Aeron B99 and B98, 10 meter  pre charged air pistols.

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.......Aeron B99 10 meter  pre charged air pistols........Aeron B98 five shotre repeater, pre charged

Finally T.G.A.G. received a limited amount of the new Aeron B99, 10 meter  pre charged air pistols.  They also have the five shot version but I was allowed to test them one at a time for a brief period of time.  I chose the single shot version to start with.  There were some customers that wanted to see the five shot version. 
     Despite the brief test I still managed to shoot about a tin full for the accuracy and function testing.  For accuracy I normally install a scope and do a bunch of groups with several  pellets.  But since this pistol does not belong to me or is in T.G,A.G’s collection at the moment I was not able to do any tests with a scope.  I did try several to see which pellet it likes out of the box.  The brands were the 7.4grain, 8.1 and the 8.4 JSB match pellets.  Then I included the H&N light match, Finale and Vogel.  It was too obvious the 99 had a preference for the 7.4 JSB followed closely by the Finale.  So I shot a lot of the JSB for the tests.  Velocity is listed at 443 fps about the same as its’ CO2 cousin. The chronograph averaged 448 fps, amazingly close to the published figure.  With the CO2 I did manage to get more velocity.  But seeing the accuracy and remembering it is not that much slower then its competition I will leave it alone.
     I did notice the muzzle break can be moved forward and back in a slot milled in the top of the barrel.  By moving the muzzle break forward or back the shooter can adjust the accuracy of a particular pellet.  I did an article on that function some time back.  So the way I see it any of the pellet brands I mentioned can be made to shoot extremely well. The manual comes with a test target with an amazingly small hole in it.  The bad part is they do not tell you what pellet it is.  They do list the accuracy at being 2 mm center to center.  Also for a while the muzzle break reminded me of some other manufacturer but at first I could not place it until I looked at a Walter LP300.  All of a sudden they looked the same, perhaps cut differently but the same design.  To me it is a big plus since the Walther is one heck of a shooter.  And the manual also states it has a Lothat Walther barrel.  Also worth a mention is that the front sight can be rotated for different width and also moved back for a reduction in sight radius. Rear sight can be adjusted in width as well as the usual up and down.
     The pistol comes with two air cylinders both rated to 300 bar.  Manual however lists only a 200 bar cylinder.  So I pumped the cylinder to only 200 bar.  Doing so I also figured it will make the pistol last longer then pumping to full 300 bar.  But after a while I wanted to see if the characteristics will change when a larger bar pressure is in the cylinder.  So I went as high as 250 bar indicated and I did not notice any change in function at all or accuracy.  The manual lists more then 60 shots per fill.  It does not say what the fill pressure was.  But from a 200 bar I shot a 71 round match including flyers and a good guess would be I could have gone to 100 shots.  Keep in mind the pistol uses some of the air to recock.  All the shooter needs to do is open the latch and insert a pellet.  But one must remember to close to latch all the way.     Under the air cylinder is a weight bar and three circular weights. They have the hole for the rod drilled off center to fit under the air cylinder.  When I first held the pistol it seemed heavy enough up front and three weights seemed too much.  That surprised me since I like my 10 meter pistols on the front heavy side and only this one seems to fit the bill and without the weights.  That prompted me to look in the manual for the listed weight of 1050 g.  Not bad at all so I started looking why it felt so different.  The only thing I could see is the majority of the mechanism is forward of the trigger making it muzzle heavy with a nice solid air cylinder.  The CO2 version the Chameleon does not have the same feel in the least. 
     Grips seem like they are right off a Morinni pistol and the finger relief does seem to help in overall control.  Too bad this is not my pistol since for me to make the grip more ergonomical I need to work on it.  The grip can be canted from 110-125 degrees. And also from side to side but not that drastic of an angle. 
     Trigger seems to be much improved also. I did not have to do any adjusting to it in the least.  It has small take up or first stage then a nice crisp let off.  The shooter can adjust it further if needed but I did not have to touch this particular example. 
     This looks like a good one for my collection of air pistols and I have to get one as soon as I can.  At $680 retail from TGAG--480-513-3778 it is more then doable.  As soon as I can do more extensive testing I will pass along the information. 



Aeron
B98
When  I started this article I intended it to be only for the B99.  But looking at the B98 I realized they are so similar I could do one longer article instead.
     The B98 is simply a five shot repeater of the B99.  They are so similar the manual gives the same weight, velocity etc.  It does cover the loading pertaining to this pistol, again a well written manual.  Again there is a test target included with a amazingly small hole but no pellet weight or brand stated.
     When it came to velocity there was a difference and I even noticed it how hard it hit the paper.  So I used JSB 7.4 match (green box) just like with the B99 and the chronograph said the velocity is 465 fps.  And that suits me just fine since I will not be using it for 10 meter competition.  Again I used the same pellets for accuracy and this also gave me a surprise.  The heaviest was the JSB 8.4 rifle pellets (blue box) and the pistol picked them as the most accurate.  Since I would use this pistol for some plinking and silhouette I tried the Crossman Lights and JSB 8.4 Exacts.  Accuracy was almost the same JSB would get my nod but only after more groups were shot to make sure.  And I would install a scope.  But this I did not get the chance since TGAG loaned me this example as well.  The velocity increase was interesting so I wanted to see what penalty of shots per fill I could expect.  From a 200 bar indicated on the anometer I managed 80 shots before it fell close to the 100 bar mark.  The B99 managed about 20 more.  But if someone wanted to try 10 meter shoots, it would be sufficient for a match.  Besides there are two cylinders provided with each pistol.  Also worth mentioning the manual states "screw the pressure cartridge filled with compressed air at 200 bar on the front of reduction valve."  So, even this pistol supposed to shoot at 200 bar fill even though the "pressure cartridge" is rated and indicated on the anometer for 300 bar.  I did pump it up to 225 to see if there were any problems with the reduction valve and the cycling.  None whatsoever appeared, the pistol cycled flawlessly.
     I do have the CO2 cousin in my collection so I wanted to see if the magazines were interchangeable.  Since the pistol comes with only one 5 shot magazine, not even the single shot magazine is provided as was with the CO2 pistol.  I found six magazines from the B96 (CO2) pistol.  They do function but are hard to get out.  If you happen to mix them up be careful not to bend the comb the magazine rides on.  I would recommend the original ones for each respective pistol.  Oh, I did not try it the other way around. 
     Trigger was little harder but again it can be adjusted so I did not bother.  Judging by these two examples I think the factory sets them at or close to 1500g for 10 meter competition. 
     There is nothing more to say just that either pistol is a big step up in adjustability over its’ CO2 predecessors.  One word of warning, this pistol will and does go through a lot of pellets..  I was amazed how many I went through in a short time, so stock up.  TGAG--480-513-3778 retails these pistols for $725.00, now I can’t decide which to get. They also have plenty of JSB Match pellets.

Thanks
Rada

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