To tune or not to tune

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I try and tune for better accuracy and shot count. Marauders are easy to work on and there's lots of info out there on various tunes. If you aren't willing to put in the time it makes more sense to just buy a more expensive gun, but many do so and proceed to send them off to tuners.....Guess it depends on what you consider 'good enough' out of the box.
 
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I've tried my hand at tuning and found I was competent, but not spectacular at it. My first try was an AT44, and I never quite got it to where I wanted. Then I picked up a .22 Marauder so I could experiment with tuning it before touching my .25 Marauder. While I never quite got the 40/40 tune some have with the .25 I was satisfied with where I got it. My .22 I got it tuned up enough to give me close to what I wanted in a .22. They may not be FX or Daystate quality, and they might get a little ugly as they age but I know that if I run into a problem I can have it fixed up quick compared to what would happen if my Mutant or FX have troubles that couldn't be solved with an O-ring change.

 
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I have a MRod.
They are easy to work on, do all your own mods, lots of info out there of how to do tunes, spare parts, aftermarket parts. 
If I mess up, easily repaired. I wont feel as bad if I mess up a $1k air rifle. 
When all is said and done, I may have close to the cost of a FX or Daystate. 
But doing my own mods/tune is so much more fun! And I get a degree of pride being able to shoot a good group and being able to say, "That was all me!"
 
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I think one of the aspects not mentioned is the "range of performance" a tuned Mrod gives. For those whose goal is only backyard plinking, it can be tuned down and give an incredible number of consistent shots. For those which to hunt bigger stuff, a more limited number of 60 FPE shots. The purpose of tuning is frequently to get the gun to match your exact tastes. Often we do not know exactly what we want, until After we have made the purchase. After the purchase, we may say "I want more power" or "I want more shots", or as I thought, "I want a little more power AND more shots". Once we figure out what we really want out of an air rifle, we are in a better position to pick an airgun which matches our criteria the next time around. It is much the same mindset where someone purchases a $12,000 Harley, and then proceeds to spend thousands to personalize it. Each person's tastes does not always exactly match the factory vision.
 
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I think a professionally-tuned M-Rod is preferable to a factory FX.

Firstly, one would have a nice PCP to shoot while saving for the tune. With the FX, you've got nothing.

Secondly, the Marauder's shroud is the most effective one in the business. No need for adding a moderator to the end, which increases the overall length and makes it less handy.

Thirdly, the gun will be somewhat unique, and will be tuned to your particular desires.

Fourthly, it probably won't be as pellet-picky. I've read of FX's Smooth Twist barrels liking JSBs and nothing else. It's nice to have options.

Fifthly, inexpensive magazines.

Sixthly, easy parts availability, both OEM and aftermarket.

Seventhly, the tune can easily be tweaked by the user, without even de-stocking the gun. (this was a masterpiece of an idea...)

Eighthly, the pressure gauge/manometer is in a reasonable spot.

Ninthly, no fill probe to lose

Tenthly, custom stocks are available

Eleventhly, hand-pumpable, even at 300 bar.

*********

Don't get me wrong, FX's are nice, and will usually shoot better out of the box, but Marauders have a lot going for them. If they were to just beef up their quality control and barrel finishing, they could be world class.
 
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Similar to "why buy a Honda Civic and spend too much money to make it faster when you can just buy a better car?". Satisfaction, spend as you go, what you can afford for now, etc...Personalized.
If you have an inaccurate Marauder assuming its a 22, you need to try as many different types of pellets with different head sizes and if all else fails then try and use the H&N Barracuda/Barracuda Match with the available different head sizes or the H&N FTTs in 5.53 5.54 or 5.55. It is a hunting gun out of the box in its factory condition for an inch groups at 50 yards.
The Marauder has a wonderful trigger, is really quiet with its effective factory baffled shroud, no grey area with NO obvious THINGY sticking out at the end of the barrel, and can be easily user adjustable/ tuned to 2000-2500 starting psi making it less of a chore when using a hand pump to fill it. If you check out the ongoing Hunter FT and FT results nation wide, you will see Marauders taking top honors which should tell you something. Marauders would not be used by many different individuals in competition if they weren't excellent guns to begin with. I personally like the trigger and have had the opportunity to shoot a highly modified one and it was easier to shoot accurately IMO than an FX brand gun. If you need to turn it into an ultimate tack driver, the bare minimum would be minor user adjustments and buy a DIY drop in $180 upgraded LW barrel. Not needing to send it off anywhere. Lots of Youtube videos on how to.
 
