N/A Red Panda

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igolfat8 said:
Well, I shot the Red Panda yesterday and today with a little over 1,000 pellets down the pipe. Here are my initial observations:

- Fit and finish is extraordinarily good, easily on par with FX, AAA, AA, Daystate and other premium brands.
- It’s heavy, extremely heavy but weight is your friend on the bench.
- There is no doubt It’s a purpose built BR rifle for sure.
- If the safety is engaged, you can pull the cocking lever back but it won’t engage the hammer.
- Cocking is extremely smooth and quite easy for a .30 cal. Easily done with one finger.
- It can be single loaded as the mag well is wide open. However, the rear edge is quite sharp and my thumb is quite sore and red from single loading.
- Some barrels prefer to shoot lubed pellets but this one likes the pellets straight from the tin.
- The rear air tank makes a good bag rider if you are so inclined to shoot from a bag?
- The rifle’s gages are set up for a right hand shooter which is appreciated being a righty.
- The Foster fill fitting is on the rear right side. I like to shoot tethered and would prefer it either on the left side or in another location that doesn’t interfere with my shooting hand.
- This is my first experience with an Arca Swiss rail. I had to order an adapter for my AccuTac bipod. However, I found it very easy to slide the bipod to any position along the rail’s full length. I like it.
- The gun, in its present tune is an air hog. I only got two mags before the pressure dropped from 4100 to 3000 psi.

Now for the Range report… Yesterday I used my FX pocket crony and the speeds made no sense to me. The first shots were 875 and then the speeds fell quickly. The “shooting” reg was set to 2150-ish and the 1st reg was set to 2900 and the main air tank was at 4100. All gauges are in PSI but it’s stamped on the side to fill to 300 BAR? The HS was set to the middle position as was the transfer port. There is no manual included with the rifle so I deferred to the few YouTube videos I could find on tuning.

I left the reg alone and played with the HS adjuster but again the speeds made no sense as it would go up and down. For example one 70 shot string had an extreme spread of 243 FPS, yes you read that correctly, 243 spread with a 38 standard deviation! I got sooooo frustrated and headed home thinking the FX Crony was the tool that couldn’t be trusted. Today I returned to the range with my Digital Pro Crono and used it in conjunction with my FX and lo and behold they agreed with one another, as I had verified in last range trips. Uh oh 😰 this is not good. I decided to put the HS setting back to factory setting in the middle and then started adjusting the transfer port and finally I was able to quickly move the velocity up or down with VERY little adjustment off of factory center.

Бях настроен за пелети JSB 50 и исках да ги покача между 920 - 940 и можех лесно да го направя с регулатора на порта за прехвърляне. След като скоростите бяха 925-930, започнах да пробивам неравна дупка при 100, но само след няколко изстрела скоростта бързо спадна. Дълга история и много $$$ пелети, по-късно открих, че настройката на трансферния порт не се задържа. Виждах, че регулаторът ще се премести с една или две градуировки, въпреки че държах фиксиращата гайка от дясната страна толкова стегната, колкото пръстите ми можеха да я завъртят, без да използвам инструмент. Не можех да снимам пълен маг без скоростта да падне, така че не можех да проверя дали настройката е в хармония. Отново още един разочароващ ден и загуба на стотици $$$ пелети $$$.

Вярвам, че пушката има МНОГО потенциал, така че не четете твърде много негативизъм в първоначалния ми преглед. След като се прибрах вкъщи, се обадих на Donny FL и те предложиха да добавите МЪЛКА капка BLUE LocTite към резбите на заключващата гайка. Премахнах гайката, всъщност това е шпилка с външна резба с капачка на главата на палеца, почистих резбите и добавих МАЛКА капка BLUE LocTite и е обратно в сейфа за настройка. Ще мине една седмица, преди да мога да се върна отново към тестването, така че ще докладвам следващата седмица. Междувременно ето мишени, които стрелях днес на 100Y. Когато скоростта беше висока и се задържаше, тогава успях да заснема единична накъсана дупка с размер под стотинка. НО, когато настройката на трансферния порт се подхлъзна и скоростта падна, групите бързо се отвориха. Не публикувам избрани групи, точно както мишените са простреляни от стрелец на Joe Average.

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Много странни мишени, някои са много стегнати , а други супер отворени. Тези мишени с различни настройки ли са или с еднакви ???
 
