Daystate Daystate Red Wolf 22 HP accuracy problems.

[AZGunner]

I decided to try my hand at 50 Yard benchrest competition and after researching bought a Red Wolf HP in 22. I have been having accuracy issues since the rifle was new. I‘m getting .75 to 1“ groups at 25 yards. I had tried shooting with and without the moderator, tried different scopes and mounts, different pellets, different resting methods (bags, bipods etc) with no success. Luckily I live only 30 mins from AOA so I brought the rifle to them to check out. The first tech tested it and wasn’t happy with the accuracy either. He inspected the barrel and decided that it was too rough so he polished the bore then claimed it was getting excellent groups at 20 yards.
A second tech looked at it and discovered that it was shooting the Monster Redesigns at over 1000fps on medium so way too hot. Also noted that when tank pressure drops to about 210 the velocity drops to around 940. Stated that it was a programming issue. After reprogramming it he then claimed getting 1 hole groups at 20 yards and .5 to .7“ groups at 50. He also noted that it much prefers JTS pellets over the JSB Monster pellets and that the gun doesn’t like to be filled to 250 bar So I should only fill it to 240 and run it down to about 160-170 bar for best accuracy.
I took the rifle home and went thru an entire tin of the JTS pellets they recommended and saw no accuracy improvement. At this point I’m thinking it must be me so I pulled out my Ghost 22, and my Red Wolf Safari 25 and Red Wolf Safari 30 to run a comparison. It was 83 degrees with no wind at all in my back yard. All guns were shot using the same bags.
Both Safari‘s and the ghost easily shot one hole groups at 25 yards as you would expect, however my Red Wolf 22hp did its usual poor performance. At this point I’ve been told it had a barrel issue, a programming issue and apparently has a sweet spot as far as air fill and the accuracy problem persists.
Any suggestions where I should go next as this rifle obviously doesn’t have the accuracy needed to compete?

 

[DBlue]

Have you checked the crown on the barrel....?

 

[Smok3y]

I decided to try my hand at 50 Yard benchrest competition and after researching bought a Red Wolf HP in 22. I have been having accuracy issues since the rifle was new. I‘m getting .75 to 1“ groups at 25 yards. I had tried shooting with and without the moderator, tried different scopes and mounts, different pellets, different resting methods (bags, bipods etc) with no success. Luckily I live only 30 mins from AOA so I brought the rifle to them to check out. The first tech tested it and wasn’t happy with the accuracy either. He inspected the barrel and decided that it was too rough so he polished the bore then claimed it was getting excellent groups at 20 yards.
A second tech looked at it and discovered that it was shooting the Monster Redesigns at over 1000fps on medium so way too hot. Also noted that when tank pressure drops to about 210 the velocity drops to around 940. Stated that it was a programming issue. After reprogramming it he then claimed getting 1 hole groups at 20 yards and .5 to .7“ groups at 50. He also noted that it much prefers JTS pellets over the JSB Monster pellets and that the gun doesn’t like to be filled to 250 bar So I should only fill it to 240 and run it down to about 160-170 bar for best accuracy.
I took the rifle home and went thru an entire tin of the JST pellets they recommended and saw no accuracy improvement. At this point I’m thinking it must be me so I pulled out my Ghost 22, and my Red Wolf Safari 25 and Red Wolf Safari 30 to run a comparison. It was 83 degrees with no wind at all in my back yard. All guns were shot using the same bags.
Both Safari‘s and the ghost easily shot one hole groups at 25 yards as you would expect, however my Red Wolf 22hp did its usual poor performance. At this point I’ve been told it had a barrel issue, a programming issue and apparently has a sweet spot as far as air fill and the accuracy problem persists.
Any suggestions where I should go next as this rifle obviously doesn’t have the accuracy needed to compete?

View attachment 386120

Interesting… that is definitely unacceptable at 25 yards!

On the bottle pressure thing, I found that my extreme spread was much better if I filled to 230 and stopped on my Gen1 HP. Didn’t cause spreads like that though. I have heard plenty of people fill to 250 without issue.

You never mentioned what speed/setting you are using for the 25RDs. What setting are you using, and what speed are you getting from it? You said they tested Medium.

 

[AZGunner]

I’m using the medium power setting which they supposedly tuned to around 960fps and Which they advised me to use. My Ghost shooting the same pellets at the same speed consistently shoots 1 hole groups.

 

[AZGunner]

Have you checked the crown on the barrel....?

I would assume that the tech who inspected the barrel and polished it would have inspected the crown.

 

[elh0102]

Assuming no scope or assembly issue, and good pellets, the issue is probably the barrel. I had a similar issue with a standard power Red Wolf, and AOA gave me another barrel and it shoots great. Some barrels are threaded at the muzzle for the air stripper, and that process can cause an accuracy issue in some barrels. I had another barrel with a small burr on the transfer port. Anything in the machining process can produce an error. I would ask for another barrel.

