will be trying my TJ barrel on my impact again soon and will be adding carbon tensioning sleeve. It shot quite accurate with sub half inch group(all touching) with .216 slugs at 30 yards but I ran out of air that day.
Upvote 0
Maverick Project & Initial Thoughts
- Thread starter mtnGhost
- Start date
will be trying my TJ barrel on my impact again soon and will be adding carbon tensioning sleeve. It shot quite accurate with sub half inch group(all touching) with .216 slugs at 30 yards but I ran out of air that day.
Dropped. I hope you keep posting about your gun. Even though I’m not a .30 guy, some slug mysteries are universal. One other thing, I have 3 TJ .25’s. Two of them require different diameter slugs. They were all bought about a year apart. Maybe change the diameter that worked on your previous barrels before you give up. I’m glad I did. I was about to chuck it in the trash and was second guessing everything I did. I think I even contacted you about your source for chamber reamers.
Upvote 0
I've never tried a .30. I'm trying to decide if my next project will be a .172 or .30. I already have the .172 bbl.
Knife
Knife
Upvote 0
Just depends on the use case, everyone's will be different. I like the .30cal TJ barrels, because they do extremely well with the heavier slugs I shoot, and they're also shoot pellets extraordinarily well.
The BC of my 22cal ammo exceeds that of the 30cal ammo I shoot, but the energy dump from 30 is a night and day difference IME.
Upvote 0
I realized that too with their .30cal liners. Dave Kiff made a reamer for me to use exclusively with TJs, and it was thought that .293, .2935, .294 live pilot bushings would have been fine. The first two liners I got were .292, and then most of the ones that I got thereafter were in the .293-.2935 bore diameter range. I've been able to work the bores on all of them except one that I gave up on, but it's just the result of hand made bbls.. some require more work than others.
Upvote 0
I should also mention that I use two different types of reamers with TJs, the PTG throat reamers and some Yankee that I got for cutting to groove diameter, which takes some of the burden off of the PTG reamers when I need deeper chambers.
Upvote 0
Great write-up on the Maverick. It looks like a nice platform to work with.
Have you thought about making a barrel support system in the front to control barrel movement, harmonics, or droop? My Impact barrel moves significantly at the front block where the o-ring resides when it's in the case or even sitting with the barrel against the wall. I was thinking of making a plate with a beveled hole that sandwiches an o-ring or a beveled soft plastic ring tightly to the barrel and block, tensioning it evenly and solidly. There's plenty of room to drill and tap the front block to mount it there and it wouldn't even be seen. The same looks like it would work on the Maverick.
As far as the single grub screw holding the breech end of the barrel goes, I drilled and tapped a second hole across from the original to give pressure on both sides of the barrel and locking it down that way.
Have you thought about making a barrel support system in the front to control barrel movement, harmonics, or droop? My Impact barrel moves significantly at the front block where the o-ring resides when it's in the case or even sitting with the barrel against the wall. I was thinking of making a plate with a beveled hole that sandwiches an o-ring or a beveled soft plastic ring tightly to the barrel and block, tensioning it evenly and solidly. There's plenty of room to drill and tap the front block to mount it there and it wouldn't even be seen. The same looks like it would work on the Maverick.
As far as the single grub screw holding the breech end of the barrel goes, I drilled and tapped a second hole across from the original to give pressure on both sides of the barrel and locking it down that way.
Upvote 0
I already made a tensioned barrel shroud system with a two different endcaps (one with a 14mm ID and the other 15mm for my Taipans). I said this twice though lol, I don't need it with my 502mm TJ, I've already tested with and without it, and there's no differences in accuracy.
The endcaps are over engineered. T6 7075AL with a little PEEK insert that seats a rear o-ring. There's another internal o-ring groove forward inside the bore, and an outer o-ring that slips into the "dial a size" 6061AL tubing, but it's a press fit and not really necessary.
The other muzzle cap before the milling of the air stripper holes..
I would want to use this if my barrel was more than ~550mm, but there is no point at this length. Barrel is machined perfectly snug for this rifle, there's no play / harmonic problems / bullpoop with my barrels.
I usually post photos of the projects that I do with my rifles on my Instagram account (mtnGhost_gunner).
Upvote 0
Did you try your most promising slug at 800-825fps? I know you probably don’t want to shoot them there but I had a similar problem with a 500mm barrel. When I leaned on it to produce the velocities that a 600mm barrel can easily produce, it didn’t shoot too well. But it was stellar at a lower velocity than I was willing to accept. Maybe an Impact or something else can produce the velocity you are at with a 500mm barrel, but they might deliver the air differently. Your work seems solid. I think the barrel will shoot, just not at 890. You might need 600mm to get 890 to work with that platform. I would try it slower just for the heck of it.
