Taipan Taipan Veteran 1 issue with magazine? EDIT: It's not the magazine

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MushroomPsyche

MushroomPsyche

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Jul 18, 2020
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Has anyone had issues before with a Taipan Veteran magazine during break-in period?

I was re-zeroing my Taipan Veteran 1 standard in .25 caliber earlier tonight. The gun wouldn't group with the magazine's worth of pellets that I shot. At least an inch at 33 meters.

The gun is still relatively new. According to my logs, only 110 shots so far. I pulled a few patches through the barrel when I first received it a few months ago.

I was also using the other magazine that is essentially still new because the gun comes with 2 magazines and I have only used the other one. I noticed that the rounds were a tad bit harder to chamber compared to the other magazine.

I pulled some patches through the barrel until it was clear. I shot another magazine's worth of pellets and it was grouping again. This time though, I was using the other magazine that I normally use.

Has anyone experienced this before? I do feel that the Veteran magazines do require some breaking in as the previous Veteran's I've owned all became much smoother with time in regards to the magazine and breach interaction. I never had a magazine though that didn't shoot well while it was still breaking in. What I'm thinking is happening is that since the magazine is still new, the indexing grooves machined on to it are still very tight. This might be causing some slight misalignment with the gun's indexing mechanism which causes the magazine's holes to not perfectly align with the breach opening.
 
The Veteran magazine should require no break in. It is essentially a revolving single shot tray, no springs. I've never seen an increase in accuracy by using the single shot tray. The mag's advance is mechanically actuated and utilizes the mag's machining contour. Since your other mag works fine, my guess is that there is a machining error that is affecting the proper advance of the magazine.
 
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When I got my .25 Compact a couple years ago, it was used, but actually like new, came with three mags and they all worked very well. So your issue is unusual. An inch groups at 33 yds is not good. That rifle is capable of sub moa groups at 50-100 yds.
Have you chronied the pellets? My Compact likes 25 grains at 865 fps. A buddy of mine had your rifle and used 33 grain pellets and could stack pellets at 50 yds. I chronied his rifle and I remember his at 835 fps
Keep shooting it and hopefully it will tighten up🙏
Keep us posted
 
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Post a CLOSEUP picture of the indexing side of the suspected mag and let me examine it. The Veterans pellet probe completes the indexing cycle....I've been shooting Vets since "18 and have great respect for the platform including the mag system...I'm a retired machinist and made parts for 40 years....post a pix of the mag...My guess is there's something else going on...I was critical of my Steyr Pro X mags surface finish in the charge holes...Compair this finish to a Vet mag charge hole finish...
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RM100GUY said:
Post a CLOSEUP picture of the indexing side of the suspected mag and let me examine it. The Veterans pellet probe completes the indexing cycle....I've been shooting Vets since "18 and have great respect for the platform including the mag system...I'm a retired machinist and made parts for 40 years....post a pix of the mag...My guess is there's something else going on...I was critical of my Steyr Pro X mags surface finish in the charge holes...Compair this finish to a Vet mag charge hole finish...View attachment 535422
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I will try to take a photo later. In terms of bedding in, there definitely is a break-in between the interaction of the magazine and the gun's indexer. As an example, I had my Veteran Long .22 for 4 years before I sold it. With that gun, I can quickly put the magazine in the beach and instantly slide the magazine lock forward without thinking about it. When I received my .22 Standard a few months ago, this was not the case. It took quite a bit of fiddling and repositioning to get the magazine lock to slide forward. Now, after more than 300 shots, I can drop the magazine in the breach and slide the magazine lock forward with ease just like with the other gun.

This bedding in is evident in the shiny spots that develop on the magazine's indexing grooves.

I'm currently on this break-in stage with the .25 Standard. It only has around 100 shots that were all practically from one magazine.

I know that it shouldn't affect the indexing once the magazine is locked into place. The reason why I even thought it to begin with was because I thought some of the rounds felt rougher than usual going into the chamber when I used the brand new magazine. Might also be deformed pellet skirts. I will check that later as well.

Thank you for the suggestions everyone! 😊
 
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I've been playing with the gun this morning and one thing I notice is that the gun is noticeably hold sensitive. I've noticed the hold sensitivity with the two .22 Veteran's I've had, but at only around 30 FPE it typically does not affect my shots within, say, 40 meters. With the .25 though, tuned at 53 FPE, it has quite a bit more recoil compared to the .22 guns.

I typically shoot with the bipod on a barstool or a windowsill. I have my offhand, left hand, supporting the rear weight of the rifle. Because of this, I don't always have a consistent pressure on the buttstock against my shoulder. I have the buttstock length of pull adjusted quite short. What I notice is that the gun is so MUCH more consistent when I have a considerable shoulder pressure against the buttstock. I adjusted the buttstock about a centimeter back to make it more comfortable to achieve this. I will pay closer attention to this from now on. I have actually already noticed this characteristic a few weeks ago but I just wasn't too mindful about it. When I was shooting last night, I wasn't really thinking about this aspect which might be contributing to the issue I experienced.

