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Ammo Cometa Fusion Premier Star .22-caliber breakbarrel air rifle: Part 3

Cometa Fusion Premier Star .22-caliber breakbarrel air rifle: Part 3

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

Cometa Fusion Premier Star breakbarrel air rifle
The Cometa Fusion Premier Star is stunning! This is the actual test rifle.

Today is accuracy day for the .22-caliber Cometa Fusion Premier Star air rifle; and after the performance we saw with the .177, I’ll bet you were expecting another stunner. Well, it didn’t happen. I was unable to get this rifle to put 10 shots together, regardless of what I did.

I won’t tell you all the pellets I tested in this rifle, but it was a bunch. I’m not saying what they were because I don’t think I have seen what the Fusion Premier Star can do yet. I don’t think those pellets were given a fair trial. Something is missing or out of adjustment, and I have to try to find it for you.

I tied several different hand positions with the artillery hold, and I tried resting the rifle directly on the bag with two different holds. I tried relaxing, and I tried not relaxing. One thing that gave me some good results was pulling the trigger as soon as possible after getting on target. I got the first group that follows that way.

Just so you know that I sometimes have problems getting air rifles to shoot, let me share some promising, yet heartbreaking groups with you. This will show you what I was dealing with when shooting this rifle. I got the best results when shooting RWS Superdome pellets, though I would hardly call them good.

Cometa Fusion Premier Star breakbarrel air rifle first group of Superdomes
Four RWS Superdomes went into the larger hole on top, and a fifth one went below. This rifle wants to group — I just haven’t figured it out, yet. This group came by pulling the trigger as soon as the sight was on the target..

In case you are about to suggest that I just keep shooting and see how the group turns out — I also did that. Here’s what happened.

Cometa Fusion Premier Star breakbarrel air rifle second group of Superdomes
Four Superdomes in the one hole, then three fliers scattered around. There are three more that went below the paper!

As you can see, only 7 of 10 shots made it on paper, with 4 of them in a tantalizing little group. All 4 were fired in succession, then all the fliers started.

Many trials!
I shot well over 80 shots in this test, and most of them were taken with a level of care that I hardly expect most shooters to understand — much less be willing to do. I shot so much and with such concentration that I got a headache! That’s when I know it isn’t me that’s messing up.

I tried light pellets, heavy pellets, even pellets that I seldom ever try because I have no luck with them in any airguns. Good or bad didn’t seem to make any difference in this Fusion Premier Star. Nothing seemed to work. So, that’s when I went into the diagnostic mode.

Was the scope loose? Nope! Were the stock screws loose? Yes, they were a little loose, but nothing that would explain what I was getting. Was the barrel loose? YES, IT WAS!

The barrel wobbled from side to side when shaken. So, I looked at the left side of the action fork to see if there was a pivot bolt, and all I saw was a plain pin! I got so angry that I looked like the Tasmanian Devil spinning up! How could the rest of this rifle be so well designed and the barrel only have a pivot pin instead of a bolt that can be tightened when the barrel gets loose? I was thinking up snotty things to say about it when I thought to look at the opposite side of the fork. There, a traditional barrel pivot bolt was held fast by a smaller locking screw — just the way it would be done on a classic vintage air rifle.

Cometa Fusion Premier Star breakbarrel air rifle pivot bolt
This is what you want to see on a breakbarrel air rifle — a pivot bolt that can be tightened with a locking screw that has many positions around the periphery. This gives great control over the barrel tension in the action fork.

I tightened the pivot bolt by one locking screw setting, which as is one-tenth of a revolution. It seemed to tighten the joint, so I installed the locking screw and put the rifle back in the stock.

Alas, the accuracy was no better than before. Something is still not right, and I’m darned if I know what it is. The rifle has a wonderful, predictable trigger and relatively smooth firing cycle, and I’ve adjusted the cheekpiece to fit me perfectly. I should be able to drill periods at the end of sentences with this rifle.

I did shake the barrel once more, following about 12 more shots. It’s just a little loose again, so apparently I didn’t tighten it as much as I should have.

