Is this good grouping?

[eat2muchrice]

Finally was about to mount my scope and took my new .22 Venom out shooting. I would say about 100+ rounds through her. My groups are not what I was dreaming of, I'm a bit disappointed. I'm guessing she still needs to be broken in, I’ve read of some people pounding though 500 rounds before theirs broke in. These last shots are all done at 25 yards on a bench with artillery hold on top of a shooting bag. I have over 30+ years of shooting experience and a sensitive ego, so don’t say it’s my shooting  . I know people will say try different pellets, but 10 bucks here and there plus shipping starts adding up quick. Is asking for ½ - ¾ inch groups asking too much out of these air rifles?


DSC04429

[vlado_t]

My .177 NV with CDT trigger consistently shot under under 1" groups at 33 yds on a calm day with the heavy H&N Baracuda Match. Best group of 5 was about 3/8"- shot few of those over its life span (I ruined the gun after a month and 2000rds).  I do not use the artilery hold, since it yielded results like yours..  I use a Coldwell sand bag with a towel folded over it and rest the rifle right on the towel near its balance point, with the butt pad barely touching my shoulder and grip the stock just firm enough so I can pull the trigger.  CPHP's and Ultra Mags did well as well, but with occational flyers due to inconsistent head sizes. FTTs did well also, but nothing matched the BMs.  Rifle started shooting well after 250rds. 

[MustangMike]

100rds isnt close to broke in, imo it takes at the min 500rds but for me when i was into break barrels i always shot 1000 pellets before starting to test out which pellet and accuracy.

yes pellets do add up but thats why you take advantage of pa's buy 3 get 1 free, plus a promo code pyramyd-nra takes 10% off which covers all the shipping with fedex ground except for 3 to 5 bucks depending on pellets. the costly part with pellets is int he start of ur hobby, getting that collection of different brands and weights. sooner or later you find a pellet that ur gun loves and then its that pellet and only that pellet for that gun from them on out. once you do get a handful or 2 of different brands and weights when you do get another rifle odds are ur going to have a pellet it likes already on ur shelf. then you just end up ordering the pellets that ur guns love, plus look for deals on here in the classifieds. i just picked up 2 tins of 500ct jsb pellets. one tine of 15.9 and one tin of 18.1, the 18.1 ones i think where the tin that had 50 or so shot out of it all for 25 bucks shipped. i paid about 9 bucks and some change a tin with 7 towards shipping..

[SAADE]

"I have over 30+ years of shooting experience and a sensitive ego, so don’t say it’s my shooting"

It's your shooting!

Seriously now, sometimes, the gun just won't shoot one-hole (if that's what you were hoping for), despite your best efforts.

Also, as Mr. Mike noted, 100 rounds ain't much for a high power gun to be settled down and breaking (broke) in.

I have never owned the Venom gun however, does it have any of the traits of the other Cros/Benj gas ram guns that have barrel pivot washer issues or similar issues to the NP Trail series etc?

Those guns get some bad reviews among a very few good ones.

[Bullit]

If you can't see a developing pattern in your 5 shot groups, after you have a few hundred pellets shot.....then you only have just a few reasons and choices,,,but you DO have to include yourself. No Worries because we've all been there Bud !!!!   Enjoy, and best of Luck to Ya!!!

[MustangMike]

im willing to bet that the grt3 trigger will shrink the jsb groups by a 1/4in. seems like the jsb's want to group better and i think the stock trigger has a role in the ok'ish groupings

[Lambchops]

Don't worry brother, shoot at least 500+ shots. Both my Stoeger and Titan shot 1.5",groups at 15 yards when I first got them. Now they are under .5".

[stevemag]

i've been shooting most of my life and almost gave up on springers altogether, i didn't have the patience for the break in period. and felt it was like learning to shoot all over again. shooting a springer to me was not like any other gun and it took some time. i still reach for my c02 first. hopefully after 500 or so rounds through my x20 it will get much better. i think its the same for every one. dont give up on it.

[sawtoothscream]

100 rds isnt enough, those group are WAY better than what my trail NP did and I put over 500 rounds through it.  Im guessing a few hundred more and things will tighten up.  also for $15 you can buy a H&N pellet sample pack from pyramyd air. gives you 30 of each round. 

[eat2muchrice]

Yah, I’ll keep at her. Thanks for the reassurance, forgot to mention that I do have the GTR III trigger installed with a Leapers/UTG 4x16-40 scope. I never knew these “springers” took so much work to break in, unlike everything I’ve have before that would just shoot fine out of the box. It’s a great learning experience at least. Hope I can find the time to crank out 500+ rounds though her.

Note to Saade: When I do get my groups together, you will be the first in my cross hairs  . ....... . As for your question, I don't know this is my first Nitro "springer" type rifle. Yes, I've read bad reviews on these rifles but looks, features and price are perfect for my needs. For $150 I don't mind grinding it to shoot decent.

[Nate the airgunner]

Not bad for only 100 shots through it. Those groups should shrink alot by about the 500 round mark.

[thekid]

If you really want your groups to shrink.
You have to tune her. New seals, a bushing kit for the breach and for the nitro piston. Available from gene sc in the airgun mall.
Use the proper lubes and you will see results.
With better equipment, comes better results, and a better experience.

Although not the same gun, my stoeger can do impressive groups at 24 yards, smaller than a dime.
 Best was .464 oto and .262 ctc at 24 yards.
That didn't happen after 500 shots, that happened after going crazy on tuning her, and having her professionally crowned and the GRT111 trigger and trigger tune.
Keep at her, eventually the tuning bug will bite you.

