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Are Marauder barrels universal through time?

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SteveInMN

Member
Mar 11, 2022
7
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Minnesota, United States
I own a 2010 Gen 1 .22 Marauder. Shot poorly out of the box. Got a new barrel in the very early 2010s from Crosman. Better, but certainly no laser. Passable with CPs and Barracudas, HORRIBLE with my go-to JSB 15.9s and with JSB 14.3s.

I understand the modern Crosman barrels shoot better than the old ones. Better manufacturing.

So - if I'm going to hope that the third time's a charm and order yet another barrel -- has the barrel fit remained the same since Gen 1? I'd like to order one intended for the latest generation, which I understand shoot well, instead of ordering the part # for Gen 1 and getting stuck with a new old stock one that shoots poorly.

Thanks -

(BTW - not the baffles, I've done the A/B test on that. And I know one could drop $250 on a new LW barrel, which I'm hoping to not do.)
 
I have found that with a bit of TLC most Crosman barrels will shoot excellent.

You need to check the crown many the early ones can use a re-crown. The newer ones and the Green Mountain barrels need the crown werq much less often.

The chamber ends can use a bit of de-burring and polishing for the most part.

Then run a pellet down the cleaned barrel, with a rod, and feel for tight spots. Polish the tight spots out.

I have done this to most of my Crosman barrels and get very good results with nearly all of them. Although I did have to cut one or two down to make them right.

My best shooting barrel was a 14" , off of a 2250 gun, that I cut the port and chamber off of and used it for the crown as the barrel was tight, at the beginning, and loosey goosey after that.

Crosman revamped their in house barrel making, some years back, and things did get better.

Spending a half hour to an hour on a barrel can make a huge difference in the way they shoot.
 
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Thank you all for the great input. I had in fact put a fresh crown on the old one, and the barrel felt pretty uniform till the last inch and the obvious choke. No visual problems with the leade, and it passed the Q Tip test. Called Crosman and a new production barrel is on the way. Spoke with Matt, who was very helpful and affirmed that there is but a gnat's whisker in performance between the new barrels and the LWs. I told Matt that their parts service is highly valued and appreciated. He said he hears that a lot : )
 
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Saltlake58,
I have a few questions about your setup. First question; Have you polished the barrel? Not just a deep cleaning, but an actual polishing? Second question; what's the FPS that you are shooting at? The reason I ask is because I personally have seen massive improvements by polishing my barrels. And as far as distance, I push my pellets as fast as accuracy allows. Once accuracy is effected, you're going too fast.
 
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Been a while since I shot the gun, but, here goes
Polished, no. Deep cleaning only. This is an original Gen 2 barrel, no modifications.
Gun is regulated (After market) tuned at about 860 fps for JSB 18 grain .22.

Reason I ask the question is that in the past 10 years, Crosman claimed to be producing barrels about as good as LW, which is quite a stretch. However, if spending a few bucks would improve accuracy at distance, Closer (50 yards or so) it's accurate, but obviously gets worse as you stretch it out.
 
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Projectile stability is affected by numerous factors, but three of them that are most easily controlled or altered by the shooter are projectile “weight” (length), projectile velocity, and barrel twist rate.

Increasing pellet weight for a given caliber almost always means increasing length. There are ways around this if you want to go lighter (alloys) or can change the overall shape (using a dome such as the JSB King rather than something like the Hades), but going heavier almost always means a longer projectiles, which requires a corresponding increase in twist rate.

Velocity also changes stability. For a given twist rate, a slower velocity results in a lower RPM, whereas a faster velocity equates to a faster RPM and thus greater stability. The trick here is finding the sweet spot (or “node”) where stability/accuracy and the desired FPE meet as close as possible, if FPE matters to you.

And lastly, replacing the barrel with one of a more appropriate twist rate for your chosen projectile will help a good deal if needed. This is generally more expensive and time consuming than the above two options, but it can yield amazing results if you find that it’s needed.

If you can, try a lighter pellet or try driving the current ones faster and see if anything changes for the better. Pellet weight and velocity are where I’d start!