For now, I’m going to listen to the comments and reflect on this test. There will be another test, because this rifle seems to want to shoot, even though I don’t yet know what to do.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

77 thoughts on “Cometa Fusion Premier Star .22-caliber breakbarrel air rifle: Part 3”

  1. B.B.,
    These difficult rifles must be frustrating for you, but they are fun for us. After learning everything I know about airguns from you, I would do the following:
    Give that barrel pivot bolt another tenth or two, and check lock up detent. Is the end cap held by pins or nuts and bolts? If they’re threaded, snug them up. Put that known good scope in the middle of adjustment range and scrub the bore with JB paste. Shoot summore. Poof! It will be fixed.
    Hopefully.
    -hm

  2. BB,

    I have the same model rifle with many of the same problems. Accuracy was a real challenge for me, and I suspected the pivot bolt as the culprit. Tightening the pivot bolt didn’t improve anything, so I stripped down the pivot assembly and found a mangled thrust washer that was apparently interfering with lockup. I didn’t bother finding a replacement for this thrust washer, since a new Weihrauch was coming in the mail. What I can tell you, is that the rifle just doesn’t group well for me. I wish you luck in this test!

    -Matt

  3. B.B.,

    What distance were you testing at?
    You say that it has a relatively smooth firing cycle, so I assume that it’s easy to see jumps in the recoil and follow-though. Therefore, I expect that your cross-hairs end up exactly where they were when you took the shot. Either the rifle is just inherently inaccurate, or it is hold-sensitive. I was recently testing a new rifle that just wouldn’t group. There were lots of flyers that I just couldn’t account for, based on my sight-picture and follow-through. Then I did something that I’ve never done before with any of my air-rifles, I laid the rest horizontally in the direction of the target. This meant that I was laying a larger section of the forearm on the bag. While steadier this way, it normally produces more jump with springers, opening up my groups. With this newer rifle, it almost completely eliminated flyers. I wasn’t getting the kinds of groups that I get with other rifles, but it was a step in the right direction.

    Victor

  4. The main problem with this rifle is that it is a SPROINGER! I’m sorry, I seem to have developed a prejudice against sproingers and it is showing. Actually, I can see me with a FWB 300S and/or a R7 sometime in the future, but the inherent inaccuracy of most of them drives me nuts.

    Very likely, if you have not already done so, you will have to do as Matt has done and tear it down a little further to see if there is some other issue. Either that or label it junk, send it back and maybe they will send you another one to test so as to redeem it’s name.

    • Ridgerunner,
      I disagree with “inherent inaccuracy of most of them”. Most of my springers are very accurate. I admit that I cannot shoot them to the same level of accuracy as I do my PCPs but that it not because the guns are inherently inaccurate but because it takes more skill to shoot well. The reason BB is frustrated with this gun is that it is not shooting well. If BB felt that springers were inherently inaccurate, I don’t think this would have frustrated him. I get bored with how easy it is to shoot a PCP and enjoy the challenge of shooting my springers well.

      David Enoch

    • If you have an inherently inaccurate springer, it is either grossly defective (rare, even with the cheap Chinese rifles) or you haven’t put the time necessary into learning how to shoot it. I’m with David — the challenge is the fun. I can sit and drill holes all day with my best rimfire and centerfire rifles, but I spend 99.9% of my time shooting springers and my flintlock! It may be that “Only accurate rifles are interesting”, but if the accuracy is too easy, I lose interest fast.

  5. Well, now….

    You say it seems to shoot the best if you take your shots as quickly as you can. And the more shots you take, the worse it gets ?

    This should rule out (at least in part) any problems with the counterbored barrel and the brake. Both could cause trouble, but it should be fairly constant.

    The sloppy breech is not good, but also should be a fairly constant problem.

    I would go back to the chrono first. I would guess that you take your chrono shots quickly. Look for any trends in the string.
    Then shoot a string with the shots spaced out about as long as you usually take to shoot when you are doing groups. See what the chrono tells you then.

    Something wants to change on you based on time. Maybe the fit of the piston seal ? Poor fit or out of shape compression chamber ? Run a caliper around the compression chamber area in a few places to see how round it looks. The inside could be different of course, but it might tell you something.

    twotalon

  6. Exactly the result I experienced with my RWS mod.94(made by Cometa).Although widely lauded by forum airgunners,the rifle was incurably inconsistent.Cometas have nice triggers,but are in no other way a match for the Diana 34 line and are far below the Diana 48/52 series.My 94 ended up in the landfill after a meeting with a 3lb. brick hammer.

