Blackwolf Blackwolf and Sub-MOA Barrels Review

[Franklink]

Had a chance to do a bit of shooting this evening. Still pretty windy.

I want to start out with a little bit of a rant about the typical groups people share, versus what I do when I'm reporting on a gun/barrel/etc. A vast majority of the groups we see shared on the forums are the outliers, the special groups, the 1/20 or 1/50 or 1/100 groups. People don't come to brag about their average or typical or usual groups. They come to share their incredible groups. In short, the groups that don't reflect reality. Again, that ain't me. You see what I shoot, good and bad. I typically will go for 10 shot groups, and usually more than one of them. I also often show sighters and scope zeroing shots, with the groups. I also don't hold off for wind unless I've specified that I do in a particular instance. I feel that holding for wind muddies the waters about the accuracy versus my ability/inability to read the wind. Just wanted to get that off my chest before we get the "looks like it's shooting like crap" comments.

I was still at a reg pressure of 175 bar for this evening's shooting. I've since dropped the reg pressure down. And still using the blue spring. And still using the 1:22 SubMOA barrel.

On the premise of the Blackwolf being a fire-breathing dragon, plus getting a new chrono and wanting to fiddle with it using junk pellets....I started with some Seneca .22/28.5grain "Hunting Pellets." These are Korean made, and if you've been around long enough, know them as Eun Jins. They're an oddball looking pellet, three rings around the head of the pellet, and a textured skirt, almost like an RWS pellet's skirt. The only reason I even have these monstrosities is that I used them as a fire-lapping tool at one point in the past. The grooves created by the three rings around the head of the pellet can be loaded up with lapping compound, and shot that way. Overall a very low quality, low consistency, smack-the-hell-outa-something close, but don't count on long range accuracy sort of pellet. Slight tangent there.

Anyway....heavy .22 pellet, check.
MIN on power wheel = 780fps
"5" on power wheel = 898fps
Max on power wheel = 1040fps (yes, just under 70fpe)

Only took the Seneca pellets out to 50 yards.
Everything down the left side was getting fps readings with various hammer tensions. That left side also includes the zeroing.
The right side has some groups. The standout was the 10 shot group in the middle right bull. The two below that were the first two with that aim point. I was still low so I dialed in a few more clicks. I thought the rightward poi of those two was wind effects (left to right wind) so I didn't dial anything to the left, although I should have. That ten shots is into 7/8" The bottom right ten shots is into 1.25"

Not great accuracy, but most of that is the pellet. These usually don't even shoot this well. They sure didn't like to go faster than 850-860ish, at least from this particular barrel.

From there I went to yet another not-first choice for a Blackwolf projectile: the NSA 0.22/20.2grain, specifically in the 0.2175 size. More on the size in a second.

Same 175 bar reg pressure as above, same blue hammer spring. same 1:22 SubMOA barrel.

MIN = 960-970fps
"10" = 1107 fps (and yes, sonic crack, I didn't even dare go up to MAX...I'd expect 1200 or maybe even 1250fps)
"5" = 1058
"2" - 1010

Explanation for this target immediately below....Everything at MIN on this page, so 960-970fps Bottom left was sighters for 50 yards-mostly a matter of getting the vertical figured out. Middle left was 10 shots at 50 yards. That measured 1.0625", CTC, fairly decent. So I went out to 100 yards. The top right was the bull used for 100 yard sighters. The seemingly key hole shots up in my handwriting are where the paper curves in my 5 gallon bucket pellet trap.

9/10 in that upper left group are into 1.75" wide and 1.5" tall.
The bottom right group is 2.25" wide and tall.

After that I decided I needed to see if there was any improvement with more speed, the gun is certainly capable of it.
So the next page is 1100fps sighters on the left side. That went poorly at 100 yards so I dialed it back to 1050fpe and shot the upper right group. It's 2 inches tall and not quite 3 inches wide. Which tracks with the right to left wind I was getting. Dialed it back to the 960-970 MIN and shot the bottom right. Similar here, it's got 9/10 into 2 inches wide, and only 1.25 inches tall...wind. (keyhole here is again, the paper curving into the sides of my pellet trap).

