SDB’s SPORT – An All-Weather Sporter
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:43 pm
Thanks to some of you here on this forum, I got myself a SDB Sport recently. This was after a fair bit of deliberation though.
Decently Accurate, Powerhouse of a shooter…..yet light to lug around! Well, that’s what I was looking for… and that’s what it is!...., if you do not intend to go through the full text below! A reasonably priced gun, with traditional look and balance, shoots accurate, is really powerful (old habits die hard, you see!) and is so easy to carry around! Too-many-into-one…aren’t they? Honestly, I am only smiling away ….as I write this short review with the Sport by my side. And here’s why… At 3.2 kgs, it is a great all-day companion for a 50+ years lean frame fella that I am. And with a straight-out-of-box ME in the range of 11-12 fpe with varying pellets is more than what I had ordered for, or can handle with reasonable aplomb. As for accuracy, the photos below could speak for themselves. With my average grade shooting abilities, if I can manage those groups, a good shooter would definitely shrink these to hole-in-holes. In any case, my tuning and research preoccupations these past months hardly leave me enough time to work on and hone my shooting faculties.
Let’s check the gun out!
I believe it was their Apache model, designed and launched a couple years back, that marked a discernible shift in SDB’s outlook. And what quickly followed was the launch of a series of their new league guns –Gennex, Sport, Artemis, and now of course, the Magnum! Most have come to have good following, too. Curiously though, while they all have better cosmetic appeals and finish, they are mostly the same powerplants as the good old SDB guns of the yore. From the tuners’ perspective, that is THE most appealing facet of the SDB turnaround. That, to me, speaks of their “knack” of air rifles. They seem to have got it pretty good now…..and the best evidence of it is – if you can make an average shooter into a fine one, you sure know ARs! All of their new generation guns in their respective classes are much refined shooters than their past cousins. So, what would a Model 27 makeover be like!
What would you do if you were to be running an airgun brand…. and one of your models failed to see much sales despite it being nicely made and carrying decent specs (….well, what do you do when you have a market like ours …with mostly crazy-for-power folks around!!). So, what would you do?? Shelving models is the last thing that makers would opt for, because this is a big setback, commercially speaking. However modest, any new model before being commissioned into the regular production line, has usually sucked in a lot in terms of R&D, trials, casting moulds, et al. Not surprising therefore, altering and/or tweaking the existing models is usually how it goes; and pretty often ends up delighting the sales counters. Examples are aplenty the world over … look at the turn arounds brought about by the late variants of some successful names -the TX Mk3, the HW77, 95, 97, the Walther LGV, Webley Vulcan, and the list goes on.
So, have the SDB folks joined this league, you would ask!
Well, I would pretty well like to think so! And to the best I can infer, the Sport may be a super-intelligently tweaked (not so much altered, mind you!) refinement of their Model 27! While some may term this more of a wishful inference, I would prefer to revel in this. After Precihole Sports, which indeed is a professionally set up group, if you can spot some of the local, traditional names like the SDBs picking their threads up to match growing demands for more refined air rifles, you would, as an AR enthusiast, like to take this as a welcome thing; won’t you!
I have in the past shared on forums how enormously pleasant a rifle the SDB Model 27 has been. It’s an old model of theirs –something in between the 25’s and the regular adult models like the 45’s. I have nothing that tells me the model sold well. However, having taken an instant liking for it, I have owned one for long, have set it up in varying states of tune, and have only marvelled at the way it behaved in most of these. From young adults to the older folks –all seem to take an instant liking for this low weight, mid-ME, and pleasantly low-recoil shooter. And just before you blink, for the past several months, it has been set up with a Sport’s piston and seal…and (with some of my other mods) has been at its best behaviour, consistency, energy efficiency and output.
I had learned (on this forum, too!) that the Sport weighed 3.2 kgs. Well, my 27 weighs at 3.16 kg, has the same bore, is the same length. No wonder, when I opted for the SDB Sport, I was expecting a gun that was essentially a Mod 27 …but with a longer stroke! I had even opined this on some by-invitation-only forums, too. Overall feel and behaviour
I was so squarely wrong though! It came as an in-your-face shock to me! How did these guys manage to go from 7 fpe (my 27 currently shoots at 8.5 though) to in the range of 12fpe that this diminutive looking Sport shoots at!! That’s where I see that the SDB folks may have come of age…in terms of the sheer knack of making fine-shooting air rifles.
