Stoeger X20S - Keep & Fix or Chuck It?

[txaggie929]

So my dad has a Stoeger X20S .22 that he says he can't get it to group worth anything, so he gave it to me to take a look at.  Just cocking it sounded awful and the one shot I put through it sounded equally as bad.  He did put a GRT trigger in it years ago, but that was it.

After doing some research, it seems that parts are few and far between.  Between a new piston seal, spring, and breech seal, it looks to be close to $75 or more after shipping.  Looked at a TinBum tuning kit for it, which doesn't include a spring or seals, and that's another $40 or so.  All in all, I can't see dropping that kind of money into this older and cheaper gun.

I'm of the thought that throwing money at this thing is probably a waste.  Thoughts?

[Roadworthy]

Are you capable of dismantling the gun?  If so that is my first suggestion.  What is the condition of the spring?  The piston seal?  I'd want to know the internal condition before making any judgement of whether to keep it.  If it's making a lot of crunchy noises it could be the spring.  It could also be the spring guide if it uses a coil spring.

[dukemeister]

I believe that gun is based on BAM B18/19, so you should be able to get parts from equivalent Gamo and Crosman/Benjamin rifles. Crosman Quest, Phantom, Optimus, Vantage, Venom (seals, Venom is gas ram), etc.But as suggested, the first step would be to open it up and have a look at what's going on.
Often just new seals and some tightening and a lube can bring them back. And lots of archived posts on how to tune these old guns.

[WD Feese]

  I just finished working on an x20 and it turned out to be a nice rifle.  I am not an expert tuner so it had potential before I worked on it.  If the only difference between the two models is sound suppression, I would have to open it up.  Sounds like a good learning experience or challenge.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

This one is listed as Very Good and is for sale at Airguns Of Arizona for $90 + Shipping.    It is .177 cal. though.
Might be cheaper to buy it and use your old one for spare parts.

https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/usedguns.html/lot-22-stoeger-model-x20-.177-w/scope-–-used/

[txaggie929]

Well, I guess I get to eat my words. Tore the gun down. It did not have a broken spring or a trashed seal. They must’ve put that gun together on a day where they were rationing grease at the Chinese factory. There was absolutely none on the spring and just enough on part of the piston to discolor a small portion of a paper towel. There was hardly any residual in the compression tube.

I lubed everything with a moly grease and put it back together. Put 20ish pellets through it just to get everything moving and then wanted to see what accuracy looked like. Still had the crappy Stoeger 4X32 scope on it and couldn’t get decent eye relief, so I set a target up at 10 yds to try and avoid putting pellets in my fence. And surprisingly, I managed to pull off some decent groups using JSB 18.19 Diabolo.

Can't get my pics to upload, but best 3 groups were 0.109" CTC (4 shots, 1st shot my dumbass pulled the trigger before I was settled on target), 0.363" 5-shots, and 0.503" CTC 5 shots.

Scope is definite limiting factor currently. 

[WD Feese]

I really think the x20 is underrated.  Glad it turned out well.

[mikeyb]

Well, I guess I get to eat my words. Tore the gun down. It did not have a broken spring or a trashed seal. They must’ve put that gun together on a day where they were rationing grease at the Chinese factory. There was absolutely none on the spring and just enough on part of the piston to discolor a small portion of a paper towel. There was hardly any residual in the compression tube.

I lubed everything with a moly grease and put it back together. Put 20ish pellets through it just to get everything moving and then wanted to see what accuracy looked like. Still had the crappy Stoeger 4X32 scope on it and couldn’t get decent eye relief, so I set a target up at 10 yds to try and avoid putting pellets in my fence. And surprisingly, I managed to pull off some decent groups using JSB 18.19 Diabolo.

Can't get my pics to upload, but best 3 groups were 0.109" CTC (4 shots, 1st shot my dumbass pulled the trigger before I was settled on target), 0.363" 5-shots, and 0.503" CTC 5 shots.

Scope is definite limiting factor currently.

A simple cleaning and relube can provide amazing results.  https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=216891.msg156571753#msg156571753
These are bargain springers, not Olympic 10m competition rifles. Accuracy you posted looks VERY GOOD to me. Quite capable of rat, squirrel, and rabbit lobotomies at 30'.
Well worth the simple effort and low ($0) cost to save the rifle for your own use or gifted to someone else who can use it.
NICE job! :-)