AA S400 MPR FT questions

[Mtl_Biker]

You will love the gun. I have one, and it is one of the most accurate guns i have shot. Mines a keeper,

Thanks. I hope you're right.

So far, I'm not doing real well with it. And I can't figure out why. There's a website called GTA and among the online challenges they do is a 50 foot rested challenge. There are 20 bulls and you take one shot per bull. Total maximum score is 200/200 and knocking out the center black dot completely scores an X (for tie breaking).

Anyway, I've been shooting 196/200 and 197/200 with my SPRINGER... an HW97KT. With my Feinwerkbau 602, I've managed 200/200 with 5 X's and can pretty regularly shoot 200/200. (Other people shooting PCP's often score 200/200 with anywhere from 3 to 15 X's.) I was hoping to do AT LEAST as well with the new S400 as I'd been doing with my FWB 602, but really expected that I'd be able to do better. I'm not new to shooting (springers or SSP's or PCP's) but I am new to the S400. With the gun on a front bag rest and the butt plate against my shoulder (as I shoot the other guns) the best I've been able to manage was 198/200 with 5 X's. I expected to do better.

I've now shot more than 20 of those targets and that 198/200 was the best score.

Later today I will mount a different scope (just waiting for new 30mm two-piece scope rings to arrive) and that's the scope I had been using on the HW97KT. I KNOW the scope is good. I'm less certain about the scope I've mounted on the S400. With the other scope mounted, at least I'll be able to eliminate that variable. And if I can't get better results, then it'll be fairly clear to me that it's either me (most likely) or the gun. But how could I go about checking the accuracy of the gun? Clamp it in a vice and shoot a bunch of shots?

[Mark112]

Hi,

At 50 feet (17 yards) bench rested you should see one hole groups with the right pellet. This is a typical 10 shot group from an s410 shot outdoors at 30 yards last week in blustery conditions. The penny coin is 20mm across and the group is 7mm centre-to-centre. I'm only an average shot and I believe the MPR has a better barrel so your rifle should be capable of this or better.

Kaiser2.jpg (160.95 KiB) Viewed 4830 times

Did you clean the barrel of manufacturing gunk before shooting it? What pellets are you using? What pressure are you filling to get the best shots in your rifles 'sweet spot' part of the power curve (see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2942 for more detail/waffle).

Mark

[Mtl_Biker]

Hi,

At 50 feet (17 yards) bench rested you should see one hole groups with the right pellet. This is a typical 10 shot group from an s410 shot outdoors at 30 yards last week in blustery conditions. The penny coin is 20mm across and the group is 7mm centre-to-centre. I'm only an average shot and I believe the MPR has a better barrel so your rifle should be capable of this or better.

Did you clean the barrel of manufacturing gunk before shooting it? What pellets are you using? What pressure are you filling to get the best shots in your rifles 'sweet spot' part of the power curve (see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2942 for more detail/waffle).

Mark

Thanks for the reply and link, Mark. The S400 I have is not new (only new to me) and in outstanding condition with no marks or anything. Previous owner claims it was an excellent shooter. But yes, I did clean the barrel (wasn't very dirty) anyway, as when I received it two days ago I wasn't able to shoot it until my staff went home and I wanted to do SOMETHING!

Tonight I'll put the gun in a better rest (I was using what I usually use, just a front bag rest) and try again. I have a Caldwell Matrix stand and that might be better. Plus I'll be installing a different scope this afternoon (my two-piece rings just arrived) and I KNOW that scope is a good one.

That's pretty nice shooting you showed! 30 yards in windy conditions? Good stuff!

[eboswan]

If you've cleaned the barrel it may shoot a little better once you've releaded the barrel.

[Mtl_Biker]

Well, it was an interesting evening...

First I installed my Airmax 30 SF (which I KNOW is good) with the new two-piece mounts I got today. Then I zeroed it. So far so good. I tried that 50 foot challenge with my usual front bag rest and shoulder at the butt plate.

