Took some time out to test my Rapids newly "NEUTERED" barrel. Haven't had much shooting time with her yet as the winds/weather does not cooperate very much. The SANTA ANA winds are in effect here in Cali. But I did manage to at least sight her in and get a group and do some quick blasting with the shorter barrel installed.

Ernie over on Airgun Advise did the work for me and he removed right at 3" from the stock 24" barrel. Since installing his awesomely crafted laminate stock, it added some length to an already long gun. And I've wanted to chop the barrel down for a while now so...........what better time.

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.

Here is a pic of the gun with the standard 24" barrel:
[i39.photobucket.com]

Here is a pic of the 3" of barrel removed:
[i39.photobucket.com]

Here is a pic of my barrel and my buddies barrel after Ernie worked his magic:
[i39.photobucket.com]

Here is a pic of the barrels new OVAL port that Ernie machined:
[i39.photobucket.com]

My Rapid wearing its shorter barrel:
[i39.photobucket.com]
[i39.photobucket.com]
[i39.photobucket.com]

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:
[i39.photobucket.com]


VIDEO: A short range session
[www.youtube.com]

Stay TUNED!!
Tofazfou

Hi Faz,

I would hope he cut the BREECH end. I'd never mess with that muzzle tightness, choke, crown. If it was choked before, three inches would remove that completely.

Gary

Hi Tofaz,

Excellent video and superb shooting! I loved the shooting sequence showing you and the targets exploding on the same screen. You do have a great rifle pellet combo there, in my humble opinion there is not much room for improvement.

Thanks for sharing.

Julio

Tofaz, nice work as usual!
Cheers
Neil

Great shooting and great video work Ced! Thanks for sharing here. The video certainly proves you didn't make a big mistake modding the Rapid. That was a gutsy call considering how it has always shot for you. Oh, I noticed the wind was pretty significant, it was blowing the scrub brush around a good bit...great shooting!

GB, oh yeah man. My smith knows his stuff man....lol. Naw, its Ernie over on Airgun Advise and he is like the RAPID Maestro (teacher/master) machining guru. But yes, the only way is on the breech end on these choked barrels.

Julio, thanx man. My last sequence with the eggs at 100 yards was in slow mo at 210 fps and the zoom was supposed to be closer in so it would look like the egg matter was about to hit you....lol. But its really hard sometimes to see that tiny camera screen when the sun is out. But yeah, that feature in most editing programs is PIP or Picture in Picture and just requires 2 camera setups. It's one of my favorites also.

Neil, thank you sir. Much appreciated!

Jerry, of course man. All the cool stuff has got to come here of course. And YES, i would be lying if i didnt say i was SCARED to make the final decision to do it. Even though i had confidence in my barrel and its ability, if it got worse, i just woulda cried...lol. Nah, lots of folks chop off the barrels on their Rapids with great success. Tested it up to full power tonight and it threw the JSB's at 996-998 fps over 5 shots. So the speed adjustment is still there the way i originally set it up.

Now Cedric,

I know I've been on the roof for awhile now ... but.

I look at these pics and I see a whole desert in front of you. How did you know you needed three more inches of room again? ;?)

Seriously, what clicked (or snapped) haha ... that made you decide this was required? I honestly want to understand. Seems it turned out fine. Quite a bit O work to trim it back, and a huge risk. And ... how did you know you didn't need four inches off? I don't get out much, and don't know these things. You know I'm smiling ... but I do always wonder how these popular modifications become a desired trait.

Thanks for sharing.

Gary

Gary,

Thats easy enough to answer.

The trim is an old idea cause of how long the OEM gun is (the entire gun). The gun comes with a 24" barrel that has about a 7" LDC on it. So the 24" barrel looks more like a 28-30" with the LDC on it. Trimming a barrel a few inches especially when its already a 24 or even a 26-28" will not affect accuracy. But that's OVERALL OBTAINABLE accuracy. Once cut though, i expect things to be a little difference which is also another reason why i choose only 3" and not like 6-7". Thinking like a powder burner guy was another rational. Like, if i had a 308 Winchester with a 24" OEM barrel and i wanted to trim the barrel but still shoot to 600 yards, i would not have wanted it any shorter than about 21-22". Once you move down to about 16", you start loosing a WHOLE LOT!

The other deal breaker was the fact that i added that stock. It has a Morgan Adjustable butt pad on it which i wanted installed and the buttpad itself adds another 1"+ of length. The stock too is just a tad bit longer also as i have LONG ARMS. So with all the extra length on the rear, i needed to trim down some. The gun also would no longer fit in its case which was the 3rd and final decider to do it.

The fact that my gun shot at 940 fps on its lowest power setting with a 24" barrel gave me comfort. i could turn it up to OVER 1000 fps and this is with the SOFT spring....lol. I have a custom stiff spring from it which would put me into the 1100 fps range but, i don't need or use that spring. So the confidence in retaining speed/power also aided in my decision.

Right now with the 20.5" barrel, i can go as low as 910 fps and up to 996.7 fps with JSB Kings. And that's great for a 25 cal airgun with 25-30 gr pellets.

I like the way you think GB. Really?!

That is one nice looking rifle. Shoot's as good as it look's..

Thanx Florida

looks smart .