It Did It Again!
This afternoon I had a squirrel in my sights just as pretty as you please. I squeezed off the shot and not much happened. The gun expelled just enough air to blow the pellet out of the barrel, but it didn’t even make it to the target. The squirrel didn’t even know that I was shooting at it!
The last time that it did this Adam recommended that I lube the hammer, or breech? Where, and how much? Any and all suggestions are welcome including possible operator errror scenerios.
Oh the squirrel, well my second shot must have missed by milimeters because he jumped straight up and tried to hide in the tree. The third shoot went through the left shoulder and out the right ear. This is my first Talon SS kill. Thanks Cyg for the tip about the sunflower seeds. I am looking forward to getting the bugs out of this gun.
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I love it Adam, get a bigger hammer. I should try that with the BSA…NOT. That BSA has found my billy goat, so I am going to put it on the shelf for a while. Maybe if I stop disliking it so much, it will work better.
My Leapers started to give me POI changes. I tapped it on the windage dial and other side a few times with my finger tips hard and it rezeroed….LOL
So I reinstalled my Walmart/Daisy scope and it is working great. So, for me, forget the BSA, (Gamo), line.
I molly-ed mine…if you are a powder burner of have a buddy that is into reloading ask him if they might throw your hammer in the next go round..I also did the the tube polish and gained 30 fps and more consistant shot to shot averages…Oh almost forgot ther are moly spray available from midway as well it would work equally well… it drys to a nice super slick finish and will work into the pores of the frame tube the more you shoot.
Steve,
Some may feel is is odd although some scope models of this brand are highly sought after for airguns. Simmons new lines Aetec and Prohunter may be worth looking at with “true zero”. Of course there are many good scopes out there to choose from. What appears interesting about those mentioned is the new internals which eliminates some of the issues to an extent.
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OK, well I re-installed the BSA scope on my SS only to be disappointed. I am having the same problem. I am having to chase the point of impact. Well I guess that this scope is going to have to live its life as a paper weight, or maybe just give it the deep six. For now I’m going back to my Walmarrt/Daisy 3-9X32 that has been working well for me.
Maybe I’ll try Adam’s Walmart Centerpoint 4-16X40mm. Like he says, “if it doesn’t work for me, I can always take it back”.
Well, I got my scope back from BSA, (Gamo). I can’t believe how they packed it for the return trip. All they did was slap a shipping lable on the original box and a few pieces of tape. When I opened it, the silica moisture absorbing granules spilled all over. Either they have great faith in the durability of their product, or they just don’t care.
I wonder what would have happened if I had returned it packaged the same way. Would they tell me that the scope had been damaged in transit because I didn’t pack it correctly? Probably. Oh well.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the cheap 3-9X32 Walmart scope has been performing so well that I don’t want to remove it from my SS, (if it works, don’r fix it). It keeps putting pellet after pellet in the same hole. The small targets that I have been experimenting on have taken quite a beating. I’m looking to try the BSA scope on a different rifle just to see how it performs now that it has been optically centered.
Stay tuned sports fans 😀
Credit where credit is due! That’s William and POI. Thanks guys!
Where to start? Well, how’s about thanks to all of you who have helped me. Then how’s about thanks to all of you who have helped TAF with your great suggestions, websites, and encouragement.
I found a website that described the operation of riflescopes. It describes parallax and the author claims to be “in the business”. I also found one on mil-dot scopes. Here they are.
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Parallax.asp
http://www.chuckhawks.com/mil-dot_scopes.htm
The concept of a tube that moves against a spring, and its malfunction when it reaches its limits, is enlightening to someone like who obviously has so little idea of what happens inside of this mysteroius, and seeming magical, device. So your description of what happens when it is overadjusted makes sense.
William’s website looks like an awesome resource. I think that maybe it should be moved somewhere else on the forum where others can easily find it as it contains so much great information. But that is up to Adam and the guys. This thread started out as a sticky hammer problem and has grown into an optics thread. I am pleased to see that so many people have taken interest in it.
Have you ever taken a class and asked what you were sure was a stupid question only to find out the entire class had the same question but were afraid to ask? Later you find out just how many people had the same question and you start feeling good about asking your “stupid question?” …There are no stupid questions, only stupid mistakes from not asking questions.
I had a POI shift problem with a Burris 4X pistol scope years ago. Here’s
an explanation:
http://www.airgunwriter.com/blog/2005_08_01_archive.html
The relevant portion (Tom Gaylord):
“The adjustment knobs work by pushing against a metal tube inside the scope. That tube, called the erector tube, houses the fixed reticle. On one side the adjustment knob presses against the tube. A coiled spring pushes against the other side of the tube.
Let’s take the elevation knob as an example. When you want more elevation, you screw the knob in the “UP” direction. The knob moves outward and the coiled spring pushes the erector tube up. To go down you do the opposite. You can actually feel the spring getting tight when you adjust the elevation as low as it will go. When you adjust it up as high as it will go, you can feel the clicks get mushy and indefinite. And THAT is where the trouble lies!
When the spring is fully extended it doesn’t press against the erector tube as tightly and the tube can move more easily. The result – you’ll shoot to different places with the same sight picture…”
In my case the scope and/or mount was misaligned on a gun and the windage adjustment was cranked most (not even all) of the way to one extreme. It sat that way for a few years with only minor adjustment. One day I put the scope on another gun, zeroed, and started having problems. I put the scope back on the first gun and everything worked fine again.
I eventually took the scope apart and figured out the problem. One of the springs had taken a set. Stretching it out again fixed the POI problem.
On a new scope I can imagine a combination of mounting misalignment and too many clicks to one side causing a problem like TG descibes, or maybe mismatched or substandard springs that take an immediate set when overdialed.
William
Steve,
some good info on the demos here…
do you happen to recall the site of the article by the optical engeneer you mentioned on the 1st post?
Thanks Adam,
That makes sense…well the method does. But it leads to another question. If the recticle is so far off, optically, then how am I hitting so close to the target so consistently? If the crosshairs are so far off then shouldn’t the pellet strike also be way off of the target? I don’t get it. But, I acknowledge that there are some things that are better taken on faith and just dealt with as per instructions.
Thanks, I’ll give it a try with another scope.
How do you figure out whether a scope is optically centered or not?
How do you optically center a scope?
Take a look at this..
http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2005/07/how-to-optically-center-scope.html
Update time. Well, I tried the graphite for lubricating the delrin bushings on the hammer and seems to have worked.
I got a call back from BSA and they informed me that my scope, a 3-12x50mmAO airgun model. Checked out OK. Hmmmm. They told me that the windage adjustment was cranked all of the way to the left and they believed that was the cause of my problems. They said that they “optically centered” the crosshairs with a machine and then test fired it with good results. They offered to send me a new replacement if I so chose. I declined. Send it back I said. They did tell me that their scopes do not come “optically centered” from the factory.
What is optically centered?
How do you figure out whether a scope is optically centered or not?
How do you optically center a scope?
The people at BSA told me to take the scope to a gunsmith and have use his machine to do this. What am I missing? Maybe it is my ignorance, but this isn’t passing the sniff test. We shouldn’t have to visit the gunsmith every time we buy a new scope.
I am open to all suggestions and criticisms.
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Guys ..don’t know how my last post made it here…I was responding to a problem on a sticky hammer…oh well…must e a gremlin somewhere