Titan JB1 (pics and review)

Titan JB1 (pics and review) 

With thanks to Tom.

He says:

The Titan JB1 was released as one of Titans first wave of rifles, and really was completely different to anything at the time, and also to anything that has come since! A Bowkett design through and through, I’ll go through the features that make it so different shortly, but this was so much more than just a big pumper.

Initially, the rifle looks like the standard configuration of a barrel-over-cylinder sporting air rifle, albeit with a huge lever on the side. Both the beech and walnut stock variants have a very long forend with a standard style sporter curved grip in front of a fixed cheek and butt. I have seen photos of JB1’s in some very attractive walnut thumbhole stocks too, clearly based on CS of Sheffield’s older CS800 design. Indeed, if you do the usual Google search of “Titan JB1”, there will be one or two photos of JB1 serial number 1 resplendent in a highly figured thumbhole stock. Sadly I have no access to any thumbhole variants for this review.

The action is all blacked steel and brass, and if you can find a well looked after the model, the finish is generally rather nice. The problem is finding a well looked after model. The breech block is deceptive, as it is actually the valve body, but adorning each side of it should be a Titan sticker. The lever is rather blocky and all steel, but overall it’s a tidy looking package.

Handling.

Generally speaking the JB1 handles well, there’s nothing here that really throws you off and the feel is very familiar to anyone that uses a sporting PCP. It won’t win any competitions in lightness due to its all steel and brass construction, but it’s very manageable. The lever is a lot of weight to hang off the side of a rifle, but again practice and proper technique can negate much of this.

Some of the ‘controls’ are a little fiddly, but I can understand why they have been made small for the positions they are in. Also worth noting I have seen several different trigger blade options on “standard” JB1’s, the one on test has a simple straight blade which does the job but could definitely be comfier.

Use and operation.

This is where things start to get unique shall we say…

Swing out barrel, calibre swaps, inline valves, the JB1 is either an engineers wet dream or nightmare! Let’s go one step at a time. Starting off is easy, the lever is a simple mechanism that has a large swing to open of nearly 180 degrees to draw air into the compression chamber. There is a small sprung plate that acts as a catch to keep the lever locked closed that must be disengaged first, a nice safety feature to prevent the lever flying open if anything was to go awry on charging.

With the lever now open, the button on the back of the breech block/valve can now be depressed to push the valve pin into place. There should be an audible click at this point. With the button pushed in, it can also be rotated and locked into a safe position, preventing the valve from opening if you desire.

The lever can now be closed to compress the air in the chamber. It’s a long lever with a huge stroke, but as peak pressure doesn’t build until near the very end, the first 90 degrees or so can easily be managed with your hand half way down the lever and with minimal force, meaning you don’t have to contort into any odd stances to get the job done! A bit of force is needed at the end to snap the lever closed but this is easily handled as the pressure point is now so close to the body.

To load a pellet, the barrel must be unclipped from the front of the valve block, and swung out to the side. An unusual feature, but it does allow easy access not obscured by scopes or hardware. Putting a pellet in feels very similar to loading a break barrel rifle, with a direct to rifling approach. Lock the barrel back down with a pellet in situ and you are ready to shoot!

With the lever now open, the button on the back of the breech block/valve can now be depressed to push the valve pin into place. There should be an audible click at this point. With the button pushed in, it can also be rotated and locked into a safe position, preventing the valve from opening if you desire.

The lever can now be closed to compress the air in the chamber. It’s a long lever with a huge stroke, but as peak pressure doesn’t build until near the very end, the first 90 degrees or so can easily be managed with your hand half way down the lever and with minimal force, meaning you don’t have to contort into any odd stances to get the job done! A bit of force is needed at the end to snap the lever closed but this is easily handled as the pressure point is now so close to the body.

To load a pellet, the barrel must be unclipped from the front of the valve block, and swung out to the side. An unusual feature, but it does allow easy access not obscured by scopes or hardware. Putting a pellet in feels very similar to loading a break barrel rifle, with a direct to rifling approach. Lock the barrel back down with a pellet in situ and you are ready to shoot!

Anything else.

So you may be asking yourself now “A completely recoilless platform with calibre changes, what’s the catch?!” Well unfortunately there is one or two…

When Titan were making the JB1, many of its parts were outsourced with some being manufactured in India where tolerances were less than satisfactory shall we say… this lead to a lot of JB1 parts having less than ideal fit or sometimes even mismatched threads on mating parts. This meant slow leaks or inconsistent operation became too common, which meant a lot of exchanges and returns, making the JB1 a rather rare beast in the wild now. To compound this fact, spare parts are not really supported, and when I serviced a second JB1, I had to make a valve pin from scratch to replace a snapped part. The last time I spoke to John Bowkett, he also won’t work on these rifles as he can’t guarantee them afterwards, which is a shame as Johns work is fantastic, but understandable on his behalf.

However, find yourself a good example and this quirky gun is a joy to behold and use. The lock time is very fast, and the trigger can be adjusted to be rather pleasant in use, with a light first stage and dependable break. Some of the very early JB1 actions were put together by John himself, and it shows as I’ve handled one or two and the fit and finish just goes that extra step further. Consistency is phenomenal, and accuracy is as good as any modern rifle when the right pellet is found. And besides, if your barrel doesn’t want to group, just change it out!

Price wise I’ve seen beaten up project rifles at around the £250-£300 mark, going up to £700 for the nicer woodwork models in excellent original condition. The one pictured here came to me working bit desperately in need of re-blacking, so was a little bit of a project to bring it back to its best.

All in all would I recommend the JB1? I would have to say yes. If you are a single stroke pneumatic fan then as above find yourself a good example and they really are a great rifle, and it’s biggest flaw is maybe that it was just way ahead of its time…

Anyway, as usual, some more pictures for you all!