New disco owner looking for guidance

[bigben]

So I am a new .22 Benji Disco owner, I bought a used Disco from my buddy mark (he is on here some where), it came with a pump, 6" TKA Muzzle break, and a barska scope.  He also was kind (mean) enough to give me about 8 different pellet types to try that do not work well in his MROD.  I just bought some screws today for the 3 screw trigger mod. 

My first question, my back yard is about 50 yards deep, is that a reasonable distance for try and sight in at long term, should I use a shorter distance (for an inherently smaller grouping) to identify what pellets it likes best?  What kind of grouping can i expect (acknowledging that every gun is different ofc) at 50 yards?

Second, anyone have an suggestions on what pellets to star with just given the wide knowledge base of disco owners?
I have the following at my disposal in order of weight:
H&N Sport Baracuda Match 21.3gr
H&N Crow Magnum 18.21gr
H&N Sport Baracuda Hunter 18.21gr
Air Arms Diablo Field Heavy 18gr
RWS Superdome 14.5gr
RWS Meisterkuglen 14gr
Beeman Laser 13.35gr
Premier Hollow Point - Unlisted weight

I will be shooting max 50 yards, but it seems small game comes as close as half that with us on he deck I will be shooting from so I am tempted to sight in at like 40 yards maybe?  ANY guidance will be much appreciated, I need a decent platform to shoot from as well and I am not sure a bipod is a good option as the length of the disco stock is kind of short and would not provide a very long fulcrum, though any thing is better than free hand right now I imagine!



 

[gnef]

I have a .177 Disco, and it has been a great rifle for me so far - most issues are due to me, and not inherit in the rifle itself.

I generally recommend sighting in the rifle ultimately at the range you will most often shoot. I would find it annoying to always have to shoot a mildot low or high, or depending on the distance, a fractional mildot.

To give you a better idea of pellets though, there are many different ways to go about it, but if you don't have a vise or way to support the rifle on a bench reliably, I would start with 10 yards, and see which pellets work well. I personally would shoot a minimum of 25 shots, in five separate 5 shot groupings for each pellet (or if you want, 25 shots each on their own 1 inch target). Once you do this at 10 yards, the ones that are one-holers move on to the next range.

Only way to figure out your groupings at 50 yards is to test yourself. Every rifle is different, and every shooter is different. 50 yards free hand, I wouldn't have very high expectations of anyone. Benched, you may be able to get 1 MOA, but from what I've read of others, that may be about the limit of the average crosman barrel.

[NitroBobby]

my .22 Disco loves JSB 15.9 (exact jumbo) and 18.1 (jumbo heavy) as well as the Predator Polymags. Shoots them all very accurately. I have mine sighted in at 35 yards and it can do ragged one hole groups in good conditions. 1/2 inch groups are not an issue. i can hit paintballs at this distance 90% of the time with less than ideal conditions from a sandbag rest. i tried a tin of crosman premier hollow points (CPHPs) and they grouped well for a shotgun... so...it did not like them at all. some people have very good results with them though, so they are certainly worth a try. most have better luck with the ones out of the box vice the tin, so that might be the route to consider.

i chose the 35 yard distance because that is the distance of my backyard "range". if i had more room, i'd zero it at a longer distance. i recommend downloading Hawke optics chairgun program. if you have access to a chronograph, it will show you the ideal flight of the pellet as well as of other ballistic data. you input info like the pellet weight, scope zero distance and velocity and it computes the data. it will give you a good idea of how the pellet flies through the air so you can adjust for hold over/under.

best of luck with the new Disco. i love mine.

kgb

[rivraton]

My .22 Disco seems to like pellets with a head dia of .217, like JSB Exact Jumbo & Jumbo Heavy or Stoeger X- Field the JSB have a larger skirt dia.(.225 vs. .221 for the Stoeger) and group slightly tighter @30yd.
 

[Finchlake]

agree my .22 Disco loves JSB 15.9 (exact jumbo) and 18.1 (jumbo heavy)

I had to add the second barrel band before mine would settle down. It would change the POI for no reason. It would always shoot a tight group, but it would put the group in different places. The second barrel band stopped that.

[l8p]

Congratulations. If you are into modding, another is the three setscrew per hole, barrel band mod. Later a velocity adjuster should round out your list.

[Sqrl Klr]

You can group down to 3/4" at 50yds if the circumstances are right. You need to find lighter pellets like the H&N FTT 14.6gr so you'll have less pellet drop at 50yds. I'd center at 25yds in your case since that's where most of your critters are, then test for hold under and hold over mil amounts on your scope at 5yd increments measuring from just 5yds away all the way to 50yds then write them down perhaps taped on your stock to have for a quick view as needed. No missing critters that way.

[William]

Ok, I have a new Disco myself, (about a month now). What I found to be best is to start at 25 yards and zero it about 1/2" High, then fine tune it to shoot dead on at 40 yards, this is perfect from 10 to 45 yards on a 1" kill area! At 50 yards the first mil dot below the cross-hair should be real close to being on! depending on the pellet weight. My Disco likes the 13.43 grain JSB's. I have ordered some 15.9 grain and are in the mail. So when I get them I may have to switch to those.

Here is a link to some of my 25 & 40 yard Disco Pellet grouping videos on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/wmgnapier

This Disco of mine really only liked the Crosman HP's at first, but recently last week and after I made these videos I also made some major changes to my Disco Barrel. As of Now it loves many different pellet brands and weights, it does however seem to favor lighter pellets for some reason, but not to light. 

Benjamin/Crosman has a serious problem with the Disco barrels in the way they are made, rifling not worthy on their part that's for sure. I will Try to explain and maybe a pic of the original barrel on my gun and the one just purchased. If you look at the inside of the barrel in the pic below you will see how deformed it is on the rifling's, both the original and new barrel was like this. This ring of deformed section inside the barrel is exactly perfect in depth and 360 degrees around, it looks like tooling marks made by a centering probe on a lathe. I think that after they rifled the barrel they put it in a lathe to do more finish work on it and that messes up the inside end of the barrel! (just a guess). Or they button rifle these barrels and the tool that makes the rifling does this!

When you button rifle a barrel it is (i think this is correct) a tool that is forcibly pulled through the barrel which in turn does not cut but, instead forms the the rifling into the steel barrel!   

So at first I re-crowned my original barrel which helped some. I got frustrated with it still not grouping at 40 yards, so I ordered a new barrel for $17 + $4 shipping = $21. After looking inside the New barrel and saw the same blemishes as the old one, I decided to cut off the approx. 3/8" or so that was messed up and re-crowned the new barrel and installed it. Now it shoots really good at 40 yards with many different pellet brands and weights.

Now it will shoot just about any pellet into a nickle or better at 25 yards. My 40 yard groups are excellant as well, 18 grain and under pellets if i do my part will all be inside of a quarter at 40 yards. Cant wait to try out the 15.9 grain JSB's!

Pic of poor workmanship of Crosman barrel, the old barrel and new barrel looked exactly the same...ON THE INSIDE...


Pic of the new barrel cut off approx. 3/8" and re-crowned...


Just what I found to be wrong with my Disco... maybe not all Disco's.

Update: Ok I got my 15.9 grain JSBs and they shoot great, I can shoot just about any pellet now that i fixed the messed up barrel. Really sad to see both the old and new barrels in this condition!

Thanks;

William