Upvote 0
@mtnghost that's some impressive work but why not use carbon tubes for the weight savings and super stiffness?
@vetmx: my buddy shot the compact mavrick .22 today, he tried 23 grain and 28 grain and both 1 hole at 30 yards and easy 1 inch groups if the wind would be anywhere near consistent, it was gusting over 12 MPH and changing directions constantly. 23 grain were at 875 average and 28 grain at 800 average, straight out of the box with just medium hammer weight. The .22 500mm barrel doesn't have anywhere near the harmonic issues I had with my 700 .25 barrel. Extremely impressive!
@vetmx: my buddy shot the compact mavrick .22 today, he tried 23 grain and 28 grain and both 1 hole at 30 yards and easy 1 inch groups if the wind would be anywhere near consistent, it was gusting over 12 MPH and changing directions constantly. 23 grain were at 875 average and 28 grain at 800 average, straight out of the box with just medium hammer weight. The .22 500mm barrel doesn't have anywhere near the harmonic issues I had with my 700 .25 barrel. Extremely impressive!
Upvote 0
I have zero problems with this TJ barrel. None. Nada. The ONLY problem that I have - the 47.2gr NSA slugs rotate in the magazine. My goal for this build is to shoot 43.8 or 47.2gr. The 47.2gr shoot at 905fps without issue.
The 49.5gr are the smallest NSA slugs that will not rotate in the magazines. They take WAY too much air to shoot and the gun gets too too damned loud at that power.
The 62gr are also too long for these mags.
Here is another configuration that I kind of like with a 580cc CF bottle and custom Taipan Vet (std) LDC. I'd definitely want to make a bottle protector similar to the one that I made for the 300cc & 480cc, it's way too exposed.
I widened the baffles to just over bore diameter, and modified the rear cap of to fit nice and snug around 14mm OD barrels. I tested this with the 500mm FX kit and wound up making an 80mm Delrin spacer with o-rings on both ends for the LDC to compress against. This keeps the muzzle in just the right place for the exhaust gasses, and keeps the larger OD of the LDC from threading against the two side rails:
The report is definitely backyard friendly setup like this.
Upvote 0
G
Guest
Guest
Well it was just my personal preference. Not many 172cals around where as 30cal is comercial caliber and Im kinda weirdo who never walks mainstream
Upvote 0
Ok, I had to go back and read your opening review again. I misunderstood. I thought you were having abysmal results with slugs period. Your bad groups are with hybrids only. The abysmal part of the 47-49’s is not with accuracy, but with the mags. You put out a lot of info there and spun me. Glad it shoots. I would much rather iron out a magazine issue than be frustrated with getting a barrel to shoot. Now I know why you were so adamant about not having a harmonic issue.
Upvote 0
Well it was just my personal preference. Not many 172cals around where as 30cal is comercial caliber and Im kinda weirdo who never walks mainstream
I totally understand. I've thought about building an exotic caliber like .311 lol
Upvote 0
GRRRR my Maverick already spung a leak somewhere around the front reg. Pretty sure it's dumping through the atmosphere hole, but I'm sure that I have all of the o-rings to fix it.
I was planning to hit the road early to test out a higher power setup with my longer barrel and a new 15.5 gram hammer weight that I made today. Might not be able to test it until the weekend though, the universe is working against me at every damned turn today!!!
I was planning to hit the road early to test out a higher power setup with my longer barrel and a new 15.5 gram hammer weight that I made today. Might not be able to test it until the weekend though, the universe is working against me at every damned turn today!!!
Upvote 0
Incredibly poopty day! I fixed the leak, but it took me multiple hours to finally resolve. It was dumping from two places - the atmospheric port and the top of the reg. The 7x2mm top o-ring was compromised, but I wound up screwing up the polymer reg piston while throwing o-rings at the other leak over and over.
So I swapped in a Huma high-power regulator in place of the factory regulator, they're built pretty stout and I had considered doing this early on anyway.
Then, I encountered another leak from the top of the reg. It turns out, the Huma shipped with a 7x1.5mm outer o-ring, which is too small. I swapped in a 7x2mm, crossed my fingers and reinstalled the bottle - and then encountered and entirely new leak coming from the fixed fill port!!! That one was a head scratcher.. I put a 14mm wrench on it, but it was bottomed out already. I loosened it and snugged it back down, and it stopped leaking when I attempted to fill again.
