Apologies in advance, this is gonna get wordy... but it's got a happy ending 
.
Bought an AAA Paradigm in .22, with plans to use JSB 25.39 MRD. Looking for that "one rifle" that could be pulled out when distance and/or wind were causing too much heartburn with my ~19fpe & ~30fpe rifles.
When it arrived, I was in awe of its looks & construction. Top shelf machining, fit, and materials. The Steve Corcoran stock is beautiful, and highly functional; at home on the bench or from sticks, but also quite good for offhand work. With buttpad & cheek rest adjustable along every axis, & a choice of thumb through or thumb up with the grip, can be made to fit well with just about any shooter & hold.
Fortunate enough to have spent time with many highly regarded triggers- Daystate (both mechanical & electronic), Taipan, Kalibrgun (Charlie Frear tuned), FX etc., plus great powder burner triggers- Anschutz 54, Geiselle, Jard etc. This one takes a backseat to none of them. In addition, shot cycle was gentle & the report on the quiet side considering the power level.
There was one disappointment though, a big one- not very accurate. As in 1.5" to 2" groups at 50 yards. That wasn't going to cut the mustard. Now I don't claim to be a benchrest savant, but can do a lot better than that with any other rifle in the safe, so it wasn't all on me.
My immediate thoughts went to the pellets. Those who have browsed these forums for a good while have surely seen some posts from disgruntled MRD users. I had too, but chose to tell myself it wouldn't be a problem- sure, might get a bad tin or lot now & then, but will just stock up on the good ones. So I bought MRDs from two other lots (one of them FX branded)... & both shot even worse than the first.
Forum member Richieg started a thread recently that shows in clear detail how the MRD has changed over time:
https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/the-3-different-jsb-25-39-redesigned.1280691/
Won't rehash the whole thread, but for reference, all three lots that I tried look like the bottom most pellet in his first photo.
At this point decided to not spend another dime hoping for "good" MRD until the Paradigm gets a once over by someone more qualified than I. After a brief discussion with Tom Coston (AAA owner), it went back to Airguns of Arizona for evaluation. Shane at AOA looked everything over, made sure the barrel was clean, and shot for groups. He was able to get better accuracy than I had, though nothing to write home about. In hindsight, wish I had asked him what vintage MRDs he used.
While his results were mediocre for a high end rifle, they were better.. & this is the point where most vendors/manufacturers would've washed their hands of it. But they didn't...
Shane & Tom had been in communication about the rifle, & Tom wasn't satisfied with how it was performing even after the somewhat better results so requested AOA send it to him. While all of this was going on, I had lamented to both of them how I regretted not going with a .30 caliber Paradigm, and that I wanted to have it converted regardless of whether the blame was fully on the MRD or split between those & the rifle. Assumed (& comfortable with) that it would be on my dime (at the very least, the magazine, bolt & moderator, which definitely weren't to blame).
A short while later, I get an email from Shane stating that Tom had finished working with the rifle, & it'd be coming back my way soon. And shortly after that, an email from Tom stating that while he hadn't finished testing the original barrel thoroughly, he'd seen enough to convince him that it wasn't up to his standard. He had converted it to .30 caliber (barrel, bolt, chamber insert, moderator, magazine) & personally tested it for accuracy, at no cost to me.
Got the rifle back, mounted my spare scope, & hit the range. Long story short (too late now
)- consistently got groups at 100 yards that were better than the very best I could get at 50 yards when the rifle was .22 caliber. This in spite of using a fixed 12x scope rather than the variable set at 35x that I had used during its time as a smaller caliber.
If you're wondering what my point is (I get that a lot)... American Air Arms & Airguns of Arizona stand behind their products!
2/1/23, edited to add:
Got a message from Tom at AAA last night. He was able to finish his evaluation of the .22 barrel & said there was an issue that was likely causing some pellet deformation. He was able to correct it & get it to shoot very well from a test rifle. So definitely not all on the pellets (JSB isn't off the hook completely, they did send me four tins of OM in MRD tins).
Really added this to highlight that Tom took the time to let me know the diagnosis, and to learn the cause in order to improve his product. Also took the time to check on how my rifle was shooting in it's new life as a .30. Top shelf company all the way!
