Owner's Experience with SDB 150 .22 Air Rifle

[kalki]

Basically I am from Calcutta and deep interest in Arms and related topic. As the arm licence is imposibale to get so 4 years ago I purchased a Air rifle from some.. DAW& co. , in BBd Bag, Calcutta. They shown me some 6to 8 types and I likes the SDB 150 .22 Model. Loos so real, long, heavy, good finish, nice wooden butt. Then I took it to Bangalore where I stay.

I am using this for last four years and found a amazing Gun for target shooting.

Very accurate and very very powerful....believe me or not! I donot think any of other Indian brands offer a match.

Last year it fall from my hand and the front sight got broken. In Dec,2011 I visited in all gun shops in Calcutta but could not get a set.

Then finally I found this company SBD (Susanta Das & Brothers. ) a SSI unit is very near to my house in Calcutta!

The owner is very helping and nice . I brought 2 set @ INR 80 each from him.

Sorry, now they stopped making this nice model!

[ramtiger]

hi friend,
post your SDB 150 rifle photos

[Rijo Joseph]

is it a clone of Diana 35 model ?

[SUFFIX]

is it a clone of Diana 35 model ?

In India, most airguns are clone of diana35.

[joywarrior]

Hello all.

This is my first association with Indians for guns officially. Felt the need to get some advice/suggestions and throw in some, on few of the following general points, if someone's still listening to this post, since its a lil' old. So when I decided to go have some serious fun I knew I had to invest somewhat heavily . In my choices and budget somewhere between 13k to 37k . (Benjamin, Crossman, Beeman, Diana 350 magnum) . But that would mean a little more research and price budgeting and pending decisions. To continue with this hobby I decided to go for a home grown brand economical model for the interim. I just happened to purchase an SDB 150 in Lucknow a few days back for 2800/- (a discontinued model of the SDB kolkata unit, I guess the latest are 200, 300 with under lever and a probable 500, not sure about the 500 though). Was happy to buy in the price range of 'kolkata' since all other models seemed to be prefixed at prices of 4k and above, even when the true value is/was much lower. But then that is the story in India generally speaking other than kolkata and probably delhi.

Of all the guns I saw, in the 20-25 odd shops that are present here, found none that kind of impressed me, as is the case with all those who have had a brush with any imported ones(My personal experience with a neighbour's Remington). So I picked what looked to be the heaviest meanest looking steel n wood combo, near real rifle like feel, with all the quasi pride generating feelings . . and shot my own foot there off. . Though this did not happen in the beginning, it started troubling only after the first 200 shots.

I am now having trouble with the poor zeroing capability of the gun. For some reason, ranging from either poor quality make to ill-way'd long time storage in the shop n miss handling, poor rear sight, bent barrel, or may be cheap quality pellets, the problem seems to manifest itself by hitting 6 inches to the left of the bulls eye at 20 meter distance (65ft approx), when aimed at bulls eye, every time. And it is very frustrating to move the aim 6 inches right in the hope that some of the 30 / 50 shots I hit at a time, hit bulls eye. So have decided to cut out the rear sight and order for a custom built, hopefully cheap, rear sight which allows me to shift the sight a little more to the left than the current sight, so that when shots are fired at the bulls eye they start bearing down on the bulls eye.I have shot around 300 pellets by now and the surprising thing is the grouping is Ok within 2-3 inches from that distance. Also I am getting my barrel checked at the armourer shop of the forces. hope that doesn't turn out to be bent. Un Lucky me would mean I lose 2800/- Rs. . I don't think all SDB rifles are this way, I am guessing I just had a run of bad luck with a bad piece. Love the models of SDB, look and feel, wood stock, trigger( felt like pulling a SLR trigger), though specially SDB 200 will definitely buy that for my collection, if I can lay my hands on one here in Lucknow. Or guess will buy when I get it from Kolkata itself

As far as buying a National 35 (600 fps .177) or Precishole(800 fps .177) is concerned, wont do that kind of investment yet. Got to save for the big gun in the near future hopefully plus the Indian guns fps is way below my standard requirements so...

Guns checked and fired Daws models, GI models, ESA Models, National, Commando, Precishole .22 orion & DTE (17-20K /- ) Checked not fired. Wanted to check canon(kolkata make) which seems pretty popular but couldn't find it.

Will get back to my Blah blah blah story with you guys who ever's listening ........

Cheers and -----

-----------Happy Plinking !

Joywarrior signing off.

[joywarrior]

hello Mr. Kalki, I will be visiting calcutta very soon for some air gun works. Intend to visit SDB for newer models. Would you be kind enough to let me know where the SDB Susanto Das and Brothers SSI unit is located in Kolkata. Address or contact number, if you have any, would also suffice.