I am told most people get cheesed off by technical tuning stuffs, and so I will refrain from going into the specific alterations /tweaking (many times very simple in design and slight in scale) that seem to have worked to make these guns into sweet yet powerful shooters; and would rather restrict myself to just the basics in this post. I believe a smart altering of the compression ratio coupled with a slightly higher rate spring is what did the trick for Sport! The stroke of the Sport works out just one milimeter more than my tuned 27 just nudging the swept volume from the latter’s 38.29 to 38.78cc. Too insignificant a change to account for such huge difference in ME! The spring room, too, is barely 05mm more. So, if you could sense by now, it’s essentially a short-to-mid stroke gun with a pretty high peak pressure. See the photo of the seal post some 200 shots. What does it tell you?
Fit and finish
The other no less critical factors that, to my mind, work to make the Sport into a fine shooter are the finely worked out tolerances inside the powerplant, as well as a visibly improved material grade and workmanship. Just look at the quality of the material and finish of the end block, the exact fit of the spring inside the piston, as some examples. Look at the shining finish inside the wiped compression chamber in the photo. The material, finish and steel temper of the piston is in stark contrast to those used on all the famous old ARs of SDB.
I was further impressed by how its designers would have worked on the weights of each of these individual components (they all weigh and size up differently than their predecessors!...so no easy swapping!) to make the overall balance and weight of the gun so hands-on in the shooter’s hands! You will also not miss to notice the neoprene seals (piston and breech), the star washers in the stock screws….as some welcome yet standard features.
With that kind of a fit, you would likely have a straight shooting behaviour.jpg[/attachment] Where are the nicks?
1. The spring first! I learn that the new lot Sport is going to carry a newly developed spring (I could get one as a spare to try myself….the one you see on the left of the scale in the photo). My gun though came fitted with a previous spec spring (the one on the right side!). My tests confirm a much better modulus of rigidity in the new spring. What you see in the photo is a fully set free length as I have already set it up for deployment, and am raring to try it out once my gun settles down fully.
2. The drenching lube inside the action: Just see some of the photos of the stock gun being disassembled …and if you were the production in-charge, you will have fired your floor manager on charges of wastefulness. [Too much of lube can also significantly hasten damage to seals, by the way!] I mean who needs that much of precious moly embedded lube? You heard it right. The lube inside the action is not 40Wgrade oil, but a good quality CV grease with Molybdenum Disulphide; not sure of the Mo2S percentage though. 3. A top guide: What’s so averse about a simple top guide?...and it takes so little to install one! Wonder what’s stopping them from installing a top hat. I turn my own in various material, and none of my guns run without one. The little thing can be so handy to manage piston weights, some preload, ..of course besides keeping the spring straight and helping easier torque. [A little innovative application with DIY tools is good help in turning tophats, seals, etc.] 4. A better crowned muzzle would make it look real savvy!: Just take a look at the brief crowning I did at home on my 27. It does give the gun a better look…besides ensuring better protection for the rifling, of course. The crown I did on my 27 looks far suave than the Sport's bland pout.jpg[/attachment]
5. Please use Low torque spanners to fix the barrel pivot screw: And may be also a couple of barrel washers on either would be a useful addition, and lessen wear on the base block sides and the action fork insides. [If you are ham fisted, you would likely end up defacing the screw head in your attempt to open it. Using proper solvents is advised.] Parting words…
Most of us, including those on this forum, are basically just shooters /plinkers; A handful, at best, can be called fitters (what you commonly, and erroneously if you like, call ‘tuners’)…and may be just a couple would be into tuning air rifles. So, for all you shooters and power buffs…those photos of the gun’s groupings and the ME figures improving by the day as it is settling down should be more than any number of words in favour of the gun. You can pick it up and do three things –shoot, shoot and shoot. That incidentally is a great way to burn all the extra lube…shooting /plinking pleasure comes as a bonus here! Just a couple words here:
• I believe that in its current state the gun would do best with tight fit, higher start pressure pellets. Mine shoots best with Precipell 8.7 and 9.6.
• Resting the gun muzzle-down should be a useful practice.
• Keep an open eye for changes in smoke, shift in POI and ME, say every 200 shots or so. Should tell you when your gun is settled.
For the rest of us, open the gun (because you will keep itching until you did that!)….just wipe clean, reassemble and shoot. Instead of a thousand shots, you will, like me, have a settled one by 50 to 100 shots. Also, if you were me, put a top guide with no more than 10 mm of lead-in for the spring. In all, adding it increased the gun’s original preload by just 3mm to 75mm.
Here's a note for all (just in case you overlooked): Notice how the gun, as it's settling down, is not only spewing less and less of smoke...but more imp, is improving its consistency (low ES) and increasing muzzle energy!! I take that as an attribute of a fine shooter settling-down (breaking-in or bedding-in, if you like please!).
