Another late to the party thread----Taipan Veteran .25 Long

[mackeral5]

Recently found a nice package deal from a great member of our airgun community.  A Taipan Veteran Long, in .25. 

The plan for this one was to leverage learnings from the P15 and Bulldog platforms and apply some of those learnings to a more worthy platform, with the initial goal of having an accurate >80fpe .25 slug shooter.  Later we will explore similar performance in .22, but for now .25 is the caliber. 

The package included many components for future projects, but the gun itself was largely delivered in stock form.  The only thing not OEM was the reg was cranked up to 2200psi as the previous owner was last testing slug tunes.  Well it does have one non oem part, it has a 1/2-20 adapter.

No pics of the gun as delivered, it looked like any other Taipan Veteran Long .25 in a gray laminate stock.

Initial testing showed that I could not find the plateau when dialing up hammer spring as the gun would not cock if HST was dialed any higher than when set to send King Heavies 925fps. 

The gun lived up to all of the Taipan hype.  The trigger was the best of all I own, or have owned.  The shot cycle was nice and crisp.  It shot decently accurate with King Heavies at 925fps, I believe if I would have dialed  the reg down and dropped velocity to the 885 range it would have been even more accurate.  But that is not the plan for this one....

The first step was to apply a mod that I apply to most of my guns, but where I learned the most about it was the P15 platform.  Most seeking >45fpe in the P15 platform end up using a lot of preload, some even use heavier hammer springs.  During my P15 journey, I decided to work the other end of the problem.  Make the valve flow more and be easier to open, which in turn will require less hammer strike.  This was achieved by reducing valve stem diameter as well as reducing poppet sealing margin diameter to whatever the minimum size was, just large enough to not wedge itself in the valve throat.  Changing poppet material to peek allows such aggressive poppet to throat tolerances... 

So, on the Veteran Long in .25, it had a 3mm valve stem in a .2550 or so valve throat.  Valve exhaust and transfer was something like .240, more than sufficient.  The probe diameter was .083 or so, which meant the calculated valve throat (minus stem) area was less than calculated bore (minus probe) area.  The valve throat is the restriction......less than ideal, especially for a regulated gun, IMO.

OEM poppet and 2mm stemmed peek poppet





View into the tiny for caliber, .2550 valve throat, showing the brass tubing used as a bushing to allow for the 2mm stem.



back side of valve, showing the brass tubing used as a bushing to allow for the 2mm stem.



Converting to a 2mm stem resulted in a 13% increase in calculated valve throat area.  The transfer is still just slightly oversized, but now the greatest restriction is at the bolt probe. 

This modification resulted in being able to dial HST up to the plateau, maxing out at 945fps with JSB King Heavies.  Still OEM barrel length and reg at 2200psi.

The package included a 600mm unchoked LW slug barrel.  Switching to this barrel resulted in the plateau shifting to 960fps with King Heavies.  I tried some Patriot 40gr slugs, they were at 885fps.  My slug of choice, the Altaros ATP Smooth 49.5gr ran 817fps.  Again, reg setting of 2200psi.

Of course with a 2200psi reg setting the gun is shooting King Heavies way to fast out of a 1:17.7 twist barrel, but it worked for tuning purposes...

Next up was to swap in the extended plenum.  This plenum is one that was custom made for the seller, and is a bit larger/longer than the typical plenums that were commercially available.  If all of my measurements were correct, adding this plenum increases total plenum to 50-52cc.



Here is the gun with 600mm LW barrel and extended plenum.



The combination of this series of modifications actually surprised me.  I had a rough idea where it should end up as I have done a lot of testing using the ATP 49.5gr at various pressures.  My Bulldog with 700mm STX Superior Heavy, regulated at 1800psi, 60 cc of plenum likes to shoot these slugs at 850fps and is good for ~20ish shots. 

I honestly never expected a 600mm barrel to yield the numbers this did.  King heavies were plateaued at 1020fps.  Patriot 40gr 945fps. 

The most pleasant surprise was the Altaros ATP Smooth 49.5gr, they plateaued over 880fps.  Out of a 600mm barrel!!! 

I dialed down to 850fps with the Altaros and put some rounds on paper at 100 yards.  I was quickly reminded that >80 fpe out of a 35", 10lb 5oz gun is challenging to shoot. 



While shooting I also realized the tune did not like being dialed down to 850fps.  I added an eight of HST  and shot the top right group as my final group. 

