My R2.5 Long Version with a FX Smooth Twist barrel
I got my FX 25 cal Smooth Twist barrel blank Monday and had it mounted on my Edgun Matador 25 cal Long Version Wednesday morning. The FX barrels are blanks, the in lead isn’t cut, and they are not blued. The muzzle end is crowned. I always redo the in lead anyway so it not having the in lead done was not a big deal. I was going to polish the crown but, I got in a hurry to shoot the gun and forgot to polish it. I gave the barrel a real good cleaning and then pulled an oiled patch thru it.
Went to the range and shot some shots thru my Chrony, 915fps. I thought, wow, this FX barrel gave me 30 fps! I like to shoot 25.4 grain JSBs at 885 so, I had to turn down the hammer spring tension some. I was not happy with the 50 yard groups that I was getting so; I pulled a couple dry patches thru the barrel and tried shooting it dry. The fps dropped from 885 to 855 because of the dry barrel. I had to reset the speed to 885. The groups were better dry so I kept shooting it that way.
I next tried making some adjustments as I wasn’t happy with the groups that I was getting. The groups kept getting a little better as I tried different things like, adjusting the shroud’s tension, the tightness of the barrel screws and barrel clamps. I also tried rotating the barrel 1/8th of a turn, at a time, shoot it some and then rotate it again. The barrel’s accuracy would start falling of every 50-75 shots and needed cleaned again. I tried pulling an oiled patch thru and the fps was back at 915. The FX barrel must have some friction in it, possibly from a tight bore? The fps for the BSA barrel stays the same dry or oiled and the BSA’s bore is actually .243”. I pull a couple of dry patches thru the BSA once in a while. It doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way it shoots. The FX barrel may need breaking in although it seems to me that a soft lead pellet isn’t going to do much to a steel barrel.
I went to the range again this morning. The wind was around 8mph and gusty. I tried to shoot between gusts. I gave up after about 2 hours. Around 6:00 tonight, the wind had died down so, I went back out. I shot 24, 50 yard 5 shot groups. I always start in the lower right hand corner, shoot right to left, move up a row and repeat. I was pulling a couple of dry patches thru every 40-50 shots.
I wasn’t happy with the groups on the first target. Some of my 100 yard BSA targets look better than that one. On these targets, each “leg” of the cross measures 9/10th”.
On the second target, I pulled an oiled parch thru before shooting the 7th group. On the 8th group, the last shot was low because the Matador came off of the regulator. On the top row of groups, I could barely see the target because it was getting almost too dark to shoot. For the last group, I had to prop a flashlight on a roll of Duck tape to light the target. As of right now, the FX barrel likes an oiled bore better than a dry one. I might have to try oiling some pellets and see how they shoot. Right now, the BSA still is more accurate but, the FX is closing in. I am also thinking about pulling the barrel and polishing the crown.
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Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
Oldy,
You mentioned in your older posts that when you oil your barell you get some higher speed and precision
That is probly because you ignate that oil because of friction in that ST barell and you get boost.
Same things happen when you claen normal barell with wd-40
Lower friction but wd-40 is more flameable.
That ST barell should stay clean at least for 1000 shoots.(as I read on other forums). You say that you clean it every 70 shots and that you oil it every time.Probly from that burned oil you get that much dirt in barell.
Try with dry and clean barell to set speed same as you get with oiled barell.
You told that with that higher speed you achive better scores, maybe that will help.
Where FX is being produced they have some very serious and cold winters, – and I am sure they have thought about that. After all, Sweden is their main market….. 😉
Tedd, I was under the impression that ST barrels need MUCH less cleaning than the fully rifled barrels. Now Decan is saying the double polished LW on his .25 R3 is clean after 500 pellets. Can the ST beat that? There is also the problem with shifting POI due to temperature changes affecting the barrels. We have severe winters here and this is also a consideration.
Dekan, I didn’t really think that the FX ST barrel would shoot as well as the BSA barrel. It hasn’t done so yet but, it is getting closer.
