• The AGN App is ready! Search "Airgun Nation" in your App store. To compliment this new tech we've assigned the "Threads" Feed & "Dark" Mode. To revert back click HERE.

MY NEW KRAL BREAKER SILENT BULL PUP...HONEST REVIEW!

Rod, First I always add a disclaimer that way works for me may not work for you.

Like you stated I apply over 25 years of gunsmithing along with nearly twice that in shooting to Airgun tinkering.

Airguns and a PCP's in particular don't always react the same as a powder burner. The principle is the same but their reactions are a little different.

Let's talk about your stock issue first. Normally with a powder burner if you had an issue with that movement, you would automatically do an aluminum bedding or a glass bedding to correct the issue. Along with free-floating the barrel, and making sure you have a good crown should eliminate any accuracy issues.

With a crawl having the framework attached to the bridge I would definitely do something to stop the movement. I'm not sure bedding would be the best solution nor the easiest. For me having some experience with channeling out blanks for rifles I would look for a solution of getting a better fit with the wood. That would require some in letting and fitting which isn't too hard but it would need to be pretty tight. Harmonics with a PCP would not really be an issue unless precise target shooting like Benchrest and even FT...hunting you have a larger margin of error then trying to hit a pin head size 10 zone on a BR card....

My friend Jimmy Fussell on The Forum AKA Camp Fussell, had an FX Royal 400 and .22 caliber. I had the exact same gun in the synthetic model. He had an issue with the POA moving around, mine was lights out perfect.
He asked me to take the gun and take a look at it. I prescribe to the K.I.S.S. principal. Keep it simple stupid!

The first thing I checked was to make sure the barrel was seated securely. After that I checked the stock fit and I found a little left to right movement inside the wooden stock. Not uncommon as most of these guns I use a single stock screw to hold them together. Not a lot of movement just a tiny bit. So I remove the stock and took pieces of masking tape on either side of the breach. Two thin pieces of that tape on either side stopped the movement there was no vertical movement with it taken down period took the gun outside and placed hole in hole at 30 yards without any difficulty. That tiny bit of lateral movement related to a good bit of movement at distance.

Usually with loose left to rt movement will show as lateral POI shift. Bouncing up, over , back the other way of the POA, indicates a more severe cause, mostly loose barrel screws...

See? Simple. Most cures come this way. Most of these guns and especially the high-end guns are so precise, sometimes only a little teeny bit of an issue can throw it way off.

Adventure to say, if you can get the gun seated into the stock tightly weather using tape, routing out a little bit of wood with a chisel, etc, you would be able to firmly mount the stock and eliminate a lot of your problem with POA right there.

You could ck to see how much the stock is causing the bad grouping, by leaving the stock off and shoot the gun off a bag from a bench. The Cauldwell Tack Driver bag works great. It won't matter that the actuator lever is at the bottom...

Then try going through your pellets again to see which ones groups the best. I have been using air arms 25.4 grain with unbelievable results. The Diablo pellet definitely is the way to go for accuracy . Some people prefer a raptor or one of the expanding pellets and they are right, they will have more down range impact. But for me I only take headshots on small animals when hunting. I always try for the one-shot kill.

With your dirty Barrel that would definitely be an issue. Most likely The quality control when Kral rifles leave turkey may not be the best. First thing I always do with a new rifle especially powder burners, is to give it a good thorough cleaning. A lot of times there is some metal chippings from the Machining that's left in the barrel. Nothing major and easily fixed by cleaning.

Now with my competition Steyr it does not like pellets straight out of the box, even if they're washed first. Most Steyr's and people that use the Steyr's that I know of. lubricate their pellets with a lubricant like slick 50 One Lube. The barrel stay cleaner longer, and it slightly slows To pellet but increases the best grouping.

Pellet speed can effect your grouping too. Most air Gunners know that the speed claim you see on the boxes of the Gamos and some of the other rifles at big box stores, are not real world. the claim 1100 feet per second is not right. Most of those guns will not do that without PBA ammo and are slower with lead. But it emphasizes a point with air gun pellets.

Once you exceed a certain speed usually around just under 900 feet per second, your accuracy falls way off. This is because at that Speed. Most pellet start to tumble and lose their aerodynamics.

In field Target, it's a well-known fact that the 12 foot pounds of energy guns are inherently more accurate than the same exact gun shooting at 20 FPE. Decidedly more affected by wind but still more accurate
inherently.

So with this point in mind check your speeds and back it off or increase of a little bit according to what your pellet does best. With the Kral, I did not do it with the adjustable power setting. All it is, is a port size adjustment. It basically increases or decreases the size of the port. I preferred it to be wide open and set, as the adjustability is to quirky, not having any dentint to stop it at a particular opening size.

I preferred to use the hammer spring tension to increase or decrease and found that the best was that about 35 - 36 FPE. That gave me the best accuracy out of the gun .

Okay let's talk pellets. My gun prefers, and most of my guns prefer, air arms over the JSB's. Not that they're too far off of each other, it's just the air arms seem to group a bit tighter than has JSB's. I chose 25.4 grain Air Arms pellets. You may want to try others and even CP's as they have a harder blend in material.

