250Z 250Z tuning, mainly slugs.

[Pumacarl]

I'm a bit frustrated. Not with the gun, other than the slugs falling back into the action if your not really careful loading.

I haven't shot through a scope much in 15yrs or more. Been mostly shooting hand guns with a red dot. My eyes have changed a lot in that time. No line bifocals really seem like a no go. And being right handed & left eye dominant makes it worse. So, with my glasses on the reticle is blurry, with them off it's better but not great.

The gun really seemed to like the Apolo's the best along with the H&N .25 in 32 grain. The 2500psi really helped. Low 860's & high 860's respectively. I'll post the averages in a bit. I was able to put a few Apolo slugs in the same hole at 25yrds. At 50yrds I didn't do to good. I know it's me and not the gun. Moving to 50 also put me on uneven ground the shoot from, so it wasn't comfortable. My biggest issue going forward will be my eyes. I think at 15 to 35yrds I'll be fine. Unless it's just squirrels, that ain't gonna cut it.

I need to do some research, maybe this Althon scope just won't be the tool I need for this gun.

I hear you, on the needing new glasses part, me too. Don't get progressives for shooting either, they don't play well with scope use, for me, at all. Don't do anything about your optics until you have your own optics working right first.

 

[Bladefin]

I hear you, on the needing new glasses part, me too. Don't get progressives for shooting either, they don't play well with scope use, for me, at all. Don't do anything about your optics until you have your own optics working right first.

These glasses are a few years old but I still see fine with them. It's the line where I go from near sighted to far sighted. It's almost like I need reading glasses to use the scope, but then I won't see sh!t at distance. It's a quandary.
If I wear just the distance glasses or contacts, I'm FUBAR under an arms length, can't even use my phone.

 

[Bladefin]

Several of my messages are going to moderator approval. That's frustrating too.

 

[pan60]

the system flags some words for moderation
and if you seen it all you would thank its a good thing but yes it can be frustrating at times

 

[Bladefin]

Here are the fps numbers I was getting at a hair under 2500psi. All 25 cal, none of the .249's

H&N 30gr 888 avg 5 shots.
H&N 32gr 868 avg 7 shots.
Apolo 33gr 862 avg 11 shots.
H&N 34gr 853 avg 5 shots.

The Apolo's grouped the best, when I did my part. I really need to setup a better shooting platform and get some bags, A folding table, chair and a pillow for the butt stock ain't gonna cut it.

 

[Pumacarl]

These glasses are a few years old but I still see fine with them. It's the line where I go from near sighted to far sighted. It's almost like I need reading glasses to use the scope, but then I won't see sh!t at distance. It's a quandary.
If I wear just the distance glasses or contacts, I'm FUBAR under an arms length, can't even use my phone.

Keep a pair over the brim of your hat, a pair you are looking through, and a pair hanging on your chest from around your neck. Isn't that what everybody does? Eventually?

 

[Pumacarl]

Here are the fps numbers I was getting at a hair under 2500psi. All 25 cal, none of the .249's

H&N 30gr 888 avg 5 shots.
H&N 32gr 868 avg 7 shots.
Apolo 33gr 862 avg 11 shots.
H&N 34gr 853 avg 5 shots.

The Apolo's grouped the best, when I did my part. I really need to setup a better shooting platform and get some bags, A folding table, chair and a pillow for the butt stock ain't gonna cut it.

I believe you should shoot what is shooting best, first and foremost, but as a general rule I like to shoot slugs over 900fps if possible, because they are spin stabilized and the speed helps with that. In my .25 P15 I am only doing 887fps with 28gr ZAN's because that's all that I can get out of it, but I would prefer more. If you are happy with the accuracy, great, but if not you have some more power left you can easily go for. If you up the regulator to just over 2500 to about 2600psi you can still get two full magazines easy and some speed. Then there is also the thimble port to 4.4mm down the road too, if you haven't already. I'm losing track of who did what, lol.

 

[Bladefin]

I believe you should shoot what is shooting best, first and foremost, but as a general rule I like to shoot slugs over 900fps if possible, because they are spin stabilized and the speed helps with that. In my .25 P15 I am only doing 887fps with 28gr ZAN's because that's all that I can get out of it, but I would prefer more. If you are happy with the accuracy, great, but if not you have some more power left you can easily go for. If you up the regulator to just over 2500 to about 2600psi you can still get two full magazines easy and some speed. Then there is also the thimble port to 4.4mm down the road too, if you haven't already. I'm losing track of who did what, lol.

