I think this little endeavor of mine might just work! Got a new Uragan 2 a little while back in my quest for putting together a new NRL22 rifle, ever since they had changed the rules on ammo and calibers for the airgun class. I always wanted to use .30cal slugs for NRL, so I got a U2 in .30 with a 700mm barrel to test out.
Longer version short, I haven't really had much free time to focus on doing anything crazy, but I have a pretty good size range in my backyard now. Little by little, I started learning this rifle and began testing and tuning it until I ended up with just the right adjustments to get it spitting fire. The CZ barrel is chambered very shallow and I figured out that manipulating the probe position foreward/aft allowed me to achieve the right projectile seating deprh for almost any slug that I wanted to shoot.
In the end, I found this rifle to be MOST accurate with (2) slugs - the FX Hybrids (most accurate between 1015-1030) and my absolute favorite of all, the original 62gr Varmint Knockers (970). The RA4 BC of the 62's with this 15.7"/400mm twist CZ is 0.148, so they will definitely work well in NRL matches
Shortcomings and challenges of the U2 for PRS competion - Right away, there were things that I strongly disliked about the rifle. All of which were independently deal breakers in my mind, unless I was able to find a solution for each of them:
1) Safety (fixed) - The safety engaged way too easily and was a PITA to disengage. I fixed this by tightening down the screws on both sides of the safety switch so it can't move freely.
2) Shallow magazine depth (fixed) - The mags are not deep enough to seat anything longer than 54.5gr NSAs, so I had to mill them out and now they will seat anything at or under 66gr
3) Barrel harmonics & rigidity (work in progress) - Harmonics can definitely affect the precision with heavier ammo at high power in this rifle. Tensioning with the shroud alone only gets it so far
One of the great design elements of the U2 is it's (8) flat-face set screws that attach the barrel from one end of the action to the other. The barrel and housing also have a near press for tolerance so there's ZERO slop!!! This is second only to a threaded barrel action in my book, but this design leaves the other 1/2 of the barrel vulnerable!
I have a domestic carbon fiber vendor who made a custom mandrel to my specs and I ordered some prototype tubes to test out. The diameter tolerances and fit are PERFECT for the U2 barrels!!!
I'm currently running a non-permanent setup with a tube over the barrel inside of the factory shroud that is tensioned against a polymer bushing. There's a couple of semi-related mods that I'm contemplating that I need to figure out before I implement a permanent setup.
4) Bipod rail SUCKS (fixed) - For the love of God, WHY do these airgun manufacturers design these things with the bipod rail damn near under the trigger?!?! The U2 has a sleek 40mm OD bottle (which was one of the big reasons why I chose it).Except the 530cc bottle is LONG! It was VERY awkward and unstable to shoot off of a bipod, even with a Pic rail attached via keymod to the handguard (the keymod implementation on this handguard is also frustrating and the guard tends to smack into the bottle when the rifle is planted with a bipod.
So I decided that I wanted a low profile Arca rail to run the full length of the bottle and that I would ditch the handguard (it's currently on one of my classic Leshiys). I repurposed some accessories and modified them to work together in forming the rail. The fit is EXACTLY what I had in mind! It's as low profile as one could get with an Arca Swiss rail on this rifle.
I have one more sub-project in the works for this rail that will add bottle mounted support. Devised a clever design for the attachment system that I have NOT seen anyone else do yet, and if it works I'm going to file for a patent as it can be applied to any other bottle rifle (awaiting parts, materials, and new end mills to finish the prototype proof of concept).
For the time being, this single velcro retaining strap has proven to be more than sufficient to stabilize the fore end for field use with a bipod attached.
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