Canadian Airgun Forum

Good afternoon everyone!

Some time ago I purchased a lovely Cometa Orion .22 Rifle from another fine member here on CAF, and it performed to spec. However, right from the get-go, cocking this Spanish made Bolt Action rifle required enormous effort -the action was so heavy as to be almost unusable for bench-rest FT. I literally had to rest the butt of the rifle on my thigh and pull down hard on the bolt for each and every shot. Alternately, grasping the bolt with three fingers and applying pressure with one's thumb quickly became a painful exercise. Since I really like the looks of this airgun, I thought I'd try a few experiments to see if things could be improved, and indeed they can!

First I lightened the action by installing a lighter hammer spring. Second, I lightened the trigger pull and effort required to lock the bolt action in the ready-to-fire position by cutting one coil off a second spring within the internal workings of the trigger assembly. Unfortunately both trigger pull weight and ease of bolt locking action are tied together in this particular design (definitely not one of the best) so great care must be taken not to cut too much spring length / lessen spring strength to the point of creating a hair-trigger issue.

The result of these two mods improved the Orion's action equivalent to my Benjamin Marauder First Gen, which was a huge step forward. Downside however was a drop in FPS from a max of 800 (somewhat adjustable via external Allen Screw) to 530 FPS. For sure this terribly loud rifle was suddenly a lamb not a lion in terms of noise, but I wanted a little more velocity so had to look at further modification.

What I ended up doing in the end was removing a plastic housing inside the sling-shot style hammer assembly and replaced it with an identical chunk of machined Brass (helps when you have a buddy with a metal lathe). This increased the mass of the hammer, while dissimilar metals helped reduce hammer ping. End result? Now I own a Cometa Orion with the action of an M-Rod and a Max FPS of 950 FPS, significantly exceeding the factory velocity of 800 FPS. Now, by external adjustment of the Allen Screw that applies pressure to the hammer spring, I can achieve a range of velocities between 730 FPS and 950. Beauty Eh?

If there are other members who own this particular air rifle, it would be great for some feedback on your experience with cocking effort.

Cheers!

Avianmanor

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*Air Arms S510 Extra*Artemis M11 MK II*CZ 200S*Benjamin Marauder*Brocock Concept*Cometa Orion*Daystate Huntsman*Daystate Revere*FX Dreamline*FX Streamline*Hatsan BT65*Kral Puncher*Reximex RPA*QB78D*Weihrauch HW100S*Artemis PP700SA*PP750*Snowpeak CP1-M*

Yet another great tip, Aaron.
Great headline, too. People will actually be able to search for this simply by searching headlines and using "Cometa Orion."
How handy can that be!
Hats Off to you!

Very good! I love the looks of the Orion and tge adjustable cheek piece as well! You really made some major improvements!

Sent from my EML-L09 using Tapatalk

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Website: https://airgunarcheryfun.ca/

Excellent post!

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...but, could Harry Potter's stick part the sea ?

Hello everyone,

Here's a shot string (FPS) of the modified Cometa Orion taken with the new FX Radar Pocket Chronograph. This is an unregulated PCP rifle as is apparent in the results, however, velocity far exceeds spec and the cocking effort has been reduced by half -this rifle is now a pleasure to shoot Benchrest FT. It is however, very very loud! Hearing protection is a must!

939
942
942
950
951
953
946
926
939
946

Cheers!

Avianmanor

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*Air Arms S510 Extra*Artemis M11 MK II*CZ 200S*Benjamin Marauder*Brocock Concept*Cometa Orion*Daystate Huntsman*Daystate Revere*FX Dreamline*FX Streamline*Hatsan BT65*Kral Puncher*Reximex RPA*QB78D*Weihrauch HW100S*Artemis PP700SA*PP750*Snowpeak CP1-M*

That’s looking great. Wonderful results. I think you took the only real weak point of that gun to a new level. Very well done. I think it’s a true bargain as it comes from the factory and you’ve just made it that much better.

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Highlights - Evanix Conquest
AA HFT 500, FX Dreamline, Diana Mod 70,
HW44, FAS6004, some other goodies.

I just got my Cometa Orion SPR in... really love this gun, although I should do some workout to be able to cock it

Will try the mods @avianmanor did.... Would be nice to chat to you about this

Cool results - pays to tinker sometimes.

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Best Wishes
Daryl