Marauder G3, The Things I Do For Fun

[Pumacarl]

Today I tried some 33.5gr NSA flat base slugs that shot better than the Zans did today. I had them going at 905fps. That was about all that I was going to get at my current reg setting I think, which is 125b. I was shooting the 34gr JSB MkII at 940fps at the same setting and the group stayed on target, but got bigger, like over an inch. All of my target shooting was at 52y today and I did not touch the reg, I just played with the hammer setting. The only single hole groups that I shot were with the JSB 34gr pellets, at 894fps and at 905fps, it likes those two speeds. The 890 zone seems to be more consistent. The NSA slugs were shooting under an inch but probably aren't good enough to stick with either at that size. For some reason the Zan 28gr slugs today shot 1 1/2" groups, twice as big as the first time I shot them. I don't know if it has something to do with the new suppressor or not. The hunt is on for a reliably accurate "hunting" slug. I'm not going to be needing to get any Alteros any time soon. A dime coverabe group at this range is the standard, in perfect conditions like today. More slugs are on the way, it'll happen eventually.

 

[Pumacarl]

Looking at this picture reminded me that my regulator, once again, seems to have moved up to 2000psi on its own after a hundred, or so, shots. We'll see if it stays there.

 

[Pumacarl]

I got some shooting in before the rain started today. My regulator has set itself to 2100psi. I had originally set it to 1800psi and it went up on its own. I am not too upset about it because I figured the heavier slugs would need a little more oomph anyway. If it goes past 2250 I'll do something about it. I was trying the .249 28gr H&N @987fps, and the .251 33.49gr JSB KO @929fps, at 53y. At these speeds the KOs were doing much better. Very tight vertically, just me wobbling giving the groups a spread. I, myself, was shooting a little on the lousy side today from my tripod but I could tell what the gun was doing and when I was screwing up. I am going to try the Knock Outs at my my reaction targets this week and see how they do between 125-200y. I really want to check the drop at 200y, because JSB typically lists a much higher bc than what I get out of them. I also was tethered to my new buddy bottle that I setup using my 500cc original bottle and I hang the whole thing from my tripod using a neoprene wine bottle tote. These gun sized bottles are not really that useful for refills but work great for tethering. My overall impression was that the KO's are probably the most accurate so far. I will have to bench them, off tether, to really confirm that, over several sessions. We'll see.

 

[BBGunn]

Bill, the shroud on the Gen3 is connected to the barrel via the collet in front of the block. If you notice in my picture, that collet receives the shroud and has a lip on the end so the shroud does not push against the block at all. The collet is held in place by a bulge in the barrel, that you can't see when it's on and prevents it from sliding forward on the barrel, and a set screw to stop it from spinning. This makes it a totally on barrel system that does not stress it to the block at all, just itself. Nothing is pulling on the barrel this way, in other words.

View attachment 22409

The Terminador system does not use fixed collets, it floats. So when you tighten down the moderator on the end, it compresses the shroud and pulls on the barrel in the gun, held there by the two screws coming from the top of the receiver. It makes the compressed shroud very rigid, but as I found out, changes poi big time, every time you take off your moderator. If you don't mind re-zeroing every time you have your gun apart, this isn't much of a problem, but I didn't like the amount of the change. These are what the 3D printed shroud ends looked like, one is what I cut down to use on the end of the factory aluminum shroud.

View attachment 22410

The problem with the factory shroud is that it floats in the end of the shroud until you put on the factory moderator which screws into the shroud, not onto the barrel, to take up the space. If you want to use your own moderator you are tightening down on a barrel in a shroud that is floating. How do you know if it's centered? You really don't, which I don't like. And, then you are tightening against the end of a very thin shroud, again, which I don't really like. So, I took the Terminador shroud end and cut one down so that I could use it on the end of the shroud to center the barrel and protect the shroud end and moderator from each other.

View attachment 22411

Before cutting.

View attachment 22412

After cutting.

View attachment 22413

STO Levitas in place.

