Hammerli Pneuma Elite 10

[coax]

Darrl, that is a NC moderator, yes?  How much does it weigh?  Will the barrel touch with the front sight off?  Started clearing space in the barrel band last night and it's getting close, but I may have a miniscule amount of contact still there.

[darryl]

yes, an NC moderator. I'd guess it weighs (don't have a digital scale) about 6.oz (HE-MEN don't relate to lightweight things very well. )  Anyway, It's not as heavy as I'd thought
I'd have to put the rifle back together to see if the barrel touches with the front sight off. Barrel looks really ugly without that front sight. It'd need a barrel spacer or something.

I'd say as long as the barrel touches any part of your barrel band you'll have an influence on the barrel's natural harmonics. I can't say if that's good or bad for accuracy with this rifle. Just my opinion (no back-up data). So good luck with your testing. Wish I could get by without some sort of sound reducer. The idea of free-floating it would seem a hopeful endeavor. NC says his fully shrouded Pneuma showed only a slight rise in the POI, reporting it was well within adjustment range for his scope. Not bad looking either.

[coax]

 I guess you're saying without the front sight there are holes or manufacturing marks?  I hate to take it apart again, but I think there is the very slightest amount of contact in one spot.  For this rifle Daryl any contact seems to be bad.  I think I'll go with just one band now.  It shoudn't need more than that.  I hope you get those parts soon, then you'll have two rifles to evaluate soon!

[darryl]

coax I'm saying that underneath the front sight the barrel is turned down to a smaller o.d in that area. It just looks "unsightly". Don't know why Hatsan did that. Seems unnecessary.

Oh, i just found out the cost of a replacement barrel: $79.56 plus shipping. Probably better to pay a bit more and get an LW barrel from Jim Gaska. Besides, I'm not sure a Hatsan replacement barrel would be any better. I also found out that UMAREX sent my parts by USPS. May be here tomorrow or Monday.  

[coax]

Does the Gaska do LW barrels for this rifle?

[darryl]

I can ask him. I'll do that and let you know.

edit: email sent to Jim.

[coax]

Darryl, I bored out the barrel band some more and I see a good amount of light around the barrel everywhere.  That plastic is stronger than it looks and easy to work with using round files.  I decided to smooth and polish the crown, since you told me the barrels were only $77.00 and then did the lead-in also.  I went outside to rough zero with nine rounds while sitting on a chair at 44yds.  I shot a four shot group that went 0.571" inches, before my last 2 shots and adjustments put me on my sharpie dot.  I plan on benching it tommorrow to see what she does, but don't want to get too excited and get disappointed by the results of my next test.  Don't give up on the Pneuma.  There are too many great results out there on this rifle for there not to be a great shooter in there somewhere.

[darryl]

coax, I'd say that's getting there in the accuracy department. Of course I'm madly envious. Good luck with your testing tomorrow. It seems you're very close. If I free-float mine, I'd have to put a full shroud on it because of the reason I mentioned earlier. You may not need a new barrel after all. I heard back from Jim. He says to contact him to discuss the LW barrel if you're interested.

You've got me thinking and second-guessing selling my Pneuma. I won't move in haste.

[coax]

Darryl, after you get all your part in and the rifle back together you just need to methodically test.  You might get rid of the velocity fluctuations.  That would be a major step forward!  You may end up not needing to free float yours.  I'd say start in stock configuration and move from there.  If you end up with most of it free floated, it may require somthing between the end of the barrel and reservoir to keep them from making contact.  That one point of contact that allows the use of the ldc may produce good accuracy.

[trekkerx]

I guess I am a lucky guy.I didn`t really have any trouble out of mine.It`s  labeled as a Air Venturi Hale Storm .22. Mine did need a little tweaking but basically was a good shooter right from the box.It shot so well after the few tweaks that I did A friend of mine bought the Pneuma repeater & it never really has shot well at all.We did mess with it a little but it is no where close to what the Hale Storm can do accuracy wise.