Other than bumping up the reg a little, the needle it mostly touching 2500 but pointing just shy, the gun is stock.

Beyond my issues, I need to order the trigger kit and possibly the slug kit. Where is the thimble located?

 

[Bladefin]

I watched a couple videos and have the reticle in focus now. The diopter is turned so far out I thought it might come off, so far it's staying put and the view is so much better! I thought it would be similar to my Nikon binoculars where it would sharpen up within a small adjustment, I was wrong.

I'll bump the psi up a little more and see if it helps stability and grouping. I'm also going to order the Rouge kits and I'll tweak the thimble when I install them now that I know where it is.

This is all still new to me but I also like to tinker

 

[Cantona256]

I'm a bit frustrated. Not with the gun, other than the slugs falling back into the action if your not really careful loading.

I haven't shot through a scope much in 15yrs or more. Been mostly shooting hand guns with a red dot. My eyes have changed a lot in that time. No line bifocals really seem like a no go. And being right handed & left eye dominant makes it worse. So, with my glasses on the reticle is blurry, with them off it's better but not great.

The gun really seemed to like the Apolo's the best along with the H&N .25 in 32 grain. The 2500psi really helped. Low 860's & high 860's respectively. I'll post the averages in a bit. I was able to put a few Apolo slugs in the same hole at 25yrds. At 50yrds I didn't do to good. I know it's me and not the gun. Moving to 50 also put me on uneven ground the shoot from, so it wasn't comfortable. My biggest issue going forward will be my eyes. I think at 15 to 35yrds I'll be fine. Unless it's just squirrels, that ain't gonna cut it.

I need to do some research, maybe this Althon scope just won't be the tool I need for this gun.

I wear glasses myself and I found I couldn’t should with the rx sunglasses on but I can with my clear ones. Every scope I’ve tried has had an adjustable focus(diopter?) so it’s been okay. It also helps that my job requires me to look in a microscope all day long so my eye is used to it… but when I started it gave me wild headaches for awhile. My point being that your eyes will probably adjust eventually. A new scope might help.

The Apollo’s work really well I agree. You should be able to get those up to 870 or 880’s fairly easily. If you take the reg above 2600 you may find you need to crank the hammer spring down to get the valve opened.
The main thing I’ve noticed is that these regulators aren’t great. Good enough to get the job done but I usually get regulator creep for a few days after adjusting it. So be patient, keep shooting and chrono again when you can. This last time I adjusted it I as much as 40fps difference in speed the next day so I gave it a tiny bump and then let it sit for a couple days and every time I’ve tried since then I been between 952 and 961 every time…. I need stay off this damn forum cuz now you got me wanting to order a bunch of 32 and 33gr Franco’s cuz I’ve tried those in other brands but not those…. At this rate I feel like “should I go with the 33gr or 35gr Franco slugs?” Is gonna be written on my gravestone.

 

[Pumacarl]

Other than bumping up the reg a little, the needle it mostly touching 2500 but pointing just shy, the gun is stock.

Beyond my issues, I need to order the trigger kit and possibly the slug kit. Where is the thimble located?

It's what you are actually loading the projectiles into, thats not the barrel, that's the thimble that the barrel goes into and where the port is that pushes the pellet/slug out. Check out my '250z Working On It' thread for a picture.

 

[Cantona256]

Other than bumping up the reg a little, the needle it mostly touching 2500 but pointing just shy, the gun is stock.

Beyond my issues, I need to order the trigger kit and possibly the slug kit. Where is the thimble located?

@Pumacarl has a post about it that I used as a reference to do mine. But it’s the valve at the breach end of the barrel. The end the slug is loaded into. It’s super easy to do but the valve is very thick walled so make sure you have serious clamps or a drill press to do it. I’m a machinist so I just did it at work. If you wait I know @Northeastbeast is going to do a video on how to port the whole block. Which I will be doing too…

My reason for porting might interest you as it’s not really for extreme power. The gun needs a bigger plenum for that. But you can generate Fpe more efficiently. If I could get my gun to shoot 33-35gr slugs between 930-950fps and below 2500 psi that would be sick. Probably looking at 30+ shots a fill… I don’t need a huge shot count, I bought this type of gun for a reason… but I find that I do shoot more than I expected to. Probably 200-300 slugs a week. So it’s nice to not have to stop a good shooting session for air.

