There are previous threads on this subject and several folks have this problem. These guns are very accurate, but the POI does move around from time to time reported by several people. I believed that the issue was the fact that the barrel & shroud is only supported at the receiver and the if the fit is not spot on perfect ,it shifts after being knocked about even a little bit. On my gun it is always a little different at every session. Well, I ordered a bottle to shroud brace made by 3D printer from Ohio Airguns. The fit was phenomenal, just perfect.. I have now tested this over many sessions and the problem no longer persists. I can handle the rifle by the barrel and transport it and the POI now remains the same. Best $20 I ever spent.
Follow-up to the FX Crown session to session POI shift issue
- Thread starter steve-l
- Start date
I’m glad you got it figured out. I know for me, a shifting POI makes a rifle one I won’t pick up for hunting and pesting. But a precise gun with a stable POI is a beautiful thing.
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I've never had any POI issues with my Crown .22 and hopefully I never will, but the barrel band sounds like a worthwhile addition nonetheless. I'll check it out.
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Two Crowns here, both the older style barrel as well, and I'm still baffled by people with this POI shift issue. I've never witnessed it in either of my guns, but have spent some time thinking about what might be the cause of it. I'm glad you solved your problem, I just wish I knew the root of it. I've seen other reports as well of people adding additional o-rings to the liner specifically at the muzzle end, and that making the problem go away as well. This all leads me to a hypothesis:
When you pick a rifle up by the barrel, the barrel flexes. This isn't unique to the crown, heck it isn't even unique to airguns it happens on firearms as well. The whole point though is that the barrel should flex back. (the barrel flexes when shot as well, flex is a necessary part of the system) What if on some Crowns the jam nut isn't a perfect fit to the liner, and so if you flex the outer barrel enough you can make the inner barrel move relative to the jam nut? So placing a pair of O-rings just inside the jam nut would keep the barrel centered such that it would simply flex with the rest of the assembly, thus no more POI shift? This way you could keep your free floated barrel.
Of course the other option is something I'd long considered but it looks like Ernest Rowe beat me to actually implementing it: bed the inner barrel to the outer barrel. He even did it using a carbon tube which is very clever. If either of my Crowns started suffering from this, I'd probably head down this path pretty quickly if I couldn't figure out the root cause. There really is no reason the Crown's barrel system has to be "worse" than any other airgun, they all have fairly thin and flexible barrels mounted in place by a couple grub screws in the action.
When you pick a rifle up by the barrel, the barrel flexes. This isn't unique to the crown, heck it isn't even unique to airguns it happens on firearms as well. The whole point though is that the barrel should flex back. (the barrel flexes when shot as well, flex is a necessary part of the system) What if on some Crowns the jam nut isn't a perfect fit to the liner, and so if you flex the outer barrel enough you can make the inner barrel move relative to the jam nut? So placing a pair of O-rings just inside the jam nut would keep the barrel centered such that it would simply flex with the rest of the assembly, thus no more POI shift? This way you could keep your free floated barrel.
Of course the other option is something I'd long considered but it looks like Ernest Rowe beat me to actually implementing it: bed the inner barrel to the outer barrel. He even did it using a carbon tube which is very clever. If either of my Crowns started suffering from this, I'd probably head down this path pretty quickly if I couldn't figure out the root cause. There really is no reason the Crown's barrel system has to be "worse" than any other airgun, they all have fairly thin and flexible barrels mounted in place by a couple grub screws in the action.
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Do the newer crowns still have that problems?I heard that the changes were made to how barrel is atached.
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I've shot my Crown for over two years and never noticed this except once when I bumped the adjustable mounts against something which caused them to shift. The one thing I did to my Crown was move the end stop for the extendable shroud all the way to the rear so that I couldn't extend it anymore and it prevented the shroud from rotating. -> I think the rotating of the shroud causes the POI shift that some people have over here, I think it's worth to try it too and see if it helps.
