bfloyd1095 said:

I am looking at the Crosman Challenger 2021 but I have a concern that hopefully some of you can answer.

I have Very large hands, worked as a machinist my entire adult life, my concern is that opening to install the pellet looks pretty small..

Any 1st hand knowledge would be appreciated

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grackleblast said:

I do a hot fill to 5000 every time. If it's just a top off.....(3500 to 5000) I end up at about 4600 -4700 psi. If a fill from empty on an 88 cu ft.........5000 usually cools down to around 4150 -4200 psi . My pressure relief is set to 5000.
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Cranky1 said:

I have been here since 2018, I lurked for about a year before joining. I still have my 22 cal silver streak that was my first, it’s probably 35 years old. Me and dad use to shoot it because I was too small to pump it. My uncle had a really old 20cal Benjamin and wish I could have ended up with it. Just to sit back with mine. This group has some very good people with very good information. You just have to wade through some of the craziness and the good guys will help. I’ve been lucky and had some really good guys reach out to help me with issues and advice.

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Johnny Mac said:

I recently acquired a Gauntlet SL30. I originally shot it in the factory stock with JSB 44.74 and 50.15 pellets. I didn’t record my groups but I was quite pleased with the accuracy. 50 shots with the 50.15 averaged 977fps and a whopping 107ft/lbs right out of the box. I swapped it into a Hajimoto/Buck Rail chassis but did NOT add a barrel band. I took it out the last couple days and accuracy was pretty terrible. I thought maybe it was far too fast for pellets and tried to turn down the power via the screw at the back of the receiver, I found the screw was already maxed out in the counter clockwise direction and turning it clockwise resulted in even higher velocity, well over 1000fps and turned in about 10 full turns, after the shot the valve remained open and I had to cock the rifle to stop air escaping, so I’m assuming full clockwise is the LOWEST hammer spring tension I can set and is still more power than I really want-I was shooting fully through my rubber stall mat backstop. I do intend to try slugs in this rifle, but is there any way to reduce power from current minimum stock levels without tearing deep into the gun? And am I pushing pellets too fast or do I just need to add a barrel band like the factory stock had to regain accuracy?

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Johnny Mac said:

I recently acquired a Gauntlet SL30. I originally shot it in the factory stock with JSB 44.74 and 50.15 pellets. I didn’t record my groups but I was quite pleased with the accuracy. 50 shots with the 50.15 averaged 977fps and a whopping 107ft/lbs right out of the box. I swapped it into a Hajimoto/Buck Rail chassis but did NOT add a barrel band. I took it out the last couple days and accuracy was pretty terrible. I thought maybe it was far too fast for pellets and tried to turn down the power via the screw at the back of the receiver, I found the screw was already maxed out in the counter clockwise direction and turning it clockwise resulted in even higher velocity, well over 1000fps and turned in about 10 full turns, after the shot the valve remained open and I had to cock the rifle to stop air escaping, so I’m assuming full clockwise is the LOWEST hammer spring tension I can set and is still more power than I really want-I was shooting fully through my rubber stall mat backstop. I do intend to try slugs in this rifle, but is there any way to reduce power from current minimum stock levels without tearing deep into the gun? And am I pushing pellets too fast or do I just need to add a barrel band like the factory stock had to regain accuracy?

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Dairyboy said:

That's interesting. I find the AEA and JTS outperform the JSB/FX in all my .22s.

I've mixed up pellet before once. Yeah I was very very confused at first.

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Gwelo said:

Yes, they are not inexpensive, but, at 79, I tend to be generous with myself. I figure, what am I saving it for? There are still deals to be had on used models. This one was a bargain IMO!

I had cataract surgery on both eyes about 3-4 years ago. I still need readers for close up but I can see the front sight pretty well. I have had red dots on all my pistols and haven’t shot with open sights for more years than I can remember.

I put up a target at 25 yards outdoors and tried the open sights standing, off hand with a 2 hand hold. The first shot was high, off the paper about 2”. I fired off 4 more using a sub six hold and then changed from 7.33 to 7.72g pellets. I was pretty happy to keep them in the black, see the results below.

These pistols are good for a lot more than 10M. Many Bullseye shooters train with them at 25 yard timed and rapid fire as well as slow fire. The long barrel RF model would be better for 25 yds IMO, but this compact standard model ain’t too bad either .

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dgeesaman said:

Couldn’t you use a .172x sized resizing tool on .177 slugs?

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TQM said:

I was shooting, and in the middle of a magazine it just stopped working. Essentially, when the hammer dropped no air was released (as if there was no air in the cylinder). There was just under 3000psi in the cylinder though. There was no air leaking, and I was guessing that a valve was stuck closed. I tried topping off the cylinder to see if that would help, but no luck. I ended up taking it apart to see what was up, and found the small brass cone part of the poppet had broken in two. Thanks to the past here with the parts diagram (Thank you!), I know what to call at least some of these parts.

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When I opened it up, the Valve Core Pin was free to slide back and forth through the Exhaust Valve Core, while the little cone bit in the picture above stayed sealed in place against the Exhaust Valve Core. This is why it acted like there was no air in the cylinder - when the hammer hit the Valve Core Pin, it slide though the Exhaust Valve Core, and even though it pushed back the Exhaust Valve Core Sleeve (white polymer part of the poppet) the brass cone bit stayed in place (sealing the valve). I assumed when poppets go bad, the polymer bit would be what breaks, not the brass bit.

The Notos is less than 3 month old, so I contacted Umarex, and we will see what they say. Hopefully they can just send me the tiny part (not ask for the whole airgun to be shipped back).

Before anyone asks, I haven't done any mods, the Notos is all stock. I haven't fired it without pressure in the cylinder (I hadn't ever had it empty since I first got is and filled it). The hammer spring is stock, and I have the hammer set pretty light (would rather have more shots as opposed to more FPS). I admittedly have shot it a lot since I like to sit down in the evenings and shoot 100 pellets of so at a time. I'm not sure how many tins of pellets I have gone through shooting cans in my back yard, but its a fair number. Still surprised how it broke though.

Hopefully I can get the parts quickly. I've really enjoyed the Notos.

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Kneepit said:

I did that and it worked, kind of bummed I have to take apart the gun to use it. I wonder if there’s another fix, o was thinking of filing a divot on the handle where it is getting marred but I’m sure it would weaken the metal and possibly break.

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Ranchibi said:

Glad you got the right info from THE MAN HIMSELF! The RAW regs belleville washers pressure is compressed by a spring, so yes, that's how these regs work.

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Emu said:

It is ugly indeed.

There's not any better in market I have found yet to improve that rubber pad of the DRS.

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L.Leon said:

Thank you! It means a lot coming from you, because you have used many sweet rigs busting iguanas…

Thank you Randall, those chickens? Simply showing off their Velociraptor genetics. I actually had to scare them away to take the picture…

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WOW said:

Thanks but Airgun Hobbyist already shot that down by providing the truth that my link was a bill that apparently didn't pass and died in 2019. Upon looking deeper there really isn't any provision to hunt deer with an airgun in IL yet. I will definitely still follow up w DNR about a few of these intricacies relating to variable airgun power and velocities. It's a hard thing to put your thumb on and like I said the lawmakers in IL are apparently happy with it that way.

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