Also I have submitted to barra that a tank/barrel shroud rated to 300Bar/4500psi would be sick. Hopefully someone will come come with one on the aftermarket soon too. I realize it would probably require a new reg too but that’s okay. So if you guys ever make suggestion to companies through that idea up there. Even as a noob like me can see that that something like a huma regulator and 4500psi fill pressure would make this gun even more fun to play with.

 

[Cantona256]

Here are the fps numbers I was getting at a hair under 2500psi. All 25 cal, none of the .249's

H&N 30gr 888 avg 5 shots.
H&N 32gr 868 avg 7 shots.
Apolo 33gr 862 avg 11 shots.
H&N 34gr 853 avg 5 shots.

The Apolo's grouped the best, when I did my part. I really need to setup a better shooting platform and get some bags, A folding table, chair and a pillow for the butt stock ain't gonna cut it.

Minor hammer spring adjustments will tighten any of those groups up. This gun will shoot any of those slugs accurately at those speeds but after playing around with it for a couple months I’m agree with @Pumacarl. I like the slugs better above 900fps. I shot the 33gr apolos a lot at first doing around 875fps. They were great. But this weekend I’ve been shooting the 35s at 895 or so because I ran out of my 30’s and I gotta say it makes a difference. I missed a squirrel at 140y because I held over too much. I know this cuz I watched him duck and scurry away in the scope…

So I’d probably give the reg a tiny lil kiss to get the 30’s above 900 then use the hammer spring to tune for accuracy. Start off small it doesn’t take much. Just keep shooting groups and making little adjustments until the groups are small, then do a couple more until they are tiny haha.

 

[Bladefin]

I'm at work right now and my wife sends me this.

Neighbors backyard across the street. Wish I was home!
Been rainy and below 60 since Friday night. This is the 1st time it's gotten sunny. So, the den must not be far.

 

[Bladefin]

Had a neighbor ask if we could make some coyote veal

 

[Cantona256]

I'm at work right now and my wife sends me this.
View attachment 13494
Neighbors backyard across the street. Wish I was home!
Been rainy and below 60 since Friday night. This is the 1st time it's gotten sunny. So, the den must not be far.

NOOOOOO why does it have to be like that??? They are always around when you can’t shoot them

 

[Bladefin]

NOOOOOO why does it have to be like that??? They are always around when you can’t shoot them

Good Ole Murphy!

But you can see that we've got a problem. It started last August when they clear cut 10ish acers about a mile and a half away to expand a Boat & RV storage facility. Before that we'd see them from time to time. Now it's been almost daily.

 

[Pumacarl]

It looks like they are waiting for a handout. Someone has been feeding them.

 

[Bladefin]

It looks like they are waiting for a handout. Someone has been feeding them.

They're probably 4 to 5 weeks old. Pics are deceiving. The general consensus is the den is under the shed.

I know the neighbors in the three houses over there very well. All over 60 and know the area, they ain't feeding anything but the humming birds and bird seed for the rest. Further out we all have deer feeders but that's it.

There's tons of wildlife here. So jacks, squirrels and chipmunks are their main diet. If they're lucky a fawn or after birth. Sucks that since the yotes moved in all the fox are gone.

 

[Pumacarl]

They're probably 4 to 5 weeks old. Pics are deceiving. The general consensus is the den is under the shed.

I know the neighbors in the three houses over there very well. All over 60 and know the area, they ain't feeding anything but the humming birds and bird seed for the rest. Further out we all have deer feeders but that's it.

There's tons of wildlife here. So jacks, squirrels and chipmunks are their main diet. If they're lucky a fawn or after birth. Sucks that since the yotes moved in all the fox are gone.

I've got some more bad news for you, about yotes. It seems that when you effectively start killing them and they are stressed out, they breed like crazy. I know someone who has a sensor that lets him know when they are out that has shot over 125 in 3 months time. He talked to our local Fish&Game officer about the problem and he was the one who told him about stressed over breeding. In other words, there is no winning, it seems, just lulls.