Based on the wide spreads I was seeing on the chronograph, I believe this 20.2grain NSA pellet in a 0.218 size would be a much better projectile for this particular barrel. The four different pellets I've tried so far (even the wildly inconsistent in appearance Eun Jins) have had very consistent spreads. THAT, and what the Sub-MOA rep is telling me about their specs for this barrel has me concluding that the 0.2175 slugs were just slightly undersized.

Yeah, both of the projectiles tonight weren't the most obvious choice for the Blackwolf. But I had fun. And there's some potential for those 20.2grain slugs, albeit in a slightly bigger size. I will say that shooting those 20.2s is pretty enjoyable. Very docile. The Blackwolf doesn't even have to try to get them to 960-970. Felt like shooting a single stroke pneumatic, and I'm not kidding.

So, reg pressure is dropped. That 175 bar factory? setting is just too much for what I've tried to shoot so far. Might need a reg pressure that high when I get into shooting the 30-40grain slugs, but certainly don't for everything that I'm shooting so far. On that note, I'm considering tuning WAAAAYYYY down to 800fps with the .22/13.34grain JSB "RS" pellet, and seeing how I can do with it an upcoming field target match. The .22 is always a handicap, but prepping to shoot an ft match, and then doing so, will get me very familiar with the Blackwolf. Of course, if the .177 probe comes from AOA in time, I will gladly shoot it as a .177 (instead of a .22) at that Duncan AZ field target match.

 

[WillM]

Could you please explain why you were glad to see that your patch wasn’t “all glittered up”? Novice question but I do have a barrel that’s been all glittered up after about 100 shots but it seems to come clean (and I shot a personal best at a practice bench rest match, 249/15x yesterday. Thanks

 

[Pesty3782]

Love the review so far Cole!!!!

Tony P.

 

[Franklink]

Could you please explain why you were glad to see that your patch wasn’t “all glittered up”? Novice question but I do have a barrel that’s been all glittered up after about 100 shots but it seems to come clean (and I shot a personal best at a practice bench rest match, 249/15x yesterday. Thanks

A barrel/projectile combination that exhibits a tendency to lead-up in the barrel is a pain. Perfect scenario is a combination that produces exceptional accuracy with minimal barrel maintenance. Of course perfection and reality are usually mutually exclusive.

Typically, figuring out required cleaning intervals and how aggressive that cleaning regimen needs to be when necessary, is a large piece of the puzzle to airgun happiness.

It's just more convenient when we don't have to strip out accumulated lead each time the barrel tells us it's due for a cleaning.

 

[Solo1]

A barrel/projectile combination that exhibits a tendency to lead-up in the barrel is a pain. Perfect scenario is a combination that produces exceptional accuracy with minimal barrel maintenance. Of course perfection and reality are usually mutually exclusive.

Typically, figuring out required cleaning intervals and how aggressive that cleaning regimen needs to be when necessary, is a large piece of the puzzle to airgun happiness.

It's just more convenient when we don't have to strip out accumulated lead each time the barrel tells us it's due for a cleaning.

Don’t you think polishing the barrel can mitigate some of that fouling and extend cleaning intervals?

 

[Franklink]

Don’t you think polishing the barrel can mitigate some of that fouling and extend cleaning intervals?

Generally, yes. But don't yet know if that applies to these SubMOAs.

My comments about barrel leading were in more of a universal sense. Haven't seen any leading yet with the SubMOA, but I'm less than 200 shots in, and I cleaned less than 100 shot ago.

 

[WillM]

Thanks for the explanation. As I said earlier, after about 100 shots, my subMOA Barrel shows glitter on the first patch, Second patch looks like the one in your picture, third is clean and the accuracy seems to be there. I’ll be keeping an eye on it.

My original Blackwolf factory barrel leaded up to such a degree that it started throwing fliers. I polished it and soon after, more fliers. Never saw any glitter.

Kip at AoA looked at it with the borescope and said it looked like someone ran a weld bead around the inside of the barrel about six inches from the muzzle. He gave it his super duper bore polish with graduated grits. “Weld bead” still visible but reduced. Never could get it to group though.

They are going to replace the barrel under warranty, but it’s been four months and they still haven’t received any replacement barrels. I’m glad I was able to buy the subMOA in the meantime.

