BRK Ghost Carbine .22 "backyard practice" tune

[spinj]

With an extremely low regulator pressure of 45ish BAR and a weaker-than-stock hammer spring, my Ghost is shooting the Crosman Hollowpoints at an average velocity of 670 FPS, or 14.3 FPE (14.3 grains @ 14.3 FPE), which is accurate and more than sufficient power for me for backyard practice shooting.

 

[MikeVV]

Hmm, and I thought I had...mine...shooting slowly at 800fps (90bar regulator) !
Have fun with it.

Mike

 

[spinj]

I had to find a softer spring with the same outside diameter as that on the OEM spring and cut it half an inch smaller to get it to the current tune.

 

[L.Leon]

With an extremely low regulator pressure of 45ish BAR and a weaker-than-stock hammer spring, my Ghost is shooting the Crosman Hollowpoints at an average velocity of 670 FPS, or 14.3 FPE (14.3 grains @ 14.3 FPE), which is accurate and more than sufficient power for me for backyard practice shooting.
View attachment 337528

That’s slower than the 725 fps my Atomic send the CPHPs, nice! How many shots do you get out of that sweet Ghost?

 

[spinj]

That’s slower than the 725 fps my Atomic send the CPHPs, nice! How many shots do you get out of that sweet Ghost?

I can get more than 230 shots. I say "more than" because with the bottle pressure gauge currently showing 80 BAR, it's got a lot more to give (I stopped counting at 230).

 

[Erdb]

Nice. Looks like the carbine model w/ custom shroud? What moderator is that?

 

[spinj]

Nice. Looks like the carbine model w/ custom shroud? What moderator is that?

Yes, it's the carbine model in .22. The shroud is OEM. I just covered the vent holes with gold pinstriping, which I also did for the vent holes on the moderator because I don't like the lead dust being laterally blown. The venting doesn't make a difference in accuracy in my experience and to my ears makes the report a bit louder than when covered. The moderator is the 0DB Tactical model.

 

[Franklink]

I like it, a lot! Shot counts like that make a guy hardly remember they're shooting a pcp.

I'd bet it's super quiet too? And extremely low cocking effort? Two huge pros in my opinion.

Sweet little guns these Ghosts, all that adjustability can be utilized to be just about whatever a guy is looking for. (Although seems like I read elsewhere that you had to adjust the reg washer stack to get REALLY low, or maybe it was somebody else-whether it was you or somebody else, you're showing that it can be done).

One last thought: I love to see guys enjoying airguns as airguns, and not wannabe .22 rimfires. Big push in the industry these days is to recreate a compressed air powered rimfire, that's isn't even at the same level as a true rimfire (at least yet anyway). And that's cool and all for the guys chasing that, but low power joy is where it's at!!! Lots of effort and air usage to make an airgun shoot at rimfire fpe levels. What you did with this "tune" is the whole reason for being into airguns, LOTS of enjoyable trigger time, with minimal head ache (burning through air, chasing the ever-frustrating slug beast and worrying about putting a hole in something hundreds of yards away).

So, THANK YOU for sharing an alternate path to airgun enjoyment.

 

[spinj]

I like it, a lot! Shot counts like that make a guy hardly remember they're shooting a pcp.

I'd bet it's super quiet too? And extremely low cocking effort? Two huge pros in my opinion.

Sweet little guns these Ghosts, all that adjustability can be utilized to be just about whatever a guy is looking for. (Although seems like I read elsewhere that you had to adjust the reg washer stack to get REALLY low, or maybe it was somebody else-whether it was you or somebody else, you're showing that it can be done).

One last thought: I love to see guys enjoying airguns as airguns, and not wannabe .22 rimfires. Big push in the industry these days is to recreate a compressed air powered rimfire, that's isn't even at the same level as a true rimfire (at least yet anyway). And that's cool and all for the guys chasing that, but low power joy is where it's at!!! Lots of effort and air usage to make an airgun shoot at rimfire fpe levels. What you did with this "tune" is the whole reason for being into airguns, LOTS of enjoyable trigger time, with minimal head ache (burning through air, chasing the ever-frustrating slug beast and worrying about putting a hole in something hundreds of yards away).

So, THANK YOU for sharing an alternate path to airgun enjoyment.

Thanks! I agree with all you've said above. Yes, I indeed removed one Belleville washer and replaced it with a flat washer in addition to changing out the OEM spring in order to minimize as much as possible regulator creep given the ultra-low plenum pressure. I'm happy with its configuration as it requires very light cocking effort and is really quiet. Oh and my compressor gets to take a break, LOL! And yes to your remark about the whole reason for being into airguns in that it's not about having them produce mondo power just to enjoy them. Cheers!

 

[madeintheuk]

It’s funny you talk about low power. I have the same issue. I’m always looking for power, yet I get the most enjoyment out of shooting my dreamline tac compact at 700fps with cphp’s and getting around 150shots from a 300cc bottle. No worries about carrying air. Super light weight gun, and no worries about damaging others people property.
those cphp in my opinion seem to like lower speeds too. They’re tac drivers in my dreamline.

 

[spinj]

The advantages of shooting airguns at low to medium power levels are many, which have been mentioned above and in past posts. However, what makes it appealing to me is the drive to be PRECISE in shot placement due to such power levels. While it might be true that a moderately to low-powered airgun exhibiting a much more benign shooting behavior than those of super-magnum PCPs is more enjoyable to shoot and a bit more safe, the criticality of having to focus on and implement the correct shooting technique to place a pellet PRECISELY at the aim point yields a much more rewarding experience and is where the joy of shooting airguns lies to me. And, it is so that when I absolutely need to eliminate a pest, I can feel that much more confident in putting it down ethically, in one shot and all without having to worry about where the pellet is going to fly to next after hitting its target.

