My little ongoing stoeger atac s2 (.22) review/log

[Florida Grown]

Purchased a couple months ago, limited reviews so i kinda felt like i was rolling the dice. First impressions were the synthetics had a very nice feel. Feels solid, not cheap, fragile, hollow.
 I have smallerish hands and the ergos feel good. Included scope broke after about the first 70-90 rounds. I didnt even bother getting it RMA'd. Stole the centerpoint 4-16 off another rifle temporarily until after christmas when i put on a fsi 8-24x50.
 Purchased the bipod w/rifle because ive got a grade 5 ac seperation and its just too difficult to hold weight and be steady. The side rails for bipod/ desiginators/etc... Are plastic and would flex a bit. So i bought an aluminum rail, halved it and installed.
 Top rail comes "permanently" affixed. Not sure how its installed but it appears its simply epoxied on. No fasteners, dovetails, nothing. I'm a bit perplexed as to what i wpuld do if the OE ever comes loose.
 This barrel is the tightest most secure out of any BB's ive owned. Very solid lock in, and requires a bit more to initally break the breach.
 The breach crown appers more centered and true than any other i've owned as well.
Im not a large guy, but i do keep active and fairly fit, yet there is a pretty noticeable amount of effort to cock this compared to any springers I've had. Not unbearable, though.
 With that, i like the barrel shroud, it helps me cock it easier than if it were bare steel, and for now adds a little grip.
 Very quiet gun, this is my first gas ram, sounds almost like a supressed or subdued springer twang with a slight thud at the end of cycle.
 Lets see.... Weight....again, i have a grade 5 ac , so for me it feels heavy.
 Trigger... Seems to be a loooong pull. Havent made any adjustment yet, waiting to buy a grt3.
 Cheek pad is fake, though i really am considering cutting the stock and making the faux pad into a functioning adjustable one.
 Safety is fine, out of the way, almost like the one on my impact .22
 Cycle vibration is nowhere near as violent as any springers i have shot.
 Being new to grt it would have been comforting to have seen a manufacturers MTBF and i wish manfacturers would give some kind of info on recommended break in.
 I cannot post any images yet but will once i reach my count.
So to date ive got about 750 rnds. Through it. It appears settled, consistant at 25yds. And when i was at the 50yd. range i was using several different pellets not really spending a lot of time with just one. More updates on pellets/range/grouping later on.
 Overall so far very pleased with this gun and everybody at the range stops to either watch or ask about the gun.it gets lots of compliments.

[Florida Grown]

So spent a few minutes this weekend zeroing in the fsi. My GF back yard (beachside) i could only get about 20 yds range. Used a designator since i do not own a rest and groups were under 1".
 If i had any complaints it would be cocking effort, but then again shoulder is an issue.

[birdmove]

  Is yours tumbling any particular pellets? There have been some that did. See Kenny's reviews at his youtube channel, myairgunreviews. Also, a guy that calls himself rackandload had the problem. Kenny thought something was wrong with the suppressor. And, I'm not sure what caliber is exhibiting the problem. Kenny's test gun didn't do it wil all pellets, only a few.

[Florida Grown]

oh wow, sorry for the delayed reply. got busy opening a business and moving. to answer your question, no i have not had tumbling issues.
 

[Florida Grown]

 finally got fed up with the trigger and USPS delivered a trigger blade yesterday. absolutely love it. Didn't take much time to install.
 Much more discernible stage, and lighter. Have not made any adjustment yet was too excited to try it out.
 Maybe today i will fiddle around with shortening the 1st stage a little.  cant believe i waited so long to buy a blade. no report on groupings yet , i just took a few shots at an old stump after installation.

[Florida Grown]

 yesterday got to shoot about 25rds and everything was smooth, then like night and day the safety suddenly got very stiff and had to push VERY hard to disengage it.not sure what happened yet. i think i can now post pics.
  i dont know anything about triggers, like no idea how to determine what is or isnt happening but either way i need to take it apart to be able to get pics of it all.

[LSK]

Looking forward to more reports. I have one it's been a pain to learn to shoot.Now that I'm figuring it out I'm starting to like it. Mine is so so so hold sensitive. Best to you.

[Florida Grown]

As this is an ongoing review/log it's been almost a year since last update. Haven't tried tons of different pellets yo date, and out of the 4-5 different ones I actually have been sticking with the cphp's.
 I got a good hold figured out for how I shoot.i cannot offhand this heavy beast due to my shoulder so from day 1 it's been on the bipods. While on bipods, I take my left hand and between thumb and first finger place that nook in the nook in the stock and hold it very firmly to my shoulder with a very light hold on trigger and the results have been night and day.
Before I was using a kinda artillery and couldn't group for &^^&.
Then I was using aluminum pictany rails for the bipod, but after I switched back to the OE plastics and held stock firmly to shoulder is when it improved.
 Not thrilled with the rail being cold soldered as it cannot be replaced.i mention this because I recently got a 1 piece primary arms mount but it was mil spec and the stoeger isn't not mil spec.
 Currently using a GTA trigger and after 3 adjustments over time I am happy. Very short 1st stage, what I call a medium 2nd stage currently.
 Absolutely LOVE the stock!!! It's very comfortable for me. I have smaller-med hands and it's the most comfy stock I've had to date.
 Just put on an athlon 8-34x56 argos and it raised my check weld so I am thing of cutting out the "fake" check riser that's molded in the stick to make it an actual functioning riser.i need about 3/16"-3/8" rise I think.
 The rear stock screw seems to require a lot of regular attention in regards to re loctiting (blue) on a regular basis.
 The bipod screws seem to want new thread locker about every 3 months for me. But keep in mind I only shoot on bipod.
 So for now I like the gun, BUT..... it seems I cannot buy parts for it as I tried to find out the cost for a new pic rail and got the runaround from stoeger saying how they do not sell parts but I can send in for warranty and of course I can pay for shipping both ways.
For the cost of shipping and "repair" ( even if I state I just want a new part not under warranty), it'll be cheaper to just buy another.
 I dont like that, I despise the disposable society model.
So for now I want to keep shooting it but knowing when it breaks I pretty much need to buy a new one....I'm already hoping I can put another unit in the stock since I like it so much or...just buy another s2 and put it in the closet for parts.

[Duke2756]

Good review, thanks. I love my S2 after changing out the trigger. One other thing that made a world of difference is smoothing out the fork, barrel pivot points, and then add moly.