View attachment 22414

This is a solution that I can live with.

Edit: Also, I wanted to add, that now the shroud is actually being tensioned between the collet and moderator, so it could potentially help with harmonics too. The factory way of doing it has no tension. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

PC, you mention in this reply about the collet that sits in front of the block being held in place from moving forward by a, "bulge" in the barrel. Is the 'bulge' a machined 'step', or what causes the 'bulge'.

I've become interested in the Gen 3 as I might add a bench shooting ONLY rifle to my collection.

 

[BenjeneerJohn]

There is a step in the barrel but the shroud mount doesn't but up against it.

You should add one to your collection!

John

 

[Pumacarl]

There is a step in the barrel but the shroud mount doesn't but up against it.

You should add one to your collection!

John

I don't understand what you mean by this. On my gun, the collet, which the shroud screws onto, can not slide much further than where it is in all of my pictures. The bulge in the barrel prevents this from happening. It ends up being just in front of the receiver, without any pressure on it. I just measured the play between the collet and the bulge, and it is .002" for wiggle room. So, yeah, not up against it per se, but if you wanted to you could, and nobody would really notice either, nor would it matter. I wish that the bulge was not there, so if I wanted to take the shroud off to run the gun that way, I would not have to remove the barrel to remove the collet. I don't like the look of leaving it on if the shroud is off. I guess it doesn't really matter to me that much because I don't really like the look of not running the shroud anyway. I guess what I am clumsily saying is that I wish that the barrel had the same diameter from the receiver forward.

 

[Pumacarl]

PC, you mention in this reply about the collet that sits in front of the block being held in place from moving forward by a, "bulge" in the barrel. Is the 'bulge' a machined 'step', or what causes the 'bulge'.

I've become interested in the Gen 3 as I might add a bench shooting ONLY rifle to my collection.

It is machined that way, you don't really notice it with the naked eye. I didn't, until I tried to remove it.

 

[BenjeneerJohn]

The step in the barrel is not meant to be the stop for the shroud mount. The shroud mount is meant to float between the receiver and that step. It can push up against the step if you want it to, but it doesn't need to.

John

 

[Adrian Q]

@Pumacarl I just sat down and read, and enjoyed, this thread. Earlier you commented how impressed you were when you inspected the BSA barrel. I saw that you had shot some JSB 33.95's through it. Were you able to see how it performed at 100 yards? Were you able to get groups under an inch? At some point I'll be buying another rifle for long range field target at my local club, should this be a contender?

 

[Pumacarl]

@Pumacarl I just sat down and read, and enjoyed, this thread. Earlier you commented how impressed you were when you inspected the BSA barrel. I saw that you had shot some JSB 33.95's through it. Were you able to see how it performed at 100 yards? Were you able to get groups under an inch? At some point I'll be buying another rifle for long range field target at my local club, should this be a contender?

I have not sat down on a bench at 100y yet, just tripod shooting. It seems to be capable of doing it if I extrapolate out some of the groups I have shot benched at 53y, but that's still just a guess at this point. I never really settled on a speed either, but I think 905fps was about the best for my reg settings between 1750-2100psi. I am leaving my reg on the high side of that range because I am testing slugs out every time I get the chance. I don't shoot long range field target, nor do I know how much weight you like your gun to be for it, so I couldn't really say if you would consider it a contender, as received from the factory, but like I have shown, you don't have to leave it that way either. If your discipline requires you to shoot offhand, then the fit of the gun, and balance, become a factor, (for any gun) this gun has the accuracy I believe, so yeah, it's a contender, and being a bottle gun you can put on different types/sizes easily to really change the feel. Don't expect this gun to feel light in any configuration that uses the full length barrel, it feels solid. Which might be what you want, but if you think that you want lighter, go to Airgun Revisions and get a carbine version. Good luck with your decision, hopefully you get a chance to try before you buy, so much of this stuff is personal preference.

 

[Adrian Q]

Thanks for your thoughtful response. It’s good to see another domestic contender.