New 25 but with problems

[Bruce Jarrett]

I received a 25 cal this past Saturday and have shot about 400 rounds through it. I'm unable to get good groups with it. 3 inches at 50 yds, 5 inches at 100 yds. I have cleaned the barrel twice and reattached the scope. The only thing I can find wrong is two skid marks inside the end cap ,nothing on the baffles. I have no mods to it and only adjusted the velocity screw. If a pellet is hitting the end cap the pellet is already unstable. I shoot from 2800psi to 2600 psi and that only gives me 7 shots but the standard deviation is 1.4 - 2.5 I only shoot seven because of the low SD and since I'm using the Benjamin hand pump and it only takes 30 pumps to get it back to 2800. I'm 58 and 150 pounds so I don't want to pump anymore than 30 at a time. Two or three of the seven shots will be at the bulls eye but the other three or four will be flyer's two or three inches away. Even the flyer's have the same velocity as the ones that hit the bull so I don't think the flyer's are due to hitting the end cap.I'm shooting JSB Exact 24.4, Benjamin 27.8 and H & N Barracuda 31.0. After shooting about 300 pellets I was able to focus enough that I can see the pellets going from my gun to the target and I can see the flyer's cork screwing and curving to the target ,the ones that hit the bulls eye I can't see because the cross hairs block my view. When I cleaned the barrel the tight patch went through the barrel very smooth and no lead on the patch. I shoot a lot of lead cartridge guns so I can tell lead in barrels and this barrel felt clean and smooth. I called Crossman and they were very nice and said I could return the gun or they would send me a new barrel but I would like to see if anyone else has had this problem. With about 1800 pumps on this hand pump in three days I'm tired and sore. If anybody is interested in making a cheap backstop I'm using a cardboard box filled with dirt and I use a hand dolly to move it to my different yardages. The box was originally 5 inches deep but when I added dirt it bulged in the center. I have had no pellets penetrate with 400 rounds so far and I just tape targets on top of one another so the dirt stays in. When the box gets bad I'll use another box.

Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 9:04 pm
Private message

[jtb56]

Bruce:
Remove the end cap and o-ring. Tilt rifle down and let the 4 black plastic baffles slide out. ( Note which way they come out so you put them back in the same)
Take the rifle out and fire it without these parts. It will be loud but should produce considerably more accuracy if the end cap or baffles are the cause. If this
is the case, notify Crosman or the dealer you purchased it from and see if they can send you replacements for these parts. If shooting without these parts
doesn't correct the inaccuracy I would definitely send the rifle back. Hope this helps.

[Bruce Jarrett]

I did that today . The first time I took the end cap off and the baffles out and left the shrould on , no change. Then I took the shrould off still no change. I left the front shrould spacer on but I couldn't see any damage and the crown on the barrel looked good ,no nicks and all air holes on the shrould spacer were clear. It actually shot a little better with the baffles and end cap on.

[Bruce Jarrett]

It probably is a barrel problem but it just seemed so clean and smooth. I recovered some pellets from the dirt and they all have rifling's on the edge of the dome and on the skirt. Barrel band has space all around shrould. I played with the velocity screw because that can change stability in bullets but I went low and high and no improvement. I didn't mess with the hammer adjustments because I was getting such low standard deviations I didn't see the need. I didn't mess with the trigger either because it seemed great to me already.

[tjbryner]

Are you using the mag or loading it single shots at a time?

The reason I ask is I have a Mag that's going back to Crosman, I found that some of the pellets fit a few holes tilted to the center. So the shots on those rounds were not going were I wanted them....to say the least!

If your using the Mag try to do single shots. and see if that helps.

[Bruce Jarrett]

I'm using the SS tray but I did try the mag with each brand of pellets to make sure it worked and the groups were the same. Thats why I was only shooting 7 shots instead of 8 because with the ss tray it didn't make any difference. After I get the gun setup I will use the mag and shoot 8 and then pump up when I have to reload mag. Since I haven't messed with the hammer adjustments could that make a difference ? I didn't try it because of the STD deviations being low already. Does the 2 hammer adjustments out of sync show up with erratic velocities or poor groups ?

[Bruce Jarrett]

My velocity with JSB Exact 24.4 is 864fps , Benjamin Domed 27.8 is 825fps and H & N Barracuda 31.0 is 793fps. These may be a little low according to what some others have posted but thats all I can get with the velocity screw. I'm not concerned with max energy I would rather have max accuracy, which I'm not doing to good so far. I know Crossman will work on the gun from talking to them yesterday ,I've never talked to a company that was so eager to please, but I would like to understand the gun and learn what is causing the problem.

[slayer1962]

In my experience (more than some less than others) I have not seen a problem with velocity unless you really get them screaming! The marauder in .25 will not spit pellets out that fast in stock form. I have a condor with minor modifications and adjustments that will spit pellets out past the speed of sound. That becomes a problem. The lack of accuracy you are talking about is probably not tweeking the velocity. Keep us posted how Crossman handles this please. The .25 has a great reputation for accuracy and I am sure they will dial it in. Sorry you had such bad luck most have been extremely pleased with the .25 marauder. I shoot mine at feeder distance and it will place them in one hole if I do my part. Good luck and hope you get to love your Marauder like the rest of us. Oh yea almost forgot get a scuba tank! $150 plus about 80$ for adapter. I am 6'2" 245 lbs and gave up on the hand pump in about a day. It is not only the operator the pumps get hot and you have to wait for them to cool.

[Bruce Jarrett]

Crossman is going to send me a new barrel and I will put it on myself. They said if that doesn't work I can send them the gun and they will fix it. I would like to try fixing it first myself. I have two scuba tanks that I used to dive with,now out of date, but I don't want to deal with having to go to a dive shop for refills and it would bother me paying for a full refill but only getting a few hundred pounds. I like the accuracy of a hand pump and being non dependent. Eventually I will probably get an electric pump when they come out. I'm 58 years old now and 150 pounds so I don't know how long I will be able to use the pump but it doesn't bother me too much.

[Bruce Jarrett]

I don't know if this has already been posted but if my be helpful to some. Crossman said their factory settings are:
Hammer Spring: 4 turns in
Striker: 1 turn in
Valve Screw: 3 turns out
My velocity screw was set at 3 turns out or CCW just like the factory spec. when I got my gun. At the factory setting I was getting 840 fps with JSB 24.4 I went to 3 3/4 turns CCW and got 864fps but opening from 3 3/4 to 4 1/2 turns that the book says is max I still only got 864psi I don't know if my gun is set to the hammer and striker factory spec. because I haven't messed with them yet.