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igolfat8 said:
Well, I shot the Red Panda yesterday and today with a little over 1,000 pellets down the pipe. Here are my initial observations:

- Fit and finish is extraordinarily good, easily on par with FX, AAA, AA, Daystate and other premium brands.
- It’s heavy, extremely heavy but weight is your friend on the bench.
- There is no doubt It’s a purpose built BR rifle for sure.
- If the safety is engaged, you can pull the cocking lever back but it won’t engage the hammer.
- Cocking is extremely smooth and quite easy for a .30 cal. Easily done with one finger.
- It can be single loaded as the mag well is wide open. However, the rear edge is quite sharp and my thumb is quite sore and red from single loading.
- Some barrels prefer to shoot lubed pellets but this one likes the pellets straight from the tin.
- The rear air tank makes a good bag rider if you are so inclined to shoot from a bag?
- The rifle’s gages are set up for a right hand shooter which is appreciated being a righty.
- The Foster fill fitting is on the rear right side. I like to shoot tethered and would prefer it either on the left side or in another location that doesn’t interfere with my shooting hand.
- This is my first experience with an Arca Swiss rail. I had to order an adapter for my AccuTac bipod. However, I found it very easy to slide the bipod to any position along the rail’s full length. I like it.
- The gun, in its present tune is an air hog. I only got two mags before the pressure dropped from 4100 to 3000 psi.

Now for the Range report… Yesterday I used my FX pocket crony and the speeds made no sense to me. The first shots were 875 and then the speeds fell quickly. The “shooting” reg was set to 2150-ish and the 1st reg was set to 2900 and the main air tank was at 4100. All gauges are in PSI but it’s stamped on the side to fill to 300 BAR? The HS was set to the middle position as was the transfer port. There is no manual included with the rifle so I deferred to the few YouTube videos I could find on tuning.

I left the reg alone and played with the HS adjuster but again the speeds made no sense as it would go up and down. For example one 70 shot string had an extreme spread of 243 FPS, yes you read that correctly, 243 spread with a 38 standard deviation! I got sooooo frustrated and headed home thinking the FX Crony was the tool that couldn’t be trusted. Today I returned to the range with my Digital Pro Crono and used it in conjunction with my FX and lo and behold they agreed with one another, as I had verified in last range trips. Uh oh 😰 this is not good. I decided to put the HS setting back to factory setting in the middle and then started adjusting the transfer port and finally I was able to quickly move the velocity up or down with VERY little adjustment off of factory center.

I was tuning for JSB 50 grain pellets and wanted to get them up between 920 - 940 and could easily do that with the transfer port adjuster. Once the speeds were at 925-930 I started drilling a ragged hole at 100 but after just a few shots the velocity rapidly dropped. Long story and lots of $$$ pellets later I discovered the transfer port setting was not holding. I could see the adjuster would move one or two graduations even though I had the locking nut on the right side as tight as my fingers could turn it, without using a tool. I couldn’t shoot a full mag without the speed falling off so I couldn’t verify the tuning was in harmony. Again another frustrating day and a loss of hundreds of $$$ pellets $$$.

I believe the rifle has a LOT of potential so don’t read too much negativity into my initial review. After I got home I made a call to Donny FL and they suggested adding a TINY drop of BLUE LocTite to the threads of the locking nut. I removed the nut, well actually it is a male threaded stud with a thumb head cap, cleaned the threads and added a SMALL drop of BLUE LocTite and it’s back in the safe to set up. It’s going to be a week before I can get back to testing again so I will report back next week. In the interim here are targets I shot today at 100Y. When the speed was up and holding, that is when I was able to shoot a single under dime sized ragged hole. BUT, when the transfer port adjustment slipped and the velocity dropped off the groups quickly opened up. I’m not posting cherry picked groups, just as the targets were shot by a Joe Average shooter.

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Now here is some real life data ive been wanting to see. Keeps up posted
 
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igolfat8 said:
Well, I shot the Red Panda yesterday and today with a little over 1,000 pellets down the pipe. Here are my initial observations:

- Fit and finish is extraordinarily good, easily on par with FX, AAA, AA, Daystate and other premium brands.
- It’s heavy, extremely heavy but weight is your friend on the bench.
- There is no doubt It’s a purpose built BR rifle for sure.
- If the safety is engaged, you can pull the cocking lever back but it won’t engage the hammer.
- Cocking is extremely smooth and quite easy for a .30 cal. Easily done with one finger.
- It can be single loaded as the mag well is wide open. However, the rear edge is quite sharp and my thumb is quite sore and red from single loading.
- Some barrels prefer to shoot lubed pellets but this one likes the pellets straight from the tin.
- The rear air tank makes a good bag rider if you are so inclined to shoot from a bag?
- The rifle’s gages are set up for a right hand shooter which is appreciated being a righty.
- The Foster fill fitting is on the rear right side. I like to shoot tethered and would prefer it either on the left side or in another location that doesn’t interfere with my shooting hand.
- This is my first experience with an Arca Swiss rail. I had to order an adapter for my AccuTac bipod. However, I found it very easy to slide the bipod to any position along the rail’s full length. I like it.
- The gun, in its present tune is an air hog. I only got two mags before the pressure dropped from 4100 to 3000 psi.

Now for the Range report… Yesterday I used my FX pocket crony and the speeds made no sense to me. The first shots were 875 and then the speeds fell quickly. The “shooting” reg was set to 2150-ish and the 1st reg was set to 2900 and the main air tank was at 4100. All gauges are in PSI but it’s stamped on the side to fill to 300 BAR? The HS was set to the middle position as was the transfer port. There is no manual included with the rifle so I deferred to the few YouTube videos I could find on tuning.

