I sent my 177 Raptor back to JSAR on their request to get some upgraded parts which included a new barrel (remember, they had issues with the original batch of Lothar Walther barres from LW itself), new trigger with 4 adjusting screws, new hand grip made of rubber in place of the metal one and the adjustable regulator. There may have been other internal changes that I am unaware of too.
Here goes. The first thing I have is a question to the hive about the adjustable regulator. A spanner wrench was overlooked and not included in the case. Jacob has one coming to me. My question is as follows. When the regulator adjustment is turned, exactly what turns? Does the entire regulator itself turn, or is it just the knurled section that the spanner wrench latches on to? I have a spanner that sort of fits and when I went to turn it, the entire regulator turned. It is screwed into the plenum and the whole thing was basically unscrewing. I stopped right there. Thanks to anyone who can answer this question.
When the gun came back, it was shooting to hot for my needs and eating way too much air. Being that I didn't adjust the regulator, I had two other adjustments available to calm it down. One was the hammer spring pre-load and the other was the striker. There has been discussion about these adjustments and how critical they are to get a balance between the two.
If you unscrew the shoulder stock, you can get to both of the above adjustments. The pe-load uses a large allen wrench and the striker needs a smaller, but longer one to get to. I don't have the sizes readily available at this writing. There is a small allen screw on the left hand side of the tube that locks the pre-load bolt in place. JSAR started putting a small white plastic piece in the screw hole, about the size of a BB, to prevent the screw from marring the threads when turned down. That piece is not fixed in place and may drop out if the bolt and spring are removed.
The gun has what is known as a "balanced valve." This type of valve, due to some real fancy design factors, needs much less hammer strike to do its job of letting air to flow through it. Hammer bounce and overall vibration is held in check. So while this is a good thing to have, how is the balance achieved? There has been a few posts describing how it was done by some of our members. Each one seemed to be a little different, but all said that when they got their guns to where they wanted them, the shot sounded much more quiet something like a light hammer blow on a surface.
With my gun, your results may vary, with the hammer pre=load turned in 3 turns from when the threads first catch on the adjusting bolt and the striker turned counterclockwise until the gun just stops firing then turned in about 3/4 of a turn from that point, I was getting about 850 FPS from a distance of about 15 feet away from the chrony with H&N 10.65 grain Barracuda domed pellets, the pellet this gun seems to be most satisfied with.
I thought I was in with this set up until the gun started going Pfffft on a random basis. The regulator pressure held fast at about 1250 PSI but the pressure being sent to the pellet was not even enough to send it down the barrel. A readjustment had to be made.
I turned the striker adjustment in all the way to a soft stop and backed out two turns. Then doubled the hammer adjustment to 6 turns in from when the threads first caught. That led to a louder shot cycle, not what I considered optimal. I backed off one turn to 5 on the hammer and just that one turn quieted things down a lot. At this point I decided to see how the accuracy was and below are the results of 10 shots, 5 on each circle. An occasional flyer due to wind or even me is a reality and that comes with every gun. I will hold these adjustments for now to see if they themselves hold for me. I didn't see what the chrony said because the results were too good, but I may fire it up later today.
Trigger adjustments are still a bit of a mystery. I found if I turned two of the screws the wrong way and too far, the gun would not cock. That is typical of a multi-adjustable trigger. I stumbled on screw positions that put the trigger where I wanted it so I stopped at that point before doing any more adjustments.
In summary, I have spoken to another member about these guns and we agree they seem to do best in the higher power category. Those with 25 and 30 calibers are getting very good result. I stick to 177 so I can safely shoot in my back yard.
The new barrel in 177 is a Lothar Walther and it is secured to the receiver much differently than the original which had a flat spot machined into it that the securing screws contacted. The new barrel has dimple holes and instead of just two screws, like the original, it is held be three that go into the dimples.
There has been talk of the possibility that LW has changed their specifications on their barrels and there may be some truth to that. This barrel shoots the harder Barracudas better than it shoots my go to JSB 10.34 grain Exacts. All my other LW barrels are happy with the JSB's. I will have to push a pellet or two through it to see what the rifling marks look like.