.Bought an AAA Paradigm in .22, with plans to use JSB 25.39 MRD. Looking for that "one rifle" that could be pulled out when distance and/or wind were causing too much heartburn with my ~19fpe & ~30fpe rifles.
When it arrived, I was in awe of its looks & construction. Top shelf machining, fit, and materials. The Steve Corcoran stock is beautiful, and highly functional; at home on the bench or from sticks, but also quite good for offhand work. With buttpad & cheek rest adjustable along every axis, & a choice of thumb through or thumb up with the grip, can be made to fit well with just about any shooter & hold.
Fortunate enough to have spent time with many highly regarded triggers- Daystate (both mechanical & electronic), Taipan, Kalibrgun (Charlie Frear tuned), FX etc., plus great powder burner triggers- Anschutz 54, Geiselle, Jard etc. This one takes a backseat to none of them. In addition, shot cycle was gentle & the report on the quiet side considering the power level.
There was one disappointment though, a big one- not very accurate. As in 1.5" to 2" groups at 50 yards. That wasn't going to cut the mustard. Now I don't claim to be a benchrest savant, but can do a lot better than that with any other rifle in the safe, so it wasn't all on me.
My immediate thoughts went to the pellets. Those who have browsed these forums for a good while have surely seen some posts from disgruntled MRD users. I had too, but chose to tell myself it wouldn't be a problem- sure, might get a bad tin or lot now & then, but will just stock up on the good ones. So I bought MRDs from two other lots (one of them FX branded)... & both shot even worse than the first.
Forum member Richieg started a thread recently that shows in clear detail how the MRD has changed over time:
https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/the-3-different-jsb-25-39-redesigned.1280691/
Won't rehash the whole thread, but for reference, all three lots that I tried look like the bottom most pellet in his first photo.
At this point decided to not spend another dime hoping for "good" MRD until the Paradigm gets a once over by someone more qualified than I. After a brief discussion with Tom Coston (AAA owner), it went back to Airguns of Arizona for evaluation. Shane at AOA looked everything over, made sure the barrel was clean, and shot for groups. He was able to get better accuracy than I had, though nothing to write home about. In hindsight, wish I had asked him what vintage MRDs he used.
While his results were mediocre for a high end rifle, they were better.. & this is the point where most vendors/manufacturers would've washed their hands of it. But they didn't...
Shane & Tom had been in communication about the rifle, & Tom wasn't satisfied with how it was performing even after the somewhat better results so requested AOA send it to him. While all of this was going on, I had lamented to both of them how I regretted not going with a .30 caliber Paradigm, and that I wanted to have it converted regardless of whether the blame was fully on the MRD or split between those & the rifle. Assumed (& comfortable with) that it would be on my dime (at the very least, the magazine, bolt & moderator, which definitely weren't to blame).
A short while later, I get an email from Shane stating that Tom had finished working with the rifle, & it'd be coming back my way soon. And shortly after that, an email from Tom stating that while he hadn't finished testing the original barrel thoroughly, he'd seen enough to convince him that it wasn't up to his standard. He had converted it to .30 caliber (barrel, bolt, chamber insert, moderator, magazine) & personally tested it for accuracy, at no cost to me.
Got the rifle back, mounted my spare scope, & hit the range. Long story short (too late now
)- consistently got groups at 100 yards that were better than the very best I could get at 50 yards when the rifle was .22 caliber. This in spite of using a fixed 12x scope rather than the variable set at 35x that I had used during its time as a smaller caliber.If you're wondering what my point is (I get that a lot)... American Air Arms & Airguns of Arizona stand behind their products!
2/1/23, edited to add:
Got a message from Tom at AAA last night. He was able to finish his evaluation of the .22 barrel & said there was an issue that was likely causing some pellet deformation. He was able to correct it & get it to shoot very well from a test rifle. So definitely not all on the pellets (JSB isn't off the hook completely, they did send me four tins of OM in MRD tins
).Really added this to highlight that Tom took the time to let me know the diagnosis, and to learn the cause in order to improve his product. Also took the time to check on how my rifle was shooting in it's new life as a .30. Top shelf company all the way!
Last edited:
