AIRGUN MAINTENANCE: Fixing Dragon Slayer 454 leak

Every once in a while we have to stop shooting so much and actually do some much deserved "MAINTENANCE" on our hardware (airguns).....lol.  I had been wanting to shoot my tried and true Dragon Slayer 454 for some time now and i finally got around to ordering some 150 gr. EPP/UG's as recommended by my buddy Chris Butcher for it to test and while i waited on those to come in, i located the case with the Slayer in it and wanted to clean the barrel and to check for any leaks.  Its probably been over a year since i last shot it and no time like the present to check the gun out and prepare it for it's upcoming outing.  Thank God i did cause upon opening the case, i found the guns reservoir to be empty.

Before trying to fix the gun, i right then and there decided that i wanted to also install a NEW FILL NIPPLE from Leroy Roduner at BGMF Airguns.com to make filling the gun much more simple.  His part not only takes away the leaky and horrible fill probe that comes with the gun but it also came with a screw on cap to keep out dust and other things that would otherwise clog up the fill port while filling the gun while outdoors.  A very nice feature to say the least and a very well made part.  Getting rid of fill probes is so nice....lol.

Upon filling the gun again then straining off the air inside the fill whip line, i could hear the DS (Dragon Slayer) leaking back through the OEM fill port.  This is a very common problem with the Slayer line of Korean guns.  No problem though as i had done this before.  So now i drain the air tube by shooting the remainder of the air out of the tube.  I then remove the fill housing from the gun and begin to disassemble it to get to the check valve.  Once apart, i used denatured alcohol on the inside to remove any oil/debris and to in general clean the check valve seat.  I then remove the check valve seal and i visibly see wear on the face of that seal so i decided that flipping it over would be the "QUICK FIX".  And if it leaked still, i could try and order the part through Pyramid air or have one made.

I then decide that while the gauge/fill port assembly was apart, i might as well replace the o-rings on the assembly as well as on the opposite end of the air tube as well.  My profession has taught me that when something like RUBBER (orings) has been under pressure for years then all of a sudden that vessel looses all pressure, those orings should be replaced before putting the item in question (guns airtube) back together.  Rubber changes when its been under extreme pressure and heat and tend to become harders and more brittle.  So change it is.

While the air tube was off, i decided to go ahead and also remove the valve stem and attempt to clean the valve seat with alcohol also.  I also replace the o-rings on the bolt probe as, well, i thought, WHY NOT...lol.  This would be all the maintenance that i performed on the gun and this should put it back in service for at least the next couple of years if not longer.  These fixes/preventative maintenance items are reasonably easy and inexpensive as they only cost you the price of o-rings and a little time.  Nothing last forever and these parts are under enormous stress and are necessary at times when you own PCP's.  As a matter of fact, seals are part of every major type of airgun as seals are the KEY when storing and capturing and expelling high pressure air.  Springers, PCP's, Pump Pneumatics, and CO2 guns all have them and should be replaced when worn.

Fill port (OEM, BEFORE):

Fill nipple (LR, AFTER):

The gun as of now has been holding EXACT pressure for some time now (12 hours) which is a LOT longer than it was before i started the maintenance.  The LR male fill connector is a great addition and a very well made item.  It now makes my Dragon Slayer what i call STANDARD meaning that all i need to fill the gun is the female end of the fill hose.  No more fill probes and no more leaks.

STAY TUNED!!

New CAMO stock for my Theoben Rapid .25 (PIC HEAVY)

Not too much to say about this one except, I'M EXTREMELY HAPPY with this stock that Ernie Ohlsen (aka SWIFT 220) over on www.airgunadvise.com did for me.  He has done only a couple to a few stocks before and upon looking at the very first one that he did for himself, i knew i wanted him to make me one.  He gladly agreed to do a stock for me and my Rapid .25.  All that i had to do was to pick the wood that i wanted and send it to him and he would do the rest.  I choose a CAMO LAMINATE as my choice.  This gun IS and will remain a field hunter.  I purchased the laminate blank from Boyd's Gun Stocks and it is no longer offered with this particular color pattern.  The stock also comes with a black Morgan adjustable butt pad, swivel studs in the forearm as well as the butt stock, a quick fill dust cover complete with brass insert and a stock mounting screw with brass insert.  Ernie also included and installed brass inserts for the swivel studs also.  In the pictures below, you will see the inserts as well as more detail.  What an eye Ernie.  Details also include oval recesses on both sides of the forearm for you finger when shooting offhand, flared tip that contour along the air tank (bottle), high cheek rest, finger grooved pistol grip with the butt of the pistol grip widened, lots of room (just enough) in the thumb hole for the biggest thumbs around..lol, and the above mentioned inserts and trinkets.

