Spring/Piston The story of Norma Jean, my Blonde TX200

[Pesty3782]

Very bad 2nd day….only got 30. I did hold onto 3rd place…I couldn’t hit anything past 45 yards and there were a lot at 45-55 range. No idea what happened…We were shooting 15 FPS slower on day 2, but that wouldn’t count for the 2 inch drop at 55 I was dealing with…We shall take a look after EBR.

Tony P.

 

[Danman]

Very bad 2nd day….only got 30. I did hold onto 3rd place…I couldn’t hit anything past 45 yards and there were a lot at 45-55 range. No idea what happened…We were shooting 15 FPS slower on day 2, but that wouldn’t count for the 2 inch drop at 55 I was dealing with…We shall take a look after EBR.

Tony P.

Hmm that's another problem with mine currently as well. I doped it last year and wrote everything down. Then I retested it all a little while later and verified it. Well last week I rechecked holdovers (same scope) but with its accuracy problem now and with zero wind it was waaaaay off.
I ended up putting a large water jug @50Y just to see what was going on! (was shooting very low among other things) Next step for me is a chrono check over 10 shots or so....

Are you currently running the Vortek kit in yours @Pesty3782 ? Since you compete and dont pest with it i wonder if you should drop it to 12fpe?

 

[Pesty3782]

Mine is at about 10.5 FPE. I had Cameron K go through it.

Tony P

 

[Pesty3782]

An over-do update.

When we got home Norma Jean was put in the cabinet and it was time to get the rifles ready for EBR…..EBR is now long gone and I pulled NJ out and put her on a chrono….650 FPS No wonder I was hitting low at longer distances. The first day we were shooting at 750 FPS.

Opened NJ up and the spring inside was shorter than the new one I had so I replaced it. 650 FPS. Next I put a new piston seal in. 650 FPS Last but not least I changed out the breech Orings, but I had done that before PAC….650 FPS.

I was now very pissed off so I took a step back and put NJ back in the cabinet for a time-out !!!

I called the great Cameron K. and talked for a few minutes. He told me there was an Oring on “The large black nut on the compression tube”. Cameron warned me I might have to use a lot of heat to break all the locktite the Brits like to use.

With the tube in the padded jaws of my vice, I got busy. With a little AC/DC music pumping through my ears I was ready. I grabbed the proper sized wrench and addressed my compression tube.. Well, no heat was needed, no AC/DC was needed to get the blood pressure up, the damn nut came right off.

And here is the Oring I found.



Gee, wonder if this was the issue

Got her all back together and started shooting her. 880 FPS with 8.4’s…..After about 75 pellets she has settled in at 850 FPS.

After Thanksgiving, and weather permitting, I will get her setup again for HFT. She is shooting about 100 FPS faster, but let’s see how NJ does.

Tony P.

 

[Shortcut]

Good to hear you have NJ feeling better and getting her energy up. She needs it to keep up with JFK.

 

[Danman]

An over-do update.

When we got home Norma Jean was put in the cabinet and it was time to get the rifles ready for EBR…..EBR is now long gone and I pulled NJ out and put her on a chrono….650 FPS No wonder I was hitting low at longer distances. The first day we were shooting at 750 FPS.

Opened NJ up and the spring inside was shorter than the new one I had so I replaced it. 650 FPS. Next I put a new piston seal in. 650 FPS Last but not least I changed out the breech Orings, but I had done that before PAC….650 FPS.

I was now very pissed off so I took a step back and put NJ back in the cabinet for a time-out !!!

I called the great Cameron K. and talked for a few minutes. He told me there was an Oring on “The large black nut on the compression tube”. Cameron warned me I might have to use a lot of heat to break all the locktite the Brits like to use.

With the tube in the padded jaws of my vice, I got busy. With a little AC/DC music pumping through my ears I was ready. I grabbed the proper sized wrench and addressed my compression tube.. Well, no heat was needed, no AC/DC was needed to get the blood pressure up, the damn nut came right off.

And here is the Oring I found.

View attachment 17602

Gee, wonder if this was the issue

Got her all back together and started shooting her. 880 FPS with 8.4’s…..After about 75 pellets she has settled in at 850 FPS.

After Thanksgiving, and weather permitting, I will get her setup again for HFT. She is shooting about 100 FPS faster, but let’s see how NJ does.

Tony P.

