SMK XS78 with Rowan Multishot

[amateur]

For the past month I have been using my single-shot SMK XS78 to successfully remove wood-pigeons from my suburban garden bird table.

 

4 so far.

 

The only downside that I had with the gun was the faff of getting the pellet into the breech under the telescopic sight - I needed my reading glasses, and often managed to put the pellet in back-to-front if I didn't have my glasses on!

 

Having read Biffo1262's posts on the Rowan multishot magazine, I decided to give it a go.

 

Excellent response from Rowan, I received the magazine the following day after ordering, and once I had got hold of some higher Hawke mounts, I fitted the Rowan kit in about 1/2 hour. It looks like part of the original equipment

 

The mechanism works beautifully - a nicely engineered bit of kit. I can load six pellets at a time and shoot them off in the time it takes me to work the bolt, indexing the magazine with my left thumb. I am using AA Hunters

 

I have tried a range of pellets in the mag - the only ones that gave a problem were Wasp and TR domeheads. Often they tilted slightly as they dropped from the magazine into the breech unless I held the rifle completely level. They would then crunch up as I worked the bolt. The longer pointed AA Hunters, H&N pointed and hollow-point Bisleys have given no problems at all. Prometheus plastic-skirted pellets are a tight fit, however I have found them to be less accurate, possibly because the mag slightly distorts them.

 

So there we are - a budget-priced gun improved for £54. Thanks Steve and thanks Rowan ( www.rowanengineering.com ) !!!!

Edited August 20, 2008 by amateur

[rabbithunter2008]

Can you post some photos of it?

 

or pm me.

 

many thanks

[MM]

good to see guns being reviewed by people who use them

[smsguitarist]

pictures would be good! I want a air powered rifle but have a small wallet these days! I cant get used to the recoil of my springer. I have good and bad days so i want more consistency.

[MM]

i was in the same boat mate. got a Co2, and love it

[rabbithunter2008]

pictures would be good! I want a air powered rifle but have a small wallet these days! I cant get used to the recoil of my springer. I have good and bad days so i want more consistency.

 

 

CO2 guns do a good job.

 

For the price they are great.

 

My mate had 3 guns so far all over £400 and the last one is a air arms s400.

 

I'm killing more rabbits when we go out and that with a SMK XS78

[amateur]

Re photo's

 

Regrettably my Olympus is steam-age and I would still have to get photo's developed at Boots - I don't think that I have taken a snapshot in years!

 

However here are the links that I used from Biffo1262's posts which show his gun (much posher than mine!)

 

His detailed writeup of the magazine appeared in January/February this year

 

I bought the XS78, SMK 4x32 scope, mounts and a padded gun bag from Ronnie Sunshines for £117 plus the magazine at £54.95 fron Rowan makes the whole thing less than £172

 

http://www.rowanengineering.com./products3.htm

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/562099...vhost=community

 

http://www.ronniesunshines.com/product_inf...products_id=713

Edited August 21, 2008 by amateur

[hodge911]

have just bought the qb78 delux [£80 new from local shop] and i,m awaiting delivery of a t.r.robb tuning kit for it , having seen the multishot on this post i think that will be my next purchase

Edited August 21, 2008 by hodge911

[amateur]

I managed to borrow a digital camera

 

I'm no David Bailey, but here are some pics

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/amateur1504

[Biffo1262]

The mechanism works beautifully - a nicely engineered bit of kit. I can load six pellets at a time and shoot them off in the time it takes me to work the bolt, indexing the magazine with my left thumb. I am using AA Hunters

 