I shot a couple of fills just plinking and shooting my spinners to grow more familiar with the platform. 

After finishing for the day, a couple of shots over the chronograph showed 875fps, 83fpe.  Amazingly, a string from a full fill seems to be in the range of 30 shots....I tightened the HST set screw, effectively locking the tune down by preventing the hst from self-adjusting.

Those familiar with the platform will appreciate this last pic.  The gun is not equipped with hammer weight nor a heavy aftermarket spring.  Note where HST is set.  There are approximately 2 more turns in before it won't cock....



I may lower the reg a bit to get the current tune down to 850fps and see if that helps with recoil.  Eventually I will swap to 700mm FX liners and test in both .22 and .25....

That's enough for now.

[ranchibi]

Mike, congratulations! Fantastic platforms for sure, have fun tuning it to your specs!

[aluminumfetish]

I am envious, the .22 in any laminate is HIGH on my want list.

[Snatchcan]

I recently purchased a Vet standard in .25. I wish I could find a factory .25 long barrel for it.  Do you already have a transfer port and .22 probe to convert it to .22, or are you planning on machining your own?

[mackeral5]

I recently purchased a Vet standard in .25. I wish I could find a factory .25 long barrel for it.  Do you already have a transfer port and .22 probe to convert it to .22, or are you planning on machining your own?

First I should say thanks for making me realize i needed a transfer port as well as a bolt probe.  Now that I think about it, I believe I will also need a breech oring bushing, or at least that is my best description of the brass piece with the breech oring on the other side of it.

I will have to source these items, I have no way of machining them. 

[Snatchcan]

I recently purchased a Vet standard in .25. I wish I could find a factory .25 long barrel for it.  Do you already have a transfer port and .22 probe to convert it to .22, or are you planning on machining your own?

First I should say thanks for making me realize i needed a transfer port as well as a bolt probe.  Now that I think about it, I believe I will also need a breech oring bushing, or at least that is my best description of the brass piece with the breech oring on the other side of it.

I will have to source these items, I have no way of machining them.

If you find a source for these items please let me know. I have not had much luck finding replacement parts,  it's the only down side of the Vet, everything else with this rifle I have found phenomenal.

[mackeral5]

I recently purchased a Vet standard in .25. I wish I could find a factory .25 long barrel for it.  Do you already have a transfer port and .22 probe to convert it to .22, or are you planning on machining your own?

First I should say thanks for making me realize i needed a transfer port as well as a bolt probe.  Now that I think about it, I believe I will also need a breech oring bushing, or at least that is my best description of the brass piece with the breech oring on the other side of it.

I will have to source these items, I have no way of machining them.

If you find a source for these items please let me know. I have not had much luck finding replacement parts,  it's the only down side of the Vet, everything else with this rifle I have found phenomenal.

If you found the parts I need to convert to .22---bolt, brass oring retainer/bushing, and transfer port----I would gladly swap my OEM long .25 barrel for those parts.

[mackeral5]

After yesterday's thrashing---starting fresh with a new-to-me platform, getting acclimated with it and then applying a recipe of parts and adjustments to attempt reaching my desired tune, in many cases this results in the following day being spent chasing leaks, etc. 

I must say so far the Taipan is cooperating nicely.  This morning the gauge was right where I left it.  So with my morning coffee I topped it off, shot half dozen or so shots at my 100 yard spinners and put up a fresh 100 yard target...  I decided to keep it simple and not put too much thought into things, there is plenty of day left for that....  No pressure...
 No bipod, rear bag, etc.  Just the tube laying in the groove of my Tack Driver, resting on my truck's bedcover, leaning against the bedside.



5 shots of Altaros ATP Smooth 49.5gr.  I stopped right there for now.

[bear air]

Looks pretty good Mike. I've never heard anyone griping about their Taipan in the time I've been on GTA and AGN. That looks like a pretty tight group. Looking forward to hearing more as you work your magic on this gun.

[Snatchcan]

I recently purchased a Vet standard in .25. I wish I could find a factory .25 long barrel for it.  Do you already have a transfer port and .22 probe to convert it to .22, or are you planning on machining your own?

First I should say thanks for making me realize i needed a transfer port as well as a bolt probe.  Now that I think about it, I believe I will also need a breech oring bushing, or at least that is my best description of the brass piece with the breech oring on the other side of it.

