New Ruger Explorer

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    I watched the price drop at Walmart down to $49.00 and decided I should just grab one online.  I'he had only three shooting sessions with it so far. First, I put on my NCStar 4 power compact scope, and then, since my newest prescription glasses are working well, I decided to put my BSA red dot on it.  My new glasses make what used to look like a comet and tail, into a much more round dot.
    I have done all shooting at 7 yards.21 feet for now.  I started trying out pellets. Crosman, Daisy, Winchester, RWS, maybe a few others.  Interestingly, so far, the winner is the Crosman Premier Hollow Point pellets.  That has to be good news as these are as of this minute, $4.05 a tin with free shipping at Amazon.com.  Best group was about 1/4" for a 5 shot group.
    This little carbine if fun to shoot. Many of my airguns are multi-pumpers, so I am enjoying the ease of cocking and loading the Ruger. I can't really try the open sights due to my astigmatism.  No go without glasses, nor with my new prescription glasses, nor with reading glasses.
    The Ruger has an automatic safety, which I actually like just fine. It actuates when you break it open for cocking and loading. Mine, however, won't always actuate. I'd say about one shot in 10 or so, and the safety doesn't come on.
    I cleaned the barrel before shooting, and it was fairly dirty. I cleaned it just now after about 100-150 rounds and it was quite dirty. Maybe these Crosman pellets dirty a barrel?  The trigger is not bad. It fires with not too many pounds of pull strength, but it does have quite a lot of travel. Of the springers I've had, or still have, the Ruger has the best trigger.
    I'm considering using this gun as a night ratter, and it has no problem putting a hole in one side of a heavy soup can with the corrugated  type metal. Should have enough snort to kill a rat at 7 yards. I find in my shooting setup, sitting in a lawn chair with a portable rest on a glass table, the butt pad is kind of pointy and is a bit uncomfortable digging in at my right shoulder.
    So, I am still breaking in the Explorer, and still getting used to shooting it. I still may try a few more pellets. If I can get this Ruger to reliably shoot into 1/4"-3/8" or so at 7 yards, I'll try ratting with it.
    This model does have a weak point, and that is the material they use to hold the spring loaded ball in place that locks the barrel to the action when you close the barrel. It is a sleeve that is made of plastic. Many owners have no problem with this, but some do. I kind of favor the chisel shaped steel mechanism as used by Crosman in their air rifles to the spring and ball method. But, some top springers use the ball, such as on the Dianna Model 34 I believe.  If the plastic sleeve does break, Umarex may sell the part. Or, one could buy a new barrel and replace that whole assembly.
     Overall, the Ruger Explorer, for $49.00, I'm pretty happy.

[birdmove]

    Shooting the Explorer from my portable rest using the same type of hold that I use on my multi-pumpers and CO2 rifles works just fine. This is a low power springer, so the artillary hold doesn't seem to be needed for good grouping. This little carbine seems to be getting more accurate with more shooting. I stopped and cleaned the barrel again, and it needed it. After the cleaning, the gun seemed less accurate till I took enough shots to partially get the barrel a bit dirty, then the groups tightened right up. The inexpensive Crosman hollow pointed pellets are still the best shooters I've tried. Nice to have the cheap, and most readily available pellets in the US as the ammo of choice.
    The groups are very nice at the 7 yard range, and I'll move it out to my usual 11 yard distance soon. Still using the nice BSA red dot sight.