Bigbore Power: The Sam Yang Model 909

Air guns come in many sizes, with most being geared towards the smaller calibers such as .177, .20, .22, and .25. However, the Sam Yang Model 909 fires one of the largest projectiles available for an airgun. A solid round lead ball of .45 caliber is the round of choice for this airgun, and it really puts it out there in a hurry! The .457 roundball from Hornady left the muzzle on this gun at over 750 fps, resulting in just over 180 fpe. This is the kind of power you want when you hunt prey as large as the coyote, hog, and whitetail deer.



In the picture above, you see the 909 without its cocking handle. The handle is easily installed with nothing more than a phillips-head screwdriver. The receiver of the 909 is a nice pewter color that doesn't shine too much, yet remains attractive.



The 909 is all metal and wood with no pressure gauge, so count your shots when shooting. You can fire the gun on full power by pulling the cocking handle all the way back, or on a lower power setting by cocking it half the distance with the handle. To load the gun, simply open the sliding cover that covers the loading port and place the round in the barrel. Slide the cover back, and you are ready to cock it and fire.





The fill port is located at the end of the gun, just under the muzzle. A probe is included with the gun to attach to your pump or air tank to facilitate charging it with air. A recommended pressure of 3000 psi is used in this gun. The twin reservoirs allow you ample air for multiple shots from the gun depending on what power level you use.



The rear sight, like the front sight, is all metal and easily adjustable. When mounting a scope, you may want to use medium to high scope mounts to clear the rear sight depending on the type of scope you use and the size of its objective end. You can remove the leaf of the rear sight, but the open-sight mount is fixed to the barrel.



I loaded up the 909 and headed to a spot in the country to do some test firing. At 20 yards, it was easy to make nice groups shooting offhand in very hot and miserable conditions. Even with sweat pouring off my brow, I was able to keep the shots almost touching at my test distance of 20 yards.



I test fired the .457 roundball into a cement block. In the picture below, you see the result of the power inherent in this bigbore airgun. The flattened .45 caliber rounds ended up being between a dime and nickel in size.





Here is the gun in the configuration I tested it.....with a Tech Force scope mounted and cocking handle installed. Fill it up with air, and start shooting!



The Sam Yang 909 Bigbore is a large gun, coming in slightly over 42" in length. It handles a variety of projectiles, from roundball to many kinds of conical bullets readily available in catalogs and blackpowder venues. I know some fellow airgun hunters who have taken deer with this type gun, as well as hogs. They are pleased with the power level it can provide, and at less that $500 dollars, it really delivers the knockdown power you should expect from a bigbore airgun.