New Daystate MK4, scope way off

[tworst]

I shot my new MK4 for the first time today.  I took my scope off my FX Whisper and put it on the MK4 with new BKL 1" rings. Set up target at 15 yards and took first shot - 8 inches to the right?  I kept cranking on the windage turret until I just about bottomed it out, still about an inch or so to the right. I know the scope was somewhere reasonably in the middle of adjustment when it was on my Whisper so could not figure out why it runs out of adjustment before I can get left to right on zero.  I took one of the rings off and turned it around and put in back on but it did not change anything.  So, gun and rings are new, but scope is used and known to work fine.  Scope is Hawke Panorama EV 4-12 x44.  I guess there could be something wrong with the rings, but they are the self centering BKL type and even if they are not perfect, and nothing is, I can't see how I could possibly run out of adjustment left to right at only 15 yards.  I now am suspecting the dovetail and barrel alignment are off.  Any suggestion for what I could try assuming my dovetail to barrel alignment is actually OK?

[grauhanen]

About the only thing to do is to try a different scope and/or different rings.  First try either one or the other, and if that doesn't work then try both.  If the problem continues you know it's not likely to be a scope or ring issue.  The next step would be to contact the dealer.

[grobe1458]

had a similiar issue with my air ranger, was close to the end adjusting right . I flipped the rings with the locking nuts on the right side and that made it better but ended up getting the accushot adjustable rings and all is right in the world.

[tworst]

Arg, false alarm.  My scope seems to have a spot where turning the turret is heavier than in other places.  I took the scope off and held the turret while turning the scope and found that I was not actually at end travel at all.  Found that the scope had 6.75 revolutions of turret from full left to full right, so set it to about half that and turret indicated "0".  Put scope back on and found I only needed about 1 revolution of adjustment to get it sighted in.  So all seems to be OK now.

Some quick initial thoughts on the MK4.  I am immediately hitting dime sized groups at 40 yards on low power with JSB 13.43s.  I took 110 shots on a single 230 bar charge of the 144cc tube with an ES of less than 40!  If I drop the first and last 10 I get 90 shots with as ES of 20.  FPS average is about 850 and the energy is around 22 fpe.  How in the *(&^ can they make a gun so efficient?  Only takes about 100 hand pumps to get 90 shots.  I went for this gun because I wanted to forgo getting tanks/compressor and I am very pleased with the shots per pump I am getting along with the low ES and excellent accuracy.   I always bypassed this gun while looking for the last month for a new gun because I thought it was kind of weird looking (not to mention I thought I could not get very many shots from a 144cc tube).  But the walnut is very good looking and the shape of the stock actually works very well ergonomically.  The looks of the gun are actually much better in the hand than the typical pictures at websites.  The trigger practically has ESP once I got used to how light it is.  The bolt action is different than I expected in that I thought since everything is electrical the pull effort would be next to nothing.  It is not.  It seems like Daystate put in some artificial resistance in the pull and while still lighter than my FX Whisper, it is quite noticeable.  The initial pull comes out to a detent and then the final pull, which is heavier still, indexes the mag.  It make a nice couple of pleasing "clicks" while doing so and gives you confidence that you cycled the mag correctly.  Speaking of the mag, I much prefer the simple one side drop in of the pellets as opposed to the quirky loading of the FX mag. The electronics are more useful than I realized too.  Shot count, mag count, pressure, low pressure warning, etc. came in handy immediately.  I really, really hesitated on spending this much money on an air gun, but given its performance and great features and no need for charging equipment, I feel I made a good choice.  This gun is just a pleasure to use.  I will post my chrony data if anybody is interested.

Hmm, perhaps I should have posted this as a gun review topic.

[grobe1458]

please do post your data, I'm interested myself.

[travels4fun]

I had a MK4 Target and loved that gun. I sold it and am still kicking myself for doing so. Trust me you'll find shooting anything else a bit difficult after being spoiled by your new MK4. That amazing trigger and immediate lock time when firing is unique only to the MK4 and Air Wolf. My Bobcat has an outstanding match grade trigger but is no comparison to the MK4. I ended up buying an Air Wolf Tactical and I still prefer the MK4 Target over the higher powered AW. Anyways, enjoy your rifle. You picked a winner.

[tworst]

Grobe - I will post my data, but I shot at my parents house and forgot to bring the spreadsheet back with me.  Should be able to get it tomorrow.

Travel - Could you tell my how your MK4 bolt pull felt?  Mine is smooth, but a lot heavier than I expected.  Also, what exactly is lock time?  When I took my first shot with the MK4, I noticed immediately that it was somehow different than my FX Whisper.  Its like the pellet hit the target before I even realized I had taken the shot.  It was weird and I don't really know how to describe it.  Probably it was just the trigger being so light and I was not used to it.  How ever the time dynamics may be different between the FX and MK4, they are probably much too quick to be perceptible to human senses.  I just know the MK4 feels different when shooting it.  Is there some advantage to having a better (shorter?) lock time?

[travels4fun]

The MCT electronics at the heart of the MK4 action generates a lock-time (the period between the squeeze of the trigger and the pellet’s acceleration along the barrel) that’s up to five times faster than a conventional, mechanically-driven PCP.

Accuracy is improved with a faster lock time as there is less time for the rifle to shift between the squeeze of the trigger and the pellet leaving the barrel.

The bolt should have zero resistance until it engages the magazine actuator which cycles the magazine. I used to put a tiny drop of lube on the rear portion of the bolt. Your not supposed to lube the pellet probe however.

[tworst]

XL spreadsheet of MK4 chrony, pressure and fps data.

[grobe1458]

thanks for posting.

[tworst]

Grobe,

I wanted to post a screenshot of my graph and data so everybody could see it without having to download the actual file and open in in Excel but my screen shot was always too big to attach to the post.  Do you know how to do this?

[nervoustrigger]

A GIF format will generally compress software screenshots well to stay under the forum's 200kB limit, and do so losslessly (without artifacts).

JPG is better for natural images with broad color depth and gradients but tends to develop artifacts.  The amount of compression can be adjusted, however, to meet some compromise between quality and file size.

Lots of programs can save to both formats but I like Irfanview.  Simple yet versatile and always free, just pay attention during installation and uncheck the optional software (a browser toolbar if memory serves).

[grobe1458]

done

[buzzard]

that tight spot can be caused by over tightning the rings and thats why it worked better off the gun

[rsterne]

If I read the numbers correctly (144 cc, 106.7 bar drop = 937 CI) and (90 shots @ 21.64 FPE avg = 1947 FPE total) that works out to 1948 / 937 = 2.08 FPE/CI, which is flat out remarkable efficiency !!!

Bob