it justice at all :(

A new handgun to the ASG blowback pistol series is the CZ P-09 Duty Pellet pistol. Basically it shares similar mechanics to the Umarex PX4 and Gamo PT-85 using the double sided rotary pellet magazine with 8 shots located on each end of the stick magazine. The ASG CZ P-09 Duty features a metal slide, working hammer and safety.

Another pellets pistol that should be very familiar to most of you is the new .177 caliber pellet shooting Dan Wesson in 6 inch silver and 8 inch black versions. ASG added a rifled barrel and redesigned solid brass shells that hold pellets instead of 4.5mm Steel BB's. Expect to take a little bit longer to reload the pellets as unscrewing the tip of each shell is required to place a .177 caliber pellet in each bullet tip.

Of course ASG has tons of licensed pistols to choose from, many on both 4.5mm Steel BB and 6mm Plastic Airsoft!

One new rifle that stood out to me was the ASG CZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1 AEG Airsoft Rifle, the Scorpion features an intelligent AEG system that detects when there may be a potential feeding problem and also when the magazine is out of ammo.

Yet another option for you when looking to purchase a KWC/Cybergun Colt model 1911 or Beretta/Taurus M92. We started out with the Cybergun Tanfoglio Witness 1911 and GSG 92, then added the KWC non-licensed versions. Now we give you yet another option, the Cybergun distributed Swiss Arms P1911 and Swiss Arms P92, same BB guns but brandishing the Swiss Arms markings and licensing.

At the end of the day all of these blowback air pistols  are basically the same, all of them are made by KWC, all are made to the same quality and all are totally awesome.

It may just come down to which one we have in stock or if you want that super clean look then go for the KWC model as the slides on the non-licensed versions tend to have no markings or warning instructions on them.

And yes we have all of these guns available in either our online Canada Replica Airguns Store or US Replica Airguns Store.

Buy Swiss Arms 1911 in Canada  -  Buy Swiss Arms 1911 in the US

Buy the Swiss Arms P92 in Canada  -  Buy the Swiss Arms P92 in the US

In this informative video I go over the very basics of gun "handling" safety. I don't talk about gun storage or even shooting of the gun, I strictly go over the main aspects of handling a gun in a safe manor.

These are the four main points I demonstrate in this video:

• Fingers off the trigger till you are ready to shoot.

• Keep the gun unloaded till you are ready to shoot it.

• Assume your gun is loaded at ALL times.

• Always point your gun in a safe direction.

Hopefully this video will prevent some unfortunate accidents, even airgun related accidents can cause serious injuries which in most cases can be prevented with the correct gun handling information.

I have made a

similar safety video

where I talk about general gun safety and speak more about storing and also some gun shooting safety tips.

You really need to watch my Vimeo Video to see how easy it is to take a brand new out of the box gun and give it that weathered, old, worn and used look that you would find in a classic vintage gun like a Luger P.08, Colt 45 1911 or any other classic firearm. Of course this is something you would do to a new gun that you want to make look old :)

This is a great way to take a gun that already has some wear marks on it and really give it the full worn in look, kind of an alternative to having to touch it up or refinish it.

Here is a hint... I use something magical to do it!

Buy the Umarex Luger P.08

One of the most important keys to shooting accurately is how you grip the gun! In this video I show you the two handed grip that I use and that I have learned from watching other accurate shooters. I also talk about arm and shoulder placement which is more important when shooting large caliber pistols but even when shooting airguns that have virtually no recoil you may as well practice the correct hand arm and shoulder placement for when and if you do start shooting heavy recoil guns.

The main hand grip points I talk about in this video are how to overlap your finders and thumbs and also the pressure used by each hand that will make all the difference down range when shooting at targets.

Watch my Vimeo Tutorial Video on the Best Two Handed Pistol Grip:

Every once in a while something goes wrong and your favorite BB shooter stops working as it should :( One of the most common problems I see with many of the full blowback BB and Airsoft pistols are BB's getting stuck in the gas tube. This is because this style of gun loads a BB into the breach area of the barrel every time you rack the slide forward. Of course this is only when there are BB's in the magazine.

The semi auto style of these guns is similar to that of a real gun, the blowback operates the slide which in turn moves back and then forward and loads a BB into the chamber. With a real gun, if you where to rack the slide manually again without shooting it, the chambered round would be ejected by the extractor but with a BB gun there is no extractor because there is no spent shell to eject. So multiple BB's can be loaded into the chamber area of the barrel overloading it and if the BB's have nowhere to go they just jam up and often go back into the gas tube which can cause all kinds of problems...

In this Cybergun KWC Tanfoglio Witness 1911 Stuck BB Removal Tutorial Video, I show you how to remove a BB or even multiple BB's from the gas tube area which in short requires; the removal of the slide and guid rod and spring so that you can push the gas tube forward and shake the BB out of the front of the gas tube.