I will have to source these items, I have no way of machining them.

If you find a source for these items please let me know. I have not had much luck finding replacement parts,  it's the only down side of the Vet, everything else with this rifle I have found phenomenal.

If you found the parts I need to convert to .22---bolt, brass oring retainer/bushing, and transfer port----I would gladly swap my OEM long .25 barrel for those parts.

You sir, drive a hard bargain! I'll keep looking.

[mackeral5]

I've spent a good bit of time becoming more acclimated with the platform.  I added a peek striker/button to the hammer, which helped with the "tink" sound of the veteran's shot cycle.  Note those hammers are very hard....It took a bit of creativity and a patience to cut out a .250 deep pocket using a diamond burr....




As previously mentioned, the new poppet resulted in being able to reach the velocity plateau with 150 bar reg and 2 turns out from not cocking.  Knowing this and the fact that the Veteran's full bore transfer passage and large transfer port exceeded the valve throat area, I felt confident with a a minimum OD peek poppet, the existing hammer/spring would be able to open a slightly larger valve throat.   Time to disassemble.

I learned a valuable lesson during this process.  When disassembling, I decided to remove the barrel so that i could have better access and further inspect the transfer path.  After removing the barrel, I removed the hammer spring, inserted a short screw into the adjuster's recess, and tightened against the valve to degas.....

Notice after I mention removing the barrel, I made no mention of removing the transfer port and breech oring bushing/carrier.....Those items are held in place by the barrel, and with the barrel out, they will practically fall out.  My lack of familiarity with the platform and not being 100% focused on the task at hand were about to teach a valuable  lesson....  Upon degassing, the transfer port shot across my shop. fortunately resulting in no bodily damage.  After a bit of fruitless searching, I decided to take a break from that and work on the valve.

After carefully measuring my poppet and the valve throat I realized I could increase the valve throat to .270 and still use the same poppet.  Throat area will be approx 15% over bore area. 

After opening the throat, polishing the new seat, and blending the exhaust into the throat we have this:



But no transfer port, no testing....

Later today I will resign myself to asking the wife for help, and surely she will find it in the most obvious spot that I overlooked.  Before I admit defeat, I will make one last effort to find it on my own.....

[bear air]

Good luck brother. I lost a small nut a couple weeks ago and had to stop the search to cool off. I found it the next weekend without too much effort lol.

[mackeral5]

Good luck brother. I lost a small nut a couple weeks ago and had to stop the search to cool off. I found it the next weekend without too much effort lol.

Thanks Chris.  I finally caved and asked the wife for help.  Within 10 minutes of her helping I found it in what I thought would be the most unlikely of places. 

I was able to reassemble and test the .270 valve throat.  Still reg'd at 2200psi, it maxes out at 915fps with Altaros ATP Smooth 49.5gr, using the 600mm LW barrel.  I like the way those slugs shoot at 850-870fps, so there is plenty of room to detune....   

I cannot wait to get my hands on a thimble/adapter for the FX liner system so I can see what a 700mm barrel will do. 

[Snatchcan]

A few days ago I spent a couple hours digging through the web with absolutely zero luck finding any replacement parts. Transfer port, probe, poppets, it's all nonexistent as far as I can tell.  :'(

I'm really appreciating the work you're doing and I may follow suit once the newness wears off and I figure out exactly what I want out of this particular gun.  Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Also I shot some Griffin 42 grain slugs today at about 800 fps that were great at 59 yards and very promising at 109. I'll post a link to the exact ones I was shooting in a little bit.

https://griffinairgunammo.com/products/griffin-slugs-25-caliber-249-2-stroke-ldc-boat-tail-base

[mackeral5]

A few days ago I spent a couple hours digging through the web with absolutely zero luck finding any replacement parts. Transfer port, probe, poppets, it's all nonexistent as far as I can tell.  :'(

I'm really appreciating the work you're doing and I may follow suit once the newness wears off and I figure out exactly what I want out of this particular gun.  Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Also I shot some Griffin 42 grain slugs today at about 800 fps that were great at 59 yards and very promising at 109. I'll post a link to the exact ones I was shooting in a little bit.

https://griffinairgunammo.com/products/griffin-slugs-25-caliber-249-2-stroke-ldc-boat-tail-base

That's great performance out of a standard.  I have a .25 standard en-route, but I plan to optimize it to be a King Heavy pellet shooter. 

