Newbie trying Marauder tuning

So I have today off. Shooting in the back yard. :D

First time with a PCP. Only shot this once, it was enough to figure out it's an air hog. 25 shots takes it from 2900psi down to close to 2k. I backed the hammer spring adjuster all the way out then tightened 2 turns.

So now I have the chrony set up and this is what I got:

Put 15 JSB 15.89gr over the chrony and got average 786 fps, extreme spread of 9 fps, SD=3.

Shot 10 H&N Barracuda 18.13gr AVG=756, ES-10, SD3.

Started at 2900-2950psi 25 shots later I'm at 2150'ish. It's only doing 21-23 ft/lbs so why is it such a gas hog?
 
Maybe it just needed to be shot some? Just went out with it filled up to 3000 and shot 40 14 grainers and it's right around 2100.
Chrony missed a lot of shots in the middle but the first 10 were AVG=803fps ES 17 SD 5. The last 10 shots come out to AVG=823 ES 7 SD 2. So it could have another 10 or 15 shots I guess.

It may shoot good down to 1900 or 1850 I don't know yet. Didn't want to go too far down I have to fill up with a hand pump. And my setup sucks not a stable bench it's a little 3 foot diameter round table off the porch, but I did get one good 10 shot one holer with the Benjamin 14.3s at 20 yards.
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I would first get back to factory settings, see pic, but i bet you have way more shots in there and its not up to speed at that pressure point and tune. Then record a string from like 2900 down to about 1800, paying attention to the pressure at the apex of that curve. From there, follow the A-team tuning link below, prob the best way to describe tuning an mrod. The Nomograph is a solid reference for power levels but not efficiency. The o-ring mod is an air saver too, but clips power some. I find the factory tune is hardly the best but is the best place to start.

You might also check for a transfer port leak, tissue paper around the breech, check your breach o-ring as well for passing air. But i do t think thats it.

Hope it helps!


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Thanks for the info. I'm assuming the numbers where it says 1.25 for the "hammer tension" is one and a quarter turns in from backed out all the way? And is the "transfer screw" what the manual refers to as the metering screw?

Correct on both accounts. The metering screw is actually two screws, one is a cover for the other, the internal one is the adjustment. Unless the gun has been messed with and tuned already, its prob is still at factory setting. One thing i found is the hammer spring is best adjusted when cocked.

Also, the nomograph is for .25, not .22, forgot to mention that. but it shows the relationships of the adjustments.
 
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I have a Marauder Pistol so things may not be exactly the same but I think they are similar. I tuned mine to increase power and shot count (it only has 66cc of air storage). On mine, the hammer throw did not seem to do much until I did a Bstaley tune (O-rings around the valve stem). The Bstaley flattens the velocity curve and gives you more shots but hammer spring tension has to be turned up to get back to the same velocity. I had to put in a stiffer spring.

But the first step is to fill it to fairly high pressure, something over 2500, and then measure velocity of each shot and pressure every 5 shots or so. You want to figure out what pressure to fill to. For me it was about 2500 for the stock tune. Filling to 3000 gave more shots but they were low velocity shots. You have to decide how much velocity variation is too much and that will determine your starting and ending points. You will need to know your hammer spring setting for the shot string.

If you don't like the power, you can increase the hammer spring tension and see what that gives you. Again you have to shoot a string to know. If hammer spring alone is unsatisfactory, you can try a bigger transfer port. I bought a few from Crosman (they were cheap) so I could go backward if I wanted. Then I drilled them out and did more strings. The data somebody provided may help you better plan where you want to go. But you will still need to shoot a string to make sure you got there.

Not sure what sort of chrony you are using but I really like the inexpensive chinese ones that don't use visible light. About $30. My favorite is made for tripod mounting so it doesn't affect the zero at all. I can test pellets for accuracy and/or zero the scope and get my shot string data at the same time.

I recommend finding a pellet that it likes and then tuning the gun to give it 800-900 fps. I would not worry about the fpe too much. I've had great luck killing squirrels with my Prod tuned to about 18 fpe. 25 would be plenty. But if your gun likes heavier pellets you power would be higher (or your trajectory will be steeper). I use H&N FTT copper plated in my Prod but it also shoots Crosman 14.3s well. They work great for pesting. At 25fpe with 14.3s a lot of your shots are going to go completely through squirrels at 25-30 yards.

I would get a tune without the Bstaley and then decide if you want to reduce the SD and extend the shot count a little. You may be happy without it. It is not terribly hard to do but the O-rings mean you will have to mess with hammer throw so there is another variable to test and optimize. Every time I increased the size of the transfer port I did a series of shot strings with different hammer spring tension to optimize accuracy, velocity, and shot count.
 
Well it's working good now. 40-45 good shots on a fill at 21-23 ft/lbs depending on pellet weight. Haven't chronied the 21 grainers yet but it seems to shoot those good too. No reason to mess with it yet. And it's one hole groups at the 20 yards I'm shooting it at now. I will set up a backstop farther out eventually. Need to work on the way I have the fence in the back. I have about 75 yards from my back porch to the far corner of the property but I have a fence line at 35. Brush and trees were too thick at the back end when we moved in but it's all cleared now.
 
My M-rod is a Field and Target so it is moderated. How do I tell what pressure it is moderated at? I presume it is factory settings. Is it necessary to adjust or are factory setting fine?

Am I understanding moderation correctly? Fill the gun to 3000psi and it uses the same pressure till you get to the moderation point, maybe 2000 psi and then it goes down by the amount of each shot.