Crown magazine vs. single shot tray

[stoti]

Been messing around with my gun lately and tuning it for the heavier 33.95 MkII pellets. I got it figured out but then decided to use the 25.4gr. JSB's for the long haul. I put the settings back to where they were when I got the gun from the factory and it shoots great...except, I've been having trouble with fliers lately. So yesterday I started using my single shot tray almost exclusively and viola, no more fliers. I am amazed at how many fliers I get when I use my magazine, maybe one out of 6-7 shots vs. no fliers at all with the tray. When I say fliers, they're maybe 3/8" off the rest of the group at 40yds but totally obvious and unacceptable. I don't mind using the single shot tray but when I'm hunting, I'd rather use the magazine. Is there any way to remedy this problem? Are any of the suggested magazine fixes worth the time? Thanks Stoti

 

[socaloldman]

I believe Ernest just put up a video on fixing FX mags.

 

[steppenwulf]

had the same issue with mine. much better groups with a ss tray. 

 

[RBAZ]

Where do you get a ss trey?

 

[stoti]

I got my tray on E-Bay and I'm glad I did, otherwise I'd be pulling out my hair trying to figure out why I'm getting fliers. Thanks for the info on Ernest's video, I'll look for it and check it out. Thanks, Stoti

 

[RBAZ]

Thank you stoti, been looking everywhere never thought of eBay...duh..

 

[STO]

I had the same issue with my Crown, the fliers seemed to come from one particularly spot in the mags. I'm still working on making my own mags, but in the interim I banged out my own tray with a few special little modifications to ensure the pellets roll straight down and don't turn. The tray immediately solved the flier problem, and I haven't had a single pellet turn on me as it rolled down the tray since. Makes the Crown into a whole new gun. 

It kinda amazes me that all the guys at EBR seem to run mags. I don't know what they do, but it'd make me CONSIDERABLY less competitive if I ran my factory mag at a competition. It'd be one thing if the mags were cheap, like 15$, but for 80$ a magazine I expect perfection to be completely frank. So I'm off on a quest to make my own magazines, and I *HOPE* I'm about 95% of the way there. In the meantime though, I'm very happy with my single shot tray. I was shooting today at 200 yards with gusting 30mph wind and was getting consecutive hits on a 3" steel plate. Can't ask for much more than that from a .22 pellet. 

 

[stoti]

My fliers seem to come from the 7th and 15th pellet in the magazines rotation. Not always but most of the time. I thought I was crazy at first but the same two spots consistently send fliers down range. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes. Learning something new every day. Stoti

 

[riazp]

I often don’t mind doing small things to make my FX work better...

But I also believe in calling a spade...

The mags are expensive and lately I have had to take an appropriate drill bit wrapped in 1200 sandpaper to the cassette on my .177, .22 and .25 mags!

I opened the hole a smidgeon on the in and outlets, chamfered the top of the cassette and enlarged the grooves a bit. It’s much better now but it was a PITA.

 

[T3PRanch]

Just my thoughts ... but why use a plastic printed SS Tray on a near $2K gun when NOE has a very nice machined metal anodized tray in .25 and .30?

 

[stoti]

I use the printed tray because it was the only one I could find at the time. It works really well. I don't care what it's made out of as long as it works! I'll check out the NOE version though, didn't know about it. Thanks, Stoti

 

[STO]

Just my thoughts ... but why use a plastic printed SS Tray on a near $2K gun when NOE has a very nice machined metal anodized tray in .25 and .30?

3 reasons

1) I didn't know it existed, and banging out a design myself was no problem. 

2) He doesn't appear to list a .22 caliber tray, which is what I'd need anyway. 

3) Quite frankly, I like my design more than his. I've used machined trays like that on other guns before, and I have a problem with the pellets always turning as they roll down the ramp. Maybe I just have sausage fingers and this is a problem only I have, but I had a clever idea to give the ramp some tracks that the pellet would ride on to help keep it aligned. And you know what? About 500 rounds later I've not had a single pellet turn on me. Illustrating that was the purpose of this picture, you can see there is essentially an impression of the shape of the pellet which it rides in. 

I hope that makes sense. I do a lot of work with CNC machines and 3D printers, and for this project I went with the printer by choice not necessity. It seemed the right tool for the job, as machining this design would have required a couple more operations and been a bit more challenging with that pellet/rail/thing on the ramp. And for what functional benefit? None that I can think of. *shrug*