Hey everyone!
I've been given the privilege of testing out one of the prototype barrels that was part of the ART program for Daystate. To say I am impressed at the change would be an understatement. My original Red Wold was a .25 and it shot very well but, I felt there was room for improvement. So, I tried the .22 with the new redesigned JSB .25g. The .22 performed to my expectations so, I stuck with it.
When the opportunity came to try a new design for .25, I jumped at the chance! As usual, my first step was to clean the barrel before installing it. Turns out, it was already pretty clean but, I did get a little dirt removed. Pulling the patches through, I could already feel how incredibly smooth it was inside! After cleaning, I took a peek down the barrel and it looks beautiful, smooth, and slick! I should have taken a pic of it. Maybe I'll pull it over the next few days and post a pic for you guys.
I've had a lot of projects taking up most of my time over the past few weeks & months. So, I haven't had much time to shoot until recently. After charging up the batt and programmer, and getting some advise from some of my shooting friends, I went to work re-programming for my target speed. All ready to shoot and... windy, windy, windy! Every day, windy. Regardless of the wind, I could tell that this barrel was a shooter! I'd stack ~2 and the wind would send the rest. I do believe it's necessary to shoot in the wind but, it's also necessary to establish a baseline in zero or near zero wind conditions. I had no choice but to wait for some calmer days.
Once I had a few of those calm days, I got to work. A little tweak, a little tune. A little clean, a little lube. The groups I'm posting below are using old pellets that were washed about a year ago and have sat in tupperware ever since. They've been both frozen and sun baked. So, keep it in mind that they're unsorted and probably not in the best condition anymore. But, I wanted to feed this barrel the "junk" first to see how it dealt with it and to establish that baseline without using my premium sorted pellets.
My 100 yard plate is on the left side edge of this picture.
Here's a look at it through the scope.
And, here's a pic of that 5 shot group you can see in the scope. It's one of the first groups I put any effort into. You can see how 3 landed almost on top of one another and then 2 wandered off a bit. Still about a 1" group CTC. Mind the paint chips! The hard part about shooting painted metal is that sometimes the paint chips off and it either looks like a 6th shot or makes the group look larger than it is. Focus on silver circles and poi dots.
The next three groups were all shot during one sit down.
The drilled hole is 1/4". I've got a very nice group here with one wanderer.
It's hard to find the impact points on this one. But, another nice group none the less.
These 5 hit in the shape of a "C" with the outer edges all touching.
Is my barrel the final design? I can't say for certain. But, I do know that it is one of the top performing barrels from the testing process. So, if this isn't the final design specs then, the final design specs can only be a step above!
Pellet? - This barrel likes the 25g JSB's better than the 34g. I have been focused on using the 25g's so, I do not have any groups to share using the 34's.
Speed? - I'm still fine tuning my settings. But I'll narrow it down and say, it seems to like to send them out somewhere between 910 and 930.
My overall impression of this barrel is that it is a significant improvement over the original design.
Happy Shooting!
Tom
I've been given the privilege of testing out one of the prototype barrels that was part of the ART program for Daystate. To say I am impressed at the change would be an understatement. My original Red Wold was a .25 and it shot very well but, I felt there was room for improvement. So, I tried the .22 with the new redesigned JSB .25g. The .22 performed to my expectations so, I stuck with it.
When the opportunity came to try a new design for .25, I jumped at the chance! As usual, my first step was to clean the barrel before installing it. Turns out, it was already pretty clean but, I did get a little dirt removed. Pulling the patches through, I could already feel how incredibly smooth it was inside! After cleaning, I took a peek down the barrel and it looks beautiful, smooth, and slick! I should have taken a pic of it. Maybe I'll pull it over the next few days and post a pic for you guys.
I've had a lot of projects taking up most of my time over the past few weeks & months. So, I haven't had much time to shoot until recently. After charging up the batt and programmer, and getting some advise from some of my shooting friends, I went to work re-programming for my target speed. All ready to shoot and... windy, windy, windy! Every day, windy. Regardless of the wind, I could tell that this barrel was a shooter! I'd stack ~2 and the wind would send the rest. I do believe it's necessary to shoot in the wind but, it's also necessary to establish a baseline in zero or near zero wind conditions. I had no choice but to wait for some calmer days.
Once I had a few of those calm days, I got to work. A little tweak, a little tune. A little clean, a little lube. The groups I'm posting below are using old pellets that were washed about a year ago and have sat in tupperware ever since. They've been both frozen and sun baked. So, keep it in mind that they're unsorted and probably not in the best condition anymore. But, I wanted to feed this barrel the "junk" first to see how it dealt with it and to establish that baseline without using my premium sorted pellets.
My 100 yard plate is on the left side edge of this picture.
Here's a look at it through the scope.
And, here's a pic of that 5 shot group you can see in the scope. It's one of the first groups I put any effort into. You can see how 3 landed almost on top of one another and then 2 wandered off a bit. Still about a 1" group CTC. Mind the paint chips! The hard part about shooting painted metal is that sometimes the paint chips off and it either looks like a 6th shot or makes the group look larger than it is. Focus on silver circles and poi dots.
The next three groups were all shot during one sit down.
The drilled hole is 1/4". I've got a very nice group here with one wanderer.
It's hard to find the impact points on this one. But, another nice group none the less.
These 5 hit in the shape of a "C" with the outer edges all touching.
Is my barrel the final design? I can't say for certain. But, I do know that it is one of the top performing barrels from the testing process. So, if this isn't the final design specs then, the final design specs can only be a step above!
Pellet? - This barrel likes the 25g JSB's better than the 34g. I have been focused on using the 25g's so, I do not have any groups to share using the 34's.
Speed? - I'm still fine tuning my settings. But I'll narrow it down and say, it seems to like to send them out somewhere between 910 and 930.
My overall impression of this barrel is that it is a significant improvement over the original design.
Happy Shooting!
Tom
