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We had our first three production guns at Camp Perry for the inaugural NM Air Rifle competition on January 9th. After seeing some real life usage, we see some areas that will be modified a bit more. This will push our next production back to late January to mid February, partly because part of that time I will be out of town. We do have components made or assembled to complete about 30 guns at the present time (and yes, we have orders for most of those).
BF-17 National Match Air Rifle
We all know that to get Distinguished takes quality repetition. It takes developing muscle memory from you hands, arms,
shoulders and yes your trigger finger. It takes visualizing a sight picture that is accurate to the gun you are holding. The
best way to do this of course is being able to practice with live rounds at least every other day. But
since most of us not
on a military marksmanship team with unlimited rounds and daily training time at the 200 yard line, we have to make the most
of every minute when we do get to practice.
We all know that one the best ways to practice in the off season is an air rifle and it certainly develops your skills,
but there still numerous fine points of muscle memory and sight acquisition that cannot be the same as your Service Rifle,
at least with traditional air rifles. But we decided that we could give you everything your want, the same as your target
AR-15 has them already. The exact sight picture and EXACT trigger feel along with the exact feel of your buttstock weighted
just the way you like it against your own cheek. How can we do that? Half of the answer is already in your hands, your personal
AR-15 lower receiver. The other half is the new BF-17 upper that houses an air rifle action made by Pilkguns. The BF-17 upper
uses actual AR-15 components like an A2 upper, front sight mount, charging handle and handguards. It also has National Match ¼
minute rear sights matched to a top quality .177 Lothar Walther barrel to put your shots in the X ring where we know you
have the talent to place them.
With the price of match quality .223 ammo hovering around half a
dollar a shot you need to train smarter. The time getting to range is
even more of a factor for most people. Driving to the range is often a
30 minute drive one way at best. Now you can take that same hour of
drive time and be practicing in your basement, or backyard with
something that feels the same as your real rifle and costs your
pennies, not 50 cent pieces to shoot each round.
This is a
picture of a BF-17 air rifle upper with a free float tube installed to
allow sling usage.
Close-up of the air rifle upper action.
The BF-17 upper is a .177 air rifle that will fit onto any AR lower and act as a fully functional air rifle. By utilizing
your
lower you can practice High Power with your trigger and buttstock
set exactly the way you would on the 200 yard line.
Illustrated in this picture is a functional Colt AR-15 lower.
Each BF-17 upper will come with a dummy 20 round magazine
shell that
will fit into your lower to give the correct feel
of an AR-15 as used in competition.
BF-17 uses a Lothar Walther barrel for accuracy combined with the Benjamin Discovery quick-fill system for ease of use.
CO2
fill bottles are available at Walmart and other retailers nationwide.
The BF-17 uses a real AR-15 front sight mount that is modified to allow the Lothar
Walther barrel go through where the
gas tube would normally be
and the quick fill disconnect where the real AR-15 barrel
would be.
Here
we see the quick fill system attached to the BF-17 upper.
The BF-17 uses a standard AR-15 upper that is modified to allow the .177 barrel in the gas tube area and CO2 valving
in the barrel
chamber area. The AR-15 charging handle has been
modified to open and close the bolt on a .177 pellet.
Pellets can be dropped into the trough to self align them as
they are pushed into the barrel.
Another view of the action with the charging handle/bolt in
the open position.
This shows the BF-17 upper with the included 20 round dummy shell. These can be weighted to give the correct balance to your
individual balance preferences. A standard 20 round mag (loaded) is
shown for comparison purposes only.
The
BF-17 comes standard with ¼ MOA National Match rear sights so
you can dial your shot group in exactly where you want it.
Here you can see a standard issue rear sight on the right with
its course elevation threads and the NM sight with the fine
threads on the left.
FAQs
What velocity
are you getting from these?
We do have some
variation from lower to lower since each lower as its own unique
hammer and hammer spring, but the guns themselves are pretty
consistent within themselves. So far with the lowers we have
sampled, we see them in the 520 fps- 580 fps range. They vary
about 10 fps per gun, which is well within accuracy specs.
So what kind of
accuracy are they capable of?
We are using
Lothar Walther barrels found in many match airguns. We are seeing
the group sizes around 9 mm. The standard 10 ring on a ISSF
Olympic target is 9.5 mm. The 10 ring on the 200 yard target reduced to a 10 meter scale is
17.9 mm* so we are well within the 10 ring.
* if my math is right.
Can I put a sling on it and put tension on the sling?
Yes, we are working toward that. We tried something on the
initial guns that frankly didn’t work like we planned. So we are
back to the drawing board and modifying the currently available
float tubes, which adds an extra cost in materials and labor to
fit them to our application.
Can I get a flattop version?
Yes, we are working on that. We are making both A4 Service Rifle
configured guns and some full Match Rifle with external float
tubes. At the moment, I am thinking we will have four versions,
the standard A2, an A2 with a DCM style legal float tube, a M4
flattop with a DCM style float tube, and a flattop with a tube
only handguard.
How about a
semi-auto version for rapid fire training?
Yes, we are
working on that as well. However, the price will be at least
double and I wouldn’t expect to see anything for sale until fall
or early winter of 2009
How much do they
cost?
Ah well, there
is the 24 dollar question. If you have read through my other
ramblings, then you know that we are currently re-evaluating
everything, and will be offering several different versions. The cost
for a complete set-up is $1100. If you wish to put your name down on the production
list, we will let you do that for a $250 deposit. Those that have
placed orders for specific guns already will not see your prices
change.
Contact us for pricing.
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UPS Delivery Address Pilkington Competition Equip. LLC 354 Little Trees Ramble Monteagle, TN 37356 |
Phone: 931-924-3400
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