I used to covet magnum-powered airguns many years ago. Heck, it's why my very first high-powered PCP was an Airforce Condor, but as the years went by since then, I grew much more focused on precision and the ability to be precise with as less power as possible, and that is where I'm still at to this day.

 

[Erdb]

The advantages of shooting airguns at low to medium power levels are many, of which have been mentioned above and in past posts. However, what makes it appealing to me is the drive to be PRECISE in shot placement due to such power levels. While it's true that an airgun exhibits a much more benign shooting behavior than super-magnum PCPs, the criticality of having to focus on and implement the correct shooting technique to place a pellet PRECISELY at the aim point yields a much more rewarding experience and is where the joy of shooting airguns lies. And, it is so that when I absolutely need to eliminate a pest, I can feel that much more confident in putting it down ethically, in one shot and all without having to worry about where the pellet is going to fly to next after hitting its target.

“ I can feel that much more confident in putting it down ethically”

100% agree with this

 

[PelletJunkie]

I can get more than 230 shots. I say "more than" because with the bottle pressure gauge currently showing 80 BAR, it's got a lot more to give (I stopped counting at 230).

Spinj

What kind of spring and where did you purchase this "weaker-than-stock hammer spring" at?

Would it be reasonable to think this could also be done to a .22 HP variant (perhaps not as slow in FPS)? If I recall from Franklink's extensive write up it sounded like the production version internals are the same for the different platforms.

-PJ

 

[spinj]

Spinj

What kind of spring and where did you purchase this "weaker-than-stock hammer spring" at?

Would it be reasonable to think this could also be done to a .22 HP variant (perhaps not as slow in FPS)? If I recall from Franklink's extensive write up it sounded like the production version internals are the same for the different platforms.

-PJ

The spring just happened to be one of various other springs that are in a tackle box I use to organize different O-ring sizes, parts, and accessories for my PCPs. I don't remember where I got it from.

I believe you can do it to the .22 HP provided you get all components mated in that the hammer spring tension works well with the regulator setting. I should note that to maintain consistency between shots in my Ghost I've had to eliminate one Belleville washer from the regulator and replace it with a flat one. Additionally, at such a low power level in my setup, it was necessary to decrease the size of the transfer port hole by turning the barrel--similar to the way the Air Arms s410/510 does so with its built-in adjustment knob--until the transfer port hole was of the appropriate size to retain shot-to-shot consistency.

 

[DHart]

Thanks for this topic. I'm with you on preferring lower power with great accuracy and low noise.

I just bought a Ghost Plus at AoA this morning and while it's nice to have the power that it offers (about 39 FPE at factory setting, with JSB 18.31, and 17" barrel), I would enjoy tuning it down for lower noise level and lower air usage.

At present: 18.13 gr. JSBs are flying at avg. 982 fps, for around 39 FPE. Huma reg is set to around 152 bar. HS is at 10.

I am pesting at up to around 30 yards, more typically 25 yards, and finding there is more noise and power than I would prefer for my particular "back yard" application. I'd be happy to get down somewhere below 30 FPE, but but prefer not to change springs, washers, etc.


Don

 

[DHart]

Guess I'll answer my own question.

This rifle is definitely capable of some very hard hitting power! For my purposes, though, lowering the power is my goal. My recent backyard "tune" with the Ghost Plus (17" barrel). No change to springs, washers, barrel, etc.

FACTORY SETTING with 18.13 Jumbos:
Huma Reg: 154 BAR
HS: #10 position
Vel. 982 FPS and 39 FPE

MY CUSTOM SETTING with 18.13 Jumbos:
Huma Reg: 90 BAR
HS: #15 position
Vel. 801 FPS and 26 FPE

Obviously I could have gone a fair bit lower, with the settings, but my goal was to lower the velocity from 982 FPS to around 800 FPS.

Don

 

[Stubbers]

I do similar currently on a .25 cal marauder that is tuned to shooting 700 fps (can go as low as 600 fps with current arrangement) , swapping caliber over to .177 gets the speed back up and trajectory flatter, while keeping the power ultra low (sub 12ft/lb if I wish) for paper/backyard plinking.

Their are a few ways to skin this cat. Transfer port restriction, weaker hammer spring, lower reg pressure (requires spring/hammer change in most cases for power reduction, otherwise increasing the reg may be more fruitful is lowering fps to create some sort of partial valve lock)), reduced hammer mass, reduced hammer travel, or even valve lift limiters/buffers which I incorporate in my rifle but don't always put to use, its just a nice feature to have.

 

[EDventure]

Guess I'll answer my own question.

This rifle is definitely capable of some very hard hitting power! For my purposes, though, lowering the power is my goal. My recent backyard "tune" with the Ghost Plus (17" barrel). No change to springs, washers, barrel, etc.

FACTORY SETTING with 18.13 Jumbos:
Huma Reg: 154 BAR
HS: #10 position
Vel. 982 FPS and 39 FPE

MY CUSTOM SETTING with 18.13 Jumbos:
Huma Reg: 90 BAR
HS: #15 position
Vel. 801 FPS and 26 FPE

Obviously I could have gone a fair bit lower, with the settings, but my goal was to lower the velocity from 982 FPS to around 800 FPS.

Don

How is the ES & SD at 90 Bar?