Yeah the rail is an OLD style of pic rail. There is a front slot and a rear slot, and that's it.
Upvote 0
MAC1 USFT Analysis/Overview
- Thread starter Franklink
- Start date
If you haven't already, skim through some of the photos that have been shared here and you'll see a very different scope mounting situation.
My first thoughts if I were you....and assuming the current little section is just bolted down.....take that critter off and replace it with something simple like this....
Crotek 10 inch Long Picatinny Rail Mount Aluminum 25 Slot Black https://a.co/d/dJ4Ny8j
Sure doesn't have to be 10 inches long, but just to give an idea...
As long as there are some tapped holes going down into the breech this should be an easy fix. Most complicated part would be locating the holes in the new pic section correctly -id use the old section as a template.
Compare the heights too, of any rail you're considering to the photos here...as a guide for eye alignment and correct height to give enough room for a large scope bell.
Upvote 0
Looks great! Maybe try contacting Wayne from Oregon Airguns and see if he has anything. I believe that he may have purchased Mac 1 airguns and may have the pic rail that you need.
Im also curious as to what foot pound your gun shoots at. Again, congratulations hope you enjoy your new purchase!
Upvote 0
Next thought is that if your current little section of pic rail isnt removable and you have to use current..... cantilevered scope mounts, even if you have to run em backwards to make it work, lots of options to choose from and I'm sure something is out there that'll work.
Upvote 0
Rifle is a 20ftlb, will test out once I get to the range.
The rail is bolted on, so easily removable. The hole placement would be the biggest issue.
I will reach out to Wayne and see what he says.
The rail is bolted on, so easily removable. The hole placement would be the biggest issue.
I will reach out to Wayne and see what he says.
Upvote 0
Nice early gun...If you notice the USFT markings on the Port side, early hammer that LD "ground off" a little material on the right side to speed things up. (He's left-handed)
Upvote 0
It's a Neil Clague titanium moderator.
Very nice gentleman to deal with. Would not hesitate to purchase from him again.
Very nice gentleman to deal with. Would not hesitate to purchase from him again.
Upvote 0
No, I didn't buy out Mac One. I'm just a "used USFT dealer" and collector of USFTs that LD has worked on or built from scratch. I've got about a dozen of those that are not for sale.
Tim was laid up and shut down for a while when he got hit while riding his bike. I heard he got behind on orders. He's back in the shop and starting to get caught up from what I hear. But also heard his prices for new guns has gone up a bit. And he doesn't want to sell parts unless he is installing them for you is the other thing I've heard. He doesn't have any time for idle chit chat, so if you call keep it short and to the point.
If I can help let me know...
Wayne
Upvote 0
Thanks for clearing that up Wayne. I have heard different reports from different people. I think that it was all in hopes that someone would continue the Mac 1 project.
Upvote 0
Got the .20 barrel fitted...
I was originally planning on cutting it to 16.5-17 or so inches and using a 7" Hogan Decimeater. But I decided to cut it back to 20.25" as a test run since the Hugett Atom and moderator adaptor would end right at the air tube this way. Figured I'd test it this way and use what I learned from this length to refine cutting it further back, if I deemed that necessary.
And this is the new look...
OAL is just shy of 39" now. Still long, but sure feels shorter when going through a door and generally maneuvering it around.
Was somewhat surprised to be within about 20-25fps with the .20/13.73s, with the same settings that were doing 915fps with the .177/10.34s from the nearly 24" barrel.
I've found the .20/13.73s to shoot really well in the 795-805 ranges, and 809 is the max fps to stay FT legal, without relying on the 2% variance, which I don't like to do.
So, initial fps, with only the barrel change was 775-785 with the .20/13.73s. During testing I toyed with the hammer spring adjustment and ultimately increased it slightly to get them up to averaging 795-805. That slight increase in hammer tension also brought back the crisp sound and feel of the shot cycle that Im used to seeing from this gun. Before I increased the hammer spring tension it was having a sluggish sound and feel. Hard to describe but with as many shots as I've taken with this gun, I can feel/hear when it's happy, and when it's not.
So here was the first of the shots on paper.
Bottom left was the barrel indexing game. Three shots, then index the barrel, them three shots, them index the barrel. Those first three, 3 shot groups were all touching. Finally got the barrel indexed to the within just a couple clicks of where scope zero was with the .177 barrel. Lots of thoughts on this but I like to get the barrel rotated in the breech so that it's throwing pellets into mostly the 12 o clock position.
That above paper also shows a five or six shot group at 30 yards in the bottom right. And then the upper four bulls were at 50 yards.
Needed a new paper at that point so put it at 55 yards. This is a total of 60 shots. Took five at each bull in the order I numbered them, and then ran through again. So mostly looking at 6, 10 shot groups. Lots of scope clicks, and windage holds, and even the aforementioned hammer spring tweaking throughout the 50 and 55 yards groups.
Of those 60 shots, only a few wouldn't have been inside a typical 1.5" kill zone at 55 yards, considering that the 8 ring measures 2" and the 9 ring measures 1.25".
All the shooting was from stool and sticks. And it was cold! 38 degrees when I finally called it.