I have read all of the FX ST hype and wanted to find out for myself. It has cost me around $300 to find out.
I am thinking about a Benchmark 25 cal 3 groove taper lapped barrel next. These barrels were designed for 25.4 JSBs. If they can turn the OD down to .619″, .609″, .553 or .472″, I am going to try one of them. Benchmark makes barrels that have set tons of records with the powder burning bench rest crowd.
I am probably just wasting money. The long version Matador BSA barrel combo would allow me to hit the 1″ kill zone head of a ground squirrel at ranges out to 126 yards. I use either a good tri pod or, a table, a bipod and an adjustable rear rest for the longer shots. 126 is the longest shot that I have had been offered, so far! 100 yard shots are easy, if I do my part.
I love to tune the Matador and try new barrels! I would rather be out shooting varmits but, my shooting spots are limited. When I fit a new barrel, I have to go to the range to tune it and get info for Chairgun.
The Matador’s setup is a perfect start for barrel testing! Plenty of regulated shots. If there is a barrel out there that shoots better than the BSA, I want to find it!
I have to do something with my R2.5 25 cal or the wait for my R3 25 cal would be driving me crazy!
when you receive your R3 .25 and then compare it with that FX ST, then I will think about buying that barell. 🙂
Since then I am verry happy with mine. I have 99% hits at targets over 100m and its satisfy me. And after 500 pellets barell is still shinning.
I am not shooter who shoot in paper targets, and watch for best groups. Only flash works for me 😆
I took some pics of my FX barrel today. I haven’t seen any pics of the end of a FX ST barrel that shows how they do it anywhere on the net.
I pulled it because I want to polish the crown and see if it improves accuracy. I am really starting to grasp at straws now!
I have a 22 cal FX ST Royalle 400. The shroud tube came loose and I shot it off of the gun. Really made me jump when that happened! I had to drill the shroud tube and tap it’s epoxed on mount to reattach it. The end of the Royalle’s barrel has a sleeve mounded on it that covers the ST goings on. The sleeve is 1.795″ long. The end on my FX 25 cal barrel measures 2.485″ from where it is turned down to the end of the muzzle. An internally “treaded” sleeve covers the end of the muzzle.
#1 is the barrel with 2 aluminum sleeves that Marmont Militia made for me so I could use the barrel mounts that he also made me for my BSA barrel. The BSA barrel is .609” OD and the FX is .553”. When I got the BSA barrel, I had a .570” ID, 3” long bore, front breech piece made that would fit the BSA barrel. I turned the first 3” of the breech end of the BSA barrel down to .570” and it then slides into the breech block and is secured by 3 set screws. I had to have the muzzle end of the FX barrel turned down and a .570” sleeve fitted to it so it would fit the breech block.
#2 shows how FX does the smooth twist. They use a 5 sided die and use a hydraulic press to press 5 very shallow grooves into the barrel. This process causes 5 ridges to protrude into the bore. It also causes the barrel to take on a slight hexagon shape. I am wondering if the hex shape, instead of the raised ridges, give the pellet it’s spin? A threaded sleeve is then fitted over the muzzle end. The muzzle end is not really threaded, some spiral grooves are rolled into it or they are swaged into it during the ST process. The end of the sleeve is threaded ½” UNC threads for a shroud.
#3 is a pic of the ST grooves.
#4 is a very poor pic of how the muzzle end is swaged into a rounded hexagon shape.
#5 Is also a poor pic but, I included it because it has a smiley face at the other end of the barrel! I took a lot of pics trying to get a good shot of the way the barrel was deformed into a rounded hex shape and most of them had the smiley face in them! I have no idea WTF the significance of that is!
#6 I tried to get a pic of the internal ST. I must have taken 10 pics and this was the best that I could come up with.
