What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been
For the last month I’ve been struggling with my new .25 Condor SS. When I first shot it, groups were pretty good. Then I had to get it tuned down to the low 900’s for JSB EK’s. That took a while since the tophat would not stay put but I wrangled it in and Loc-tited it.
While wrangling, I noticed, that no matter where where I set the tophat gap and/or PW, I could not get on a curve. I bought the TT tophat and still no dice..when I tried to put the o-ring behind the TT tophat, the velocity on a “full charge” dropped to the mid, low 800’s. While talking with Tony, it came to me….what if the gauge on the gun, (the one I was going by), was off? Tony said those AF gauges are notorious for being off….well, yep, off by close to 500lbs (low). Filled to 3000, using the Airhog guage, AF gauge is uncomfortably pegged all the way in the red and….BAM….instant bell-shaped curve.
The big problem I ran into was bad grouping. So I cleaned the barrel…that helped, but not much…so I lapped the barrel, cleaned and lubed the frame, checked all screws for tightness…not much difference.
Replaced Tony’s TH with the OEM TH. Slight tightening of groups (no o-ring behind the TT tophat)….hmmm maybe it’s the scope. Swapped my Leapers Swat from my Marauder .25 for the MidwayUSA BSA 4-14 FFP on the Condor. Nice groups with the FFP on the Marauder. Not much difference on the Condor…….UGH! Back to the TAG for research…
I should mention, sometimes it would start to group OK then “shot gun” with the next target…and POI to the right then POI to the left.
Last night, more targets at 30 yards with the Leapers on the Condor…..just as it was getting dark I remembered reading something that Wok said about being consistent with the side you put the breech knob on. I have been consistently placing it to the right side, so what the heck, why not shoot a couple of groups with it on the left?
OMG….that was it!!!……………..I hope.
Both targets shot the same night with same scope….JSB EK, 2750psi to start, 30yd, no wind, no turret changes between groups.
I managed to shoot three, tight, 5-shot groups before losing the light. I would not have believed it if you had told me, but these were very consistent, tight groups, in a row. I do notice that POI is still a bit inconsistent but at least it’s grouping.
If anyone has something to say or add…please do…this has been one frustrating month…but on the plus side, I have become a very steady shot from concentrating so hard on grouping 😉
I plan to re-swap scopes and tophats. Get Tony’s back on this time with an o-ring and I hope that the groups will stay.
One other thing…my chrony numbers are a bit inconsistent with nrs jumping up and down. My PW is set to 4-5. Any guesses? I got some duro-90 orings for the breech that I’ll try to replace soon.
Thanks for reading…. sorry its such a long post.
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Yeah…I do yap too much. Well, the forecast calls for rain all week. Might get a break by Thursday then I’ll get back out. At least it’s cool out in the high 70’s and not the low 90’s..
Aw heck get on with it :whistle:
Give it 8-10 and let the TT valve do its stuff 😯
Thanks for the replies.
Interesting point about leaving the bolt in the middle. I notice that when the gun is fired, the bolt jumps to the middle anyway. I’m not sure why groups tightened up so dramatically when placed to the left. I’ve learned that if you have no means to measure something, just go with blind faith and be happy.
I went back the other day and put the TT tophat back in this time with an o-ring behind it and set to PW=4, knob to the left. Wow…groups went out the window, again. I shot a multi-target page and then went back to the OEM TH. Groups tightened back up. I could scan the targets if anyone is interested.
towards the end of the session, I tried upping the PW from 4 to 6 and to my amazement, at 6, I got 4 pellets in the same hole at 50 yards with one pellet off about 1/2″at 2-O-clock. Flyer?
I will go back and try the TT top hat again and start at PW=6 and keep going while watching the groups. Perhaps there’s a “magic” PW setting for the TT…I believe you said 6-8? I’ll try that.
I really want this TT top hat to work …obviously from a financial reason to, of, course an aesthetic reason as well. Too many of you guys are getting great results with it so I must be doing something wrong.
Optically re-centered the scope last night…will re-zero this weekend and see if there are any improvements….
Again…comments/suggestions welcomed.
KP
Sometimes and sometimes I just use the pressure in the tank to slow things down, I always ajust the valve 1st to its highest potential.
Maw. I think you have a good point there. The
The bolt latched to either side gets slammed and burs the latching surface. Do you use an oring behind the top hat?
where’s the page with bolt pulled straight back, I don’t flip mine.
Sounds familiar. To many variables when switching parts. You did right to get Tony’s Top Hat. I’d say just use it and turn up the power wheel between 6-8. Depending on the pellet weight, shoot the PSI way down recording the FPS. If you see a steady speed increase that should become a good fill pressure for that pellet. Don’t be worried about going below 2000 PSI. You may see even better groups.
I’m getting rusty so I’ll shut up and let the active shooters chime in here
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I have decided to stop this post. I’m having some trouble with The TT tophat and I think it’s better to talk straight with Tony and not unfairly throw it out here. I’m hoping we can figure it out.