Wipiee!, new scope made all the difference.

Now as you may recall, I recently performed my first tear down and rebuild of a spring gun, any gun for that matter.  It was on my shadow, changing  a stock spring to a JM tarantula with custom guides/tophat and lube.  After the tune, I came off to a rough start.  Heavy dieseling, shroud not staying, no grouping whatsoever, but now everything seems to be fixed!!!  The dieseling is gone, I'm grouping wonderfully again, my shroud is staying put, and no more scope shift!!!

The dieseling went away after a few hundred shots, but for the grouping, I needed to do a bit of experimenting.  After a few hours of playing around, I finally discovered the hold sensitive spot had shifted, a lot.  Previously, the gun liked sitting on the spot where the front stock screws are, a lot farther forward than normally recommended, so thats what I first tried after the tune.  I thought maybe the new spring didn't like meisters, but eventually I figured out that the new gun likes being rested right in front of the trigger guard.  I was so attached to my forward rest, I didn't even think to rest it in the suggested position.  Well anyway, that fixed my groups from 15 yards.  They went from 1" to dime sized.  The shroud was fixed with the help of SDale, after a few attemps, I finally got it to stay by blue loc-titing it in to the base.  Now it feels steady as a rock (hope it stays that way).  But there was still the problem of scope shift.  Between sessions my POI would change, sometimes even during the same session.  I had no idea what the problem was, I just decided to try and live with it.  But yesterday, while I was shooting some targets with my newly discovered hold, the POI shifted about an inch.  I was sure I hadn't bumped the adjustment knobs or anything.  I decided enough was enough.  I went inside and swaped the rings and put on a 3-12x40 cheapo barska.  Barska claims the scope is air gun rated, but I wouldn't be too sure.  Anyway, now my POI is staying steady on target, so far.  Only been one day though >.<, but during my session today there was 0 change in POI.  

Shooting is fun again!  No more worrying about problems, and now I can actually hit my target.  I'm glad everything is back to normal, couldn't have done it without you guys!  Thanks for your help everyone, and happy shooting.

[Dave1899]

Glad to hear the 3-12x40 cheapo barska worked out for you.  I was looking at getting that same scope but couldn't find any reviews.  Guess I'll order one and give it a try on my Shadow 1000.

For $45, which I got it, used but only on a PCP, its good enough.  Reminds me of the 3-9-32 daisy scope, except this is AO.  The higher magnification gets a fair bit distorted, but it works which is important.

[gamo2hammerli]

So far I've only bought one "after-market" scope...a good one...a Banner 3-9X40mm IR AO to replace the scope that came with the air rifle.

All my other new air rifles (5 of them) have their original scopes...either Gamos, Crosmans and one Center Point. I'm wondering if those scopes are really that cheaply made.... DO THE CROSS-HAIRS MOVE AROUND? or what...so you can't have the same POI? Since it's still winter up here :p ....I haven't had the chance to shoot outside oftenat further distances.....so I can't really comment on how accurate those original scopes are.....