 

[WillM]

Blackwolf factory barrel after polish

 

[Solo1]

Well ive said the art isn’t getting put into barrels anymore and that i think proves it!! And they want a premium price!

 

[Danman]

Blackwolf factory barrel after polish

Many people have had issues with poor barrels in their Alpha, Delta, Ghosts, and as i feared, now the Black Wolf too. Just stumbled on a large AGN thread with some unhappy people with their B.W. barrels today. It really does put a damper on a new gun offering from Daystate if the elephant in the room hasn't been addressed, esp to reflect the new cost of these airguns.
Admittedly every .177 barrel I have read about has been stellar from Daystate/L.W. with correct ammo/speeds.
Also, @Franklink, please do test out plenty of various weight and dia slugs in these barrels like those 20.2gr!
Most bench or competitive shooters go straight to the big BC 34-40gr lead but as a bird pester inside 100Y mostly, I really dont need that kinda firepower lol! Hoping the 21-33 gr stuff will work out in that L.W. barrel.
As a Cdn there's no way on earth I will be getting my hands on a Submoa barrel anytime soon so my money/time is on the 17.7 28" .22cal barrel for slugs.
My AA has a 17.7 L.W. and shoots light slugs (17.5-23gr) just fine inside 50, but would benefit greatly from more speed.

 

[Franklink]

Many people have had issues with poor barrels in their Alpha, Delta, Ghosts, and as i feared, now the Black Wolf too. Just stumbled on a large AGN thread with some unhappy people with their B.W. barrels today. It really does put a damper on a new gun offering from Daystate if the elephant in the room hasn't been addressed, esp to reflect the new cost of these airguns.
Admittedly every .177 barrel I have read about has been stellar from Daystate/L.W. with correct ammo/speeds.
Also, @Franklink, please do test out plenty of various weight and dia slugs in these barrels like those 20.2gr!
Most bench or competitive shooters go straight to the big BC 34-40gr lead but as a bird pester inside 100Y mostly, I really dont need that kinda firepower lol! Hoping the 21-33 gr stuff will work out in that L.W. barrel.
As a Cdn there's no way on earth I will be getting my hands on a Submoa barrel anytime soon so my money/time is on the 17.7 28" .22cal barrel for slugs.
My AA has a 17.7 L.W. and shoots light slugs (17.5-23gr) just fine inside 50, but would benefit greatly from more speed.

Funny you mention the heavy stuff ...

I remembered that I had some of Mike Niksch's 38.5grain 0.217 slugs. Bumped back up to 175bar for the reg pressure, just to be at "factory," and as sort of a baseline for power output with that reg pressure. Still with the 1:22 barrel and the blue spring.

Average speed on MAX hammer tension was 830fps, which would be just shy of 60fpe. Had four in a row at one point that were 828fps on the nose, but overall spread was 20-25fps. Still not at a balanced tune.

The take-away from shooting about 35 of them, is that the 1:22 barrel simply isn't a fast enough twist to stabilize the heavier .22 slugs, I'm talking slugs up around 40 grains.

They were shooting into less than an inch at 50 yards, might be the best projectile I've shot yet...but fell apart at 100. The holes in the paper at 100 were oblong, and most had a very distinct lead smear on one side of the hole. And they were swooping and diving and dodging. Some of the 100 yard shots even fell into the 50 yard group, even though I was aiming below that, "aiming" but not hitting where I was aiming. Not stable.

We hear this all the time, about the length(weight) of the slug needing to match the twist rate, and this is simply a real-world confirmation of such.

With how they were shooting at 50 yards, I'm pretty excited to try the heavy .22 slugs out of the 1:16 twist rate barrel. I think they'll be GOOD.

Targets are a bit of a mess but this first page is walking the impact point into the aim point at 50 yards. I numbered the first 5 shots then shot a 5 shot group, then a 2 shot group, then a 1 shot, all of those last eight going where I was aiming.



Put up a new page, shot two five shot groups at 50, then moved it out to 100yards. The bottom four bulls were various aim points at 100 yards, but shots weren't going there. Only sharing to show readers the indicators of a projectile yawing, those non-round holes, and lead smears weighted to one side or the other.

