MRodAir Air Max Varmint in .22 - Nice rifle!

[NHGuide]

Can you post some pics of groups you are getting on paper? Plus what type of pellets you are using? I'm interested in what kind of accuracy people are getting with these?

Yes... after Sunday (28th); I will be doing some outside work and I'll be able to punch a few holes then. What ranges would you like me to shoot?  I can go up to 40 without trouble.  I think at this power, it isn't really much use further than that anyway.
I have only run the brown-box bulk Crosman Premiers through it so for 14.3 gr.  I can shoot other pellets, to see what works best, as time allows.

[GARY T]

Looks good! Stay with it and enjoy.

[LAalex]

Nice looking rifle.  The Disco is so ugly this might be a good alternative.  No parts available would be the deal killer for me.  Hopefully more support will be available as more rifles are sold.

Scotty

[NHGuide]

So I set up at 33 yards. I have to tell you...I am not that impressed...what is interesting is that my rested shots at 33 yards are worse than my off hand shots at 40.

two pictures, pellets laid in the same order they were shot.  note the drop !  I was not impressed....perhaps there are burrs or something in the barrel...I don't know...but from these 'groups' I think this rifle is in need of serious barrel work...and  from the large gulps of air it uses, it could use valve tuning, too.
    NOTE: previous to shooting the following target, I did a quick sight in at 33 yards with the Crosman Premiers....which is likely why they were the only ones that printed near close to the Point Of Aim.
I topped the reservoir to 3000psi every magazine, and the point of aim(s) were the orange dots in each of the five diamonds on the target. the gridlines are one inch.
this is not an exciting result... did I say I'm not that impressed?  I think this is an assembled 'kit gun' though it is well built, it appears to be a tinkers delight, because to get anything extraordinary out of this rifle I am going to have to tinker with it.
As far as groups go, the Crosman Premiers and the Crow Magnums  have the most potential so far, though there are others I have not tried. it seems to me that it won't be worth my while to do much more testing until I take the barrel off and check the leade and the muzzle

[BigTinBoat]

So I set up at 33 yards. I have to tell you...I am not that impressed...what is interesting is that my rested shots at 33 yards are worse than my off hand shots at 40.

Wow - that doesn't look good at all.

[fly2mike]

Looks terrible! This is what my groups look like too. I wanted to know if other owners were having the same terrible accuracy that I have gotten with my MrodAir Airmax Varmint in .177.
I have been trying to contact Mike about a new barrel, and some "O" rings etc.., but he is too busy to spend much time in customer support I guess.
I really like my little rifle in many ways, and I have spent a fair amount of time tweaking it, cleaning and polishing the barrel, crown, lead in etc.. Tweaking the trigger, magazine, boring out the stock so that it can be removed with the gauge on, etc.
Time will tell.... but so far accuracy has been disappointing to say the least
 I tried to post some pictures of my target, but I guess my file is too large.
 I don't know how to resize, so I can't post pictures, but I have figured out how to make the trigger work a lot better by adding a longer set screw to make the take up a lot shorter, and I figured out how to make my magazine work well by adding a second set screw to lock the first one behind the little detent ball, also I had to put a drop of blue loctite on the center screw to keep it from turning and messing with the tension of the cover. Also, be careful if you enlarge the hole in the stock for the air gauge. I glued in a short piece of half inch dowel, then drilled a 1/4" pilot hole to guide my hole saw (go smaller than the actual hole size) then carefully rasped out the hole and finally sanded with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to just barely large enough to allow the gauge to squeek through. There isn't much extra material in the sides of the stock to get careless with.

[NHGuide]

Mike,
 What I was hoping for was inch-ish sized groups... perhaps I didn't try the right pellet, but after this batch I figured the next step will be to tear it down and go over everything. I wouldn't say "terrible" for a 275 dollar rifle--but it is easily "needs improvement". 

Thanks or the heads-up on the stock ...it is a small stock--which I LOVE for the hunting portability--so I will be careful. I'll likely use a Dremel and do it that way.

REALLY need to say, though, that I still like this rifle.  It doesn't seem to be poorly built and in fact the fit and finish is better than the two Discoveries I have by a noticeable  margin.
No magazine troubles with mine but the Vortex pellets didn't want to go in, requiring a little extra careful push. All of the other pellets dropped in.
one of the idea that I had was to remove the LDC and see if that might be the cause of accuracy woes.
In the mean time I have sap to boil and while I can shoot during that....I cannot take the time to do any workbench fiddling...I can't be away from the evaporator for long periods.
Good luck with yours and I would like to see pictures. There are resize options in most image editors and there are a couple free image resizers kicking around the 'net'. 
I would very much like to see your trigger and magazine tweaks, and a few groups from you and other people.

There HAS to be a solution to this 'patterning'.

[gator 69]

You might try not filling to 3000 every time. Try 2800 and always shoot 1 or 2 times to settle the valve then go for it. Find the sweet spot. Might work.

[NHGuide]

You might try not filling to 3000 every time. Try 2800 and always shoot 1 or 2 times to settle the valve then go for it. Find the sweet spot. Might work.

David,  I will do just that.
  next weekend.
in the mean time I saw this...and it 'peaked' my interest. 

note the transfer port in the rifle that this gentleman shows. it looks very choked.  I think that is one clue about the power.
  I will, within the month, take this apart and affect a few changes. that transfer port looks like it might be one of them !

