Ampell Acro 1

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jassi
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Ampell Acro 1

Post by jassi » Tue May 28, 2013 3:10 pm

Ampell Acro 1

I bought this pistol a couple of years ago during an early spending spree as it is quirky and unusual.
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The Ampell Acro I S220 is a single shot pistol that was manufactured by Ampell Playtime products, located in New York. Most of the gun's parts were made by the Shakespeare fishing reel company in Canada. Powered by the standard 12g CO2 capsule.
The Acro I was manufactured and marketed for a little over a year around 1975, it came in .177 pellet & bb and in .22. Mine is the .22 version
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Appears not to have been a commercial success and Ampell Playtime Products went out of business in late 1975. Consequently they are quite rare, particularly in the UK.

All metal, including the handle, it is a very slim pistol and I like its elegant lines.
Nice long steel rifled barrel (8.4 inches) and very simply built, the innards consist merely of a spring-loaded hammer block and a valve block into which the gas capsule fits and of course, a trigger..

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The pellet is loaded through a slot on the top and there is a cocking lever on the right hand side of the pistol. No safety, but who needs one?

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Like the rest of the pistol, the sights are really quite rudimentary, but adequate, the rear sight being adjustable - after a fashion.

Whoever had it before me had replaced the piercing seal with a rubber washer, so that after the first capsule, the washer swelled up and I had great problem extracting the empty capsule.
Replaced it with a Teflon seal and then later with a urethane one,, both of which solved the problem.

The gun is reputed to be lacking in power and that was certainly my experience. However, I discovered that the valve port/barrel port interface was misaligned so that the gas flow was poor. Unfortunately when I dismantled the valve, the seal was shot at and wouldn’t reseal properly despite trying several different types of seal.. Consequently the pistol was consigned to a drawer in disgust for almost a year.

Last month I acquired a supply of o-rings, in a whole range of sizes, that are CO2-resistant and you can imagine my pleasure when I found that one size was an exact fit and that the valve held gas.
Properly realigned, the gun is much more powerful than before and although I haven’t got a chrono, I reckon it’s nearly as powerful as my Crosman Mk1, so must be doing over 300 fps with Hobbys, which is pretty good for a .22. The thinness of the valve block is a constraint on valve dimensions, but I have in mind a small mod which will allow the valve to open further/longer so I’m hoping to get even more out of it.

Bought on a whim, I probably paid over the odds for it, because I WANTED it, but now it is working properly, it is good fun, though nowhere near as good as the Crosman Mk1, which cost me a similar amount.

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pmh
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Re: Ampell Acro 1

Post by pmh » Tue May 28, 2013 6:04 pm

An excellent and interesting post.

I haven't heard of these before.

It does have similar lines to the Thompson Contender.

Kind regards,



Phil
M0KPH
I now have so many airguns I've had to make a list, which is >>HERE<<
>>North Manchester Target Club<<

Skillet
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Re: Ampell Acro 1

Post by Skillet » Thu Apr 10, 2014 12:50 am

Bought one of these, some years back (a .22 example).

I resealed it at the piercing block with a spare, modified 'donut' seal for a Crosman Co2 pistol. Rifling was shallow on mine and yielded poor accuracy. I took the brass barrel insert from a Daisy 922 and modded it to replace the barrel on the Acro. Shoots nicely now. Clocks 360 fps with .22 Hobbies.

Seems to shoot forever on one Co2 ctg. definitely an interesting little gun!

Skillet in Texas

jassi
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Re: Ampell Acro 1

Post by jassi » Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:48 am

That seems good power. I noticed the rifling is quite shallow, but hadn't thought to replace the barrel. How did you sort out the breech arrangement? - can you post some pictures?

Just bought a rather nice holster for mine as I prefer having some means of carrying pistols, rather than just putting them down on a table, or suchlike.
Holster is probably designed for a Colt Navy but is a nice fit and the strap stops the pistol from falling out.

Ian

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Skillet
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Re: Ampell Acro 1

Post by Skillet » Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:08 pm

Breech mods weren't difficult.

I used a dremel tool to cut out relief and a slot to match the original bbl. Don't believe I had to ream out the I.D on the breech end. I used tubing cutters to cut the brass barrel to length.

Kinda' just cobbled it together, but it works

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