Haenel 311

311 with Gamo sight at a Bell Target match. It requires frequent oiling to keep the leather seal working.

 

 

Let’s take a break from my Marauder project. Last year I wrote an article on the Haenel 311 for Airgun Collector, a British E-magazine. The 311 is from the 1970s, but has older design features that date to the 1920s, It even uses a leather piston seal.

The magazine is a Free download at  

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread.php?671192-Airgun-Collector-magazine-free-to-download-and-keep!

I hope you enjoy it and the other articles in the magazine.

Ron

Marauder HDD

Preparing My Gen-1 Marauder For Extreme Benchrest

This fall will be my second year at the Extreme Benchrest match in Arizona. I want to shoot better, but I also want my Benjamin Marauder to shoot better.

I Wanted More

Most airgunners would like to get “a little bit something more,” from their airguns. In this case, it is my first generation, .25 caliber Marauder. Marauders deliver a lot more then their $500 price tag suggests, delivering velocity and accuracy close to guns costing two or three times as much, but for my second year of 75 yard benchrest I wanted more.

I wanted more shots per fill from my 3000 psi dive tank, more uniformity, but not at the cost of the Marauder’s 40 foot pounds of muzzle energy.  That is a tall order, but I only wanted “a little bit more”.

This post and two more will be about what I have done to get ready for Extreme Benchrest.

Installing a Hammer De-bouncing Device

I decided to install a hammer de-bouncing device (HDD) from Airguns of Arizona. The  reports I read said that it would deliver more shots per fill as well as uniformity between shots once you shot the gun for a while to mate the HDD to your rifle’s working surfaces. The device’s designer, known on the web as Steve in NC, used steel that would take most of the wear. I also read that some airgunners had been so dissatisfied that they had removed the HDD almost as soon as they had installed it, but my friend Arimo Dave told me to shoot it for a while before making that decision.

On the Internet

After the second day of working on the installation for several hours each day,I posted this on the New Crosman Forum.

“I installed a HCC (the one from AOA) in my Gen I Marauder. It took two afternoons and three tries to get it in and operating. It may require one more time to get it adjusted and working smoothly.

I can see why some folks lose their patience, and take it out, but I had noticed that those who took it out did so promptly without shooting it in place for very long”.

The line was drawn. I wasn't happy with the installation or the results, but I would not let this sucker get the better of me without knowing the reason why.

What Happened?

On the first try, I tipped the HDD over into the space around the hammer. You have to put the gun back together before you can complete the installation, and if it goes south, or at least down there with the hammer, you get to undo all those screws and take the rifle apart again.  

Speaking of screws, I lost the short one that holds the back of the breach to the air tube. It hides under the bolt and must have fell out when I moved the breach/barrel assembly to a “safe” place. I found it after a couple of hours that Steph and I spent searching, sometimes on our knees with flashlights, AND after I had resolved to call Crosman in the morning to order several more. The little screw had been hiding in the towel I placed on my work surface to keep from losing small parts.

On the second try, I got it in, but it fit so tightly I could not cycle the bolt. It had to come out One more time. Once out, I reduced the HDD’s height by 0.005 inch. By this time, I became a pro with the short piece of tubing you have to use to keep that little block of steel from falling into the first level of Hell otherwise known as the space around the hammer.

Once things were back together, I could cycle the bolt, but things would have been easier if I turned into the Incredible Hulk. The bolt’s cycle was not smooth, and the force needed to cock the hammer was out of the question even for a slow fire match, let alone in one where rapid fire was required.

Words of Encouragement From Steve and George

Steve in NC answered my post on the New Crosman Forum. “I'm sorry you're having difficulty with HDD installation, Ron. I know it's no consolation, but that's not the usual experience. Would you mind sharing what part(s)  of the installation were problematic?”

I posted back, “The HDD binding the bolt on the cocking stroke. I had read your (Steve’s) post about the fit of the HDD in newer Gen I Marauders, so I backed off the set screw ⅛ turn and then another ⅛ turn to reduce the Device's height to 0.431 inch. That has helped a lot but the bolt is still very stiff in the last portion of the travel where the magazine indexes and the trigger is set (cocked).”

The First 100 Shots

When I set out to install the HDD, I decided that before I measured velocities or groups I would shoot 100 shots to settle the device into the gun. I had some Beeman Silver arrows that didn’t shoot well at 40 foot pounds that I could use to shoot those 100 shots. The thrill of launching them into the backstop didn’t last long. After two clips I was shooting at 50 yards at a gong made from a one foot length of 10 inch steel tubing. Without  trying to shoot a match group, the next 84 shots hit the bell.