Now for another issue Old Corps and I found. If you tilt the gun back while loading a pellet into the mag, it can slip back into the breach and jam the mag. The magazine looks like the FX mag, but it is no FX!

It holds the pellets too loose for my liking... !!! With a mag rifle, field target and bench rest guys don't use a mag. Using a single shot tray allows precise placement into the lead-in of the barrel. Magazines have too many problems with proper placement... They are not aligned perfect, the pellet can be pushed in slightly crooked, it can mishape the skirt. A myriad of issues.

I bought a used and broke Evanix Blizzard from a friend. The cocking lever also pushes the arm to rotate the mag to the next pellet. I removed the arm as it was gouging the side plate from a guide screw not staying in the hammer. I rotated the mag by my finger waiting for the new side plate and hammer to arrive from Korea. Since my finger did not touch the mag after clicking it to the next dentint on the gun. The mag automatically seated itself perfectly in line for the pellet. The gun went from grouping 1" to a 1/2" at 30 yards, to grouping one ragged hole at 30 yds. It was a. 22 and I left the lever out when it arrived. I sold the gun and the new owner had the option of me putting it in or leaving it out. I told him I could guide him installing it on the phone. He loved the accuracy and left it out. Besides after doing it 20 times you could nearly rotate it as fast.

Hope I gave you some ideas to try Rod...Good luck and keep us posted...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rod
A BIG amen re. publicly trashing a gun that you were praising as so great for the bucks that you convinced so many folks to part with their hard earned $$$ to have you "power tune". Sure didn't set well with me and IMO does a lot more to soil a reputation than some problems with a particular gun. Seems to me if you were "going all in" to modify and market a rifle you'd do a lot more testing & research first. I was going to order one modified from him but he was out of stock before I made up my mind. Turns out that was a lucky break. What happens now to those that got one from him and something goes south? The factory warranty has been voided, is he gonna repair them? If there's a legitimate safety concern with the triggers that IS a big deal. Were the sears modified from stock? Dunno. So far (500 rounds or so) I couldn't be happier with mine but time will tell. When/if something takes a dump I'll certainly be posting about it here. JMHO

Airgun Monkey-Thanks so much for posting your experience with the Krals. Good to hear from someone that's had 'em for awhile.

Rod-Paul posted earlier re. installing the receiver into the stock properly. There's a hole or really more of a slot at the inside rear that allows the nut on the trigger linkage to slide in to. The receiver needs to go in at a slight angle (muzzle up) to fit in correctly. If not usually the rifle won't cock because the linkage is binding. MAYBE that's the reason your action isn't fitting right? Worth checking anyway.

Ed
 
I also agree, and it definitely doesn't sit too well as I spent money on the power tune(just porting it seems). My hammer has two springs behind it and not sure if that's a factory
set up or part of the tune? The extra pressure on the sear could be why people are seeing failures. Other than the polish I put on my sear, I don't think it's been modified at all.
 
Sorry Matt,. Haha retired and taking the day off from the 14.5 hour drive back from the Baton Rouge GP...

Rod Matt gave some good points too on making sure you are not clipping the inside of the shroud. Unscrew the cap and look for any tiny nicking with a magnafier. Or try shooting with the cap off... You surely won't clip anything although it will be a little loud.

If you cleaned the barrel, did you use a crown saver? A rod strike with a stainless rod end where the Jag screws on can mess up a crown in a heart beat.

The barrel is free floated and the shroud is only on the barrel. Check to see that when the barrel has the shroud being screwed onto the interview fitting, that there is little resistance from the o ring end on the shroud. It is possible if the cap with the o ring is off center, it could put pressure at one side torquing on the barrel.

My main advice to anyone trying to figure out an issue with their guns is this. Look and figure out what it can't possibly be, and continue to figure what it can't be, eliminating all be possibilities, until you end up with the only possible solution. This is the method used by the US Government's​ think tank in Washington DC .... It works...
 
Guys, I emailed that post to Will Piatt who has my gun, and asked if he would harden it or I could do it.

He replied no problem as he is always hardening Sears and parts for his gunsmithing business.

As I said I have gunsmithing for a long time. I had to harden may parts for powder burners over the years.

Will is an active full time gunsmith . He owns Saddle Mountain Gunsmithing. He is known as the guru of the Koren Airguns. He even said the Kral is a clone of the E Blizzard. That is why I gave him mine. I intend to let him do whatever to to gun to make it superb.

Yes I don't care about the money...Uh stupid statement, I do. However, I think the gun can be something special in the right hands. Just want to see if so....
I have links to him on my website
But I don't want to put mine here so it is not considered an ad.

Just Google the name and it will come up.....Great guy to work with, and one hell of a shooter.... Can you say man crush...... Hahaha!

Seriously, I own a lot to his advice on shooting principles....
 
You know guys, and silent gals reading these posts... This is such a cool way for us to get info and disperse info on our passion.

Dosen't it feel like a bunch of like minded friends sitting around Bull schnitting ... All we need is some beers and a camp fire. What other AG forum has this kind of feel...?

