To me, this part of testing any new gun is always very interesting. I learned a couple of things about this new rifle, that are entirely different from my AA 410 ERBSL rifle, and CRBSL carbine.
First off, the power control adjustment works just the opposite from the other two rifles. On the AA 410's, turning the knob clockwise, increases the power, which is sort of intuitive, and turning it counterclockwise decreases the power. On the AA 510 TC, it's the exact opposite.
I thought I had the power knob turned wide open, and was about to lock it down, when I happened to glance at the power setting marks, and noticed that the index mark was showing that I had the power turned all of the way down. Imagine my surprise, if I had fired the first shot over the chrono with the power turned all of the way down, while thinking that I had the power turned all of the way up. WTH?? LOL. Fortunately, I noticed the difference before I had one of those, "say what?" moments.
The other difference that became immediately apparent was, unlike with my 410 ERBSL, and CRBSL rifles, locking the power knob wide open isn't the way to go with the 510 TC.
On my AA410's, doing that was perfect, the shot counts were well within spec, and the velocities were where I expected them to be. With the AA 510 adjusted that way, the first 18 grain JSB showed a velocity of 980 fps. That was smokin' hot. I fired a couple more, and the last one was at 988 fps. That was, way, faster than what I was looking for, and I figured it was time to do some experimenting with the power adjuster.
The two most accurate .22 cal rifles I own are my FX 2000, and RWS Rapier. Both guns love 18 grain JSB's, and the accuracy is mind boggling when they are pushed along in the mid 850's range. That was my goal for my new AA 510 TC.
After some trial and error, I finally got her adjusted for an average velocity, with the 18 grainers, of 856 fps, over 53 shots, with an extreme spread of 25 fps, for 29.4 fpe at the muzzle. Just what I was looking for.
I'll post the shot string here in a second, but the thing that has really impressed me is, the very low sequential shot to shot consistency of this rig. For the most part, across the entire shot string, the variation from shot to shot is less than 5 or 6 fps, and most of the time, just two or three feet per second. That's very important to me.
A rifle that has a small shot to shot variation, shooting a very accurate pellet, with a decent BC, makes for an excellent long range shooting combination. Since a lot of my shooting is at extended ranges, I get very excited about a gun that has very low sequential shot to shot consistency. As you'll see from the shot string, this rifle is exceptional in that department.
After some experimentation, it was determined that the best fill pressure for this pellet was 3000 psi.
AA 510 TC...53 shot string...3000 psi fill...18 grain JSB's. Velocities listed in feet per second.
1 - 840 10 - 853 19 - 860 28 - 864 37 - 858 46 - 852
2 - 845 11 - 852 20 - 865 29 - 865 38 - 860 47 - 849
3 - 843 12 - 858 21 - 861 30 - 862 39 - 857 48 - 847
4 - 847 13 - 855 22 - 862 31 - 864 40 - 857 49 - 845
5 - 849 14 - 855 23 - 861 32 - 859 41 - 858 50 - 845
6 - 853 15 - 856 24 - 861 33 - 860 42 - 854 51 - 841
7 - 853 16 - 857 25 - 863 34 - 862 43 - 849 52 - 840
8 - 854 17 - 862 26 - 862 35 - 861 44 - 850 53 - 841
9 - 851 18 - 862 27 - 864 36 - 860 45 - 851
AVG - 856 fps
ES - 25 fps
At shot 54 the velocity dropped to 835, and shot 55 dropped to 831. In an actual hunting situation, I will run six mags through her, keeping the last six or seven shots under 65 yards or so.
So far, I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing from this rifle. Next, is to shoot her on paper at 50 yards and beyond. Sight her in at 65 yards, and get after the prairie dogs. Stay tuned, more to follow.
Comments