1100Z New Barra 250z Review

[hameditor]

Well, I can certainly understand your frustration, but this situation isn't unique either. Most of the retailers of budget guns made over seas, don't check them. This is part of keeping the price down, and the reason Pyramyd Air charges you a fee to check your gun if you want. If someone has that kind of service, even I will use it, just to save time. Since Barra knows there was a problem, they really should be checking them until the issue is cleared up, but they are a new outfit and might not have enough hands on deck yet. Who knows? But they will work with you and make it right. The customer service is pretty good, by all accounts, including mine. There are bigger companies that are not as good.

What makes these guns inexpensive is that there are fewer craftsman's hands on them checking for problems along the way of assembly. I think that their engineering and design is actually quite good, it's when they get made is when the problems hit. To take advantage of the deals that these guns are, you really have to know how to spot and fix the simple stuff, or you will be sending them back and playing the lottery until you get one with out problems. Knowing this, I just kept what I got and just started fixing it.

Barra, and anyone else, that sells any airguns from large, cheap labor companies, knows that the products could be defective for any number of reasons. It's the price of doing business with them, for all parties involved. That is why one of the biggest seller of airguns will check your gun, for a price. They wouldn't have an established service if it wasn't a common problem. There would not be a budget section of airguns if you want a guarantee that your gun isn't defective out of the box. All kinds of folks will be upset about me saying that, but that's how I see it. And here's the part that is going to tick off everyone else, you can buy a top-tier $3K airgun that comes with problems too, even they are not immune. That's why from top to the bottom they come with a warranty, you wouldn't need one of those either if they all always showed up perfect.

These guns, by all accounts, shoot very accurately, and powerfully, for less than half the price of a high-end brand. Once Barra sends you one that works, you will be happy to have had the problem on a cheaper gun than a more expensive one, because that really sucks.

I hope your next one meets your expectations.

@Pumacarl This is a great analysis. Thank you.

I have found the Barra people very helpful and keen to address issues. I also feel confident that they will resolve the issues.

 

[Billm]

I’m not returning it. I owned several hobby shops, did 100’s thousands in mail order, Amazon and Ebay sales selling mostly Chinese/Taiwanese radio control trucks, planes, drones and the like. So, I have a pretty good grasp on how it works and I understand that there will be some defective items. The precision air gun industry is so similar to the hobby/model industry. The average end user is a tinkerer and understands the nature of the beast. But assuming that a portion of these sales are gifts , I can almost guarantee that BARRA will have a customer relations nightmare beginning December 26, if they don’t get ahead of it. $500 may be considered a cheap rifle by an Airgun enthusiast. But, the average consumer won’t see it that way, they consider the sub $200 products in Walmart to be economy. The flip side is that I don’t see the average consumer purchasing one of these Airguns. I don’t mind working on things. I tapped the pin half way out and was able to adjust the stock for now. I’ll either fix it or replace it with a Mag-Pul or printed stock. Barra told me they are checking the stocks before shipping (?). I do have to wonder about all of the pre-release YouTube reviews of the 250z that I watched. It’s hard to believe none of them had an issue with the stock, One reviewer stated that it was a relatively quiet rifle. My initial DB reading was 110db. The second shot with a moderator was 92db. I haven’t mounted the scope yet and was just looking it over. It hasn’t rained here in weeks and the day my rifle arrives it pours down lol.

 

[Pumacarl]

I 100% agree with your assessment of Dec. 26th! I can tell by your grasp of all of it, and your demeanor to the problem, that you will do well with this hobby. Actually, all of these airguns over 20fpe make a hell of a lot of noise without a suppressor on the end. I actually used an AR-6 back in '91, a .22 (which is now known as Evanix), and it was so loud that I just went back to my springer and rimfires for 20 years, until I saw Ted Bier shooting his suppressed FX. Without suppressors, I'd be out. This gun is quiet, comparatively, against other guns using the same suppressor. If that makes any sense. This is surprising to me because usually it takes a shroud, as an expansion chamber, to help the suppressor do it's job, but this gun does pretty good without one. I am sure it is because of the long barrel. Which moderator gave you 92db? And did you take your measurements shooting a pellet or dry firing? I had a Ronin on, and that was quiet in a living room, shooting slugs into my trap. My STO Levitas is probably around 92db, but I am going to use it because it's small.

