Marauder to Talon SS?

[pyroboy33]

Hello all my GTA buddies, recently (3 months ago) I picked up a new .22 marauder. To make a looong story short shooting high quality pellets (ie. H&N barracuda match, jsb jumbos, poly mags ect. ect.) with a pretty good scope ( hawke nite eye digital 4-16 mil dot) I am only able to achieve really mediocre groups ( 2" at 50 yrds 1"at 35 1/2" at 20) not at all what I expect from a 500$ pcp. Now I know that the good for nothing crossman barrel is holding me back, how? Beacause velocity and all other variables are stable and the only variable left is the barrel  . So that ordeal behind me I want to get a new pcp, it will be used mostly for hunting but that in mind I would rather have a accurate 25 ftlb than a inaccurate 45 ftlb gun. It needs to be quite, and in case its not implied it needs to accurate ( less than 1" at 50 yrds). My budget is 600$ ( I already have fill equipment). So from that budget I have narrowed it down to the talon ss, it can shoot at 25 ftlbs with heavy pellets which is a big plus in my book, its accurate even with its 12" barrel ( another big plus), and it has a L.W. barrel which removes that crapshoot of getting a nice barrel like from crossman  . Tell me what you guys think and or any other suggestions, thanks 
                    Caleb C. 

[Ribbonstone]

Never want to stop a guy from getting a new airgun...but you could bite the bullet to the tune of $220 and get a drop in LW .22 barrel for your M-Rod.  At least I think (and his web-site still shows) ready to go LW barrels (with the right shroud gear) still available.
http://www.marmotmilitia.com/store.html

Then again, you'd then have a $720 gun at that point...and if that didn't shoot, would be kind of too deep into it to walk away.

[bstaley]

You might want to do some research before jumping in to a Talon SS.  Even with the LW barrels, lots of users experience accuracy issues with them as well.  Things like frame flex, loose bushings, screws working loose, hammer chatter, etc. can all cause issues.  Not to say they can't be great shooters, but sometimes it takes some work to get there.  Because of the frame flex issues, they are one of the only PCP rifles that are actually hold sensitive similar to a springer.  There are probably a lot better choices if you are looking for certain accuracy right out of the box.

Have you tried shooting pellets with larger head sizes (5.53, 5.54) out of your m-rod?  Sometimes an otherwise poor shooting crosman barrel will do much better with those.

[sperho]

Or spend ~$30 to try a new Crosman barrel?  They are pretty cheap and there are plenty of good ones out there in .22 cal...  My .22 groups at about .5" at 40 yds with JSB Exact Jumbo Heavies...  Just a thought.  $600 is more than half way to a ShoeBox Freedom 8!

[pyroboy33]

Thanks for the responses guys, don't get me wrong I don't want to give up on the marauder, just this afternoon I tuned it to get 40 shots at 25 ftlbs while maintaining 4% consistency  . To me thats incredible, although I wish it would have accuracy to match  . Also what I dont want to do is find out that it likes one random pellet that costs 0.10$ a shot  . I know this contradicts the whole theory of "finding the right pellet" but what I would like out of my marauder is consistent accuracy with either jsb 18's or jsb 16's. Since jsb's are a good baseline pellet that isnt too darn expensive and has a good b.c. At this point I think I will give crossman costumer service a ring ( see if I can get a new barrel for free or for a price either way it doesn't matter) and will just continue to buy barrels until I find one that shoots jsbs well. BTW how much do M-rod barrels cost? 

[sperho]

About $30.

[pyroboy33]

About $30.

Does it include that breech-end oring that sits inside the lead.

[rwsfan1]

I would also recommend getting a LW barrel for your Marauder and calling it a day...I have a LW on my .22 and .25 M-rods and no ground squirrel is safe up to 125 yards  .

