Advice needed

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wyshadow

wyshadow

Member
May 11, 2015
1,696
236
Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
I've been thinking of this problem for a long time. I've been wanting a bullet shooter for a very long time. I will mostly be using this next gun for target shooting but will also use it for long range prairie dog shooting (over a 100 yards) and coyote hunting. There is such a big price range between the guns I'm considering. I'm looking at the sumatra in .25 and the texan in 308 or 257. Not sure which to choose. If I do get a bullet shooter, I don't think I'll cast my own bullets because I think that's a hold new hobby to take on and I just don't have the time to start that. I may go as far as resizing but not much further than that. Power wise I want a flat shooting gun to help with coyote hunting in my area. I don't care about shot count so two or three shots are ok with me but still maintain accuracy.

The sumatra seems like a good gun because out of the three options, it is the least cost, good shot count, seems to be accurate, shoots both pellets and cast bullets, has a mag, and good power. From what I could find, it looks like power comes in just above 100 ft-lbs but it would be great if I could get more. Tuning wise, not very many people will touch the sumatra.

The texan looks good for its huge power, design for shooting cast bullets, seems to be accurate but it doesn't have a mag, looks awkward to shoot, and looks like I have to spend more money to get the gun shooting at its potential. I like the power the 257 is putting out at 180 ft'lbs and I believe 200 ft-lbs for the 308 which is great. The 308 looks like it has the biggest array of weight options and style of bullets to choose from. It seems like the texan has a huge following and I don't think I will have a hard time finding someone who will help me on tuning the gun.

Another problem I'm also having is choosing which caliber for my situation. What advantage and disadvantage does each caliber have to each other? I don't want any caliber bigger than a 30 cal and I'm only looking at these two brands. It wound be nice to afford a Slayer but that's way over my budget.
 
For hunting prairie dogs in my area, I can get several shots Under a hundred when I first drive in but bubblerboy64, you are correct most prairie dog shots will be over 150 yards. I'll mostly be using my 243 which devastating on a prairie dog towns. I don't really care much for 223's

Idk. I have my 25 wildcat and anything under a hundred is dead with that gun. Wondering if my next gun will be a mistake. 
 
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The Texan in .257 was my choice for long range shooting. It is pushing over 190fpe in completely stock form. It was a winter purchase so have only had one chance to get it out for long range practice, and it is showing great promise. With a DonnyFL extended Emperor on it prairie dog wouldn't have a clue to what was smacking their cousins. I know you said casting is not in your plans, but there are some great molds in .257 that are doing very well in the Texan. It also is part of the fun for me. It is also pretty good on air consumption in the .257.
 
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After a month of waiting, I have everything needed to go out tomorrow and finally shoot this gun. Here are some pictures

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This is a long gun. Almost 5 feet

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I had a gunsmith thread the barrel for me

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And here is the gun next to a broomstick

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I love my .257 Texan. It is accurate, powerful and quiet with the Clague Suppressor. I sight in to 100 yards and have a mildot cheat sheet for closer and further distances.

A cautionary tale: be religious about cleaning your barrel. I get about 50 shots before it’s time to clean. Go beyond that and you’ll get leading. 

I use a 4 hole Arsenal 257420 mold and cast in pure lead. I’m experimenting with lubing the bullets. Not sure if they are happier with RC silicone shock oil or Tungsten Disulfide. The latter makes the bullets so slick they are hard to pickup. 

I just bought a rifle here called a .257 Citrus and holy cow Batman that thing FLINGS the lead at 3600 psi. I have only shot a dozen shots but the kick and noise is quite substantial. More on this after I get quality time and and some chrony and accuracy results.


 
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I shot my first time with the gun this morning with Jim and my first impressions with the gun is...It's ok. Not great but not bad either. I was shooting the 72 grain Spitzers at 1002 fps and was getting about an inch at 50 yards and 2 inches at 100 yards. Filled the tank to 200 bar and shot the gun down to about 160 until the bullets really started to drop which was about 7 to 8 shots.