I don't believe that this gun is good for beginners, because of how they made it super safe, to the point that you cannot adjust the trigger to be decent and still use the safety. One guy told me he was just running his without the safety in the gun and just loading when he is going to shoot. That's one way to do it! Because of legal BS and people getting sued, I won't talk openly, or to just anybody, about the fix, but Barra should really reconsider how they set this gun up. I believe, as is, this is it's Achilles heel. The trigger is actually outstanding, and it's bang on the floor safe too. Mine has a 16oz first stage and 4oz second stage, and the safety works perfectly.

Billm, pm me directly if you want to talk more about this.

 

[Billm]

I’ve been shooting airguns since about 1973. But up until a few months ago I’ve always owned springers or Co2 guns. I had a passion for German Diana’s and the Feinwerkbau 300s. I broke down and bought a Beeman regulated under lever a few months ago. My wife never showed much interest in my firearms, but she likes being able to shoot the airguns in the backyard. Hence picking up the Barra. For the Beeman I printed a different air stripper than the stock one and included a 1/2-20 threaded end on it. The new stripper cut the noise some, but not enough and so I printed a few different moderators for it. I used the largest on the 250z. Incidentally the Beeman under lever and the Barra 1100z are the same guts.

I removed the pin in the butt stock today and it was bent. I’ll probably replace it with a hardened pin.

I managed to put about 35 pellets through the 250z today and really like it, for out of the box. I’ve got to get use to the bolt lol.

 

[Billm]

I measured the sound firing JTS, H&N and Barra pellets. It’s just a cheap db meter, but at least it tells me if I’m going in the right direction. Of course I was sitting on the back porch which makes it sound worse than it really is.

 

[Pumacarl]

The first great Airgun that I shot was a FWB-300s back in the early '80s, I get the appeal.

Moderators are all so different, on different guns, you have to literally try them all. I have four different DonnyFL and a STO and I have used the 0db 110&160, and I am really impressed with the 0db, currently. I didn't want to be, because I think they are overpriced, but they are quite good. If you 3d print one and test it against a mod that is well known to work well, that is a good clue to the rest of us how yours are working. Admittedly, that doesn't help you at all, it just helps us understand your meter's db results.

I am glad to hear that you are getting it sorted out.

 

[Pumacarl]

I wanted to elaborate on a point that I made above about the sound these guns make without suppression because I know someone will bring it up. You can tune for four things, sound, efficiency, accuracy, or power. Some say if it's effecient it's quiet, so you can combine those two. To get a gun tuned at max quietness/efficiency and max accuracy and max power altogether is the holy grail of tuning and I have never heard of anybody actually doing that. And notice that I said at "max" level for all traits, because someone always chimes in saying they've done it, when they have only done two of the four. You have to choose what's important to you. Some of the reviewer's 250z may have just been at the level that with certain weight slugs or pellets that they achieved this balance and were indeed quiet without suppression. It's possible, I have had it happen to me quite by accident where my 90fpe .30 cal got spooky quiet. So, personally, I now don't think too much about what is said about the sound of a gun at all, because it changes with every little thing anyway. Now, I do wonder about how all the reviewers got perfectly working models out of the box, that's a run of luck! People do win the lottery every week.

 

[MountainSportAirguns]

If a company is on the ball they most likely check guns that get sent out to reviewers. I have no proof this can occur but imagine it certainly does. I've received a few products in the past that for a fact we're obviously not checked out beforehand. Personally I think they ALL should be checked more than just opening the box to make sure I had a gun in it...."Opens box, yup this one has a gun in it...next!" Lol Basic checking such as function, leak test should be part of the distributors job, not like they are tuning it as part of a custom service. Spending a good amount of time at AOA in warehouse I've seen how they handle orders, they physically shoot the guns, check for leaks and can provide custom tuning and aftermarket parts installed. Even after all this things can happen during shipping but I don't think it's all that common. Usually people post the negatives with a product and you rarely hear from the thousands of satisfied users...that's just the nature of people and the industry in general I think.