Long Story shorter i would love to thank Ernie for doing such a great looking stock with a ton of character and detail and to also thank Dave G. for his recommendation...........

The stock UNFINISHED:

The stock FINISHED (Min-Wax Polyurethane):

Gun and Stock goodies:

Truck Bedliner Spray + Logun Solo stock =

Been wanting a sythetic stock for my Logun Solo for some years now but just could not justify the cost.  I actually love the lines of the factory solo stocks also plus it keeps the gun pretty light.  After reading some one elses post on truck bedliner sprays being applied to gun stocks, i was hooked.  It does give the factory stocks a bit more of an agressive look plus, i do like black on black on guns.  So why not i said, i'll do it.  I personally love it.  I like the feel and the look and i look forward to seeing it perform in the field.  And i forgot who i got the idea from but, THANK YOU!

Before light sanding:

After sanding:

After 2 coats...DONE!:

Stock on the gun:

Another fun day AG'nin (AirGunnin)

After toying with some ideas about DE-tuning my Logun Solo, i wanted to move the velocity down a bit to around 800 or so.  After doing so, i found the groups to be LESS THAN STELLAR or acceptable.  So then i decide to set the velocity at around 880-890 fps with Crosman Premiers and JSB Exacts in .20 cal.  I still have not come to a conclusion as to which pellet i like more, the CP's or the JSB's in this caliber so for now, i shoot them both.  They both have produced some stellar groups at different velocities.  More testing and more time behind the Solo's trigger will tell me which ONE pellet the gun likes.  But i know i prefer the heavier weight of the CP at 14.3 grs.  For the climate here in California, the heavier weight projectiles suite my cravings for longer shots while in windy conditions.  The .20 does get blown of course EASILY.  I was using 3 mil dots of windage to shoot a couple of balloons at 100 yards.  I attached a small video below of me popping those 2 balloons (nothing fancy).

My usual morning started off with setting up to sight in.  The Solo would be up first as the winds were i shoot usually don't start blowing till around 8'ish.  Now would be a great time to start with the smaller and lighter caliber.  Since moving the velocity to 880-890 in my garage, this would be the first group from the gun at that FPS range.  I also had previously cleaned the barrel.  Aside from the CP's and JSB's, the Dynamic SPC-5 pellets at 12 grains were also brought along for testing.  These pellets to date seem to only like high speed.  i've pushed them around 1000 FPS and they perfom well but not stellar.  Shooting them at 890+ fps would prove interesting.  What i also want to do from here on out when i post a GROUP picture of any of my daily targets, i want to show the first group with the gun instead of a hand picked on.  Random groups like these ones are to me what a normal group looks like.  Its not the best of 10-15 groups from the day, these pics are the FIRST 2 at about 7:45 am.  Here are the results:

 My .20 cal Logun Solo:

Groups with the 14.3 gr Crosman Premiers:

Group w/13.5 gr JSB Exacts.  Again, the DYNAMICS were no good in the solo:

A little more fine tuning and i think i will keep it there.  880-890 FPS seems to be a good place for this gun and what i wanna do with it.  She also shoots this accurtely at 1000 fps with CP's but, i wanted to make this gun a lot more conservative with air.  Even though i've shot it numerous times at 100 yards, i will call 75 yards MAX on small game for this gun at this setting.  I'm good with that.

