JTS My bartered for JTS Airacuda Max .22 Build

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

Since I shifted hobbies a bit from a year ago I am not in the same financial position to be unloading 10000 dollars on airgun setups lmao hence why I have been looking at budget setups. Well a friend of mine who's moving to a far less restrictive part of the country (so he can go back to PB'ers) did some old school bartering with me and I traded some mechanic work for his JTS Airacuda Max .22 scoped (west hunter 4-16 , not a bad scope actually), air supply setup, case, and ammunition. Win win for me , love using my automotive tools and have been on the fence of which way to go with airguns.

I am going to set this rifle up for 50 yard bench rest in Salem NY that a few other shooters I know frequent as its a dog friendly event and in a beautiful area. Also will be my plinker but also with its cost being so cheap, I want to have some fun and build it.

I plan to open up the ports, smooth the transitions, work on the hammer spring, and valve spring, and go from there. Target goal is a consistent 30-40 shot fill with 22.07 grain JTS pellets at 880 ish FPS with less than moa accuracy at 50 yards.

Adding an Arca rail to a JTS Airacuda Max

I am a big fan of mounting pic and arca rails "properly" imo. So I will show you how I did it on my buddies rifle on Sunday evening. Also these rifles aren't bad for the money, that's a 35 yard 10 shot group.

www.airgunnation.com

I have experience shooting this particular rifle as it was owned by a friend of mine, I actually modded it when he first got it and added an arca rail (see above thread).
There are a few items I'd like to have made though, id like an external plenum made/machined to take the place of the regulator gauge, 16cc-22cc will work perfect I think, also a few other small items if anyone has any good recommendations on who I could go to, I am all ears. EDIT: ALREADY FOUND A GUY AND WE ARE ALREADY WORKING ON MAKING A PLENUM FOR THIS.

The regulator on these rifles are actually super consistent so that will stay, the string shown is from the .25 I used to have, it was always insanely consistent, this .22 is no different (just can't find the strings we had anywhere) .

And here is a picture of it with my old .25

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I gave it a good wipe down last night , not as bad as I initially thought. The finish on these stocks is weak as hell and quite ugly, I hope to remedy that as part of this build, I will likely start sanding tonight while I wait for orings, plenum, etc....

The setup so far consists of the Airacuda, blackhound rings (might change these to bring the scope lower), Westhunter 4-16x44 ffp with illuminated reticle, 1 scba tank and fill station.

Pics are from as I received her, to after a wipe down and stock removal.

Right now she is shooting 15.89 hades at 910 fps for 40 shots. I believe with the port work and plenum alone, I can get her to sling those 22.07 at factory reg setting and some HST adjustments right around that 880 mark.

Hes already done a great job on the trigger as hes quite the trigger snob, his 63' Husqvarna .270 has one of the most insane triggers ive ever pulled, so I am not surprised at what hes done with this one.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

So I'm going to be porting the TP , also the portion of the body so its even all the way through, right now it's 5mm. Obviously this will be done in a drill press with Orings removed. I think this alone will allow me to actually drop factory reg pressure and attain my goal. This setup is currently very restrictive.

The barrel on this thing is a lot more rugged setup than I thought. Pretty rad if you ask me.

I also took measurements and checked thread pitch so I could have the external plenum made up for this rifle.

Oh.and of course shop supervisor told me when to call it quits so we could get out early for a hike.

 

[Hobbyman2007]

They sure look to be a decent quality air rifle. I still don’t understand why manufacturers don’t match all the ports when they are new from factory. Not like it’s difficult. I’ll be watching this one as I have a friend who’s looking to get one.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

using my dremel i opened up the TP, brought the body down to my landlords father's shop to use the drill press and opened up the port in the body to what you see in the photos.

Big increase from the 5.08mm, that's a 23.63% increase in flow at least with this portion of the rifle.

I then put the breech and barrel back in the action to check function of magazine and to ensure that pellets are being pushed in evenly.

