Umarex Umarex Zelos
- Thread starter zerochance
- Start date
Head scratchers keep it interesting. In hindsight I think the best part of airgunning is the constant trouble shooting, brainstorm sessions, and the satisfaction of seeing your trial and errors pay off, your fixes.work and all the effort and screaming swear words and blasphemies, having to angrily get on hands and knees to find a 3mm screw or spring that somehow shot across the room only to find them and finish the work and all of a sudden the velocity spikes and dips level out, the wild spirograph groups turning into tight ragged holes... If everything is perfect all the time, it gets boring as poop
Head scratchers in the field. Damned frustrating but something to share to commiserate and astound.
I had one this Sunday. Shot a dove in the back of the head... Gruesome Kennedy shot. Entire back of the skull to the beak GONE. Still pecking and shuffling about. Finally about 12 seconds later just teeters over and stops. Talk about a head scratcher.
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Well, now that I ordered some NSA slugs... to shoot slugs or continue shooting JSB Hades? lol
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No brain in there....
It's nice to figure out what your gun can do with both. I love shooting 30grain.250 zan and hn slugs. Both have great accuracy. If I'm shooting inside of 120.. 34gr mk2s are my go to. They were good out of my superior, exponentially better out of the 1:16. 34gr at 850-855 just go where you tell them... And they don't require cleanings every 75-80, shots. If you need energy at distance.. slugs. If you're birding or shooting small game inside 100-120 pellets.
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QC on the Zelos is horrible. I got my Zelos replaced again. My side lever started rubbing/grinding on something and eventually required a good amount of effort to push the lever forward. This new Zelos, someone cross thread 1 screw on each side that holds the buttstock. I just unscrewed the crossed thread screws and left it off. I cleaned the barrel, adjusted the first stage trigger, and trigger weight to my liking.
I shot a few 5 shot groups and it seems the Zelos really likes the .25 JTS 25.39gr (West group & South West group) at 920fps and the .25 H&N Barracuda Hunters 27.47gr (North East group) at 850fps. They are pellet on pellet at 15 yards. I tried the .25 JSB Exact King Heavy MKII (North group) at 800fps and the .25 JSB Exact King Heavy (South Group) at 800fps and both had 1 flyer above the group. JSB Hades North West. JSB Exact 25.39gr is east. Looks like I'll be getting more JST DC and H&N BH.
I shot a few 5 shot groups and it seems the Zelos really likes the .25 JTS 25.39gr (West group & South West group) at 920fps and the .25 H&N Barracuda Hunters 27.47gr (North East group) at 850fps. They are pellet on pellet at 15 yards. I tried the .25 JSB Exact King Heavy MKII (North group) at 800fps and the .25 JSB Exact King Heavy (South Group) at 800fps and both had 1 flyer above the group. JSB Hades North West. JSB Exact 25.39gr is east. Looks like I'll be getting more JST DC and H&N BH.
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When that's happened to me it's always been a lead flake in the bolt housing when the cocking gets hard, or when the finish is marred and bare steel is rubbing bare aluminum or the chips and fouled gunk gum up with the lubricant. My notos did it, badly, till I pulled the bolt and polished the ever loving bejesus out of the channel, and the hammer channel.
No silicone lube on parts that don't operate under pressure, I use the best lubricants at hand, typically lucas gear oil or gun oil.
Clean the channels for the bolt and spring often. If the finish is worn, Polish the poop out of it. I used steel wool, and abrading and polishing bits on a Dremel then polishing compounds until it was mirror finished. Also polished the bolt a bit.
Obviously if it's gunked up grease or lead flakes/dust. Clean it.
That's my experience, but I'm sure others have encountered other causes.
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The owner of any air gun should go over the lubrication before a single pellet is fired from it. The bolt is dry as it arrives, I do a full lube on all parts when they arrive to me, same with the Notos. They have enough oil to keep the rust at bay but I cannot call the lack of lubrication a QC issue.
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Well my second one, from the start I noticed there was potential "rust". Where the side lever slides, all the oil was brownish. I wiped it dry with a microfiber towel and it was brown. Also where the hammer spring is and the pellet probe (Sorry, I don't know the correct terminology) all the oil there was brown. Lastly, it had difficulty cocking the hammer spring back. It would be very hard and gritty just to get it to cock. I knew from the start the side level was not as smooth as my first but wanted to try it out and thought maybe it just needed to break in. But this 3rd one might be it. Everything is working as it should. Side lever is smooth. I'm not worried about the crossed threads. 5 screws on each side to hold the butt stock is more than enough. *Fingers crossed on this Zelos*. So far I do enjoy shooting the Zelos.
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Thats not rust, that is the packing lube put on the bolt for shipping.
What did you find in the hammer spring cavity that was gritty?
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As if sand was in there. Let's just say with the entire weight of the Zelos on the side lever, the lever itself wouldn't pass halfway to a full cock.
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I completely disassembled my m60b to do the port job and valve. Only thing I didn't take apart was the trigger/hammer housing. Only issue i had was putting it back together, all the little side screws didn't want to go in. This is for 2 reasons. One, I had all the top action screws tight on the rest of the receiver, and it was causing misalignment. Second, the hammer adjuster was sticking out of the housing which caused the rear panel/butt pad to be tight and pull it rearward. Almost stripped my screws as well. 2 aren't even back in the gun.
There's a third reason as well. They're friggin TINY and the heads round out easy and the fine thread doesn't play well with any misalignment. I'm planning on tapping them up one size next time it's apart. I think they're M3 or M4 screws.
There's a third reason as well. They're friggin TINY and the heads round out easy and the fine thread doesn't play well with any misalignment. I'm planning on tapping them up one size next time it's apart. I think they're M3 or M4 screws.
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Do you use silicone oil? Or do you use gun oil? I have not done this to any of my air guns unfortunately. I might as well fix my mistakes before it's too late.
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Moly grease for moving external parts. Silicone oil for internals for the o-rings and poppet. A drop or two in the fill port and then hook the compressor/pump up and it'll push the oil in and coat surfaces. Silicone oil on the bolt and barrel seal o-ring.
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Full synthetic oil, I use Super Lube
Silicone oil should only be used on non-metallic surfaces (o-rings)
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If cleaned regularly, Moly is fine. I'm meaning on the side lever surfaces. A thin film is okay vs a wet oily surface. I'm also referring to Moly based gun grease, not the thicker automotive type.
Trigger contact points do well with Moly, hammers need more oil based lubrication
Or just do like me, and spray everything down with Remoil and towel off the drips and runs!
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We can agree to disagree on molly. Molly is perfect for sliding surfaces not exposed to touch or rubbing. Acute pressure points do better with grease.
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