MRodAir Air Max Varmint in .177

[avator]

Do you even know what it's like to eat next to Rambo the Rescue Dog? I'm not sure what a "gavone" is but if it entails surrounding your plate with both arms so you don't get "ganked" for your oodles of noodles.... I'm a gavone.

[.]

Lol, what a coincidence, there is a huge pot of leftover home-made spaghetti and meatballs making a return run tonight after a wonderful debut last evening, mmm, love the pasta!

Oh, back on topic, lol.

I see where the tensioning of the forward stock screw does mess with the air tube and make it go out of parallel. Easy fix, no worries..

Also see where another barrel band is not a bad idea, I'm down for a few myself, let's see if they help, or whatever..

Ima tag along for your sling mounting adventure. Slings are a must for these, well, at least some of them. Now that I've seen the action close up, I see a very easy path to a light tactical build, also. Light sniper, if you will, ha ha!

Ima buy a lot of these, might hafta sell off some safe queens along the way, but I really think this platform is a winner, so I have to go deeper in, no choice really, ha ha!

Don't these remind you of youth-sized rimfires? The feel is soo familiar, the size, the handling. I think that is why I like them already. I know we aren't supposed to talk about such things here, but yeah, def reminds me of my first .22 powder guns in size and weight.

[Sfttailrdr46]

Do you even know what it's like to eat next to Rambo the Rescue Dog? I'm not sure what a "gavone" is but if it entails surrounding your plate with both arms so you don't get "ganked" for your oodles of noodles.... I'm a gavone.

Nailed it in one and you have my complete sympathy Dudle the clearance rack pup hawks anything edible when I am sitting on the couch with any form of chip or popcorn. Never mind real food he will sit with his head on my leg eyeing the food and drooling on my leg 

[Wayne52]

I wouldn't doubt that some or all of the .177's might even be older guns than what the .22's are, that would explain the probes and gauge differences for being able to remove the stock without removing the guage first

[.]

I wouldn't doubt that some or all of the .177's might even be older guns than what the .22's are, that would explain the probes and gauge differences for being able to remove the stock without removing the guage first

Great minds, same channel , Wayne, yes, that seems to be the case, doesn't it?

The .22s are GenII models, lol. Maybe the bolt handles have been upgraded on the .22s, too? Is there a trend on which caliber breaks handles yet, I wonder?

[avator]

Well shut my mouth wide open....
I just posted on Chick's thread about my suspicion in the stock differences between the .22 and .177. Several obvious differences... evidently.
You know.... when I dove head first into the FD-PCP thing if I bought a gun in .22 I also bought a spare barrel and bolt for the .177 and vise versa. Those barrels were also held into the breech by grub screws. They also used two O-rings on the barrel to prevent leakage. The AMV appears the same. This made it very simple to swap calibers using one rifle.

[Wayne52]

Getting the barrels direct from Snow Peak could be a problem on account of customs, however I'm sure that Mike at Mrodair could probably order them.  I'm surprised that Crosman hasn't jumped on the bandwagon for importing these guns, after all many of their products are made in china now anyway. 

[avator]

Isn't Xisico basically the same Chinese gun? I would venture a wager that Mike Mellick at Flyin Dragon has, or can get, anything you need or want.

[avator]

Pressing on.... Sling Lugs
Like I said... I bought this rifle for utility use. I feel a very important part of the would be convenient carry. Enter the sling.
I picked this sling mounting kit awhile back at Walmart for $8. I had already used the rings for the sling that gets moved from gun to gun as needed. I had the "lugs" left over as the other guns already had them.
Carefully measuring and marking depth of the 5/32 drill bit and determining the best location on the stock I pre-drilled a couple pilot holes to avoid splitting. I was also careful with the proper angles. I went square with the plane of each mounting points. Nothing special... no padded vise, no squares or levels. (I live life on the edge) I just laid the gun upside down in a set of shooting bags and went for it with my cordless drill.
The lugs come with a couple white bushings. I assumed these were so you can adjust the rotation position of the lugs to align with the sling mounts and not mar or split the stock. Before screwing the lugs into the stock I put just a drop of wood glue in each hole. Then I used an Allen wrench thru the hole in the lug for leverage and simply screwed them in. You might choose epoxy or something else. The installation instructions didn't suggest anything. Excluding rounding up my drill and the right bits, it's took all of 5 minutes.
Again... I apologize for poor quality pictures but, you get the jist....

[avator]

Ok..
I am still on the fence whether I want to make any power adjustment to the gun. I have yet to even chrono it. But what I do know is that I get just over 3 full clips of 9 shots from a 2900 psi fill down to the yellow on the gauge. Each of the CPHP 7.9 shots are right where I put the cross hairs at 35 yds. Do I need/want any better than that?
 From my experience with the FD-PCP I know I can flatten the bell curve of the string and more than likely gain a few shots on a fill by merely clipping the hammer spring and adding the BStaley O-rings.
How bout this approach...
I'm just going to use and enjoy the gun as is for now... Maybe later?..... who knows.

