jantar

Hi Bud, You could try getting in touch with a company called The Ratworks in Leicestershire because they can and do work miracles and I state that from personal experience. Ray

.20 has a flatter trajectory than a .22 but not as flat as the .177. Best way to describe the .20 is that it hits harder than a .177 without the massive trajectory curve of a .22. My next will also be a .20. Their only drawback is that at present the selection of different .20 pellets are not great.

Both types can be as accurate as each other, it depends on the skill of the shooter. As for choice, it is very much a personal choice. PCPs's offer no 'recoil reaction' to the shooter whilst a springer does. I own all types and shoot them all and enjoy the challenges they individually give. Go with your heart and shoot whichever type you enjoy most. When you buy do not buy from the advice of others and their preferences. Go to a decent RFD or gun shop and shoulder as many as you can until you find one that 'fits like a glove'. Only then test it on their range if they have one. I have seen far too many bought only to be returned because it not do what the shooter expected. That went for one silly sod who bought a top of the range Steyer only to return it 2 days later as unsuitable and lost half its cost on an exchange! Think first of what your needs are, casual target, HFT, FT, garden plinking, pest control or just for 10m competition. Lots to consider so be wise. Best of luck.

To make myself clear I only requested information on how to repair this rifle. I did not request irrelevant information pertaining to the laws which do not govern external countries who have no 'pact' with the UK. To respond to your advice I requested information from Trading Standards and they told me that if it is a single person making a claim then they cannot act unless its for a huge amount because it would be uncertain to reach the courts. Their best advice was to contact that TV consumer rights program to see if they would take it on. I did and received very much the same response, namely that it would take multiple complainants before they would consider opening a case file. They also informed me that if the RFD/retailer/supplier was merely an agent (which they are) not the wholesaler of the manufacturer who is based in another country outside of the UK or EU then the 'Act' is not covered or applicable. In real life not all 'Acts' work as they should, just the same as real life there are always hiccups and failures in both the Law and Acts to some and the minority always tend to be overlooked. That sums up my enquiries and research for assistance so its pointless to offer more advice which is not relevant outside of the UK or EU. Fortunately I have repaired the rifle without any help from the manufacturer, their agents or this forum though I will give advice to anyone who requests it on my 'How To' procedure of its repair. That said I doubt if anyone would wish to attempt it. I do thank those who responded and understood that although trying to advise on the repair they just did not have the knowledge I requested. Thats all. Cheers

Ah but many of the problem rifles are well under a £100.00 so are not covered. Add to that many are also bought with cash too. - the fact is that SMK are constantly getting away with poor customer service and support even to Registered Firearms Dealers so it would only be truly redressed if Joe Public set the stance that they were not going to buy any of the cheaper (why not them all) SMK rifles until they provided a decent level of Customer Service and support. Any company losing so many customers and sales would soon come to their senses. At no time did I ask for a refund or exchange knowing it was not possible as it was out of warranty. All I requested was some information which has not been responded to and now realise that SMK will never reply to anyone requesting information. I am pleased that this rifle did not belong to me but by good luck and engineering skill is now fully operational again. GAMO (BSA) on the other hand do give an excellent Customer Service and Support so why not kick SMK into touch and buy these which are far higher quality anyway.

These rifles are not mine cos I wouldn't give them house room. They are used at a range to learn others safety and basic shooting. All of mine are quality (Daystate, Weihrauch, Walther etc because I know that you get what you pay for. It does sadden me though that I have to work on **** belonging to others at times to keep things moving!