Thanking you (in anticipation of your reply)
joywarrior

[brihacharan]

[quote="kalki"]
Basically I am from Calcutta and deep interest in Arms and related topic. I likes the SDB 150 .22 Model. Looks so real, long, heavy, good finish, nice wooden butt. Then I took it to Bangalore where I stay.

I am using this for last four years and found a amazing Gun for target shooting. Very accurate and very very powerful....believe me or not! I do not think any of other Indian brands offer a match.

Hi Kalki,
> You should trade notes with fellow IFGian essdee who owns an SDB in 0.22cal
Briha

[joywarrior]

Basically I am from Calcutta and deep interest in Arms and related topic. I likes the SDB 150 .22 Model. Looks so real, long, heavy, good finish, nice wooden butt. Then I took it to Bangalore where I stay.

I am using this for last four years and found a amazing Gun for target shooting. Very accurate and very very powerful....believe me or not! I do not think any of other Indian brands offer a match.

Hi Kalki,
> You should trade notes with fellow IFGian essdee who owns an SDB in 0.22cal
Briha

Thank you MR. Brihacharan for the follow up post...Would really love if anyone could provide me with the near-about of the SDB unit in calcutta...till that time got to wait patiently for mr. Kalki to respond, hopefully !

[joywarrior]

Basically I am from Calcutta and deep interest in Arms and related topic. I likes the SDB 150 .22 Model. Looks so real, long, heavy, good finish, nice wooden butt. Then I took it to Bangalore where I stay.

I am using this for last four years and found a amazing Gun for target shooting. Very accurate and very very powerful....believe me or not! I do not think any of other Indian brands offer a match.

Hi Kalki,
> You should trade notes with fellow IFGian essdee who owns an SDB in 0.22cal
Briha

Thank you Mr. Brihacharan for forwarding Mr. Basu's number. He was a great help and yes he happens to be an expert as you so rightly pointed out. I am happily surprised to find the warmth and support from IFG members. To be frank I am a member of so many forums on photography, music and such but never did I find serious help from member acquaintances. I am glad I picked up this forum and now am a proud member in touch with fellow air - gun /rifle enthusiasts. Thank you again Sir !

[joywarrior]

Basically I am from Calcutta and deep interest in Arms and related topic. I likes the SDB 150 .22 Model. Looks so real, long, heavy, good finish, nice wooden butt. Then I took it to Bangalore where I stay.

I am using this for last four years and found a amazing Gun for target shooting. Very accurate and very very powerful....believe me or not! I do not think any of other Indian brands offer a match.

Hi Kalki,
> You should trade notes with fellow IFGian essdee who owns an SDB in 0.22cal
Briha

Sir,

How many pellets must be fired before I can expect the gun to behave normally after the cleaning and oiling process of the Air Rifle. The air rifle I have was ok enough given the local and poor but known quality and most faults were related to shooters errors. But suddenly a day or two ago the gun went totally mad and started shooting pellets 'off' a 1.5 feet by 1 feet target box that I have. I have never seen this gun go mad like this. So I did the drill...checked the screws found one on the gun barrel loose so tightened it, cleaned the barrel with pull through method using anti rust WD solution till the cleaning cloth started coming out clean, set the sights as per centre position default, oiled the gun and yes I minded all the warnings of not putting oil in barrel or breach or cylinder..but on the morning after, I still found lot of dieseling effect, smoke out of every shot...So I fired 30 shots .. the first 4 were bulls eye 20 meters, thereon the next 26 shots were crazy but within the target box and only on one side, lop sided on the left side 3-6 inches...Finally after 30 shots the pellets started missing the box completely again...so I gave up and am taking the gun to a repair shop to test what is the problem. Could not check the seals and washers since I have no knowledge of how to ....Any advice or suggestion would be welcome....did I need to fire 200 rounds before going to the repair shop..I don't know..HELP ! Any and all.

[joywarrior]

Hi, Well this is an interim report that I am sharing with people who directly or indirectly helped me get out the lop sided idiosyncratic notion that I saw my self becoming attuned to. This is in regards to the problems I was having setting up my zeroing and grouping capabilities of my finger busting .22 Air Rifle (SDB 150) . I have checked all that was told to me by my forum peer heads and others regarding checking of the screws on the barrel, the bolt, loose sighting issues, positioning, firing techniques, cleansing and so on and so forth. I am happy to inform that the AR has come back to its true character and at which it was always good at i.e being bullishly in-accurate self serving moody son of a gun .

However on a serious note the groupings have markedly improved. 10m is now between 1.2 inches of 5 rounds best. I know I have to do some of the improvements in the technique of shooting, the first and foremost requirement for a shooter . The dieseling caused by excess few drops of anti rust oil and grease is now wearing off after 50 rounds. Hope fully by tomorrow or day after I would have been able to have detected the best shots type and brand for my air rifle.

Till then happy Plinking
joywarrior