I know there is plenty of potential in this gun. I just need time to test each type of bullet I got for it. I only shot one type this time around.

The trigger was not great but not bad either. The length doesn't bother me but how thin the gun is does bother me. I understand why everyone puts a stock on it because the gun feels flimsy. It needs some meat on the gun. Just imagine shouldering your broomstick. not much difference.

Resting my check on the tank didn't bother me at all and was comfortable shooting the gun. The part I hated on the gun was the butt end of the gun. The part acting as a butt plate is very uncomfortable to rest a sandbag on. A stock would make this gun much better to shoot for sure.

The emperor made shooting the gun very enjoyable to shoot. Jim was saying the gun wasn't much louder then his .25 mrod.
 
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Yep, that gun is a monster. Tuned as it was, Wyshadow's gun was scaring my 10/22! The new gun shoots fine, but I can see how it will be an acquired taste. Put a couple of 1000 rounds through it and it will become like an extension of your body... a really long extension ;) 

Single shot and 8-10 shots on a tank, it will take a while to shoot 1000x. Good thing we have our own domestic air supplies. I shot 1500 lbs of air today, and refilled the tank in about 40 minutes.


 
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For the past three days, I've shot several hundred bullets tuning this gun until I'm almost down to it favorite food. After I I filled the gun at 3200, 3100, 3000, and 200 bar with each bullet at 1/4 and 1/2 power levels, I found my three best numbers.

1st place the cheap 72 grain from some dude on eBay.

1-1033 Av-1012

2-1028 ES-49

3-1024 SD-19

4-1007 Shots 1-3

5-999 Av-1028

6-984 ES-9

SD-4



2nd place is the 80 grain NSA slugs.

1-949 AV-975

2-979 ES-40

3-989 SD-14

4-987 Shots 2-5

5-978 AV-983

6-968 ES-11

SD-5



3rd place is the 70 grain NSA slugs.

1-893 AV-903

2-915 ES-27

3-914 SD-11

4-908 Shots 2-5

5-901 AV-909

6-888 ES-14

SD-6

After choosing the 72 grain bullet's chronograph numbers and I couldn't replicate the numbers I got. The best I could get was this:

1-1054 AV-1020

2-1037 ES-73

3-1028 SD-73

4-1020 Shots 1-3

5-1000 AV-1039

6-981 ES-26

SD-13

I went out to zero the gun at 50 yards and shot to 100 yards to figure out the bullets drop.

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I recovered this bullet at a dirt pile at 144 yards

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One thing I noticed about this gun is I'm not impressed with the 50 yard group but I am impressed with the 100 yard group. At 50 yards, one goup would really suck and the next 50 yard group would be great even though I filled the gun to the exact pressure
 
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I was talking to another air gunner about the texan and he mentioned something that might be the problem I'm having with the gun not grouping as well as I hope it would. He was telling me most higher end barrel makers usually tread the barrel end for an add-on before the barrel is drilled for a specific caliber and the reasoning for this is because if you thread the end of the barrel after you drill it, the end will expand slightly which might cause inaccuracy issues. He did mention he doesn't know much about slug barrels but he does know this is what they do for pellet barrels. Does anyone know anything about this? Did I just ruin my barrel by threading the end in order to get a cleaner look?
 
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I can’t offer an opinion as to the barrel threading, except that its pretty normal to have a firearm barrel threaded after production, so I would guess there are ways to do it without hurting the barrel

Are you sure your spin lock air tank is tightened down tool tight when attached to your gun? I’ve found that a hand tight, but tool loose, tank is the number one cause of accuracy issues in my Airforce guns. This is the reason why aftermarket stocks like the Mad Dog can increase accuracy. They stiffen up the gun at its weak point. That weak point is where the tank attaches. If that point isn’t as tight as it can reasonably be without breaking your wrench, it isn’t tight enough. 
 
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