Another day out with the Rapid .25 (pics and video)

Since i last shot my RAPID .25, i haven’t had the chance to get out and do much shooting. My wife and i are still having withdrawal symptoms since coming back home to CALIFORNIA after holiday vacationing in native TEXAS. I had been tinkering with my Dragon Slayer and my Rapid to get the utmost from them. My wife told me that i needed to put the guns down for a while and try something different.

So i did, I tried feeding my son his first bowl of cereal……….

HE HE

Anyway, i had been talking to a guy named SWIFT (on another forum) about upgraded Dragon Slayer parts and i finally decided to send the parts to SWIFT so he could do the machining for me. I seriously cannot wait to get the parts back and put that gun together and blast some targets.

Now, for the Rapid. I had previously taken the internals out of the VORTEX and opened the holes to 19/64″ or .296″. Up from .275″, and the results were much improved accuracy. Since then, i had wanted to thoroughly clean the barrel and smooth it over with some BORE PASTE. I removed the scope, scope rings, and barrel and then removed the vortex internals so i could clean the barrel without gettng fouling on or in the VORTEX internals. So with the barrel thoroughly cleaned, i began my 65 strokes with the bore paste. After that, i thoroughly cleaned the barrel again to remove all traces of the bore paste. I then grabbed my bore light and took a looksie down the bore and, it looked super clean and bright as a sunny day in July. I also checked the factory muzzle crown just to take a look. I then finished up by FIRMING up the bolts that hold the barrel in the receiver.

After all that, i was anxious to get out and do some target shooting/hunting especially since i knew the weather was gonna be 75 degrees and clear skies. I drove to my local spot and set up 3 paper targets at approximately 61.5 yrds according to my nikon rangefinder. Well, i was trying for 60 yards but, 1.5 more means nothing to a precision adult airgun:lol:. I had just purchased 1 tin of domed .25 Eun Jins to try out also. I heard they were decent in the Rapid. 1st i took 12 practice/fouling shots to, in my mind, “season the bore”, after the cleaning. I then topped back off to 3200 psi and refilled my magazine with 5 DOMED Eun Jins. Here is my best group with the EJ’s at 61.5 yrds.

The Domed EJ’s shoot better in the Rapid than the Pointed Eun Jins do. Maybe i should have brought out some of those too to shoot. Especially since I thoroughly cleaned the bore. Anyway, now it’s time for the Kodiaks. I topped off at 3200 psi and filled my mag with 6 shots. This was my best group of the day with the Kodiaks. The groups could easily be covered with a nickel.

Mind you, i had been shooting for a while now and i was kinda bored with the paper punchin so i broke out the new SPINNER that i bought at MAC-1’s. I set it up at the same 61.5 yrds and just began peppering the thing with 31 gr Kodiaks. Now, you will notice 3 shots in the head of the chicken spinner, i purposely shot it there 3 times in a row just to see if the pellets would hit the mark. They did easily. The gun was so accurate and fun to shoot that, the spinner target came with a RED bullseye sticky 1″ dot. I was acutally shooting off the red sticky target dot that was on the spinner. WOW!

So after popping that thing for a while, i decided to shoot up some of my other targets. Here is a BUD LIGHT bottle that i found in the desert. I decided to see if i could hit through the center of the bottle cap and blow out just the back of the bottle. Now, when the shot broke, my crosshairs were just low and center of the cap. It actually was aimed at the lip or rim of the bottle, but, on the cap. The pellet entered the cap just on the inside of the inner lip and ricocheted UP inside the bottle and broke out the top and back. Just watched the video carefully. The shot was MADE at 61.5 yrds.

Assessment of the RAPID: There definitely was an improvement in accuracy between this time and the last time i went out with the Rapid and shot groups. Now, not to be biased or anything but, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY RAPID. I honestly could get rid on all my other airguns (no, i’m not really going to) and keep just the Rapid .25 and DS 50. With this gun, i really don’t need anything else. I mean, i can target/FT shoot and hunt with the same gun. With all the mods that i have done, and the fact that it is a well designed and built gun, this gun is EFFORTLESS to shoot. That is the way it should be and i am truly happy. There were some issues with the gun in the beginning and they were minor but, because i am a tinkerer at heart, i did not mind improving on the flaws that the factory let slip by. They also helped me to learn even more about the gun than i previously did. And yes……I still love my CONDOR .25, she is a 80 FPE beast.

Pellet choices: I shot some of these pellets before in my rapid when there was no more clipping but, i did not shoot them this weekend. The Crow Magnums are just what everyone thought……..They SUCK at distance. I am actually too embarrased to post any pics of the group. It had to have been like 4-5″ at 61.5 yrds. But, i also am pushing them at 1000 FPS so, my assessment of them may no be very fair to the pellet. To shoot them any slower, i would have to tinker with my gun………AND I AINT DOING THAT. They for some reason shoot better in my CONDOR.

The Pointed Eun Jins can be used in the well made single shot tray (thanx SWIFT) and shoot decently out to 50 yrds for hunting. These are not target pellets. They just aren’t tack drivers like the kodiaks are and they are in 3rd place behind the Eun Jin Domes in my gun (Rapid .25).

The Eun Jin Domes are acceptable plinking pellets but, are really more of a hunting pellet. Like the Pointed Eun Jins, the domes have that extra WEIGHT and smash anything they hit. They also WHISTLE through the air with their own unique sound. I will try and shoot some video of them whistling downrange next time as compared to other .25 cal pellets that i have.

The Ram Points really sucked in my gun and i could not hit the broad side of a barn with them. Now, i heard that they are accurate but at about 800 fps. Well, my gun can’t shoot 31 gr Kodiaks at 930 and shoot 27.1 gr Ram Points at 800. My R25 also pushes them at 1000 fps like the CM’s. But the CM’s are more accurate in my gun.

I really hate to say that a pellet is inaccurate because, i know that a lot of times, you just might have to tune your gun to a certain velocity to get the most accuracy from an individual pellet. I think the process works with better results when you have your gun tuned for say, 16 gr JSB’s at 950 FPS and you then shoot a 21 kodiaks and it goes about 890 fps. Both of those velocities work for each of those pellets. But, if you gun is tuned to shoot a HEAVY pellet like lets say at 28 gr Eun Jin at 950 FPS then you shoot something like a 18 gr Crow Magnum or a 14.3 gr CP at the same power setting, you might be pushing the CM’s or CP’s at 1100 FPS+ and the accuracy will suffer greatly. So my point is, maybe some of these pellets would shoot better if the guns were tuned to shoot them at proper velocities. The JSB’s, KODIAKS, and Eun Jins are the only 3 pellets that i know of that can be pushed at 400 fps and then up to 1000 fps and still be accurate. Maybe we just need some new projectile designs.
Air Bullets that is.