[eat2muchrice]

If you really want your groups to shrink.
You have to tune her. New seals, a bushing kit for the breach and for the nitro piston. Available from gene sc in the airgun mall.
Use the proper lubes and you will see results.
With better equipment, comes better results, and a better experience.

Although not the same gun, my stoeger can do impressive groups at 24 yards, smaller than a dime.
 Best was .464 oto and .262 ctc at 24 yards.
That didn't happen after 500 shots, that happened after going crazy on tuning her, and having her professionally crowned and the GRT111 trigger and trigger tune.
Keep at her, eventually the tuning bug will bite you.

Although I would love to strip her down and give her a good lube , she is still under warranty that I don't want to void and I've already broken the budget with a new scope, gtr trigger and 5 tins of pellets.

[gamo2hammerli]

My solution is to buy and test out more pellets......then buy more airguns to FIT those pellets.  ha ha   I'm more into .177 so I've almost 25 brands/types of them.

But seriously.....you just need to shoot more to let the Venom smooth out its innards.  And during those shootings you get to experiment with all sorts of holds and what-not.

[Donny]

I agree with Rob, id go for a tune and some barrel pivot washers, you've got the trigger and the scope but your still missing a few pieces to you tight group puzzle, order a JM seal and cross-hash the compression chamber, you can make your own pivot washers , it will just take time but you and your rifle will reap the rewards. You'd be amazed at what a good tune can do to a rifle

[eat2muchrice]

Gamo2hammerli, I kind of miss the .177 version I had before this .22, it had more kick to her and noticeable shorter travel time to the target.

Overall I'll dump 400 more rounds through her and see if she tightens up (no pun intended)  . I'd love to do a complete tune and she will get one day.

BTW what is cross-hashing the compression chamber and can you please provide me with more info (link) on pivot washers.

THANKS!

[Lambchops]

Cross-hatching the compression chamber is a method to get Moly Grease to stay put on the walls of the cylinder. It is normally done with 200 grit sand paper using a variety of methods in a Cross-hatching fashion.

If the cylinder isn't cross hatched the grease will eventually fall out and seep off.

[Lambchops]

For the pivot washers, Google Airguntoyz.

[bobster]

The "keep working at it" advice may be good because you don't want to give up too early.  However many many of these crosman break barrels never shoot well.  If you research it on GTA, there is a very high ratio of faulty guns.  I have heard ratios of 1 good gun in 2, 1 in 3 etc.  For me it was 1 in 5 usable guns until I started shooting the crosman 22xx guns which have all been fine.  I think the quality control of certain Chinese factories is extremely poor.  I wish we could track which guns come from which factories then we could tell which guns to stay away from instead of having to do it via trial and error.  My nitro venom I tried everything short of tearing it apart and rebuilding/tuning it.

I don't believe you should have to buy a gun, tear it apart and tune it, replace the scope, and then replace the trigger to make it shoot correctly.  But this is exactly what a lot of people will tell you to do.  My Beeman RS2 cost under $100 and has worked flawlessly from day one without tuning or changing anything.  There are other guns out there also with a very low defective rate.  Crosman quality control is wet poor on many of these break barrels.  Doesn't mean they are all bad of course just that the chance of getting a bad one is much higher than it should be.  If you bought a new car and 1 out of 2 needed to be rebuilt within the first week, you'd be perturbed.  Or 2 out of 3 had to be rebuilt, or like in my case 4 out of 5. 

[Fishbone]

Eats...I think it's pretty good groupings for a new rifle.

Look at the CHP on the left...top left, looks like a good 4 shot group with a flyer, on the bottom left, a 3 shot group with 2 flyers.
The JSB don't look like they are working for you, and hurting your ego

I'm still learning my Trail XL, it's like no other gun I've shot, and I've shot MANY powder burners and some older springers!

The Trail XL is new learning experience.
I bought it used and have no idea how many rounds have gone through it...there's not a mark on the gun so my guess would less than 200rds, I've put less than 300rds in it.

#1 I already found out there were inconsistent pellets, some would drop into the breach, others needed a little push.
I don't have ton's of money to spend so I work with what I have, CPHP....I'll get into to gun tuning latter on.
I decided to cherry pick and ONLY use the one's that were snug fitting, if a pellet was too loose, I would use a leather sewing needle to gently pick it out and put it aside.

This one experiment proved to help TREMENDOUSLY!
Grouping tightened up.

#2 Another factor, I used the artillery hold on my other springers with good results, just in front of the trigger guard, but this gun kicks more, since I have no other NP to compare, I've learned to accept it.
This NP likes to be held a little forward of it's balance point, more forward than my other springers, same 'cradle' hold, just forward about two hands.

Whether on a rest (I have no fancy bags) kneeling or prone, I use the same hold...different from the other springers.
I can keep a 1/2" group for about 10 shots up to 50yds...I feel I'm still learning!

Learn your gun/pellets you have, give it some time before tearing it apart.

I agree and dis-agree with some of what Bobster has to add, I mean no insult but in contrast, I know a person that bought a $35,000 Corvette, come to my garage and want the exhaust taken off and drop in a $2500 exhaust system on a BRAND new car!
Yep, 30% improvement will drive you! Come back the following week and swap out the chip!

And how many Harley owners drop $5000 in 'goodies' BEFORE they even drove it!!

Same with guns, yea there are better guns for less, some NEED improvement, some shoot great right out of the box, some cost WAY more and end up being sold after 20 shots!

But like anything from cars/motorcycles even fishing poles, learn/practice with what you have chosen then go from there.