[coax]

There seems to be only a few that have had problems.  I bought mine because of the price and the great accuracy reports coming out of all the different countries it's sold in.  I glad yours is doing good.  Maybe your friend may find some useful tips to get his shooting up to par.  I wish mine shot good out of the box.  If it had, I might have got another immediately and set it up for less power and more shots.

[coax]

Further testing today resulted in dismal results.  This rifle averaged 0.56" inches without any barrel bands on which causes a little loss of structural integrity.  The test today was at 50yds with only the front barrel band with bored out barrel portion on.  The groups averaged 1.4" inches for 8 five shot groups.  It seems this rifle doesn't want any contact outside of the receiver area to do it's best.  Bench shooting it aggravates the problem.  I shot 4 groups of five shots freehand and averaged 1.01" inches for those groups.  So, I guess this will be a "parked only rifle" and used for Praire dogs and other times when I can remain stationary, or I can chance bending the barrel from a fall or drop.  I won't be putting any money into this one and will get something else that can do it all in .22 cal for more coin unfortunately.  Good luck Darryl !

[darryl]

coax, you giving up? This situation reads a lot like the thread over on the marauderrifles.com forum where guys were bemoaning the low quality and poor accuracy of the .22 barrels. We could be victims of the same scourge. There it was generally tossed about that Crosman/Benjamin didn't change the rifling tooling soon enough to keep the tolerances tight enough. I don't know if that's true or not. The complains led guys to that conclusion, and that pellets of larger head diameters were required because of "loose chokes". An unhappy crowd there.

I will forward this link to Hatsan. It needs to know about this problem with the Pneumas. Glad the Halestorms and other Hatsan AT44s seem to be performing so well.

Coax, you and I may be victims of worn tooling. Where did you buy your rifle from?

Trek, I believe these are actually the same rifles, but somehow Hammerli dropped the ball at some point. Only how to contact Hammerli?

[darryl]

Hatsan contacted (again)and sent a link to this thread.

[coax]

Darryl, not totally giving up.  However, a return to the barrel bandless state is in order.  The thing shot beautiful without those on.  I really don't want to take the thing roundabout with no barrel bands and the stock not as stiff as designed.  I may just use it the way it was intended, but in a state where it was accurate (no barrel bands).  If it cant take it, I'll put it in a corner somewhere just in case I can use the parts elsewhere.

[darryl]

I wonder if these barrels are too soft? Recall mine drooped under the weight of the LDC and no bands for support. I say cutting one band down and installing it will stiffen up the stock without touching the barrel. I've done it. It's a shame and a waste to set aside a rifle because it can't shoot. Most safe queens I read about work just fine. The owner simply has too many and so some sit. We are in a different category of ownership, it seems. We own under-performers. NOt good for us. Not good for the brand. I wonder if this rifle has been reviewed on this site?
 

[coax]

Darryl, when I tested today there was no contact of anything with the barrel.  I did notice when I took the barrl band off this evening that there is a good amount of pressure on the air reservoir.  Thatwas the only thing left that could have caused the re-opening of the groups. 

[darryl]

I feel your frustration, man. I guess I'll find out more about mine this week. I expect the parts tomorrow, unless the postal service lets me down again.

[Stefan]

I have disassembled everything but the cocking lever - can you guys tell me how to do it? I tried everything, but nothing logical seems to work.





I tried to remove the barrel from my AT today, but it's stuck. It wont move, not a little bit. I have removed all of the screws, but its not movable. Any ideas?


And can you tell me, does this look like a brass screw to you? After using JB paste and a dremel, it has changed the color from that goldish to silverish on the part where it contacted the barrel. The crown on the barrel looks really good now to my eyes, but this color change is giving me headache.

[gophersniper]

This will sound kind of strange, but I have had a Pneuma Elite 10 for a few months now and it has been a great shooter. I don't measure groups, but I shoot paper right at 40 yards and a dime always covers a 5 shot group. I played around with the trigger settings one day, pull weight ect and the gun would not group at all! I am talking about 3-4 inches apart per shot, and it was not me. I adjusted the trigger to stock settings and now it is shooting great again. I just don't get it.