Air Arms Owners Club

I have read of a few instances of moderator clipping together with various ways to prevent it happening. Below is how I cured it.

I have 2 x s510's bought secondhand with screw in moderators, a .177 and a .22. The .22 has the standard Air Arms mod. I fitted a Qtec(.177) to the .177. Both mods were clipping.

I took the shroud off the .22 and removed the barrel support using a brazing rod that I bend to about 90 degrees then cut the bent bit short to form a slight hook. The support came out easily. I found the support O rings were flat on one side so replaced them. I did not remove the baffle.

I reinserted the support just clear of the threads in the shroud. I checked that the barrel was true and the crown was good then refitted the figure of 8 shroud clamp and by eye centered the barrel in the shroud hole before tightening the grub screws to hold the clamp in place.

The shroud was slid through it's hole and screwed into place. The mod was refitted and no clipping.

I did the same with the .177 but didn't change the O rings on the barrel support because they looked ok. It is good practice to change disturbed O rings but I didn't have another pair. The clipping was cured.

I did some target shots at my normal 30yds with and without the mods fitted. I also took some at 20 and 40yds in case the pellets were corkscrewing in flight and were hitting 30yds by chance. 20yds was high and 40yds was low of the target bull which was expected so all was well.

The shrouds have some sort of Loctite on their threads. I used a hot air gun on it's low setting to heat the threads. I didn't heat them hotter than I could touch. The heat didn't mark the anodising. Using a disposable rubber(?) glove I was able to remove the shrouds fairly easily. When refitting the shrouds I just screwed them on tight with the glove without applying Loctite. They haven't moved.

I hope my method to stop clipping is of some use to someone.

Keith

Just out of interest, did you check to see if the shrouds were straight to begin with, I normally find that they are not that straight, which I believe is the real cause of the problem, glad you got yours sorted

Roger,
I rolled both shrouds along my kitchen worktop and they were straight.

I checked everything I could think of that may have had a bearing on the clipping.

I had looked at the Air Arms video on how to check that the barrel was inline with the action. It showed how to alter any misalignment but that was on a non shrouded s410 so it didn't apply to the s510.

Regards,
Keith

Hi Keith, now I understand where the jammy comes from, I've never managed to find a totally straight shroud yet, my cure is to leave the shroud slightly loose and let the barrel do its own thing, or stick an 8mm drill down the moderator, bit drastic I know, but certainly stops it clipping

Jammy lol. If only I had been all of my life, especially when putting the lottery on! Ha

I think shrouds are bent when the rifle is picked up by the barrel. I'm sure Air Arms don't fit them bent. An additional internal support mid way along its length should prevent this.

Drilling an 8mm bit into a Qtec .177 mod won't do it any good at all. Yes drastic.

I try to work out what the manufacturer was trying to do and how. I then return a rifle to the way it came out of the factory by using methods that will achieve that, if I can.

Perhaps the next rifle you get that is clipping you might try my method. Even if the shroud has a slight bend my method may still work. The crucial bit is the barrel must be centered to the threads of the shroud so therefore the mod.

Following on from that I wonder if the barrel clamp was loosened and a rod the same diameter as the bore of the barrel was inserted through the mod and into the barrel to keep things in line then the clamp retightened might achieve the required alignment?

Keith