  7. Sloppy breech maybe the result of a missing breech shim , no shim, or a plastic one that wears fast and is squashed. The plastic ones on other rifles have given me fits.

  8. I hope you can find the trouble with this gun because I have a newer Tomahawk that does the exact same thing. I have been through the gun several times and changed the scope at least 3 times. I use a torque wrench screw driver for tightening the stock screws to be sure everything stays consistent. I have cleaned the barrel with JB paste, I slugged the barrel to see if there was a choke and found that there seems to be a constriction (very minor) about 4 inches before the muzzle. I suspect that this is the cause of my frustration. I did find a leaking breech seal and replaced that which gave me a tighter velocity spread and increased the avg velocity 100 fps. I really like the fit of this gun but if it cannot shoot its just a pretty club. I have been tempted to cut a couple inches off the barrel and recrown it but this is a last resort.

      • BB,
        I have not tried that. I do have a set of B^2 rings that adjust for tilt and height so I can adjust the mount instead of the scope, keeping the scope in the middle of its adjustment range, but I will try tightening up the scope adjustments to see if the erector is moving.

  9. BB,
    Last night (I sometimes stay up too late just to peek :)) my thought was “all show and no go”, but it sounds like you have an idea as to what is going on.

    Once again, I think you have a challenging job, neither painting a rosy picture nor junking everything out of hand. I know it is hard to “get” a rifle in what must be under 100 shots. My D34 (process is still fresh in my mind) didn’t settle down until well past that, and at about a tin of pellets is still improving — or maybe it is I am getting used to it! Either way it always takes time and effort to learn a new rifle, except the sorely missed Blackhawk (can you tell I still regret not giving it another chance?), and you are only one man.

  10. BB,

    Those 4 in the same hole are really a tease! I had a couple of moments like that on my one shot test. Really frustrating! You seem to have checked everything and the .177 model shot well, so maybe it’s just simple harmonics throwing the flyers. Try a barrel weight. It helped with my HW90, but it also changed what I thought was its favorite pellet.

    /Dave

      • The muzzle break doesn’t come off? If that was replaced with a differently weighted one (or even just band some lead on this one to try it), it might make a big difference. At any rate, that feedback might be useful to Cometa if this turns out to be a “common”, caliber specific problem. That’s if they listen anyway…. I have a feeling from looking at it that they just use the same muzzle brake for both calibers. It would be a shame to send a bad review along with a gun that has a lot of the right stuff…

        On the other hand….. You are just testing them as they come….

        /Dave

  11. Evolution of an airgunner.

    I’m a simpleton. In my view there are stages that airgunners evolve into and through.

    Stage one, Beginner. In this stage we spend most of our time learning about different power plants, different pellets, matching the appropriate pellet (weight, bc, pellet head size, pellet head type, etc.) to an airgun, appropriate scopes (springer rated or not, right reticle for our shooting needs, AO vs. non AO, side focus vs. front focus, etc.), appropriate mounts ( correct height, correct stop/arrestor pin if necessary, correct size for our scope tube dimension, eye relief, length, etc.), basic shooting techniques including the artillery hold, scope levels, adjusting triggers, etc. etc.

    Stage two, Advanced. In this stage we spend most of our time learning the tricks to getting our airguns to shoot accurately. This includes perfecting our shooting technique, perfecting our airguns (tightening stock screws, mount screws, diagnosing a bad scope/floating erector tube, cleaning barrels, tuning/stoning triggers, tearing down our airguns and applying correct lubes/changing springs/replacing seals, etc.)

    Stage three, Expert. In this stage guns start being built by the airgunner. The airgunner starts making parts. Tuning becomes a test bed for varying piston weights, different lubes, different springs spaced differently, buttoning pistons with different materials placed at different points on the piston, regulators are installed in pcp’s, adjusting the power to match pellet/bullet weight in order to achieve the longest shot string with least spread in velocity becomes obessesive, etc. etc.

    My favorite articles and comments are about Advanced airgunning like this one today. A close second are the articles on how similar firearms are to airguns and the terrific analogies since these articles always throw a switch in my little brain and a dim light turns on.

    kevin

    • Kevin…

      You might have added a stage 0 …..or stage 1/2…
      Where I started and stayed for a long time…..