After plinking and playing with the Solo, i broke out the Rapid .25 and tried some 100 yard groups with the Benji domes and the the Kings.  Both pellets shot very well to say the least.  I really could use either slug but, i guess i'm just a die hard JSB man.  I have a bunch of those and i was given about 100 Benji Domes so, that's good as i don't have to buy more pellets.  Here is a 55 yard group from last month with the domes and kings.  Again, these groups were shot FIRST.  No best of the day groups but, pulled the gun out and simply shot these groups:

I then pull out my Corsair and JH 457 and i attempt to sight them in at 100 yards.  Unfortunately it did not go so well as i forgot my Corsair bullets (don't ask).........ARGGGGGHHHH! and i only found about 20 in the bottom of my ammo box and the Haley needed some fine tuning as i've been playing with trying to make the gun more efficient.  I think I'm headed in the right direction with the Haley but i will see come this weekend when i can shoot it again.  Well, these things happen so i then decide to put up the big bores but not before i blasted another 2 water balloons at 100 yards with the Haley.  This gun is a beast and is very accurate.  Time for a group photo of what i brought out for the day.  The picture explains it all:

After packing up the hardware...lol.  I head to one of my ground squirrel spots to let the ole trusty Rapid .25 stretch her legs.  It had become too windy to break out my LS.20 which is the gun i had planned to primarily hunt with on this day.  I took 3 ground squirrels and 2 were at 75 yards and one was at 68 yards.  One of the 75 yard shots had to be made in the heart while shooting just under a branch that was half blocking the squirrels head and body.  When i say my Rapid .25 is a Surgical Scalpel, i'm not exaggerating in the slightest.  Today was a good day for the Rapid .25 and the JSB Kings:

 

Here is a lil fella i appropriately named WOODY as he kept flying next to me to get a look.  Must have been a FEMALE bird....lol.  So i shot her too...........WITH MY CAMERA:

Despite the big bore issues, this day like no other was thoroughly enjoyable as any day in the field no matter the outcome is better than any day in the office.  Air guns are truly a BLAST.

3 gun jack rabbit hunting

Sunrise @ 6:10 am

While it's been hot not only across the country but, in Cali as well, i've been holding off on my usual once a week hunts/shoots.  I had been in constant talks with my NEW buddy RJ and he asked me if i wouldn't mind looking at his 2240 (RJ did all the work).  I agreed as this would keep me busy until i could get out and hunt again.  Well after some playing around with his gun and numerous phone conversations, i gave him the numbers he wanted and he gave me permission to keep the gun for a while but asked me to take the gun out with me the next time i go hunting to field test it.  I easily agreed as i had a couple guns i wanted to play around with when that day happened.  I had actually planned on leaving my big bores at home this time and taking only a couple of my small bores.  The guns would be my CrosMods 22, my Rapid 25 and RJ's 24" 2240.

Sight-In

2240:  After arriving at my locale i pulled out RJ's gun, topped it off to 3000 psi, set up the target stand and started to sight her in at about 35 yards.  I would soon find out that the red dot scope had just enough battery life in it to get me 2 handfuls of sight in shots and very little hunting shots if any so i had to use the scope sparingly if that makes any sense.  I managed to get about 12 shots on paper and dead center before i noticed the red dot light fading.  I turned the scope off and put the 2240 aside as i had seen enough to be satisfied with the groups and POI.

CrosMods:  Up next was the CD22 or CrosMods Discovery 22.  After setting the target stand at 50 yards, it was time to check zero.  Shots 1-3 were just a tad right and high.  A couple clicks down and a few over left brought the POI dead center and a tad high.  That was good enough for me adjustment wise.  The next 5 shots went into a 1" group and that's okay cause believe it or not, this gun is still in the testing phase and i don't expect "GREATNESS" from the stock 22 Disco barrel (please, no negative comments about that statement).  I would then shoot another 20 shots + or - at various reactive targets and objects located on the desert floor.   The CD was shooting well.  This gun is turning out to be quite the performer.

Rapid 25:  Well, what can i say about the Rapid.  A LOT actually..lol.  Next was time to sight in the R25 and the pellets of choice for the day would be the JSB Kings.  After replacing a few targets with fresh ones and topping the tank off to 3200 psi and loading my 3 mags full of JSB Kings, i began to sight in.  The guns zero was off a bit as the last time i shot it, it was in windy conditions.  As usual though, once sighted in, the gun simply drove tacks.  As it was getting really warm and i was happy with my groups and POI on target, it was time to hunt some Jacks.