 

[AZGunner]

Assuming no scope or assembly issue, and good pellets, the issue is probably the barrel. I had a similar issue with a standard power Red Wolf, and AOA gave me another barrel and it shoots great. Some barrels are threaded at the muzzle for the air stripper, and that process can cause an accuracy issue in some barrels. I had another barrel with a small burr on the transfer port. Anything in the machining process can produce an error. I would ask for another barrel.

That is probably where I’m heading. As I stated I have tried multiple scopes and mounts on this rifle in fact i removed the scopes from both of my Safaris and tried them on this rifle with no success.
Now both Safaris were ART tuned by AOA and they had to replace the barrel on the .25 during their tuning as it was bad.

 

[DBlue]

I would assume that the tech who inspected the barrel and polished it would have inspected the crown.

I would look at the crown under magnification to see if there is any rough spots or burrs and that it appears smooth and uniform. You can check for burrs with a Q-tip, just fuzz up the cotton on one end and insert it into the barrel and pull it out slowly to see if any fibers are being caught on the edge of the crown.
That group you posted looks to me as a crown problem if everything else on the rifle is to spec....

 

[AZGunner]

I would look at the crown under magnification to see if there is any rough spots or burrs and that it appears smooth and uniform. You can check for burrs with a Q-tip, just fuzz up the cotton on one end and insert it into the barrel and pull it out slowly to see if any fibers are being caught on the edge of the crown.
That group you posted looks to me as a crown problem if everything else on the rifle is to spec....

I’ll try that. Thanks.

 

[tommyb]

AZ - keep us posted after you examine the crown.

FWIW - I also had accuracy issues with a new Safari .25 barrel, and sent it back to AOA. This was about two years ago, but Steve B determined my barrel was faulty and replaced it with another .22 HP barrel under warranty. I wanted to switch to .25 cal to .22 caliber HP and MRDs at the time.

They also had Bobby C test and shoot and examine my replacement barrel ( .22 HP ART ) at 100 yards, before they sent it back to me with pics of all the groups.

My point is that AoA will work with you to resolve your issue. Those 25 yard groups are not reflective of how darn accurate these red wolf are here.

 

[Lewis]

Just to rule it out, have you tried both single shot tray and magazines? I had one that shot beautifully single loading but was terrible with magazines. I tried factory pin indexed mags, factory self indexing mags, and CARM mags. It didn't like any of them.

 

[hawkeye69]

When you pay that much money for a gun you shouldn't have to jump through hoops attempting to get it to shoot straight. It sounds like a relatively new gun with issues that they have been unable to correct. Just my opinion, but Daystate should give you a new gun that shoots properly.

 

[AZGunner]

Just to rule it out, have you tried both single shot tray and magazines? I had one that shot beautifully single loading but was terrible with magazines. I tried factory pin indexed mags, factory self indexing mags, and CARM mags. It didn't like any of them.

Yes, I have tried both magazines and the single shot tray. Makes no difference but I usually use a single shot tray.

 

[AZGunner]

Update, I took the gun back to AOA and they assured me they will sort it out and possibly replace the barrel.
Never had any issues dealing with AOA.

 

[Lewis]

Yes, I have tried both magazines and the single shot tray. Makes no difference but I usually use a single shot tray.

Thanks for letting us know. It was a shot in the dark but a possibility.

 

[AZGunner]

UPDATE:
I took the rifle back to Airguns of Arizona and they replaced the barrel without the slightest qualm. They then had Lauren Parsons shoot some groups at 50 yards with the new barrel. I shot a quick group with it this morning and the difference was amazing.
Thanks to the AOA techs and Lauren for the very fast service.
Here the quick group I shot this AM.

 

[Smok3y]

UPDATE:
I took the rifle back to Airguns of Arizona and they replaced the barrel without the slightest qualm. They then had Lauren Parsons shoot some groups at 50 yards with the new barrel. I shot a quick group with it this morning and the difference was amazing.
Thanks to the AOA techs and Lauren for the very fast service.
Here the quick group I shot this AM.

View attachment 387768

Great follow up. I think this is what we all expected from AOA.

 

[Lewis]

That's terrific! Both the service and the result.
Thanks for keeping us up to date.

 

[tommyb]

Great news for you. I like when the Retailer test shoots your rifle and has good results, before sending it back.

It’s amazing to me how often a new barrel fixes an accuracy issue. Not always, but more than I would expect. I’m also naive.

I have my .30 Paradigm back to AoA and I am hoping for a similar result to fix my accuracy concern.

 

[cavedweller]

Assuming no scope or assembly issue, and good pellets, the issue is probably the barrel. I had a similar issue with a standard power Red Wolf, and AOA gave me another barrel and it shoots great. Some barrels are threaded at the muzzle for the air stripper, and that process can cause an accuracy issue in some barrels. I had another barrel with a small burr on the transfer port. Anything in the machining process can produce an error. I would ask for another barrel.