I refilled the gun to 3000 psi before shooting the gong, The first shots were on a parr for velocity with a Red Rider bb gun, but after that the shots kept getting stronger according to the gong’s sound. One thing was sure, my Marauder was way more effecient with air then it was before. 50 shots used up 1000 psi, Before the HDD, I was getting 25 shots from the same amount of air, I got pretty excited thinking that my quest was over.

I got on the phone with George in ID who is a retired engineer and a good sounding board.

“Was it worth it Ron?” asked George referring to the time I had spent and the results I had received so far.  

“George, I shot the last 50 shots on 1000 psi without a serious shift in point of impact”. I was sold on the HDD.

Now that the 100 shots were in the background, I did some chronographing and found that the gun was getting 29 foot pounds as well as some serious valve lock at 3000 PSI. Initial velocities were as low as 296 fps, but within 20 shots that had stabilized in the 650s with 31 gr Kodiaks (29 foot pounds). It was nowhere near the 40 foot pounds I wanted. I didn’t finish this string because the first part was just too slow to be part of the solution I wanted.

The HDD had met my first goal. The gun is pretty stingy on air pressure per shot. In the best part of the string it was using up  25 PSI per shot.

Back on the phone, I told George about the low air use, but also the low velocity, and the force it still took to cock the gun.

Ever the engineer, George reminded me of that  iron clad law of physics, “You don’t get something for nothing. If you conserve air you will pay for it somewhere else,”

I groused about the force it took to cock the gun.

“Well Ron,” continued George, “ your story is taking on tone of other HDD installations that I have read about.” then he added, “Keep at it.  You are just a couple of thousands away from success”.

What next?

My Marauder had to come apart again. I used a new Arkansas stone to polish the sides of the HDD. I could not see any new wear marks on the gun or on the HDD.  I reduced the HDD’s height to 0.430. One more time I had to balance the ball bearing and steel block on the hammer and carefully set the breach/barrel assembly back on top of the air tube without disturbing the HDD or the transfer port.

About the last thing you do is put the bolt in. This time the bolt would not go in. It stopped dead at the point when the shoulder behind the pellet probe came even with the HDD. I cursed the gun, the bolt and that devilish screw that held things together but was out of reach under the bolt. Then it hit me. It wasn't the HDD’s height. It was the screw. That darn screw was tightening the breach down against the air tube, and closing the space for the block to move between the hammer and the bolt. Out came the bolt and I loosened the rear breech screw a quarter turn, Reassembled, the bolt cycled smoothly with only a little resistance from the HDD.

I posted on the New Crosman Forum that I had, “I set the hammer spring to 7 turns CW and the Hammer throw to 4 turns CW for my starting point. I chronographed 24 shots and got the following. Starting pressure was 2600 and ending was 2000.

High V: 806

Low V: 773

Average: 793 (35.5 FPE)

ES: 33

SD: 9”

Steve in NC responded, “Glad you got it sorted, Ron”.

The HDD had made the gun air stingy, as well as lowering the fill level.  I was on my way to what I wanted. Now I had to adjust for a better shot string and more power. Then shoot at 75 yards for the final preparation for Extreme Benchrest. More to come.

Ron

50 Yard Chicken

50 Yard Chicken

You are looking at a 1/5 scale chicken, the kind made for metallic silhouettes shot with .22 rim fires. The two hits are consecutive shots at 50 yards with my .25 Gen I Marauder. Between shots, I walked down range to stand the target up. Both were shot with the same point of aim.  Measured center to center, the two hits are 5/8 on an inch apart.

That is close to 1 MOA, and I feel that 2 MOA is day in day out as good as it gets with a stock air rifle at that distance. If your budget PCP shoots this well you have a lot to be proud of. 

This Marauder still has its factory tune, but that is about to change. Watch this space.

Ron

Extreme Benchrest Silhouette Speed Shoot

We expanded our course of fire at the last benchrest match adding an Extreme Benchrest styled silhouette speed shoot, mixing rim fire and air rifles in events, and using 10 meter pistol targets (B 40) in addition to USBR targets at 50 yards. These additions will expand participation in our matches. They certainly expanded the fun we had at the last match.

1/5 scale metallic silhouettes. Sped shoot format calls for 4 of each animal rather then the usual 5.

The speed shoot was the most exciting. Sixteen targets, shortest time to knock them down wins, but you have to start with an empty rifle and magazines. Ammo cannot be arranged or stacked to facilitate loading. “Three, Two, One, Start!” and you're off to the races. Most chose to single load. 

10 meter pistol target. B 40 is the name used in the USA for this target.

