11 posts · April 29, 2021 to May 5, 2021 · Archived from the original AirgunWarriors.com forum
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I've dragged out the Marauder in .177, have been shooting it with H&N Barracudas and it is performing extremely well. I want to try JSB's version of the heavy and the next size up.
Do the JSB Heavies & Monsters fit into the .177 magazine? Searched, no joy. Any experience with the accuracy of these two pellets in this gun? Exacts shoot really well.
Great to be JSB, they are sold out in the common places.
Haven't tried the Monsters, but the Heavies fit. I didn't see any difference in accuracy between the Heavies and Barracuda Match, but my shooting has been entirely inside 20yds. The 'cudas are my pick for squirrels.
The Heavies at 10.34 should work fine and are a great pellet. You probably won't get much more out of them than the Baracuda if you gun already loves those. I would buy whichever is cheaper.
What do you expect to gain going to the next step up at a 13.43 pellet? About all I see is less shots per fill, not as flat shooting and slower pellet. That is going to knock you down under 800fps with an 18ftlb Maruader.
I believe the pellets 13gr to 16gr are really made for the few 177's that have power from 25ftlbs to 30ftlbs so they can shoot a 13gr to 16gr pellet or slugs at 900fps or better. But at that point why not get a 22 cal?
What do you expect to gain going to the next step up at a 13.43 pellet? About all I see is less shots per fill, not as flat shooting and slower pellet. That is going to knock you down under 800fps with an 18ftlb Maruader.
I believe the pellets 13gr to 16gr are really made for the few 177's that have power from 25ftlbs to 30ftlbs so they can shoot a 13gr to 16gr pellet or slugs at 900fps or better. But at that point why not get a 22 cal?
I agree with you.
I see value in efficient guns but having recently acquired a compressor and small CF tank, I can experiment with high power inefficient tunes completely disregarding any need to conserve air. I'm curious to see what the upper end of this platform can deliver, then I'll make a decision about where I want it on the spectrum. I'm not finding any videos about higher power levels for this gun in this caliber. People probably step up to the next caliber as you suggest but, again, I'm curious. How motivated I am to pursue it remains to be seen.
Do you know if the 13.4s fit the magazine?
With a sport PCP (like the M-rod) so far I have NOT lost energy with heavy weights….normally gain a little energy.
Velocity is lower as the weight goes up, but not low enough not to earn more energy than the lighter pellets.
Typical would be:(in this case all JSB pellets)
8.4gr. / 1034fps / 19.9 foot pounds
10.3gr. / 974fps / 21.7 foot pounds
13.4gr. / 897 fps / 23.9 foot pounds
16.2gr. / 834fps / 25.2 foot pounds
(power guys: this was was not that rifle's max.)
Do have some match rifles that don’t follow those rules… with really limited air use and low speeds with lite weight pellets to start with, will often show less energy with the heavy weights.
Do get odd ball results from pellets that fit tight or have a lot more bearing area...the 16.1 EunJins will be a bit slower than the 16.2 JSB’s.
Shot count hasn’t been too far apart…..if running efficiency calculators, often the heavy weight ends up a little more efficient (it’s air use vs energy, so the little gain in energy off sets a small change in shot count).
Normally the heavier pellets have a higher BC. That doesn't make up so much trajectory (gravity, but does gain wind-age resistance and even better retained energy.
Basically you get more hold over, but less wind hold off.
With a sport PCP (like the M-rod) so far I have NOT lost energy with heavy weights….normally gain a little energy.
Velocity is lower as the weight goes up, but not low enough not to earn more energy than the lighter pellets.
Typical would be:(in this case all JSB pellets)
8.4gr. / 1034fps / 19.9 foot pounds
10.3gr. / 974fps / 21.7 foot pounds
13.4gr. / 897 fps / 23.9 foot pounds
16.2gr. / 834fps / 25.2 foot pounds
(power guys: this was was not that rifle's max.)
Do have some match rifles that don’t follow those rules… with really limited air use and low speeds with lite weight pellets to start with, will often show less energy with the heavy weights.
Do get odd ball results from pellets that fit tight or have a lot more bearing area...the 16.1 EunJins will be a bit slower than the 16.2 JSB’s.
Shot count hasn’t been too far apart…..if running efficiency calculators, often the heavy weight ends up a little more efficient (it’s air use vs energy, so the little gain in energy off sets a small change in shot count).
Normally the heavier pellets have a higher BC. That doesn't make up so much trajectory (gravity, but does gain wind-age resistance and even better retained energy.
Basically you get more hold over, but less wind hold off.
Great data, thanks. Did you single feed or can you stuff them into the magazine?
Thanks to everybody that responded
I've dragged out the Marauder in .177, have been shooting it with H&N Barracudas and it is performing extremely well. I want to try JSB's version of the heavy and the next size up.
