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PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:04 pm 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
Hey Shooters

Happy day. I got it! A good used Optimus .177

It's like new, the container of pellets is full. It's likely barely been shot. I looked down the barrel, looked clear. I was so stoked, I didn't even look through the scope. It's a little foggy, the threaded ring on the objective end was a bit loose, maybe it got moist? It doesn't matter, I bought the same scope new a couple months ago that I now have spare.

I think this rifle may just have been sitting around for a while, maybe stored in a closed garage? I got it in Vancouver. It's my first air rifle purchase since I became a serious hobbyist.

Trying not to shoot it. I think I know what I need to do. I should clean the barrel, check it out, and then open it up and go over the whole thing, like I've been doing with my Phantom these last months. I might not be shooting it for a couple few days.

Anyway, tell me what you think. I think I paid a good price even with the foggy scope. Maybe now my little air rifle quiver is complete. Ha!

Thanks


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_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:58 pm 
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Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2013 5:15 am
Posts: 4137
Location: Edmonton
Oh, I don't know, Steve. It's a rifle you assume works; You should shoot 50 rounds through it before you do anything. It's called establishing a baseline and evaluating the improvements of your "tuning." Just sayin' :)


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 4:51 am 
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Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 1:08 am
Posts: 820
Location: Thunder Bay
I agree with Edmonton<500. You learned a lot tuning your Phantom and the Optimus' internals are identical. (So the spare seals, etc. you bought for your Phantom fit the Optimus) Run some shots through it. You will be able to tell what tuning issues need to be addressed before opening it up. Like a mechanic taking a test drive before working on a car.

"Maybe now my little air rifle quiver is complete" hahahaha. You're hooked, dude. I said something similar years ago.
Welcome to the madness. :rolleyes:

_________________
Theory is when you know how something works, but it doesn't.
Practice is when something works, but you don't know why.
In my shop, Theory and Practice are combined!
Nothing works and I don't know why.

Two lathes and too many projects


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:00 am 
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Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 7:01 pm
Posts: 5125
Location: GTA, ON
[emoji38] [emoji38] Yep~ welcome to the madness! You need another 10 guns before saying the collection is completed~

Begin to save up your coffee money for you next one now~

When you improving your skills, you may also find you are more accurate than your current gun and may need a better one... Then you need to start saving up the lunch money... :eek:

:drinkers:

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~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:01 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
Edmonton<500 wrote:
It's a rifle you assume works; You should shoot 50 rounds through it before you do anything.

Fair advice, Ed. And in this case it would have been fine, but I decided to open it. Here's why:

One concern was that it might be rusty inside. Even stored in a closed garage, this is Vancouver, it's a moist environment. And I could see that the stock screws were juuust starting to try and rust. I cleaned them up a bit with oil but I may be replacing them. Anyway, I didn't want to be dragging any rust around inside my rifle, or any old cakey lube from the factory, either.

When I pulled my Phantom out of mothballs a few months ago, it had rust starting inside the piston and a couple other little spots, and it was stored in a closet inside the house. Moisture had been condensing on the cold steel.

Another thing was curiosity. I wanted to find out which detuning method was used. One of the photos from the Craigslist ad showed the rifle in a possible full-cocked position. It was clearly more than the half-cock position of the long piston but seemed short of the full-cock position of the short piston. I wondered . . .

Thanks

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:21 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
ricksplace wrote:
I agree with Edmonton<500. Like a mechanic taking a test drive before working on a car.

You learned a lot tuning your Phantom and the Optimus' internals are identical. (So the spare seals, etc. you bought for your Phantom fit the Optimus)

"Maybe now my little air rifle quiver is complete" hahahaha. You're hooked, dude. I said something similar years ago.
Welcome to the madness.

Yes, I decided fairly early that my next rifle would be from the Quest/Optimus/Vantage series of Crosman products, like my Phantom is, for that exact reason: the swappability and simplicity of parts exchange. I knew I wanted a nice, warm wooden stock in contrast to the weather-ready ruggedness of the synthetic one of the Phantom.

Yes, I was waiting patiently for this exact version to appear: a good used .177 Optimus. Boom.

I knew you guys would get a kick from the complete quiver comment, we'll see how it goes. I do have a larger plan of where I'd like to go. I'm happy to be doing it with all of yous.

And I'll be telling you what I found out last night.

Thanks

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:25 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
YepYep wrote:
[emoji38] [emoji38] Yep~ welcome to the madness! You need another 10 guns before saying the collection is completed~

Begin to save up your coffee money for you next one now~

When you improving your skills, you may also find you are more accurate than your current gun and may need a better one... Then you need to start saving up the lunch money...