 

[Danman]

Hmmm so that factory 1:17.7 may very well do better with these slugs too, honestly I'm scratching my head abit at the 1:22 twist ratio barrel? Should handle faster speeds for heavy pellets vs a 17.7 but not quite as good as 1:30, I'd think? I'd love to see you test the new H&N precision slugs too....last, I checked they are available only in 33gr in .22cal, but come in .217 or .218.
Was gonna act surprised by the lack of speed @ 175B but I just remembered that 1:22 is only a 24inch barrel!

 

[Franklink]

Was gonna act surprised by the lack of speed @ 175B but I just remembered that 1:22 is only a 24inch barrel!

38.5grains is a big chunk of lead. And that was using a less-than-OEM-strength hammer spring.

 

[Franklink]

Regulator

Can't go down in reg pressure without de-gassing.
CAN go up in reg pressure without de-gassing.

Manual says to use a 10mm deep socket wrench to loosen the fill port (male foster) to de-gas the gun.. This is how I've been degassing the chassis on the Ghost for a long time, and I'm glad to see they moved to this over the older recommendation to dry-fire to empty.

Once empty, a small flat screwdriver is used to adjust the regulator, this is just muzzle-ward of the fill port, on the bottom of the gun...in this order, trigger, fill port, then reg adjustment, going towards the muzzle.
Clockwise to decrease reg pressure, and counter-clockwise to increase reg pressure.

After de-gassing, I bottomed out the adjustments clockwise b/c I wanted to see how low the reg can go, at minimum. After refilling, the reg gauge stopped at 65 bar. So that appears to be the minimum reg setting.

 

[Franklink]

Found a slug that will shoot MOA @ 100 yards. And learned some important information about the SubMOA barrels along the way.

@steve123, good call on your curiosity about the Altaros 32.3grain through the 1:22 barrel.

This first target page has 3x5 shot groups. One at 50 yards, and two at 100 yards, three different settings for each.
The group just to the right of the sticker is the one at 50 yards. This was with a reg pressure of 130 bar, and MIN on the hammer spring, still with the blue spring. = average of 733fps, and 5 into 7/8"
The 5 shot group at the top of the page was shot next, and has one shot on the target backer, 100 yards. 150 bar, and MAX on the hammer spring, blue spring. = average of 935fps. 5 into 1"
The 5 shot group in the middle of those was shot third, also at 100 yards. 150 bar, "10" on the wheel, blue spring. = 4 into 3/8" 5 into 1" Yes, 4 into 3/8" @ 100 yards!!!
(Click on them to make them bigger, next four images all show the same page. I put it back in the trap and lined it up with the holes to show that shot off the target and on the backer, up high.)



"Heck yeah!" I thought to myself. Lets get an EBR practice target out there and see how 5x5 shot groups score. So I did, and shot the two ten shot groups at the top two bulls. And got 2x3.5ish inch groups. And....disappointment. Scratched my head in confusion for a few minutes.....a ha! Barrel is leaded up!!!.

Back into the gunroom, pulled the barrel. Ran some patches...first one came out like this....
Yep. LEAD!!!

Ran five more through and it got clean fairly quickly. Most of the lead came out on that first patch, but a couple little glittery specks on the second one.


Reinstalled, back out to the back yard. BUT. first I lubed the snot out of those 32.3grain slugs. I've been shooting .20 NSA slugs out of the Ghost for a couple years. And I drench them with Gunzilla, and havent had any leading problems. So, I did the same here, really covered them with lube. Method was about 2 drops of Gunzilla in the bottom of a pretty small aluminum pellet holder, and then 10 slugs into those 2 drops, and then rolled around. They get pretty covered like this.

First shot was about 1/2 a mil low. Dialed up a bit, and added another slug to the slug/Gunzilla soup so I could shoot 2x10 shot groups.

First 5 after cleaning and lubing went into just shy of 2inches. Next five (bottom right) went into 0.75" with thee of them into 3/16" of an inch, with a fourth almost touching those three, and the fifth stretching it to 3/4."


