Beeman Mach 12.5 shooting VERY high - can anybody help?

[dsaavedra]

Hello,

I've got a Beeman Mach 12.5 air rifle that is shooting way high and I cannot figure it out. No matter how much I adjust my elevation in the downward direction, this shots still land several inches above my point of aim. It is also shooting pretty far to the right as well, even when I adjust my windage all the way to the left. The further away I get from my target the further up and further to the right my shots land.

Some more info: I've put a little over 500 shots through the gun since I got it (it is now out of warranty), the stock scope broke so I have a Daisy Powerline 3-9 x 32 scope on it now (only other scope I had around), it is mounted with a 1-piece Leapers scope mount. I was shooting Crossman Premier .22cal pellets (I am using these to break in my gun and to sight in with until I am relatively on target, then I will sight in more precisely with Beeman Crow Magnum pellets, which I intend to hunt with).

Below is a picture of my groupings. I started at 10 feet, and each of the three groups are my attempts to bring the point of impact closer to where I was aiming. Then I moved to 10 yards and it got worse, again, the two groups are my attempts to bring the point of impact down. At 25 yards I couldn't even get remotely close to where I was aiming, and only shot one group of 3.



Can anybody help me figure out what is going on and what I can do to correct this?

[BenjiHunter]

Are you turning the adjustment knobs the right way.
If you want to shoot lower turn the knob CW.
More left turn CW.

[dsaavedra]

Yes, those are the directions I'm turning the knobs. As you can see from my groupings at 10ft and 10yds, I was able to bring the shots down a little bit, but not nearly enough.

Would putting a shim under the front scope ring help with this problem?

[Roadworthy]

Some people have ALL the luck!! My guns always shoot way low.  Take the scope back to mechanical zero for starters.  That is, find the number of clicks stop to stop horizontal and vertical.  Back off half that amount.  The number of clicks is not necessarily the same with both adjustments.

Do not adjust the scope from zero, just see where it's hitting.  That is a starting point toward locating the problem.

See if you get anything resembling consistent groups at twenty yards or so.  Note how far they are from the actual point of aim.  You have enough pellets through the gun you should get some kind of grouping.

Note that you want to keep the scope adjusted close to optical center for least error.  Also, each click of adjustment is 1/4" at 100 yards.  That means five clicks to get the same quarter inch at twenty yards.  It takes twenty clicks to move one inch at that range.  If you have (for the sake of argument) 400 clicks stop to stop this means you can only go 200 in either direction.  That allows ten inches of movement.  That's a lot!!

Anyhow, see how far off you are.  Try moving the scope an inch (twenty clicks) in the desired direction.  If your point of impact does not move about an inch you probably have a scope problem.  If the point of impact moves the correct distance but is too far out of bounds to be corrected, adjustable mounts are an option, as is bending the barrel.  Let us know how it works out.

[BenjiHunter]

Looks like your barrel is pointing up.
Reverse droop kind of.
Get a drooper mount and mount it backwards.
It could also be the lockup of the barrel to the breech.

[Big Bore Bart]

  Check all screws, then check to see if the barrel is bent at the breech block.   

[Roadworthy]

You can't shim under the ring.  You can shim between the scope and the ring.  If you go too tight you risk damaging the scope, either by distorting it with the shim or bending it between the two mounts.  Try reversing the mounts first, back to front and front to back.

If that doesn't do it I'd go for a one piece adjustable mount.  They have a gimbal in the base which allows the overall angle to change.  Before you do that, go through the stuff in my last post to be sure it's not the scope.

[OleTomCat]

http://www.charliedatuna.com/airgun_docs/The%20Effect%20of%20Scope%20Cant.doc

Look at that document.

[dsaavedra]

Thanks for all of the advice so far! I will definitely check how many clicks I can move each knob and then zero it tomorrow, I think this would be very useful in diagnosing the issue.

And yes, shim between scope and ring - this is what I meant. I will try turning the mount around before trying a shim. I can't really afford an adjustable mount right now, especially if I'm not certain this will fix my issue.

Regarding a bent barrel - How would I tell if it is bent? I haven't noticed it being bent while handling the gun normally. It seems to me that if the barrel is bent so much so that it is visibly noticeable it would throw the shot off more than my shots are off. Is this not the case? What could I do if my barrel is bent?

Thanks for that link OleTomCat, I am going to read over it after I'm done writing this post.