      Buying whatever cheap airguns and pellets were locally available. Being dissapointed. Buying more of the same trying to find something good. Could have bought better for more money if I knew it existed.

      twotalon

      • TwoTalon,

        I’ve probably gone from your stage 0, 1/2, and up to Kevin’s stage 2, including buying lots of lessor guns to figure them out (Kevin’s stage 2). However, my first air-rifle was an FWB 700 ALU, so I wouldn’t describe myself as a cheapskate. I also own a Marauder in .22 caliber. The main reason for buying lots of airguns was so that I could go on shooting outings with family and friends. Most of these cheaper gun (Cromsan’s and Gamo’s) aren’t too bad, accuracy-wise. They just require the right technique. I seriously doubt that I’ll ever get to state 3.

        Victor

  12. Tom,

    Personally I think you should eliminate the scope all together and go with a peep sight. What? You say you can’t because it doesn’t have a front sight? Well listen in my friend.

    You are shooting for groups and not bulls right? So what do you care where the pellet group hits. (I know you don’t).

    So here’s what you do:
    1.Install a peep sight on the rear. Easy enough, eh?
    2. Make a poor mans front sight: Take a rubber band, tie it in a knot so that the knot is in the
    middle, loop the two rubber band loops over the barrel so the knot become a front bead.
    3. Shoot a group.
    4. Let us know how it works out.

    -Chuckj

  13. It doesn’t seem like the rifle wants to group that much. And as far as value, isn’t this the one costing $400? I’m skeptical, but I’ll be interested to see if there is a solution.

    J-F and Wulfraed, to paraphrase from the film Conair, “How do you guys know all this stuff?” 🙂 It seems that what was going on in the scandal was different. The general and girlfriend were sending messages to a Google dropbox and picking them up, sort of like spies use dead drops. So they showed some sense but not enough to foil the FBI. Now if you guys can explain why a general would take up this behavior in the first place, I would be truly impressed. 🙂

    Matt61

      • B.B.,

        I’m sure you’ll be telling us soon what the trick is to getting this rifle to behave, but how would PA customers be expected to figure this thing out? Is there something that needs fixing, is there a simple fix for this? At $400.00 I’d expect much more.

        Victor

        • Victor,

          That is the whole point of this blog. I am showing everyone what is to be expected when you get a new gun.

          Don’t think this doesn’t happen with firearms too — including those costing far more money! I have helped guys at the range fix these problems when they were so frustrated they were ready to give their rifles away.

          This blog is about educating the customer. If we don’t show people what can happen, they will walk into this blind and there will be a lot of dissatisfaction.

          And by the way, this rifle came from AirForce International — not Pyramyd AIR. So everyone sends guns out this way, and the customer has to be educated to deal with them when this happens.

          B.B.

          • B.B.,

            I do appreciate this blog and what you do with it in matters like this. Consider me a disciple in practice. I was just explaining to a friend this Sunday that you have to take customer reviews with a grain of salt when it comes to new springers. I told him that a lot of customers write bad reviews because they simply don’t know some basic things about technique, but that once they know everything changes. Suddenly that inaccurate rifle that they hated becomes accurate. He said that had it not been for me teaching him how to shoot a springer, that he would have been one of those negative reviews.

            Relating to this article, the first time I let him try a few of my air-rifles, one of them had a freshly installed scope, and we experience the “floating erector tube” issue. Like this Cometa rifle, my groups just wandered about. It wasn’t until the next session that it started to work. Now that scope and rifle are performing very well. I can’t wait to see what this Cometa can really do at 50 yards!

            Victor

    • The General knew very well that what he was doing (adultery) is an offense that could cost him his job.

      If he really wanted to do this within the rules, he should have dumped his wife first.

      Still, this looks to me like an attempt to keep him from testifying. And that, to me, is a much more serious situation than a guy who can’t keep his pants up.

      This also looks like a vendetta resulting from a rivalry between the CIA and FBI. It also looks like yet another coverup by the DOJ.

      We have four Americans dead and the media has turned it into a sex scandal.

      Les

      • I don’t understand how having extra conjugal affairs can cost you your job.
        As long as it’s not affecting the job end result… I don’t care about what he’s doing after work, I don’t care if he prefers cats or dogs either.
        I think spending public money and employees time to investigate this relationship is more scandalous than who he’s spending his free time with.

