Gas piston vs spring piston guns?

[Silverboolit]

I have a nitro venom, and it shoots pretty well in .22. Biggest thing is about the trigger. I replaced mine with a CDT GRT111 and it performs much better. Better trigger, better groups. Pellet rifles can be picky about which pellet it likes as well. You may need to try several before you get the one that works the best.

[jh45gun]

I find your negativity on the Nitro Venom interesting. Only reason I bought mine was the glowing reports online and I researched as many places I could find on the net for a week before I made my choice. Yes the trigger is no target trigger however it is manageable. You could always get a after market trigger. I don't have an issue with it no worse than the lawyer triggers on some guns.

[Ithaca Gunner]

My experience with the nitro venom over the several years I've owned it is one of frustration. At first I thought it was the scope, but no less than 4 have been on it with the same results. The best it'll do is about 3" at 25yds. The trigger I can live with, and it has plenty of power. It'll out penetrate my RWS-34 by a considerable margin and it's easier to cock, and nearly as silent as you could expect. Accuracy with a variety of pellets I've tried is frustrating though. 3" at 25yds. is just unacceptable. I've had it apart and together several times, no change in accuracy...

[gloob]

How's the lockup? Mine was pretty loose, out of the box. You could move the barrel up/down a bit. I had to Dremel on the groove in the live jam to get it to stick out a little farther. It's called the "alive jam" on the parts schematic. When you break the barrel, it's the part that sticks out under where you insert the pellet. This eliminated the occasional horrendous vertical flyer. You might also improve the horizontal lockup with brass washers. The plastic washers wear out over time, and mine is starting to get loose, there.

All you need is a phillips head to get the stock off, and a flathead to unscrew the barrel pivot screw. And a proper sized punch can help to push out the hollow pin/tube that holds the washers and retains the live jam, but it's not really in there super tight if you depress the live jam to let it out.

[Papa smurf]

Ithaca Gunner ; I got a Nitro Venom .22 cal two years ago and had similar problems with mine . I found that this rifle does not act like a air rifle . The artillery hold dose not work . It wants to be treated more like a powder burner. It wants a firm hold . Not being a fan of mil dot I mounted a Hawke 3-9x40 AO with a duplex. Crosman domed pellets give me a 1 1/2 inch group at 35 yards (most of the time ). My 76 year old eyes added to the mix don't help. Hope my little note helps out .------Good Shooting to you----John --AKA -Papa Smurf

[Ithaca Gunner]

Okay John, I haven't tried holding it like a powder burner. The 3" groups are with Crosman H-P's and RWS Super Domes. Anything else shoots 5-7" at 25 yds. One thing I have noticed with this gun, it seems to have a large chamber. I read someone say theirs is loud? Not mine, quiet as a church mouse, yet more powerful than my RWS 34 with the same pellets and same target. I'll give a firm hold a try, but not expecting much change. Midway just sent my Hatsan 95 Vortex gas piston today, I'm hoping that's a better gun!

[gloob]

It might have been me calling it loud. But then again, I have never shot a springer, so I could be mistaken. It's quiet, I guess.... Just not nearly as quiet as an Aguila Super Calibri out of my 22.

I just took mine to the range, today. I had no problem hitting soda bottles out to 45 yards. Most of them didn't break, but I knocked them over almost without fail. Out of curiousity, I took a couple shots at the 110 yard berm, and I got about 4 feet of drop, lol.

I put some on paper the other week at 20 yards, and I got about a one inch 5 shot group with largely horizontal stringing. I have to replace the washers on mine. My barrel swings around after cocking, and i can feel some side-side play, so I am confident I could tighten that up to maybe just over half an inch.

I don't know about large chamber. I can't easily push the harder Crosman pellets all the way in, even. I leave the edge of the skirt sticking out when I shoot mine. And I do get the best accuracy with the Crosman Premier domes, out of the three pellets I tried. The others were JSB Exact and another brand I can't recall.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I got mine right after they were introduced, maybe they got better, I won't chance another for sure. A tight hold like Papa Smurf suggested didn't help it either. Same palm size groups at 25yds.

[gloob]

I was an early adopter, too. Check the crown for defects. Check the lockup of the barrel. Does it wiggle? Try a different scope? There's not that much that can go wrong in a break action to make groups THAT large. We're probably talking easily identified problems, rather than issues like "chinese made barrel vs lothar match barrel."

What makes you think your chamber is loose? Do the pellets drop in?

If all that is ruled out, I guess you might have a bad piston seal. I still wouldn't expect groups to be THAT big at short range.

I would have a hard to to give up on the gun as long as the bore isn't totally buggered and the nitro pistol is working. I had my own trials and tribulations, initially, due to poor lockup. Once sorted out, I was pleasantly surprised how little hold sensitivity affected the shots. Compared to my imagination run wild, anyhow.

Yes, it sounds like your gun has a problem. Forget trigger time and targets and hold and start looking at the gun. Closely. The devil is in the details.

[gloob]

Update: I just did the brass washer replacement on my gun, and it was as easy as this guy says.
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/...?topic=31087.0

I also bought the washers at Lowe's, incidentally. They come in a two pack. My calipers measure the plastic washers at ~.063", and the brass washers at ~0.061-0.064. After turning down the outer diameter (using a bolt and a nut as a mandrel) and chamfering the edges, they were a perfect fit... super tight, requiring some hard whacking with a plastic screwdriver handle to get the barrel back on. The only thing I'd add to this guy's post is to take some sandpaper and break the edges of the pivot screw hole, lest you shave part of your left washer off on assembly.

[jh45gun]

Did you call Crosman? I would and tell them you cannot get it to group. I bet they will replace it or fix it.

[gloob]

Fixing it might be easier than getting an RMA, packing it up in a box, and printing a shipping label. Just saying. And fixing it up yourself, you can more than likely make it better than the average out-the-box rifle and keep it maintained to that level, to boot.

Even easier is to just order a new rifle, which he already did. More shooting, less troubleshooting.

[jh45gun]

True but these days with the internet companies will bend over backwards not to get any bad publicity at least the good ones. I had a brand new Tasco varmint scope that had a stripped out screw from the factory on the target turrent. I called Bushnell (they own Tasco) and told them my problem. All I wanted was an other turrent. It was easier for them to send me a new scope. I drilled and tapped the hole and fixed that one too. Obvious IG got a bad one as I have read too many satisfied Venom owners out there. If nothing else it should be reported to a company when a substandard product is sold and should be remedied.