Dragonfly .177 arrived today (A progressive review in stages)

[Relentless Holiday]

Christmas in March arrives. This post is coming from my cell phone so don't look for paragraphs or other such grammatical correctness. I had thought I would be posting a photograph but that will have to wait till the second Post in this thread for now I will just give a general impression on what I see and what I feel. You won't catch me doing an accuracy test until the first tin of pellets has glazed the barrel. That is just not fair.

The Gun is packaged under what  seems to be a brand name of "Seneca by Air Venturi". A sticker on the box end has the ID of the Model as "Dragonfly" with Cal info. It included a single shot tray and one ten round clip.  Both were metal :-)  There was also a healthy supply of o-rings of various sizes included.

Nice, If I stop dictating I get a return bar for paragraphs on the tiny little keyboard.

Starting with the wood. Well, the forend and stock appears as in the PA photograph judging from my example. Not very well matched in color, with the Forend darker than he stock. Ewww.   But I actually like the Grain on the butt of this one, it follows the lines of the gun nicely but that is always hit-or-miss. The cheek rise is on the left of the stock for right handed shooters.  The checkering is as crisp as a laser should be with very little raised character as a result. It's very smooth except for the grooving which is evenly placed on both sides and it does afford a little extra grip when carrying. None of the nice little points from hand checkering work here.  This gun has a nice pairing fit on the space between the pump grip and the stock which is very pleasant.  I hate when that is off to the sides or closes with a protrusion on the bottom of the gun. This sits pleasantly squared up.  But I do now understand the old Benji's  reasoning for the enlarged forend.  This could be a pincher if you were not careful.

The butt pad is softer than some of the very hard rubbers I have seen used and has some ribbing that actually settles in nice on the clothing with a little traction but easy adjustment is there with no sticky grab.. It is fitted within the norms of a gun in this price range with no horrible mismatches to the fit. Same for the trigger group with the exception that front of the trigger groups it's a little deeper than the rear. But that is not out of par or excessive. The mounting screws are holes drilled with very Square edges that I will knock down a little when I work on making the color match a little better front to back. I used to finish furniture and have also worked on guitars so I should be able to get the match a little better with some TLC. 

Bluing on the metal is very acceptable with a good match on the receiver to the rest of the pump tube and Barrel. The only plastic I see on the gun is the molded front sight artificial suppressor looking thingy. But even that acts as a decent crown guard.

The very first bolt pull was tough but not binding/scratchy or sticky. There is no o-ring probe seal. It seems to be a relatively strong spring on the hammer so it will be very interesting to see what kind of power it will generate. Like is that spring needed?  It was pumped three X and dry fired as of this post.

The pump stroke is pretty darn long and I imagine it will create quite a bit pressure, even at one pump, but that will be proved or not over the chroni later. Mechanics of the pump seem stocky enough and not at all sloppy.  If it's kept lube I'd expect a good life from it.

The trigger is not broken in either but my first impression is pretty good. I do not know if they advertise it as a double stage trigger but the pull has a definitive stiffer change before a decent release.  Due to that the release is going to be very predictable and fairly light. A guess would be in the range of 3.25 lbs.  I have no pull gauge and have never used one, so I hope others will check and I can find out if I am close.

 I am pretty happy with the action. The safety is a cross bar at the trigger and as of now is very safe. It's a little stiff. But at least it is not automatic. And it does appear metal. Correction the trigger guard is plastic as well as is the rear sight except for the blade and adjustment screws.

Well there is my unboxing impressions for a starting point. I'm going down to the range to put a scope on it and see what we get. I just wanted to put some of these thoughts down as I gazed upon its newness.

I'm not even going to try to edit this on my phone by 4 inch screen, I will clean it up later. Given the promise date of the 18th of this month this was a very pleasant surprise coming home from work today I cannot wait to see what the gurus around here do with this platform. It seems like a really cool starting point. More to come later

(edited for voice recognition error corrections and general readabilty)

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

                                                                     

                                                                          Congratulations... P.O.I. !

[Rob112o]

Nice. Looking forward to more info. That muzzle piece...How is it secured to the barrel? Grub screws or possibly glue or a tight fit? Also, what's the diameter of the barrel? Looking forward to some accuracy and Chrony results.

