Stoeger X-20 Shrouded .22 - Advertised FPS.............Fact or Fiction.....

[gene_sc]

OK guys and gals.. I gave Ernie my friend a call last night and he agreed to come over and shoot the new Stoeger X-20 S .22. We ran a string of ten shots accross my chrony outside my shop to get a good accurate reading. Due to operator error with camera I was unable to get the full string on film. But I did record the numbers.

First this gun belongs to my customer who has sent it for a gas ram conversion. Second I cleaned the barrel with a few patches. NOTE! You will have to use a straw like on the Gamo Whisper to by pass the baffles when using a weed wacker line and patch.

OK after Ernie put exactly 28 shots through her and the smoke stopped we got the chrony ready. Using RWS Superdomes .22, 14.5 grn pellet. Here are the numbers and pictures of what I caught on camera.

1.886
2.882
2.874
3.875
4.869
5.856
6 863
The rest are pictures I caught.

First thing Ernie and I noticed was that the safety was very hard to push off. That can be adjusted. The synthetic stock is very nice and one of few that I really like.

I still think that the gun was passing a bit of lube. This was a test wiff chrony under a 100 shots. Numbers could go up a bit or down depending on what shape the seal is in.

Personaly I feel that the average numbers this .22 can produce is not a judge. Also remember that the spring in these Stoegers are about the same wire size, coil count and length as a JM Tarntula Spring. At best I have seen Gamo .22 with this same powerplant shoot 800 fps. Very rarely ever goes over 800 fps.

Could be with different pellets used you may get higher numbers but the RWS Superdome 14.5 grn. and say the Crosman Premier 14.3 are almost the same. With the Premiers being a tad lighter.



The scope is nice and compact and has a illuminated recticle.

As far as gun being as quiet as a Gamo Whisper I thought it was a tad louder. But spring and guide make alot of noise. It was very nice and smooth cocking.

After my gas ram conversion I will come back with some more numbers.

[thekid]

To bad they are not around here, looks like about 23 fpe, Thats pretty powerful.Rob

[deanda]

Good lookin gun.....pretty strong shooter out of the gate...

[SubaruEJ25]

Even after the dieseling settles down, it looks like a pretty strong shooter around 800fps.  That's really good for an easy cocker.  Anyone have any real dB readings?

[Korak-again]

Those readings are right in with the first numbers I got. That first run gave me an average of 857. It is the second run in the 9's that made me want to retest outside. However my friend has the gun now.

[longislandhunter]

Those are still some fantastic numbers, nothin to sneeze at   I'm really starting to weaken and keep looking at the "order" button.  Only thing keeping me from pushing it is the "conversation" that will undoubtedly take place with the wife once the button is pushed  especially since I've had air gun related packages show up at the house for the past 3 days.   

Anyway, I'm impressed with the numbers, would make a great hunter.

Jeff

[darryl]

I'm still trying to sort out the quietness thing. Gene, you've been exposed to many rifles (might want to get that rash checked out!! ) Anyway, I'm trying to get a sense of the loudness in relative terms. If you look at the guns in my signature, is the X20s as loud as any there which you might be familiar with?
thanks,
dumbfounded darryl

[gene_sc]

Dang Darryl, your a man after my own heart. And yes our government is the best that money can buy...

OK, IMO the New X-20 Suppressor is not any nosier than an RWS-52.... It is a springer and I have no means of measuring muzzle noise. But the noise I hear when shooting the gun is no different than most springer's out of the box. You have a metal spring guide and spring rubbing together with the piston slamming home. My hearing is bad but honestly I do not notice a difference.

I am suspicious of the spring in this new Stoeger. Mechanically you have the same O/D of piston seal and I/D of combustion chamber and length of stroke here as any B-19, Gamo S1K or Crosman Quest.

I have a new Stoeger X-20 spring from last conversion here. When I pull this New Suppressor model down Thursday I will be measuring everything as well as wire size, coils etc. on spring. Like I mentioned in my previous post I have only seen maybe one or two Gamo/B-19/Crosman clones ever reach 800 fps in .22.

The numbers I posted are good solid numbers and even surprised me...

[darryl]

Thanks Gene,
My 52 is the .177 version, and I don't think it's quiet at all, even with 10.5grain pellets. So when you say the X20S is no any noisier, I read that as saying the 52 is just as "quiet" as the X20S. Considering sobyo1's comments that the rifle scared a flock of starlings into flight, plus your own impressions, it seems I have to keep looking for my back yard sniper rifle. I could always have one of my existing rifles (52 or 54) quieted down, or save up and get a Marauder (start-up costs keep me at bay right now). I'd thought I'd found the answer. Maybe not.

Anyway, it will be good to have your impression of the internals of this rifle. Can't know enough.
 