Edit: I’ll leave the post up for continuity’s sake, but disregard the above. My years of shooting firearms and traditional bullets will take some time to “break,” LOL.
 
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Basher said:
Projectile stability is affected by numerous factors, but three of them that are most easily controlled or altered by the shooter are projectile “weight” (length), projectile velocity, and barrel twist rate.

Increasing pellet weight for a given caliber almost always means increasing length. There are ways around this if you want to go lighter (alloys) or can change the overall shape (using a dome such as the JSB King rather than something like the Hades), but going heavier almost always means a longer projectiles, which requires a corresponding increase in twist rate.

Velocity also changes stability. For a given twist rate, a slower velocity results in a lower RPM, whereas a faster velocity equates to a faster RPM and thus greater stability. The trick here is finding the sweet spot (or “node”) where stability/accuracy and the desired FPE meet as close as possible, if FPE matters to you.

And lastly, replacing the barrel with one of a more appropriate twist rate for your chosen projectile will help a good deal if needed. This is generally more expensive and time consuming than the above two options, but it can yield amazing results if you find that it’s needed.

If you can, try a lighter pellet or try driving the current ones faster and see if anything changes for the better. Pellet weight and velocity are where I’d start!
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Pellets are drag stabilized they dont need increased twist rates for changing between pellet weights like a centerfire rifle would when changing bullet weights in a vld style bullet. You can shoot a pellet thru a smooth bore and it will be stabilized because the shape of pellets are designed to be drag stabilized. A very slow rate of twist is said to increase accuracy in diabolo pellets even tho its not needed to stabilize the pellet. So any barrel made for an airgun will have more then enough twist to work with any weight diabolo pellet in that caliber.
 
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LDP said:
Pellets are drag stabilized they dont need increased twist rates for changing between pellet weights like a centerfire rifle would when changing bullet weights in a vld style bullet. You can shoot a pellet thru a smooth bore and it will be stabilized because the shape of pellets are designed to be drag stabilized. A very slow rate of twist is said to increase accuracy in diabolo pellets even tho its not needed to stabilize the pellet. So any barrel made for an airgun will have more then enough twist to work with any weight diabolo pellet in that caliber.
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Doh! You’re correct! I had just done some reading on slugs so I was stuck on a more “traditional” line of thinking on bullet stability when I typed that reply (old habits die hard). :confused: Thanks for catching my slip up and correcting it, maybe I’ll just stick with more reading and less typing for now…:LOL:
 
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Basher said:
Doh! You’re correct! I had just done some reading on slugs so I was stuck on a more “traditional” line of thinking on bullet stability when I typed that reply (old habits die hard). :confused: Thanks for catching my slip up and correcting it, maybe I’ll just stick with more reading and less typing for now…:LOL:
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No worries. There are people who are new to airguns but have lots of experience in centerfire long range shooting. So its understandable if someone would make a mistake in thinking a heavier diabolo pellet would require more twist. You are 100% correct about slugs since they are a traditional bullet shape.
 
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Basher said:
Yeah, that would be me, LOL. Hence my “read more, type less” comment. I appreciate the gentle correction though, really enjoying the forums overall atmosphere and helpful members so far! :)
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I have been a member for quite some time. You will see some sideways remarks from time to time but its been a pretty level forum with most people trying to be helpful and not have attitudes. We all make mistakes so its certainly no reason to talk down or bash another member over. We are all here to learn new things and share what we know or have experience in. My apologies to the OP for getting a little off topic;)
 
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SteveInMN said:
Thank you all for the great input. I had in fact put a fresh crown on the old one, and the barrel felt pretty uniform till the last inch and the obvious choke. No visual problems with the leade, and it passed the Q Tip test. Called Crosman and a new production barrel is on the way. Spoke with Matt, who was very helpful and affirmed that there is but a gnat's whisker in performance between the new barrels and the LWs. I told Matt that their parts service is highly valued and appreciated. He said he hears that a lot : )
Click to expand...
Steve how did the new production Crosman bbl. work out? Is it shooting better at long range?
 
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