[JnJHess]

Congrats P.O.I. to your new addition, I hope it will give you a lot of fun shooting it.
Enjoy it. Can't wait for more reports about it from you, you did a very good job description the gun in the basics.

[Relentless Holiday]

Thanks Tommy and Juergen!  Here is a little more....

Nice. Looking forward to more info. That muzzle piece...How is it secured to the barrel? Grub screws or possibly glue or a tight fit? Also, what's the diameter of the barrel? Looking forward to some accuracy and Chrony results.

The muzzle guard/sight seems to be glued or pressed in place and the barrel O.D. is .475 Inches

Also, I forgot to mention that the gun can be easily decocked for storage while pressurized.  you do need to cock it to pump it up.



So I guess I will call this post "The Shooting Experience"

The scope I brought with me to the range was not a good fit.  It is a compact "Sniper" brand 3-9x40 and has a very short range of eye relief.  This gun has only about four inches of rail available with one inch being in front of the mag.  I will need an alternate scope or an extension set up to run these together.  I will probably look for a fixed 10 to 16 power full size glass for ten meter shooting assuming it groups, more on why below. 

Today's shooting was with the stock iron sights and I have a condition of the cornea that makes it a real adventure.  Waves across my eye cause some pretty psychedelic views at close objects so this is not about accuracy.  But that said, I was amazed at keeping groups down to two inches.  That is VERY uncommon for me with any open iron.  It gave me hope for our happy future if nothing else.  I did decide that to gauge accuracy on this it would be cool to mount a green laser I have on it, after a tin of break in.

As for shooting it...
For starters let me say I am not a huge guy I am of average height at around 5'8" with some extra pounds that I call leverage.  Even with that this gun is a bear to pump.  I have been working in a construction office for a few years but prior to that I was a tile installer.  I am just trying to make the point I am not a wimp.  And that pumping this is NOT child's play.

The feel of shooting the gun, for me, was actually a really nice fit for my average frame.  I'd read here someone said they thought it felt like a child's gun.  I half expected a 760 size gun.  So I was very happily surprised and comfortable at the size and pull.  I thought it was light but very nice.  The center of gravity is just about 2.5" in front of the the trigger guard allowing for a stable elbow in hip free standing shot.  It just sits in the center of my palm very nicely. And the Monty stock kissed my cheek just right for the irons.

As of this post I only put 35 rounds through it and the bolt lightened up a little. Happily the trigger seems just as I'd said.  The predictable and light release of a decent stock sporter/plinker.  The wadcutter pellets did bind a little on insertion when the gun was held horizontal. Domes were predictably smoother but still hung up a hair.  I assume it is the transfer port and am concerned about deformation.  I don't have a .177 rod so I cannot do a push though to see if that's the case.  I plan to try a single pump shot into water to retrieve one for inspection.  Till then I will try alternate gun positions.  I did read something about the loading position elsewhere and need look into it.

So far so good but here lies the rub.  This gun would be recommended to shooters with tastes similar to mine for one of two very different distinct uses after these few rounds. 

First, assuming it will be worthy as far as accuracy, It could be a 10M gun for paper.  About 1/2 of the shots I took tonight were one pump.  It was an experiment to see if I could stop looking for a single stroke pneumatic for that role.  I was pleasantly surprised when my hopes/prediction of that long stroke making this possible seemed to show promise.  With other multi pumpers I own there is easily detectable lack of consistency unless pumped at least twice. You can hear and feel it is wrong. The Chroni will tell, but I have a feeling from the POI and sound that this could be a consistent 1 pump gun.  We will see.   The Chroni test is tomorrow or after the weekend. 

The second use of this could be an awesome hunter in .22.  Given what seems adequate power, from shooting the heavier CPDs and like weighted RWS Superdomes tonight in .177 at low pump counts, this platform could very well be an fantastic light to carry bird, squirrel and rabbit hunter.  I really think this was what the gun was built to do.