I will try to keep updating on the gun as I shoot more, and try out alternative states of tune.
Best regards,
Prashant
Decently Accurate, Powerhouse of a shooter…..yet light to lug around! Well, that’s what I was looking for… and that’s what it is!...., if you do not intend to go through the full text below! A reasonably priced gun, with traditional look and balance, shoots accurate, is really powerful (old habits die hard, you see!) and is so easy to carry around! Too-many-into-one…aren’t they? Honestly, I am only smiling away ….as I write this short review with the Sport by my side. And here’s why… At 3.2 kgs, it is a great all-day companion for a 50+ years lean frame fella that I am. And with a straight-out-of-box ME in the range of 11-12 fpe with varying pellets is more than what I had ordered for, or can handle with reasonable aplomb. As for accuracy, the photos below could speak for themselves. With my average grade shooting abilities, if I can manage those groups, a good shooter would definitely shrink these to hole-in-holes. In any case, my tuning and research preoccupations these past months hardly leave me enough time to work on and hone my shooting faculties.
Let’s check the gun out!
I believe it was their Apache model, designed and launched a couple years back, that marked a discernible shift in SDB’s outlook. And what quickly followed was the launch of a series of their new league guns –Gennex, Sport, Artemis, and now of course, the Magnum! Most have come to have good following, too. Curiously though, while they all have better cosmetic appeals and finish, they are mostly the same powerplants as the good old SDB guns of the yore. From the tuners’ perspective, that is THE most appealing facet of the SDB turnaround. That, to me, speaks of their “knack” of air rifles. They seem to have got it pretty good now…..and the best evidence of it is – if you can make an average shooter into a fine one, you sure know ARs! All of their new generation guns in their respective classes are much refined shooters than their past cousins. So, what would a Model 27 makeover be like!
What would you do if you were to be running an airgun brand…. and one of your models failed to see much sales despite it being nicely made and carrying decent specs (….well, what do you do when you have a market like ours …with mostly crazy-for-power folks around!!). So, what would you do?? Shelving models is the last thing that makers would opt for, because this is a big setback, commercially speaking. However modest, any new model before being commissioned into the regular production line, has usually sucked in a lot in terms of R&D, trials, casting moulds, et al. Not surprising therefore, altering and/or tweaking the existing models is usually how it goes; and pretty often ends up delighting the sales counters. Examples are aplenty the world over … look at the turn arounds brought about by the late variants of some successful names -the TX Mk3, the HW77, 95, 97, the Walther LGV, Webley Vulcan, and the list goes on.
So, have the SDB folks joined this league, you would ask!
Well, I would pretty well like to think so! And to the best I can infer, the Sport may be a super-intelligently tweaked (not so much altered, mind you!) refinement of their Model 27! While some may term this more of a wishful inference, I would prefer to revel in this. After Precihole Sports, which indeed is a professionally set up group, if you can spot some of the local, traditional names like the SDBs picking their threads up to match growing demands for more refined air rifles, you would, as an AR enthusiast, like to take this as a welcome thing; won’t you!
I have in the past shared on forums how enormously pleasant a rifle the SDB Model 27 has been. It’s an old model of theirs –something in between the 25’s and the regular adult models like the 45’s. I have nothing that tells me the model sold well. However, having taken an instant liking for it, I have owned one for long, have set it up in varying states of tune, and have only marvelled at the way it behaved in most of these. From young adults to the older folks –all seem to take an instant liking for this low weight, mid-ME, and pleasantly low-recoil shooter. And just before you blink, for the past several months, it has been set up with a Sport’s piston and seal…and (with some of my other mods) has been at its best behaviour, consistency, energy efficiency and output.
I had learned (on this forum, too!) that the Sport weighed 3.2 kgs. Well, my 27 weighs at 3.16 kg, has the same bore, is the same length. No wonder, when I opted for the SDB Sport, I was expecting a gun that was essentially a Mod 27 …but with a longer stroke! I had even opined this on some by-invitation-only forums, too. Overall feel and behaviour
I was so squarely wrong though! It came as an in-your-face shock to me! How did these guys manage to go from 7 fpe (my 27 currently shoots at 8.5 though) to in the range of 12fpe that this diminutive looking Sport shoots at!! That’s where I see that the SDB folks may have come of age…in terms of the sheer knack of making fine-shooting air rifles.
