Brand New R9

[nced]

all three of my rifles are .22 cal. When I first ordered the R9 it was .20 cal but Pyramid Air kept changing the delivery dates so when  they put the delivery date off for another month I canceled the order and got the .22 which was in stock. The R9 is now on it's way back to me. PA John finished it. It's now sitting in the Post Office in PA waiting to get shipped out to NYS. Excited!

Oakey 

While I personally prefer the .177 cal in a R9 power level springer, I do have to say that when I was using .20 and .22 barrels on the R9 I preferred the .22 cal. I do have to mention that in those days there was no JSB pellet so I found that the .20 Beeman FTS was about the only pellet of choice. With the .20 cal and the emergence of the JSB brand, perhaps the situation has changed.

Ole "Doc Beeman" pushed the .20 cal pretty hard claiming that it was the "best of both worlds". My personal opinion is that the .20 is "the worst of both worlds" when shot with a R9 power level springer. By that I mean that the .20 wasn't as flat shooting as the .177 and not as "thumpy" as the .22 cal. LOL....with the R9 I owned at that time (perhaps a decade ago) I could extract about the same velocity from the .22 cal as the .20 and I had a large selection of .22 pellets to choose from. With my .20 R9 the only pellet that was as accurate as my .177 R9 was the rather heavy Crosman Premier at 14.3 grains. The problem for me was that the .20 CP shot at only 650fps which made for a VERY loopy trajectory.

Anywhoo.......today, if I HAD to choose between the .20 and the .22 cal R9 I'd opt for the .22 cal as you did. Funny thing about the .20 cal was that the fatter pellet did bust up the squirrel considerably more than the .177 cal, however the squirrel didn't drop any faster. My brother and uncle both claimed the same thing when they used my .20 R9 so when it came time for them to buy they also opted for the .177. Kinda strange I know, but true story!

[clip]

I bought my R9 over a year ago. I wanted a good 20 caliber and that's what I got. From the first time I fired it, it twanged so badly I hated to shoot it. The noise was so distracting I just put it away and let it stand. One day, while here on the GTA, I was griping about "my new R9 being so noisy I didn't like shooting it". Several members told me that the twang I kept hearing was something that R9s were famous for. Seems that it happens in nearly every one of 'em. Long story short, I contacted Shadow ( Ed ) who told me a tune would solve the trouble. I sent it to him and with-in a couple of weeks I had one of the smoothest, quietest shooters I've ever had. I love that 20 caliber R9. I have no idea what the chrony numbers may be and I don't really care. It's a pleasure to shoot, now.
 I think you'll really be happy that you sent yours in for a tune.

[oakey]

The newly tuned R9 is all over the place. I have 75 shots through her and I can not group anything. When I mean all over the place we are talking inches all over the place. I am going to take my new Hawke Scope off and try another one of my scopes on it. Don't have the time today but I hope over the week I can get to it. When the Nine was being tuned I was using the Hawke on my XL 1100 and if I am correct it was shooting well.

Oakey     

[nced]

The newly tuned R9 is all over the place. I have 75 shots through her and I can not group anything. When I mean all over the place we are talking inches all over the place. I am going to take my new Hawke Scope off and try another one of my scopes on it. Don't have the time today but I hope over the week I can get to it. When the Nine was being tuned I was using the Hawke on my XL 1100 and if I am correct it was shooting well.

Oakey     

Hummm.......while I have to admit that sometimes the only thing my home tune accomplished was a twang free and smoother shot cycle but so far I've never had my R9 group WORSE than before the tune. I've read a lot of posts with phrases like "more linear shot cycle"......"less hold sensitive" bla bla bla, but with my shooting ability I couldn't tell much difference.

Assuming that the obvious things have been ruled out like loose stock screws, bad scope, poor barrel pivot adjustment, etc..........I can only make a couple suggestions that may or may not apply to your newly tuned R9. Is there a possibility that your fpe was increased with the tune and the gun has become more hold sensitive? I've found that the R9 really shines when tuned to the 12-14 fpe level, however once the power gets into the 15-16 fpe range the relatively light R9 can become more hold sensitive requiring a more consistent shooter form. Perhaps the tune affected the "most accurate pellet choice", or perhaps the gun simply needs some more break-in time. Have you chronied the gun to see if the velocity is consistent (best done after a few hundred shots). I personally prefer shot to shot consistency of my R9s to be within 10fps or so.

Anywhoo........shoot the gun some more and keep us posted with the results!

[oakey]

Thanks nced. Yes the average velocity went from 654 to 725 with the tune. Though that is great I would much rather have that consistent accuracy instead of increased power. I found the opportunity to take the nine out again tonight. I didn't change the scope. I attempted to zero the Hawke at 10 yards instead of 20 yards. I also used heavier pellets this time which seemed to shrink the groups a little but still the groups are not great. I was almost shooting through a ragged hole prior to shipping her off to PA John. I will continue to shoot her like you mentioned maybe you are right maybe she is even more hold sensitive now then before or then again maybe she just needs more shots through her to calm her down.

Thanks
Oaks     

[palonej]

Hey Oaks. Just went thru something similar. Long story very short. New TX that loved 3 pellets. CPLs being one of them. After around 3,000 shots it went from awesome groups with them to shotgun patterns. Sent scope back and tried all the usual. As it turned out, after break in, it simply will not shoot these pellets any longer. Ugh
Just a suggestion, try some different lead.
Hope you get her straightened out.
Joe

[oakey]

Funny you are bringing this up after getting frustrated shooting JSB EXACT JUMBO DIABALO 18 grains pellets, I started shooting 14.3 grain Webley Accu-pell, Domed Pellets and she started grouping tighter much of what you would expect for an R9. I am also noticing open palm artillery hold is not working so I have closed my hand lightly around forearm of the stock and she seemed to group up much tighter. I will continue to feel her out but any and all feed back is welcome. I am no expert matter of fact I am rather new to these extraordinary guns.   
 
2/24 I did a plinking session my R9 has been shooting with much more consistency and the groups have shrunk up a bit. I am still perfecting my hold as you know these guns are hold sensitive. Since the tune the hold sensitivity has changed it no longer fires well with an artillery hold. 

Oaks