We are waiting for Hajimoto to make a promised video detailing all the upgraded parts and adjustment in these guns. JSAR's operation is at max to get them out and has not, as of yet, made up a manual to go along. Both of these should be forthcoming.
So for now, the results of 40 yard shots are shown below.
Here goes. The first thing I have is a question to the hive about the adjustable regulator. A spanner wrench was overlooked and not included in the case. Jacob has one coming to me. My question is as follows. When the regulator adjustment is turned, exactly what turns? Does the entire regulator itself turn, or is it just the knurled section that the spanner wrench latches on to? I have a spanner that sort of fits and when I went to turn it, the entire regulator turned. It is screwed into the plenum and the whole thing was basically unscrewing. I stopped right there. Thanks to anyone who can answer this question.
When the gun came back, it was shooting to hot for my needs and eating way too much air. Being that I didn't adjust the regulator, I had two other adjustments available to calm it down. One was the hammer spring pre-load and the other was the striker. There has been discussion about these adjustments and how critical they are to get a balance between the two.
If you unscrew the shoulder stock, you can get to both of the above adjustments. The pe-load uses a large allen wrench and the striker needs a smaller, but longer one to get to. I don't have the sizes readily available at this writing. There is a small allen screw on the left hand side of the tube that locks the pre-load bolt in place. JSAR started putting a small white plastic piece in the screw hole, about the size of a BB, to prevent the screw from marring the threads when turned down. That piece is not fixed in place and may drop out if the bolt and spring are removed.
The gun has what is known as a "balanced valve." This type of valve, due to some real fancy design factors, needs much less hammer strike to do its job of letting air to flow through it. Hammer bounce and overall vibration is held in check. So while this is a good thing to have, how is the balance achieved? There has been a few posts describing how it was done by some of our members. Each one seemed to be a little different, but all said that when they got their guns to where they wanted them, the shot sounded much more quiet something like a light hammer blow on a surface.
With my gun, your results may vary, with the hammer pre=load turned in 3 turns from when the threads first catch on the adjusting bolt and the striker turned counterclockwise until the gun just stops firing then turned in about 3/4 of a turn from that point, I was getting about 850 FPS from a distance of about 15 feet away from the chrony with H&N 10.65 grain Barracuda domed pellets, the pellet this gun seems to be most satisfied with.
I thought I was in with this set up until the gun started going Pfffft on a random basis. The regulator pressure held fast at about 1250 PSI but the pressure being sent to the pellet was not even enough to send it down the barrel. A readjustment had to be made.
I turned the striker adjustment in all the way to a soft stop and backed out two turns. Then doubled the hammer adjustment to 6 turns in from when the threads first caught. That led to a louder shot cycle, not what I considered optimal. I backed off one turn to 5 on the hammer and just that one turn quieted things down a lot. At this point I decided to see how the accuracy was and below are the results of 10 shots, 5 on each circle. An occasional flyer due to wind or even me is a reality and that comes with every gun. I will hold these adjustments for now to see if they themselves hold for me. I didn't see what the chrony said because the results were too good, but I may fire it up later today.
Trigger adjustments are still a bit of a mystery. I found if I turned two of the screws the wrong way and too far, the gun would not cock. That is typical of a multi-adjustable trigger. I stumbled on screw positions that put the trigger where I wanted it so I stopped at that point before doing any more adjustments.
In summary, I have spoken to another member about these guns and we agree they seem to do best in the higher power category. Those with 25 and 30 calibers are getting very good result. I stick to 177 so I can safely shoot in my back yard.
The new barrel in 177 is a Lothar Walther and it is secured to the receiver much differently than the original which had a flat spot machined into it that the securing screws contacted. The new barrel has dimple holes and instead of just two screws, like the original, it is held be three that go into the dimples.
There has been talk of the possibility that LW has changed their specifications on their barrels and there may be some truth to that. This barrel shoots the harder Barracudas better than it shoots my go to JSB 10.34 grain Exacts. All my other LW barrels are happy with the JSB's. I will have to push a pellet or two through it to see what the rifling marks look like.
We are waiting for Hajimoto to make a promised video detailing all the upgraded parts and adjustment in these guns. JSAR's operation is at max to get them out and has not, as of yet, made up a manual to go along. Both of these should be forthcoming.
So for now, the results of 40 yard shots are shown below.
