Rifle for Airgun Benchrest - Part II - FX Royale

Mitch:

Looking at your stock for the AA it appears that it has a mutch better fore end for a rest support. It also, I suspect, would fit the special class in 50BR as an unregulated PCP shooting over 600 fps. The range/club I belong to has a weekly BR50 shoot and may be the most appropriate/convenient. Has your experiece with the AA shown that it is a very competitive set up? Do you know if there is a difference between the 410 and the 400 for accuracy? How do you like the side lever function?

If you have never tried the electronic trigger of a Daystate, I recommend trying one. It was so much better than my friends AZ Rapid trigger and bolt function. I have never pulled the trigger on an AA.

Again, thanks for the info you provide. Chuck

Chuck,

No, I have never had the opportunity to try the electronic trigger in a Daystate. The only fellow in this area with a Daystate that I know about, has a CR-X that I believe predates the electronic trigger. Its a great looking gun and interested me very much when I chose my first PCP airgun however I chose to go with the Air Arms S400MPR-FT for my first and its a decision I have not regretted at all. Since acquiring that S400MPR-FT which is .177 caliber, I discovered the S400SL-XTRA in .22 caliber and very quickly became enamored of the side lever action.

As to triggers, Air Arms S400 triggers are tops for mechanical triggers, they can be tweaked to single stage with very sensitive pressure settings as they come from the box, no modifications needed. And Yes, the Air Arms S400 series guns with the air tube reservoir is a much better action/reservoir/barrel assembly to make a stock for than a front bottle gun based on my experience so far.

Yes, the AA guns are very competitive, I almost took one of the outdoor AGBR matches this past spring with the AA S400SL .22 in the laminate BR stock however due to my own mistake, I double shot one bullseye and missed the one next to it on the first of three targets which cost me the target by 21 points however I did win the second and third targets and came in either 3rd or 4th in aggregate score for the match and was only 8 points down from the match winner. Boy, did that first target hurt!!!


As to comparing a S400 and an S410 for accuracy, as I've not shot a S410 however at least one other shooter in our matches shoots a S410 and comparing the two guns, there is no reason why a S410 should not be as accurate as far as I can tell. The only difference between the S400 and the S410 is the braket mounted to the side of the action for the magazine. The S410 mechanism is identical to the S400 and if you removed the bracket and screws holding it, as far as I can tell, they would be the same. As to shooting from a magazine, a couple of our local shooters who are often match winners do shoot PCP guns with a magazine and find no difference in accuracy between using the magazine and single loading pellets.

As to power level classifications, all my PCP guns, as I now have 4 in my collection, 3 AA S400 and the FX Royale, all are high power unregulated guns and typically shoot in the 850- 950 fps range depending on what weight pellet I choose.

I am not familiar with BR50, all the matches in this area are AGBR, either springer, Match, or Unlimited class and I choose to shoot in the AGBR Unlimited class as its what comes closest to RBA/IR5050 which is my other choice for a benchrest shooting activity. This means I get to use the same range equipment such as rests, wind flags etc.

I'm an inveterate tinkerer and still learning about airguns and I do a lot of experimenting with gun tuning. I use the matches as a way to evaluate my work on the guns and stocks by the opportunity to compare them to how other shooter's guns perform. At this stage of the game, my guns are mostly an experiment and learning process for me however none of them are a disappointment at this stage of the game and my match shooting is more for gun testing rather than being competitive at this stage of the game as I see it.

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
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The reason that I asked was because I have a Richards benchrest stock blank that my son miss ordered that I 'm not going to use. It came in totally non inleted and I'm not much of a wood worker. the only trouble is that it has a 2.5 inch forend.
Larry

Larry,
A stock having a 2.5" forend should not be a problem, the sled attached to the factory synthetic stock of my FX Royale is 2.6" wide and it works fine... First official AGBR match target shot with that setup was a 250 followed by a 248 that darn near plugged as a 250!

As to the Richard's stock, I would think that a PCP airgun with a tube type reservoir would fit it. Case in point, the Air Arms action and airtube fits very nicely in a 1.25" channel routed with a Freud 1.25 dia. round nosed router bit (Freud stock# 18-130) and the trigger housing slot is 1/2" wide and a shade over 3.44" long. A 1" hole for the guage and a 1/4" hole for the bolt and that's the inletting. Only thing you need to do is to square off the end of the 1.25" channel for the back of the receiver and a 1/4" dia router bit will do that nicely. The Air Arms S400 is a very easy gun to do inletting for.