 

[Pumacarl]

I think the praise and pity posts are very important to spotting trends, especially in new products. It helps no one to keep your mouth shut, even though everyone says that most people would be better off doing so on most things, this ain't one of them. I have always tried to be pretty open with the good and the bad and on some forums you are instantly labeled a hater or a fanboy and that's it, conversation over. Most of the people wanting people to shut up about problems were the ones who buy and try and don't want you to screw up their resale value. Then an administrator will step in that doesn't want to hurt ad revenues and shut the thread down as unproductive. After a while no one says much of really anything but 'congrats on the new gun.' There has actually been several cycles like this amongst several forums. All that to say people do try to be open but it is often perceived as an attack(someone with a problem), or a shill(someone getting paid or looking to profit) so people are actually talking less. Kind of exactly what has been going on since "Social Media" showed up in society in general. And the good old Taipan Veteran has always received a lot of praise with little to no complaints, so people do promote things that deserve it when they exist.

 

[Pumacarl]

I will selfishly admit that unless there is a known problem (from people talking about it) that the budget guns should not be checked, so that they stay 'budget' guns. I think the Pyramid 10 for 10 is the perfect compromise for the people that just want to know that their gun will show up working and they won't have to fix it, or send it back if there is a problem. The industry would add a lot more than $10 to the price of the gun if they had to check every one, just through the bloat of the process.

Obviously, as the price goes up they should be checked and at the top end tuned, they cost a lot so it makes sense to keep your top customers happy.

Just an opinion on it, because I like to play around in the cheap seats.

 

[MountainSportAirguns]

The cost of shipping a product back and forth for repair/replacement etc, then possibly losing a customer sounds more expensive than just checking the gun out beforehand. Aside from that the unhappy customer shows up on the forums that are read by many potential buyers. I do realize forum users are just a tiny percentage of Airgunners but we tend to be a bit more serious about them. I had a guy email the other day mentioned a problem with his 250z saying the only way he could close the bolt was to yank on it with a rope....I'm wondering if that voids the warranty? Lol My response was maybe to try contacting Barra before doing such an obscure home remedy.

 

[Pumacarl]

The cost of shipping a product back and forth for repair/replacement etc, then possibly losing a customer sounds more expensive than just checking the gun out beforehand. Aside from that the unhappy customer shows up on the forums that are read by many potential buyers. I do realize forum users are just a tiny percentage of Airgunners but we tend to be a bit more serious about them. I had a guy email the other day mentioned a problem with his 250z saying the only way he could close the bolt was to yank on it with a rope....I'm wondering if that voids the warranty? Lol My response was maybe to try contacting Barra before doing such an obscure home remedy.

True enough!

 

[Dogowski]

I’m not returning it. I owned several hobby shops, did 100’s thousands in mail order, Amazon and Ebay sales selling mostly Chinese/Taiwanese radio control trucks, planes, drones and the like. So, I have a pretty good grasp on how it works and I understand that there will be some defective items. The precision air gun industry is so similar to the hobby/model industry. The average end user is a tinkerer and understands the nature of the beast. But assuming that a portion of these sales are gifts , I can almost guarantee that BARRA will have a customer relations nightmare beginning December 26, if they don’t get ahead of it. $500 may be considered a cheap rifle by an Airgun enthusiast. But, the average consumer won’t see it that way, they consider the sub $200 products in Walmart to be economy. The flip side is that I don’t see the average consumer purchasing one of these Airguns. I don’t mind working on things. I tapped the pin half way out and was able to adjust the stock for now. I’ll either fix it or replace it with a Mag-Pul or printed stock. Barra told me they are checking the stocks before shipping (?). I do have to wonder about all of the pre-release YouTube reviews of the 250z that I watched. It’s hard to believe none of them had an issue with the stock, One reviewer stated that it was a relatively quiet rifle. My initial DB reading was 110db. The second shot with a moderator was 92db. I haven’t mounted the scope yet and was just looking it over. It hasn’t rained here in weeks and the day my rifle arrives it pours down lol.

The rain or weather change always gets me too! I'll get all set up targets mounted, mags loaded, etc, and before i take the first shot the rain starts falling and i have to load up very quickly as the rain has ruined my shooting session again for the day! Oh the life of an air gunner.