        They could have bought prepaid cell phones and text each other and get new phones every month. It would have been harder to trace.

        I also think that there’s a problem with the scope and I’m amased at how often this seems to happen!
        I never had a scope crap out on me and I hope it won’t be happening soon. It’s insane that the prices we pay for those things if they can just go sour like that.

        J-F

        P.S. Dave I got you beat, I just got 8+9=?… We might have to get the calculator out soon LOL

        • Having spent 20 years with various levels of clearance (peaking with a TS/SCi) the effect of the “outing” is rather contradictory.

          The main concern, as far is the clearance is concerned, for this scandal, is /blackmail/… But once the affair goes public, the subject is no longer a candidate for being blackmailed (OTOH, there IS the question of whether the candidate /had been/ blackmailed in the past).

          One of the farcical items of my layoff is: while on the one hand I was under a 60-day of AFR (available for reassignment), I also had to submit documentation for a 10-year periodic reinvestigation for my Secret (which was still underway when the lay-off took effect — I have no idea if the investigation completed: my “then current” Secret expired in January).

        • J-F,

          It’s simple. When you have a sensitive clearance, you are open to blackmail. That can compromise you and force you to give up secrets.

          As the head of the CIA, this fellow was cleared pretty high — though not the highest, because he is an appointee, and they come and go. But still, he is cleared way beyond what the average worker might be.

          Then there is conduct umbecoming of an officer. That would get him a court martial, if he weren’t in greater trouble.

          B.B.

        • i believe there is also the unspoken issue of trustworthiness. A man’s oath to his family is a sacred obligation, no less serious (in reality) than his oath to his country. Some are fool enough to suggest that it is even more sacred.

          And if a man is willing to break THAT promise… can he really be trusted to keep the other?

          Many imagine a firewall between a man’s public/professional life and his private life. I don’t buy it. The same man, the same weakness, the same lover of truth and self and others, the same soul is doing both.

          If a man is trustworthy in small things…

          • I don’t know, it depends on the relationship he has with his wife. They may have a more “open” relation when they’re both free to wander around, it would also take care of any black mail problem.
            I’m not saying having an affair is a great idea or endorsing it, I never cheated on a girlfriend, ever, but having poor personnal ethics doesn’t mean he has poor work ethics.
            To me, one isn’t a reflection of the other, I’ve work with people who had the greatest work ethics but treated their wife like the last piece of crap.
            People who have a lot of power at work being very submissive at home etc.

            Cheating on your wife is dumb but not illegal.

            If his affair leads to black mailing that’s a whole other story.

            Did JFK made worst decisions because of Marilyn Monroe?

            J-F

            • Perhaps cheating on your wife OUGHT to be illegal. The state demands the right to oversee the formation of the marriage bond, so why shouldn’t it have something to say when that bond is violated? If a soldier or a civil servant violates his oath or if a taxpayer violates his fiscal obligations the state has recourse. But here? None whatsoever… because the state is not the aggrieved party.

              A work ethic is entirely different from a morality. A work ethic can be self-centered in that “If I work hard, I get what I want”. Morality says, on the other hand, “I need to do what is right even when I don’t get what I want”.

              • A man can have (in a sense) a very good work ethic while spying for the Russians. If they pay him, he will deliver the goods as he promised!

                Would I hire a guy who had an affair? Maybe. Everyone makes mistakes. Would I hire a guy who embraced a lifestyle of infidelity? No way!

                • What if he didn’t tell you?
                  Some people just don’t seem to mind. Look at Tiger Woods, his wife couldn’t NOT notice he was having 438 girlfriends, maybe she didn’t mind as long as it wasn’t apparent? It certainly didn’t seem to affect his work before it was discovered!

                  All I’m saying is cheating on your wife or husband in itself isn’t a reason to fire someone. There has to be something else to it.

                  I did work with someone a few years ago who cheated on his wife and was very vocal about it and I was quite happy when he ended getting fired over something else as this blog is PG so I can’t say what I think of the guy without Edith deleting my post and slapping my fingers.

