BSA R10 MK2 - Final Settings

[Nitrocrushr]

Earlier this year I posted some details on my BSA R10.  Rather than tack on to that lengthy post, I wanted to post a final summary on where I ended up on settings for those who may be interested in, or already have a BSA R10.

All of my shooting is at 100 yards with this rifle, so I continued to tweak the rifle until it was as consistent as possible at that distance.  Tweaking involved various combinations of regulator settings, Hammer Spring tension settings and hammer spring guide weight changes between the stock metal guide and the XTX lightweight guide. I also minimized the pressure of the baffles against the air stripper inside of the shroud. Another change I made was to change out both trigger springs to lighter springs taken from an old style cigarette lighter.  Springs were cut to length and trigger pull is now a clean and crisp 10 oz..  Trigger was also modified to greatly reduce the lengthy first stage pull.

Here is the rifle and a brief summary of my final settings.





Shot String

230 BAR Fill
Huma Regulator set at 139 BAR
XTX light weight hammer spring guide
Hammer spring set at minus 1/2 turn from original factory setting
52 Regulated Shots
JSB Exact Jumbo 15.89 grain

Average - 873.1
ES - 11
SD - 2.5
ES% - 1.3%





Here are the last three 100-yard groups I shot with this rifle last week.  As you can see, group sizes range from just under an inch, to just over an inch.  The rifle is now a consistent shooter at 100 yards.

10-shots at 100 yards - unsorted, straight from the tin




Last 3 targets at 100-yards




Steve

[solder]

Excellent results. Too bad the photobucket photos from your project were deleted from your earlier posts. The BSA R10 MK2 is certainly one of the best bolt action guns out there.

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Steve,
Beautiful Work .  You won't be denied!

- I forgot, so what type of shroud did you change from OEM?
- How marginal did you find the XTX kit to be?  Did it increase efficiency and/or help lower the ES?

What was the most (game changing) significant mod or two you made to the gun to improve performance besides adding the regulator?

Thanks........... Kirk

 

[solder]

Steve, How much variance do you see in FPS (ES) when shooting different pellets. In my .177 with stock regulator I can get an ES of 10 over 30 shots at 895 fps with 4.52 Barracuda Match 10.65gr. . With Crosman 10.5 domes at 880fps it goes up to 17fps ES . JSB 13.43gr  Monsters at 800fps give me 14fps ES. The Barracudas are very accurate at 45 yards (my backyard limit). I have been shooting a lot over the past year(over 5000) pellets and have resisted the temptation to go with the HUMA reg since things are so good and I still have another year left on the BSA Warranty. All I have done is a little polishing and turning down the hammer spring a bit. I also adjusted the trigger. 

[Nitrocrushr]

Hey Steve,
Beautiful Work .  You won't be denied!

- I forgot, so what type of shroud did you change from OEM?
- How marginal did you find the XTX kit to be?  Did it increase efficiency and/or help lower the ES?

What was the most (game changing) significant mod or two you made to the gun to improve performance besides adding the regulator?

Thanks........... Kirk

Hi Kirk, The shroud is a HUUB.  It has an internal air stripper and back vents pressure into the shroud.  Any pressure that makes it past the air stripper, passes through 3 chambers surrounded with sound deadening material.

The XTX kit was nothing more than a light weight delrin top hat/spring guide for the hammer spring.  I noticed no change in ES, but did notice the action is quieter.  I also think the rifle is a little more efficient with the delrin spring guide.

Most significant mods for 100 yard target consistency, hmmmm....that's a tough one.  It was a collection of so many things.  The mods weren't so much a player in 100 yard consistency as what the adjustments were.  Finding the velocity that the rifle shot the JSB 15.89's best at was step one, followed by experimentation on how to achieve that velocity for the most consistent grouping. In the end, this rifle liked a higher BAR setting on the regulator.  Short burst of higher pressure air vs longer burst of lower pressure air if that makes sense.  It is more efficient at this setting also.