 

[kcender]

I watched the airgun detective video, but he didn't run it up, and though he loved the gun, I think he liked that Discovery scope more. Sometimes things come together and are freakishly better than one would expect, maybe the view out of that thing is, I am waiting to hear more reviews on that because a 1-8x scope has certainly not been on my radar before.

Yeah, I watched JC run the Barra and he talked up the Discovery. I checked the reticle and a bit 'busy' for me. I just got my Barra and returned the scope I bought for it ahead of time (not the Discovery). One of the challenges is keeping the scope mounts low enough, even with a 40mm objective and being able to turn the bell for parallax. It's a challenge with the barrel shroud. I need to learn more about a side wheel maybe, but not sure.

 

[kcender]

I just received my 250z. I haven’t fired it yet for accuracy, as I ordered a Discovery ED 5-25x55 scope that is arriving in a few minutes. No issues filling it. I could not adjust the butt stock. It was extremely stubborn. I’ve owned several AR15s and never seen one this tight. Not really an issue at this point. Well the scope just arrived. I have a variety of .22 pellets and slugs to try.

Yeah, I had the same issue. It was cranky to make it move, but it did eventually and not really sure why. My only complaint was that it wiggled when secured and not something I've experienced with similar AR stocks. Really?

 

[Billm]

Yeah, I watched JC run the Barra and he talked up the Discovery. I checked the reticle and a bit 'busy' for me. I just got my Barra and returned the scope I bought for it ahead of time (not the Discovery). One of the challenges is keeping the scope mounts low enough, even with a 40mm objective and being able to turn the bell for parallax. It's a challenge with the barrel shroud. I need to learn more about a side wheel maybe, but not sure.

I bought that Discovery scope based upon that review and one other. It went back within 24 hours.

 

[Billm]

Yeah, I had the same issue. It was cranky to make it move, but it did eventually and not really sure why. My only complaint was that it wiggled when secured and not something I've experienced with similar AR stocks. Really?

The butt stock on the Barra was a known defect, Barra decided to ignore the issue and deal with it post customer complaint.

 

[Pumacarl]

Yeah, I watched JC run the Barra and he talked up the Discovery. I checked the reticle and a bit 'busy' for me. I just got my Barra and returned the scope I bought for it ahead of time (not the Discovery). One of the challenges is keeping the scope mounts low enough, even with a 40mm objective and being able to turn the bell for parallax. It's a challenge with the barrel shroud. I need to learn more about a side wheel maybe, but not sure.

I don't want to get too into it, because there is really a lot to talk about and I don't want to be typing all night, but, you really don't need to worry too much about the height of your optic anymore with the advances in anti-cant devices and ballistic phone apps and laser range finders. It all gets figured for, and you will make the hit. You might not like how it looks or balances, but scope height doesn't change your, or your gun's, actual accuracy. Somebody actually did a video in the past year mounting a scope a ridiculous amount (over a foot) to actually show this. Of course it makes close shots harder, and such, but the gun was shooting at the same level of accuracy as when put low to the bore. Mount the scope as high as you need to so you can use adjustable mounts for very far shooting, or to keep it out of the way of your magazine, or to adjust parallax, and don't worry about it. Just range, calculate firing solution, click in correction, check cant, and shoot.

And welcome to HAM!

 

[kcender]

I don't want to get too into it, because there is really a lot to talk about and I don't want to be typing all night, but, you really don't need to worry too much about the height of your optic anymore with the advances in anti-cant devices and ballistic phone apps and laser range finders. It all gets figured for, and you will make the hit. You might not like how it looks or balances, but scope height doesn't change your, or your gun's, actual accuracy. Somebody actually did a video in the past year mounting a scope a ridiculous amount (over a foot) to actually show this. Of course it makes close shots harder, and such, but the gun was shooting at the same level of accuracy as when put low to the bore. Mount the scope as high as you need to so you can use adjustable mounts for very far shooting, or to keep it out of the way of your magazine, or to adjust parallax, and don't worry about it. Just range, calculate firing solution, click in correction, check cant, and shoot.

And welcome to HAM!

Many thanks and so much to learn.

 

[kcender]

The butt stock on the Barra was a known defect, Barra decided to ignore the issue and deal with it post customer complaint.

I guess my ground squirrels won't know the difference, but I will. TY for the explanation. Little things like that tend to bother me for some reason. Appreciate the follow up information!