Hello yall, I'm new to the forum and building up posts so I can do more. So this is mainly to get time here, also to say "hello"- much cribbed from a posting over in the machinist section of GTA I already wrote up.
I need folks to shoot with in Houston/Tomball area if you like this idea reach out, I would love to find some folks to shoot with. Most of my friends are into AR platforms, I am a sore thumb. They get a kick out of shooting my airguns, but are not converting.
I am a hobby machinist.. this first PCP without built in pump gun provides me opportunity to play on my tools in garage! My primary goals for this little airgun project:
Akela was chosen, if I recall correctly, as I sort of like Benjamin/Crosman and USA idea, not too expensive, first bullpup. Then found the Sub12 Airgunner channel on YouTube and he was doing much of what I wanted to do and documenting it well and just "nicely."
.177 chosen as AirgunDepot was having a sale on them when I went to purchase, they were $100 cheaper than .22 version. Pump, spare mag, gun, two tins of 500 pellets, taxes, shipping, etc. were $488... hard to beat that deal. I also did not have a .177 gun at all, mostly a 392, Aspen .22, FX Independence .25. Have avoided tanks or hand pumps till now, and other than a little trigger work on a break barrel have done NO mods to any guns.
What I have done on gun to date:
Net positive/things learned/things I will call good enough:
1. Work done unlikely to have caused any issues in rifle. The gun likely shoots better than I can hold at this stage with the rough gear I used as "bags" and the fact I am a bit shaky, and my sight picture through scope was, at best, fuzzy.
2. Gun used ~1000 pounds of air for ~35 shots. I had hoped to shoot enough to be certain... but not going to stress it too much. This was of interest to me as I am going to install a Huma reg next. I may wait to shoot again, count the rounds better for 1k of air. May take out my chronograph even, get a real idea of where it starts to truly decline in power.
3. I maybe took too much slack out of the connecting rod from trigger to the sear mechanism, and the trigger pull is perhaps too light. I really did not feel a "first stage". I find it a pretty pleasant trigger as is, but may experiment upon it later.
4. I need to invest in scopes that are higher quality! I have limited experience with sights, have been using "bundled" scopes. Purchased an AR-332 3x prism scope, arrived earlier in week. So impressed I immediately ordered a second for another rifle- crystal clear even with my astigmatism. Anyone interested - they are on sale for only ~$200 now at optics planet. A great deal, I think they must be clearing out old stock as a new model comes out or something.
Short term next steps :
1. Get a range bag for pellet rifle shooting to hold key gear in one place... [done]
2. Get a broader variety of pellets so I can see if gun is pellet sensitive or I was simply lucky with the pellet mix I shot. [waiting for sale at airgundepot- I think I want to buy a LARGE number of tins. ]
3. Install Huma regulator [may wait to shoot once more, get a few more 1k air runs to get a good baseline on start/final after improvements]
4. tinker with sound dampening material in existing silencer chambers and perhaps improved wipers- felt? Do with Huma install of course.
Longer term:
1. Change hammer/spring items: de-bouncer/spring stop device (SSD), mass, length, etc. I think the SSD is a must-do project, but will take an afternoon I don't have right now. I really want to conserve air.
2. Play with trigger. Watch airgun detective video, etc. and try something new. I improved an old benjamin nitro piston break barrel about a decade ago, simple enough then, and the results were well worth the time spent.
General comments- having something to do with my machine tools is GREAT. I know I could just buy a FX Impact or a Thomas or a RAW and shoot much better, but then I would not have the opportunity to work in my garage with my lathe, etc. which I enjoy.
What this gun is NOT about, at least now: small game hunting or power tuning... If all other stuff works out might consider in future for sparrows and squirrels, but for now just for paper targets, spinners, plinking, and education.
Observation.. on my archery forums guys chatter a lot, respond, etc. On GTA a fair number of folks read my post... but nearly no responses. Perhaps because I am a newbie.. or too long a post?
I need folks to shoot with in Houston/Tomball area if you like this idea reach out, I would love to find some folks to shoot with. Most of my friends are into AR platforms, I am a sore thumb. They get a kick out of shooting my airguns, but are not converting.
I am a hobby machinist.. this first PCP without built in pump gun provides me opportunity to play on my tools in garage! My primary goals for this little airgun project:
- Get some experience modifying an inexpensive gun.. if something goes wrong I wont be crushed and angry with myself.
- Learn about basic accuracy improvement possible via nice crowning, barrel polish, port smoothing
- Improve shot count of air fill. Now that the barrel and simple port work is done, my next real priority. I am using a Four Uncles pump... increasing shot count is pretty important now. If I really enjoy this, will likely buy compressor. For now, waiting.