What it was not made for was plinking.  At lease not at power levels I like to shoot at.  It would be exhausting to me and the sessions would be short.  The pressure required for the 6-8th pumps (8 is recommended max.) was such that I was concerned for the barrel when I had to use it as the only place to apply pressure to pump the gun.  I can see an aftermarket part for this gun that is a flat upper forend that mounts in front of the rear gun sight and transfers the pressure off the barrel to the pump housing.  It was too tough to pump at high counts unless your hands are directly opposite each other.  I did not like the feel of the barrel flexing during that.

As I have my hunter class filled in the cabinet, I am going to try to see what can be done about making this a target shooter for the winter months. No more shopping for a SSP for now.  It's going to get that fixed power glass (after a break in period and pending the laser testing) before any commitment of the heart for now.

Next new info will be string numbers at a few pumps ranges.  After more down the barrel We will put that laser on and check the Groups.

For now I am gonna get some rest for that work out.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

P.O.I.      Good Write Up !          I'm staying tuned for more !           Best Wishes - Tom

[ranchibi]

POI, congratulations on your new Dragonfly! Looking forward to more posts

[RBQChicken]

Good info. Keep it coming!

[Wayne52]

I'm sure you'll have some fun with that gun, congrats on a great buy I'd say.

[avator]

I find myself drooling.

[45flint]

Thanks much for the detailed write up.  I was looking for hands on info on the rifle and wanted to wait to see if the rifle would make sense for me.  Your description of the pumping kind of eliminates it for me?  We’ll see on the Chrony numbers how much power is going in per pump.  I am getting older don’t like stiff harsh pumping guns.  I have some old Crosmans that are very easy up to 4 pumps got to stay with that?

[ezman604]

Moved to Airgun Review Gate.
Thanks for posting!!!!

[avator]

I saw an early review on this gun and that was one of the things the reviewer pointed out... how hard it was to pump.
I personally don't see it as a problem.... as with my Sheridans, I would rarely pump it past 5 pumps. I do have a concern about the pressure applied to that floating barrel during pumping and would like to see the long terms affect of that. At least with the "Dans" the barrel is soldered to the tube. Maybe an anodized spacer and additional barrel band/end cap would be a welcome mod.

[Rob112o]

Thanks for the OD on barrel. Just looked at the schematics for the rifle. Is the barrel band that the rear site sits on, made of plastic as well? In the pic on PA looks like it could be plastic.

[avator]

Rob.... It is not plastic on my current SPA guns and as far as I know, they used the same one in the pumper.

[Relentless Holiday]

Thanks for the OD on barrel. Just looked at the schematics for the rifle. Is the barrel band that the rear site sits on, made of plastic as well? In the pic on PA looks like it could be plastic.

That band/riser was metal.  And it looked to be dovetailed to be a 11mm rail on top.  I was thinking maybe a small red dot out there would be cool on it too.  I did not see a set screw for the plastic rear sight body yet but it could easily be under the sight's elevation lever arm.  It is clearly dovetailed and slid on though. I will look into removing the adjustment screw to look for it and measuring the rail to be sure when I get to break it out again.  almost all my weekends are committed to other things so hopefully Monday on that for ya.

[Relentless Holiday]

Note regarding the stock:
 The cheek riser is on the left for Right handed shooting only.

Edited into original post

[Rob112o]

If it's metal it should be a solid area for pumping, between that band and breech? Since the barrel is easily removed adding a spacer between the barrel and tube should be simple work.
  Looking at the schematics the elevation screws may screw down into that barrel band. This rifle does look very easy to mod! I can see an easy mod to make pumping easier. The muzzle piece may also be a press fit with an indent on the inside of the muzzle piece. The end of the barrel looks very similar to the CP1M pistol. It will make adding a LDC a bit tricky. How's the report of the rifle, compared to a Dan?

[Wayne52]

A lot of the parts on my CP2 are probably the same as a lot of parts on the Dragonfly.



I've also got the CP1 and the Varmint too which will share parts as well, Avator (Bill) can give you some pointers on that.

I still haven't seen an exploded view PDF for this gun.  Julie might give you one if you sent her an email

[avator]

The muzzles on the MRodAir versions were held on with grub screws. I understand the Diana versions added some type of adhesive that makes them a bear to remove. Air Venturi may have done the same. All mine are MRodAir guns and all can be removed by removing the grub screw.