So the .20 barrel is showing enough promise to warrant further testing at this barrel length. The 30 yard groups while I was indexing the barrel are probably the most telling, given the conditions I was shooting in. I'm also concerned about how much more fps I'd lose if I was to cut it back to 16.5-17," so I'll give it a solid assessment as-is.
I sure do enjoy shooting this gun, even when it's so cold that I can't feel my fingers.
I was originally planning on cutting it to 16.5-17 or so inches and using a 7" Hogan Decimeater. But I decided to cut it back to 20.25" as a test run since the Hugett Atom and moderator adaptor would end right at the air tube this way. Figured I'd test it this way and use what I learned from this length to refine cutting it further back, if I deemed that necessary.
And this is the new look...
OAL is just shy of 39" now. Still long, but sure feels shorter when going through a door and generally maneuvering it around.
Was somewhat surprised to be within about 20-25fps with the .20/13.73s, with the same settings that were doing 915fps with the .177/10.34s from the nearly 24" barrel.
I've found the .20/13.73s to shoot really well in the 795-805 ranges, and 809 is the max fps to stay FT legal, without relying on the 2% variance, which I don't like to do.
So, initial fps, with only the barrel change was 775-785 with the .20/13.73s. During testing I toyed with the hammer spring adjustment and ultimately increased it slightly to get them up to averaging 795-805. That slight increase in hammer tension also brought back the crisp sound and feel of the shot cycle that Im used to seeing from this gun. Before I increased the hammer spring tension it was having a sluggish sound and feel. Hard to describe but with as many shots as I've taken with this gun, I can feel/hear when it's happy, and when it's not.
So here was the first of the shots on paper.
Bottom left was the barrel indexing game. Three shots, then index the barrel, them three shots, them index the barrel. Those first three, 3 shot groups were all touching. Finally got the barrel indexed to the within just a couple clicks of where scope zero was with the .177 barrel. Lots of thoughts on this but I like to get the barrel rotated in the breech so that it's throwing pellets into mostly the 12 o clock position.
That above paper also shows a five or six shot group at 30 yards in the bottom right. And then the upper four bulls were at 50 yards.
Needed a new paper at that point so put it at 55 yards. This is a total of 60 shots. Took five at each bull in the order I numbered them, and then ran through again. So mostly looking at 6, 10 shot groups. Lots of scope clicks, and windage holds, and even the aforementioned hammer spring tweaking throughout the 50 and 55 yards groups.
Of those 60 shots, only a few wouldn't have been inside a typical 1.5" kill zone at 55 yards, considering that the 8 ring measures 2" and the 9 ring measures 1.25".
All the shooting was from stool and sticks. And it was cold! 38 degrees when I finally called it.
So the .20 barrel is showing enough promise to warrant further testing at this barrel length. The 30 yard groups while I was indexing the barrel are probably the most telling, given the conditions I was shooting in. I'm also concerned about how much more fps I'd lose if I was to cut it back to 16.5-17," so I'll give it a solid assessment as-is.
I sure do enjoy shooting this gun, even when it's so cold that I can't feel my fingers.
Upvote 0
Happy Holidays Frank,
LD has taught me to index to the lowest point of impact, so that's the 6 O'clock position. You might try that before you're done with the tuning process. It might help accuracy a little more, but that's looking pretty good for shooting off your bucket and sticks.... especially on a cold day with cold fingers
Nice!Upvote 0
Hey Wayne I messaged you on your web site looking for a picatinny rail. Was there a specific rail used, or is it just a standard rail?
So far I really enjoy the rifle and it shoots great
Another thought was to put a digital gauge on the rifle. Are the threads the standard size or are they something else?
So far I really enjoy the rifle and it shoots great
Another thought was to put a digital gauge on the rifle. Are the threads the standard size or are they something else?
Upvote 0
I answered your email, but it's good to answer here as well for others who might need the info.
The USFT scope rail is 9/16" wide and range in length from 5" to 9". The mounting holes are 1/4" dia and 3-1/2" center to center. Amazon and others have rails that we have made work. I think the treads on the mounting bolts are regular 1/4"-20.. not sure on that, but it sure looks like it.
Good Luck, and safe shooting!
Wayne
Upvote 0
Will have to go through my emails and check, unless it went to spam.
I will have a look and see what I can find
Thanks Wayne!
I will have a look and see what I can find
Thanks Wayne!
Upvote 0
I had a chance to revisit the .20 barrel a bit yesterday.
First groupings at 55 yards had me pretty, "meh." These are from stool/sticks (Hunter class style) and of course there was some wind switching back and forth, but it wasn't super windy. Top three are 10 shot groups from the .20 USFT, bottom three are 3 groups from the "control," the Vet .20. Alternating guns for each ten shot group. (as an aside, the first shot from each group with the Vet was hitting low, prob time for new orings in the reg...) Overall, the .20/13.73s were tracking into where I wanted them to go better from the Vet. Hence the "meh" for the USFT .20 project.