                  J-F

    • Matt,
      Actually what they did was set up a gmail account that they both had a password to. One of them would write an email but but not send it, just let it sit in the “Draft” folder. The other person would then log in to the gmail account and read the draft then delete it. Apparently this is also a technique that terrorists and criminals use. That way there is no way to trace an email sent over the Internet. That’s what they thought. Once the Feds got wind of something going on they were able to get the emails from Google. Please be advised, everything done on the Internet, even drafts, if you’re using a web mail product like gmail, are saved.
      -Chuckj

      • Not just saved, but likely sent from server to server…

        For gmail as an example, you may be specifying some IP address for the web-interface… But the server of that interface may not be the server that stores the email (draft/trash/in/sent, whatever)… The mail server may be in another city even. So not only do you have the HTTP POST data of you submitting the message form to gmail (this is from your machine to the web-server) but you may also have IMAP traffic from the web-server to the mail server (and depending on the format used by the mail server, could have database packets going to a database server machine).

        If, at any point, a packet leaves one’s internal network, it is viable for “sniffing”.

  14. Good day B.B. This rifle is a perfect example of what was talked about a while back. The people in charge don’t have a clue as to how their product works. If I knew I was sending a gun to be tested by someone with your experience and integrity, I would make darn sure that the gun shoots. I would have had techs go over it with a fine tooth comb. I know there are a lot of readers out there who would love to own an airgun in this price range that is not only a good looker, but a good shooter. Blips like this last failed test, can turn a lot of people off for good. And that is a shame if the problem is an easy fix. Sounds to me that you have a good idea of the problem and we will find out in the next instalment. If my memory serves me well, this gun has a ball bearing that locks the barrel. My Weihrauchs use a chisel type affair that gives me a positive lock. Could the ball bearing be loose, causing a sloppy barrel lock up? This happened in a Norica I have. I got similar groups as yours. Just my two cents. Personally, I hope things work out for the Cometa. It seems to be a good deal in all the right ways.
    Caio Titus

    • It is my understanding that the guns B.B. reviews here are random samples from PA’s stock. If the guns chosen for review were specially prepped by the manufacturer, they would not be the same guns you or I would order from PA. And that would pretty much defeat the purpose of the review.

      The right answer would be for those manufacturers to tighten up their quality control for all their products. We have a right to expect a certain level of performance from the guns we buy, even if that performance is related to the price.

      No one should expect the accuracy of a $600 gun in a $400 gun. But we should expect it to exceed the level of accuracy of a $100 gun.

      Les

      • Hello Les. Finally getting around to answering your letter. Thanks for the interest. Originally, I thought B.B. obtained the Cometa from PA too. However, if you read Part 1 of this test, it becomes clear that the Cometa comes directly from the distributor. My argument is moot however, as B.B. believes the problem to be a floating erector tube in the scope. Not the guns fault at all. It always amazes me that so many people log on with good advice to any possible problem. The people on this blog seem to offer some of the best advice available. And this is why I keep coming back with my morning coffee. In fact, it has become a habit with me. All the best to you and yours.
        Caio—- Titus

  15. Seems everyone is centering on barrel slop / lock-up or a scope reticle that’s wandering. Hmmm, I think back to my Crosman Nitro. I had the same problems that you did in your test – the rifle wouldn’t group. That’s the rifle I did the backwoods recrown on and while not in the same category as the Beeman R-9, it did group reasonably well after that. So, what’s the crown look like and can you even get to it with that silver slipper on the barrel muzzle? Speaking of which, try putting tape around that silver thing if those holes are drilled right through to the pellet path. Perhaps the air is pushing out unevenly giving the pellet a wobble or un-even push?

    Fred DPRoNJ

  16. You know, I’ve had a busy day but have thought a lot about this accuracy issue today. Why? Because if this gun is capable of shooting 4-5 shots in one hole there’s a gremlin in the works.

    I still stand by comment of cleaning the barrel but I don’t think that’s a complete fix and it may not help at all. FWIW, I clean the barrel on every gun that arrives at my home. Old, new, lightly used doesn’t matter. It gets the JB Bore Paste treatment with a brass/bronze brush (unless it’s a brass bore!). I wipe it out with fp10 until patches come out clean and leave a thin film of fp10. This eliminates the barrel as a variable in my mind.

