Hi all,
I'm a lurker and on Yellow and GTA forums along with some others. I am living in Maryland and have been shooting AG for about 6 or 8 years, mostly with my Gamo CFX .177 (quite accurate really, but presently broke spring) and now a new to me .22 Marauder. Hello to everyone.
While trying to make my .22 shoot well consistently, I've read a benchrest book and most everything on the forums about accuracy and much benchrest stuff. I have tried much to get it to shoot and have had mixed results. My first thought was to find the best pellet and then set the shot strings up. In doing so I essentially became a benchrest guy in a way. I have about 3000 rounds through that gun now and still not where I want it!
I've had fun and frustration along the way. Bottom line, it shoots JSB 18.1 and Barracuda match the best and it will shoot groups smaller than .3" CTC and as large as 1.3" CTC at 50 yards in calm conditions (5 shot). The groups are usually 3 or 4 in one hole then a random shot opening up an otherwise happy group to around .7 or .9 average and sometimes higher. I have done many things to get this gun shooting more consistently. I can see the potential accuracy in this gun but cannot stomp out the "flier" in each group if you will.
I've tried different scopes, taped up the ocular in both, changed rings, cleaned and tightened everything, polished the barrel, swapped barrels, polished crowns and inleeds, weighed and lubed pellets, tried different head sizes, different rests and shooting bags, grips and holds, adjusted the trigger, chrony'd the strings, removed the shroud and baffles and more. Basically it shoots really well.... sometimes.
My question is this... what should I expect for consistency? I am averaging with 5, five shot groups in calm conditions anywhere from .45 to .9". Now I'd be fine with .5 or even .6 if it were consistent, but one day it's .48 and the next it's .9?! I am not happy with this large spread of performance.
So... What is possible at 50 yards? What will a top grade 5, five shot groups gun do on a calm day locked in a notional vice? What is it capable of in terms of average CTC at 50 yards for any 5 groups?
Also, do you think my Marauder is "OK" at basically grouping .3 to 1.3"? Basically if it averages .6" I'm happy, but there is more than one way to do it. .5, .6 and .7 would be great. Groups like .2, .6 and 1.0 make me less happy.
Thanks for hearing all this out and for any thoughts.
Regards,
John
I'm a lurker and on Yellow and GTA forums along with some others. I am living in Maryland and have been shooting AG for about 6 or 8 years, mostly with my Gamo CFX .177 (quite accurate really, but presently broke spring) and now a new to me .22 Marauder. Hello to everyone.
While trying to make my .22 shoot well consistently, I've read a benchrest book and most everything on the forums about accuracy and much benchrest stuff. I have tried much to get it to shoot and have had mixed results. My first thought was to find the best pellet and then set the shot strings up. In doing so I essentially became a benchrest guy in a way. I have about 3000 rounds through that gun now and still not where I want it!
I've had fun and frustration along the way. Bottom line, it shoots JSB 18.1 and Barracuda match the best and it will shoot groups smaller than .3" CTC and as large as 1.3" CTC at 50 yards in calm conditions (5 shot). The groups are usually 3 or 4 in one hole then a random shot opening up an otherwise happy group to around .7 or .9 average and sometimes higher. I have done many things to get this gun shooting more consistently. I can see the potential accuracy in this gun but cannot stomp out the "flier" in each group if you will.
I've tried different scopes, taped up the ocular in both, changed rings, cleaned and tightened everything, polished the barrel, swapped barrels, polished crowns and inleeds, weighed and lubed pellets, tried different head sizes, different rests and shooting bags, grips and holds, adjusted the trigger, chrony'd the strings, removed the shroud and baffles and more. Basically it shoots really well.... sometimes.
My question is this... what should I expect for consistency? I am averaging with 5, five shot groups in calm conditions anywhere from .45 to .9". Now I'd be fine with .5 or even .6 if it were consistent, but one day it's .48 and the next it's .9?! I am not happy with this large spread of performance.
So... What is possible at 50 yards? What will a top grade 5, five shot groups gun do on a calm day locked in a notional vice? What is it capable of in terms of average CTC at 50 yards for any 5 groups?
Also, do you think my Marauder is "OK" at basically grouping .3 to 1.3"? Basically if it averages .6" I'm happy, but there is more than one way to do it. .5, .6 and .7 would be great. Groups like .2, .6 and 1.0 make me less happy.
Thanks for hearing all this out and for any thoughts.
Regards,
John