Taipan parts are definitely not the most readily available and those that have parts are not very eager to give them up, whether they are aftermarket or oem parts.  I have several .22 barrel setups that I want to test so at some point I will have to get serious about finding those parts. 

I appreciate the kind works with regards to my sharing information.  It is mostly a repeat of work others have done, but just like parts, specific details of performance enhancements are not openly shared by many.  I am in no means making recommendations for others to modify their guns, but if they choose to do so, perhaps this will be data to  consider in deciding how they want to achieve their goals. 

[sb327]

Very good read and excellent process of systematically going through the enhancements (even losing a part during the journey! Lol).

Ditto on the thanks for sharing.

Dave

[Snatchcan]

A few days ago I spent a couple hours digging through the web with absolutely zero luck finding any replacement parts. Transfer port, probe, poppets, it's all nonexistent as far as I can tell.  :'(

I'm really appreciating the work you're doing and I may follow suit once the newness wears off and I figure out exactly what I want out of this particular gun.  Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Also I shot some Griffin 42 grain slugs today at about 800 fps that were great at 59 yards and very promising at 109. I'll post a link to the exact ones I was shooting in a little bit.

https://griffinairgunammo.com/products/griffin-slugs-25-caliber-249-2-stroke-ldc-boat-tail-base

That's great performance out of a standard.  I have a .25 standard en-route, but I plan to optimize it to be a King Heavy pellet shooter. 

Taipan parts are definitely not the most readily available and those that have parts are not very eager to give them up, whether they are aftermarket or oem parts.  I have several .22 barrel setups that I want to test so at some point I will have to get serious about finding those parts. 

I appreciate the kind works with regards to my sharing information.  It is mostly a repeat of work others have done, but just like parts, specific details of performance enhancements are not openly shared by many.  I am in no means making recommendations for others to modify their guns, but if they choose to do so, perhaps this will be data to  consider in deciding how they want to achieve their goals.

So far I'm really enjoying this platform. And it seems you are as well. Here's a rundown of most of my ammo testing thus far.

I've been having mixed luck with pellets so far. Both the King mark 1's and 2's have been about the least accurate pellets.  I've tried varying speeds from 850 to about 930. I can't seem to keep groups consistently under an inch at 50. I really need to start with a clean barrel and methodically work my way up from 800 fps, I know they should be shooters.

When the wind is dead calm Hades and JTS 25 grains have been pretty good, but with gusty 5-10 mph winds they really seem to suffer. On one very still evening I was shooting mullen stalks out to about 120 yards very consistently with the Hades.

The 29 grain JTS domes are fairly consistent, but the semi done 29 grains do not shot well at the speeds I've tried, I don't think I've gone below 850 fps and they may act more like a wadcutter aerodynamicly.
I really want to try their 33 grain domes but have not found any in-stock.

I also had pretty decent luck with mark 1 JSB knock outs. They put some serious hurt on empty shotgun shells out to 60 yards. I haven't tried them any further and I have not shot any groups with them,  just some casual plinking. The mark 2's are scatter guns past 50.

I've had absolutely zero luck with any NSA slugs,  but I've only tried their lightest offerings. Now that I know it likes the 42 grain Griffins I may break out some of the heavier slugs. Even at a MV of 800 fps the Griffins are punching holes through 2x4's at 109 yards.

Polymags shot pretty well below 850 fps.

I have yet to try any H&N pellets or slugs.

I almost exclusively shoot groups at about 50 and 100 yards. Today was 59 and 109. I consider a 3/4" group at 50 pretty good.  As in it's plenty good to knock a pigeon off a barn at 60. Anything over an 1.5" and I start playing with the hammer spring, clean the barrel or both. At 100 yards I'm very happy with anything sub 2.5". I've only shot a couple sub 2.5" groups at 100.

If I think of anything else I've tried I'll add to the list.

[mackeral5]

A few days ago I spent a couple hours digging through the web with absolutely zero luck finding any replacement parts. Transfer port, probe, poppets, it's all nonexistent as far as I can tell.  :'(

I'm really appreciating the work you're doing and I may follow suit once the newness wears off and I figure out exactly what I want out of this particular gun.  Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Also I shot some Griffin 42 grain slugs today at about 800 fps that were great at 59 yards and very promising at 109. I'll post a link to the exact ones I was shooting in a little bit.

https://griffinairgunammo.com/products/griffin-slugs-25-caliber-249-2-stroke-ldc-boat-tail-base

That's great performance out of a standard.  I have a .25 standard en-route, but I plan to optimize it to be a King Heavy pellet shooter. 

