Many of you have now tried the Matador .25cal fitted with the Huma reg and my power plenum kit and the 34gr JSB heavy pellets at 890fps to 935fps.
Last week I finally got some time to run some tests with the kit in a .22 cal matador.
I have a "new" unused matador R2.5 (one of my personal favorite pcps) which was perfect to set up for testing.


Although I was unsure the older Lothar Walther barrels Ed used on the R2.5 with the 1-17.7" twist rate would be enough for the heavy .22 pellets I planned to shoot I would give it a go.
I had to do a few mods to bring it in line with the R3 matador for more comparable results which consisted of a new R3 valve plug with the recessed valve face opposed to the flat face of the R2.5 and some of the early R3's, this gave a little more plenum space and allowed me to fit the stronger new R3 valve poppet as well.
I had to drill and tap the rear of the new valve to match the older R2.5 valve as the trigger pack required an extra screw on this model.


Then I fitted up the new power plenum, hammer weight and set the Huma reg to 130bar.


After putting it all back together and filling the cyl it was off to the chrono to see what speeds I could get from the 25.4gr and 34gr .22cal pellets.
The 34gr beasts were not really high on my list of intended pellets to shoot in this gun but I got a little over 790fps with them and later 810fps with them when I tried a higher reg setting of 135bar. Both settings gave reasonable 10 shot groups at 50 yards of about 3/4".

They are a little heavy for this set up so it was on to the 25.4gr Jumbo Monster JSBs.
I only have the older design to test but look forward to picking up some of the new redesigned 25.4gr .22 early in the new year.
L/H older 25.4gr monster Mid Redesigned 25.4gr monster R/H 34gr Beast


The Monsters shot an average of 915fps and about 50ftlbs and the accuracy was actually really good even with these old design 25.4gr monsters putting 10 shots into a nice ragged hole at 50y and 12 good hits on the 100y spinner inside about 1.5" .
The gun is very quiet and a joy to shoot. It gets about 50 good regulated shots from a 230bar fill with the reg set at 130bar.


I also tested some H&N rabbit magnum II pellets. They shot a little faster than the monsters although they weigh almost the same but accuracy was terrible. They are wildly unstable and can be seen spiralling wildly even at the 50y target.


Id really love to see someone set up a .22cal Matador long with the power plenum and test the 25.4gr Monsters and 34gr Beasts as I think the long platforms at more suited to this magnum upgrade. The newer Matador R3s have a 1-16.1" twist which should perform even better than my test unit.
Im having a blast with this 50ftlbs .22 and had it out this morning shooting pigeons with great results. it really doesnt feel any different to shooting the 18gr pellets at 900fps but oh man it puts some serious smack on the target!
I think Ill leave this one set up as a magnum and and order a box of the new redesigned pellets asap.
Last week I finally got some time to run some tests with the kit in a .22 cal matador.
I have a "new" unused matador R2.5 (one of my personal favorite pcps) which was perfect to set up for testing.


Although I was unsure the older Lothar Walther barrels Ed used on the R2.5 with the 1-17.7" twist rate would be enough for the heavy .22 pellets I planned to shoot I would give it a go.
I had to do a few mods to bring it in line with the R3 matador for more comparable results which consisted of a new R3 valve plug with the recessed valve face opposed to the flat face of the R2.5 and some of the early R3's, this gave a little more plenum space and allowed me to fit the stronger new R3 valve poppet as well.
I had to drill and tap the rear of the new valve to match the older R2.5 valve as the trigger pack required an extra screw on this model.


Then I fitted up the new power plenum, hammer weight and set the Huma reg to 130bar.


After putting it all back together and filling the cyl it was off to the chrono to see what speeds I could get from the 25.4gr and 34gr .22cal pellets.
The 34gr beasts were not really high on my list of intended pellets to shoot in this gun but I got a little over 790fps with them and later 810fps with them when I tried a higher reg setting of 135bar. Both settings gave reasonable 10 shot groups at 50 yards of about 3/4".

They are a little heavy for this set up so it was on to the 25.4gr Jumbo Monster JSBs.
I only have the older design to test but look forward to picking up some of the new redesigned 25.4gr .22 early in the new year.
L/H older 25.4gr monster Mid Redesigned 25.4gr monster R/H 34gr Beast


The Monsters shot an average of 915fps and about 50ftlbs and the accuracy was actually really good even with these old design 25.4gr monsters putting 10 shots into a nice ragged hole at 50y and 12 good hits on the 100y spinner inside about 1.5" .
The gun is very quiet and a joy to shoot. It gets about 50 good regulated shots from a 230bar fill with the reg set at 130bar.


I also tested some H&N rabbit magnum II pellets. They shot a little faster than the monsters although they weigh almost the same but accuracy was terrible. They are wildly unstable and can be seen spiralling wildly even at the 50y target.


Id really love to see someone set up a .22cal Matador long with the power plenum and test the 25.4gr Monsters and 34gr Beasts as I think the long platforms at more suited to this magnum upgrade. The newer Matador R3s have a 1-16.1" twist which should perform even better than my test unit.
Im having a blast with this 50ftlbs .22 and had it out this morning shooting pigeons with great results. it really doesnt feel any different to shooting the 18gr pellets at 900fps but oh man it puts some serious smack on the target!
I think Ill leave this one set up as a magnum and and order a box of the new redesigned pellets asap.