MATADOR R3M on it’s way to Norway, – arrived finally….

Wow……. !!! 😀

I’ve spent some time in my basement. Don’t know where to start really……

I have had some 50 pellets through now, – and these were my notes:

I started at around 195 bars and used my Crombo for the speed measurements. I noted the pressure after every ten shots, – an it appears my R3M cal.22 consumes some 12/13 bars per 10 shots. I write like a pig, but people with a goood imagination may be able to read the velocity numbers I hope…….. 😳 Out of the box between 925 and 900 fps with the vast majority around between 910/920.

I used the ms-function with proper indexing, and it never failed once ! It felt a little rough in the beginning, but after a few shots I forgot all about that. It didn’t feel very different from a lot of other guns I have been shooting.

I never removed the mag. It stayed in there all the time. I realized that the mag reveals four open slots as it rotates, – and I simply recharged after every four shots via these. Refreshingly simple as the mag is somewhat hard to pull out. But as it happens, – there’s honestly no need to take it out. Just recharge as I did. It works beautifully…….. :8:

Hawkeyes may notice that the mag has been “filed down” quite a bit and gone is anodizing and friends around the edges at the back of the mag. This happens because the mag is being squeezed against the back wall of the mag slot as it rotates. What squeezes it is the spring loaded ball bearing that lines up the mag for each shot:

This ball bearing is a tough little fellow with quite some force behind it. Not only does it push the mag firmly against the back wall of the mag chamber, it also gives the mag some beating as it rotates from one shot position to the next:

You should be able to see how the anodizing is being filed off on the rim of the mag.

There seems to be some grinding going on also around the center of the mag on both sides. Here is the other side of it:

However that’s not the end of the grinding story. I was very surprised to find that the outside surface of the mag also seemed a bit “tired” and “scruffy” after today’s session. Inspection of the mag slot in the breech revealed an edge on the inside that most likely shouldn’t have been there:

No big deal as it will be grinded off and polished by the mag during the break-in period……. 😉

However, there’s a lot of friction in this mag set up. Some of it will go away eventually, – but not all. How to lubricate this part I don’t know yet. Aluminium on aluminium is not easy, and added to that is the risk of getting some lube into the pellet slots and further into the barrel. On that path there’s an O-ring in the forward breech that must be passed too. And O-rings don’t like anything but silicone grease………

I may want to try some silicone spray glider that dries like a thin film on whatever material. It’s designed to reduce the friction of rigging, zippers etc. on a sailboat and should probably do the trick here too……..

My gun is of the MK I type, – and the breech/mag system is already obsolete. As I understand it, the versions shipped to the US is of the MK II variant. I’ve never seen one of those but will soon. Apparently the mags and the indexing system may have been modified a little and for the better. The little nasty ballbearing that pushes the mag against the wall, has been moved inwards towards the center of the mag. That should mean less distance for the mag to rotate against it between shots. It should also mean that the cam that indexes the mag would need less power to do so as it gets a longer “arm” to work with…..

We’ll see…… 😉

Oh, – I forgot to tell you how this little bastard shoots. Below is tonight’s session on “paper”. There are five 10 shot groups shot from a sandbag at a distance of 50 m (55yds). The groups should speak for themselves:

Cheers
Trygve in Oslo 😀

Spot on as always ……..! 😉

Austrian 80% brandy, – does keep you warm……….. 😀

Not so sure about the groups though……… :3: