Tinkering With The Barra 1100z PCP Air Rifle
OK, I admit it! As an airgun tinkerer at heart who started with the QB78, I can’t resist tinkering with the Barra 1100z PCP air rifle!
As we mentioned in the recent HAM review of this airgun, the 1100z could well become “the new QB78”. It looks to be a simple, cheap, robust air rifle that would respond well to a little loving care from an enthusiastic owner. Barra’s decision to make spare parts freely available for this gun is to be applauded. Tinkerers will take note and buy in droves!
Yes, let’s repeat this, Barra Airguns is making spare parts for the 1100z readily available! You can simply order them from their website – as we’ll show you below.
First, go the the Barra Airguns Home Page. Resist the temptation to click on the “Air Rifles” button. Click on “Accessories” instead.
Now, you will have to search through several pages of stuff, but – eventually – you will start to find parts for the Barra 110z. They have most of the main parts and sub-assemblies that the tinkerer will need, including valves, fill adapters, hammer springs and more.
And this. As you can see, Barra also provides a parts diagram for you (although it’s a little small).
As many of you will know, I have long experience in providing parts for QB78-type and other airguns through our Archer Airguns Parts Store. This means I can tell you that Barra Airguns must have some demon negotiators on their staff!!!
The prices Barra are SELLING parts for are waaaaay lower than I’ve ever been able to BUY equivalent parts for QB78s. It’s unbelievable!
So not only is the Barra 1100z great value as an airgun, this easy, low cost parts availability is why it’s going to be the airgun tinkerer’s choice for the forseeable future…
Tinkering With The Barra 1100z PCP Air Rifle – First Steps
First of all, I’ve done a couple of really simple things to “my” 1100z – this one’s not going back to Barra!
As I always like to equip my air rifles with a sling, that was a first order of business. The 1100x is fitted with a sling swivel point under the buttstock. A cheap, “Chicom”, SKS-type sling can be fitted there.
At the front, a Picatinny-fitting sling swivel is just what’s required.
Also, I like to have a good grip on sidelever cocking levers. The 1100z has grooves cut in its cocking lever, as is common.
So I simply took some suitable-sized O rings that I had available and fitted four of them to that lever.
Perfecto! Now I have a grippy cocking lever at no cost.
As you may have noticed from the HAM test review of the 1100z, we found the tube cap covering the fill assembly to be really tough to remove. In fact, after I managed to take it off once it was never put back in place!
In normal use, that tube cap is retained in place by an O ring that’s installed around the fill assembly.
A little experimentation proved that the O ring prevented the tube cap from being removed easily. It was just too hard!
Why could that be? Well, the 1100z is manufactured in Shanghai, China and it’s very hot there. Barra Airguns is based in Arkansas and it’s hot there too. We were testing the gun in the middle of an up-state New York Winter.
Obviously the O ring had just become cold and lost flexibility. So I tried a lower Durometer (hardness) O ring…
That worked a treat. But then HAM Tester Doug Rogers suggested an even simpler solution. He wiped a smear of silicone grease around the hard O ring. Problem solved!
So if you’re using your 1100z in cold conditions, there’s a little wrinkle that could be helpful.
Yes, these are very small steps tinkering with the Barra 1100z. And we haven’t even ordered any of those “dirt cheap” parts yet.
Nor have we tried changing the hammer spring tension, in spite of that attractive and obvious tension adjustment screw in the rear of the action.
But don’t worry! I’ll get there and HAM will bring you the results…
