I'm finally done with my G1. I put her back last night with loctite in all the right places and tested her out this morning. Man, what a huge difference!

She initially shot out really well out of box, so I decided to keep all the stock internals for now. The first thing I did when awaiting my parts/supplies from JM was to hand make custom thrust washers for the barrel hinge area.

http://www.airgunone.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=2&pictureid=60

Each side of the hinge was a little different so I custom hand fitted each side individually.

I then buttoned the piston. The stock piston to compression tube fit was pretty tight as is and adding 3 buttons resulted in the bottom 2 getting sanded to almost nothing, so I used only 1 button at the 12:00 position. Plus, that's the only area I noticed some wear when I pulled the gun apart.

I roughed up the area with 400 grit paper, degresed the piston as well as the button and added one drop of non-gel loctite super glue to the button. I held it down for 30 seconds and left it overnight just to be sure.

I also made custom thrust washers for the tophat area, added a new piston seal from JM, did a complete debur, polished up the trigger assembly contact points, added tar to the spring and moly to all other metal to metal contact points and reassembled her. I added blue loctite to the barrel hinge bolt and let it dry overnight.

I shot a few unscoped test shots this morning, first off to make sure she cocked :p . She cocked nice and smooth, like glass. There no sound of the spring straining to twist (that gritty sound) and the piston rubbing at the rear. Firing behaviour is so smooth it surprised even my wife. She was in the office when I took a shot at my trap and she commented on how much more quieter it now is. It was just one solid thunk. No spring twang or anything. The trigger is much more better now too after polishing up all the engagement points. I can actually make out a 1st and 2nd stage. The first stage is pretty pronounced while the second is just a little creepy, but its still a hundred times better than it was.

I shot off a few more rounds to make sure, mounted the scope and am setting up now to test out her groups. I'll post an update with some photos of her groups once I'm through...

That's gitten her done! Just replacing those washers was probably a huge improvement.

Alright guys I'm gonna need some help. I started at 10 yards to make sure she was on paper, and she was grouping about 1/4". I then moved my target out to 20 yards and this is where things being to change. The first 5 shots or so were okay and I was still in the process of sighting in. After that, all shots just became a mess. Now it's to the point where there's absolutely no discernable shot pattern. A few would group an inch within each other, then a few would just shift 8 inches low, then a few would start shooting 3 inches high.

I moved my target back to 10 yards and no more discernable groups. I then moved it in to 15 feet and still the same problem.

All pellets I try do the same thing. I checked all mounts and things are secure (I'm very anal about securing my scope mounts and stock screws). I then thought that maybe it could be the breech seal. I checked it and it did seem a little low, so I shimmed it a good amount. I also checked my barrel hinge bolt. It hasn't moved (I had marked it prior to assembly). None of that worked...

The only thing I can think of right now is that my scope is shot (Leapers 4x32 AO). It's really hard to know since shots are now all over the friggin' place and if it were a loose mount somewhere, in my experience shots would at least start stringing.

Now I have to order another stinking scope to test since this is my only one. Any suggestions, maybe other things I can try? I'm all ears...

Sounds like the scope, Jon. Take the scope off and try the irons, if you still got them.

No irons on this one, but I removed the scope and did the best I can lining up using the top of the gun at 10 yards. I managed a 1" group. Now I'm pretty positive it's the damn scope. This just sucks moose balls; just when I thought I'm all good to go... :mad2:

I picked up a 3-9x40 Bushnell Sportsman at Wallyworld last night and did a quick sight in at 15 feet just to check on the groups. It's looking good. The wife is cleaning the house today so it'll be awhile before I can do a 20 and 30 yard report.

It's a non-ao scope, but it's factory set to 50 yards which shouldn't be too bad at lower magnifications. Speaking of ao, I read on a review of this scope somewhere that someone unscrewed the retainer ring from the objective end and moved the lens outward a little to adjust the parallax to around 25 yards. Anyone done this? Full range report coming up sometime today...

I'm still having the same problem. I tried 20 yards and the grouping initially started off okay, but after 3 or so rounds it just started going crazy. At 15 feet I had it hitting about 1" below my aimpoint and at 20 yards it started out about .5" higher which sounds close enough. I didn't bother zeroing but kept shooting. Now it's shooting all over the place, but about 6" low and I haven't touch anything. I reshimmed the breech seal but that didn't help. I don't know what to do now...I'm getting really pissed off at this gun...

Jon , how is the lock up? after the gun is cocked how much does it take to break the barrel.
i found one G1 that would break just a tiny bit just from setting it down on the rest.
make sure your pivot bolt is still tight, sometimes with these it only takes one cocking cycle to losen it.
is the barrel clean?