[avator]

I may be biased but I just keep finding reasons to love this gun..
Awhile back the price of the Chinese hand pumps took a huge drop. I'm not a hand pumper by no stretch of imagination. I equally deplore changing a flat tire but, as we all know, you gotta have a spare so I bought one.
I was somewhat disappointed to find that the female foster fitting on the hand pump only fit one of the male foster fitting on my PCP guns without some modification or replacement.
Low and behold... The fill probe for the AMV fits the female foster fitting on the hand pump like it grew in there. This being such a low capacity air tube, pumping to 3k should be zippity zappity.
The list of conveniences continues to grow.

[gendoc]

This being such a low capacity air tube, pumping to 3k should be zippity zappity.
The list of conveniences continues to grow.

when you chrony your target shots, you will be able to see your best performance with FPS and POI like i did.
doing that i found i only need to pump to 2320psi (160bar).....above that its down hill with performance same as below 1450psi (100bar).
YMMV because your .177

[avator]

Thanks but.. Zippity Zappity ain't what is was 20+ years ago.
The gun was touching the yellow and I grabbed the hand pump just for the experience.
OK.. been there, done that... no thanks, you can just keep that tee shirt.
That right there zippity zapped my old butt. I vaguely remember in my younger day running to the store for milk and smokes... running to the gas station to "filler up" and even living up to my accusers allegations that I "run the roads".
But these days... I don't even run out to the mailbox and I'm pretty sure I can hit it from my recliner with a spitball.
I'm not pumping nothing !!!

[.]

How bout this approach...
I'm just going to use and enjoy the gun as is for now... Maybe later?..... who knows.

Perhaps even more important that the wide-open modding future for these guns is the fact that one can really just basically pump and shoot these for a whole lotta airgunning satisfaction, no nothing required, unlike a LOT of past fav modding platforms we have all been through...

Being able to get a gun outta the box and onto the hunt as fast and cheaply as possible is what will guarantee these guns will spread like crazy. All the awesome mods waiting to be designed will keep 'em coming, long after the novelty wears off..

I'm ready to buy stock in this company, no kidding..

[Wayne52]

My Varmint seems to start a good string right at about 2650 psi to the best guess I can get reading the small guage that I have on my fill adaptor.

For now I'm not going to do any major mods to either one of my Airmax's, they seem to come out of the box ready for great power and accuracy the way they are.

I'd say that my Varmint is close to being fully broken in now and actually it isn't overwhelmingly loud(it's a far cry from the ear ringing report of a stock Disco) however I might look into getting me a more quiet LDC for it.

[avator]

It's true !! It is sooo easy to fall under the spell. But I gotta say something in all fairness.
Remember when I borrowed the Hawke scope from the SRod then decided to keep it on the AMV and put the new UTG on the SRod?
Well, I got around to putting the UTG on the SRod yesterday and, in spite of cheating on it with the "new girl", it was sooooo forgiving. It's like the difference in opening the door for a mistress and being comfortable farting in front of your wife... I would imagine.

[ezman604]

I'm with you Bill. My only complaints are 1) the ordering process and lack of communication and 2) the fill probes. The one that came with the .22 does not clip into my Foster QC. The .177 probe is longer which makes you insert it TOO far, preventing the O-ring from sealing the probe. Your backyard fix of adding an O-ring will remedy that one. I made some measurements last night and every section of the .22 probe Foster end are .002" larger in diameter than the .177, which may sound like very little but it prevents the probe from being attached and removed with ease in the Foster QC connector.
After I get my shop set back up I'll remedy the .22 probe issue on my lathe. And I will also cut a Delrin spacer to fix the .177 probe.

[.]

It's true !! It is sooo easy to fall under the spell. But I gotta say something in all fairness.
Remember when I borrowed the Hawke scope from the SRod then decided to keep it on the AMV and put the new UTG on the SRod?
Well, I got around to putting the UTG on the SRod yesterday and, in spite of cheating on it with the "new girl", it was sooooo forgiving. It's like the difference in opening the door for a mistress and being comfortable farting in front of your wife... I would imagine.

Ha ha, well, these are not gonna replace my HW110 or HW30s LE anytime soon, either, but they will surely take a lot of pressure off of my more expensive favorites. I will sell off a few springers to get more of these, because they are just way more efficient shooters, especially in younger hands. By the time I am done, I will have swapped out 6 guns for 4 Varmints and 2 CP-01 and/or CP-02 carbines.

The weight and handling are perfect for my needs, as is the price point, so I am all for simplifying the airsenal and doing more shooting, less worrying, ha ha!!

[avator]

Dave...
So, are the fill caps on both calibers the same? The differences are in the probes only? In reality one probe can be slightly modified to work in both guns?

[.]

Dave...
So, are the fill caps on both calibers the same? The differences are in the probes only? In reality one probe can be slightly modified to work in both guns?

Dave,

Also, does your .22 fill from the right, and your .177 from the left? Are the air tubes different, also? I dunwanna hijack Bill's thread, but I've been listing all the variances between my two Varmints on another thread. I would be curious as to what differences you are seeing too?