Full magazine, no issues.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

The factory JTS Airacuda Shroud is 21mm ID with a 23mm OD , the barrel on these rifles is just around 18.5 inches. The shroud and baffle system is not something I like, it actually has caused numerous customers to have clipping issues when attaching moderators and is widely discussed, this rifle in particular experienced this , my .25 I had did not.

I decided to order up some carbon fiber tubing, I was able to find 21mm ID like I need to thread the shroud ends into it, and much to my surprise I was able to find 25mm OD which should not only be less flimsy, it should dull the report of the rifle quite a bit. I actually made a custom CF shroud for a dreamline I built a while back and it turned the resonation into more of a dull "THUD".

The barrels on these rifles are actually quite heavy and stout and the design that secures them to the action is pretty good too, it's not a poor design at all. With that said I will not be reinstalling the "barrel band" , tbh it doesn't do anything on the rifle. Where it "bands" the tube to the shroud , the barrel isn't even at that point, just the factory baffle system that does not even interlock itself with the barrel. I will be making a spacer to fill the gap between the fill port cap and the end of the tube. With the thicker CF tube, it should be a lot more rigid shroud especially being 1mm thicker wall than its aluminum counterpart its replacing.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find the 25mm OD in glossy twill, only matte but it should contrast the finish I am going for on the stock quite nicely and at $75 shipped, not too bad.

Next step after making the shroud will be to thread the barrel to mount a moderator directly.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I did not sand this perfectly, im no wood worker, and this is my first time refinishing a stock.

The wood seems like it's just kind of poop to be honest lol, anyways

I did 3 coats diluted with mineral spirits to help the wood take the tru oil better, each time I added more tru oil , now I'm at probably 80% tru oil, 20% mineral spirits. I will now let this coat dry till tomorrow and then add more tru oil and do another, probably 4 or 5 more coats over next 4 or 5 days. Hitting it with 0000 steel wool in between. It won't win any beauty contests but it's a hell of a lot better already.

As you can see the shroud is far longer than the barrel is. No need for that

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I got my shroud 80% done, all that's left is epoxy, drill the muzzle end and tap m4x.07 for the stainless grub screws I'm using to secure the end of the shroud to the OD of the barrel. Torque to 15 inch pounds.

Then I'm going to give her a reseal, assemble the action, finishing touches on the stock and cheek piece.

I am waiting for my barrel threading kit to come in, I am threading the barrel direct myself , will be mounting a TKO 1 inch suppressor that's 6.75 inches long.

Very very happy with how it's coming along , and all this happened in only exactly 1 week, adding a picture of it originally to this post to show the stark contrast.

 

[Struckat]

I am a sucker for Cattle dogs. My two have been gone for some time, but my love for them is just as strong…

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I am a sucker for Cattle dogs. My two have been gone for some time, but my love for them is just as strong…

I try not to think about the fact that mine won't be with me forever, theres something special dogs!!! I too am biased about cattle dogs.

 

[MOhunter]

WOW! That's quite a project and it's turning out beautiful! I wish I had the skills/tools to do porting, trigger work, etc. I could probably finish a stock, but that's about it. I'd have to hire this stuff out. Thanks for sharing.

 

[manabeknives]

Nice Job!
The stock cleaned up really well a lot better than how it was received
Great work on the mechanical stuff
Looking forward to seeing how this goes for you
Love the Blue Healer!! One of my favorites!!

 

[TnCnDn]

So I'm going to be porting the TP , also the portion of the body so its even all the way through, right now it's 5mm. Obviously this will be done in a drill press with Orings removed. I think this alone will allow me to actually drop factory reg pressure and attain my goal. This setup is currently very restrictive.

The barrel on this thing is a lot more rugged setup than I thought. Pretty rad if you ask me.

I also took measurements and checked thread pitch so I could have the external plenum made up for this rifle.