Yep, I'm trying to stay sane here! And stop before spending the lunch money. Ha!

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:26 am 
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Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 1:08 am
Posts: 820
Location: Thunder Bay
See Todd's post:
post498248.html?hilit=optimus#p498248

_________________
Theory is when you know how something works, but it doesn't.
Practice is when something works, but you don't know why.
In my shop, Theory and Practice are combined!
Nothing works and I don't know why.

Two lathes and too many projects


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:53 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
ricksplace wrote:
See Todd's post

Thanks, yes. I had seen a whole bunch of those threads before I joined, when it felt like getting punched in the head, from the dizzying array of information and combinations. I'd like to keep it it a bit more simple than that.

But I saw that Todd was utilizing a cool workstand. Yeah! But he's using a little Workmate one, I think. I'm using a slighty more skookum Stanley FatMax. Woo.

Yeah, and I've got that medium Optimus, so now I have 3 different-sized pistons, for 2 rifles. The whole gamut. I'm stoked! But it has a weasley spring!? The first thing I'm gonna do is shoot a piston liner in that sucker, quiet it down. Yuck!

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:03 am 
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Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 1:17 pm
Posts: 4146
Location: Kingston, ON
eSteve wrote:
skookum ......

Now there's a BCism..

eSteve wrote:
a weasley spring!

Say what now? If it's Ron or Ginny then should be good, eh, or perhaps skookum. :drinkers:
Do the ETA trigger mod on it, while you're in there, because the Crosman trigger blade is very weasley and can be made skookum very easily.

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Iacio ergo sum


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:26 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
Dukemeister wrote:
eSteve wrote:
skookum ......

Now there's a BCism..

eSteve wrote:
a weasley spring!

Say what now? If it's Ron or Ginny then should be good, eh, or perhaps skookum. :drinkers:
Do the ETA trigger mod on it, while you're in there, because the Crosman trigger blade is very weasley and can be made skookum very easily.

Duke, are you you getting tragically hip with me? Ha!

Thanks

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:28 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
There’s something else I want to tell all you guys while I’m making coffee.

We gotta stay fit. I’m a pretty fit guy, I’m a serious trail runner here on the shore, I’m a carpenter, I do core strength and stretching exercises every morning. But I had a couple days off work between jobs, which is why I could indulge in some marathon forum posts.

A couple days sitting in a chair killed me! Last night when I started working on the Optimus, my back and hips were so tight! It was killing me! It was horrid! I popped ibuprofen, I was crunched and groaning for a frickin half hour!

I’m shooting bench rest now, but I’m going to be moving on to more positional shooting later: kneeling, shooting off natural objects, standing. We’ve gotta stay fit just to shoot. Even bench rest, you still gotta be flexible and strong to shoot well. Or do anything.

So anyway, stay fit. There ya go

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:18 am 
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Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:20 pm
Posts: 2374
Location: Spruce Grove AB
Skookum? :lol: by very definition, "looks strong but isn't."
Also, the place where I grew up has a place called skookumchuk just a little ways down the highway. There's a pulp mill there.
And it's in BC.


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:09 pm 
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:04 pm
Posts: 307
Location: Lower Mainland, BC
killercrow wrote:
Skookum? :lol: by very definition, "looks strong but isn't."
Also, the place where I grew up has a place called skookumchuk just a little ways down the highway. There's a pulp mill there.
And it's in BC.

Yeah, killercrow! Alberta boy from BC. You've got it covered.

Yes, the place I know is the narrows: "strong water"

Thanks

_________________
Stephen
low- / mid-level springers

.177 Cometa Fusion, Vantage 3-9x40
.177 Cometa Fenix LT, Endurance 4-16x50
.22 Cometa Fenix, Airmax 3-9x40


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:19 pm 
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Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:20 pm
Posts: 2374
Location: Spruce Grove AB
I miss BC. :cry:

The Optimus/phantom platform is fun to play with though. I took the steel spring guide out of mine and fitted a delrin rod. Fit to the spring as well. It wasn't super complicated. Then I sleeved the piston with a roll of pop bottle plastic. I have the bleed hole piston, shorter than full power spring but longer than the long piston spring. Anyway with the guide and sleeve, it is super smooth. And no twang. I just use a light coat of lube. No tar.

Good candidate for piston buttons though. The skirt on the pistons are rather hard so that makes things difficult to work with.


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