I feel like those first five after cleaning and lubing the slugs were what it took to get settled or seasoned or whatever you decide to call it. The second five shot group (post cleaning and lubing slugs) is very similar to the prior 2, sub MOA groups.

Also of note...this is most of the first ten shots with the 32.3grain slugs...average of about 875-880ps.


This is most of the last 11 shots, after cleaning and lubing the slugs. All the same settings. Average of about 900



And this is those same 21 shots charted out...


And then the stats of all 21, for anyone interested.


Take-Away Points

• The 1:22 can stabilize slugs up to at least 32.3grains, out to at least 100 yards. Somewhere between 32.3 and 38.5grains, it doesn't. (at least with these two particular slugs).
• The SubMOA barrel WILL lead up. It's luckily not very persistent, and relatively easy to remove. But if left in the barrel, accuracy suffers. I don't know at what point (shot count) the leading starts. In theory, polishing and/or lapping should minimize the leading, or at least extend the interval for the required cleaning. And I may get around to that at some point.
• A clean barrel and/or lubed slugs seem to gain a guy some speed, 20ish fps in this particular example.
• Pretty freaking cool to shoot 5 shot groups under an inch at 100 yards, especially when 3 or 4 of them are touching, or nearly touching. And this isn't even the barrel that's supposed to be the better of the two at shooting slugs.

That's the end of the Altaros 32.3grain slug testing, at least for now, as I'm now out. Related to that, I'm taking projectile donations. You want to see how something shoots, send me some! Joking, kinda.

(Just checked my notes and found something else to pass on. Those 21 shots at 870-905 with the 32.3grain slugs took the pressure from 230bar t o185 bar. Considering a max fill of 250 bar, and the reg being at 150, quite a bit more than 21 shots per fill is a certainty.)

Just remembered something else. I talked to the SubMOA rep today and was told that AOA has some of these very 1:22 and 1:16 barrels in stock at the moment. Same specs as what I'm shooting. I'd recommend a phone call over trusting inventory counts on the website. Also learned some other interesting SubMOA tidbits but I'll share all that at a future date.

 

[Billm]

Excellent information from a trusted source is always a good thing. As I follow this, I’d be interested in hearing two things from you concerning your experience with the sub-MOA barrels:

1. When you inspected the bore, are you seeing any of the lateral scarring across the lands that myself and several others are seeing in their sub-MOA barrels? I’m not sure that they are actually indicative of anything, but curious.
2. I’m really interested in what you determine about the cleaning interval with the sub-MOA. My Sonoran was very accurate at 100yds and then started to open up. Tony recommended I clean it and I did using his recommendation. It helped and then I’m wondering if i started cleaning it too much. I’ve been putting a few patches through it with Ballistol every 200-300 shots. The first two patches always come out black.

Your experience has me wanting a Black Wolf even more now.

 

[Danman]

Time to stock up on the Zan and H&N slug multipacks! I bought every different pack i could get my hands on.....all awaiting my Ghosts new slug barrel once i decide what to get. They only have 40 of each weight i believe but iirc run from 20 to 30 & 30 to 40 grain each pack in 2gr intervals. Nice to see that barrel cleaned up that fast! If out hunting or at a competition a quick pull through or 3 and she's back on track
Plus one on lubing, my Ghost is fed lubed Mrds only since the polish, as per (your) recommendation.

 

[Soren Drost]

This was just posted today by Ziad

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[Franklink]

Just finished a decent late night shooting session.

Shot one ten shot group at 50 with the JSB Lights (top left bull of first image below), even at MIN they're still averaging 997fps so too fast. 150bar reg pressure, blue hammer spring. Would need a lower reg pressure for the Lights, maybe something like 125-130 BAR. Those ten JSB Lights went into 1 and 1/16" so still not horrible.

The rest of this nights shooting was with a known decent batch of JSB .22/25.4 MRDs. I have them designated as my "2022" batch, since that's when I bought them. They're not my best on-hand batch, but they're quite a bit better than typical MRDs. And they shot pretty well from the SubMOA barrel and the Blackwolf just now.