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
I have been lurking on this site and find it fascinating. I have a serious question: Have you ever considered making the rest for the gun out of some reasonably stable wood? Pivots could be made with nylon flanged bushings and suppliers such as Travers provide a number of special screws at very reasonable costs. Wood probably has better damping qualities that aluminum.
I have been thinking of trying ( I am better at woodworking than shooting). Any thoughts?

Hi Dick,
Yes, a few shooters have made wood rests that work quite well. Here is a link to a posting about a nicely made wooden rest with pictures:
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239326

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
FX Royale in Benchrest stock

Finally, after a months work, the FX Royal BR stock is nearly complete.
FXCherryBR_fn4.jpg


More pictures here:
http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk270/CapeRadio/FX_Royale BR Stock/?albumview=slideshow

At this point, the Black Cherry stock has one coat of urethane sealer on it and now will get final sanding and rubbing out and the final finish will be MinWax Polyurethane...

Happy Shooting Y'all...
Mitch & Shadow...
 
air gun trigers !

all this is all very good info as it looks like all of you guys know what your talking about. now i have a question , how easy would it be to put a triger ,say from a AA S400 on a AA-SM- 100 ? or any good match type trigers ? amy thoughts on this ? thanks . H.B :)
 
all this is all very good info as it looks like all of you guys know what your talking about. now i have a question , how easy would it be to put a triger ,say from a AA S400 on a AA-SM- 100 ? or any good match type trigers ? amy thoughts on this ? thanks . H.B :)

For what little I know about the Air Arms SM100, it was the forerunner of the S300 - S400 series guns and is considered a very finely crafted airgun. I've never had one, nor seen one apart so can't offer you any advise on the trigger. However from what I've heard, the SM100 supposedly has a fine trigger and they were used to win matches. I have to wonder if its the same trigger module or one of a similar design as the S400 trigger module but I have no experience of my own to substantiate this.

Based on what little imformation I have about the SM100, your question leaves me wondering why you want to modify or change the trigger?

Do you have any pictures of it?


Two people that might have the information or knowledge you are looking for, David Slade at TheobenUSA and Steve at PAG...

Happy shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
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trigers sm100.

thanks very much for your fast reply, the AA SM100 came with a so so triger or a very good match triger.very few came with a match triger .I have one with a match triger and two with the so called so-so triger. the match triger is as good as the best 10 meter gun made.so now if the S400 is like a match triger in its setup that would be a very good thing. I know that the S400 would need a little tweeking to get it to fit but what doesn't ? any thoughts on this ? thanks.H.B.:)
 
Deliterman,
Its my feeling that any match grade trigger is going to take some tweaking by the shooter to get it set up to his liking. Mainly because the factories set the triggers up to be safe by anyone's standards, and we as BR shooters typically push the edge of what most manufacturs would consider safe for the general public.

The trigger designs on my match rifles that I find take only tweaking to set them up as I like them is the Winchester micro-motion trigger of the Winchester later model 52 series guns and the Air Arms S400 series guns.

I can only speculate about changing a SM100 so-so trigger for a S400 series trigger due to my lack of hands on knowledge of the SM100 however if you can determine it is a practical swap as far as fit and function is concerned, yes, I'd have to think it would be worth doing provided you can obtain an S400 series trigger module. That might be another difficult factor to consider...

As to how practical the mechanics of such a swap is to make, I do not have a clue, I can only refer you to David Slade (a factory trained Air Arms service technician) or to Steve at PAG (Pomona Air Guns) as I believe these gentlemen would have the best answer to your questions...

Edited to add: Also Bruno at TG (TopGun Airguns)

Also, possibly someone on the Air Arms Owner's forum might be able to help you.

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
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air arms triger..

Thanks for your help. very good . I will see what I can do with your info.H.B.
 
Re swapping a trigger onto a 100 ring Dave Welham on the no. below you will need the UK code and phone late afternoon UK time for the best chance of a response. But there is nothing he doesn't know.

Airmasters 88
Marchmont Farm
Link Road
Hemel Hempstead
Hertfordshire HP2 6JH
Telephone:
01442 266831

Fax:
01442 266831

Oh and out of interest are bipods allowed in your matches, they have been banned in the World rules but we are still allowed them in UKBR22

You have been busy Mitch since we last spoke. Do you know if the FX has a smooth twist barrel? they aren't available over here yet to my knowledge.