We allowed .22 rim fires to fire in all our benchrest matches. Not only is this a good idea to increase participation, but since .22 air rifles are allowed in all our benchrest matches it has no clear advantage, except at 50 yard with the B40 targets. The B40s may get set out at 75 yards and at that range some may not want to shoot their .177 rifles. 

USBR target. Rifle is 1922 M2 Springfield

	25 Yard Airgun	50 Yard Airgun 10 pistol target	50 Yard .22 rim fire USBR target	Speed Shoot Airgun/rim fire
Charles	215-1 #	134 #	193 #	2:38.0 #
Dave	218 *	131 *	206-1 #	2:38.69 *
Ash	235-1 *	129 *	212 #	2:04 *
Ron	222 *	118 *	158 *	2:56.30 *
Jeff	244-3 #	143-5 #	207 #	2:27.0 #

# shot with a .22 rim fire

* shot with an air rifle

Who Shot What?

Charles shot a Anschutz M54. Dave shot his custom Marauder .177 and a Savage .22 that he bought for $200 in a big box store. Ash shot his Daystate Huntsman .177 and an Anschutz M54 Silhouette. Ron shot a Marauder .25. Jeff shot a Remington 40X and a Winchester M52.

Benjamin Marauder Shoot Off

Marauder Shoot Off

Arimo Dave and I showed up at the range confused about what we were going to shoot on the evening of the first Wednesday in July. I thought we were shooting benchrest outdoors, and he thought we were shooting indoors at 10 meters. We each brought rifles for our supposed competition. You might think it would be hard to find a common ground of competition for those two extremes. You would be right. 

Gen 1 on the left with a tin of Beeman Kodiaks and Gen 2 synthetic on the right with a tin of Benjamin Domes

I had brought two .25 Benjamin Marauders: my one year old Generation 1 with a wooden stock, and my new Generation 2 with a black synthetic stock. “Let's shoot 50 yard benchrest,” I said. “We'll shoot my .25 Marauders and switch guns after the first target”. We had 10 meter pistol targets with four bulls on each target. One bull for sighters and three for five record shots each.

“So we'll be evenly matched. I like that idea,” Dave responded.

This was working out better than I had hoped when I packed to go to the range. I am prepping my two Marauders for Extreme Benchrest. If I shot them against each other, the more accurate rifle would be used for the 75 yard benchrest match and I would shoot the other Marauder in rapid fire silhouette. The last two times I planned to shoot my Marauders, the match was either rained out or subjected to gale force winds where pellet guns are a lost cause at any distance. Today, the wind was light, and I was ready to see how they would do from a benchrest.

Two posts back, I put up a picture of a target from a 50 yard Sporting Rifle match, and said that I would get to it in a later post. I planned to shoot another match, but it was canceled due to bad weather. We will get back to that target after the next Sporting Rifle match.

Why 50 Yards?

You might ask, “If Ron is going to shoot at 75 yards in Extreme Benchrest, why are they now going to shoot at 50 yards?” Well, both rifles were already sighted in for 50 yards, but the answer is that it is more difficult to shoot good groups at 75 than at 50. In a test to see which rifle shoots better, 50 is better than 75 because the pellets are not subject to that last 25 yards of shifting winds and the havoc those winds play on the pellet's velocity and stability. I will have to practice at 75, but that is after I see what kind of groups my two Marauders can shoot at 50 yards.

First Targets

By the time we set up, the wind had risen and was coming from 9 o’clock. Dave and I found our zeros early and the fun started. Dave moaned and groaned through his first bull with the shots stringing horizontally He shot the tar out of the seven and eight rings on both sides of the target! I tend to suffer in silence. My shots strung vertically with no rhyme or reason. Sevens followed tens no matter how I tried to dope the wind. Take a look at our first targets and you will see the stringing. These targets were shot at the same time, but the string is opposite. I guess that Dave was better at elevation while I was better at windage. If we each shot half our shots into the other guy's target, our scores might have been better. With all the tears in our beers, we still managed to hold on to the black. We traded benches and I was shooting the Gen 1 rifle while Dave was shooting the Gen 2 with its slender black stock. 

Dave's first target. Shot with the Gen 1 .25 Marauder. Take a look at the upper right bull. You can see how the wind ate him up. This is a common occurrence at our range. The diagonal stripe in the upper left denotes that bull as the sighter target. 

My first target. Shot with my Gen 2 black synthetic Marauder. The vertical stringing was random.