[dsaavedra]

http://www.charliedatuna.com/airgun_docs/The%20Effect%20of%20Scope%20Cant.doc

Look at that document.

Just read over this. I can see how this would cause inaccuracies, but would it make the pellet hit too high?

The fact that my pellets are hitting higher and higher as I move further away from the target is really throwing me off because almost everything I read suggests the pellets should be doing the opposite.

[BenjiHunter]

Thanks for all of the advice so far! I will definitely check how many clicks I can move each knob and then zero it tomorrow, I think this would be very useful in diagnosing the issue.

And yes, shim between scope and ring - this is what I meant. I will try turning the mount around before trying a shim. I can't really afford an adjustable mount right now, especially if I'm not certain this will fix my issue.

Regarding a bent barrel - How would I tell if it is bent? I haven't noticed it being bent while handling the gun normally. It seems to me that if the barrel is bent so much so that it is visibly noticeable it would throw the shot off more than my shots are off. Is this not the case? What could I do if my barrel is bent?

Thanks for that link OleTomCat, I am going to read over it after I'm done writing this post.

Put a ruler on top of the barrel.
If you see light between the barrel and the ruler, it's bent.
If it is bent, you can bend it back.
But ask someone who has done that before trying.

[OleTomCat]

http://www.charliedatuna.com/airgun_docs/The%20Effect%20of%20Scope%20Cant.doc

Look at that document.

Just read over this. I can see how this would cause inaccuracies, but would it make the pellet hit too high?

The fact that my pellets are hitting higher and higher as I move further away from the target is really throwing me off because almost everything I read suggests the pellets should be doing the opposite.

Pellets travel in an Arc, if they didn't then you would never be able to hit anything past a few yards since the pellet essentially would start to fall towards the dirt as soon as it left the barrel, this is why when you setup a scope you set a near zero, a peak path and then a far zero, so depending on speed, pellet weight and a whole bunch of physics your gun is has two Points Of Impact(POI) that will line up with the crosshairs of your scope or Point Of Aim(POA).  If the scope is canted your adjustments are going to cause diagonal movements in your POI.

[dsaavedra]

A ruler was too long to lay against the barrel without the muzzle break getting in the way but I found a block of wood about 5" long with nice straight factory cut edges and ran it along the barrel and I didn't see any areas where there was light between the wood and the barrel, so I don't think the barrel is bent.

I also counted clicks and reset the scope to zero. There were about 380 clicks on the elevation knob and 420 clicks on the windage knob. Does this seem right?

I'm going to shoot is like this for a bit tomorrow and see where it's hitting. I may flip the mount around after shooting it tomorrow too, see if that makes any difference.

I will update.

[snakebite4767]

Have someone else shoot the gun and see if they also end up way high.

Snakebite

[LET]

The Leapers scope I have on my Gamo was shooting way off. I called Leapers and they said to do a mechanical centering. I did and now it shoots great. Will be interesting to see how this turns out.

[dsaavedra]

The Leapers scope I have on my Gamo was shooting way off. I called Leapers and they said to do a mechanical centering. I did and now it shoots great. Will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Did you do it the same way, by counting clicks from stop to stop then clicking back to the middle?

[dsaavedra]

Okay, so last night I mechanically centered the scope by counting clicks. I took a few shots and wasn't even hitting the box. So I decided to take the scope off and flip the mount around. I firmly secured the mount to the gun, leveled the gun, set up a plumb bob, made sure the scope was aligned with the plumb bob, and carefully secured the rings around the scope.

Went out and fired a few more shots and still wasn't hitting the box. I decided to aim at the ground instead of my target dot and I landed on the box. Below is my 3 shot group at 20 yards aiming at the ground in front of the box.



I am so frustrated I am really considering giving up on this gun all together.

[BenjiHunter]

Maybe you should return it and get another one.

[dsaavedra]

Maybe you should return it and get another one.

I would but it is out of warranty and well past Pyramyd Air's return period  I wish I had returned it when I got it, but I just chalked these issues up to the gun being brand new and needing to be broken in.

[TriggerHappyDude]

Was there a tornado behind you? if not, id say you have a bent barrel, or something wrong at the breech - sitting at an angle ... its just weird.
What you can do is shimm the scope. There are many ways to do that, im sure folks here at GTA will find a way to save your rifle!