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My Crown is one year old and my problem has existed since new. Before I went to this clamp, I addressed all the other remedies and possible causes first. The issue has never been accuracy. The gun has been spot on, but every time you put in the case, transported it or bumped the barrel, the POI changed. I also do not believe that all braces or clamps would correct this. The space between the bottle and the shroud is slightly different from gun to gun and the bottles are not round nor are they all the same diameter. It is quite difficult to get the fit correct so the shroud fit has zero clearance and when the clamp is tightened on the bottle, no stress is applied to the shroud. The clamp I received from Ohio Airguns just works. I was very impressed with the fit.
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Steve-1 I'm having same problem with bumping or just moving gun. Poi is everywhere.. just ordered barrel band and will see what comes of it accuracy wise!
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Sto,
You can check the archives for the previous threads on this subject if you like. You will see the steps taken by myself and others than suffer this issue. I have a machine shop, so I have all the tools needed to check for sizes and fits. Several iterations of complete disassembly and reassembly checking size, lengths and torque applied to all fasteners, barrel and stripper as well as "O" rings. I also moved the extendable shroud to the rear most position locking the shroud in place. All to no avail. The barrel on my Crown is 600 mm add to that a 200 mm Moderator and you have an 800 mm multi-part assembly supported only on the receiver end. From an engineer's point of view, the design is truly frail, if not stupid. A reasonable fit of barrel to receiver of .001" clearance is difficult to achieve on every gun made on an assembly line and yet, even that clearance is too loose for consistent barrel location after every assembly. What is amazing to me is that only some of these Crowns exhibit the problem.
You can check the archives for the previous threads on this subject if you like. You will see the steps taken by myself and others than suffer this issue. I have a machine shop, so I have all the tools needed to check for sizes and fits. Several iterations of complete disassembly and reassembly checking size, lengths and torque applied to all fasteners, barrel and stripper as well as "O" rings. I also moved the extendable shroud to the rear most position locking the shroud in place. All to no avail. The barrel on my Crown is 600 mm add to that a 200 mm Moderator and you have an 800 mm multi-part assembly supported only on the receiver end. From an engineer's point of view, the design is truly frail, if not stupid. A reasonable fit of barrel to receiver of .001" clearance is difficult to achieve on every gun made on an assembly line and yet, even that clearance is too loose for consistent barrel location after every assembly. What is amazing to me is that only some of these Crowns exhibit the problem.
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Exactly. Give me a solid barrel, preferably one that screws into the receiver (Taipan Veteran), or at least, one that is well fit (RAW). Sleeve and liner systems are fine if you enjoy tinkering with them, and you will.
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I just watched a video today and you are correct. I believe FX has recognized the flaw and the new barrel assembly is touted to be ultra light. The lightness of course had nothing to do with the fix. The real fix is the addition of a taper faced jam nut over the barrel threading into the receiver. This will snug up the barrel fit and register every time the same way in the receiver.
So the question arises. Will FX offer to retrofit the older versions of the Crown with the new barrel arrangement?
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This is after all a top of the line, $2,000 gun. This flaw should have generated a factory recall...... It didn't. There are several ways FX can address this or not. They could just ignore the problem and hope it goes away or they could offer an "Upgrade Kit (Service)" at some cost to the customer. Let's see.......
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If you are considering retrofitting the Continuum barrel system to the earlier Crown, don't think that will happen, too much machine work involved. And regarding a recall, I don't remember that ever occurring in the firearm or air gun industry, except when a safety issue was discovered. Otherwise, there is nothing "wrong" with the old system, it just isn't a very good design. I see FX as one of those companies that lets (forces) their customers to do most of their R&D work. I bought a Crown with my eyes open, and frankly, didn't like the design. But, I was encouraged by owners' reports, so I jumped on the wagon. After about 6 months, I decided I had had enough fun, and bailed out. I realize there are many owners who love their Crown rifles, and appear to have no problems with them. I can only take my own counsel on it. I may learn slow, but I learn well.
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