|
General Information Articles
Back To Main Articles Page
Compasseco's
Tech Force 79 "TARGET" 
By Jay Axelrod
I
was on the worldnet and happen to find the Compasseco website, As I was going
through their site one airarm caught my eye, it was a very nice looking target
rifle the Tech Force 79. I found it interesting that this was a Tech Force 78 with target bells and whistles and it looked GOOD. Over the past
few years the only thing I've heard about the Tech Force 78 is praise and
that it is superior to its Crosman counterpart. I gave them a call and was
advised that they just received a shipment and they would get one off to me
immediately. At Compasseco the rifle model is the TF79 "Target" and the list price is $179
The U.S. Crosman counterpart had been around for years but had been discontinued
in 1970. Tim McMurray and Henry Harn reverse engineered the Crosman design
and in 1992 McMurray, Harn and the Chinese introduced the QB77 to the U.S. market. Well 10 years later Crosman has come up with the Challenger 2000 and
not to be left behind Compasseco introduces the Tech Force 79 TARGET.
They
refer to the Tech Force 79 TARGET as a youth rifle and it can be because
it allows shooting organizations, the ability of starting or building a junior
shooting program with a very small and reasonable investment. Why they refer
to it as a youth rifle puzzled me, since they state length at 42.5 inches,
this would be as close to an adult target rifle as you can get.
Within 5 days from ordering the TF79 air rifle arrived, I opened the box and
now I was in trouble. Because of its size the stock first caught my eye, the
woodwork really looked good. In the past the woodwork on Chinese airarms was
not the best but this stock out classed anything that I have seen so far from China. Next was the bluing,
a dark rich blue black with depth found in the better German airarms. Well,
like I said I was in trouble, for the next four days I had matches to get
ready for and this rifle was on my mind, I wondered if this rifle shot as
good as it looks. Well, the frustration got to me, so I started inspecting
and testing the rifle.
The TF79 uses a .177 caliber, button rifled 12 grove 21" long barrel
that has a mildly recessed crown. The barrel has a .585" diameter which
is the same diameter as the barrels of my TF 88fs which by the way are very
accurate springers.
Tech Force 79 can use Powerlets or it can be bulk filled and comes
with a bulk fill station. I opened the bolt and popped in two Powerlets back
to back and tightened down on the piercing cap. When the cap was tight I backed
off _ turn as per instructions in the manual, this allows the piercing pin
in the cap to work properly on the forward Powerlet. Next is closing the bolt
and pull the trigger (with an empty chamber) allowing the hammer and rear
piercing pin to do its job.
The one thing I noticed had to do with the JR or adult description. I found
that the factory spec of 42.5 inches was wrong it is actually 40 inches, with
a butt to trigger length of 13.5 inches this being an inch under the length
for an FWB 300 and the same as my Anschutz Running Bore 22lr stock. There
are no adjustments for butt plate or cheek piece but just bringing the rifle
up to position I found the 79 Target stock to be very comfortable for my standing
shooting stance in its stock form and I'm 6'-1". Well is it a JR or adult
rifle, I feel itfs the right size for both to enjoy.
The front sight is a globe with 2 inserts one a post the other a peep that
was stamped with some extra material on its side. There are two rear sight
units supplied, the first rear sight unit is a standard field type rear sight
with a blade. The width of the opening in this field sight blade is narrow
only 1/32 of an inch. The elevation knob (11/16"DIA) has very positive
indents, the windage knob is smaller (approx. 7/16" Dia) easy to use
but indents are not as positive. The second rear sight unit is a target peep
with elevation and windage adjustment knobs that are good size _" for
clumsy fingers with indents that are very positive and excellent for target.
I started the test shooting standing and setting the target sight for 10 yards.
It took 5 shots to set the sight setting and then it was 3/8" of an inch
groups and under. After putting some pellets through the Tech Force 79 Target
and getting some shooting time I found it very enjoyable, even though there
are no cheek piece or butt plate adjustments. The interesting thing, I didn't
really need them, the rifle stock fits me beautifully and just falls into
my shooting position as though it was made for me when shooting iron sights.
I was pressed for time so I brought the 79"T" to the air pistol
match. Again shooting standing, at the indoor 10 meter range with the targets
well lit, the 5 shot groups ranged from 0.37 down to 0 .25 of an inch. I was
using Daisy Max Speed and velocity was chrony'd at 620, 619, 619, 620 ft/sec and then battery died.
Some of the shooters at the match wanted to try the rifle and I was interested
in their first impressions so I left them with the Tech Force 79 rifle for
an hour. When I returned they hadn't tired and were still playing with the
TF79 a good indicator, so now it was time to get their answers.
Only one shooter had something to say that was somewhat "nit picking",
he preferred a lighter trigger, he was also the shooter that wasn't giving
the rifle back, he was enjoying it a bit too much even with the "trigger".
I advised him that was the factory set trigger and I had not adjusted the
trigger. At this point I put the 79 rifle on a digital trigger pull gauge
and it tripped the scale at 16 to 17 ounces and a clean quick break. As for
the other shooters they loved the rifle and when they asked the price they
couldnft believe my answer.
I found the trigger as it is from the factory to be very good for most shooters.
If the shooter wants there are three trigger adjustments:
1) Sear adjustment.
2) Trigger over travel adjustment.
3) Trigger spring tension adjustment.
The stock must be removed to make these adjustments and at this point the
trigger spring is easily accessed if the shooter wishes an even lighter trigger.
A week had gone by and during this time I put a 6 - 24X scope on the
rifle since I wanted to see how accurate the TF79 is at distance. I
setup a rather wobbly bench and shot a couple of targets at 18 yards, the
group ranged from 0.18" to 0.39", I was using Tech Force 530mg
Match pellets, velocity 605 ft/sec. I wonft go into detail but the .39
group was my fault not the 79.
Well, it was our weekly match again and I wanted to give the TF79 some more
bench time with some other pellets. I set paper at 18 yards and was just about
ready but this rifle is a shooter magnet, before I knew it I was surrounded.
With all the distraction of the table getting bumped a half dozen times and
talked to while trying to get the test done the 79 air rifle still shot great,
Tech Force 500mg Match 0.26" to 0.285", Tech Force 530mg pointed
0.31", Daisy Max Speed 7.9g 0.3" to 0.365", but being shot
from the wobbly table the Tech Force 500mg had an edge in accuracy with the
Daisy Max Speed and TF 530mg close behind.
The match was an air silhouette pistol match so I tried getting all into shooting
something other than the 79. I also decided to play with the targets
just to see how it handled shooting, standing with a scope. Much to my surprise
it fell into eye/cheek position for scoped just as it did with irons, odd
but great. I hate to repeat myself but the Tech Force 79 is just as enjoyable
shooting scoped, as it is with irons.
I feel this rifle is one heck of a buy, at $179 you get a great looking target
rifle, accessories, accuracy that its competition is going to find hard to
beat and a company, Compasseco that stands behind what it sells.
Back To Main Articles Page
|
