Earlier this week I decided to put the PCPs away for a while, and see what I could do with my TX200HC since I hadn't shot it outdoors in a couple years. The first groups at 50 yards weren't too bad, hovering around an inch, but any kind of consistency was non-existent. I had never tried to tune that gun, and thought I would give it a try to see if that might help. I had heard of Vortek, and was going to order from them when I realized their shop is about 15 minutes from my home, so I just drove up there and talked to Tom to get his recommendation. I inquired about the 12 FPE kit initially because I thought that would have the best chance of calming the TX down, but Tom thought I should try the 14-15 FPE kit first, and that's what I ended up getting. Installation went smoothly once I managed to get the new piston seal popped on. I used the grease that came with the kit for the internals, plus a little moly blend for the cocking shoe and pivot.
My first impression was that not much was changed. The gun was maybe a little easier to cock, and exhibited maybe a little less shock and vibration when shot. Overall it seemed a little less harsh shooting than before. Velocity(fps)/energy(ft-lb) before the tune with 7.87 grain pellets was 942/15.5, and 892/13.9 after installing the PG2 SHO kit. With 8.44 grain pellets, velocity/energy was 928/16.2 before the tune, and 879/14.5 after. I was hoping to get around 850 fps with the 8.44 grain pellets, and the SHO kit got me pretty close.
Once I started shooting at 50 yards, it didn't take long to realize that my gun preferred the JSB Express 7.87 grain pellets over the Daystate 8.44s that I had on hand. It took a bit of shooting to get my bench technique down, but here is what I got for the last groups of the evening.
Yes, these are the best groups I have ever gotten from that rifle. To be fair, I did stumble across an improved bench technique, but still think Vortek deserves some of the credit here. I had been shooting with minimal cheek pressure because that's what works for me in rimfire benchrest. I discovered that with the TX a little cheek pressure on top of the stock helped improve consistency. However, even before I changed cheek pressure, I was still getting tighter groups than I had seen before the tune, just not with the consistency I was looking for. I was using just a front bag positioned about 4" in front of the trigger guard. The groups did shift around a bit, but the wind was highly variable. I might have better luck on a calm day.
So if your TX or other springer isn't performing as well as you would like, you might want to try a Vortek kit. It will shoot a little smoother, and I found it did improve accuracy with my gun.
Chuck
My first impression was that not much was changed. The gun was maybe a little easier to cock, and exhibited maybe a little less shock and vibration when shot. Overall it seemed a little less harsh shooting than before. Velocity(fps)/energy(ft-lb) before the tune with 7.87 grain pellets was 942/15.5, and 892/13.9 after installing the PG2 SHO kit. With 8.44 grain pellets, velocity/energy was 928/16.2 before the tune, and 879/14.5 after. I was hoping to get around 850 fps with the 8.44 grain pellets, and the SHO kit got me pretty close.
Once I started shooting at 50 yards, it didn't take long to realize that my gun preferred the JSB Express 7.87 grain pellets over the Daystate 8.44s that I had on hand. It took a bit of shooting to get my bench technique down, but here is what I got for the last groups of the evening.
Yes, these are the best groups I have ever gotten from that rifle. To be fair, I did stumble across an improved bench technique, but still think Vortek deserves some of the credit here. I had been shooting with minimal cheek pressure because that's what works for me in rimfire benchrest. I discovered that with the TX a little cheek pressure on top of the stock helped improve consistency. However, even before I changed cheek pressure, I was still getting tighter groups than I had seen before the tune, just not with the consistency I was looking for. I was using just a front bag positioned about 4" in front of the trigger guard. The groups did shift around a bit, but the wind was highly variable. I might have better luck on a calm day.
So if your TX or other springer isn't performing as well as you would like, you might want to try a Vortek kit. It will shoot a little smoother, and I found it did improve accuracy with my gun.
Chuck