I need a better camera! I also need to wash my grubby dickbeaters! 😆
Tedd, One of the advantages of the ST barrel was that it would rarely need cleaning and I haven`t read anything much about them needing
extended break in period.I didn`t think my new .22 Matador was ever going to group,but finally after about 300 pellets it just started grouping rather suddenly.Also have a new LW (Jim Gaska)which has about 200 pellets shot and seems to keep improving the more I shoot it.I know I`m not telling you anything new as I always look for your posts to learn from but it just seems different barrels have varying break in times,anyways seeems like your just about there.Do you have any advice for getting repeatable sight picture with Matador seems like i get shots going slightly lt. and rt but w/exact elavation.
Well good luck with that ST but my money will be on BSA having the edge regards,mark
I have another question: why change the original LW barrle with the BSA?
Great initial review, Tedd, carry on please!
Funny thing about having to clean the ST barrel so often ❓ One of their selling points was MUCH less cleaning than the fully rifled barrels 🙄
🙂
Thanks Trygve and Naser.
Trygve, get your grubby hands off of the R3 25 long that you let me have the rights to! You don’t like 25s, remember! I really want my R3 25 cal! I promise that I won’t modify it ever! 😆
I ordered the FX barrel just because of all of the posts/hype that I saw on the Yellow Forum stating how the Smooth Twist barrel is just slightly less than the second coming of Christ! I guess that I got suckered in twice. I bought a 22 cal FX Royalle 400 that didn’t shoot any better than my Matador standard 22. My standard 22 is one hell of a lot shorter amd lighter also.
So far, I rate the 25 FX barrel better than the stock Edgun LW barrel and a LW barrel that I ordered and fitted to my Edgun. It still has a ways to go to beat the BSA barrel.
I had planned on taking some pics of the FX barrel in the condition that I got it. I got carried away, mounted it and started shooting it.
Naser asked me to order one for him also. Very long story turned into a short one, his got lost. Sorry Naser, your barrel will be here 8-31-2011 and I will get it sent out the same day!
I will post some pics of Naser’s barrel before I ship it. The way FX does the end of the barrel is unique, to say the least.
Naser, I feel really bad about the way AOA did us! When I get your barrel, I will ship it out the same day!
Hey OG,
Nice to see you got to it, I’m going to say guilty until proven innocent. I am sure with some time you will learn more about the ST barrel & might improve the groups a little but I highly doubt you will find anything that can beat a BSA or LW barrel.
But I still will wait to see how the ST performs on my Rifle before I made any solid conclusions.
Once again I await your feedback.
This is truly great stuff OG, – very interesting indeed………. 😀
Groups are not bad, but I agree room for improvement. However you may have reached a level already where you should try shooting under perfect conditions only (no wind, good stable light). The spread you are getting could easily have come from minor windshifts and nothing else….
Beating the BSA barrel performance is a tough match, – and I would be very surprised if you do with the FX-barrels on a constant basis.
A note on barel cleaning: I find that shooting a few “cleaning pellets” (don’t know what you call it in English) through a barrel does a better jobb of cleaning than just pulling through a piece of cloth (Removing silencer is a must before shooting them.)
Keep it coming OG, – and thanks for sharing…… 😀
And of course now, I guess you don’t need your long R3 .25 anymore so I may have it myself if I want to………. 😉
😀
Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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I gave up on the FX barrel and put the BSA back on.
The FX was just too spotty, it would shoot one or two good groups and then go shotgun on me. I could not get it to shoot consistent and I tried all of the tricks that I could come up with.
I must have put 500-600 weight sorted JSB pellets thru it. I want to go hunting tomorrow and I just didn’t have any trust in the FX barrel.
I went to the range to chrony the BSA barrel and get it sighted in. The BSA barrel was shooting 876 fps and I had the Matador/FX barrel combo set at 885 fps. I turned it up to 885 and the groups were as good as they were before I tried the FX ST barrel.
I am good to go for tomorrow.
I have read, on the Yellow, that Benchmark is now making 3 groove, taper lapped, 25 cal air gun barrel. The barrels are .750 OD and if I can get them to turn one down to .553″ or .609″, I want to try one.