'Tis the season for coming attractions, which we've/you've earned...
1. CMP Daisy 853C single-pump .177 cal air rifle, adj sights, loop sling, and, if you ask, 5 round (still have to pump every time) rubbber magazines...$107 ea + 14.95 shipping...shoot anywhere you have 10 meters/33ft - only remaining inexpensive rifle practice...buy TWO - we've used for sub-12 y.o. youth shooters, as can't by law fire cartridge rifles in NYS...
2. CMP still has M1 .30-06 and .308 Garands...though not nearly as inexpensive as they used to be... and
3. Glock has announced that they're releasing, on 1-20-20, their first .22 semi-auto, the Glock 44...4" bbl, 10 rd mag, ambidextrous slide release... "target" bbl, price iffy, perhaps around $325 but not sure...
4. Later in 2020 the instructor purchase programs will be released - will advise.
Want a tongue-in-cheek essay for the holidays? Look up "The Yellow Ribbon." Succinct, very dry humor...
Excelsior,
madMark/nyrasgt
I commend the CMP 853 to all. Mine is an ROTC US Govt refurbish and a great introduction to 10-meter shooting. I compete with it in 3-position CMP postal matches quarterly and use it several times a week (up to daily in standing position) to help keep my skills up and practice a little self-prescribed "Group Therapy" The only thing it lacks is rapid-fire. Because you have to pump the rifle for each shot, and cock it (load if using a straight 853), one should reconfirm their NPOA before each shot. I started this journey with a 10-meter air rifle shooting as an ROTC instructor years ago. Two years ago I picked up a 10-meter pistol and shoot the 60-shot postal quarterly also. The cost on these quarterly postal matches is only $8.00 per event, so, that is $16 per quarter for both pistol and sporter to help support a very good CMP program. I recommend this rifle and CMP postal matches to all instructors as a fun way to keep the edge. If you get good enough with the 853 which should hold the 7-ring, you might like to move up to the AIR ARMS T200 .177 AIR RIFLE (by CZ) at $525 on the CMP site.
http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle_sales/air-rifles/sporter-air-rifles/
http://thecmp.org/air/cmp-aces-postal/
in our 4-H shooting sports program we are suing all 853 rifles , they are very durable some on more than 15 seasons of use , accurate and easy to rebuild just order up parts from daisy at reasonable prices , a new seal kit is about 8 dollars.
I have started storing them with a pump of air in the safe and it has reduced the number of seals I replace each year to almost none , they dry out before they shoot out in most cases.
I oil the foam 1 drop , pump and fire into a wad of rags on the floor 3 times . leave the action open safety on and put a pump on it and place it in the safe.
we had 10 and I just ordered 4 more when we ran a group buy ,no savings on the riffle in a group buy but it made it easy for the members and you save on shipping when getting 2 rifles at a time.
I was excited that 14 youth ordered rifles , we should have no shortage of air rifles on the line this spring.
Thanks TrapperPete for the tip on clearing the oil from the chamber by shooting into a rag after lubing the felt pump pad. I had not thought of that, but noticed oil in the chamber after maintenance.