Lack of SMK support, lack of parts diagrams, lack of any help at all from them! Seems like this one was about as bad as they could make it too! When stripped it took being put in oven at 120C to literally melt the hardened grease on its internals. It stunk too. Loads of white spirit used to get rid of the remainder then a good inspection, polish off the rough edges where present (everywhere) and re-lube. Its back together finally and the safety catch as others have reported is hit and miss so I might just take it out altogether and blank the holes. Its a disappointing rifle at best, accuracy is not bad but the power is 563 FPS = 5 Ft/Lbs using 9.3 Panther domed. Still cannot understand why there is so much pre-load (almost 70mm) on the spring for such a **** poor power level! Its a DOG! To answer your request I can only assume that it was the hard as rocks grease it was packed with causing the problem. More like candlewax than a lubricant. Pleased its done now and I can forget it. Forget SMK too if at possible, they can shove these cheapo's where the sun don't shine!

If they do not reply then it is their loss because I will not have any more to do with them. Perhaps if everyone with a problem with their products formally complained publicly online they might start to take customer service seriously. I will keep my progress posted though. Seriously this SYNXS is a total piece of engineering ****. Even at £75 its not value for money in any respect. Typical Chinese **** is what it is and we should give up and coming newbie youngsters better equipment that they can appreciate instead of **** that lets them down across the board. 😄 Wouldn't that be Vindapoo though? Its faggots for me so maybe one down the barrel would work.

Would make no difference if it had been left whole because it would not have been accepted for exchange by them. When its out of warranty that becomes a hand washing job as far as it goes.Best I can do now is to recommend that a change of supplier is made. I will keep this post going until its back together and working as it should, or better with luck and help from SMK tech dept.

If you are looking for a cheapo please STAY AWAY from the SMK SYNXS! A good one is the SMK 19-18XS and is the best you could get for a reasonable low price and have the ease of tuning. I had one, did a Welsh Willy tune up on it and now wish I had never sold it!

Spent a few hours stripping it down and it was nightmare to do. Its the worst strip down I have ever had the misfortune to do. It was designed by some idiot who had no forethought that at some point it would need to be disassembled to be repaired! The trigger group is a Chinese puzzle, the pre-tension on the mainspring can be measured in inches not millimetres, the safety catch is near on impossible to remove without damaging the spring (much the same as the 2 in the trigger), in fact the easiest ans most straightforward removal was the stock and barrel assembly. Why the hell the trigger group was not designed as a separate detachable unit defies belief because it would have saved so much time in manufacturing assembly plus any future repairs. Add to the difficulties that the grease they used was as hard as plastic, stunk and took an age to clean off everywhere it had been. Ah well, its a lesson learned and its back to the re-assembly tomorrow. At least it is now cleaned. Just got to work out how the hell the trigger group and safety fit back together because they have to be assembled piece by piece while it is being re-assembled. Would I buy one or recommend one to anyone? NEVER never never. Even the B2 Original was easier to work on but my favourite is the 19-18XS.

Cheers, I will try to obtain one from Chambers or perhaps a kit from TR Robb. Its not a rifle I would have considered buying, in fact any of the basic SMK ones. The only SMK I did have and fully tuned was the SMK 19/18XS and that once the TR Robb kit had been installed was good enough for HFT. Now onto the strip down. I have also now been informed of the shop from which it was bought so I will be paying them a visit considering that they apparently supplied all of the club ones either new or used. Hi ho.

Cheers, but being over 70 years I own a full set of gun-smithing tools and have stripped many air rifles of all types and actions but never have come across this fault before. There is literally no sense of any compressed air at all once it has been cocked and the trigger pressed. It is owned by a small shooting club for which I am the Equipment Officer. The SMK SYNXS is a break barrel which was bought new but never shot and is now out of warranty. By stating there was no air in it I meant there was no air from the action when shot. You can both feel and hear the piston travelling inside the compression cylinder but there is no air emitted from the action transfer port at all. To answer your questions the barrel is clear, the breech seal is as new because the rifle had never been used at all. So new is it that the original SMK tie on label tag is still attached to the trigger guard. I requested some information of how it best stripped down because the information is not readily available on the web. Once I have repaired it I intend to post the information to assist others.

Anyone know how to strip this down because there is no air at all when shot yet the piston is felt to operate normally. Cheers for any help.