I found a quarter inch hole-maker waiting for me when I got home today!
It arrived with about 1000psi in it, but I emptied the tank and bottomed out the reg. I added 300psi via tank to seal the valves, then connected it the a Hill three stage pump and got to work. It took me 300 pump strokes, give or take, to achieve 300BAR. It was a workout, but the smaller cylinder volume made it survivable.
I set my reg to 2000psi and hammer spring to fully out position. It was sending 30.86gr pellets down range around 820FPS. I want to work around a 32ft/lb power setting because reasons, so that was a little hot. Long story short, ~1250psi and one half turn from fully out on the spring gave me 693-694fps with consistency. This is by no means professional advise or a suggestion for anyone but myself, however adjusting the regulator down in 1/8 turn increments and discharging the gun between small adjustments maintains a small pressure differential, and had no ill effects on the regulator. Again, totally anecdotal. Not a recommendation. Follow manufacturers guidelines. And all that good stuff.
It's a one hole gun at 10yrds, so I'll leave my notes on accuracy at that. Long range will have to wait for another day.
The hole behind the forward picatinny rail does not allow the use of a Harris style bipod without modification. There is neither enough clearance around the hole, nor enough thickness to accommodate the little gripping studs.
Overall feel is cheap and plastic, but lightweight and durable. It reminds me of a power tool in a sense. It reminds me of certain shotguns where the diminutive weight versus the total size make it feel even more light and maneuverable than it should.
The trigger is odd. The pull is smooth and reasonably light, but the bow in the trigger shoe, plus the ergonomics of the grip-to-trigger relationship, plus the fact that it moves in a pronounced arc, make it somewhat awkward and uncomfortable. I will probably modify the curve of the trigger or replace it altogether.
It is a snappy little thing. Even tuned down to 33ft/lbs, it makes quite a bit more noise than a .22 at the same power level. The cavity on mine measures 2.82 deep by .908in diameter if anyone finds that information interesting..
Overall I am not disappointed in the least. I am looking forward to doing the accuracy and pellet testing portion, but for now it has already been a ton of fun. Hope to hear others' thoughts soon as well!
Quick update:
Sadly I haven't made it out to longer ranges yet. Hopefully I can get to it sooner than later, and get a few pics in the process.
Just wanted to point out that the screws on the front section of my scope rail were not countersunk far enough. What that means is that when using a Picatinny scope ring, the crossbar on the ring interferes with the screw heads before the ring itself properly seats on the rail. In effect, this forces the front ring to sit up higher than it should, acts like a cant-correcting device (but in the wrong direction) and could cause damage to your scope tube or rings due to the misalignment. Easiest fix was to make sure the scope rings don't land where one of the screw heads is located. Alternate easy fix is to use a dovetail ring. I will probably countersink mine deeper at some point, but it's alright for now. I imagine this could happen to the rear rail portion as well, so if anyone out there is getting weird scope cant in either direction, keep this in mind.
Been enjoying my .25 & playing with tuning- 25 gr. Jsb @ 880 avg. Reg set @ 1900psi & 2 1/2 in on HS. 33gr. coming in 820's with same tune. Want to try out my 43gr. Eujin's but only have a few but if accurate will put on next order. These groups were @ 65 but hitting gong target like clockwork @ 100 ( that will be my next paper target groups.) 1st two groups were 16 & 8 of 25 gr. & last were 33gr. with same POI. Wind was 10-15 & me guessing holdoff timing gusts, so need to get calm(5-8 mph here in N.E.) LOL
I finally got to play with my Avenger at distance, and saw some decent results. I started at 50yds with 1200psi on the reg, and 1-1/2 turns in on the hammer spring, and was getting around 680fps with a 30.86gr Baracuda (From previously recorded data). I tweaked it up to 1600psi and 2 turns to get a little flatter trajectory, and shot a few groups. Nothing over an inch, but I was unable to verify velocity in the moment, because I was under a pavilion, and didn't have adequate light to get a reading.
Then it was decision time, and I decided to try 100yds. I finished up my time on the 50yd range with a bunch of hot 12 gauge slugs, so I was a little flinchy. I hand pumped to 4000psi from about 2000, so I was a little shaky. Then I had to run 50yds both directions to retrieve my targets, move to the 100yd range, and run 100yds both ways to set my targets, which left ~11 minutes to shoot my groups while trying to time around wind gusts. Heard enough excuses yet? One more.. my scope maxes out at 12x and has a fairly chunky duplex crosshair.
All that to say I believe under better conditions the .25 Avenger could and should be a sub MOA shooter to at least 100yds.
The group on cardboard was shot with JSB Exact King Heavy 33.95gr pellets, and hit about 15 inches low from point of aim. I would later verify that they were only achieving 744fps on average. The group measured an unimpressive 4.1inches, however dispersion was mostly horizontal. Vertically it only measured 1.2 inches.
I cranked my dial 15 MOA and fired five 30.86gr Baracudas at the intersection of the large and small diamonds. I would later verify an average velocity of 768fps. This group measured a more respectable 1.718 inches.
I now have it adjusted to sling the 30.86gr Baracudas at 828fps with a ridiculous SD of 1fps, and will be swapping optics for a 24x dot reticle. The goal was to use this rig for intermediate hunting and pest control, not a precision outfit. However it's too fun and shows too much potential not to at least find out what it's capable of doing first!
For longer range of 100 yards, try 1900 on reg, and 2.5 turns in on hammer spring. My .25 avenger is quarter sized groups at 100 yards, with NO flyers. I'm using JSB 25.39 pellets, and getting 870 fps consistently. Thank you for your input. I have said it before, this gun is a keeper. So far, the only issue was a broken spring on one of the two cartridges. At 65 yards, the avenger is consistently providing dime sized groups from a full magazine. ?
Very good data. My latest tune landed at 2000 psi and four turns. Then I backed out the hammer spring until I saw a significant drop. With 25.39gr JSBs..
4=907fps
3.5=897fps
3=889fps
2=888fps
1=888fps
.5=878fps
So I settled at one turn since it seemed to be the most efficient hammer setting for that pressure. Hoping to get some of those “quarter groups” Sunday!
@caninesinaction I'm running basically same tune on My .25- now the next batch is being delivered, so we should be seeing more feedback but I can't find fault in mine- this @ 100yds.
