Modded TR-5 group

[gloob]

Inspired by a moron in another thread (haha), I decided to shoot an actual group with open sights.


This is a 4 shot group, because I modded my TR-5 to keep the magazine in the gun, permanently. Loading only 4 at a time, rather than swapping mags. (The pellets fall out of the magazines, anyhow, so it's not like you can carry one in your pocket.)

This is my very first attempt. Tape-measured 16 yards. Leaned against a door frame. 177 wadcutters. My marker is too thin, so I couldn't see the circles, at all. The horizontal line kept disappearing on me. I was sure I was spraying all over. Couldn't see any of the shot holes, except the second. Turns out it was one super ragged hole.



Not bad for these crude sights. Check it out. "Drift adjustable." With a vice!



The stock 16" barrel has been shortened to 10", because that's as short as I can go and still have about 2" sticking out on which to attach the shroud. The pic rail is where the original rear sight was... too close to my eye! I can use a red dot with the pic rail, but a scope is too heavy and the rail will loosen.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

Hi Ken.

Nice Shot Group.  Very good shooting with open sights.

Best Wishes - Tom

[gloob]

Thanks, Tommy!

And thanks to everyone who views this, comment or not! It's nice to have a place to share this common interest!

[PelletSport]

Nice build and shooting all the way around!
I like your notch and blade sights. I don't think you can beat that combo for a pleasing sight picture to look through.
I bet shortening the barrel added to the accuracy: the tx200 only has a 13" barrel, so 10" sounds optimal for a lower power fixed barrel springer.
I've read that a shroud can improve accuracy beyond just putting the front sight farther away and adding weight to the barrel, too. Something about turbulence, maybe?
Either way, you hit a home run with this one.
Thanks for sharing it.

[gloob]

That's some high praise, and I love it!

Yes, it IS more accurate! Out of the box, it would shoot this kind of group at 5 yards. At 16, a 5 shot group would be around the size of a half dollar.

I'd have gone at least down to 8", if it weren't for the logistics of the forestock, even if I'd never be able to tell the difference (seeing as I, personally, haven't figured out how to get a scope to sit still on it).

This is based on my experience with 2 other rifles of very similar velocity. My B1 shoots a bit harder, and I have that at 8". My XS25 shoots slightly slower, and I have that throwing darts at 6.5" length. Both shrouded, as well.

This one is actually slightly inferior workmanship on the shroud. My other 2 are fitted so tight they don't need a set screw. One day I might redo the bushings. 

[gloob]

Talked myself into tweaking the shroud. The bushings are tight enough. I'm just going to use a torch and hot glue to keep the bushings from being able to twist around the barrel, like I learned on my other shrouds. They barely squeeze over the barrel to begin with, so it really should be permanent. The steel tube doesn't spin round the bushings, because of the taper fit on the rearward bushing and the welded seam inside the tubing.

Here's a pic in "carbine mode," before I reattach the bushings.


It shoots accurately without the shroud. But I have to remind myself to let my grip loose, or it will spray. It only took 3 shots to dial the sight it in, after I remembered that.
 

[PelletSport]

Thanks for the further details and the info on the other two air rifles.
An xs25 dart shooter sounds great, I'd read a post about it and the other for sure.
I love reading about creative custom builds more than any other airgun topic.
If I may ask, what tool did you use to cut your barrels?
PS, Mike Melick says when cutting a barrel, push a pellet through the bore with a rod and cut where it hits a tight spot to make a sort of choke.

[gloob]

I graduated from a hacksaw to a portaband converted into a mini vertical metal saw.

On these lower power rifles, my thought is the breech choke is the important one. These low power rifles have a very short and sensitive coast phase. If a barrel has a good choke at the breech end, it isn't as affected when the barrel is too long for the pellet, IME.

My Treevox pistol for example has a tight choke at the breech, then the pellet literally falls out under gravity when it gets past that point. You might not want to see that in a 70 yard rifle. But for a pistol, this is ideal, IMO. This allows the gun to shoot a wider variety of pellet weights without too much fuss, even if the pellet finishes accelerating only half the way down.

When you get a rifle that doesn't have enough choke at the breech, then the barrel length becomes more critical, especially in the lower power rifles. The XS25 is infamous for having a crappy barrel. And my own example backs that up. If I tried to shoot a tangerine at 15 yards with mine, out the box,  I might run out of daylight. This is the only rifle barrel I had to shorten so much I can actually hear some muzzle blast when I shoot it. At 7 1/4", it started shooting straight, but only with Daisy wadcutters. When those dried up and started to cost 10 bucks a tin, I cut it down to 6 1/2" to hopefully shoot Crosman wadcutters, and it worked. Shoots every cheap pellet I have tried.

Thanks for the support!

[PelletSport]

Thanks for the tight beeech and barrel coast info, I had never thought of that.
I have relieved a couple of of breeches with sandpaper thinking they were too tight, and I didn't think to compare before and after accuracy.
Congrats on the power saw, I am still using a hacksaw and file, ha ha.
BTW, if you have an Academy Sports in your area, they stock the 250 count box of Daisy wadcutters for $3 apiece. (Up from $2 last year.)

[gloob]

Thanks for the tip.

I noticed these pellets are back in stock, and the price returned to normal, just within the last 2-3 months. That was after several years of absence unless you went to eBay and paid through the nose.

They got a new mold! The heads are fully formed and they look quite consistent, now. A much better quality pellet.

But the ones I had before were special because the heads were not fully formed/round, leaving just a tiny flake of metal around the contact point with the barrel. They had lower resistance in a tight barrel without a good breech-choke. And they looked horrible and inconsistent.

The new Daisies are great, but I've already switched over to Econ 2's. They're only slightly more expensive, if you buy 20+ tins at a time, which works for me.