Sonoran Replacement Sub-MOA Barrel - First Shots

[Billm]

Airguns Of Arizona sent me a replacement Sub-MOA barrel for My Sonoran.30 rifle. I was away for the week with my wife Elaine and some of my grandkids. We had to drive from FT Lauderdale to the Florida panhandle yesterday. Because of holiday traffic/wrecks a normal 9 hour drive took 13. But, when I got home there was a box from AOA sitting on my doorstep. They replaced my air bottle and the barrel under warranty. A great end to a rough day lol. It was too late to replace the barrel, but I did inspect it.

 

[Solo1]

You’ll have to let us know how it shoots!

 

[Billm]

First job this morning: run two patches with Ballistol and then three or four dry patches to remove the Ballistol. I then swapped the barrel, pretty eventless. I have been shooting for over a week and so I set up a table on the back porch. I gathered the Garmin chronograph and a tin of AEA 45 gr pellets. I did nothing to the barrel other than the few patches with Ballistol. I didn’t sort the pellets. I put a target out at 40yds. I put an Accutac bipod on the front and used my homemade mechanical rest on the rear. I took a shot and heard it ricochet off of the edge if the bullet trap. I decided I would shoot at the 100yd steel plate instead. I had to remove the scope to swap the barrel and ended up changing its position. I took a couple of shots to zero the scope at 100yds. Then I shot two five shot groups with pellets and one group with slugs. Obviously the barrel is not “leaded’ or “seasoned”, unless you can do that with three pellets. I had a variable wind of 3-6 mph with a few higher gusts. I did not compensate for wind or anything else. It’s too early to make a judgement p, but it’s off to a good start.

You’ll have to let us know how it shoots!

Standby, it’s coming lol. I’m typing it out

 

[Billm]

First group. meh! actually, not too bad at all. Especially considering no tuning for this barrel and some wind at 100yds. Or would this be a 6-7 - yes I’ve been around my grandkids all week lol.

 

[Billm]

Second group with AEA 45gr pellets, Discovery ED 5-25x 55, Accutac bipod. 170bar. Crosswind. 873 fps avg

 

[Billm]

Then I decided to try a group of 5 AEA 52.2gr slugs. Keep in mind that by design this is a compromise barrel that favors pellets, but shoots slugs relatively well as well. I will swage some slightly lighter slugs to increase the velocity and try and find its sweet spot. It’s at 170 bar. I can increase it, but in my experience with the Sonoran anything over 180 is diminishing returns and wasted air. I wouldn’t bother with slugs, but I’m still trying to justify my Corbin Swaging press to Elaine . But, I don’t think this group is bad for slugs through a barrel that has only had less than 25 projectiles through it and no tuning. These were the first five slugs fired through the barrel. I may have to adjust the hammer spring a little bit. All of these shots were with the transfer port at 2. I’ve never seen an increase in power with any projectile or regulator setting by using the max transfer port setting. What do you think?

 

[Solo1]

Well good beginning. Now to see what it does in the long run. Actually a bit surprised after seeing it through the borescope.

 

[Billm]

Well good begging. Now to see what it does in the long run. Actually a bit surprised after seeing it through the borescope.

Me too lol. If it fouls like the original barrel, there won’t be any lands

 

[Billm]

Well, I quickly swaged ten 47 gr slugs. It did not like those at all. Speed did increase about 40fps. I will have to push one of my slugs through the barrel. On the original barrel I could feel the mass produced pellets/slugs engage the rifling, but not my swaged slugs. It made me think that maybe my dies were undersized for my barrel. I spoke to Corbin about trying knurling the slugs, but they wanted to sell me another set of .30 dies. With this barrel, I can’t feel any projectile engaging the rifling. I’m not sure if that means anything, but on most of my guns I can feel the projectiles being chambered. I don’t think it’s an issue, the probe doesn’t push them far enough to engage the rifling is all.

 

[Billm]

It was getting dark. So I shot an 8 shot group with the AEA 45gr pellets, 170 bar. The first shot was a bit of a flyer to the left. To be continued.

 

[duchunter007]

It was getting dark. So I shot an 8 shot group with the AEA 45gr pellets, 170 bar. The first shot was a bit of a flyer to the left. To be continued.

Have you shot anymore through the Sonoran? Your getting nice groups

 

[Billm]

Have you shot anymore through the Sonoran? Your getting nice groups

The weather here has been terrible. I did get a few shots in yesterday. This is with the replacement barrel. Which surprises me, as it’s obvious that they gave this barrel an extreme honing to remove the scarring from the vertical lapping machine and the lands are barely discernible. But, it’s definitely tightening up. I was able to compare both barrels by shooting them back to back. The first barrel shot well in the beginning, but then it would foul really quickly and throw 4-5” flyers. I slugged both barrels and the second barrel shows that one edge of the land barely bites and there’s wear between the lands. I don’t know if that means anything, just an observation. The second barrel groove diameter measures slightly smaller than the first.

The best thing that I’ve done is retune the hammer spring from what it was set at for the power tune. I’m now getting 80 shots before it starts to drop off of the regulator. The reg is fluctuating between 160 and 170 bar because if the temperature swings.

 

[duchunter007]

@Billm it seems to be tighten up on groups! glad to see it shooting better for you