- Reduce report... tinker with some custom wipes, dampening material, etc. etc.
Akela was chosen, if I recall correctly, as I sort of like Benjamin/Crosman and USA idea, not too expensive, first bullpup. Then found the Sub12 Airgunner channel on YouTube and he was doing much of what I wanted to do and documenting it well and just "nicely."
.177 chosen as AirgunDepot was having a sale on them when I went to purchase, they were $100 cheaper than .22 version. Pump, spare mag, gun, two tins of 500 pellets, taxes, shipping, etc. were $488... hard to beat that deal. I also did not have a .177 gun at all, mostly a 392, Aspen .22, FX Independence .25. Have avoided tanks or hand pumps till now, and other than a little trigger work on a break barrel have done NO mods to any guns.
What I have done on gun to date:
- I smoothed transfer port on inside of barrel with needle files and felt/polish on foredom rotary handle,
- Lightly touched up the lead with the felt and polish but tried to stay away from it for now
- On outside of barrel i more or less chamfered the port and smoothed it- did not open up any, just tried to set up so if not perfectly aligned that the air would have a smoother transfer into barrel. If, after reg install, power drops too much I may open up a bit. I dont really need this gun to have too much power, would be happy to have it shoot ~8gr pellets well at 50yds.
- On barrel crown I used small grinder to put a very clean and smooth new crown on rifle. The original crown looked as though it were done by someone suffering from delirium tremors. I have never seen such a ratty nasty job on anything since high school shop classes. I did not waste my time shooting (pumping) prior to recrowning... did not think it worth effort of pumping.
- On working bore of rifle- cleaned, polished, worked back and forth a lot at choke until it felt a bit easier. Tried not to remove the choke totally, rather just worked down and smoothed out.
Net positive/things learned/things I will call good enough:
1. Work done unlikely to have caused any issues in rifle. The gun likely shoots better than I can hold at this stage with the rough gear I used as "bags" and the fact I am a bit shaky, and my sight picture through scope was, at best, fuzzy.
2. Gun used ~1000 pounds of air for ~35 shots. I had hoped to shoot enough to be certain... but not going to stress it too much. This was of interest to me as I am going to install a Huma reg next. I may wait to shoot again, count the rounds better for 1k of air. May take out my chronograph even, get a real idea of where it starts to truly decline in power.
3. I maybe took too much slack out of the connecting rod from trigger to the sear mechanism, and the trigger pull is perhaps too light. I really did not feel a "first stage". I find it a pretty pleasant trigger as is, but may experiment upon it later.
4. I need to invest in scopes that are higher quality! I have limited experience with sights, have been using "bundled" scopes. Purchased an AR-332 3x prism scope, arrived earlier in week. So impressed I immediately ordered a second for another rifle- crystal clear even with my astigmatism. Anyone interested - they are on sale for only ~$200 now at optics planet. A great deal, I think they must be clearing out old stock as a new model comes out or something.
Short term next steps :
1. Get a range bag for pellet rifle shooting to hold key gear in one place... [done]
2. Get a broader variety of pellets so I can see if gun is pellet sensitive or I was simply lucky with the pellet mix I shot. [waiting for sale at airgundepot- I think I want to buy a LARGE number of tins. ]
3. Install Huma regulator [may wait to shoot once more, get a few more 1k air runs to get a good baseline on start/final after improvements]
4. tinker with sound dampening material in existing silencer chambers and perhaps improved wipers- felt? Do with Huma install of course.
Longer term:
1. Change hammer/spring items: de-bouncer/spring stop device (SSD), mass, length, etc. I think the SSD is a must-do project, but will take an afternoon I don't have right now. I really want to conserve air.
2. Play with trigger. Watch airgun detective video, etc. and try something new. I improved an old benjamin nitro piston break barrel about a decade ago, simple enough then, and the results were well worth the time spent.
General comments- having something to do with my machine tools is GREAT. I know I could just buy a FX Impact or a Thomas or a RAW and shoot much better, but then I would not have the opportunity to work in my garage with my lathe, etc. which I enjoy.
What this gun is NOT about, at least now: small game hunting or power tuning... If all other stuff works out might consider in future for sparrows and squirrels, but for now just for paper targets, spinners, plinking, and education.
Observation.. on my archery forums guys chatter a lot, respond, etc. On GTA a fair number of folks read my post... but nearly no responses. Perhaps because I am a newbie.. or too long a post?