Actually you can load seven pellets by either loading one into the breech before refitting the full magazine or by half indexing it with seven pellets in before refitting the mag. As amateur has found, if you find you get more than the occassional jam you will certainly need to change the brand of pellet. Individually these guns are not the best engineered in the world and do suffer from certain faults that are usually easily ironed out. Unfortunately one of the faults is the height variation of the loading tray in relation to the top of the action. This means that in some guns shorter pellets like Wasps do sometimes hang by the tail of the pellet and sit vertically in the loading tray. Then when you close the cocking bolt you jam the pellet. The only way to get it out is to force it into the barrel and shoot (less powerful guns will struggle here) or you have to dismantle the magazine as a whole as the rotary section cannot be removed due to the pellet obstructing it. I don't have any trouble with AA Fields due to their longer length (they can't hang vertically in the space) but Wasps cause me no end of headaches and when I've finished this last lot I won't buy any more. To ensure you don't have any jams I just angle the gun up slightly and give it a light tap with my finger adjacent to the breech, close the bolt slowly and then the pellet usually settles OK. This becomes a pain in the backside eventually so to be sure to use a longer pellet if you do get a gun that causes problems. My mate has one and he has no trouble at all. If you do want to use Prometheus and I admit to trying them, I found that by loosening the centre screw of the magazine off slightly they fit far more easily. Just ensure you don't loosen it too much or the indexing ball will drop out and keep an eye on it in use so that it doesn't work too loose. It does work OK with Prometheus but I agree they aren't worth the extra effort as they are notoriously inaccurate and don't half foul the barrel with yellow gunge if used too much.

 

As others have found, Rowan's service is second to none.

 

BTW if anyone uses the Chinese Network 54 forum a certain American dealer is showing off his 'New' QB78 magazine. It bears rather more than a passing resemblance to Rowans rotary mag, only differing in the way that it is mounted on the gun. It must be nice to let someone else spend all the money on R&D eh? :o This is something we have come to expect from the Chinese copy factories. Mind you that too may still be on the cards yet.

 

There are more photos here too Magazine. This is the gun that all the trials were done on and also featured on the Rowan website.

 

Rowan Engineering

 

When ordering, whether you are right handed or left handed, my advice it to always order the unit that loads from the right as if you don't you will have trouble with sidewheel scopes. If you are nifty with a craft knife and a fine file the magazine itself can easily be made ambidextrous as far as indexing goes by replicating the cutaway on the opposite side of the rotary magazine. It's easy enough to do and gives you the best of all worlds.

Edited August 24, 2008 by Biffo1262

[amateur]

I use a 2'6" x 5mm soft aluminium rod to dislodge stuck pellets from the barrel.

I suppose that a brass rod would work just as well

[smsguitarist]

Anyone living around the Stamford lincolnshire area got one of these i can try? Anyone had any rabbit shooting experience with these?

[Biffo1262]

Anyone living around the Stamford lincolnshire area got one of these i can try? Anyone had any rabbit shooting experience with these?

 

Thread

 

I live in Manchester but my daughter lives in Newborough. I have three of these guns (amongst others) and I take my grandsons to Hereward FTC on odd occassions. I'm not due down for a while but if you aren't sorted out in the next couple of weeks I'll PM you when I go down with the guns and you play to your hearts content.

 

The only problem with them if you read through all the forums is their lack of fine finish (internally) when taken out of the box and the fact that they need tuning to bring the power up. You can get round this by buying a Kasu AR18 I think it is. They offer a factory tuned model above the basic spec which will save you a bit of grief. It costs a little more but sending a gun off to a 3rd party tuner will cost you a lot more (if you go down that route try Ian Lamb at QBtune). Also, they don't shoot well in cold weather though it is possible to overcome that with a bit of ingenuity and a re-usable hand warmer held in the hand adjacent to the breech; it works really well. Warm hand too !

 

Cost of cO2 can also be a limiting factor and in the quest to get costs down in the long-term you will be tempted to lash out on bulk fill kits, manifolds and Pubgas bottles. Think carefully before you do as you just won't recover the costs in the short term. It's worth it to me with three of these guns on the go simultaneously.

 

For the money they offer an nice introduction to the sport but it is very possible to get carried away and overspend on these guns just for the fun of it but you will never realise it's true worth when you come to sell it on I'm afraid. With that in mind all mine are keepers.

Edited August 30, 2008 by Biffo1262

[Biffo1262]

Anyone living around the Stamford lincolnshire area got one of these i can try? Anyone had any rabbit shooting experience with these?

 

Further to my other post I should be down in Peterborough over the weekend beginning the 12th Sept. The problem is I'm going down to help my daughter move house on the Fri & Sat and Sat is usually the day Hereward FTC club shoot. They are sometimes open on a Sunday if there are members available but I cannot guarantee that and as I shoot there as an occassional guest from another club I cannot shoot without another member being present. If you have the land to try it I can call in on my way home and let you have a play on the Sunday. It's up to you. If that's what you want to do let me know.

 

Steve