Finally got a break in the weather and wanted to take advantage of it. I've been testing a new gun and this would be a perfect chance to carry it afield on a shoot. More on that gun though at a later date. The guns were: Dave G.-RAVEN .177, a Logun Solo .20 and a Rapid .25. I would spend the first half of my hunting day sighting-in. The Raven produced 2 different .660" and .700" CTC groups using the JSB Heavies. The Solo .20 produced two .5" plus CTC groups. The Rapid came in making a .393" CTC 5-shot group.
Raven .177 cal:
Solo .20 cal:
Rapid .25 cal:
Sighting in my Rapid .25 cal:
After the sight-in, it was time to hunt. My longest shot of the day came from the Rapid 25 and it was a 93 yard head shot. Nothing more satisfying than making a connecting shot at that distance with an airgun. I managed to make shots from about 40 yards out to 93 yrds and got roughly a dozen squirrels.
After hearing of a few people getting the Shoebox upgrade and being pleasantly surprised at how much quieter it was, I reviewed Tom Kaye's website (www.shoeboxcompressor.com) and read up on the "UPGRADE" parts. Harder steel pistons and a belt drive system (quiet and low maintenance) sounds pretty good to me as BETTER is always a good thing especially when it comes to things such as high usage compressors. So I ordered the belt drive system and the hardened steel pistons.
After my parts came in, I logged onto my computer and started reviewing Tom's DIY videos on the Shoebox website. I had easily memorized the whole process and decided to go down in the garage with new parts in hand and do the installation. I also decided to video the process as, well, IT'S JUST WHAT I DO...lol. It's also just to show how easy the upgrade is and its something I really had fun doing. I love taking things apart and putting them back together especially if I'm making it BETTER....lol.
High and Low pressure Tool Steel Pistons:
Belt Drive system:
ShoeBox unit with new parts installed:
BEFORE INSTALLING PARTS ON THE SHOEBOX:
I can't stress enough (from all that I've learned of the shoebox unit) to watch Tom's DIY videos before any tear down (rebuild) or upgrade is done to your personal Shoebox. The MAIN reason being is that the unit (shoebox) must go back together PRECISELY as to not cause leaks or brand new parts to be ruined or accelerated wear on parts or, the unit to not compress properly if at all into your SCBA/SCUBA tanks. Upgrading/Rebuilding the Shoebox is not hard at all and it's fun, but, care must be given when tearing down and installing new parts.
The video:
My take:
I am very impressed with the upgrade parts AND the Shoebox. I 1st must thank Tom Kaye for making the Shoebox. It works, it's affordable, it's rebuildable, and it's compact and light. It also gives the owner the freedom of NOT having to rely on a dive shop which can be far away and expensive (in more ways than one) and possibly not fill your tank full which I have experienced quite a few times. The new belt drive system is waaaaayyyyyy more quiet than the chain drive and it's cleaner. You don't have to worry about lubing a chain anymore and getting lube all over the units interior. And the hardened pistons should provide a lot more life to the pistons which is a super PLUS. Since the upgrade, the one thing I noticed is that when your shop compressor is ON and running, you CAN NOT HEAR the Shoebox running until the shop compressor turns off..........lol! Wasn't that way with the chain drive unit installed.
FYI: Just a little heads up. If you decide to do the upgrade, while you have unit apart, NOW would be the time to do a rebuild on the cylinders (white o-rings and piston sleeves) if you've had some previous run time (a lot) on the unit.
Thought long and hard about having my Theoben Rapids barrel shortened. After installing the new stock, the gun gained some length. It barrel fit in its case now and something had to give. Making the gun shorter and making it less front heavy by removing length from the barrel had become, "THE WAY TO GO". So off to my gunsmith Ernie over on Airgun Advise for a little "trim".
As expected, there was a FPS loss with the barrel trimmed down. The gun was set up to push JSB Kings at 940 FPS and now with the 3"s removed, velocity is around 910 FPS. I have yet to RE-TUNE the gun as I wanted to see if the gun/barrel would remain as accurate with the barrel shortened at the current power setting. It still shoots great but has lost just a tad of the accuracy but again, that's expected now as the FPS has changed. So again, more tuning and testing to come. But, I was able to still smack eggs at 100 yards while placing the eggs or their sides instead of standing them up. Much smaller target that way......lol.
With the switch of the stock and a shorter barrel and also the smaller 400cc bottle, the gun is no longer front heavy and is more balanced.
The rifle before the barrel trim:
My Rapid wearing its shorter barrel:
Here is a pic of the 3" of barrel removed:
Here is a pic of the barrels new OVAL port that Ernie machined:
Here is a pic of my barrel and my buddies barrel after Ernie worked his magic:
1st group shot with JSB Kings and the shorter barrel at 50 yards. The target dots are exactly 5/8" and the 1st shot pushed it through the Styrofoam plate:
