Hello fellow AGN shooters. I came across this issue with the FX Crown Continuum MKll .30 I purchased a few months ago and thought I would pass along the info. I wanted to try a .30 cal and thought the Continuum with two barrel lengths was a great idea, and I still do. The gun was untouched and shot as received. I never removed the barrel shroud until I went to change the barrel and found the issue. I first started shooting with the JSB 44.75 (most are 44.8+) and the 50. grain pellets. I had a little better luck with the 44's so I used them most of the time. My initial results were ok at best. Typical 10 shot groups would produce a seven round one ragged hole with three rounds out in the next time zone. This would happen time after time. It would stack four pellets then put two or three out opening up the group size from a 3/4 inch group to a two inch group @ 50 yds. 75 yds were about double that. The FX Hybrid slugs and NSA slugs were even worse. I went through the whole list of usual suspects, reg pressure, hammer power, loose scope, loose stock, moderator on, moderator off ect. and of course lead shaving. (Lead shaving being #1 on the list). I checked both ends of the moderator where I would expect to find evidence of lead streaks but found no evidence that this was the cause of the big fliers. These FX air rifles have an absolute stellar reputation for accuracy. I have several of them. I began to think maybe I got that one barrel that just doesn't like to play well with others. So I thought I'd try another barrel. Maybe a FX Superior Heavy and try some heaver slugs. ( At least I thought I ordered the "Heavy" but mistakenly ordered the "Superior" which is the same barrel that comes in the Crown MKll). I went over the procedure to remove the barrel shroud and barrel "liner" and was very careful in doing it. The pics show what I found. All three spacers were within 4 inches of each other and grouped where you see them. They should be evenly spaced apart with the first one about 1.2 inches from the end of the barrel. And sense I pulled the shroud off right to left they may have been even closer together and closer to the breach. There was enough shaved lead inside the the shroud and deposited on the spacers to make another tin of pellets. Now I'm not an air rifle expert but even I know that don't look right! The problem was obvious. It was shaving lead in a major way. With all the spacers being grouped together and that far from the end of the barrel, barrel "whip" must have been extreme causing the pellet and slugs to contact something, somewhere before exiting the barrel. So I did what I should have done in the first place. I checked the inside of the barrel shroud end cap and there they were. Two lead streaks. I just assumed that these streaks would be on the moderator entry or exit but they weren't. By the time the projectile got to the moderator it had already been "sized down" by the end cap and the damage was done. My bad. I removed the barrel and spacers, cleaned and inspected them for damage but found none. I reassembled the barrel and spacers and used some tape on both side of the spacers to hold them in place while carefully sliding the shroud back on. I also used a small amount of silicone lube on the rubber o-rings on the spacers to help them slide easier.
So did it work? 50 yd 5 shot groups went from an
Hope this posting might save someone else a little frustration.
