Flying Dragon XS-12

[bubba zanetti]

Ok, I promise I will post pics this weekend, but I was too impressed to not do a quick write up.
After having a small fiasco with a Rugar Air Hawk I bought my son for Christmas and which I returned to Wal-Mart for a refund I pulled up Flying Dragon’s website and pointed at the two youth rifles and asked “Which one do you want”? and he said “that one (XS-12)”.

Well it showed up yesterday and my 6 year old and I spent an hour in the basement shooting. For $81.80 shipped to the door I am impressed. Right out of the box this little rifle is accurate. We shoot at about 20 feet and I have RWS Superdomes and Meisterkugelns both 8.2 grain weight. My son shot the most but I noticed right away the Meisters seemed to be more accurate. After 40 pellets I took the gun and started to zero the sights in a little more and I kept putting one pellet after another in the same hole. Once I had the sights adjusted I loaded the rifle back up and started having my son do 3 shot groups. Almost all his pellet holes were touching and he had a big smile on his face. We were both shooting from our ‘ghetto’ rest as he is too small to hold the rifle up and I wanted a rest to sight the gun in.

So other nice features IMO are the XS-12 is a very low recoil non threatening shooting experience for a little shooter like my six year old. He thought the wood looks “beautiful”. Too me, the rifle looks like the typical Chinese rifle in that fit and fish are both nice and pragmatic at the same time. The cocking was easy and smooth for Dad and the trigger on this XS-12 is lite! When I spoke to Mike on the phone he warned me that I might be getting that one, but to be honest both my son and I like the trigger so no complaints.

My son said after he wanted to quit shooting, even though I didn’t as the XS-12 was just such a joy to shoot, that: “Why didn’t you just get me that rifle for Christmas first Dad”?

All I could say was: “I don’t know…but your right Elijah this little rifle should have been under the tree first”.

Oh, before I forget, the superdomes shot well, just not like the Meisters. If we were shooting at cans you would not notice the difference, but on paper you can see the groups.

Pics to follow!

BZ

[dukemeister]

Heartwarming! 
Congrats to you and Elijah, hope you have many many years of fun (not just shooting).
I have a XS-12 "type" rifle (Its a XT-204-1 same parts, diff furniture). It is so smooth and accurate I just love it.... and yes it was dirt cheap, under $100 with a 4x32 RWS scope.

[Mark 611]

I have a question about these rifles, does anybody have any chrony #'s? is it a single stage trigger? and how quiet are they?

[dukemeister]

Yes, single stage trigger.
Mine is detuned for Canada; Chronys less than 500 fps. It has an extra long latch rod to reduce the compression volume. A full power version would do much better. But these are about smoothness and accuracy, you don't need power to enjoy these rifles.

[1216bandit]

Mike chronied mine before shipping:
RWS Hobby....559
RWS s dome..523
CPHP.............526

[Mark 611]

duke, I agree I'm not looking for a power house, I'm kinda looking for a smooth quiet accurate shooter with at least 600 to 650fps with 7.9gn pellets

[bubba zanetti]

duke, I agree I'm not looking for a power house, I'm kinda looking for a smooth quiet accurate shooter with at least 600 to 650fps with 7.9gn pellets

The XS-12 is it!

I'll post up the crony numbers in the box, but I can tell you the gun is quiet, very little recoil for a springer.

BZ

[bubba zanetti]

Box has RWS Hobbies at 657 fps down to 614 fps with crosman HP's.

The gun is in stock form.

BZ

[Mark 611]

ok, what are you getting?

[bubba zanetti]

ok, what are you getting?

1000FPS! 

I have no idea, I don't have a crony, but I would be surprised if shooting RWS hobbies the 12 wouldn't be shooting around 657 as Mike wrote down or 614 with Crosman HP's.

I live in the States so its not de-tuned.

BZ

[bubba zanetti]

Ok, here's the little shooter using our ghetto rest (a.k.a a box) 




Here are my first three pellets of the morning on a rest at 20 feet.


Poor Eli didn't do as well as last night. He won't keep his cheek on the cheek rest. The three in the Bullseye are me LOL!

We probably shoot about 50 pellets and outside of Elijah getting frustrated we had fun. Can't wait to shoot some cans with him.

BZ

[renowntwo]

Nice

[dukemeister]

Ok, here's the little shooter using our ghetto rest (a.k.a a box) 

Put a sandbag under the stock, it will slip better and give better groups. You can make one pretty easy out of a old sock, fill it with sand a bit loose and tie off the open end.

[bubba zanetti]

Ok, here's the little shooter using our ghetto rest (a.k.a a box) 

Put a sandbag under the stock, it will slip better and give better groups. You can make one pretty easy out of a old sock, fill it with sand a bit loose and tie off the open end.

thanks Duke. I will be buying a shooting bag. i have another hobby that is pretty expensive so it will be slow growth with some shooting supplies.

BZ

[PakProtector]

hey-Hey!!!,
Ours does 545 on JSB 8.44. Wee bit more with CPL, and 625 with Exact RS.'
cheers,
Douglas

[Mark 611]

Pak, thanks for the in put!

[Kailua]

Try rolling up an old towel up real tight and tape or zip tie it and throw a rag or cloth on it for a cheap shooting rest.  May work for you until you get a better one.  Who knows it may work better for you for your spring rifle.
What I did was more detailed.  Cut an old towel and rolled three separate rolls and tied the together to make a triangle so it won't roll around.  Then covered it with vynil cloth.  Through some smooth cloth on it so the fore grip would have some slide to it.  JMO LOL

[Tinknocker1]

Ok, here's the little shooter using our ghetto rest (a.k.a a box) 




Here are my first three pellets of the morning on a rest at 20 feet.


Poor Eli didn't do as well as last night. He won't keep his cheek on the cheek rest. The three in the Bullseye are me LOL!

We probably shoot about 50 pellets and outside of Elijah getting frustrated we had fun. Can't wait to shoot some cans with him.

BZ

that first pic is great and i love the name Elijah !

[bubba zanetti]

Tinknocker:

In my hunting thread, not sure when I will use the XS-12 to take a starling as they need to be close. But I can ensure you it has more than enough power to do so.

BZ

[jfrey]

On a related subject of kids and XS-12's.    My 15 year old son can cock our Ruger Airhawk B-25 all day long but my 11 year old son can't so he doesn't like shooting it much and is loosing interest quickly in his Red Ryder.    Does anyone out there have any sense if a typical 11 year old sixth grade boy can cock an XS-12 on his own?     Thanks.