Break Barrel, Air Rifle Accuracy

My boy has a Stoeger X20 Suppressor 0.177 caliber, break barrel, air rifle that has a 4 x 32 power scope. It’s listed at a maximum speed of 1200 fps. Shooting at a distance of about 25-30 yards from a bench, we’re only able to put the pellets in about a 5″-6″ diameter circle. We’ve tried using a couple of different pellets but that’s about the best accuracy we can get. I’m pretty convinced it’s the variability in the pellets or perhaps the barrel isn’t seating in exactly the same spot relative to the scope. Because the scope isn’t mounted on the barrel itself, it seems like this could be a problem. I’ve read on some on-line forums where guys replace plastic washers with brass washers. I’m hoping someone has a simpler way to improve the accuracy… perhaps a special pellet type. I need the pellets to have enough energy to kill rabbits out to 30 yards.

Can we improve our groupings or is that about the best we can expect from this air rifle?

Thanks,

Boone

Keep in mind that the 1200 FPS figure is usually using light alloy pellets. Because these pellets are lighter than standard lead pellets, they are faster, but they neither hold their downrange energy as well, nor do they do well in any kind of breeze. Using standard lead pellets, from what I’ve read, most 1200 fps rifles will do 800-900 fps at the muzzle. Some a bit faster, some slower.

You’re asking a lot of any air rifle and especially a .177 to shoot 30 yards and still be able to take out a rabbit. 30 yards is a very long shot for all but the most powerful for air rifles (think $$$$). With 900 FPS, you’re likely looking at 500-600 fps at 20 yards and even less at 30.

I think a better test would be to look at your accuracy at 10 yards and see how each pellet performs. If it’s anything more than quarter sized groups at this distance off of a bench with a good rest, then I’d be looking at the scope and the mounting setup.

Grouse

Hi Boone,

Had similar results. I dumped the scope and shot through the fixed sights. At 20-30 yards, the shots were consistently more accurate. With a few tweeks, pretty much dead on.

-J.

I’d first suggest you google up some air rifle forums. There is a ton of good info out there specifically for air guns.
Yes you should be able to get much better groups than you are getting. Is this a new rifle? Most stock airguns need an extended break-in (think 500 to 1500 shots) before they start getting good and consistent grouping.

There is nothing wrong with a receiver mounted scope on a break barrel gun. Unless the machining is sub-par to begin with.

My daughter has a daisy .177 BB/pellet.

First got it I tried scoping it in(with cheapo one they provide) with BBs, huge mistake. Was ready to throw it away.

Switched to the pellets they provided and was better but still maddening. Then took a look at the pellets closely and man they are junk. Half of em deformed, the other half acceptable for maybe 10yd shots.

We went and bought some really nice ones, orange pointy plastic tips with lead body, dead on. My daughter is way better shot than me, never did any true tests, but she can plink a pop can (seems close to your specs) every time out to 30 yds.

Farthest shot was close to 40yds, my dad and me had to pay up on that one, went in and out of beer can if that helps.

I had similar issues with my air rifle. I did 2 things that drastically improved accuracy. First, I ditched the cheap scope that came with the gun. If you want a scope, research some air rifle forums and get a good one. Just make sure its designed for springer air guns. I just use the adjustable open sights that came with it and am much more accurate than with the cheap scope. Second, get some good pellets. I settled on Beeman Kodiak Match Extra Heavy Pellets. Being 10.2 gr., you are not going to see 1200 fps or anything close to that, but you will gain accuracy and knock down power. These pellets are domed and not the “field points”. The pointed pellets are the worst for accuracy, especially in any wind. Domed or wadcutter pellets are going to be your most accurate.

Check out this guy on Youtube. He has a lot of informative videos on air rifles. He also has a lot of pretty entertaining videos on pest control.

https://www.youtube.com/user/EdgunUSA

If it is new and cracking loud when you fire, it is dieseling and that does not help accuracy at all.