Taipan parts are definitely not the most readily available and those that have parts are not very eager to give them up, whether they are aftermarket or oem parts.  I have several .22 barrel setups that I want to test so at some point I will have to get serious about finding those parts. 

I appreciate the kind works with regards to my sharing information.  It is mostly a repeat of work others have done, but just like parts, specific details of performance enhancements are not openly shared by many.  I am in no means making recommendations for others to modify their guns, but if they choose to do so, perhaps this will be data to  consider in deciding how they want to achieve their goals.

So far I'm really enjoying this platform. And it seems you are as well. Here's a rundown of most of my ammo testing thus far.

I've been having mixed luck with pellets so far. Both the King mark 1's and 2's have been about the least accurate pellets.  I've tried varying speeds from 850 to about 930. I can't seem to keep groups consistently under an inch at 50. I really need to start with a clean barrel and methodically work my way up from 800 fps, I know they should be shooters.

When the wind is dead calm Hades and JTS 25 grains have been pretty good, but with gusty 5-10 mph winds they really seem to suffer. On one very still evening I was shooting mullen stalks out to about 120 yards very consistently with the Hades.

The 29 grain JTS domes are fairly consistent, but the semi done 29 grains do not shot well at the speeds I've tried, I don't think I've gone below 850 fps and they may act more like a wadcutter aerodynamicly.
I really want to try their 33 grain domes but have not found any in-stock.

I also had pretty decent luck with mark 1 JSB knock outs. They put some serious hurt on empty shotgun shells out to 60 yards. I haven't tried them any further and I have not shot any groups with them,  just some casual plinking. The mark 2's are scatter guns past 50.

I've had absolutely zero luck with any NSA slugs,  but I've only tried their lightest offerings. Now that I know it likes the 42 grain Griffins I may break out some of the heavier slugs. Even at a MV of 800 fps the Griffins are punching holes through 2x4's at 109 yards.

Polymags shot pretty well below 850 fps.

I have yet to try any H&N pellets or slugs.

I almost exclusively shoot groups at about 50 and 100 yards. Today was 59 and 109. I consider a 3/4" group at 50 pretty good.  As in it's plenty good to knock a pigeon off a barn at 60. Anything over an 1.5" and I start playing with the hammer spring, clean the barrel or both. At 100 yards I'm very happy with anything sub 2.5". I've only shot a couple sub 2.5" groups at 100.

If I think of anything else I've tried I'll add to the list.

I appreciate the notes.  My Taipan journey expanded a bit this week with the receipt of a Standard .25.  I am going to say I am simply amazed with how these guns more than live up to all the hype about them 5 years or so ago.  While I was on my low budget P15 journey many were touting the Veteran.  While I still say, lb for lb, dollar for dollar, the p15 is hard to beat, the Veteran standard is very surprising.  As a matter of fact I will say that performance wise, it bests my old Edgun R3M, but with a magazine that reliably indexes, lol....  The edgun did have a tensioned barrel, so it was a bit easier to deal with from an assembly perspective, but other than that everything about the Veteran is superior to the R3M.   

I do have to call out the veteran STD for being a bit portly, weighing in at 9lbs even with a UTG 3-12 x44mm SWAT scope. 

This one arrived with the HST adjuster loose, velocity in the 830-840fps range with King Heavies.  After a bit of testing I found the reg is set pretty high, over 2000psi, and it will max out sending King Heavies around 890fps.  I dialed it down to 870fps and tightened the HST lock screw.  With speeds around 870fps it saves a little air and is proving to be very accurate so far.  But shot count is somewhere between 25 and 30 at this power level.  I want to turn down the reg and tune for 850fps or so, but it is performing so well I do not really want to touch it right now.  Plus I will want to put in a 2mm stemmed peek poppet and a peek hammer striker, "while I am there...." 

I picked this one up because it came with both a wood stock and one of those no longer made "tactical" stocks, which I bought with the intention of putting on the Long. 

I've got a couple packages of parts on the way to RI for some machine work, with a little good luck perhaps maybe within the next few weeks or month or so I will be able to test the Long with a .25 700mm Superior Heavy liner system installed.  Actually I plan to have parts made to do both .22 and .25 FX liner systems in the Veterans.  Still no luck on the .22 bolt/transfer port/o-ring carrier, but I haven't really put much effort towards looking. 

