Top Hat setting (there seems to be two ways of thinking)
At the advice of some of the TAG members, I have set my top hat out enough to keep the breech slide from having any play in it when cocked. That brings my Tophat up to around .083 or thereabouts. And this is real close to how the factory had it set.
If I go any lower with the Tophat, the breech slide has some play in it. Not much….but some. So do I adjust top hat for maximum efficiency (air usage and velocity), or do I need to leave the Tophat where it’s at so that there’ll be no breech slide play?
I’m getting a bunch of Kodiacs delivered tomorrow and am gonna get serious with this thing. I tore it all down today and first thing I did was rip that little tag off the spring. Then I polished the I.D. of the frame real smooth with 1500 grit (didn’t come close to removing anodizing). I thin polished the narrow part of the barrel to a mirror shine. Plumbers silicone on that part only.
Removed safety and cleaned trigger components….lightly lubed them. Reassembled.
I noticed that one of the plastic ends of the hammer was already flattened and nicked pretty bad. Smoothed it down. Put it all together and fired it several times to check functioning. MUCH SMOOTHER. And somewhat quieter….don’t know how that happened, but glad it happened.
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yeah that spring silencer requires a ATF permit lol!
Forget what all these guys have said, you missing the big problem.
On the back of that tag you removed in very small letters it says “do not remove under penalty of law.”
That tag was made by the same people who make them for the mattress factories and your in deep shit!
Call your local PD and surrender. 😥
Roachcreek
I just file it under the heading, “Your results may vary”.
Ive used the tophat adjusted to keep the breech tight, and usually just wasted air. This 2nd side-effect may or may not happen to you, but it did to me.
After loading a pellet and pulling the breech back against the tophat, if I moved the knob to the left slot, my gun shot about .5″ left. If I moved the knob to the right slot, I shot about .5″ right. Repeated removal of barrel, adjusting bushings and testing of grub screw tightening did nothing to cure this.
I never really figured out exactly why that happened, but I always just pull the bolt back against the tophat and leave it alone.
I have a mental routine when I take a shot to always pull the bolt against the tophat before aiming.
Since I always start with an uncocked rifle, this has become routine.
My rifle does not suffer any inconsistencies due to this.
I have since adjusted the tophat to roughly .070″, and this gun shoots exactly how I want it now. 25cal JSB Kings at 975fps, perfect.
I say roughly because its measured with a sheet of rubber that happens to be .070 thick.
If I move the knob right or left, the POI doesnt change like it did before.
Like I said “YRMV”, as no 2 guns can be expected to shoot exactly alike.
$.02
Plumbers silicone is not the same stuff, I don’t think, I don’t know never gave it a try, I used the stuff at the auto store silicone dielectric grease, and on the hammer grafited lock fluid, the silicone is only for the tophat, and tophat stem, and the seals and very end of barrel. You may have a problem with hammer chatter if you put plumbers silicone on the hammer and bore it rides on.
I have to say that the “put the TH out to keep it tight” is a new one to me. My TH is at .067. I don’t think that small amount of play does much for consistency. And at .083 I bet you are wasting alot of air.
Actually check this link out
http://talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6566
And I would look for a one piece hammer. The two piece deff doesn’t help shot consistency and the derlin ends on the hammer get chewed up and deformed causing big shot to shot changes. Talon Tunes, Subsonic, Dave_424, Jane are great machinists and can make you a hammer. Search on heavy /one piece hammers for more background info.
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Thanks guys for all the good feedback. Good information. I’ll adjust my top hat for efficiency. And then make sure the breech slide is in the same spot everytime. Thanks again! I need a custom hammer for this baby. I can tell from the way this rifle tries to group that it’s got some great potential. Heck, it shoots good enuff to hunt with right now, but I’m WAY to O.C.D. to just sit around and not tear it down a dozen times, adding custom parts and what not. lol
And about the little tag that I snipped off the hammer spring: I feel so naughty. ROTFL