Thank you for sharing @Pesty3782. My TX is waaay down on power and yet....she buzzs and barks and twists outta my hands now, lost accuracy too.
Id bet my Hw50 i just got has the same or more power currently. Got a very nice little tune kit from TBT sitting here just waiting to go in mine. Trigger has the most side to side play in ANY gun I've ever shot, that will be getting fixed too at the same time.
Anyways if I gut it and find nothing off I will get after that o-ring....never knew about that one either! New it was 880 with an 8.44 (2 years ago) and settled in @ 840ish. Last i cronied it she had dipped below 800...with a crosman 7.9! Mines also in time out currently

 

[Hoppalong Doc]

DAN: Regarding that TBT tune kit that you have "just sitting around", I'd just love to hear all about it. I, like so many of us here on this forum, have been using the Vortek tune kits for several years now, but am eager to hear your hands on opinion of these British TBT tune kits. I've been watching the YouTube videos by Nick for awhile now, and am wondering if I should switch over from Vortek. It's all fun, right?

 

[Pesty3782]

Norma Jean settled in at 880 FPS after about 200 pellets. I shot her at a crusty critter shoot and she did a lot of moving around during the shot cycle. So I started to cut a 1/2 of coil at a time and settle with 800 FPS. It took 1.5 coils to slow her down to 800 FPS, so right at 12FPE.

Heading out to another crusty critter shoot today and will see how jumpy she is.

Tony P.

 

[Shortcut]

I have a HW98 I got from Lewis which he put a Tinbum kit with Vortek VAC seal in and it is so smooth shooting and consistent It is an absolute pleasure to shoot.

 

[Danman]

DAN: Regarding that TBT tune kit that you have "just sitting around", I'd just love to hear all about it. I, like so many of us here on this forum, have been using the Vortek tune kits for several years now, but am eager to hear your hands on opinion of these British TBT tune kits. I've been watching the YouTube videos by Nick for awhile now, and am wondering if I should switch over from Vortek. It's all fun, right?

Dont worry Doc, I will be doing a full write-up on Ham with Pics of install and thoughts! Nick warranties everything now too so thats nice. Very excited, trigger work needed as well as its the worst trigger i own believe it or not!!....and I own a $150 Slavia! Time is my problem right now....
I am hoping that it'll get back up to 13fpe. My Hw50s hasn't been chronied yet but should be 11ish fpe with same ammo. If I can get 12.5-13fpe and sweet shooting again I will be mighty happy!

 

[Pesty3782]

Well Norma Jean shot pretty good yesterday. The Troyer was a 40, but that did not count for the 10 MPH wind with gusts up to 22.....Man it was a hard course!!!!! I goose egged a couple of lanes which really hurt, but I ended up with a 26 out of 48....Next HFT springer was 20........Still need more time with this tune.

I might try some different pellets....The JSB did not feel consistent when loading. You would have a tight pellet and then a loose one. I don't sort, but if I see a bad skirt I toss it.

Tony P.

 

[Danman]

Well Norma Jean shot pretty good yesterday. The Troyer was a 40, but that did not count for the 10 MPH wind with gusts up to 22.....Man it was a hard course!!!!! I goose egged a couple of lanes which really hurt, but I ended up with a 26 out of 48....Next HFT springer was 20........Still need more time with this tune.

I might try some different pellets....The JSB did not feel consistent when loading. You would have a tight pellet and then a loose one. I don't sort, but if I see a bad skirt I toss it.

Tony P.

Do try the JTS 8.7gr and the H&N FTTs 8.6gr! Both give the JSB a run for the money in my TX and....sadly.....are more consistent than JSB 8.44gr recently I've found. Thats me going by bore fit and results down range @ 30Y

 

[Pesty3782]

I grabbed a tin of the JTS to try….Hope to get shooting in a couple of days.

Tony P.

 

[Pesty3782]

Friday I got Norma Jean set up with the JTS pellets. Everyone of them fit nice and tight when loading unlike the JSP pellets. Interesting part is the 8.4 JSB's shot at 800 FPS and the 8.7 JTS at 780 FPS. Only 2 holdovers had changed.

So yesterday was a local Rio Solado FT comp. We were doing pretty good overall, a few lanes hurt the score for sure and it wasn't my standing or kneeling Well maybe the 2 on standing kind of hurt, but the 3 on kneeling I was happy with.