Oh.and of course shop supervisor told me when to call it quits so we could get out early for a hike.

View attachment 552710View attachment 552711View attachment 552712

Handsome shop super

 

[thammer]

A nice CF moderator to bring that barrel to the end of the air tube would be a nice finishing touch. I think that's the only reason for the long factory shroud was for cosmetics and obviously if centered properly it does a decent job at helping with the report when shooting. I like a gun that the barrel with mod and tube/bottle end together. I think it's a nice look. Here's one I've done in the past. No need for a 28" barrel on everything. Nice light, quiet, short pellet guns are fun for sure.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

A nice CF moderator to bring that barrel to the end of the air tube would be a nice finishing touch. I think that's the only reason for the long factory shroud was for cosmetics and obviously if centered properly it does a decent job at helping with the report when shooting. I like a gun that the barrel and tube/bottle end together. I think it's a nice look. Here's one I've done in the past. No need for a 28" barrel on everything. Nice light, quiet, short pellet guns are fun for sure.View attachment 552742

Very nice! and I agree whole heartedly, the plan is to use the TKO 4 section, its 6.75 inches which will put it 1 inch past the air tube. I realize why JTS did what they did with the shroud and realize this is a lot of rifle for the money and very budget friendly, its just a bad design and it really urked me

 

[thammer]

Very nice! and I agree whole heartedly, the plan is to use the TKO 4 section, its 6.75 inches which will put it 1 inch past the air tube. I realize why JTS did what they did with the shroud and realize this is a lot of rifle for the money and very budget friendly, its just a bad design and it really urked me

I fully a agree with that entire statement. I have a few JTS rifles here and can't believe what you get for the money.

 

[Vetmx]

I’m currently fixing a Max for a friend. It developed a leak after about a year. A lot of orings are crusty or on the verge of becoming crusty. That aside, this is a nice gun for the money. Definitely a good investment if a guy wants a project gun. With some budget project guns, even though they shoot well, they still feel cheap when you cycle and shoot them. This gun doesn’t. Its cycling is on par or slightly cleaner than my DRS was.

This is the second time this gun has been at my house. First was for its initial setup. It’s very difficult to not take off the gloves to see what this gun is capable of. But I know the owners purpose for it and in stock form, it’s been getting the job done. So I’ll refrain. It is nice to see people tweaking on this platform though.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I’m currently fixing a Max for a friend. It developed a leak after about a year. A lot of orings are crusty or on the verge of becoming crusty. That aside, this is a nice gun for the money. Definitely a good investment if a guy wants a project gun. With some budget project guns, even though they shoot well, they still feel cheap when you cycle and shoot them. This gun doesn’t. Its cycling is on par or slightly cleaner than my DRS was.

This is the second time this gun has been at my house. First was for its initial setup. It’s very difficult to not take off the gloves to see what this gun is capable of. But I know the owners purpose for it and in stock form, it’s been getting the job done. So I’ll refrain. It is nice to see people tweaking on this platform though.

I agree with every bit of that statement, I contemplated buying a HUMA regulator for it but both the regulator in this rifle and the one in my old .25 are/were insanely consistent.

I agree with the cocking on the rifle too, its surprisingly smooth, the polish work my buddy did on this trigger has it feeling good too, its no match grade but its good. I think a lot has to do with the fact that everything is metal or wood, even the mags being all metal, just makes you feel like you got a lot for your money.

This rifle did leak as well , at the same time I did the arca rail install I resealed it. I think JTS uses some really, really crappy orings on these. Luckily Captain Oring makes some quality kits.

 

[RobBonnell89]

Nice work! Thanks for sharing. I think working on airguns is just as fun as shooting. I need to start thinking of my next project. Let us know how it shoots.

Rob

 

[Vetmx]

Here is one of the orings on his valve house. The other oring was in perfect shape. While disassembling this gun, I was surprised to see how well thought out it was built.