Mike

[Snatchcan]

A few days ago I spent a couple hours digging through the web with absolutely zero luck finding any replacement parts. Transfer port, probe, poppets, it's all nonexistent as far as I can tell.  :'(

I'm really appreciating the work you're doing and I may follow suit once the newness wears off and I figure out exactly what I want out of this particular gun.  Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Also I shot some Griffin 42 grain slugs today at about 800 fps that were great at 59 yards and very promising at 109. I'll post a link to the exact ones I was shooting in a little bit.

https://griffinairgunammo.com/products/griffin-slugs-25-caliber-249-2-stroke-ldc-boat-tail-base

That's great performance out of a standard.  I have a .25 standard en-route, but I plan to optimize it to be a King Heavy pellet shooter. 

Taipan parts are definitely not the most readily available and those that have parts are not very eager to give them up, whether they are aftermarket or oem parts.  I have several .22 barrel setups that I want to test so at some point I will have to get serious about finding those parts. 

I appreciate the kind works with regards to my sharing information.  It is mostly a repeat of work others have done, but just like parts, specific details of performance enhancements are not openly shared by many.  I am in no means making recommendations for others to modify their guns, but if they choose to do so, perhaps this will be data to  consider in deciding how they want to achieve their goals.

So far I'm really enjoying this platform. And it seems you are as well. Here's a rundown of most of my ammo testing thus far.

I've been having mixed luck with pellets so far. Both the King mark 1's and 2's have been about the least accurate pellets.  I've tried varying speeds from 850 to about 930. I can't seem to keep groups consistently under an inch at 50. I really need to start with a clean barrel and methodically work my way up from 800 fps, I know they should be shooters.

When the wind is dead calm Hades and JTS 25 grains have been pretty good, but with gusty 5-10 mph winds they really seem to suffer. On one very still evening I was shooting mullen stalks out to about 120 yards very consistently with the Hades.

The 29 grain JTS domes are fairly consistent, but the semi done 29 grains do not shot well at the speeds I've tried, I don't think I've gone below 850 fps and they may act more like a wadcutter aerodynamicly.
I really want to try their 33 grain domes but have not found any in-stock.

I also had pretty decent luck with mark 1 JSB knock outs. They put some serious hurt on empty shotgun shells out to 60 yards. I haven't tried them any further and I have not shot any groups with them,  just some casual plinking. The mark 2's are scatter guns past 50.

I've had absolutely zero luck with any NSA slugs,  but I've only tried their lightest offerings. Now that I know it likes the 42 grain Griffins I may break out some of the heavier slugs. Even at a MV of 800 fps the Griffins are punching holes through 2x4's at 109 yards.

Polymags shot pretty well below 850 fps.

I have yet to try any H&N pellets or slugs.

I almost exclusively shoot groups at about 50 and 100 yards. Today was 59 and 109. I consider a 3/4" group at 50 pretty good.  As in it's plenty good to knock a pigeon off a barn at 60. Anything over an 1.5" and I start playing with the hammer spring, clean the barrel or both. At 100 yards I'm very happy with anything sub 2.5". I've only shot a couple sub 2.5" groups at 100.

If I think of anything else I've tried I'll add to the list.

I appreciate the notes.  My Taipan journey expanded a bit this week with the receipt of a Standard .25.  I am going to say I am simply amazed with how these guns more than live up to all the hype about them 5 years or so ago.  While I was on my low budget P15 journey many were touting the Veteran.  While I still say, lb for lb, dollar for dollar, the p15 is hard to beat, the Veteran standard is very surprising.  As a matter of fact I will say that performance wise, it bests my old Edgun R3M, but with a magazine that reliably indexes, lol....  The edgun did have a tensioned barrel, so it was a bit easier to deal with from an assembly perspective, but other than that everything about the Veteran is superior to the R3M.   

I do have to call out the veteran STD for being a bit portly, weighing in at 9lbs even with a UTG 3-12 x44mm SWAT scope. 

This one arrived with the HST adjuster loose, velocity in the 830-840fps range with King Heavies.  After a bit of testing I found the reg is set pretty high, over 2000psi, and it will max out sending King Heavies around 890fps.  I dialed it down to 870fps and tightened the HST lock screw.  With speeds around 870fps it saves a little air and is proving to be very accurate so far.  But shot count is somewhere between 25 and 30 at this power level.  I want to turn down the reg and tune for 850fps or so, but it is performing so well I do not really want to touch it right now.  Plus I will want to put in a 2mm stemmed peek poppet and a peek hammer striker, "while I am there...." 