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I’ve never had a single issue with any of the Veterans I’ve dealt with, 7 in all, especially the mags. I have, however run across a Cricket mag that was not machined correctly and was too tight. If I were you I’d contact Taipan, they have excellent customer service and I’m sure they will rectify the problem.

info@taipan-airguns.com
 
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scubajeeper said:
I’ve never had a single issue with any of the Veterans I’ve dealt with, 7 in all, especially the mags. I have, however run across a Cricket mag that was not machined correctly and was too tight. If I were you I’d contact Taipan, they have excellent customer service and I’m sure they will rectify the problem.

info@taipan-airguns.com
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Yes, I'm still learning about this new gun and the magazine might not be the issue after all. I've had the .22 Long for four and a half years and I got really comfortable with it. I thought this gun being the same platform, only shorter overall length and bigger caliber, will act exactly the same. It obviously doesn't.
 
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It's been a few days now and I just wanted to update. My issue was definitely the way I held the gun. I haven't done groups again yet but I haven't missed a squirrel since I started pulling the gun in tight to my shoulder when I shoot. What initially prompted this inquiry was when I went after a squirrel at around 28 meters. I've taken MANY at this distance and I'm very familiar with it. Just not with this gun yet. That time, it took 3 shots to get the kill because the first 2 were wounding shots. I don't like that and I'm very critical with myself and I always try my best to find out what is wrong when that happens. That is when I checked my zero and found I couldn't get it to group. I now know why and now the gun is laser accurate with the JSB King Heavy.
 
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MushroomPsyche said:
It's been a few days now and I just wanted to update. My issue was definitely the way I held the gun. I haven't done groups again yet but I haven't missed a squirrel since I started pulling the gun in tight to my shoulder when I shoot. What initially prompted this inquiry was when I went after a squirrel at around 28 meters. I've taken MANY at this distance and I'm very familiar with it. Just not with this gun yet. That time, it took 3 shots to get the kill because the first 2 were wounding shots. I don't like that and I'm very critical with myself and I always try my best to find out what is wrong when that happens. That is when I checked my zero and found I couldn't get it to group. I now know why and now the gun is laser accurate with the JSB King Heavy.
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It's curious that your issue was when using one specific magazine. Maybe it was just coincidence, and I hope you've found your problem. Obviously, your hold is not going to affect magazine operation, at least in this rifle which has about the most bullet-proof mag out there.
 
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elh0102 said:
It's curious that your issue was when using one specific magazine. Maybe it was just coincidence, and I hope you've found your problem. Obviously, your hold is not going to affect magazine operation, at least in this rifle which has about the most bullet-proof mag out there.
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Yes, it might have been pure coincidence. I didn't shoot magazine after magazine so my sample size was quite small.

Also, I want to say that when I shoot paper, whenever I anticipate that I'll be shooting more than 5 shots, I always wear hearing protection because my ears starts to ring after 10 shots shooting indoors out the window. When I wear hearing protection, I find that it really interferes with my cheek weld on the gun, which also affects how I shoulder the gun. I believe this also affected the shots big time that night in question when I was checking zero and trying to get the rifle to group.
 
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Just an update as I continually learn to shoot this gun. At 44 FPE with the 33.95gr pellets, this .25 caliber gun is definitely much harder to shoot than the same platform in .22 caliber at 30 FPE with the 15.89gr pellets. As I said in the past, I never even had to think about hold before with the .22 caliber gun,... at least not at the distances I shoot at; within 40 meters. However, the .25 likes to be held quite firmly against the shoulder. I usually shoot seated with the front of the gun on a tripod. I was initially shooting with my shooting elbow supported but I did away with that. My thinking is I want to practice as close to how I'm usually shooting at pests... so just a tripod while seated.

As I said above, I find the gun really likes to be held quite firm against the shoulder. I use my off hand placed inside the buttstock hole that connects the pistol grip to the back of the stock and pull it firmly towards my shoulders. I've also tried gripping the pistol grip very firmly but I get mixed results with that. It seems like I get more consistency when I place my thumb on the same side as my other fingers (similar to a thumbs up grip on a traditional stock). I don't typically like shooting with my thumb like that but this forces me to really relax my shooting hand and not grip the pistol grip more than necessary to squeeze the trigger. Of course, follow-through is quite important as well.

What is obvious is that the rifle doesn't like a loose artillery hold like what has been taught with spring airguns. When I let the gun recoil freely, the recoil is much more perceptible to me as the rifle moves back. With a loose hold though, there is no consistency. It's almost impossible to keep the crosshairs on the target during follow-through. The crosshairs seem to fall in random directions, within half a mil of the bullseye, during follow-through if I let the gun recoil freely.

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