Air Arms new to me, Air Arms Pro Target

[terry mc]

So I got it out today.
I still need to change the fill valve to a foster style but have that on order.
I have not shot it because the old fill valve is leaky but I had a temp solution which is use a foster fitting without a check valve and use my tank with the hose tethered to the gun but close the tank valve therefore acting as a check valve.
I have also mounted up my Hawke 10-50x60 ED on it. Much better scope.

Parts are on order for the foster fill valve, but it was nice to shoot it even though it was 116 out there and I was in full sun.

I did mostly some testing and see the shot count and look at the ES for he gun.

But did do a little accuracy testing as well.
Hard to do when the gun is only set for 12 ft lbs and the wind was gusting at 11mph.
But I think all said this is going to be a fine gun for the collection.
Hard to believe this is a 25-26 year old gun.

A couple 5 shot groups

 

[terry mc]

so for those of you that have owned this gun.
did all of you stick with a 12 ft lb set up or did any of you push to 20 ft lbs.

I ask because for bench rest competition It is too heavy for light varmint, and heavy varmint is 20 ft lbs.
But I have found cranking up the power is not always the best solution as it can create harmonics and decrease accuracy in some guns.

 

[BSJ]

18 ft/lb was the max mine would make after Joe Korick did his tuning.

 

[terry mc]

Good to know what pellets did yours find that it liked.
with 18 ft lbs were you shooting 10.6's or using 8.44?

 

[BSJ]

CPH then Barracuda Match 10.6.

 

[terry mc]

Good to know i have some Barracuda match 10.6
So i will see how they perform.

Today was all with JSB 8.44 gr. so it is good to here what others have experienced.
I have not shot a lot of 177, most of my shooting has been .22 or .30 in the past.
So it is a learning experience for what works and what does not.

I will say the action and the trigger are so nice on this gun.
I thought the switch to open and pull back push forward would take a little adjusting over a side lever PCP.
But in minutes it felt completely natural.

 

[BSJ]

Yeah. Always really loved the loading process.

One last peek at the breach to confirm you closed the bolt saves a 'clunk, no shot' oopsie.

 

[terry mc]

Yeah I have already become accustom to looking one last time.

So do you still take yours out.
I know you said you still have yours.

 

[BSJ]

Rarely. I mostly do bipod, rear bag .22 AA S5xx in a chassis or bullpup stock now. Tiny .177s are less fun for my fingers...

 

[terry mc]

I can understand that.
They are finicky to get in there.

 

[terry mc]

Thank you for all the information.
I have some 10.6 H&N as well as the 8.44 jsb and I have gone ahead and ordered some JTS 10.4 as well since I use those in 18.1 for .22 in my 25 meter gun to good effect.

 

[terry mc]

Yeah. Always really loved the loading process.

One last peek at the breach to confirm you closed the bolt saves a 'clunk, no shot' oopsie.

You had to go and Jinx it.
Did some more shooting tonight and thought I got the breech closed and BAM! all kinds of air blowing into my face as the bolt blew back.
Guess I will triple check from now on. LOL

 

[terry mc]

So got a new tube for mine today.
I got the 288cc blued tube from pyramid.
Gorgeous bluing.
Had my fill valve show up early and the post office did not ring the doorbell so they left notice for me to pick it up monday. Arggh.
Otherwise I would be shooting it tonight.
Got the Huma moved over to the new cylinder, and all reinstalled all I need now is the fill valve and I can start dialing this in again.

I will post up some pictures in a little bit.

 

[terry mc]

Gotta love the bluing from AA
The new cylinder is 4" longer than the old one and with the fill valve should only be a couple inches shorter than the
barrel shroud.

 

[terry mc]

So got the foster fill valve today.
Man this gun came out nice!
I just need to do something to the shroud to make it look as nice as the rest of the gun.

 

[terry mc]

So got it filled and after about 20 mins of letting the steel cylinder cool. (they do get hot filling from 0 bar to 200 bar even when filling slowly)

It was time to shoot and see if it was all worth it.
I shot a 3 shot group and zeroed the scope and shot this on the first try. Ignore the shots tot he side that was a friend that was over shooting this weekend shooting with my Crown.

Pleased with what it was doing on the first 4 shot since installing the cylinder and fill valve, I thought lets try a group and see if we can get some serious grouping.

Before I share that I want to say it is monsoon season in Phoenix and while we do not have any storms tonight we do have some mild gusting winds.

 

[terry mc]

Yeah this gun was worth all the wait and the guessing while it was away getting resealed.
This is 30 shots with the new JTS .177 8,.7 gr pellets straight from the tin.

I think this will work.
Should get even better with some practice and calmer wind conditions.
This is at 22 yards.

Ignore the shots above and to the right, The middle sighter is the one that has 30 shots in there other than 1 flyer
they would all likely be 10 ring shots. Not bad for the first real outing!!

 

[terry mc]

So got to shoot a little tonight.
I have room for a 22 yard range in the backyard.
Which is great therapy,
come home grab a cold beverage and sit behind the scope and the stress from the day is gone.
This is the thing I love most about airguns, no loading up my equipment and heading to a range (except for competitions)

So I got my FX pocket chrono out and did a little testing and shoot my first card with this gun.
I will say I am pleased.
With 8.7 JTS, she is shooting right at 806 fps average for a 12.6 ft lb level.
A half turn of the hammer and she is under 12.

So how did she do??
Fantastic!
using plugging for 22 cal. it worked out to a 248 9X out of 250 possible.

This is with 8mph winds gusting like last night.

Chrono results also very encouraging ES of 9 fps, and SD of 2.8.

Also shot about 75 shots tonight overall (not all were done on the chrono) and air dropped from 200 bar down to 150.
So should be in the 120-130 shot count range for a fill.


Now need to get some practice and improve on this card.
The gun can do 250 cards, I am sure of that, I just need to readjust from shooting my Crown at 33 ft lbs. to shooting this at 38% of the energy.
The wind can definitely move these pellets around more.

 

[terry mc]

For those that do not know.
Plugging is making your shot hole the size of a 22 cal hole.
The Orion scoring system is based on this for 25 meter competition.

2 of my shots were on the 9 ring and missed the 10 by a small amount but they are 177 cal and when you enlarge them to 22 they easily were 10 rings shots.

Wanted to clarify that before someone calls BS on the declared score.

 

[BSJ]

What rest and rear bag are you using?