Do the JSB Heavies & Monsters fit into the .177 magazine? Searched, no joy. Any experience with the accuracy of these two pellets in this gun? Exacts shoot really well.
Great to be JSB, they are sold out in the common places.
The 10.3's and 13.4's fit the mags fine with room to spare.
The 13.4's don't group as well as the 10.3's in my old Gen1's
Mine are tuned to shoot the 10.3's at around 905 so the 13.4's are slower.
I have plenty of room to shoot the 13.4's that fast also but I couldn't tell you if it would help the grouping.
The 10.3's and 13.4's fit the mags fine with room to spare.
The 13.4's don't group as well as the 10.3's in my old Gen1's
Mine are tuned to shoot the 10.3's at around 905 so the 13.4's are slower.
I have plenty of room to shoot the 13.4's that fast also but I couldn't tell you if it would help the grouping.
Did the Gen 1 have transfer port tuning? If so any tuning tips? How is your hammer adjusted? That is exactly where I want to be with 10 grain pellets.
Good stuff. TIA.
Didn’t keep that M-rod real long....nothing wrong with it, just never got attached to it. Gen I and the only changes made were adjustments that could be un-adjusted if ne.ded (including the transfer port restriction).
Used it as a single shot 95% of the time. Know there wasn’t a problem with the mag. using the 13.4’s, which that rifle shot well.
Looking over a lot of old files...there were times in match tuned rifles (lets say 7gr. @ 600fps) when heavy weights earned less energy. Even one there I stuck an Eun Jin in a tight bore and got a velocity reading of “0”.
Springers, at least for me, have been closer to “even” energy. Velocity did decrease enough with weight to not earn more energy. Didn’t push them to the extremely heavy pellets.
Co2 rifles (excluding one match rifle) pretty well follow the PCP trend: more energy with weight.
Pretty much up to what a PCP shooter wants to do….lite and faster or heavy and slower. Can’t predict what the rifle will shoot best,just have to shoot it and see.
The 10.3's and 13.4's fit the mags fine with room to spare.
The 13.4's don't group as well as the 10.3's in my old Gen1's
Mine are tuned to shoot the 10.3's at around 905 so the 13.4's are slower.
I have plenty of room to shoot the 13.4's that fast also but I couldn't tell you if it would help the grouping.
Did the Gen 1 have transfer port tuning? If so any tuning tips? How is your hammer adjusted? That is exactly where I want to be with 10 grain pellets.
Good stuff. TIA.
It does have an adjustable transfer port.
The striker is all the way out for the longest stroke of the hammer.
The factory hammer spring is all the way in until it "clicks" or just off the threads then back about 3 turns so there is still some adjustment.
Then the transfer port screw is adjusted until I have it really close to 900 fps.
By choking it down with the transfer port screw it flattens my shot curve out.
The sweet spot for filling is 2600 psi and it gets 30 good shots at around 12 fps extream spread.
That tune has been very reliable for me and I won my first ever match with it at the Cajun spring Classic about 4 years ago.
I will say it's very fussy about hitting your max fill pressure pretty close. If you over fill it will shoot the first shots a little slow and if you under fill it will run low on air before you get your 30.
I would always mark my score card at what lane I needed to refill for the next 30 shots.
I kept that tune in that gun for 3 years and it never failed me no matter if it was 60 degrees or 90.
Anyway keep me posted if you can. Always interested if my advise gives others the same results
I did a little testing of the Marauder .177. This was an inexpensive Gen3 refurb; I don't remember from which dealer.
The state of tune as delivered was: transfer port ~1 2/3 turns out from closed and ¼ turn of preload on the hammer spring. The hammer stroke was 2 turns in from fully backed-out so I left it alone. This tune delivered a surprising 18+ ft lbs of energy sending 10.6 Barracuda at 880 fps. SFP 2800+ PSI, EFP ~2050 PSI:
I screwed the port in all the way and backed it out the numbers of turns I thought it was set at as delivered but felt the port restrictor turned a little more when I snugged the brass capping screw that covers it. The velocity seems to corroborate this: SFP 3000 PSI EFP 2200 PSI:
I backed the transfer port restrictor out to 2 turns from bottom, and yet again, I feel the port restrictor turned ~1/4 turn when snugging the capping screw so I called it 1 ¾ turns CCW from bottom. I preloaded the hammer 1 ½ turns, filled to 2900+ PSI and this was the result:
I stopped right away because I didn't want to run that hot; being surprised that such a small adjustment made such a big difference.
I backed the hammer preload off to 1 full turn, left the port at ~ 1 ¾ and shot this. SFP 2900+. after 20 FP 2400, EFP I think was 2200 but I wasn't paying close attention.
I had some frustrations along the way and was making notes “back of the envelope on the kitchen table” so point out any discrepancies and I'll try to figure them out. This is where I'll leave it until I get heavier pellets.
Benjamin · Marauder