When P.A took the 177 Gauntlets down to $240.00 I broke down and ordered one. Really was more interested in a 22 cal. but thought what the heck. I received it have been working with it one step at a time, I have cleaned and polished and re did the barrel crown. I also did the trigger mod and have it down to a one pound break with a almost two stage feel. I ran a fifty shot chrony string and only about 18 fps spread . I keep thinking about a barrel band but not quite sure if it will help. I'm shooting the JSB Heavys the best at fifty yards but the group seems to move around a lot. It will shoot half to three quarter groups at 50 most times but the point of impact moves . I'm seriously thinking about chopping the barrel down to sixteen inches, choking it and shortening the shroud so there will be not as much need for a barrel band.
For now just wanting to know from others what their experience's are and what pellet is working best for them. Thanks, John
$240 for new Gauntlets now? Such a good deal! I was looking to buy one of these or perhaps two one in each caliber after doing some research on the net these guns require some degree of work to get them shooting to most peoples' tastes. One of the reviewers had mentioned that the fore end bottle housing needs to be removed in order to improve accuracy due to it often touching the barrel shroud which negatively affects accuracy. I would start from there and if that doesn't cure your fliers then remove the shroud and shoot it bare making sure the barrel is firmly secured to the breech and doing the tissue paper blow by test when shot near the TP area.
Search Hajimoto productions on the net and I am sure after watching his videos and following his instructions, yours should be shooting like a high end field target gun. The guy is good.
HA
Another thing to try is adding tension to the barrel-shroud.. extra spring or stronger one or as simple as adding a 8mm washer under the shroud cap ... Mine for the few times I have shot it liked the JSB Exact monster .. I am now battling with the transfer port tube .. Trying to find the right size tube is challanging since the diameter is small the pen body hack won't work..
Yesterday I tried something different. I removed the one piece baffle and spring inside the shroud. The sound of the report didn't seem to change much from my end of the rifle and the accuracy improved. I shot about six ten shot groups and all the groups fell to a 1/2 inch or under but nothing ragged one hole. Im still thinking about chopping the barrel and rechoking it. As soon as I figure out how I can shorten the shroud. That long barrel sticking out there really worries me because the slightest bump will change my point of impact. See what happens.
Tonight I removed my barrel on the Gauntlet. I cleaned the barrel again and was shocked at how dirty it was. I'm using the JSB 10.3 gr only and they don't seem that dirty to me. After that I pushed a pellet down the barrel to see how much choke they put on the barrel. I was shocked that the answer was none!! The tightest point on that barrel is about two inches in from the breech. There's two or three bumps along the way but absolutely no resistance before the pellet exits the bore. Now I don't know if I want to chop and choke or just play with choking it first. Has any one else found this to be true with their barrel ?
My vote is for choking it first, you can always cut on it later. Is there a larger head sized pellet you can try, I confess I know nothing of this rifle.
John I am curious as too how one goes about choking a barrel, can you elaborate or is it a trade secret and you'ld have to kill me if you told me.
Cheers, Mike
Mike, I was fortunate enough to have a good friend make a pair of steel blocks with a 16mm trough running between them. At the end of the trough it was restricted by ten thousands for the last half inch. Since I work mostly on HW , RWS and Air Arms 16mm does most of their barrels. With stainless shims I can do a barrel 16.25 mm down to 15mm. For smaller PCP barrels I have other setups. Its all done with a 20 ton hand press. My brother applies the pressure to the press while I pass pellets down the bore. Worked very for a lot of barrels so far.
John does excellent work. In an ideal world, we wouldn't need chokes. They aren't on firearm barrels. Did you see the post where out of 500 pellets, (3) weighed exactly what the tin claimed. On a 30K chemist scale that is accurate to the 6th decimal, they were all heavier or lighter. It's the exact same thing with head size and yes a skirt gets blown out, is always bigger and rides the lands but the head should NOT be bouncing down the barrel.
Barrels, Pellets, eradication of all variables equals hole in hole in best case scenarios. Thomas rifles is on to something. There are 2 & 3 land barrels, Smooth Twist & STX, just like Marlin micro groove. You don't want blow by. You don't want deep impressions acting as fins on pellet/bullet as it flies. I alway wondered, since pellets in the same tin marked 5.53 can be anywhere from 5.50 to 5.55. It's an average. Lets say all barrel makers and their tooling were universally the same. Great. Not gonna happen. That's what slugging & lapping are for. A dealer here who is a renowned shooter told me if all is right no choke is needed. I didn't believe him but as I thought about it I realized he was right. The big debate was IF ALL was right. Too tight & you loose speed and hit low plus variances in twist rate & friction will cause left or right hits depending on left or right twist rifleing.
So, if pellets had better quality control (Uh Hm JSB!!!!) it would help but what if a choke started say 6"s back & was less aggressive. 0.010 is my bows target pins and quite big in the world of right & tight fit pellets. OK, 4" of choke. 0.0005, at 3 1/2 0.0010, at 3" 0.0015 & so on. Probably have to start a bit tighter than 0.0005 but there's a magic combo there where a smooth transition would HAVE to give better accuracy than a 0.010 speed bump. It would have to be a tapered funnel/cone tooling procedure in production as I'm not sure choke blocks would imprint it. I'm no machinist. I'm just saying pellets sizes are all over the place. Give me true 4.54 in a .177 barrel & true consistent 5.54 in a .22 barrel, maybe a choke wouldn't be needed.
The few things I do know from Dad is confusing to me because in machining & measurements you get into OO grade accuracy & what's called an interference fit. If pellets could be matched to barrels that well, yeah you might be shaving some lead off but this is where a STX barrel & lube may come out as World champs year after year. Thomas has been doing it & all I can say is I bet my dog it has something to do with his choice of or barrel maker. Any thoughts?
Before I install the Haji barrel band , the rifle was grouping well at 50 yards . My only complaint was that one group would be slightly to the left of the bulls eye. The next mag would be to right . Not a lot , but just enough to aggravate me. The barrel band has put a end to this and I am very happy shooting the rifle.
