220 Cometa tinkering

[32:1]

This is my first .177 springer for years as I preferred shooting the smoother .22, well after borrowing a mates .177 Fusion for a few days I was surprised by its mild manners and chose to get another of my favourite Cometa’s the 220 in the smaller cal, chose the galaxy as it’s cheap and we will chuck it about up the farm.

In a previous post I was asking about Oring piston seals, that was because my latest 200 was very inconsistent out the box and upon stripping I found the dovetail to be machined badly allowing the seal to move, this is my 7th Cometa and my first real issue and accept it’s a 150£ gun but this was simply poor QC.
Anyhow no biggy as I thought I’d simply machine that off and make an Oring nose, thats a wee bit harder than I thought as tolerances have to be exact and not guess work, I did get one to work and put it through chrono, carried out a fps check then went on to test three other seals, a Cometa, HW and the TWChambers Cometa option. The HW produced 40fps less than the highest (TWC) and that I’m guessing is the 6mm less stroke due to the taller seal.

I stuck with the TWC and shot a selection of pellets with the gun now consistent and making around 8.5ftlb it feels quite quick without much actual recoil at all but trigger is a wee bit firmer to break than the .22’s and thats down to the preload at near 50mm over the 15 of the .22. I will shoot it for a tin and then look to drop it to 7.5.

Original spring is dressed very well and rear guide is good, piston needed a liner as the 18.4mm spring buzzed a wee bit in the 20mm piston, Ive also glided the rear of the piston too. I removed the opens and made a 50/50 silencer / cocking aid which looks and works well
Overall I’m happy with the little 220’s stock fit and feel, a pellet test soon will see if it can match the others here with the only negative on this purchase being the piston dovetail being to small

Some info
5 3/4lb in weight
Spring 18.4, 2.98, 222, 30coils
26 x 67
Piston 150g with seal
Chrono
Express 699
Exact 675
Heavy 600
Hobby 730
Exite econ 735
Sdome 662
Ftt 637



Chris….

[TonyL]

Sounding good, Chris. Personally I wouldn't have thought that a slightly loose fit of the seal would cause an issue, but I'm not aware of HOW much movement there is. If it is an issue, could it be packed with something (PTFE sheet or tape, tin, 'O' ring)?

[Shed tuner]

Sounding good, Chris. Personally I wouldn't have thought that a slightly loose fit of the seal would cause an issue, but I'm not aware of HOW much movement there is. If it is an issue, could it be packed with something (PTFE sheet or tape, tin, 'O' ring)?

yeah, or whether it seals on the dovetail... PTFE tape can cure this too...

[32:1]

I think it needed more than that 😉

[Shed tuner]

I think it needed more than that 😉

having seen the clip - yeah - that was ridiculously sloppy... I'm surprised it didn't just fall off !

[32:1]

having seen the clip - yeah - that was ridiculously sloppy... I'm surprised it didn't just fall off !

Good news
I’ve a brand new piston and seal from my RFD

Not bad back up 😎👍

Also had a pellet test and JSB express nicked it from exacts and mozzies

[TonyL]

Excellent news and result.

[32:1]

Managed to carry out a quick little pellet test with 5 harder and 5 softer lead pellets, only 20yds with 5shots per pellet and found HNftt to be terrible, JSB heavy not so good either but I found a link with smaller headed 4.50 pellets of any design make ragged holes, anything 4.52/3 seemed to be ok but spat a flyer out or thats just my mediocre ability 😉

One enlarged hole from HNftt which proved best then ragged holes with one slight flyer from Bisley lrg, JSB exact & RS, along with Superdomes.

Overall I’m happy how this turned out and let’s try a few more 4.50 pellets at 30 next

Chris

[TonyL]

Sounding good, Chris.

[32:1]

Sounding good, Chris.

Yes it is Tony 😎
OK this one had a bad start due to that piston seal issue but it’s ended up where all the others are and shoots blooming well for a cheapy, very smooth and proving to be accurate.

The galaxy denotes their plastic stock option and this is my first one, not an exact copy of the wood stock either but a different shape altogether, it’s a wee bit bigger making this feel like a lightweight 300, plastic is grippy and there’s no buzzing or resonance, it will take the knocks and bangs of life on the farm well I think 👍

[TonyL]

I do like an "underdog", Chris, and I'm also a fan of synthetic stocks, owning a few myself.

I also have a strong liking for mild mannered, easy shooting rifles with "medium" power output, putting less strain on the mechanicals and being easier to cock and shoot for longer periods, so couldn't agree more.

I only shoot for pleasure these days. But back in my younger days, my little Meteor accounted for many rabbits and gazillions of rats. Power unknown. 8-9ft.lbs? And I successfully hunted with a FWB127 for many years. When I had that chrono'd, it was doing 9.5ft.lbs. We simply don't need this "close to the legal limit" power to hunt successfully or to get enjoyment from our shooting.

This smaller Cometa sounds great and I can see myself falling for its charms one day.

[32:1]

I do like an "underdog", Chris, and I'm also a fan of synthetic stocks, owning a few myself.

I also have a strong liking for mild mannered, easy shooting rifles with "medium" power output, putting less strain on the mechanicals and being easier to cock and shoot for longer periods, so couldn't agree more.

I only shoot for pleasure these days. But back in my younger days, my little Meteor accounted for many rabbits and gazillions of rats. Power unknown. 8-9ft.lbs? And I successfully hunted with a FWB127 for many years. When I had that chrono'd, it was doing 9.5ft.lbs. We simply don't need this "close to the legal limit" power to hunt successfully or to get enjoyment from our shooting.

This smaller Cometa sounds great and I can see myself falling for its charms one day.

Much the same here Tony, I had my brothers mk1 airsporter for over 20y and that hit what it was pointed at then mid 1990’s I found the pcp via the Theoben rapid and running it at 9ftlb for a decade or so it was fantastic, nowadays I plink a bit, pest a bit and shoot paper for fun with nothing over 10ftlb, best fun by the bucket load is my Cometa 100 with diopters 😎