ugh Fart of Landon gun shop
H: ceyeheshianee:
sears and eyen note thousands
Stpounas on te quest to mnprove the
standard of airgur ammo.
‘His target has been to produce more
accurate and consistent pellets which
fren't barrel fussy — and whick aren't
made of lead.
Hugh's experiments first led to the
spment af Promethevs pellets —
{or rifles with unchoked barrels oper-
sting below the 11 Fe. lbs. legal limit,
‘And now he's taken another giant
leap inte the future by producing tro
‘new-pellets-— the Paragon Zt with a
tine head and dhe Paragon Cl wit
hend made from copper.
Im each case the tail consisis of a
‘green plastic cup — not unlike the cape
‘of a rimfire bullei — complete with a
small flange at the back,
This tail fits tightly om to the
Ca eee ans
snough to engage the ri
‘the whole projectile eomeentzie in
bagel.
Amazing
new
high-speed
ammo
on test
In both instances, tie pellets? heads
are lathe turned from solid rod to
‘gNerantee perfect concentricity. and:
therefore balance.
The 14.4 grain Paragon Zl is
intended for use in tifles with amuzzle
energy of between 14 and 20 It Ibs, —
while the 17.3 grain Cl is for guns with
f power of over 20 ft bs
wren't many airguns in that
bracket, you might say — but the
potential of such powerful pelleta isn't
‘actually as limited as you might think.
‘Hugh Barl has one eye on « future
‘where airguns will be the standard tool
for vermin control — and where lead
will be a5 unfashionable as CFCs!
In short, Hugh's new pellets ate
intended a5 serfous hunting ammo —
fot for plinking at Coke cans in the
back garden.
8) aun GUNNER
"Thr new Parngon 2 highperlormance om
reason for Hugh's
apparently eurioas choice of materials
is that conventional lead pellets tend
to become very erratic at high powers
This is chiefly because |the ale
pressure needed to accelerate them up
‘the barrel cistorts thelr tally as they
‘move up the bore.
‘And-if-only-ane_side.of the_pellet
happens to become distorted, then the
pellet will soon lose its balance and
head off in the wrong direction.
“There's no chance of this happening
to the new Paragons, of course — and
there's also
fond. rear portions ceparai
Is because of theie igh! join and
+ that the air pressure is appl
the whole ates of Uke. plastic
"The new pellets certainly seem to
ike speed! Amazingly, the faster
they're fired, the more accurate they
become!
‘Shooting over my 30-yard range, the
71 produced groups af just under an
inch at 20-ft. Ibs. Meanwhile, the Cl's
groups mosgured three-quarters of wn
finch at 0 {0 tbs.!
‘Lead pellets would stroggleto mate
that level of accuracy at those powers
and equally impressive, there wasn't
‘a single flyer to spoil my groups.
During may tests, I also ased two
chronos — ene at the muzzle and one at
the target to check whether the
Poragons retained their energy-as well,
i the Promathvns] people
‘or better, than standard diabolo
ammo.
‘The rosalts wore interesting.
‘The power of an Eley Wasp
hat Neft the muzale pt 21.6
ft ths. had fallen to 14.2.
Ths, hy the time It hed
‘travelled 30-yards — a
ost 0F 34.3 por cont of
ls original energy.
‘Meanwhile, a
Paragon 21 with
identical
initial energy
hhad fest just
big adven
‘tage of both,
Paragons 1s
that they're
not fussy
what ber-
rele you
shoot them
through —
50 Tong as.
it's not a
BSA!
ButLothar
Walther,
Weihrauch
‘or Apschutz
barrels, choked or otherwise,
the Paragons perform equally well
in all of them,One ip heres that s4pot of ol tiner
in the barrel or on the. pelete
themselver, “guarantees optintamn
fecuraey — and minteium group sical
Why shoulda't you use them in BSA
barrele? Wolly the barre fitted to
BSRs new rifles are fractionally
fidersce — and while this sneans they
reduce ood goups. with ordinary
[eed pellets the Pavagons are too tght
fit in che bree.
Toes” oe nogument that. polite
fund from metecals harder than lead
Ere prone us slothets ut Tn|oot
fonvineed by thet
Let's face Ie eon? projectiles ll
tehound whatever theyre mae of,
{Speciny they strike surfece a a
mie
"Texpeet most of wshave deliberately
fied at botles hoping tht the pallet
tilt off cenereandfiy ey witha
thing reminiscent of 8 shootout a
So to leat the Paropons, I fred them
st aheavy sea pater exactly square
othe piles tight —and ean peaped
to ee that they seucely robeutded at
Eh
[Thole energy went in. Aatiening
| bee nonce eaviog thee aot
|
Teed lpblote Wee fender id tds
feelaeh Srehit eiacaatt eas
cen completely fatenei spraying
{iC Fordcon edewnss aa ees
{iy angerousconsequoncen,
feet ey goede polo ro
thaas Gphetnaniabeeane to oah|
dice five thats capable of the
esormoualy high povere figured,
ievavaderdies e pellt Tally
smoothly! ~ at lost compared to a
ering te
Thole elle that they've alo
tested the new Paagona ts thle poo
eo oiigd sed ote chee ty
[extremely eutcemal
[PSciemy! he Parngon'e vate. ana
|tseac ha doc dstort, kes
It Well emecol fee kip rato
becslerba in Toco
mietaevene thet idetessal
problems the oviginl Prenietieca
The faster
they're fired, the
more accurate
they become!
{pellets because the plastic from: their
| tails adhered to the bore — gradually
Duilding up until there was enough te
spoil aceu
‘But that’s not a problem with the
Paragons. They're guided and
by « thin fin machined onto
‘the hond. This acta like the driving
band at the back of an artillery shell —
fond the rifling is prensed onto It to
arm a seal between the pellet and the
bore.
More importantly, os the pellet
moves up the barrel, the fia scrapes
out any dirt — carrying it along. wit
‘and leaving the "barrel in” perfect
condition for the next shot.
Pushing a zine Paragon through
deliberately fouled Lothar Walthes
pleased to. seo that it
cleared ovt every scrap of dint
leaving a bright, clean surface behind
‘The fin et the front hed done its job
tq perfection, TC id @ deep eet ot
‘roowesimgrnied on it ara ager
St guge ot the fro
The rim at the rear hed also phyed
ic part guiding the pellet nthe
ame ime leasing out dhe rest-of the
bra
|""Betore signing off. let me emphasise
Jonce ayain' thet these: Parayone are
[soecificlly denned for high peor
etce, overthel
|piacrie pasos pt
Maybe they're abead of thet time
btontos there aren oo many 40
hillessround yet.Or maybe, now that
bbe bs pana
designing rome high-power rifles to
soot sige wll at &
Aur Gownes 20