Second Targets

As soon as we started our second targets, Dave announced that he liked the Gen 2 Marauder better than the Gen 1. Sleek is not a word I would apply to either gun, but the synthetic stock feels more graceful than its wooden stocked forebear. The wind had slackened and shifted around to 4 o'clock and maybe this is why he liked the second rifle better.

My old wooden favorite immediately pitched a sighter shot low and right, so far out that it was outside of the scoring rings. The ten meter pistol target is a generous target; the outer ring is 6 inches inches across, so a miss is a big deal. A start like this often leads to a disastrous run of record shots. I checked the rifle's pressure gauge. It read 3300 psi. I am not sure how this happened, but I knew how to fix it. I had to shoot it down to 3000 or until the hits rose into the ten ring. That and windage adjustments took 8 shots. I usually try to shoot a sighting shot for the first shot after refilling a PCP air rifle.

Dave's second target. This one was shot with my Gen 2 Marauder.

My second target. Shot with my Gen 1.Take a look at those eight sighting shots. This was due to the gun being over filled.

But, things did go well when I went on to shoot my record shots. All the positive grunts from Dave told me that he was doing well too. A look at our second targets tells the story.

Scores

	Marauder Gen 1	Marauder Gen 2
Dave	119	136 1X
Ron	137 2X	131 2X

Defining Point

Our second targets were a defining point for my two Marauders. Not only were our scores only one point apart, but both rifles grouped around 2 minutes of an angle, which is what I expected to shoot with both rifles.

One Fill

Both of the two higher scoring targets, including all the sighting shots, were fired on one fill. This was not a surprise for the wood stock, but it was for black plastic. I had pronounced the black Gen 2 a “One Clip Wonder” when I first got it. Now I may have to change my opinion. It could be that this gun is “wearing in”, and that goes along with my thinking that you should shoot a gun for a year before starting to mess with it.

Point of Impact

On the web, Marauder owners talk about shifting point of impact, and my Gen 1 Marauder has done this, stringing hits in a rough line running from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock. You can see a hint of that in a few targets, but these groups are as round as any I have shot with this rifle.

Two Minutes Of Angle

There it is, seven 5 shot groups shot at 2 MOA. No clear winner. Gen 1 shot Beeman Kodiaks, and Gen 2 Benjamin Domes. Both triggers have been adjusted, but otherwise the guns' settings are factory stock. That is going to change. I hope you will be here to read about it.

Ron

Extreme Benchrest Rapid Fire Silhouette

Ash moves on to turkeys after downing chickens and rams

Last Wednesday night we shot rapid fire silhouette. We used the rules from the Extreme Benchrest match. Times are below. Dave used magazines, while Ash and I used single shot trays. Once Dave got his magazine loaded, he was fast. He shot through one 10 shot magazine in 60 seconds with no misses.

Ash loads his Huntsman in a recent Field Target shoot

Ash shot his .177 Daystate Huntsman, Dave shot his custom .177 Generation 1 Marauder, and I shot my stock .25 Gen 2 Marauder. Power is not an issue for knocking down the targets. Ash's and Dave's rifles are set to meet the 20 foot pound limit for Field Target. My rifle is running about 40 foot pounds, but I plan to tune it down to get a greater shot count. Power can be an issue when the wind comes up. Last year I had to hold on the up wind edge of the turkeys and rams.

Arimo Dave and his custom Marauder

My Gen 2 Marauder

To put things into perspective, I watched a video of last year”s match on the Airgun Gear Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYJsK-cFrvw If watch this video. it seems that Tony Belas is shooting at a very sedate speed. Until you see that he ran the course in 1:26. It seemed the same for Nick Jenkinson who shot 1:13. I'm thinking that I can make the finals if I can break 1:30. In our regular rapid fire matches we shoot 4 shots in 30 seconds. Shooting at that speed, it would take two minutes to shoot 16 targets. One thing is certain. We will need to improve our times.

This match is a lot of fun. Ash kept asking for another run so we shot it instead of the sporting rifle match we had planned. Like bowling pins, this match could be adapted to a double illumination ladder format that would not require stop watches to determine the placements of the shooters on a leader board.

.	First Run	Second Run	Third Run
Ash	5:03.33	4:08.67	3:07.86
Dave	3:17.75	2:32.44	2:55.46
Ron	3:17.47	3:36.41	4:13.03

Extreme Benchrest

Reregistration opens today for the Extreme Benchrest in Arizona. Price is up $35 to $135, but this year you get a shirt. This blog started with my trip to the match last year, and it was the most BS free match I have ever attended. The match is sponsored by Airguns of Arizona, and you can sign up for it on their website http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/ Look for Extreme Benchrest on the left hand side if the screen to find the match description and rules as well as reregistration.