Henry

[Brewerja]

ya know, if you call crosman and try to get a hold of Kim, (older gal with a raspy voice) tell her you got one of them terds for .22 barrels. I had the same problem. I called them, they sent me a NEW barrel for free, i hold under an inch at 50yds. easy 1 hole all day at 25yds. iv stretched its legs out over 100yds, pretty dang consistant!!! Im tuned for almost 30 shots around 30fpe. (more like 27 or 28) last couple drop a bit. but yeah man, you might be able to score a working barrel, and use the oring that was in your old one, or offer to pay for a few of them over the phone. they are cheap. I also lightly polished my new bore with moters mag polish and some paper towels wrapped on a 17cal chamber brush. its the cats meow baby! i knocked 2 crows off a telephone pole today at about 65yds, i love my mrod

[mtsheron70]

I would try the Crosman CS first and see about a replacement barrel for free or at least $30 is not bad.  If that does not work then break down and get a LW barrel like a few others stated and turn that frown upside down!

[pyroboy33]

I would also recommend getting a LW barrel for your Marauder and calling it a day...I have a LW on my .22 and .25 M-rods and no ground squirrel is safe up to 125 yards  .

Henry

I would actually like to get a LW barrel but as far as I know Jim Gaska at MarmontMalitia is the only person that sells drop in's, and he is out of stock according to his website  .

[Ribbonstone]

Fat barrel with new shroud mounts is still listed as in stock...could be an error....and maybe you don't want a heavier barrel on an already heavy gun.

[pyroboy33]

Just got off the phone with crossman CC, I have a new .22 barrel coming at no charge thanks Crossman  . I also have a .22 bore brush, rod, and some non embedding JB-bore paste. I am going to experiment on the old barrel to see if a good polishing will help with accuracy and if it does than I may try it with the new one. Hopefully it will smooth out those grooves that look like little gravel roads  . And also remove any burrs that may be hiding in there. Anyway I will keep you guys updated.

         Caleb C.

[Brewerja]

good deal man! i told ya crosman would hook you up! hah, thats good to hear. careful with the bore brush, make sure you pull out the barrel oring at the breech before you start running bore brushes thourgh it, otherwise you can shred or lose that oring, then you SOL paying for some extras and waiting for crosman to send them to you. =/ lol, i learrned the hard way.  also, just so you can verify the difference in your barrels,... try this:
take both barrels, thoroughly clean them (removed from the gun) and then take a cleaning rod and push a pellet through the bore on each one,.... and take notice in the differences in resistance/friction between the 2 barrels. you should notice the old cruddy barrel is alot looser, like a 23 caliber barrel. lol. pay extra close attention to the new barrel and mark off any high/tight spots so you can massage them out with the polish compound later. after that, the best way i have found to get a good polish job on the bore, is take a 17cal cleaning rod and 17cal bore brush, wrap the brush in some paper towell as to cover up the sharp bristles and coat that baby in some mothers wheel polish! usually 20 strokes pulled straight through is good. start at the breech, drop it in and pull it out 15-20 times, then clean it out with some new clean shreds of paper towell. =)  good luck man! i hope that new barrel works out for you!!

[Brewerja]

also, forgot to mention, peep the crown on your old barrel too! if that old one is trashed, bust out some tools, perfect opportunity to learn how to cut and polish a crown. =) i re-do all of my AR15 barrels since they come from the factory looking like trash. i have seen some pretty shoddy airgun crowns too.. atleast the AG barrells are softer steel and eaiser to clean up and polish.

[pyroboy33]

also, forgot to mention, peep the crown on your old barrel too! if that old one is trashed, bust out some tools, perfect opportunity to learn how to cut and polish a crown. =) i re-do all of my AR15 barrels since they come from the factory looking like trash. i have seen some pretty shoddy airgun crowns too.. atleast the AG barrells are softer steel and eaiser to clean up and polish.

Yea my old crown does look a little iffy. Right inside the crown I can see some tooling marks on the lands......which doesn't look like they would lend themselves to any accuracy  .

[kj]

the crown is pretty important for good acccuracy. i cut and crowned an iffy crosman barrel, since then it's been spot on.  since you're getting a new one, you have this chance to experiment. a few vids on utube on barrel lapping. gd luck..and have fun

[trinket]

If I was you I'd run out to Naci, after you get done, and practice up on one of those critters out there !