Airgun Technologies Slowly but surely getting the V3 700 (.22) tuned

[jdanvers]

With work and the weather ( frequently cold, windy and rainy lately ) it's been slow but I'm making some headway. I discovered some .216 NSA 27.5's that I (apparently) didn't have any luck with from some other gun so I figured I'd give them a try. Initial impressions from a week or two ago ( I forget - again work and weather ) had me thinking that these showed promise. I just did the below out in my back yard after yet another round of degassing, pulling out the reg and adjusting it in little increments and then slapping it back together. Needless to say I can pretty much tear this thing down and put it back together rather efficiently . . .

There is an old tree stump out in the back yard that sits at 47 yards from my little shooting bench - it's sort of become my defacto "zero" when setting up a gun and is also what I shoot at when just winging ammo over a chrony when dialing in fps / see where the reg / hammer spring tops out.

It's getting there - I'm (actually) pretty happy with this. I'll need to push it out to 100 yds and hope that it still holds reasonably tight. But yeah - for "50" yds (not - 47 in actuality but close enough . . . lol ) and getting dime size and less groups - yeah. I have two boxes of the same ammo coming in from NSA in .2165 and .217 - I'm just curious to see if they get better or worse with the slightly larger diameter.

 

[Ranchibi]

Nice! Definitely try the .2165 first to check how tight they fit then the .217 if need be. I bet the .2165 will group tighter if they seat snugly. Awesome gun.

 

[Dairyboy]

Looking good! Definitely showing promise. I just happened to try slugs out of my Taipan Veteran today and was surprised by some very good groups with H&N 21gr. I now feel I will be following your journey. Kinda wish they didn't shoot good so I wouldn't even second guess them and move on lol

 

[8thman]

The V3 that I have does well with the 217’s but prefer the 218’s . Mine is set up for the 218 KO’s 25gr @930 outstanding groups and a lot of shots. I have not tried the H&N yet or the zans just nsa that did well but the KO’s hands down are the best so far.

 

[igolfat8]

How quiet is it without a moderator or is one built in? Does it ping or has that been fixed in the V3?

 

[jdanvers]

How quiet is it without a moderator or is one built in? Does it ping or has that been fixed in the V3?

I don't regard it as being very noisy - and yes - moderation built into the shroud. It *is* a bit noisier than some of my other guns but then again some of those are known to be stupid quiet and in one case - MUCH lower in power. ( HW100 .177 that I use for field target . . . lol - that thing is stupid quiet ) I don't notice a ping - apparently that has been addressed with the current versions and . . . yeah. I don't notice one. I use my wife as a "sound check" as my little table that I shoot off of is not far from the windows in the room where she spends a bit of time watching tv. I just ask her from time to time what she thinks - ". . . is this one any louder than that other one I was playing with the other day?"

 

[igolfat8]

Thanks for the feedback. It looks like you are shooting slugs pretty darn good. How does it do with pellets?

 

[jdanvers]

Thanks for the feedback. It looks like you are shooting slugs pretty darn good. How does it do with pellets?

lol . . . *honestly* -- I truly don't know. ( good question! ) I bought it specifically for a slug shooter and those were the first things I sent through it. Not these current ones - some others - these nsa's have (so far) proven the most promising.

. . . maybe I should wing some pellets through it?! ( certainly WAY easier to tune and get shooting accurately! ) (( and maybe I'll retain the two or three hairs I still have left on my skull . . . . ))

 

[igolfat8]

Since you are hurling heavier slugs perhaps running a few 25.4 MRD’s through it might be an interesting experiment? I’d love to se a target full of MRD holes when you have an opportunity?