Springers are hard to shoot. You need mad good follow through and the forearm needs to rest on your cradled hand. If you grip it, it does not work well at all.

Scope mounts need to be cleaned and lock tite’d in place.

I had better luck with jsb pellets and crosman hollow points. You probably want the heavier ones towards 10 grains or so. If you shot the really light ones that could really appraoch the speed of sound, they would be super inaccurate. Wadcutters at a distance are also super inaccurate even though they may do well up close.

Power is not an issue in a bunny’s soft head. You’ve got power as far as you can hit them with things working well.

Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions. I’ll order some of those Beeman Kodiak Match pellets. I’ve never owned a rifle and don’t know anything about scopes but the scope does seem to be decent quality. It lets in enough light to see the target in low light conditions. I would take the scope off but this gun doesn’t come with open sights. And my boy says the scope is his favorite thing and the gun looks cool to him.

We’ve only shoot about 250 pellets through the gun so I guess we’re still in the break-in period. And I did notice some smoke coming out the barrel when we fired it and I understand that’s referred to as dieseling. I also checked the scope mounts and found that the front one was very loose. I’ll have to take Josh’s advice and get some Lock-Tite. I think that looseness alone could account for much of the variability we’ve been seeing.

It might be a few weeks before we get to shoot it again but I’ll report back and let you know how much we were able to improve our accuracy using all your advice.

Thanks,

Boone

I forgot, also lock tite the stock screws. When they wiggle around, everything is bad. They will wiggle.

Thanks for everyone’s help. I’m happy to report back with our results. My boy was able to shoot the following grouping of four pellets from about 25 yards shooting off a bench with the forearm cradled in a shooting bag rest. I placed a quarter in the photo for reference. I was able to get a similar grouping. We still get an occasional strange shot that’s way off the mark but about 80% are in tight groupings. Here’s what we did to improve our consistency.
1.) Shot the Beeman Kodiak Match Extra Heavy pellets. I think they’re about 10.65 grains and domed shaped and look real uniform. I bought 300 on-line for about $15 delivered.
2.) Lock-Tited down all the scope and barrel screws with medium power, blue Lock-Tite.
3.) Shot off a shooting bag rest.
4.) As Iowa_Josh stated, how you hold the gun seems very critical. We let the gun sit loose in the saddle of the shooting bag. I think our occasion fliers may be due to improperly gripping the gun. Our fliers still hit the paper plate but they typically tend to be about 3-4 inches low.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.

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boone wrote:

Thanks for everyone’s help. I’m happy to report back with our results. My boy was able to shoot the following grouping of four pellets from about 25 yards shooting off a bench with the forearm cradled in a shooting bag rest. I placed a quarter in the photo for reference. I was able to get a similar grouping. We still get an occasional strange shot that’s way off the mark but about 80% are in tight groupings. Here’s what we did to improve our consistency.
1.) Shot the Beeman Kodiak Match Extra Heavy pellets. I think they’re about 10.65 grains and domed shaped and look real uniform. I bought 300 on-line for about $15 delivered.
2.) Lock-Tited down all the scope and barrel screws with medium power, blue Lock-Tite.
3.) Shot off a shooting bag rest.
4.) As Iowa_Josh stated, how you hold the gun seems very critical. We let the gun sit loose in the saddle of the shooting bag. I think our occasion fliers may be due to improperly gripping the gun. Our fliers still hit the paper plate but they typically tend to be about 3-4 inches low.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.

I can hit a practice golf ball at 30 yards just about all the time.177 cal red cone tipped pellets, whisper 1300 break open rifle, and a big game herters scope. Throw a cheap air rifle scope away and put on a decent one. rabbits, squirrels no problem.

I’ve got a match grade daisy that can shoot out a 1 in sticker target at 30 ft. Very picky about the pellets it does it with.
I know it’s counter productive to your intended use but the velocity doesn’t help you any.