I had 1 goose egg lane, which all I can think of it was my hold on Norma Jean. Maybe I was squeezing her too tight or man handling her like a teenager A few 2's, but I ended up with a 32 out of 48.....Not bad, but not good either.

Hope to get out before the Crusty Critter shoot on Tuesday to verify a few things, that is if I can go. Never know what the Boss Lady has planned.

Tony P.

 

[Pesty3782]

Here is a very long overdo update of NJ. You can either thank Greg S. or be mad at him

The first GP competition was here, with the Sonoran in early March. Talk about brutal winds 25 mph with gusts even higher

First Day I got a whopping 16 out of 60. Top score for springer was 30 on day 1. DNL baby. (Dead nuts last). I was using QYS pellets which NJ shoots very good, but not in this much wind. I went home and spent the next hour working with the JTS 8.7 and on day 2 (Wind still was brutal) I upped my game by 10 points which got me into 3rd. Barely.

We (NJ & myself) weren’t gelling and I wasn’t sure why, so I had one of the TX gurus who is usually top score at the crusty critter matches, look at NJ. We took her apart and checked the seals, he looked at the lube job I had given her….Yup pretty good, except I used a little more grease than he does.

Back together and after a few Crusty Critter shoots, I am still not pleased with the way we are shooting together.

North Carolina here we come, ready or not.

Here is where Greg S comes into play. When I pulled NJ out of the case for sight in, Greg said he thought I had gotten rid of NJ because he hasn’t seen an update….Yeah when you see him you can either thank him or say “What the Hell were you thinking”

At sight in, a few needed elevation clicks and we were dialed in..Day 1 started out great with NJ clearing her first 4 lanes and then the wheels fell off and we ended up with a 33 on day 1…..DNL out of the 5 springer shooters. I think high score day 1 was a 45.

Day 2 at sight in, NJ was shooting right on again, but this time we had a very slow start and finally got into some groove but only got a 32….DNL

So when the top shooter gets an 89 for both days and I have a 65, it show's I am sucking rocks.

More to come after the Cajuns this weekend.

Tony P.

 

[isledweller]

Thanks for the update! I was relieved to look over at the sight-in lane and see that you and NJ were still together! I was worried you had a falling out.

Good luck at the Cajuns and hopefully you two gel from start to finish!

 

[Shortcut]

Thanks for the update my friend. Always enjoy your posts!!

 

[Hoppalong Doc]

I always enjoy the color of your escapades. TX200'S can be fickle loves. I just recently finally got my TX200 together after a four year saga to finally find that the forend stock bolt was loose. It's finally giving joy at the range once again. I wish that there was a club to shoot at nearby for me. A few friends and I get-together as often as we can for some shooting fun. Orv.

 

[Pesty3782]

Cajun's baby!!!!!

Well first, Brian W helped me clean NJ after the North Carolina match. "We" Brian did all the work, got some flacks out of the barrel, but not really a ton. After traveling down form North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama we arrived at New Orleans and spent a couple of days there.

On Friday, the Great Ken H (USA Team ,ground dweller, TX200 shooter) Grabbed Norma Jean while I was shooting pistol and really cleaned the barrel pulling a few more flacks out of it. He then proceeded to shoot her in his ground dwelling position with the pellets I was using. He also shot her with the pellets he uses.....After the pistol shoot he hands NJ back to me and says "When you are ready to sell her I will buy her" Yeah that ain't happening

So sight in day 1, with a few clicks , I was pretty much dialed in and didn't do too bad. 39 with hitting only 1 kneeling and 1 standing. I was 6 points out of 1st place. Griff had me by 6 and I think Brian was 5 behind me? Brian was having a scope issue if I remember correctly.

Day 2 comes and we get a 41. This time 2 standing and 1 kneeling....I see a common denominator here . Brian started out very slow with his back up rifle and Griff had a bad day. So Norma Jean got 1st place!!!!!!!

Wait!!!!!!! Norma Jean got first place

So many thanks go to Brian W and Ken H for the help. A great show of sportsmanship on both their accounts for all the help with NJ.

Next stop, the Arizona Piston Cup, a 2 day springer shoot.

Tony P.

 

[isledweller]

Big Congrats on the win and thanks for the lastest update in the NJ saga!

Will be patiently waiting for the next chapter of this story to be told!

Greg