I left the reg alone and played with the HS adjuster but again the speeds made no sense as it would go up and down. For example one 70 shot string had an extreme spread of 243 FPS, yes you read that correctly, 243 spread with a 38 standard deviation! I got sooooo frustrated and headed home thinking the FX Crony was the tool that couldn’t be trusted. Today I returned to the range with my Digital Pro Crono and used it in conjunction with my FX and lo and behold they agreed with one another, as I had verified in last range trips. Uh oh 😰 this is not good. I decided to put the HS setting back to factory setting in the middle and then started adjusting the transfer port and finally I was able to quickly move the velocity up or down with VERY little adjustment off of factory center.

I was tuning for JSB 50 grain pellets and wanted to get them up between 920 - 940 and could easily do that with the transfer port adjuster. Once the speeds were at 925-930 I started drilling a ragged hole at 100 but after just a few shots the velocity rapidly dropped. Long story and lots of $$$ pellets later I discovered the transfer port setting was not holding. I could see the adjuster would move one or two graduations even though I had the locking nut on the right side as tight as my fingers could turn it, without using a tool. I couldn’t shoot a full mag without the speed falling off so I couldn’t verify the tuning was in harmony. Again another frustrating day and a loss of hundreds of $$$ pellets $$$.

I believe the rifle has a LOT of potential so don’t read too much negativity into my initial review. After I got home I made a call to Donny FL and they suggested adding a TINY drop of BLUE LocTite to the threads of the locking nut. I removed the nut, well actually it is a male threaded stud with a thumb head cap, cleaned the threads and added a SMALL drop of BLUE LocTite and it’s back in the safe to set up. It’s going to be a week before I can get back to testing again so I will report back next week. In the interim here are targets I shot today at 100Y. When the speed was up and holding, that is when I was able to shoot a single under dime sized ragged hole. BUT, when the transfer port adjustment slipped and the velocity dropped off the groups quickly opened up. I’m not posting cherry picked groups, just as the targets were shot by a Joe Average shooter.

View attachment 488234View attachment 488235View attachment 488233View attachment 488232
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Wow ..what an ordeal
a few flashes of brilliance with prolonged periods of bewilderment
glad you had some better results towards the end..but getting there...geez!
i thought they were supposed to be tuned from the box??
Good luck on tuning that beast..i look forward to your progress
 
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Tim, great overview! Looks like once adjustments are set and holding, the gun will shoot exceptionally well! If it has a balance valve then that is the reason to keep the transfer port and or HS adjustments to a minmum and slightly adjust the regulator for velocities as balance valves open a little too easily. Wonderful groups when holding settings 👍
 
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Spinach said:
Basically he is saying, strange groups, some good, some bad.
Are all the groups shot with the same settings?
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No because the transfer port would not hold its position (or set velocity) for more the 3-5 shots before it would close down and lower the velocity significantly and that is when the groups would open up.
 
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Ranchibi said:
Tim, great overview! Looks like once adjustments are set and holding, the gun will shoot exceptionally well! If it has a balance valve then that is the reason to keep the transfer port and or HS adjustments to a minmum and slightly adjust the regulator for velocities as balance valves open a little too easily. Wonderful groups when holding settings 👍
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Thx Randal. I am hopeful the LocTite will do its job but I can’t go back to practicing before next Monday to verify that mod.
 
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manabeknives said:
Wow ..what an ordeal
a few flashes of brilliance with prolonged periods of bewilderment
glad you had some better results towards the end..but getting there...geez!
i thought they were supposed to be tuned from the box??
Good luck on tuning that beast..i look forward to your progress
Click to expand...
I was told by the dealer that it would shoot dime sized groups as delivered. Not so much … yet.
 
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ThE PuNiShEr said:
I say that some of the targets you have uploaded are very nice but others are much more open. And I ask, do you know why this is so, do you have any idea why the differences in the grouping of the shots are so big?
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Yes. the size of the groups opened up when the transfer port setting slipped and when that happens the velocity drops significantly and effects the group size. As long as the speed is fast enough then the group size shrank to one small hole.
 
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rodjava said:
I can't find the Mcar anymore online. Bigairgun.com and Bintacllc.con had the Mcar listed for $3500/$3000 presale for the 45 cal with 38 inch barrel. Now nothing. Perhaps Bintac is reconsidering lowering the price for their experimental big bore?
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Anyone know whaat happened to this release.. I also saw it and the it disappeared.. Kinda was curious on specs, etc.

Mike
 
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CanMike said:
Anyone know whaat happened to this release.. I also saw it and the it disappeared.. Kinda was curious on specs, etc.

Mike
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BinTac mentioned that it's likely to see the Mcar at EBR 2024. But not sure if someone will compete with or to introduce it to the market. In any case, hopefully it will be priced aprox $2500 or less and I would consider buying it.
 
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