I picked this one up because it came with both a wood stock and one of those no longer made "tactical" stocks, which I bought with the intention of putting on the Long. 

I've got a couple packages of parts on the way to RI for some machine work, with a little good luck perhaps maybe within the next few weeks or month or so I will be able to test the Long with a .25 700mm Superior Heavy liner system installed.  Actually I plan to have parts made to do both .22 and .25 FX liner systems in the Veterans.  Still no luck on the .22 bolt/transfer port/o-ring carrier, but I haven't really put much effort towards looking. 

Mike

I'm glad you're enjoying yours as much as I am.

I dug through my saved shot strings and found one from the JSB's 33.95 grains. It seems even at 140ish BAR with a maxed out hammer spring i was getting around 900fps 870-880. I think i was only getting about 20ish shots a fill,  but I think I was filling from my SCUBA which only ever gets filled to around 3200. So at a full fill i may get closer to 30 shots.

I keep telling myself to up the regulator a bit so I can drop the hammer spring tension a bit and possibly conserve some air shooting heavier ammo. I can tell with the heavy hammer spring maxed out, shooting the Griffin 42 grain slugs, I'm wasting a fair bit of air,  but they shot so well I'm hard pressed to change a thing.

It is a hefty gun,  I've got a Hawke 4x15x50 on mine that I think weighs close to 1.5 lbs. Pushing the gun over or close to 10lbs. I'm starting to get used to the heft offhand, but I'm much more comfortable with some sort of rest if I can find one in the woods. 

I just remembered I shot some amazing groups with FX hybrids at exactly 900 fps. Any higher and they really opened up.  Also the RWS 31 grain superdomes were hot garbage anywhere between 800 and 900. I was missing the 24x24 target at 50ish yards, sometimes left,  right, over, and under.

I may up the reg this weekend and see what happens, but then instead of going pesting,  I'll spend an afternoon testing...

[mackeral5]

I realized I could test mods on the STD by swapping the modded parts from the long...The long is going to be out of service for a while waiting on the parts being machined in RI, so why not?

I swapped in the valve with .270 throat and barely large enough not to wedge itself in the throat 2mm stemmed peek poppet, as well as the hammer modified with peek striker. 

Unmolested .25 veteran .255 valve throat on the left, .270 valve throat with bushing for 2mm stem on right.  While it doesn't look like much, the results were fairly significant. 



Got very lucky on this poppet...any smaller and I would have had to start over....



The mods did not disappoint. Max HST with King Heavies yielded 940fps, way too fast for the LW's twist rate based on past experience.  After a bit of testing it was time to turn the reg down.  I found the oem reg in a strange state, the adjuster wheel freely moved.  Adjusting the reg a small amount yielded pretty big swings.  Amazingly I found my second adjustment yielded 2500psi reg setting, which was sending King Heavies 980fps.... 

Upon closer inspection I found that someone had altered the belleville stack, which in turn made it possible to reach higher reg settings, but also made it extremely sensitive to any adjustment.  I didn't spend much time testing how it responded to adjustments, perhaps someday if I get a reg tester I will see if this is a good configuration for reg settings above 150 bar.

This is how I found the belleville stack:



Based on research, this is how the belleville stack should look:



I settled in on a tune that allows for 4 magazines at 865-870fps with King Heavies, reg is around 125 bar.  40 shots over 55fpe, Not too shabby. 

I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have been testing with a simplified balanced valve in the Long.  Amazingly, the valve guts I cobbled together for a WAR Mrod valve almost dropped right into the Veteran. 





It works as expected, the adjustable balance chamber height/volume can make it blow open like a Cothran, or open easy and quickly shut like a traditional valve....however....

What I am seeing now is the .270 throated valve with the peek poppet at such low-for-energy-level reg settings is so easy to open, I really do not recognize the need for added complexity.   The throat area is greater than full bore area, so no need to go larger.  The current tune has the hammer in approximately .040" free flight, and I am using a single -009 90 durometer urethane o-ring on the hammer as a buffer.  Without the buffer it would likely require even more free flight...

Now let's see how stable things are, hopefully no surprises over the weekend.