    After B.B.’s article on barrel crowns I don’t put much stock in crowns but still check them for burrs. I think the inleade is more of a problem than crowns. Mothers mag has fixed many of my friends inleades that were rough and unfinished. I digress………

    After thinking about this some more I don’t think any of the above issues are the primary culprit that are to blame for robbing the accuracy of this airgun.

    I think the primary culprit is that the scopes erector tube is floating.

    kevin

    • Kevin,

      That’s what I think, also. I don’t know why I forgot this, but I had exactly the same problem with the .177 Fusion, and when the scope was cranked down it shot fine. So I’m going to mount the scope with a drooper mount next time.

      I bet that solves it.

      B.B.

      • Well……that makes sense since I’m just mimicking what you’ve taught me.

        Here’s the other thing you’ve taught me to avoid running too close to the end of the adjustment range of a scope.

        1-optically center the scope. I’m not too fanatical about this anymore and just use the mirror method. My box with the v cuts has long been retired and the scope mounts screwed to a 2 x 4 for optical centering sits unused since the mirror method takes about 3 minutes.
        2-if I’m off my target by more than 1″ at 30 yards I shim the mounts, change the mounts, adjust the mounts, or in drastic situations bend the barrel. Less than 1″ I click
        3-I try to avoid putting more than about 30 clicks in for either elevation or windage
        4-when I swap scopes on guns I recenter the scope, using a mirror, and start with the scope on a new gun from optical center

        kevin

  17. When checking a new spring air rifle for shooting tests the first things we do are:
    – ensure that all stock screws all tight
    – ensure that the barrel is rock-solid steady in the closed position thus examining the tension of the pivot bolt so that when the rifle is cocked the barrel stays exactly where we move it along the arc of movement during the cocking effort without falling free from place due to its weight
    – clean thoroughly the barrel using a bronze brush and patches soaked in a good quality cleaning solvent that removes lead and all other deposits like maintenance grease from the factory or dirt
    – check the stability of open sights especially in high power “springers”
    – if using a scope ensure that the whole system is positioned well in place and that its accuracy of settings/adjustements and correct operation are already proven in the field leaving no doubt.

    If the rifle was equiped with open sights you could immediatelly run a test with them to compare with the previous results. My suggestion is to clean the barrel in the right way, tight well all stock screws and the pivot bolt as it should be in the first place, put another quality scope known already for its good behavior on a one piece mount with arrestor pin and try again. There is no need for disassembly, no need for “harmonics” study, no need for extra chronograph checking (the speed numbers with various pellets have been posted already and show a well-running engine), no need to worry. If all these fail at the end we will know at least two things: a) that the problem lies in the lock-up system of the barrel (tension of the ball detent, bad fitting of the parts involved) b) that the probability of average Fusion air rifles in 0.22′ cal. being problematic exists and that the factory has to do something about it. Ideally however it would be best to run these tests on another random sample of this model so that there is a statistic.
    It should also be understood that the average buyer has no obligation to become a master gunsmith by cutting the barrel, creating new crown or disassembling his brand new rifle searching to find what’s wrong and does not shoot properly (losing the warranty). If it’s not performing as expected or advertised it must be returned to the shop with the requirement of replacement with another one.

  18. Hello There 🙂

    i have jst restored my BSA airsporter .22cal and Diana Mod.27 .22cal the way it was shown in youtube videos etc. i greased the piston the the spring. after overhauling .. i have found that i lost The Guns accuracy 😛

    if we go 5 years back .. i bought Diana Mod.35 .22cal.. and i had the same problem with that brand new Diana mod. 35 🙁 she was not shooting accurate.

    at that time my Father asked me to Degrease the Gun and wash the barrel with petrol (Gasoline) and trust me .. after doing this . she became shooting accurately. i Did the same with my overhauled BSA and Diana mod .27 .. Now all these three BSA. Diana 27 and 35 are shooting Bull eye.