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"AJ"
Similar to "why buy a Honda Civic and spend too much money to make it faster when you can just buy a better car?". Satisfaction, spend as you go, what you can afford for now, etc...Personalized.
If you have an inaccurate Marauder assuming its a 22, you need to try as many different types of pellets with different head sizes and if all else fails then try and use the H&N Barracuda/Barracuda Match with the available different head sizes or the H&N FTTs in 5.53 5.54 or 5.55. It is a hunting gun out of the box in its factory condition for an inch groups at 50 yards.
The Marauder has a wonderful trigger, is really quiet with its effective factory baffled shroud, no grey area with NO obvious THINGY sticking out at the end of the barrel, and can be easily user adjustable/ tuned to 2000-2500 starting psi making it less of a chore when using a hand pump to fill it. If you check out the ongoing Hunter FT and FT results nation wide, you will see Marauders taking top honors which should tell you something. Marauders would not be used by many different individuals in competition if they weren't excellent guns to begin with. I personally like the trigger and have had the opportunity to shoot a highly modified one and it was easier to shoot accurately IMO than an FX brand gun. If you need to turn it into an ultimate tack driver, the bare minimum would be minor user adjustments and buy a DIY drop in $180 upgraded LW barrel. Not needing to send it off anywhere. Lots of Youtube videos on how to.
Click to expand...
AJ,
I dont suppose you could comment on the LW barrel and is there a difference between it and a Marmot barrels? 
I am looking at both.
LW offers a polygonal barrel? Is there an advantage over a regular barrel?
 
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I will find out first hand in a few days because I have a rifle with one fitted (Poly) on its way to me now. I shot many with the standard LW barrels and they were great and not pellet fussy and shot exceptionally well. My guess and choice it to use the regular LW because I have seen some shooting videos which the poly, though accurate, wasn't quite as tight grouping as the standard LW but your mileage may vary.
 
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To tune or not to tune. Here's my experiences.

I as many started out with a Marauder 22 as my first PCP addiction gun. It was one heck of accurate shooter for the 22 barrels at the time. Not totally satisfied and getting caught up in the modding mindset I added a regulator, opened up all the air passages, added a Marmot barrel, tuned the trigger,refinished the turd wood stock even tried the original HDD and soon removed that. No telling how many hundreds even thousands of pellets I shot through it in the tuning process. End the end it was a really nice shooter.

Next I bought a 25cal Marauder and completed modified the internals for a nice lower fill pressure tune, refinished the turd wood stock and had a better Marauder. Lots a man hours spent doing all this stuff.

Since then I've sold the Marauders acquired a Kalibrgun Cricket 25, no tune really needed on these guns other than finding maybe the ideal regulator pressure and hammer preload, (just shoot and enjoy). 
Sold it eventually and bought a Daystate Regal. No tuning really necessary for these tack drivers straight out of the box. 

To make the story a little shorter I'm currently shooting a FX Royal 400, a older model FX Royale 500 that I did upgrade to the larger valve and got it regulated and a Vulcan Tactic and yes I'm finally satisfied with my collection, UNTIL the next gun comes along. I think one of the reasons I'm happy is that there is basically no tuning needed on these finer guns and they are all VERY accurate right out of the box.

I guess I'm to the point in my PCP owning life where I'd rather be shooting and not overhauling a decent gun and running thousands of pellets through a chronograph seeking the ultimate tune. Again that's just me though...
Jking














 
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I think being able to work on it(anything) is 1 for me ,and getting to know something removes the voodoo,for me-lets me use it more often, and lets, me know if its as robust on the inside as outside,when it does let me down repairing it at home makes it that much more enjoyable to own-and lately I've really been enjoying airguns! just had my 2year old bobcat 22 apart -like they made that easy-(( I was thinking about the 25.39@840ish in.22 cal )),had ES 17 and SD 4.68 for 72 shots before I took it apart and well over 10,000 pellets threw it and I will say 22 is alot harder to try and make power in as compared to .25- so I poked in my new reg turned down to 131 bar,polished,a few things and replaced every o-ring I went past,was going for 875fps with 18.13s and now its ES 11.8 and SD 2.67 for same 72 comically quiet now .874 avg I like the word (adjust) regulator hammer/spring union for best consistency@ desired fps-I'm sure I read it somewhere
 
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I don't have a lot of time, so I do as little as possible. My marauder didn't work out, it was clipping pellets and had a defective magazine so it went back. The wood stock was heavy and ugly also. If I was to try again, I would order the synthetic, better looking and a lot lighter.

I like factory original whenever possible so that's how I do it. Always had good luck with Crosman barrels. I could see myself making some minor adjustments for increased shot count, but no aftermarket parts. I think marauder performance is nice and conservative right out of the box.

my 22xx series Crosman get dressed up a bit but the internals are factory original. As far as the higher-end pcp's, they are 100% original and don't need my tampering. It's sort of like a late sixties classic car, the restored to original are the good ones, the customized hot rods, not so much. 
 
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TERRIBLE! This post about tuning Marauders and such is a really bad influence! With this post in mind, I just bought a used Gen1 177 today already tweaked and fully tuned for FT which includes a Jim Gaska LW barrel with regulator custom trigger etc...with a good FT history including placing first place in 2011 state HFT and in the top 4 in 2 consecutive years prior. BASED ON THIS POST, I am curious to see if it is any better than my old Gen1 unmodified 177 Marauder which shot great straight out of the box. The "just purchased" "NEW TO ME" USED tuned/modded one cost about 2/3 the price of my old untuned/unmodded Marauder. I am expecting it to at least EQUAL mine in accuracy and performance since I already know its sweet spot and shot strings numbers etc with mine.
 
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