It would be pretty cool if we could all meet at a venue to put a face on each other and shoot some lead.

At last year's Nationals a fellow stopped when I was getting gear in the truck and saw my AGN sticker on my gun cradle. Asking for my AGN handle and telling me his, we found out we had been talking on the forum for quite a while and longer with my buddy who got me in this mess. Camp Fussell.

Since then, John in MA and I have become friends. As competitors at GPs in a different class, we encourage each other long distance and when shooting together at matches. That may change if I go yo his class next year...Lol

This venue that Michael and Ted developed is the most up to date and friendly forum out there. Kudis to them.....

Hmmm, I wonder if we can get a place in the center of the Us for a week of field target, bench rest, 10 meter, 3D hunting, and all the other shooting disciplines, including a plinking challange. Or just a plinking challange over just a weekend.

Basically a meet and greet and fun plinking like in our backyard. Shooting grapes at 55 yards, eggs at 100 yds, and other goodies. We then could break the class to shoot in by FPE ... Hey bring on the big bored for eggs at 400- 500 yards....lol
 
Cool Ed, but I was thinking along the lines of a 1" nicely marbled, ribeye steak! Cooked from after letting it get to room temperature. Marinated overnight in Lea and Perrin's Worcestershire sauce. With garlic, salt and pepper...

Thrown on a fire hot grill to braise and then switched to a 450 degree grill to cook to a nice medium rare. Then served smother in grilled onions..... That's my idea instead of marshmallows....Lol
(Damn, I just drooled on my shirt)

Oh and can I assume you will show you prowess with the beach ball, by throwing you rifle like a spear to make it a challange ? HA!
 
After cleaning my Kral, I ran another 20 pellet's thru it and it's still in the 1.5 to 2' range at 40 yards this time. I haven't really stared messing with it yet, so it could be a lot of things.

I'll take your advice on the stock. I have some rubber strips I use to mount scopes. I'll try that if it helps, I'll see about sanding out the stock to get a better fit.

OldCorps: Thankss, I saw that and will check to make sure the trigger rod is clearing. Mine is not having issues with firing. Still worth checking.

SiletMatt: I think pellets are hitting the shroud. There's a small mark 180deg from each other. I'll take it off tonight and shoot again for groups so see if it helps., Then I'll mark over them with a black sharpie put it back on and see if I get new marks. 

You can see one mark here:
http://morningstarcc.org/images/News/rod_kral_1.jpg

If it is hitting, what would cause this? The shroud is attached to the barrel. You would think they would be perfectly aligned.

I also think the barrel is hitting the scope mount and the barrel band. Seems like the holes the barrel goes through should be larger. Can this be fixed by repositioning the barrel? I did take it out after all. It didn't come out all that easy. I marked up the barrel a bit doing it.

I've only run JSB Diablo Exact Kings in 25.39 and JSB Kings in 33.95. I will purchase more tins and try different pellets.

I still need to run more pellets down the barrel, thanks for the tip on the AA pellets, they are in my cart as we speak. I have to run a full tank of air across the chrony to see if I'm over filling and to find this guns sweet spot.

I don't think I messed the crown up. I use a plastic jag to push the patches through back to front. I do this with all my guns so I don't mess up the crown. I use a crown saver on my discovery, but I wanted to pull the barrel off this one and look down it. It looks good to my eye, but I'll put it under a light and take a pic so I can zoom in.

I'm far from giving up. There's lot's to do, but that's partly why I like shooting so much. But I hope I don't have a lemon on my hands.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Rod

 
Rod, If it does it must be real loose in the pellet trough. There is a considerable size diff between the two. But who knows it is a Turkish gun.

If the pellet is clipping the front cap, just take it off and shoot for groups. There is a internal shute shaped like the baffles on a Maurader. I took four Maurader baffles without the spring, and they fit in the front section of the shroud perfect.

That O ring cap on the back of the shroud is supposed to keep the shroud centered back there. Unscrew the shroud and look at the knurled insert. It is about an inch deep into the back of the shroud. I assume it is threaded on and locktite to stay. It may be off centered. If you have a Harbour Freight near you, go to their lighting section. They have a two pack flexible LED mini flashlight set that is the cats butt for a bore light!

The little one is ok but the big one has about a foot long flex neck that you can look at the bore on a .300 Win Mag full length rifle and have length to spare. Best bore light ever! Almost too bright when directly in the chamber. Best of all it is very inexpensive....! Bonus!

Just take the shroud cap off first and see how it shoots. Also the pic of the clipping did not come through, only the link to your church.
 
 Rod, The bore not being concentric to the outside diameter of the barrel is very common. I have seen this issue in every major brand of powder burner barrel that I have threaded. The Kral also has very sloppy threads. 

There is a pinch bolt on the bottom side of the scope mount that you can loosen to adjust the barrel mount alignment. I don't run a shroud, so I ended up
boring the mount holes out to give the barrel more clearance because it rattled
when the gun was bumped. Make sure to mark the tube at the mount before loosening it so you keep your trigger and length of pull the same.