I'm still messing with this Quest and I've been trying to de tune it a bit. I successfully dropped the velocity from 950fps to 860fps with 7.9g cphp's. The groups shrank and I figured I'd try to drop it to about an even 800. Well, I decided not to ruin a perfectly good E3650 and chopped 5 coils out of a stock crosman spring. I mashed the last two coils with a torch and re finished the end. Hard telling if the spring will crack, time will tell. I fitted a new tivar guide and replaced my hollowed brass top hat with a fitted steel one. I gave it a little magic Macarri snot and put it back together. I didn't even need a spring compressor this time. Just a bit of thumb pressure and everything lined up. Now the damn thing is hitting 904fps. Can one of you professors explain why a spring with little to no preload is outperforming one that had about a full 2 inches of preload? I haven't had a chance to go out and shoot any real distance, but it seems to be a little less hold sensitive now. I shot it at 11 yards and put three through one little jagged hole. I know I need a good seal it this thing and plan on getting an apex for it eventually. The extreme spread is around 25fps over 10 shots. I'm going to go out and put about 100 rounds through it and see if it really made a difference.

Sounds like your getting a tad of dieseling. How much weight difference is in the 2 top hats?

with the e3650 you should shoot 10.6 grain kodiak heavy match at 750 fps.
rifle detuned problem solved.
imo 7.9 is to light to be accurate, i don't see reliable accuracy until i'm at 8.6 grain or heavier.
i don't know why your stock spring shoots faster than the other but i would sure like to know.

I haven't tried the kodiaks, but with the crosman heavies they were all over the place. I went from 1" groups to 3" groups with those. The RWS superdomes 8.4g shot the best with the de-tuned E3650, but still not tight enough. After I stuck the crosman spring in, Gamo Hunters did the best. I was getting one hole to clover leaf groups at 11yards (inside). I took it outside and was hitting my 30 yard spinners better than I ever have with this thing. Still not up to par with any of my other rifles though. Craig, how much life do you get out of a non magnum spring with those heavies? Everything I have read says stay away from them except for PCP and CO2. I don't know why the shorty crosman spring has more ass than the other, but, I imagine if I were to stick a full length crosman spring in it, it would probably throw the 7.9's well over 1000fps. As far as dieseling goes, maybe, maybe not. I haven't seen any smoke and it hasn't cracked the sound barrier. I know a new, non crosman seal, would probably help. I just have to order one sometime and give it a try. I am expecting too much from this rifle I guess.

This rifle has greatly improved since the day I bought it. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it unless I threw it at the target. I've done everything to it besides stick a new seal in it. It is one of my smoother cocking rifles, it has a good trigger, it shoulders well and it's light. I just can't figure out how to get nice tight groups out of it. Are half dollar sized groups the best I can expect out of this thing at 30 yards?

the e3650 spring is beefier than stock.
so i have nearly 1000 heavy rounds (8.80 gr to 11.5 gr) thru it with no problems so far.
and another 2000 or so lighter rounds.
i shoot 7.0 gr to 8.0 gr at or near 950 to 1000 fps with very little accuracy.
as the lead gets heavier it slows down, accuracy gets better.
at least in my case.
and i have CPH's, they suck for me.

Ralphie..take a good hard look at your hinge system.wink.

I'll give the kodiaks a shot next time I order pellets. Couldn't hurt.

i'm tellin ya, heavier pellets.
i had a headache by the time i figured it out.

Paul, I re-did the hinge and copied yours. The only difference is that I used a steel screw instead of a brass one. There doesn't seem to be any noticible slop in it. I have the screw just tight enough that the barrel won't fall on it's own after it's cocked. It doesn't have any excessive friction at all. The screw is loc-tited and hasn't budged since the mod. The o-ring doesn't show signs of blow by either. IDK.

checkk this out...,repeat lock up.every time.

I'll give it a go next time I drag it out of the safe. Thanks for the input guys. You thinking I need a heavier spring behind the chisel?

milbro clipper 9.0
beeman crow mag 8.80
beeman field target special 9.20
beeman ram jet 9.80
beeman kodiak match 10.60
rws super mag 9.3

Ralph, if you don't want to go 10.6 then here are some others.

Discovery has those 10.5 grain HP's, that might slow it down if that's what your still looking for. Ed

hi Ed,
how's the hunting been?

Are half dollar sized groups the best I can expect out of this thing at 30 yards?

two flyers from top group were sighting in
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p69/azgunner0331/25ydgroups.jpg
Quest 1k home tune, front rested and i suck at shooting

I tried some of my dad's pellets when I was out at his place. It was grouping very well with the RWS hobbies and Meisterkugelns. I tried to pick some up on the way home, but Cabela's was out. I ended up with a tin of Gamo match (another wadcutter type pellet) and it seemed to like these too. I've never had any luck at a distance with wadcutter style pellets, but, I think I may give it a try when it warms up some. I have some heavies on order, but I'm not allowed to touch them until Christmas. Only time will tell.