Watch my Vimeo Video on how to remove a stuck BB from the Gas Tube on my Tanfoglio Witness 1911.

Buy KWC/Cybergun 1911 BB in Canada   -   Buy KWC/Cybergun 1911 BB in the US

We just added a nice sellection of new NcSTAR accessories to the Canada Replica Airguns Store!

• NcSTAR AR Folding Vertical Grip
  
  
• NcSTAR AR15 Vertical Grip With Weaver Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR Bipod With Weaver Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR Compact Red Laser Black Sight With Weaver Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR Red Laser Black Sight With Weaver Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR Red And Green Laser With Weaver Base With Pressure Switch
  
  
• NcSTAR Tactical Red Laser Sight And 3 Watt 120 Lumens Led Flashlight
  
  
• NcSTAR Ultra Compact Green Pistol Laser With Quick Release Weaver Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR 30mm Double Rail Scope Adapter And Flashlight With Green Laser Set
  
  
• NcSTAR Tactical Red Laser Sight With Trigger Guard Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR Red And Green Dot Reflex Black Sight With Weaver Base
  
  
• NcSTAR 1x42 B-Style Red Dot Sight
  
  
• NcSTAR Compact Tactical Red Dot Black Reflex Sight
  
  
• NcSTAR Tactical Green Dot Black Sight With Automatic Brightness
  
  
• NcSTAR 1x40 Red Dot Sight With Built In Red Laser
  
  
• NcSTAR 1911 Pistol Accessory Rail Adapter
  
  
• NcSTAR Beretta 92 Pistol Accessory Rail Adapter
  
  
• NcSTAR AR15 Weaver 3/4 Inch Riser With Quick Release Weaver Mount
  
  
• NcSTAR 1 Inch Black Weaver Ring
  
  
• NcSTAR Tri-Rail Series 4x32 Compact P4 Sniper Rifle Scope
  
  
• NcSTAR Tri-Rail Series 4x32 Rangefinder Compact Rifle Scope
  
  
• NcSTAR SRT Series 4x32 Rubber Compact With Red Laser Blue Ill P4 Sniper Quick Release Green Lens
  
  
• NcSTAR Mark III Tactical Series Mil-Dot Rifle Scope
  
  
• NcSTAR Vism QR Vertical Grip/Built In Led Flashlight And Red Laser
  
  
• NcSTAR Vism CBT Series 3x42 Prismatic Mil Dot Rifle Scope With Integrated Red Laser
  
  
• NcSTAR Vism CBT Series 3x42 Prismatic Rifle Scope
  
  
• NcSTAR Micro Green Dot With Integrated Red Laser
  
  
• NcSTAR Vism Evolution Series 1.1-4x24 Full Size Rifle Scope
  
  
• NcSTAR Vism Evolution Series 1.1-4x24 Mil Dot Full Size Rifle Scope
  
  
• NcSTAR Vism Evolution Series 1.1-4x24 P4 Sniper Full Size Rifle Scope

I have not done my official Table Top and Shooting Reviews for the Gas Blowback Airsoft Cybergun Sig Sauer P226 but I really wanted to cut off the ugly orange painted barrel tip, it was kind of driving me crazy! keep in mind here in Canada we are not required to have orange tips on our Airsoft guns, most of the all metal or all black Airsoft guns imported these days fall into the "airgun uncontrolled firearms" category. If you live in the US or other parts of the world you could be breaking the law if you do this mod so be warned...

Your best best is to simply watch my Vimeo Video as I show you exactly how I removed the orange painted portion of the metal barrel using a hack saw, file, vice and some sand paper. All in all it was not too difficult and only took about 15 minutes to complete...

Buy this Airsoft Pistol in Canada  -  Buy this Airsoft Pistol in the US

I am happy to report back to you on all the new cool stuff I got to see at this years 2013 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Make sure to also watch my Vimeo video at the bottom of this post for some first person styled play by play of my experience at the Vegas SHOT Show 2013. (like you're there with me ;)

First up I want to cover a new gun from ASG, I have been wanting to get my hands on the 4.5mm Bersa BP9CC and I finally got to, not only did I get my hands on it but ASG was kind enough to supply me with one to take home for review. You can get the Bersa BP9CC in both Blowback and non-blowback versions and also in either BB or Airsoft. I opted for the 4.5mm BB Blowback version. I will be reviewing this BB gun very soon!

ASG also had a very cool prototype of an Airsoft CZ Scorpion EVO 3A1 hopefully coming out soon.

While roaming around SHOT Show 2013, I came across an interesting booth from FlashFog Security. I often get people asking me about using an airgun as a home defense weapon and I strongly advise against this. If the intruder is not scared off by the gun there is little an airgun can do to actually stop them. The FlashFog system works by rapidly filling a room with dense fog combined with a strobe light effect which blinds and disorients intruders completely. There is little an intruder can do other then try and get the heck out of there!