(the 9 ring on these is 1.25" if I remember correctly, and the 8 ring is 2," so somewhere between the 8 and 9 ring would be the 1.5" typical kill zone size we see at this 55 yard distance)
After the above groups I had mostly decided to go back to the slow twist .177 poly for my USFT. I was even considering converting it back to an Open class rig and swapping scopes around to make all that possible. Remembering a friend's recommendation from a few weeks ago to take a look at the crown, I decided I'd recrown and clean and use that as this barrels last chance before getting shelved. So, made my witness mark for barrel indexing, pulled it off the gun and recrowned the barrel. The existing crown didn't have any obvious defects, or at least not any visible to my poor eyesight. So, light recrown, and then a decent clean with Gunzilla and tight patches. Barrel was fairly dirty with that gray crud that dirty barrels get, but no lead flakes.
Reinstalled barrel and shot these 6x 10 shot groups, again at 55 yards and from stool and sticks. That first 10 shot group into 1/2" got me pretty excited.
So I repeated the same thing, 6 more 10 shot groups at 55 yards.
Got a low one or two in there from forgetting to refill, but overall MUCH improved. Not sure if it was the recrown or the cleaning, but something sure changed.
Finally, decided to run another comparison between the USFT .20 and the "control" Veteran .20. All the same setup as before but the last group from each gun was only 5 shot groups instead of 10 shot groups. Again, top is USFT .20 and bottom is Vet .20.
All said and done, looks to be capable of 55 yard, 1/2" 10 shot groups with high levels of focus and good wind reads, and 1-1.25" groups as the "norm," sans brain farts like forgetting to refill at the appropriate pressure, bad wind calls, and pulled shots. Next step is to experiment with some minor tweaking of the hammer spring tension and the transfer port restriction to see if there's any gains to be had there. As has been stated prior, the beauty of the USFT is the lack of adjustability, as there's just not much to mess with. So, minor fiddling, and then run a full string over the chrono with an intentional slight overfill and shooting down past 1250. That'll give me my new fill and refill pressure, if they've even moved at all. I expect them to still be in that roughly 1500-1250psi range though.
Gotta love an accurate airgun. Fun stuff.
(Oh, man I love the new shorter length! Crazy how losing a couple inches helps a gun feel more maneuverable, in this case it lost 7!!! since I had mostly run that big long moderator on it prior. )
First groupings at 55 yards had me pretty, "meh." These are from stool/sticks (Hunter class style) and of course there was some wind switching back and forth, but it wasn't super windy. Top three are 10 shot groups from the .20 USFT, bottom three are 3 groups from the "control," the Vet .20. Alternating guns for each ten shot group. (as an aside, the first shot from each group with the Vet was hitting low, prob time for new orings in the reg...) Overall, the .20/13.73s were tracking into where I wanted them to go better from the Vet. Hence the "meh" for the USFT .20 project.
(the 9 ring on these is 1.25" if I remember correctly, and the 8 ring is 2," so somewhere between the 8 and 9 ring would be the 1.5" typical kill zone size we see at this 55 yard distance)
After the above groups I had mostly decided to go back to the slow twist .177 poly for my USFT. I was even considering converting it back to an Open class rig and swapping scopes around to make all that possible. Remembering a friend's recommendation from a few weeks ago to take a look at the crown, I decided I'd recrown and clean and use that as this barrels last chance before getting shelved. So, made my witness mark for barrel indexing, pulled it off the gun and recrowned the barrel. The existing crown didn't have any obvious defects, or at least not any visible to my poor eyesight. So, light recrown, and then a decent clean with Gunzilla and tight patches. Barrel was fairly dirty with that gray crud that dirty barrels get, but no lead flakes.
Reinstalled barrel and shot these 6x 10 shot groups, again at 55 yards and from stool and sticks. That first 10 shot group into 1/2" got me pretty excited.
So I repeated the same thing, 6 more 10 shot groups at 55 yards.
Got a low one or two in there from forgetting to refill, but overall MUCH improved. Not sure if it was the recrown or the cleaning, but something sure changed.
Finally, decided to run another comparison between the USFT .20 and the "control" Veteran .20. All the same setup as before but the last group from each gun was only 5 shot groups instead of 10 shot groups. Again, top is USFT .20 and bottom is Vet .20.
All said and done, looks to be capable of 55 yard, 1/2" 10 shot groups with high levels of focus and good wind reads, and 1-1.25" groups as the "norm," sans brain farts like forgetting to refill at the appropriate pressure, bad wind calls, and pulled shots. Next step is to experiment with some minor tweaking of the hammer spring tension and the transfer port restriction to see if there's any gains to be had there. As has been stated prior, the beauty of the USFT is the lack of adjustability, as there's just not much to mess with. So, minor fiddling, and then run a full string over the chrono with an intentional slight overfill and shooting down past 1250. That'll give me my new fill and refill pressure, if they've even moved at all. I expect them to still be in that roughly 1500-1250psi range though.
Gotta love an accurate airgun. Fun stuff.
(Oh, man I love the new shorter length! Crazy how losing a couple inches helps a gun feel more maneuverable, in this case it lost 7!!! since I had mostly run that big long moderator on it prior. )
Upvote 0