Last week I picked up a Kral Concorde (.22 CFX clone) off of the Yellow Classifieds. The guy I bought it from had re-sprung it with a "Vortex Dulcette" JM spring, followed by a deburring and lube tune. This spring was supposed to be a good choice for the TX200 (?) way back when, so I was curious to see how hard it shoots.

Neither the seller nor I have a chronograph, so I thought I would do some comparison tests to other .22's I have. The test medium was a phone book with the muzzle against it. Well, it didn't take too many shots to make me believe that phone books are superior to kevlar, at least with .22 air rifles. First gun up was a venerable Crosman 622 which, until this afternoon, had the clip stuck in it. Pellets penetrated with a thin bit of skirt still sticking out. Next up was my old late fifties Model 50. Almost the exact same power level. Then I gassed up my stock Crosman 2260. This one got them down even with the hard cover.

Now it was time to krank up the Kral. Laid two into the phone book and the penetration was almost even with the 2260. The seller stated he thought it was hitting about as hard as his Russian 513.

While I was at it, I hauled out my not even broken in Gamo Shadow 1000. Now, of course, it's in .177, but did that sucker punch into the book. Not terribly deep, but still out of sight. So much for which penetrates better.

All .22 pellets (which came from an oxidized box of Crosman wadcuters) telescoped to about a third of the original length. I guess the hardness of that book paper is really unsuitable for this type of testing. The 2260 and Kral nearly flattened them, so they must have been going faster than the 622 and 50. Maybe low 600's?

In between rotating guns, I shot off-hand at about ten yards. The two guns which performed best were the Diana 50 and, of all things, the Kral. The Diana grouped five which could be covered by a penny - maybe a dime if you do the center-to-center method. That's with open sights and a crappy shooter behind the trigger. But what a lovely trigger! Old three-ball model that has almost zero perceptable first stage and a very crisp second. Plus the sights (tangent rear and hooded bead front) are great, even with olde eyes. The Kral has a stock, heavy Gamo trigger and the sights are fiber optic which, to be kind, are way too small for good acquisition.

I also ran a few through my Slavia 631 while I had the safe open. That trigger is a bit strange. No resistance in the first stage - it just drops and hangs still. Nearly a hair trigger in the second. If you're not careful you can nudge it off. (I did.)

So, guess I won't really learn anything until I pick up a cheap chronograph. What would be a decent one? I don't want to sink an arm and a leg into something I won't be using very often.


ps - At least ONE Diana was used in the making of this thread.

I can't take a lot of recoil due to old eye surgeries. As a result, I don't get a really good cheek weld, instead holding as lightly as I can and still use the scope/sights. I had an old quilted oven mit nearby and thought I would just try it as I've been wondering if some kind of gel pad or the like would dampen recoil a bit. Son of a gun but that pad did cut it way down. Odd that you don't see these offered like the ones for shotguns and some big game rifles.

CP's from my 350 go right through a 2.25" phone book only after half a dozen shots, shot in or around the same hole. I have to keep shooting at different spots of the phone book. Kodiaks too.. after about 10-11 shots around the same area leaves a huge hole in the back. This is from 13.5-14yds. I stopped using phone books and went to duct seal (electrical putty). It's the best stuff you can use, quiet too. You can also compare the penetration of different pellets much easier with the duct seal! Actually I 'm not sure how far pellets from the 350 penetrate because they 're 1" or more and are hard to see, but my 850 only shoots them 0.5" into the putty, maybe less and I can see the pellet skirts. The other pellets shot from the 350 are way in there (1"+) but they 're easy to recover. I recovered some Crow Magnus that had mushroom to 0.31 & 0.32"! I 'm glad I have at least 2" of thickness but I think I need to add an extra inch soon or I 'll have dents in the back of the steel junction box

I will bet if you take a new phone book, put it on a concrete floor and rest the muzzle firmly against it, your 350 will penetrate less than you may imagine. Those pages, pressed tightly together, must be like shooting into a rock. There's no real room for movement or further compression.

It would take you a bit longer to shoot through the Northern Virginia Yellow pages. It's about six or seven inches thick. One of the many benefits of living in a large metropolitan area, I guess.

Anyway, I don't want something in a magnum class as I do my shooting mostly indoors. Nothing like shooting a hole through the siding, from the inside.

Please dont say that LOL

Ray

I have a simple, no frills Alpha Chrony. Check Ebay and airgun classifieds for a used one - make sure it hasn't been shot! They go for about $75 - $80 new and work just fine for checking velocity. Unless you're into charting long shot strings, there is no need for more features. I basically use mine to establish a baseline for a gun and will use it from time to time to check different pellets and tuning outcomes.

"but I'll be needin' that gun, fer squirrels and such."

That's probably what's in my future. Just have to quit buying more airguns and using all my "spare change".