    Note: in new Guns .. barrels are aslo greased for shipments reasons .. So we must wash (degrease) the barrel. there are also some Oily fumes (in new guns) from piston side ..which comes into barrel and make the barrel oily when we shoot. (Oily barrel always cause in accurate results )

  19. I bought my Cometa Fusion yesterday and in a few mins after installing my Bushnell DOA trophy scope I was shooting dots at Ten Yards with Jsb 18 grain pellets, the only .22 pellets I had at hand.I do not own a chrony so I cant tell you the speed but this rifle is looking very promising for me as I hunt and need the extra power in a spring rifle.I have not messed with the trigger just out of the box and started shooting, that means just stock not broken in yet.
    Have a good 2013 new year my air gunning friends!!!!!!!!
    Daniel

  20. Hi

    I recently bought a fusion in New Zealand and I’m having the exact same issue. Scope is a hawke sport HD IR 3-9 x50. Keen to hear how it all pans out for you BB.

    Mike

  21. B.B.
    I have the same model rifle Cometa Fusion .22 cal that is giving u fits, mine likes jsb’s in 18.13 and 21 grain kodiaks + barracudas and lets not forget crow magnums. I can shoot most of pellets in to one hole at ten yards. Ftt 14.66 did a one hole too at ten yards, they were the ones with head size 5.55 if it helps. Rifle is not broken in yet maybe 400 shots.
    Here are a few pellets tested 5 shot each groups: Measured in millimiters
    Jsb 15.9 = 6.26 mm ctc
    H&N 14.66= 5.66 mm ctc
    Jsb 18.13 = 5.50 mm ctc
    Rrs S H 14.2 = 12.91 mm ctc
    rws 14.00 misterk= 10.27 mm ctc
    crowmag 18gr = 8.12 mm ctc
    jsb 14.35 express= 5.90 mm ctc
    Predators = 11.60 mm ctc
    I had hi hopes for the predators pellet, I will retest again for sure because the crosman premiers were terrible the first day before I retested, them they must have given me one inch ctc first time out.
    Dan

  22. I happened to come across this post and thought my experience with a .177 Fusion may be of interest, even though this is a fairly old thread. Long story short, my Fusion is now one of the most accurate springers I have had the pleasure to shoot with – capable of grouping inside 1″ at 50m yards. But this wasn’t always the case… Out of the box, the trigger had a nasty, creepy, gritty feel and the shot cyle was rough, like shaking a bag of bones. So rough, in fact, that it gracked a glass in the ocular lens of the Hawke Airmax scope I had fitted at the time. I was told these guns like JSB Exact Heavies (10.34gns) but my ‘groups’ at 30 yards looked like I had been using a shotgun. I hate to give up on a challenge so I decided to concentrate first on improving the shot cycle. As I normally do with any spring gun I buy at some stage, I did a lube-tune and fitted a Maccari mainspring and piston seal. After it had bedded in, it improved the shot cycle immeasurably and the shot-to-shot variation is now less than 10fps with unselected JSB pellets taken straight from the tin.
    But I still couldn’t achieve the ragged 1-hole group at 30 yards I was aiming for, so I tackled the trigger next. I dismantled the trigger unit and lightly smoothed its contact surfaces, doing just enough to get rid of the machining marks giving rise to the ‘gritty’ feel. It is actually an easy trigger to work on. The reult exceeded my expectations – a light, smooth trigger action which broke cleanly at a little less than a 2lb pull-weight.
    Accuracy improved and I managed to get groups of 1″ at 30 yards. But this accuracy fell away after shooting for a while. When I cleaned the bore, the patch emerged black with lead fouling and it took several patches soaked with WD40 until the bore had a mirror-like shine. This restored accuracy to groupings of 1″ at 30 yards. But I still believed the gun was capable of more. It was around this time I noticed that, after cocking, but before closing the barrel there was some play between the breech block and receiver forks. I figured that this was bound to have a detrimental effect on accuracy. So I tightened the breech bolt (which was a sloppy fit in the threaded holes in the receiver forks) and attempted to re-tighten the small locking screw intended to stop the breech bolt from slackening off.
    However, after 20-30 shots the barrel was sloppy in the receiver forks again. I concluded that the design of the barrel lock-up components was poor and contacted a machinist friend, also a shooter, for help. He machined a new breech bolt to much closer tolerances than the original and made it with a hex socket on its head to make adjustment easier.
    I am glad to say that my investment of time, effort and additional expense paid off and I have one very accurate airgun which I will hang on to for a while longer. Would I buy another Cometa Fusion / Fenix 400? Probably not, unless I was sure that the company had learned from its customers’ collective experience and eliminated the problems I have described in this post.

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