UPDATE: FlashFog just added a new section to their website specifically for School Security to help keep our schools safer from potential safety threats! So check it out: School Security Smoke Screen

I was a bit surprised by Gamo this year, they tend to stay away from actual Replica's and generally make BB/Pellet guns that look like popular guns but not any gun in particular. Gamo has a new BB/Pellet MP9 based machine pistol that uses a similar mechanism to their P-25 and PT-85 so it can shoot both 4.5mm BB's and .177 caliber Pellets using a double ended 16 shot rotary magazine. It also has an internal blowback system so it should have some recoil feel to it! I am pretty sure it is semi auto only but still a nice addition to their lineup!

Gamo also brought out a new 4.5mm BB Blowback pistol called the C-15 which has a metal slide and plastic frame, it kind of reminds me of the Umarex HPP in how it looks and feels.

Umarex had several new products that I am sure everyone is going to like! One that I think will do really well is the Steel Force, the Steel Force is designed around the 4.5mm BB shooting Steel Storm platform so it has a 6 round burst blowback operation and holds the 2x12 gram CO2 in the magazine while the BB's go in a 300 round hopper that feeds into a 30 round spring fed internal magazine. Like the Steel Storm it will shoot around 430 fps. The Steel Force has the advantage of being styled after the AR platform so it has a collapsible stock which will make shooting very easy.

Another often asked for airgun replica is the historic German Luger. This year Umarex stepped up to the plate and introduced the Umarex P.08 4.5mm BB pistol. Sorry, no blowback or even a working slide on this one but it is all metal and has a very good weight and feel to it.

If you're a fan of the entry level Umarex XBG then you may be interested in the new Umarex T.D.P. 45 which is very similar to the XBG in looks and features but with a slightly different look to it.

If you've ever wanted to turn your pistol into more of a PDW styled gun, you may be able to depending on which Umarex gun you have? Umarex added a very cool accessory called the T.A.C Converter that converts your Umarex HK USP (BB-Airsoft), SW MP40 (BB), XBG (BB), CZ Enforcer (Airsoft) and Walther P99 DOA (Airsoft) into more of a tactical (PDW) or Personal Defense Weapon complete with for-grip, adjustable rear sight, lots of rail options and a foldable stock.

I am assuming the Crosman M4-177 Pellet/BB Rifle has been doing well for Crosman as they have expanded with some more similar assault styled air rifles. The Crosman MSR77NP pretty much looks like a classic M16 but is in fact a Nitro Piston break barrel pellet rifle able to shoot .177 caliber pellets at 1200 fps (I hope there is a 499 fps Canada version planned too?).

A new takeoff of the M4-177 is the MK-177 which also shoots .177 caliber pellets and 4.5mm BB's using a multi-Pump System but it uses an upgraded more efficient pump system that squeaks out more fps with less pumps. The Crosman MK-177 is designed after the FN SCAR and is available in an adjustable iron sight version or a Red Dot equipped kit version.

One thing you can never get enough of in my opinion is another 1911 pistol! Crosman is introducing their GI Model 1911BB Blowback 4.5mm CO2 pistol, the one they had on hand was more of a prototype so the slide was not operational but it will feature an all metal design, blowback operation, 450 fps and a 20 round drop out magazine. I am sorry to say but it looks like the Crosman C51 has been dropped from Crosman's lineup but if you want a similar styled gun you can checkout the KWC SW40F which is a very close airsoft version.

We recently started carrying G&G Armament Airsoft guns, you can checkout my review of the Xtreme 45. I did stop by their booth and they had some new products on display, the M1 Grand (all wood stock) Airsoft had it's magwell all wrapped up as G&G had a propriety magazine system they did not want their competition to see. G&G also had some very interesting targets that light up, when shot they would react by individually turning off so you could see if you hit it or not.

There was a rather large crowd at the KWA booth but it was a shared booth so it's hard to say what everyone was looking at, the KWA area was pretty full, I did talk to the KWA rep and asked him point blank if KWC and KWA where the same or sister companies and the answer was not at all. There are often a lot of guns that look like they could be from the same company, I guess there is a lot of copying going on ;) One gun from KWA I would love to get my hands on is the Kriss SMG!

Now keep in mind many of these guns I have highlighted today are not available yet and a lot of them should be coming out in the spring time frame so please try to refrain from repeatedly asking when I will review them and have them in the store, it takes time and as much as we all want them now, they get here when they get here! 

Watch my Vimeo video of the Replica Aiguns at SHOT Show Vegas 2013

I have been asked so many times to make a "How To Video" on cleaning Airguns and Blank Guns so I thought I better make the video so people stop asking me to make one :) and if they do ask, which I am sure they still will, then I will be able to direct them to this awesome video tutorial...

So basically in this video I clean an Airgun that can be field stripped and I also clean an Airgun that can not easily be field stripped. I then clean a blank gun even thought the process is very much the same.

I also talk a bit about cleaners and general air gun maintenance but for the most part I just show you how to clean the guns so watch the video!