Conquering the Beast!
A lot of Matador owners felt left out after I created the Cricket Shroud/LDC. Honestly, I have been putting off making one for the Matador because I’ve tried it in the past and failed many times. The gun is LOUD and I tried everything I could to slow the air or displace it. To be backyard friendly, Ernest set my regulator to 115 Bars and shooting 760 fps. In addition to that I had to put on Neil’s 8 inch LDC. The 6 inch LDC didn’t do much for it. The past few days, I’ve tried different stuffings and different can sizes. Even at 760 fps it was loud with the ones that I created.
Last night I had an idea and made a prototype and it worked wonderfully. The only problem is how would it perform at 880-900 fps. This was the range that people said that they wanted to be able to shoot backyards. I took apart my regulator this morning and brought it up to 130 Bars, after putting everything back together it was shooting 880-890 fps. Placed my prototype at the end of the muzzle and took a few shots and Wow 😯 I conquered the beast!
To those who have been asking me for a solution, hope the pictures make you happy.
The gun doesn’t make much muzzle noise anymore but you can definitely hear the spring/hammer slap. If you’re shooting paper in the backyard, the pellet impact is louder than the gun.
One thing that is different between this and the Cricket. The cricket you can dry fire and it will still be quiet, with this gun, so much air rushes out that it is a bit louder. Put in a pellet and all you hear is the hammer slap. While I was outside testing, my neighbor was in his lanai (10 feet away) I asked him if it was loud, he said no, can hardly hear it 🙂
Description
Donnyfl special
Regulator setting: 130 B
FPS: 880
Overall length of gun 35 1/2 inches
Shroud extends past air gauage 6 1/2 inches
Backyard friendly: Yes
Traditional LDC
Regulator: 115 B
FPS 760
Overal length of gun: 38 1/2 inches
Shroud extend past air gauge (with John Hagan baffle cover): 9 inches
Backyard friendly: Yes
All Replies
I still find the impact of the pellet even into duct seal 50yds away louder than my 25 muzzle report and I’m shooting at 940fps with JSB 25s. I go out hunting with mine and don’t really want to carry even a small tank.
Having 72-940fps shots and another 20 useable shots before I hit 900fps makes for good long hunt with some plinking thrown in for fun.
I like your idea. Simple and effective extension for your short tool. 🙂
The wife must be happy. 😀
Get it right Donny it was my right hand!!!
Not necessarily true Mr “Team Edgun” 🙂 The majority of my Matador clients so far have been for the .25 R3. As for the STD owners, we still have the option to use the gun as a 29 inch bullpup if we want. But when we need the extra quietness to shoot in the backyard, just slide on the shroud. I really don’t mind a 40 shot count because I am not out there unloading like Rambo. I shoot a pest here and there and that’s about it. When I head out to the range, I have a tank.
UGMJ, Ouch is for guys who break their left hand jerking off. :biggrinn:
Ouch!!!!….
Good job on quieting down your standard. Now you have the length of a long with the quietness of the long shroud but not the shot count. Next time just get the bigger Edgun 🙂
Hello Donny
The R3M LONG shroud length is not quite 17 1/2 inches…more like 17 5/16 inches when measured from the tip of the shroud to the edge of the tapered plate at back of the shroud. The tapered plate is about 3/16 inches thick then tapers down to where it meets the clamp for the air tube. See Pic Below.
I did consider that but with this set screw, you do not need to torque it all the way in there. You basically just screw in until you feel the tape on the other side. Worst comes to worst there’s always duck tape :biggrinn:
Edit* I am also using the 1 inch pvc thick walled. This thing is tough!
and this set screw……screws into the pvc to hold it in place on the matador shroud?….arent you afraid of the screw stripping the pvc plastic threads?
Kekoa it all depends on your shooting needs. I can make it 5 1/2 or 7 1/2 for extra quietness. Not that much difference in sound but if you really need that extra sushhh, then go with 7 1/2. Like many know, I am surrounded by neighbors, however, the 5 1/2 is enough for me to shoot in the backyard without worrying about them hearing.
7/9/14 Update: Part came in, drilled and tapped for set screws. Sanded everything down and applied first coating. First batch on target for Friday shipping
Pretty darn quiet there Donny. I may have missed this in previous post, how much length will it add to the .25 Matador?
wow, it’s so quiet for .25
7/9/14 Progress report: Woke up at 7 am to get a little time testing the Matador before work. Tried something different from yesterday’s design and I sent out a few links to people what I thought was already great results. Today I pushed it even more and basically all you hear is the hammer slap.
.25 R3M STD, shooting 890 fps. Camera set 2 feet off the ground next to my feet. I cocked the gun and fired.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnnhuu766baxhff/Video%20Jul%2009%2C%208%2015%2031%20AM.mov
UPS tracking notified me that my set screws are out for delivery today, excited!
Progress update: For those who really need quiet, I added 2 inches to the shroud and the noise level has gone down noticeably from yesterday.
Overall length with the 2 inch addition is around 37 1/4 inches. Still not that bad. Doesn’t look that much longer than the Cricket with the mod/shroud
Extends almost 8 1/2 inches from air gauge
My sister who is very sensitive to noise came over for dinner so I asked her to stand by the sliding glass door to our Lanai. I was outside of the lanai about 10 feet away from her and she described it as the same sound my gun makes when I was cocking it, just a bit louder than that. So my first thought is that she heard the hammer slap. She said the noise level would not bother her if she was my neighbor. So I asked my neighbor who was washing his rug on the other side of the fence and he said, he could hardly hear it. Not loud at all.
Yes I am working on two R3 Longs right now. I am hoping to finish them early next week and send it off to them to test. I am able to remove the crack of the gun and majority of the noise. The only thing I am hearing on my STD R3M is a Deep puffff and hammer slap. I was shooting outside around 8 am this morning and no one heard a thing. According to my parents, they estimate a 50% noise reduction compared to shooting without the shroud mod.
The real test are the new owners and I am not producing anymore until I get their feedback and if needed make adjustments. Break through today, I was able to drill and tap set screws in the rear and it held the shroud in place really well. I need to go back to the hardware store tomorrow to take some measurements and then order the nylon tip set screws in the evening.
Losgatorsgtr, can you confirm that the R3M long’s shroud is 17 3/8 long and passes the air gauge by 3/4 please. Thanks!
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Great work Donny! Man, this airgun hobby has you by both balls now! It’s hard work maintaining I.S. status AND getting more and more quiet.
I guess quiet is all perspective. My distant neighbors doubtless hear the .308 and Tannerite targets 😛 . Compared to that, the airguns don’t register. The rodents, however, are always listening, watching…plotting. It is times like this where JSB Kings make a dandy earplug for the rodent thieves. The less they hear, the more they drop.