 

[jdanvers]

Since you are hurling heavier slugs perhaps running a few 25.4 MRD’s through it might be an interesting experiment? I’d love to se a target full of MRD holes when you have an opportunity?

lol -- yeah I can probably do that ( @work right now ). I'll have to turn the hammer spring back and get 'em going 890-900'ish and then see what they do. I'll post a pic in a day or two. ( weather actually decent today and tomorrow )

 

[jdanvers]

OK - @igolfat8 and anyone else that may be following this -- admittedly NOT a fair test of the MRD's. I'm trying to conserve air . . . and I still have those two boxes of NSA's coming in ( the .2165 and .217's ) that I want to continue testing with. That said - after the last test with those slugs it appeared as though the gun was coming off reg around 150'ish bar - so guessing that's roughly where the reg is. Anyway - got home from work - gun still sitting there at 150 so I filled it to 200 (again - looking to conserve air for over the weekend when the other slugs arrive ). I was going to throttle the hammer spring back, shoot some over a chrony, get 'em down to "pellet speed", - etc . . . but in the back of my mind I'm like " . . . I don't want to have to go back to the scuba shop just yet, I just got these tanks filled . . . " - so I just shot 'em w/out making any change at all. Yeah - most likely WAY to hot. The 27.5 slugs were going 935'ish at this current tune. I've no idea but I'd reckon a guess that these MRD's - lighter and pellets no less - were probably cooking in the mid to high 900's. ( pellets generally prefer 860-900 - yes? ) It was a little breezy out too. This is the same 47yds at that tree stump in my back yard. The hole WAY up top @12:00 - that's NOT a shot - that's from the wood screw that holds the cardboard on the tree stump.

Apologies for not ~really~ giving them a truer test . . .

 

[8thman]

I have found that the MRD’s prefers a greater speed, do to the shape. Generally the 16&18gr prefer 800-880fps for stability but the MRD’s pref 930+ at least in my gun. I believe that the shape makes them between a pellet and a slug.

 

[jdanvers]

I *think* I've found / stumbled upon a tune that I can live with. Readers digest - the .2165 & .217 nsa's showed up. The .217's were noticeably "snugger" fitting into the barrel and speed over the chrony reflected that. Set them aside. The .2165's, as kind of expected, did in fact show real promise. I took some other's with me from stuff I had laying around the house ( some .217 H&N 30's, and the .217 ZAN 30.5's ) Interestingly - both of those - in .217 - pressed right into the barrel like they belonged there. ( compared to the .217 NSA's which were noticeably tighter ) It was hit & miss with both of these 30's - I could get them really good out to 51 yds but then when I chucked them up to the board out at 97 they would fall apart (open up)

** note on odd yards used ** I shot at the Historical Society's range where the "old retired guys" (lol) shoot their flint lock muzzle loaders. The target boards at this range aren't . . .well they ain't where the guys say they are. (lol) The 30 is really 28.5'ish. The 50 - yeah - that's more like 51.5'ish and the one they call the 100 - sorry guys - my rangefinder tells me its really @97. So -- yeah. It's all good though.

. . . anyway ↑ . . . that said. Two things - (1) I was getting frustrated with the 30's hit & miss - just when I think I've got something going - send 'em long to the 97 board and . . . nope. {sigh} (2) - I was getting hungry. I mumbled to myself - " . . . screw it - just load up a magazine of those 27.5's again and see what they do. I won't know how fast they're going but at this point . . . I'm hungry and ready to call it for the time being . . . " <-- I DID know how fast the 30's were going - between 935-950'ish. I've just been shooting at sharpie'd 3/4" circles up on the piece of cardboard per other pictures in this thread. I start sending the lighter 27.5's .

"Whoa . . . " ( actually - a little high - dial it down 3 clicks . . . ) Hot Damn! Move over to another sharpie circle - "N I C E . . . " Alright - I'm gonna slap some reactive sticker ones up there just to make sure I'm not hallucinating . . . .

I sent 4 at the only one I shot at and was like "I'm done. This is my tune. I don't know what it is (lol) but . . . I'm done." (lol) I did move the gun to another spot where I had my chrony setup and ripped off the rest of the mag over it to get an average speed - turns out to be 985. You see that in one of the attached pictures. I took the photo from the 97 yd spot where I shot at the splatter target - you can see the gun and chrony up a little in front of me - that was post shoot when I measured for speed. I'm going to "build" this setup in strelok and start marking up the turret with ranges.