Air Arms S510 Xtra FAC vs. Ultimate Sporter

[airgunstocks]

I'm thinking of Air Arms S510 for my next acquisition. The two models Xtra FAC and the Ultimate Sporter XS make different power. The Xtra FAC .22=30 fpe and in .25=35 fpe. The Ultimate Sporter XS .22=32 fpe and .25 44 fpe (yes I know one is regulated and one is not, but I doubt the reg. is the source of the power increase).

Neither does the power I want in either caliber but the Ultimate Sporter is a lot closer to my goal than the Xtra. I don't want the 70 fpe in .25 one author says he got with port enlarging, but I'd like to make at least 34 fpe in .22 or 46 in .25. Hopefully one could get that improvement with just a bit of port drilling and turning up the reg. a bit (and installing one at that pressure in the Xtra of course).

I suspect that the Ultimate Sporter has larger diameter transfer ports to get the bigger power (and it shoots with lower pressure being regulated, so I would think it would have bigger ports).

The Ultimate Sporter already has it's breath hole drilled, so if I don't like it's plenum size for the power I end up at I'd have to get another tube. Additionally, I would want to swap out the factory regulator for a Lane or Huma, so unless there is advantage in the Ultimate Sporter for some other reasons (more room to drill out bigger transfer ports, stronger parts, or?), the Xtra would be less expensive if I could open up the breathing and add a regulator and get the power I want.

I think the maximum port size limit is the ability to drill out the variable power shaft/stem. Maybe that part is larger diameter on the Ultimate Sporter to allow a larger hole? Or is it the same part as on the Xtra and drilled out to a thin wall situation like the home tuner ends up with?

Long winded, I hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Michael McKeown

 

[LDP]

from what I remember about my S510 adjustable port when I had it apart to add a huma reg was that it was already as large as the port. When the adjuster was turned to full open it wasnt smaller than the rest of the air path in the receiver or valve body. I have never read anything about the valve body on an S5xx/S4xx platform being drilled and opened up. Do you have a link to the info?

I do know my S510 could go above 30 fpe in stock form and its the carbine version. So you may be able to get the fpe numbers you want by just doing a little tuning without opening the valve or tp up. 

 

[airgunstocks]

https://www.airgunforum.ca/forums/topic75026.html

One person writes he opened up the breathing and got 61 fpe in .22, and the OP says he ended up with 72 fpe in .25

I'm not interested in that much power, just the pellet weight I want to shoot in either .22 or .25 requires a bit more than either model of the gun (haven't made up my mind yet which caliber to get).

I also read a brief post of someone that did away with the factory power adjuster and turned an aluminum plug to block off the hole. He didn't elaborate on how exactly he did that.

 

[LDP]

I will look at those posts about modding the valve and tp size. I remember seeing the post about removing the adjustable port and seeing pics but I have no idea where it was. 

If you only wanted 5 - 10 fpe gain over either caliber I would bet you could get that woth the non reg model by adding more HS tension. The regulated model may require a small regulator adjustment with more HS but maybe just more HS. I would think it could be done on either model based on my S510 carbine performance. 

 

[Bob_O]

The Ultimate Sporter XS I had for a couple of months generated a lot of power, 35fpe was what I got out of it. It was shooting 18gr pellets at 975fps. I don't know if that's normal but it's what mine did.

I contacted Huub and he does not make a regulator for the new XS model. The one for the S510 will not work in the new factory regulated model.

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

Dont know that it helps you but the older bolt S410 w/out the transfer port strangle adjustment had grand power - and potential-. Had an oval transfer port and in .177 got 23.4fpe , cant recall what the .22 got hot enough it needed tuned down as well as the .177 did.

Poor memory think AA air tubes are running about $60-70.00 right now if your thinking of drilling. An old bolt action which you could find in L.N.I.B condition for a song w/reg added would get the power level you want ( do you really "need" that power level with AA accuracy? ).

John