I am told most people get cheesed off by technical tuning stuffs, and so I will refrain from going into the specific alterations /tweaking (many times very simple in design and slight in scale) that seem to have worked to make these guns into sweet yet powerful shooters; and would rather restrict myself to just the basics in this post. I believe a smart altering of the compression ratio coupled with a slightly higher rate spring is what did the trick for Sport! The stroke of the Sport works out just one milimeter more than my tuned 27 just nudging the swept volume from the latter’s 38.29 to 38.78cc. Too insignificant a change to account for such huge difference in ME! The spring room, too, is barely 05mm more. So, if you could sense by now, it’s essentially a short-to-mid stroke gun with a pretty high peak pressure. See the photo of the seal post some 200 shots. What does it tell you?
Fit and finish
The other no less critical factors that, to my mind, work to make the Sport into a fine shooter are the finely worked out tolerances inside the powerplant, as well as a visibly improved material grade and workmanship. Just look at the quality of the material and finish of the end block, the exact fit of the spring inside the piston, as some examples. Look at the shining finish inside the wiped compression chamber in the photo. The material, finish and steel temper of the piston is in stark contrast to those used on all the famous old ARs of SDB.
I was further impressed by how its designers would have worked on the weights of each of these individual components (they all weigh and size up differently than their predecessors!...so no easy swapping!) to make the overall balance and weight of the gun so hands-on in the shooter’s hands! You will also not miss to notice the neoprene seals (piston and breech), the star washers in the stock screws….as some welcome yet standard features.
With that kind of a fit, you would likely have a straight shooting behaviour.jpg[/attachment] Where are the nicks?
1. The spring first! I learn that the new lot Sport is going to carry a newly developed spring (I could get one as a spare to try myself….the one you see on the left of the scale in the photo). My gun though came fitted with a previous spec spring (the one on the right side!). My tests confirm a much better modulus of rigidity in the new spring. What you see in the photo is a fully set free length as I have already set it up for deployment, and am raring to try it out once my gun settles down fully.
2. The drenching lube inside the action: Just see some of the photos of the stock gun being disassembled …and if you were the production in-charge, you will have fired your floor manager on charges of wastefulness. [Too much of lube can also significantly hasten damage to seals, by the way!] I mean who needs that much of precious moly embedded lube? You heard it right. The lube inside the action is not 40Wgrade oil, but a good quality CV grease with Molybdenum Disulphide; not sure of the Mo2S percentage though. 3. A top guide: What’s so averse about a simple top guide?...and it takes so little to install one! Wonder what’s stopping them from installing a top hat. I turn my own in various material, and none of my guns run without one. The little thing can be so handy to manage piston weights, some preload, ..of course besides keeping the spring straight and helping easier torque. [A little innovative application with DIY tools is good help in turning tophats, seals, etc.] 4. A better crowned muzzle would make it look real savvy!: Just take a look at the brief crowning I did at home on my 27. It does give the gun a better look…besides ensuring better protection for the rifling, of course. The crown I did on my 27 looks far suave than the Sport's bland pout.jpg[/attachment]
5. Please use Low torque spanners to fix the barrel pivot screw: And may be also a couple of barrel washers on either would be a useful addition, and lessen wear on the base block sides and the action fork insides. [If you are ham fisted, you would likely end up defacing the screw head in your attempt to open it. Using proper solvents is advised.] Parting words…
Most of us, including those on this forum, are basically just shooters /plinkers; A handful, at best, can be called fitters (what you commonly, and erroneously if you like, call ‘tuners’)…and may be just a couple would be into tuning air rifles. So, for all you shooters and power buffs…those photos of the gun’s groupings and the ME figures improving by the day as it is settling down should be more than any number of words in favour of the gun. You can pick it up and do three things –shoot, shoot and shoot. That incidentally is a great way to burn all the extra lube…shooting /plinking pleasure comes as a bonus here! Just a couple words here:
• I believe that in its current state the gun would do best with tight fit, higher start pressure pellets. Mine shoots best with Precipell 8.7 and 9.6.
• Resting the gun muzzle-down should be a useful practice.
• Keep an open eye for changes in smoke, shift in POI and ME, say every 200 shots or so. Should tell you when your gun is settled.
For the rest of us, open the gun (because you will keep itching until you did that!)….just wipe clean, reassemble and shoot. Instead of a thousand shots, you will, like me, have a settled one by 50 to 100 shots. Also, if you were me, put a top guide with no more than 10 mm of lead-in for the spring. In all, adding it increased the gun’s original preload by just 3mm to 75mm.
Here's a note for all (just in case you overlooked): Notice how the gun, as it's settling down, is not only spewing less and less of smoke...but more imp, is improving its consistency (low ES) and increasing muzzle energy!! I take that as an attribute of a fine shooter settling-down (breaking-in or bedding-in, if you like please!).
I will try to keep updating on the gun as I shoot more, and try out alternative states of tune.
Best regards,
Prashant
