SDB Xena

[Basu]

Dear Chetan,
I place only facts.....
I am duty bound to caution you & shooting fraternity that there are untrue claims are made in social media about ARs and those untrue claims are indirectly encouraged by companies.
Just ask yourself whether or not those claims are backed by reliable evidence & consistancy.Thats all.

Choice is yours.

Basu

[chetan.thakur1983]

Other comparison of penetration testing of Xena and NX200.

With barrel comparison of both.

[ThanosDutta]

Other comparison of penetration testing of Xena and NX200.

With barrel comparison of both.

About the pellet rotation, I have Precihole sp60 and the pellet surely looks like the same as mentioned in the video (right side one) thus the pellet rotation is ensured in precihole. My aimco rifle displayed the pellet as shown in left side, don't know about SDB though as I don't have one and never tested pellet rotation. If the facts are true then SDB surely needs to improve their barrels which will further increase Xena's accuracy and result in less pellet damage.

Dutta

[Basu]

Dear Dutta,
Rifling is done to stabilize the pellet while on flight.
A hand testing is done in a 18" barrel I guess at a velocity of 6"per second.
All that looks great or satisfying undoubtedly.
But when pellet leaves the barrel at 850 FPS the dynamics is totally different.
At least I did not see any such video captured in high speed camera in slow motion that which one rotatates & which one does not.
As a thumb rule I recognise that for an Air Rifle that makes clean round hole at a good distance of 50 mtrs (not key hole)when impacted is sufficient testimony to establish the stability of pellet while on flight path.
Every AR has best liking of pellets.No barrel under the sun performs best with all pellets.
This is the first time saw a video where the shooter can predict the accuracy by peeping in the barrel before testing.I am intrigued having seen that and cursed myself as to why I do not have such ability.
In the video the shooter is also sure that NX200 will out perform SDB Xena then good luck to NX owners.
There are ample of videos for both the ARs where accuracy power these two fundamentals are explained with other feature too.

Basu

[ThanosDutta]

Dear Dutta,
Rifling is done to stabilize the pellet while on flight.
A hand testing is done in a 18" barrel I guess at a velocity of 6"per second.
All that looks great or satisfying undoubtedly.
But when pellet leaves the barrel at 850 FPS the dynamics is totally different.
At least I did not see any such video captured in high speed camera in slow motion that which one rotatates & which one does not.
As a thumb rule I recognise that for an Air Rifle that makes clean round hole at a good distance of 50 mtrs (not key hole)when impacted is sufficient testimony to establish the stability of pellet while on flight path.
Every AR has best liking of pellets.No barrel under the sun performs best with all pellets.
This is the first time saw a video where the shooter can predict the accuracy by peeping in the barrel before testing.I am intrigued having seen that and cursed myself as to why I do not have such ability.
In the video the shooter is also sure that NX200 will out perform SDB Xena then good luck to NX owners.
There are ample of videos for both the ARs where accuracy power these two fundamentals are explained with other feature too.

Basu

Basu sir,
As I have stated earlier, I don't own any SDB rifles yet, therefore cannot comment on the fact. But the damaged pellet (left side photo from the video) surely affects the accuracy. However I absolutely agree with you about the specific pellet likings of air rifles (even different tins of pellet from same company), and the groove marks might be caused as SDB Xena doesn't like that particular pellet.
About techniques to determine the pellet rotation, I didn't know about the clean holes and key holes method (used when high frame rate videos are not available), I will surey use it from now on! I understand the parachute shape of the pellet skirt also helps it to maintain the air drag, thus maintaining the straight trajectory.
I checked in my Aimco rifles, the pellet doesn't rotate properly (I checked several companies of pellets) and leaves the damage marks of rifling. But my sp60 gives very good clean grooves. Again, don't know about SDB Xena, yet to get my hands on one after lockdown.

Dutta

[chetan.thakur1983]

Xena 25 yards accuracy shooting video.

[chetan.thakur1983]

Another video of sdb Xena accuracy and details. Must watch video for people who want to buy Xena and had doubts.

[Basu]

Those who wanted to see the Power/velocity of Xena in relative term, they will find the video very interesting .
I am of the opinion that if Xena is detuned at 12 ft lbs of energy then there would be further improvement in performance on all counts.



Basu

[Basu]

Another video of sdb Xena accuracy and details. Must watch video for people who want to buy Xena and had doubts.

This performance may appear too stunning but same is reached through following factors :
An excellent AR Xena
A top class pellet JSB Exact
A top class Centerpoint scope
A wall on the left
An outstanding shooter.

Basu

[chetan.thakur1983]

Another video of sdb Xena accuracy and details. Must watch video for people who want to buy Xena and had doubts.

This performance may appear too stunning but same is reached through following factors :
An excellent AR Xena
A top class pellet JSB Exact
A top class Centerpoint scope
A wall on the left
An outstanding shooter.

Basu

Totally agreed with you Basu sir. All factors stated by you makes this performance stunning. But pervious some video have cleared many doubts. And I think others also.

[Basu]

Whether one likes it or not, SDB Xena has matched its capability over imported brands too interms of performance.
As a shooter I need performance only.It just does not matter for me to understand what is bad in it.
There are ample of videos to substantiate the facts.
I am happy that today Indians have options to go for a good AR at reasonable price which was completely absent some 10 yrs.back.

Basu

[ThanosDutta]

Other comparison of penetration testing of Xena and NX200.

With barrel comparison of both.

So about the rifling marks, I asked myself if pellets from Xena aren't giving clear rifling marks and if pellets don't rotate, then how is it achieving very good accuracy? (which is evident from many videos) So I did some research, turns out the deep rifling marks doesn't at all signify higher accuracy. So, I would say don't blindly believe and don't consider it as any kind of flaw! Do some research if you encounter any such misleading videos. Hope it helps; it helped me a lot to understand. Xena remains my favourite.

Dutta

[Basu]

Dear Dutta,
In my rifle club once it happened that a bullet fire from Brno .22 lr got stuck in barrel and by inserting a thinner rod same was taken out.
I had inspected that projectile as closely as possible but regret the photo is lost.
That had no groove mark at all of any depth but had few superficial perfect impression on the lead.
I repeat..... It held groove impression only.
Brno rated as a top class .22 rifle of the world.
So it goes to prove that deep rifling marks on the projectile does not necessarily aims toward better accuracy.

Basu

[ThanosDutta]

Dear Dutta,
In my rifle club once it happened that a bullet fire from Brno .22 lr got stuck in barrel and by inserting a thinner rod same was taken out.
I had inspected that projectile as close as possible but regret the photo is lost.
That had no groove mark at all of any depth but had few superficial perfect impression on the lead.
I repeat..... It held groove impression only.
Now Brno rated as a top class .22 rifle of the world.
So it goes to prove that deep rifling marks on the projectile does not necessarily aims toward better accuracy.

Basu

Exactly Basu sir, it's very interesting. I recently researched and came to know about this. Thus attached the video in previous reply so that everyone can be enriched.

[Basu]

Recently I tried to check the groove marks on pellets in a Diana 34 Classic by using Gsmith Amateur Pellets.
Here I felt that it has choked barrel.
The pellet went down the barrel somewhat easily but got stuck at 2" before muzzle end.
I am attaching the picture for your comment.


Basu