Started out with a 5 shot group from the MRDS (still at 50 yards, labeled with a circled "1")), but pulled the fifth shot so started a new group. Next group (labeled with a circled "2") was ten shots into 0.5" CTC, or 0.95MOA. Then shot two more 10 shot groups (#3 and #4) that both measured 0.6875" CTC, or 1.3MOA. The fifth, and last group at 50 yards was another 10 shot group, and measures 0.625inchs, or 1.19MOA. Those 5 groups (45 shots) @ 50 yards average 1.186MOA. And it was quite obvious that I was the weakest link. Long day of caffeine and work stress (watched a lady die @ a code blue in the ER this morning, always shakes me up for the rest of the day) and astigmatism and kerataconus and simply tired eyes were working against me. Fairly confident that this combination/tune would shoot them all into less than 1/2" (and maybe even 3/8") @ 50 yards if the trigger puller was fresh and at the top of his game, and in favorable conditions.

Here's all that 50 yard shooting....


After that, feeling pretty optimistic, decided I better try a card at 100 yards.
Pellet trap from bout 15 yards away....


Pellet trap from my back porch. Beautiful night.


I couldn't see my shots @ 100 yards so it didn't go well. I usually like to start on the upper left bull as my bull for sighters, but I underestimated the elevation in the turret going from 50 to 100 yards and my first three shots were down into the middle left bull, so that became the sighter bull. Had to walk out to see the impact points after those first three shots. Dialed a couple clicks down and took another shot, then walked out to see where it went. That's the low one on the left middle bull. Dialed up a bit and it went a little right, and about even with the top of the 9. So, gave it a few clicks left and shot the next 25 shots without seeing where they were going. So no wind holds, no adjusting for the last shot. Just trying to hold in the center of the bull. Ended up that I shouldn't have dialed in those left shots, cuz I apparently had a bit of breeze, and when it quit, my shots were centered left of where they should be. Bottom right was the last group, and I started those five shots right at reg pressure, and was below it for the last couple shots, the ones that hit low.
So.....not the greatest showing at 100 yards, but given all the factors and not being able to see where shots were going, but some solid data, and promising results. And THIS I can work with. Those 4 five shot groups that were taken above the reg pressure average out to 1.22 MOA. While they're mostly shifted left, this would easily be accounted for during the day when the holes are visible. Very promising.



I shot liberally lubed pellets this session. And the barrel is behaving like it's still clean. I'm monitoring that leading up process and will report on that as it develops. Haven't polished or lapped yet, but that's possibly on the docket.

I feel that I can go even lower on the reg pressure and still be able to shoot JSB Lights, MRDs, and Grands at proper speeds for them. Ie, I think the reg pressure I was using tonight (150bar) is still too high for even what I consider the good high power .22 pellets. Also, the extreme spreads are still pretty big, and i'm more tolerant of that than most. I believe I took 85 shots this evening, Chrono captured 65 of them, and looked like this....drop off at the end was the shots taken off the reg pressure which stretched the 65 shots into an ES of 49fps. When above the reg, seemed to have a lot of shots in the 965-970 window. Also, must have had an undersized peewee in there right about 3/4 of the way through, as that one was low fps, but not below reg pressure. Hoping lowering the reg yet again will tighten up the ES. Based on this particular data, id probably stop and refill at no more than 40 shots if I was competing. But again, should tighten up once I narrow down the best combination of the adjustments, mostly the reg pressure here.




Also, shots were kinda loud. Will state that the Blackwolf, even with this seemingly too high reg pressure, gets more shots per fill than my Ghost set up to shoot the MRDs at the same speeds. I get 35 shots at this same MRD speed from the Ghost with the same 480cc sized bottle. The last 50 shots tonight were on one fill, the last five of which below the reg pressure. So, a solid 45 shots from the Blackwolf. And that shot count will go up when I come down on the reg pressure.

Pretty pleased with tonight's trigger time.

 

[hameditor]

Just finished a decent late night shooting session.

Shot one ten shot group at 50 with the JSB Lights (top left bull of first image below), even at MIN they're still averaging 997fps so too fast. 150bar reg pressure, blue hammer spring. Would need a lower reg pressure for the Lights, maybe something like 125-130 BAR. Those ten JSB Lights went into 1 and 1/16" so still not horrible.