The HUNT:
2240 @ 900 FPS w/16 gr JSB Predators
The 1st rabbit of the day came shortly after i started my walk of the desert terrain.  I spotting this rabbit at 52 ranged yards and snuck to with in 37 yards of him.  I used the shrubbery to my advantage by stalking the rabbit while behind Creosote bushes.  I could tell he was a tad spooked as when i walked over in a clearing to spot him, he was standing straight up with his ears perked and scanning for noise.  I quickly turned on the red dot scope as i knew i did not have enough battery life left and i had to make my first shot count.  I aimed the red dot center mass into the rabbits chest and sent the 16 gr Predator pellet on its way.  Direct hit and one rabbit in the bag.  The battery in the scope was done.

CD22 @ 865 FPS w/15.9 gr JSB Exacts
After walking back to my truck to grab my CrosMods 22 and put away the 2240, i spotted another jack giving me the opportune shot.  I passed knowing that i could barely see the red dot within the guns scope.  I hurried to the truck and grabbed the CD22 and a couple handful of Predator's and went back to the area where i had just spotted the other Jack.  Needless to say, he was gone.  I turned left and walked a good ways before i spotted another Jack under some desert brush hiding from the sun.  I ranged him and he was at exactly 48 yards.  Taking careful aim with the aide of my shooting stick, i lined up the cross hairs for a shoulder/heart shot and sent a Predator poly mag pellet his way at 865 FPS.  The rabbit lunged forward, twitched a couple times and expired.  I simply love the Predator pellets as they just perform so flawlessly.  Another rabbit in the bag and the second of the day.

R25 @ 940 FPS w/25.4 gr JSB Kings
As the time approached 11 am, the sun was starting to really heat up and i knew i would not be out very much longer.  I headed back to my truck to put the CM22 away and grab a bottle of water and fruit, and to grab the final gun of the day...the Rapid 25.  I always get excited when i hunt with and shoot my R25.  Its simply the most reliable and well built PCP i have or have ever had...period.  Since it was very hot, i decided to pick up from this location and drive to another locale as it would give me time to sit inside some much needed A/C.  After reaching my final destination, i grabbed the gun from its case, topped it off to 3200 psi and began my last walk.  I soon saw 2 jacks in the same area but by the time i set up to take a shot, they spooked and ran for the horizon.  I continued my walk opposite the direction the 2 jacks ran in and soon saw another jack slowly hopping behind some brush.  I guesstimate the brush to be about 75 yards away and decide to wait a bit to see if the jack would come from behind the bush.  I then ranged some dead debris next to the bush and it was at 68 yards.  As the jack hopped from behind the bush, he sat on his hind legs to see if i was still there.  I then raise my R25 and set it on the shooting stick and placed the 2nd lower mil-dot slightly below his ear and between eye and the ear.  The JSB Kings found its mark.  Jack #3 down.  I snap a couple of pics and move on.  By this time i'm super hot and i tell myself, 1 more and i'm done.  So off in the same direction for about 30 minutes and i decide to head back to the truck and call it a day.  I knew though, that i would see more jacks as i headed back.  Another 10 minute walk would provide 1 more spooked jack that ran and ran but it would also provide another jack quartering away from me at a ranged 58 yards.  His positioning would not only provide for a lung shot but would also provide the opportunity to see the penetration potential of the Kings as the pellet would also exit through the heart and chest.  I again sent the JSB Kings speeding on its way.  Upon impact, i could hear and see the pellet ricochet off in the distance.  It was a pass through from the right ribcage near the last rib up through the lung and out the chest.  Roughly 6.5 inches of travel with i'm sure, power to spare judging on the ricochet zing.

While i've owned a lot of airguns, but NOT ALL, the Theoben Rapid is just my go to gun and my favorite.  Every since i first shot my buddy's Rapid 25 i knew this was the gun and caliber for me.  And she has not let me down since.  While admittedly not being PERFECT from the factory, she has proven herself to be not only laser accurate but it's unique, powerful, reliable, well built, has a great history and following, highly tunable if need be, and has ton of nice features.  While i sing high praises about my Rapid, if you have another name brand of airgun and you hold it in such high regards as i do my Rapid, then rejoice in your guns qualities but don't preach its superiority.  There are MANY good airguns on the market today and just like our taste in them, individual expectations of airguns vary.

Stay Tuned