2300S power adjuster... Not what I expected

[jdub]

In my continuing quest to seek out fun things to do with my new chrony I decided to test the power adjuster on my 2300S to see how much difference it really makes.   Since I've had the gun I've always left the power adjuster screwed all the way in (max power setting) just because it looks better (pathetic reason, I know).   This evening I discovered that in my case anyway that's probably the best setting. 

I installed a new cartridge, shot 10 shots, and then started measuring velocity--first with the adjuster backed all the way out for 10 shots, and then adjusted all the way in for 10 more shots.   When I was done I fired another 15 shots before the cart started to run low just to make sure my 20 test shots were all full power.  Here's what I found (I rounded all the numbers *after* doing the calculations):

Lowest power setting

AVG        551 fps
Fasted     576
Slowest   535
Spread      41 fps
StdDev   14.1

Highest Power

AVG       577 fps
Fasted    582
Slowest  570
Spread     12 fps
StdDev    3.7


The average velocity dropped by 26 fps on low power but the shot to shot consistency was horrible!   A spread of 41 fps and a standard deviation of 14.1.   Not good. 

The high power setting was very consistent in comparison with a much much better standard deviation. 

I'd be interested to hear what you guys have seen with your power adjusters.  Mine is the stock adjuster that comes with the 2300S.  It also has the stock hammer-spring. 

The one on the left.

[droid]

I found similar results using the adjusters. I just keep mine on max and for me it is just a cosmetic addition now.

It also allows me to disable the gun by removing the spring easily (Mine are DC adjusters)

Gary

[Crosshairs]

Yeah im not a big fan of PAs i do own some but always shoot with them all the way im. I do however unscrew them when i store them to keep pressure off of the hammer spring.
                         Mike

[breakfastchef]

I never met a PA that really was worth the cost. In my 22xx pistols, I have tried the spring that ships with the Crosman PA, Disco hammer spring and a 13xx hammer spring. All chrony results were amazingly undramatic. I use all of mine screwed in 3/4 or so as this is generally the best setting for my guns for velocity and spread. Too far in and coil bind starts dropping velocities.

[jdub]

I think some of them look pretty cool but suspected they wouldn't make a big difference.  What really surprised me was the lack of consistency at low power. 

I guess it makes sense though.  With the PA Fully retracted the spring guide has very little effect so the spring is probably just kind of kinking left and right when the gun is cocked--killing the shot-to-shot repeatability.   With the PA adjusted in all the way the spring guide is very effective. 

When I turned a couple of my own spring guides I took the 2300S apart to check the spring guide length and see if it could be made any longer.  Nope.  It's the perfect length for the gun.  When adjusted fully in it's just short of bottoming out in the hole in the back of the hammer and supports the spring without binding. 

[1377x]

i only tried a pa on one co2 gun it made very little difference
on my disco pistol(pcp gun) it made a lot of difference,im not one to be adjusting power though.if i use one its because im using a heavy hammer spring and want to fine tune the gun
what makes a bigger difference is extending the hammer stroke.if you can make one or have one made.an extended rear tube pa with a longer hammer spring should do the trick.the problem with that is a new hammer /hammer spring assemble will need to be made as a rear cocker
not a hard thing to make if you have the right tools.huh cmj1973

[Davio]

Opinions being like bum holes, I got one, too.  It was good to see those numbers and I'm actually impressed that with a PA being just a bit of a spring tension manipulator that 25 fps is yielded on a stock gun.  The tighter STD makes that even better. 

On the flip side of motivations (going for less power and hence additional shots... say for shooting targets) I think a PA is a useful tool. 

The only surprise and mild disappointment I get from those numbers is the greater variation (higher std. dev) with the lower setting.

Just my $.02 USD

[0351_Vet]

Good info.  I like them because they "Look Cool".