The rest of this nights shooting was with a known decent batch of JSB .22/25.4 MRDs. I have them designated as my "2022" batch, since that's when I bought them. They're not my best on-hand batch, but they're quite a bit better than typical MRDs. And they shot pretty well from the SubMOA barrel and the Blackwolf just now.

Started out with a 5 shot group from the MRDS (still at 50 yards, labeled with a circled "1")), but pulled the fifth shot so started a new group. Next group (labeled with a circled "2") was ten shots into 0.5" CTC, or 0.95MOA. Then shot two more 10 shot groups (#3 and #4) that both measured 0.6875" CTC, or 1.3MOA. The fifth, and last group at 50 yards was another 10 shot group, and measures 0.625inchs, or 1.19MOA. Those 5 groups (45 shots) @ 50 yards average 1.186MOA. And it was quite obvious that I was the weakest link. Long day of caffeine and work stress (watched a lady die @ a code blue in the ER this morning, always shakes me up for the rest of the day) and astigmatism and kerataconus and simply tired eyes were working against me. Fairly confident that this combination/tune would shoot them all into less than 1/2" (and maybe even 3/8") @ 50 yards if the trigger puller was fresh and at the top of his game, and in favorable conditions.

Here's all that 50 yard shooting....


After that, feeling pretty optimistic, decided I better try a card at 100 yards.
Pellet trap from bout 15 yards away....


Pellet trap from my back porch. Beautiful night.


I couldn't see my shots @ 100 yards so it didn't go well. I usually like to start on the upper left bull as my bull for sighters, but I underestimated the elevation in the turret going from 50 to 100 yards and my first three shots were down into the middle left bull, so that became the sighter bull. Had to walk out to see the impact points after those first three shots. Dialed a couple clicks down and took another shot, then walked out to see where it went. That's the low one on the left middle bull. Dialed up a bit and it went a little right, and about even with the top of the 9. So, gave it a few clicks left and shot the next 25 shots without seeing where they were going. So no wind holds, no adjusting for the last shot. Just trying to hold in the center of the bull. Ended up that I shouldn't have dialed in those left shots, cuz I apparently had a bit of breeze, and when it quit, my shots were centered left of where they should be. Bottom right was the last group, and I started those five shots right at reg pressure, and was below it for the last couple shots, the ones that hit low.
So.....not the greatest showing at 100 yards, but given all the factors and not being able to see where shots were going, but some solid data, and promising results. And THIS I can work with. Those 4 five shot groups that were taken above the reg pressure average out to 1.22 MOA. While they're mostly shifted left, this would easily be accounted for during the day when the holes are visible. Very promising.



I shot liberally lubed pellets this session. And the barrel is behaving like it's still clean. I'm monitoring that leading up process and will report on that as it develops. Haven't polished or lapped yet, but that's possibly on the docket.

I feel that I can go even lower on the reg pressure and still be able to shoot JSB Lights, MRDs, and Grands at proper speeds for them. Ie, I think the reg pressure I was using tonight (150bar) is still too high for even what I consider the good high power .22 pellets. Also, the extreme spreads are still pretty big, and i'm more tolerant of that than most. I believe I took 85 shots this evening, Chrono captured 65 of them, and looked like this....drop off at the end was the shots taken off the reg pressure which stretched the 65 shots into an ES of 49fps. When above the reg, seemed to have a lot of shots in the 965-970 window. Also, must have had an undersized peewee in there right about 3/4 of the way through, as that one was low fps, but not below reg pressure. Hoping lowering the reg yet again will tighten up the ES. Based on this particular data, id probably stop and refill at no more than 40 shots if I was competing. But again, should tighten up once I narrow down the best combination of the adjustments, mostly the reg pressure here.




Also, shots were kinda loud. Will state that the Blackwolf, even with this seemingly too high reg pressure, gets more shots per fill than my Ghost set up to shoot the MRDs at the same speeds. I get 35 shots at this same MRD speed from the Ghost with the same 480cc sized bottle. The last 50 shots tonight were on one fill, the last five of which below the reg pressure. So, a solid 45 shots from the Blackwolf. And that shot count will go up when I come down on the reg pressure.

Pretty pleased with tonight's trigger time.

@Franklink thanks for the excellent report!