Greetings All,
I don't know if this was an exercise in boredom or if I just wanted to see how much money I could put into an air rifle barrel, but I sure had a lot of fun mounting an FX ST-X .22 caliber barrel on this Crosman 22XX skeleton gun.
This whole thing started when I found out that OnlineMetals.com offered a 4130 alloy steel tube with an O.D. of .438” and an I.D. of .322”. My FX 500mm, .22 cal, “A Series” smooth twist-x liner measured .320” and fit perfectly inside this tube. It took no effort at all to take enough metal off one end to make the .438” tube fit snug in a Crosman steel breech. All that was left was to secure the barrel liner in the tube by brushing on a thin layer of JB Weld to the outside of the liner and on the inside of the steel tube. Plug the ends of the liner to keep the epoxy from getting inside the barrel and slide it in. After drying a couple of days I drilled the transfer port and used a 5/16” end mill to cut a spot for the transfer port seal.
This gun is a ton of fun to shoot. I think most of us here who like to build or tune air guns probably cut our teeth on the old 22xx series...and it was hoot blending some of the new barrel technology with this old Crosman platform. This gun started it's life as my first .25 caliber a couple of years ago. It had a “big bore breech” from Baker Airguns and a Marauder barrel but since I sprung for an FX .25 Wildcat about a year ago it hasn't seen much action. It made sense to use this thing for the ST-X experiment.
If you've ever messed around with a light weight “skeleton gun” then you know they're great in the field or for shooting offhand but not so good from the bench. They're top heavy, too light to stay still and hard to mount a bipod on. Still, this gun surprised me when I shot it from a bag off of a solid picnic table. It's absolutely a laser and I can easily say that this is the most accurate 22xx I've ever built...no matter the barrel.
Cheers, Glenn in Texas
For those who like to geek out on the tech stuff (like me!!). This one is shooting JSB 14.3 Exacts at 845fps.
JDS Airman regged bottle is set at 1450psi. Maple grips and butt piece finished with bed liner. Fore grip snaps
over the threaded rod and is currently being sanded and refinished. Stock Discovery valve, side cocking action
and a 1720T trigger group.
group on right, 40 yards, 7 shots, shooting at a pellet hole. It measures .250 ctc
Greetings All,
I don't know if this was an exercise in boredom or if I just wanted to see how much money I could put into an air rifle barrel, but I sure had a lot of fun mounting an FX ST-X .22 caliber barrel on this Crosman 22XX skeleton gun...
Most of the smooth twist vs. rifled barrels is lost on me, although I enjoy reading about it. I've never seen the need to look for anything in the way of a different solution (i.e. I seem to get good accuracy with rifled versions), but maybe springers don't share the same anomalies.
Greetings All,
I don't know if this was an exercise in boredom or if I just wanted to see how much money I could put into an air rifle barrel, but I sure had a lot of fun mounting an FX ST-X .22 caliber barrel on this Crosman 22XX skeleton gun...
Most of the smooth twist vs. rifled barrels is lost on me, although I enjoy reading about it. I've never seen the need to look for anything in the way of a different solution (i.e. I seem to get good accuracy with rifled versions), but maybe springers don't share the same anomalies.
Ed, I do believe that the ST & STX barrels launch a projectile that has less intrusive marking and thus is more aerodynamic, if you will.
This advantage seems to show up more so in windy conditions especially longer ranges 60 to 100 yards. Just my .02
I think you're right Z. Plus there's no tooling done inside the pristine polished tube so the precision of the rifling and the smoothness is repeatable. Not that I haven't shot LW or Green Mountain barrels in the same class. It's just that ST and ST-X barrels I've owned seemed to be a smidgeon better. Maybe it's because I get fewer flyers.
Cheers,
Glenn in Texas