[shadow]

Very interesting brother Gene all seems the same as the other shooters that you mentioned but it's sure putting out some impressive numbers. As you touched on the spring may have more to it then meet's the eye yo think?. I was hoping to hear that the suppressor modal stood out in the quiet mode but may just look at the other Stoeger modals. Ed

[longislandhunter]

I'm starting to think the same thing Ed.  If it winds up that the shroud really isn't very sound effective then I may start taking a harder look a the other models myself.   

Jeff

[darryl]

I'm starting to think the same thing Ed.  If it winds up that the shroud really isn't very sound effective then I may start taking a harder look a the other models myself.   

Jeff

My sentiments exactly, although it would be disappointing if the suppressor turned out to be less than what the marketing video implies. Seems a lot of money to spend on commercial hype that the rifle can't live up to. FX Whisper?

[longislandhunter]

Read an X20-S review on P.A. and the guy reported that his rifle was not as quiet as advertised and that most of the noise came from the spring and spring guide which the shroud would have no effect on.  Read a post from @SSS$$$ on another forum in which he said they sold out their first shipment of rifles and are now on their second shipment.  With all those guns sold I'm really surprised I haven't seen more reviews...  

Jeff

[mac56]

Thanks for the info Gene... gives me something else to want for my collection...         Mike

[shadow]

I have just received a X-20 Suppressor modal in for a tune and first thing ran it across the chrony. Average fps 830 and I was also impressed with those numbers. I have my chrony set up in my man cave where I put the finishing touch's on tunes and camo and was really interested in the sound level of the X-20 Suppressor.My opinion is that it is quieter then the Gamo suppressor modals since I had some on hand also to do a side by side test. There is the sound of the spring but not as much as a Gamo in stock form and I really like how the Stoeger feels and shoulders. Like Gene I'm eyeballing the spring like a detective and I also found a rubber dampening wafer in the bottom of the piston? but it was smashed already on a new airgun. The action and part's scream Crosman and I'm really excited to tune it and do some more testing. Ed

[longislandhunter]

I'm eagerly awaiting your testing results Ed. 

Guess my finger will be hovering over the "order" button until I read your results 

Jeff

[gene_sc]

Was pretty busy this week but finished up most of my projects yesterday and anxiously awaiting opening up the Stoeger X-20 Suppressor .22.....All parts on the new X-20 Suprssor .22 match up with the standard Stoeger X-20. Only exception would be the caliber and the new shrouded barrel and synthetic stock.

I measerued all part carefully and was able to even compare the Supressor parts against standard X-20.. All dimension remain the same.

But I did find something very interesting. Under the top had against the front of pist I found a 1/4" round silicone rubber disc. It was plyable with fingers. This could be the answer why the fps was higher than the norm. The silicone button pad must act like when you push a spring. I do not push springs for more power myself but other tuners and even JM sells shorter springs and push's them with delrin spacers. The only other explanation could be a different tensil strength in the newer springs. Only would know that if parts were avaiable to order and one could check standard X-20 spring part number against new X-20 Superssor spring part number.

I really do not have any post information on the X-20 Superesor due to the fact that this was a customers gun that I was converting over to gas ram. With that said I can tell you that  the ram converstion tested lower fps than with the spring. Converted X-20 Supressor was throwing lead between 765 to 800 fps depending on which pellets I used.

I will say this about the overal DB noise level with ram conversion with the X-20 Suppressor. It definetly is quite. Now minus spring and metal guides you can actually tell how quiete the muzzle noise is. Stoeger did make her quiet at the muzzle but all that metal mechanical noise over shadowed their improvement.

Over all I think that the Stoeger X-20 Suppressor is well worth the money spent. It has good power out of the box and would make for a great small game hunting air rifle..

Stoeger has done a good job on quieting the report down on the new model.

I have some pictures for you to see what makes up the Stoegers. They use all the same parts in the X-20 series air guns.

[shadow]

The tune that I'm performing on a customers Stoeger with suppressor has that rubber wafer in the piston also. After I install the custom guide etc. that should complement the suppressor nicely. Ed

[deanda]

A .22 at 765 that is quiet is great in my opinion...........sounds like it's worth the conversion to let the suppresor do it's work.

These are pretty good out of the box............well worth the price!! They cock very easy, and if you don't care about quiet, they shoot great. I just think the mechanical noise over rides the work the suppersor does. Out of the box, it's not more quiet..........but something to work with. Sounds like a ram conversion would be a good way to go.

[darryl]

Thank you Shadow and Gene for de-mystifying this rifle for me. The suppressor seems to be doing it's job, but the mechanicals are a bit noisy? Can the mechanical noise be heard by people beyond, say, ten yards? That's the quiet characteristic I'm looking for. My neighbors are close, and I don't need them hearing the "crack of doom" when I try to keep pesky birds and squirrels from damaging my home (again). My quietest gun lacks power to take squirrels out humanely (Cometa Indian pistol), and it's not exactly quiet like I'm looking for. So, I'm tossing about either this spring-powered X20S or the Crosman/Benji Prod.

Anyway, nice work guys. Look forward to more.