Tuning a Brocock Sniper HR .177 for Competitive Field Target Shooting

[a66yem]

Howdy. I'm a green shooter...just started shooting at the Air Gunner's of Arizona competitions this summer using my step-mom's USFT. Surprisingly, I've done really well. (...First in the Freestyle Division July and August and perfect scores in the Sunday "unofficial" matches. Pretty exciting...and unexpected!) I just got a Brocock Sniper HR .177 of my own (Thanks AOA!!!). ...The Arizona State shoot is next weekend and I'm looking to get it tuned and working like a well-oiled-machine before then. I'm new to all this; open to suggestions!

Top five take-aways right now: 

1. The comfort of the rifle is what drew me to it. I like it's weight; not too heavy or too light. Also the concave butt-end is a plus vs the AR style of some of the other rifles in the Brocock line.

2. The amount of shots you can get between air fills are amazing! I kept track of the pellet count over the last few days and got close to 170+ shots before it went off reg. (checked the speed/power yesterday with a friend's chrono and power is actually running hot with QYS and JSB Heavys; turned it down a smidge.)

3. The trigger needed some major work out-of-the-box. My dad and I have been working on it, including trimming the springs, and have seen a lot of improvement. But it still needs more work; it sounds like I can get some more progress by polishing the SEER components and trying Moly lube?

4. I've tested three different pellet types, QYS, JSB Heavy, JSB Monsters. It seems to love the QYSs! ...except in the crazy wind when the Monsters grouped best at 50 yards.

5. Overall pretty happy with it!

(Below is my 10 shot group at 30 yards...keep in mind there was super gusty wind! Inner circle approximately 3/8"-1/2")

 

[steve123]

Welcome to Airgun Nation.

Ha, I clicked this thread to see if there was any info I could glean on a Sniper HR to share with you. Low and behold I recognize that gear!

Dad here, I'm very proud of you girl, that's some great shooting you've done! 

The orange dot, I'd say it was 12-15 mph winds, switching back and forth, horrible conditions to be shooting an air rifle.

You're a natural, keep up the hard work, it's only uphill from here.

Love yuh.

 

[DrPutz]

Your group is awesome!

The biggest problem with the Brocock's is their trigger. They are really only a single stage with a bunch a free creep. You can get it adjusted very light, but it can self-fire on you. In a true two stage trigger, the first stage moves the sear to the breaking point, then the second tips it over. So watch out for getting it too close. I had some do this on me when I had them greased and the temperature dropped. I am working on a drop-in replacement trigger that will give a true two stage. More to come on this project later in the fall. I got a Bantam HP in 25 that just had too stiff of a trigger.

I did polish the sears and it helped - just be careful not to change the angle. Also, once polished, burnish the edge on leather so the edge is not too sharp and cut into the sear. Stay away from grease, just light oil. Grease will make the trigger temperature dependent.

The other thing to look out for is the "slingshot" hammer. In most of the previous models, the hammer spring and the slingshot was set too heavy and did not work properly. Based on your shot count, it seems to be working well for you. I have a post from earlier this year that has my tuning efforts. 

They are very accurate guns and very good balance. I am setting one up for my wife after my Dreamline problems arose - it is set at 8 oz. It would be nice to find a picatinny to hamster mount for Open Class - yet another project.

Dan

 

[a66yem]

Hi Dan, I wrote a reply yesterday and thought it went through but today realized it had not. Sorry about that! Lets try this again: Thanks for the great feedback and advice; Ill definitly put it to good use and welcome anything else you've found! As an additional update, today a family friend and expert helped me with my trigger. Works great now! He also adjusted the hammer spring so that it shoots at a lower speed and did some barrel work. Everything accounted for my groups have really tightened up at 50 yards. Looking forward to sorting some pellets for a new round of testing tomorrow.

 

[Gear_Junkie]

Your group is awesome!

The biggest problem with the Brocock's is their trigger. They are really only a single stage with a bunch a free creep. You can get it adjusted very light, but it can self-fire on you. In a true two stage trigger, the first stage moves the sear to the breaking point, then the second tips it over. So watch out for getting it too close. I had some do this on me when I had them greased and the temperature dropped. I am working on a drop-in replacement trigger that will give a true two stage. More to come on this project later in the fall. I got a Bantam HP in 25 that just had too stiff of a trigger.

I did polish the sears and it helped - just be careful not to change the angle. Also, once polished, burnish the edge on leather so the edge is not too sharp and cut into the sear. Stay away from grease, just light oil. Grease will make the trigger temperature dependent.

The other thing to look out for is the "slingshot" hammer. In most of the previous models, the hammer spring and the slingshot was set too heavy and did not work properly. Based on your shot count, it seems to be working well for you. I have a post from earlier this year that has my tuning efforts. 

They are very accurate guns and very good balance. I am setting one up for my wife after my Dreamline problems arose - it is set at 8 oz. It would be nice to find a picatinny to hamster mount for Open Class - yet another project.

Dan

Dan,

Do you have any updates on the 2-stage trigger mod? Just curious...

Thanks.