I bought the Ripley Rifles XL25 from AOA

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 The first pellet I tried was the JSB 25.39 redesign. Probably the best .22 cal pellet out there. It preforms very well out of several high power guns. Once again loading was an issue due to the length of the pellet and the skirt catching the breach. Shooting at about 980 to 1000 fps but the groups were just ok. About 1" at 50 yards. I am use to 1/2" to 3/4" out of my Safari and RTI .22 LR. I then tried the Baracuda Match 21.4. The sonic crack made my ears ring and I had trouble hitting a 12"x12" target. Obviously going ballistic didn't suit this pellet. I should mention here that, as far as I can determine, there is no way to adjust the power of the gun. If anyone knows differently please pass it along. I Finley got around to the JSB 18.13 gr. I figured no way in hell this will work. It's lighter then the Baracuda and it's also going to go ballistic and be all over the place. But I was wrong and I have no explanation for this. I also discovered one thing that became a game changer. I figured that if I could just push this pellet into the mag chamber just a little bit I could get the skirt to clear the breach and get rid of that big flyer I was getting occasional . Taking a Q-tip and breaking it in half I would take the stick and push gently on the back of the pellet. The pellet actually "clicked" into place. A perfect fit in every hole. I could load 9 rounds leave the mag in the out position, twirl the gun over my head like one of those guys with the signs on the street corner and no pellets would fall out. No more skirt issues. Loading the gun to 220 to 230 BAR would push these pellets out starting at about 1050 fps. From there it would climb every shot to 1119 fps by shot 8 or so then would walk back down to around 1030 fps. Yes most of the pellets are going ballistic but it doesn't seem to change the POI. ???? and the "crack" was MUCH less then the Baracuda's. Below 1030 or so the groups get bigger and the POI drops a lot. This is a typical shot string as recorded on my chrono. 1045 1065 1074 1084 1090 1098 1110 1110 1116 1117 1119 1114 11051101 1094 1090 1086 1082 1077 1071 10611058 1048 1040 (now the accuracy and the POI start dropping) 1027 1024 1011 996 976 960 947 927. It does this like clock work. My best group has been a 3/8th 5 shot group at 50 yards outside. All targets were shot at 50 yds. Most groups average 1/2" to 3/4". One 18 shot group measured 3/4" C to C. Not bad for a 21 year old gun.

Hope you found this interesting . My goal was to get this gun off the shelf and back onto the range where people could see it, hold it and shoot a piece of airgun history. Thanks to AOA for being a very well run business and to Kip Parow for all your help. (This guy has forgotten more about airguns then most of us will ever learn).
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Got the pic problem figured out. Thanks for the help.




 
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Enjoy, fun rigs. I've only tried a could of the FT models and just fine jewels. Build strong (and correctly) t0o last long, back when you just changed orings every 10 years and then only because they were 10 years old, might well go 20 years plus with a hitch.

Cant recall the shooters name at Roz's who ha one go down at the National but it was back in competition the next day( like later that day but I didn't see). Rekon you' have your local store work on it if needed ( or do you also repair antique watch's for fun? Not that they are as complicated) if not David Slade seems to know his way around them.

Thought you might like to see a picture of the State of the Art manufacturing plant some years after your was likely made.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120721163513/http://www.ripleyriflesgb.co.uk/the-workshop

Naturally you can tune it. NO no adjustments but easily tuned in the proper old fashioned way to be what you want, yours does sound like someone bumped it for power at one point but I've no personal experience with that model. 

Thanks for sharing your timeless airgun.



JOhn
 
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I also greatly appreciate your sharing the joy of owning and shooting this fine old airgun! It prompted me to air up my 20+ yo Daystate CRX-ST lefty for some trigger time. These old guns never cease to amaze in accuracy and quality of construction. Makes me wonder why they ever stopped making them. Cost to manufacture vs potential sales probably just makes it impractical in this day of plastic, aluminum and “badassery”. Uj
 
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I agree. I only paid $1050.00 for my Ruger Presission Rifle in 6.5 C. It's a very nice rifle and can reach out 1000 yards. An Air rifle will never do that (not in my life time anyway). But you are comparing apples and oranges here. I can't shoot rats and prairie dogs in my front yard with my Ruger. I can't shoot my Ruger everyday. I can do all of that with my PCP'c but I would never go Elk hunting with my Ripley either. I can tell you this, I take as much pride in ownership of my air guns as I do with my powder burners. I believe it takes as much technology and R&D to build an air rifle that shoots sub MOA at 100 yards as it does to build a powder burner that will shoot 12" groups at 1000 yards.
 
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