Yeah I pulled a few patches through yesterday to get excess junk out just in case that was the problem. Prior to doing the self tune, she shot perfectly. I'm going to pull her apart again right now and take a look around.

if she shot better before the tune then she may need a few shots thru er, see if she calms down abit.
switch your pellet selection as well, she may not shoot the same pellet the same as before the tune.

I feel like a total tard now. I pulled the stock off and the found that the hinge bolt worked its way loose. It didn't seem that way from the outside because it wasn't moving much at all, but enough to where it could move every time I fire. Hopefully this is the main problem. Turns out my custom washers are a bit too thick - to the point where even with blue loctite the force loosens the bolt after awhile. I stuck the stock washers back in for now to troubleshoot and will refit my custom washers later. Thanks!

good deal Jon,
if that pivot bolt becomes a problem brake out the red loc tite, just remember you may have to get er apart so a little will do.

I just shot about 50 rounds at 10 yards and things have tightened up quite a bit since I re-secured the hinge bolt. It's being a little unpredictable right now though, with some vertical/horizontal stringing (about 1-2 inches). After about 5-10 shots it would then clover a little high, then after another 5-10 shots it would clover about 3-4 inches low.

I'm thinking there may be a little barrel play but I don't see why there would be since prior to tuning her it was one hole groups all the way.

Another possibility I can think of is velocity changes. I don't have experience in this area nor do I have a chrony so I'm not sure about that one at all. What do you guys think about the high/low groupings every dozen or so shots? You think it's a barrel lockup issue? Can velocity change drastically after a tune and be irratic afterwards?

is it making loud noises or blowing any smoke?

Nope, no dieseling/detonating and the action is smoother than it was stock. I don't recall this rifle ever dieseling on me; at least not anything noticable...

i say keep shootin.
did you say you have a chrony?

I spent most of the morning and a couple hours this afternoon shooting...troubleshooting rather. There was 1 point in time when I had a really good group going (about 10 rounds), like the pre-tune days of this gun. Then it opened up again. Now it's nothing but vertical stringing. Some high, some low. I'm not sure if it's the velocity, the barrel lockup (hinge bolt hasn't moved) or something else. I probably shot about 500 rounds today and nothing I've tried worked. She shot painfully well out of box and I had to go fuck with her. I think I'm just about done with this one. Maybe I'll use some of her parts for that Recon I'm getting.

I've been inside my Quest I'll bet 20 times and for the most part, no avail. I went ahead and did a full "Paul tricked out breech" last night, new bolt, machined compression tube, the whole works. I've made a tivar spring guide, GRTIII trigger, fitted tophat, barrel chopped to 10", custom shroud/brake, aftermarket spring, and full de-burr and proper lube.Hell, I even machined a riser mount for the scope. This thing cocks like butter, shoots hard and I can only get quarter sized groups at 25yards with it. I keep saying I'm going to give up on it and for some reason, I pull it out of the safe and start jacking with it again. I just can't seem to accept failure. I have come to the conclusion that I never should have bought a Quest. I was warned that they had their problems with lockup and accuracy. I figured I had access to a machine shop, I can make this turd a shooter. NOPE! So Jon, I feel your pain. I can't see sending it off for a tune, because it only set me back $85. It would be a great hunting rifle because it is light and powerful. It just doesn't shoot like my other springers. I'm probably going to stay away from Crosmans from here on.

Jon, try a differant scope.
use Gamo Hunters if you have them.

I'm gonna try another scope for the hell of it, but it'll be another week or two since I have to order another one. The strange thing is this gun seems to group good when its cold, then after about a dozen rounds things just start going downhill.

I pulled it all apart and the one button I installed had fallen off. There was just one little piece of it in one of the front dimples of the piston but the rest probably got pulverized. I'm gonna rebuild this thing a bit at a time over the next few weeks and see if I can get her back on track...

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/3KE57

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/3L523

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/3L521

Hey that welcome thread with s1me and the discussion about 12fpe made me think of something. Although I don't have a chrony (yeah I know I'm gonna get one guys) I guesstimated the pre-tune velocity to be somewhere around 800-850fps. I based that on a piece of lumber that's attached to my trap that I hit from time to time when I miss. Pre-tune it would embed itself in the 1/2" piece of lumber but not go clear through. After the debur, lube tune and new piston seal (stock spring and parts) I've shot that thing about 6 times trying to sight her in and each one went clear through.

Is it possible that I actually gained some velocity from the tune? I was expecting to lose a little. And if that's actually the case, I may have to try out some heavier pellets as 8.4 grains is the heaviest I've shot through her.

it is highly likely that you gained speed with the tune.
your rockin a stock spring so don't shoot any pellet over 9 grain or you risk breakin the spring.
if you want to shoot heavier then 9 grain you should install the e3650 spring.