At this point, I realized that I missed my window to drive an hour and a half out to test my new hammer weight and another barrel that I machined, so I just decided to do a bunch of chronograph tests to break in / test the new reg, and to see how my rifle was performing. Sure enough, my bad luck was still with me and I terminated my beloved LMBR chrono:
I'm livid after all this!!!!
So I swapped in a Huma high-power regulator in place of the factory regulator, they're built pretty stout and I had considered doing this early on anyway.
Then, I encountered another leak from the top of the reg. It turns out, the Huma shipped with a 7x1.5mm outer o-ring, which is too small. I swapped in a 7x2mm, crossed my fingers and reinstalled the bottle - and then encountered and entirely new leak coming from the fixed fill port!!! That one was a head scratcher.. I put a 14mm wrench on it, but it was bottomed out already. I loosened it and snugged it back down, and it stopped leaking when I attempted to fill again.
At this point, I realized that I missed my window to drive an hour and a half out to test my new hammer weight and another barrel that I machined, so I just decided to do a bunch of chronograph tests to break in / test the new reg, and to see how my rifle was performing. Sure enough, my bad luck was still with me and I terminated my beloved LMBR chrono:
I'm livid after all this!!!!
Upvote 0
Incredibly poopty day! I fixed the leak, but it took me multiple hours to finally resolve. It was dumping from two places - the atmospheric port and the top of the reg. The 7x2mm top o-ring was compromised, but I wound up screwing up the polymer reg piston while throwing o-rings at the other leak over and over.
So I swapped in a Huma high-power regulator in place of the factory regulator, they're built pretty stout and I had considered doing this early on anyway.
Then, I encountered another leak from the top of the reg. It turns out, the Huma shipped with a 7x1.5mm outer o-ring, which is too small. I swapped in a 7x2mm, crossed my fingers and reinstalled the bottle - and then encountered and entirely new leak coming from the fixed fill port!!! That one was a head scratcher.. I put a 14mm wrench on it, but it was bottomed out already. I loosened it and snugged it back down, and it stopped leaking when I attempted to fill again.
At this point, I realized that I missed my window to drive an hour and a half out to test my new hammer weight and another barrel that I machined, so I just decided to do a bunch of chronograph tests to break in / test the new reg, and to see how my rifle was performing. Sure enough, my bad luck was still with me and I terminated my beloved LMBR chrono:
I'm livid after all this!!!!
So how many shots in that groups? Sorry had to ask. This year has been full of ups and downs, my atn made it almost a month before it quit and my old chrony quit.
Are you going to test the faster twist liner when it comes out? I always enjoy your builds and keep up the good work.
Upvote 0
Incredibly poopty day! I fixed the leak, but it took me multiple hours to finally resolve. It was dumping from two places - the atmospheric port and the top of the reg. The 7x2mm top o-ring was compromised, but I wound up screwing up the polymer reg piston while throwing o-rings at the other leak over and over.
So I swapped in a Huma high-power regulator in place of the factory regulator, they're built pretty stout and I had considered doing this early on anyway.
Then, I encountered another leak from the top of the reg. It turns out, the Huma shipped with a 7x1.5mm outer o-ring, which is too small. I swapped in a 7x2mm, crossed my fingers and reinstalled the bottle - and then encountered and entirely new leak coming from the fixed fill port!!! That one was a head scratcher.. I put a 14mm wrench on it, but it was bottomed out already. I loosened it and snugged it back down, and it stopped leaking when I attempted to fill again.
At this point, I realized that I missed my window to drive an hour and a half out to test my new hammer weight and another barrel that I machined, so I just decided to do a bunch of chronograph tests to break in / test the new reg, and to see how my rifle was performing. Sure enough, my bad luck was still with me and I terminated my beloved LMBR chrono:
I'm livid after all this!!!!
So how many shots in that groups? Sorry had to ask. This year has been full of ups and downs, my atn made it almost a month before it quit and my old chrony quit.
Are you going to test the faster twist liner when it comes out? I always enjoy your builds and keep up the good work.
I most definitely will. I have nothing against the FX barrel systems, and their quality continues to improve.
Two more bbls to play around with. One is 26" and the other is just shy of 28"
Upvote 0
Good grief. When it rains, it pours. At least I’m not the only guy who has days like that. One things for sure, when we do lots of testing, we are bound to shoot something we shouldn’t at least once a year.
Upvote 0