Efficiency is good
This is all a good share, thanks. My path has been similar.
The .22 barrel has been a real challenge for me to get the performance out of whereas the .25 was effortless by comparison. I too had to warranty out a .22 barrel because of an extra course feeling inside when I pulled patches through. That barrel leaded up really bad and instantly, and I was getting terrible corkscrewing (1 foot groups at 100 yds and 2" groups at 50 yards... a 4/5 at 50 gun if ya know what I mean) with the 25.4 Redesigns seemingly no matter what speed I ran them at... and I clean-ran them with a balanced tune at a LOT of different speeds. I spent 3 hard weeks on it before I threw in the towel and finally cried warranty, lol.
I'm happy to report that my replacement .22 barrel is smooth inside, doesn't hold much lead at all (similar to my .25 barrel) and shoots as it should. It's still really fussy with the 25.4 Redesigns though. The problem is the wind and I think the pellets too to a degree. I was able to stabilize the 25.4 at 100 yards (no corkscrew) at 905 fps, 920 fps, and 930 fps and shoot 10 shot groups reliably at 1.5 inches as long as there was really light wind, like 1-2 mph. And then other times, occasionally shoot MOA at 100 in 5-8 mph winds. Then that accuracy would disappear on me. Pellets? I have to assume some of the issue is pellets and some is that the rifling on the .22 barrels cuts deep into the pellet and grabs the wind. At 50 yards though, I can force the 25.4 to run reliably in 8-10 mph winds by pushing it 930 fps. They kick and scream a bit on the way there but they'll always group at sub .50" for me.
I got frustrated with all of the above and last week, began playing with the 18.1gr at 100 yards in a 3-4 mph wind. She put 10 shots in a smeared 2" group lol. 860-870 fps ran rock-solid-stable all the way to 100 in heavy wind... but they moved sideways quite a bit of course. Go figure.
Now, I'm on to filming slugs. At 100 yards and with a Max power tune, the gun likes the FX Hybrids, the JSB .216 Knockouts, the NSA 23gr, and the Zan 23 and 28gr. Wind that day was like 15-25 mph so I abandoned efforts and will try again tomorrow (Friday).
On the trigger, I just yanked all the spacers and it's been running great that way for all of the .25 Ultimate Tuning Guide video (months and thousands of pellets) and for all of the .22 review (4 weeks so far and tons of shooting).
Steve