Same frustrating results. Inconsistent. Some 10's, but then shots in the 8 ring at the 9 o'clock position... 5 ring at 1 o'clock, etc. I was NOT happy.

Then I changed supports (although what I'd been using had served me extremely well with my HW97KT springer and Feinwerkbau 602 (ssp)). I used a Caldwell Matrix support which is a lot more stable. Tried again and STILL the shots were all over the place! And my point of aim was not changing from the sighting to the shooting to the follow through. Rock solid. But the shots were hitting inconsistently. I was very frustrated!

So, not the scope, not me, but probably the gun itself. But wait! How about the pellets? I was using JSB Match Rifle pellets 4.50 head diameter, which worked perfectly at 50 feet for both my HW97KT and FWB 602, as well as my HW50S and old (sold now) CZ 200T. I tried 20 shots with H&N Finale Match Rifle (4.49mm) pellets. Same thing. Shots all over the place.

I was cursing the gun high and low and regretting buying it. No wonder I got a good deal... the gun wasn't accurate!

But then I thought, what the heck, I'll try some JSB Exact Diabolo 4.51mm pellets. Even though I was shooting paper and wadcutters at that short range were the preferred shape. And guess what? Perfect score! 200.200 with 12 X's.



Round nose pellets on paper make a much smaller hole than wadcutters and the results are impossible to score without a scoring gauge magnifier (which I have) and I've never had to use anything but wadcutters for paper at that distance. But gee, the Exact Diabolos worked perfectly! And I know with them I'll be able (with a bit more practice and patience) to get even more X's on my 200/200 score.

So what's the story on types of pellets with this gun? I know that wadcutters don't work well at longer distances, but could they also not work well at shorter distances with higher velocity guns? That's a new one on me.

I haven't run the gun through my chrony yet, but judging by how deeply they penetrate the "duct seal" putty behind my target, the gun is shooting probably 850 fps or so. Making it my most powerful gun. Maybe too powerful for wadcutters?

But I did buy this gun to use for field target competitions so maybe I should just be happy it shoots those JSB Exact Diabolos so well and be done with it.

Thank you everyone for the helpful comments on this. Glad I joined this forum.

Cheers!

[bripard]

That is brilliant, good result. I use jsb exact diabolo 4.52 in mine, all the best enjoy your gun.

[Roger5]

I have two S400s and an S510 all in .177 not one of them likes wadcutters, AADF either 4.51 or 4.52 both work fine, the only rifles I use wadcutters in are my weihrauch spring guns both .22, and they like Hobbys . Rog

[TenMetrePeter]

my 10m MPR uses the same barrel as the FT now (blued barrel) I have no choice but to use wadcutters. R10 4.49 rifle pellets shoot fine but then its 5.5 ft lbs.

[Mark112]

Glad things are improving. You may need to try some wad cutters in different head sizes to find one it prefers I guess. Hope you are starting to enjoy the MPR a bit more now

[Mtl_Biker]

I have two S400s and an S510 all in .177 not one of them likes wadcutters, AADF either 4.51 or 4.52 both work fine, the only rifles I use wadcutters in are my weihrauch spring guns both .22, and they like Hobbys . Rog

Wadcutters are preferred for shooting paper targets (due to the nice clean hole) at relatively short distances. I used them in my Weihrauch HW97KT also, but only for paper. The moment I was at longer distances, or shooting field target (metal) outdoors, it was domed pellets. Likewise my CZ200T... the only pellet I ever used with it was wadcutter.

But it is now obvious that this AA S400 doesn't like them, even at short distances. So it'll be JSB Exact Diabolos from now on.

So, do you guys think it's simply because the GUN doesn't like wadcutters, or because the S400 is shooting them at higher velocities than my other guns? Seems to be common belief that wadcutters (in general) are only good for short distances, perhaps up to a max of 20 meters.