Regarding the mods, the trigger work was big help.  Out of the box this R10 had a looooong first stage, and a fairly heavy pull.  With the stock springs I was unable to get below 15 oz.  With the lighter springs installed and the safety bar modified to allow a shorter first stage, it made a big difference and feels more like a fine target trigger.  I also polished up the sears.  very nice trigger now

Steve, How much variance do you see in FPS (ES) when shooting different pellets. In my .177 with stock regulator I can get an ES of 10 over 30 shots at 895 fps with 4.52 Barracuda Match 10.65gr. . With Crosman 10.5 domes at 880fps it goes up to 17fps ES . JSB 13.43gr  Monsters at 800fps give me 14fps ES. The Barracudas are very accurate at 45 yards (my backyard limit). I have been shooting a lot over the past year(over 5000) pellets and have resisted the temptation to go with the HUMA reg since things are so good and I still have another year left on the BSA Warranty. All I have done is a little polishing and turning down the hammer spring a bit. I also adjusted the trigger. 

Honestly, after I zeroed in on the pellet that grouped best I never experimented on the chronograph with anything else.  I did a lot of reading prior to getting the R10 and narrowed down to 4 pellets that I wanted to try;

JSB
14.3
15.89
18.1

AA
16

The 15.89's were the best so I spent my tuning time on them.  The ES on these range from 7 to 11.  Very consistent pellets in this rifle

I would not touch the stock regulator in your R10.  It sounds like it is performing very well

Steve

[tomiboy]

Beautiful rifle and shooting!! 

[Nitrocrushr]

Beautiful rifle and shooting!! 

Thanks!

[Nitrocrushr]

Another key component in the tuning was following Bob's hammer spring tuning in the attached link;

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=74919.0

This not only helps to make your rifle as efficient as possible, but also reduces unecessary muzzle blast due to wasted air.  The end result is increased precision on target.

Steve

[Gear_Junkie]

Great report, thanks Steve.  I hope this isn't too off topic of a question...  Now that you have tuned the R10 and the Regal to perfection, which one do you prefer, and why?

Thanks!

[Nitrocrushr]

Great report, thanks Steve.  I hope this isn't too off topic of a question...  Now that you have tuned the R10 and the Regal to perfection, which one do you prefer, and why?

Thanks!

That is such a tough call.  At the end of the day I would have to say my preference was the Regal.  Here is why, all of my shooting is now at 100 yards and when I completed my work on the Regal, it was an incredible shooter at 100 yards.  It edged out the R10 by a slight margin.  Here are 100 yard groups with the Regal.  Very uniform and consistent.

On this group I actually made a couple click adjustment on elevation so the group would have been a little tighter.



This was the last group I shot at 100 yards with the Regal.  I was getting eaten alive by stinging sweat bees and lost count.  I thought I had 5 shots, but it was only 4.  The pellets were flying so smoothly and were just dropping in one after the other.





At 50 yards I had some 5 shots groups with the Regal that were all through the exact same single pellet hole   GTA member (Pappy) witnessed me shooting 2 of these groups.

Steve

[Gear_Junkie]

Great report, thanks Steve.  I hope this isn't too off topic of a question...  Now that you have tuned the R10 and the Regal to perfection, which one do you prefer, and why?

Thanks!

That is such a tough call.  At the end of the day I would have to say my preference was the Regal.  Here is why, all of my shooting is now at 100 yards and when I completed my work on the Regal, it was an incredible shooter at 100 yards.  It edged out the R10 by a slight margin.  Here are 100 yard groups with the Regal at 100 yards.  Very uniform and consistent.

Steve

I definitely appreciate your opinion on this.  I really like both guns.  My preference is for the Daystate because I need a single shot tray (that I can load from the right side) and I prefer the shorter dimensions.  The Regal also looks like it's pretty easy to work on.

And as usual - FANTASTIC SHOOTING!!!

Thanks!

[Kingston73]

I know this is an old thread but I figured it made more sense to post here rather than starting a new thread.  Wondering if the huub shroud is worth the price?  Does it reduce the sound significantly?  Does it have any other benefits?

[rkr]

I know this is an old thread but I figured it made more sense to post here rather than starting a new thread.  Wondering if the huub shroud is worth the price?  Does it reduce the sound significantly?  Does it have any other benefits?

They are about as good as most 8" LDCs and some 2" shorter. At 12 fpe the noise level is about the same as with HW LDC.