She arrived this morning and surprisingly was in really good shape. About 99% of rifles I've ordered from PA always arrived with obvious signs of bouncing around, but the Panther and foam blocks in the box was unscathed, even with the scope rings and riser mount packed with the rifle. The main shipping box was surprisingly in excellent shape as well, with no corner dings or gouges that I'm used to seeing from Fedex.

I'll tell ya - the out of box appearance of this rifle is supreme in comparison to others I've seen in its price range. The entire rifle had a light coat of oil on it and the bluing is perfect. The breech hole doesn't look so bad either. If I look careful enough (didn't measure) it looks a hair to the right - but it doesn't bother me at all. Then again it could just be the lighting and bevel playing tricks on my eyes.

I pulled a dozen patches through her 'til they came out clean and shot about 5 rounds through her. This thing has got a kick to it...a lot more than the .22 Panther I've shot before! I could hear the seal squeaking as I cocked it and figured it was the lack of any kind of lube inside. There was also a very slight twang - not anywhere near what the gamos/crosmans sound like, but it was there. I opened her up, added a thrust washer to the piston stem, lubed her up and put her back together. The squeaking went away as well as the twang. She still packs a huge punch though. The recoil is harsh and at 12 yards trash and shit goes flying out of my trap every time I fire into it. I eventually may want to tune her down a little but I wanna have her chronied first to be sure...

I didn't spend too much time shooting her (already had a few beers and am running low on ammo), but so far (I'm keeping my fingers crossed) she seems to like CHPs. If she does prefer those over everything else, this'll be my first rifle that likes cheap, easy to get pellets and I'm definitely keeping her. The droop mount makes it easy to scope her and it's nice and secure (no stop pins to worry about). The only thing is that it sits up a bit high but it should be perfect with a larger objective scope. The one that's on there is a Bushnell 4-12x40.

Congrats on the new shooter Jon.

looks good Jon.
panther fever runnin wild!

Congrats Jon! which drooper did you get? They sell the 20.5" and 17" droop compensators/30yards. I'm debating on getting one instead of milling the breech. The reason is that my barrel doesn't have droop, just the bore. I scoped it with one off of my TF89 and I couldn't crank it high enough to hit the bull at 10 yards. Still about 3 inches low, meaning it would be approximately 9 inches low at 30 yards with full up. BTW, if you get a chance to make a new delrin or tivar guide and a tophat for her, the twang will disappear. I'm really starting to like the way mine shoots.

I got the this one: http://pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/accessory.pl?accessory_id=2298

So far it seems to be doing fine. I haven't even adjusted the knobs on my optically centered scope after mounting it and shots are registering within 1-2" above and about 0.5" to the right of the bulls at 15 yards. I just got back from picking up a few tins of chps and will try to put a couple more hundred through her tomorrow...

One thing that stood out is that it's very front heavy. I initially tried shooting it balanced on a sand bag at the center of gravity (center of the checkering) but groups were all over the place. I then moved it to just in front of the tg, and things tightened up. Resting it there there makes it very front heavy to where it pushes up against my shooting hand pretty hard. I thought about adding some weight to the stock, but this thing is already pretty damn heavy.

I've found that the c.g. is pretty far forward too. I've had the best luck with groups with the open palm hold just about where you said you're resting yours. I also scoped mine with a cheap centerpoint 4x32 and shot some groups. For some reason, it was only shooting a hair to the right and about 1-1/2" low. This was with the scope optically centered. I may just try a regular one piece mount first and see how it shoots without the drooper. I tried my scope setup off my TF89 earlier today and it was shooting very low. After a bit of investigation, I realized that my TF has reverse droop and I had shimmed the front ring on it. That would explain why it behaved like that. If I get a chance tomorrow, I plan on taking out the shim and trying my luck again. Wish me luck. This thing is getting slicker everytime I fire it. I'm really starting to like this rifle.

This thing is kicking my ass. I just got through about 50 chps and 50 gamo hunters. It didn't like the hunters yesterday but now likes them. But it all depends on the hold - she seems pretty hold sensitive right now and I haven't pinpointed her sweet spot yet...

I took the one piece mount and scope off my CFX today and gave it the switcheroo. Mine got hold sensitive after scoping it. I had a hard time keeping 1/2" groups with the scope on it. After I took it off again, she settled back into the sweet spot. I really want to scope this rifle, but now I'm having second thoughts.

I was messing with this rifle most of yesterday and things are getting better. For me it seems like the power of the rifle is what's making it inconsistent for myself. Have you tried any heavy pellets Ralph? I don't have any but think she may shoot better with heavier pellets.

I also watched this episode by Paul Capello again: http://pyramydair.com/video/?video=agr-episode-4.flv

His method of holding it helped a lot, but I still believe she'll do much better with heavier pellets. I added a little more tar to the spring to dampen it some more, but that only helped a little and probably won't last long. I may soon have the spring swapped out for a shorter and less powerful one. I've read that people have lost some velocity with the macarri kits, but it resulted in a smoother and more accurate rifle.

This thing is shooting like a magnum rifle which is nice, but I'm just not used to it at all and prefer mid-high powered shooters...

Jon, we'll get her fixed up next weekend.

Sweeet! :banana075: