Need help with R3 .25 long
I have an early R3 .25 long, one of the ones that got held up for a long time when Ed was having the worst of his export troubles. When it arrived, it clearly had been taken apart and re-assembled, and there some parts that were damaged. Nothing that was completely disabling, but definitely not up to the standard of airgun fit and finish that Ed usually maintains.
I had some problems with it shooting consistantly when I first got it. It would not hold a POI consistantly, and would move around by 2-3 inches at 50yards, especially in the horizontal plane (i.e., side to side). I played around with it, tried several scopes, tightend everyuthing I could think of, adjusted the regulator and hammer spring. For a while, it seemed like I had it shooting pretty consistantly, but even then every now and then the POI would shift. I would re-zero, and it would be consistant for a while again. The I got busy and didn’t do much with it for a long time.
I’ve been shooting it again this year, and lately I’m having lots of POI problems again. If I shoot 10 shots at 50 yards, I get 2 or 3 in a nice group, then 2 or 3 an inch or two off to one side, then 2 or 3 an inch or two away somewhere else. Under the same conditions, I shoot my R2.5 .22 and get 20 shots in a hole the size of a quarter.
So, I’ve tried cleaning the barrel, tightening things up, etc. The velocity ios pretty consistant in the 870-890fps range, I can’t find any indication of clipping, and get the same results with different scopes that work fine on other guns. The gun probably has about 1400 pellets through the barrel.
Can someone suggest a trouble-shooting process that might help me get to the bottom of what is going on and hopefully get my .25 R3 shooting as well or better than my R2.5 .22?
Art
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What I did notice is that when the stock is attached to the frame, it is torquing the air tube/action. If I tighten the screw that holds the frame all the way to what I think is a reasonable tightness, it pushed the air reservoir up enough to contact the barrel shroud. After I realized that, I shot a couple of strings with the stock only loosely attached to the frame, and I got much better groups than I was seeing before. So I think a big part of the problem I was seeing is related to the frame fit. I didn’t have enough time to really diagnose and fix everything, but I think I am on the right track.
BTW, anyone know what size the nut at the base of the baffle is? Maybe 17mm? I didn’t have a big enough metric wrench for it, so I ended up using a crescent wrench, which is really not a very good way to turn that nut.
Shim the stock and action. You dont want air tube touching the shroud as it will give you accuracy issues for sure.
I had a little time to work on this yesterday. I did not do a full disassembly, but I did remove the shroud, baffles (very tight . . . ), etc. and check for anything that might be loose or misaligned. I also checked the rail (very tight) and scope mounts. Everything seemed to be tight and aligned properly. I did find two loose screws at the front of the trigger linkage mechanism, but i doubt those would have had any effect on the POI.
What I did notice is that when the stock is attached to the frame, it is torquing the air tube/action. If I tighten the screw that holds the frame all the way to what I think is a reasonable tightness, it pushed the air reservoir up enough to contact the barrel shroud. After I realized that, I shot a couple of strings with the stock only loosely attached to the frame, and I got much better groups than I was seeing before. So I think a big part of the problem I was seeing is related to the frame fit. I didn’t have enough time to really diagnose and fix everything, but I think I am on the right track.
BTW, anyone know what size the nut at the base of the baffle is? Maybe 17mm? I didn’t have a big enough metric wrench for it, so I ended up using a crescent wrench, which is really not a very good way to turn that nut.
Before I got the proper copper O ring, I found a Teflon O ring that would work. I still haven’t put the copper O ring in.
Yes, mine was from that shipment. I had forgotten about the copper o-ring. When I adjusted the regulator, I just put the rubber o-ring back in. My recollection was that the symptom of a problem there is blow-by at the bolt, right? I’ve only noticed that a couple times, and always attributed it to not having the bolt closed all the way. Maybe I should check that again.
Your scope mounts could be causing the shift. Probably not but, worth a try checking.
The scope rail might be loose, you said that you checked and tightened it.
I really think that the scope rail/barrel interface is moving and causing the horizontal displacement. If was my gun, I would really torque the shroud barrel nut down and see how that does.
Make sure that the barrel is bottomed out in the front breech block, put the other parts on and really torque the baffle nut down.
I think that doing that will solve your horizontal displacement problem.
Please let us know what you find!
Thanks, that’s very helpful. I’ll find some time to break everything down and re-tighten and see what happens.
Thanks again.
Art
Hello Art. I have a couple of suggestions.
First of all; you suck at shooting and you should just sell me the gun! 😯 Sorry: I just had to! 😆
IIRC, you got one of the 5-6, R3 25 cals that came in on that shipment. Mine was one of them. All of the guns were taken apart for shipping and I had a rubber O ring substituted for the copper O ring that Ed shipped it with. Ed sent some of the copper O rings to Fast And Dangerous and F&D sent me one.
Before I got the proper copper O ring, I found a Teflon O ring that would work. I still haven’t put the copper O ring in.
If you are getting a horizontal shot displacement, the barrel/scope interface is shifting.
Your scope mounts could be causing the shift. Probably not but, worth a try checking.
The scope rail might be loose, you said that you checked and tightened it.
I really think that the scope rail/barrel interface is moving and causing the horizontal displacement. If was my gun, I would really torque the shroud barrel nut down and see how that does.
Make sure that the barrel is bottomed out in the front breech block, put the other parts on and really torque the baffle nut down.
I think that doing that will solve your horizontal displacement problem.
Please let us know what you find!
Have you tried different scopes?
You have taken apart and put back together. Make sure the air do not leak?
You got to the all the O rings real carefully, especially the transfer port Oring, It can easily sent out of shape. Since you at it, check out the probe Oring seal too.
John
JSB Exact King Diablo, 25.39g
Pellet?
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Yes, I don’t want the stock torquing the air tube or action at all. If it’s torqued, eventually it will move or fatigue something.