[fly2mike]

Hi Will, yes I totally agree that this little carbine is growing on me in many ways. It has many positive aspects.
(1) good power
(2) lightweight
(3) very simple construction
(4) Smooth operation once the bolt is lubricated a little
(5) A decent trigger once you install a longer set screw to shorten the take up,  and put a little moly paste on the contact points. The bad thing about the trigger is it cannot be adjusted from the outside.
The only thing that really took me by surprise was to see that the I.D. of the receiver where the barrel inserts was so chewed up. And the fact that the barrel just seems rough in every way; course rifling, rough crown, and breech, etc.. Maybe the barrel is the only real weak link on these?
I am thinking about recrowning mine and doing a hand lapping with a lead slug? I saw a video somewhere on how to do it, but I have never done it myself. I also thought about free floating the barrel by cutting off the upper portion of the front barrel band. I would just bore it over size, then cut it to make it look like a saddle, with no contact on the barrel, not sure if it is a good idea or not?
I also want to take mine all apart and polish it from the inside out. I am hoping to get some extra "O" rings, spare parts, and maybe a parts schematic?
I will try to resize some pics or maybe I will make a photo web album with a link? Maybe that is not a good idea?
I am not a very experienced air gun smith, so I will be looking forward to all of the advice and tips I can get from you guys. Hopefully there will be some videos on this sometime rifle soon? I saw the one in Russian? I could see how he disassembled the gun basically.
Well, keep me posted on what you find out and I will do the same.
Oh, and yes, I have been shooting mine with the moderator removed, so that has not made any difference.

Oh yeah, David, I have tried starting my groups from every different pressure and the only thing that has made any difference is pellet selection.  My pellet choices will be increasing soon when I receive a couple of orders that I have made.

[ranchonodinero]

My .177 likes the JSB exacts.  Mine seems reasonably accurate but I do not have a chrony.  I'm getting 30 plus shots before the gauge on the rifle says to refill.  Once I figured out the clip it worked too.  I still seem to use the single shot tray the most. It is light and fun.

[NHGuide]

The more I shoot this rifle the better the accuracy becomes.  now, I wonder if that might be due to rough spots-or burrs in the barrel becoming smoothed or micro-filled with lead.

No pictures to post, but while making more maple syrup this weekend, I shot some one hole groups at about 28 yards.  My guesstimate would be 3/8ths inch.  I used the JSB Exacts for this weekends plinking.   as an aside, a pest of a red squirrel became the first casualty of this little rifle...one shot easy as pie at about 15 yards. 
I have a QB rebuild going, but soon after that I'll be tearing into this, opening up that small transfer port, fixing the trigger a little and all the other fun stuff...SSG, valve, etc.  THAT will be fun. and in the months ahead, I'll let y'all know how it goes.

[fly2mike]

Hi Will,
 Thanks for the update. I will look forward to your detailed report on what you do to improve your Varmint.
 I am waiting to get mine back from MrodAir.

[fly2mike]

My .177 likes the JSB exacts.  Mine seems reasonably accurate but I do not have a chrony.  I'm getting 30 plus shots before the gauge on the rifle says to refill.  Once I figured out the clip it worked too.  I still seem to use the single shot tray the most. It is light and fun.
[/quote

Hi, sounds like you like your Varmint pretty well. I tried some JSB heavies, and didn't get very good groups, but I didn't try the medium weight pellets, those might be the ticket for these rifles.
Can you post some pictures of your groups?

[fly2mike]

I guess I don't know how to quote a previous poster and a reply.

[stony30]

I'll be interested in how this rifle "grows" on you guys. I was going to wait for Crosmans new pcp rifle the Maximus but may go for this Varmint rifle instead. ☺

[grimeszee]

I guess I don't know how to quote a previous poster and a reply.

You must make sure you start typing after the "[/quote]" it looks like you mistakenly deleted the closing bracket "]"

[fly2mike]

I'll be interested in how this rifle "grows" on you guys. I was going to wait for Crosmans new pcp rifle the Maximus but may go for this Varmint rifle instead. ☺

I really like my Varmint in terms of how compact and lightweight it is. Handling and balance are great. Workmanship is very good externally, but the internals are rough, or at least they are on mine. Rough crown and lead on the barrel, etc.. All things that can be cleaned up I hope.
The accuracy on mine was not very good, so I sent it back, and I am still waiting to see what Mike will do with it.
Maybe I have been spoiled by the air rifles I have owned in the past. I have come to expect air guns to be pretty darn accurate, even my Crosman 2240 CO2 pistol will shoot one hole groups at 15 yards rested on sandbags with a pistol scope on it.  I also have an old Sheridan silver Streak pump air rifle that will shoot better than I can with my old eyes and it only has a receiver sight on it.
Bottom line is; if you want to tinker with this Varmint and get lucky on one that is accurate then it is worth the money.  If you want an air rifle that will shoot great with superb accuracy, and not need to be tinkered with very much at all, look for a new or used Air Arms S200 Hunter.  I am starting to regret selling mine

[bhdevil]

I just received the same rifle ordered a second mag for it . Do you know who makes a suppressor for it I would like to quiet mine down more. and do you know if the post where the back sights  sits is lower then the dove tail for the scope it would save me from having to shim my scope ? your right its a light rifle I like that although now it makes my other air rifle feel very heavy. I just received it yesterday so only got to take a few shots but I put the scope I want to put on it and ran out of up so I have to either shim I saw a video that showed the back sight post was a little lower but I cant remember how old the video was and it was in Russian so no idea what he was saying.I plan to use it for squirrel and rabbit hunting want to add sling studs so I can add a bipod and sling.

[stony30]

I shimmed mine (.22) and I get dime sized groups at 35 yards.  Loves Crosman 14.3 premiers