Andy
 
Hi Andy,

Its great to see you on here...

And thanks for the info for Deliterman, he probably won't read that for a while yet as they have a match today and being on the west coast, he's probably 8 hours behind you time wise... I know he'll appreciate it when he gets it...

As to the FX smooth bore barrels, my FX was one of the first lot to get imported to the states back in May/June of this year and has the standard type barrel on it. As to the smooth twist barrels, there are a lot of rumors here in the states but nothing more, I don't think anyone over here has seen one yet...

As to using bi-pods in matches, they would be legal in the AGBR matches and as that is the only type airgun matches I shoot in presently, the AGBR matches is the only one I am certain of.

I do understand in some areas of the states, ARA airgun matches are held but none near me and if there is a restriction I would expect it would be ARA based on what I know of ARA rimfire match rules but in all honesty, I have never explored that. On the US west coast there are RB50 airgun matches being held so I've been told, but I know even less of how those are run. Hopefully some of the other airgun shooters around the country will read this post and respond about using bi-pods...

The Holbrook Sportsman's Club (near Boston) had their December AGBR Match yesterday, Dec. 5th, and I went with the FX Royale, my new AA S400SL .177 cal. that I've just finished putting together, and the S400MPR-FT. The FX Royale and the S400SL are both in cherry benchrest stocks I have made, and all three guns did very well.

The FX Royale won the match for me with a 748-25X aggregate score including 250's on target #1 and target#2.

The AA S400SL in my latest cherry stock design was shot on Target #2 by one of the fellows who is deciding on what to get for a new gun and I believe he shot a 246-5X with it, and the same fellow shot my S400MPR-FT for a 249 on Target #3.

For an all original, unmodified gun right from the box, the S400MPR-FT is a great shooter and the gun I like to see the new shooters try as it always produces targets that score well, usually in the 247 -249 range for a new shooter... Its my primary backup gun...

Here is a picture of Ray shooting my FX Royale in the cherry BR stock I made for it:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj235/ModelA_2008/Picture460.jpg

Thanks again for all your time and great advise...

Wishing you and your family the best for the Holidays...

Mitch & Shadow...
 
all this is all very good info as it looks like all of you guys know what your talking about. now i have a question , how easy would it be to put a triger ,say from a AA S400 on a AA-SM- 100 ? or any good match type trigers ? amy thoughts on this ? thanks . H.B :)

Spoke to Dave today re something else and mentioned this, apparently the 400 will not but an Olympic trigger unit will. He knows where one is but it won't be cheap. Ring him on the no. above if you are interested and to confirm I told him the right rifle.

Andy
 
Mitch:

Do you know if there is a difference between the 410 and the 400 for accuracy?

Chuck,

As a rule of thumb, in the long run a single shot will always be more accurate than a magazine fed system as a magazine can tend to ever so slightly shave a little of the lead unless you are extremely lucky. Now, having said that, if you took a magazine fed gun and removed the magazine in order to single load it, like all of us Rapid and FX shooters have to do, then the guns are exactly the same accuracy wise, but you'll need to find some sort of loading tray to replace where the magazine fits so as to be able to align the pellet properly with the chamber, that is unless you have enough room for your fingers to fit in front of the chamber for hand loading each pellet.

Dave
 
If any of you are thinking of calling that aforementioned phone number:
01442 266831​
to do so you will need to dial 011 to make the International Connection, then 44 to make a U.K. connection, then drop the ZERO and continue on making it so that you will be dialing:
011-44-1442-266831.

My brother and his family have lived in the Southeastern part of the U.K. for decades, so am quite familiar with calling the U.K.

Dave
 
An interesting observation...

First - A Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to you all...

An interesting observation, of 9 shooters in the unlimited class at the Holbrook December 5th Indoor AGBR match, Three were shooting the FX Royale 400 in .22 caliber.

Two of these FX Royale 400s and their shooters finished the match in first and second place, and the third, while not having his best day, finished eighth. However it should be noted that this third shooter and FX Royale 400 airgun won the June Holbrook Indoor AGBR match with two 249 targets and a 248 target for an aggregate score of 746-26X which is an excellent score and if shot in this Dec. 5th match, would have placed the three FX Royale airguns and shooters in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for aggregate scores...

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
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