New Syn-rod. Off to a good, but soggy start.

[Martis 1]

UPS finally delivered my new .25 cal Syn-rod Thurs. night.  I was at a meeting when it arrived so the wife signed for it and brought it in the house.  I arrived home an hour or so later and opened the box.  The entire gun was soaked!.  It was 70 degrees in the house but only 12 outside, where the UPS truck had been driving around all night.  Can you say, "condensation"?   Wiped the gun down and let it warm up to room temp, then filled it to 2,500 psi.

First thing I was pleased with was that the gun's gauge and my pump's gauge match.  Not so with my Disco.  Let the gun sit overnight and it held air just fine. 

Next day I had to work from 0700-1900, and got home at 1930 hrs.  After dinner, I pulled off the shroud and cleaned the barrel, which wasn't as dirty as I'd expected.  There was a ton of oil on the barrel and in the shroud.  I wiped it off, but left it on the o-rings on either side of the tube. 

I re-centered my 3-9 Hawke Sport scope from my Disco and dropped it on the 'rod.  Loaded a clip with Benjamin pellets and took a few shots at an 18 yard target.  I was resting my elbows on my spa cover and shooting by flashlight in the 18 degree warmth, so not ideal. 

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that with the scope centered, it was only shooting 3/4" low and less than 1/2" right.  Three pellets measured less than 3/8" CTC, even on my wobbly elbows.  Not gonna take much adjustment to get sighted in. 

Next surprise was that even in .25 cal, this thing is quiet!  Makes my TKO'd Disco seem loud, which it certainly isn't. 

I'd love to set up a table and chrony so I could test all the pellets I bought, but there's a foot of snow in the yard, and it's snowing pretty good now.  The forecast is for heavy snow today, turning to rain tonight.  They're warning of up to 8" of rain in Truckee by the end of Sunday, with major flooding!  After that, it's supposed to snow for 5 days straight.  Not ideal target shooting weather.

I'll most likely zero the gun with the Benjamin pellets and just go look for some cotton tails, at least for now...

[oneshot61]

Very nice, congratulations on the new synrod! Your going to love that rifle. I had one and regret selling it. Accurate and easy to work on, modify and will take a number of game easily. Hopefully you'll be able to get some trigger time in soon and enjoy it.

[bigredhunter00]

love my synrod.  Did add gen 1 bolt to it and found a nice ldc for 58 bucks shipped since i turned mine up.  shoot prairie dogs out to some range thats probably outlawed on this site but more than 2 less than 300 yards.  that one was about  84 yards

[Martis 1]

Thanks guys!
I'm not going to attempt any tuning until spring, but I'll be going over a lot of old threads and probably asking questions at that time. 

Reading the manual, it appears there are at least three variables that can be adjusted for power:  Hammer spring preload, Hammer Stroke, and the valve meter for velocity.  I'll have to learn how these work in combination and what to do with each before I start messing around. 

It's warmed up a lot, (too much for this altitude and time of year), and it's pouring rain.  The snow has turned to slush and I just heard some very loud thunder.  Looks like the flood warnings for the lower elevations are gonna come true.

[robertr]

  Enjoy your new rifle Martis1 and try to stay dry.

[45Bravo]

love my synrod.  Did add gen 1 bolt to it and found a nice ldc for 58 bucks shipped since i turned mine up.  shoot prairie dogs out to some range thats probably outlawed on this site but more than 2 less than 300 yards.  that one was about  84 yards

So why would you put a gen 1 bolt on a gen 2 gun?

[45Bravo]

Thanks guys!
I'm not going to attempt any tuning until spring, but I'll be going over a lot of old threads and probably asking questions at that time. 

Reading the manual, it appears there are at least three variables that can be adjusted for power:  Hammer spring preload, Hammer Stroke, and the valve meter for velocity.  I'll have to learn how these work in combination and what to do with each before I start messing around. 

Before you start turning screws in the spring, record how many turns from zero each adjustment is.

So when your tune gets so far out of whack, you have a factory baseline to do back to.

Each time you make adjustments record the settings.
Keep a log.

I have settings recorded for factory settings
A co2 set of settings
A low fill (2000psi) settings
And high shot count settings.

I don't change back and forth but it's nice to have if I decide to go back to a particular setup.

Just a FYI, the velocity metering screw has a small screw covering it.
They are both the same size, and both threaded the same way.

When you remove the cover screw to make velocity adjustments, carefully seat the cap screw back in place, or you will accidentally screw the velocity screw in from where you left it. (You have to feel for when it makes contact with the metering screw"

[Martis 1]

Before you start turning screws in the spring, record how many turns from zero each adjustment is.

So when your tune gets so far out of whack, you have a factory baseline to do back to.

Each time you make adjustments record the settings.
Keep a log.

I have settings recorded for factory settings
A co2 set of settings
A low fill (2000psi) settings
And high shot count settings.

I don't change back and forth but it's nice to have if I decide to go back to a particular setup.

Just a FYI, the velocity metering screw has a small screw covering it.
They are both the same size, and both threaded the same way.

When you remove the cover screw to make velocity adjustments, carefully seat the cap screw back in place, or you will accidentally screw the velocity screw in from where you left it. (You have to feel for when it makes contact with the metering screw"
[/quote]

To be honest, I'm pretty apprehensive about making adjustments at all.  If I'm not mistaken, the factory setting is designed for a 2,700 psi fill?  I've found that pretty easy with my hand pump.  I'd like to tune it to get the most fpe I can out of a heavy pellet, like the 33 grain JSB, if it'll shoot it accurately.  I have no idea where to begin to tune for that.  Hopefully by spring I'll at least have some clue. 

Of course the first thing I'll do before adjusting anything is shoot some groups over the chrony as is, and see what it's doing.  Also run the 4 different pellets I have to see how they group. 

[45Bravo]

Shoot it a lot  when you get it, not a little. Before turning screws.

Shot count isn't going to be the greatest at factory settings.

Tim Hill on here is a wealth of knowledge he helped me get into the ballpark of the tune I am currently running for the last 2+ years on my .177..

A SSG will help on shot count a lot, but that involves tuning also.

Some people tune the gun to the energy levels they want to shoot at, and accept the level of accuracy they get at that energy level. 

I tune my guns to where they shoot best, no matter where the energy or fill point it.

I had a .22 gen2 mrod, it liked a 2000 psi fill, at 860fps for 40 shots, no matter where I tried, that's where it grouped best.
I sold it to a member here, he tried everything too, he went back to where it liked.

Currently, my .177 gen 2 marauder likes 3100 psi at about 880 fps for 70 shots.

It's a long process, But well worth it.

[kkarmical]

Good idea of just shooting it for a while before doing anything, its not difficult tuning in stock form once you get past the "not wanting to mess it up stage". 
There's tons of videos on YouTube, more threads on tuning here & over on the marauderairrifle.com that  will get you down that tuning path.

[Dairyboy]

love my synrod.  Did add gen 1 bolt to it and found a nice ldc for 58 bucks shipped since i turned mine up.  shoot prairie dogs out to some range thats probably outlawed on this site but more than 2 less than 300 yards.  that one was about  84 yards

So why would you put a gen 1 bolt on a gen 2 gun?

The Gen 1 is a flow thru type vs a probe. I have one on my gen 2 as well gives better flow.