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Break in your Airgun, before mounting your scope

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Lakobe1

Member
Feb 6, 2019
83
1
Louisiana
One thing I wanted to make note of even with my Benjamin Trails .25 and Gamo .22 it's a great practice to 'break in' those Nitro Piston break barrel airguns, before ever mounting your scope on the gun. Take a can of cheap pellets and run 150-200 rounds through your gun to break it in. You will find by doing this your group will be much tighter once you add your scope, for sighting in. I use to buy a gun, throw the scope on then and my groups were good one day and then seemed to be off the next. Basically the gun was still breaking in and the POI seemed to be constantly changing. Once I figured out this break in period, my groups are something to be proud of.

If you've had a gun ifor a while and its broken in and all your scope mounts and gun screws are tighten properly, then chances are you may need to try different ammo and possible a different airgun scope. But if you buy a new gun and take my advice about properly breaking in your gun listed above, I know you'll be a happy shooter..

TRUST ME IT WORKS! HAPPY SHOOTING!
 
What...exactly..."breaks in" ?

Sure, soft lead pellets change a steel barrel..! Not without rapid firing about 5,000 pellets through it.



MIke
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Lubricants spread, springs lose some "edges" with friction, trigger loosens up some. Things just get smoother because of the result of motion and friction, and the spread of lubricants. Parts "mate" meaning they wear together. Just like when I first got my Mossberg 50012 gauge as an 8 year old. It was very stiff early on, and it "broke in" nicely over time. The action smoothed out/pumping got alot easier, the trigger settled in, etc.. Overall just got alot easier to shoot....Tough to describe if you havent experienced it, but it all gets smoother. The seals wear a little, making them ride with less friction, etc etc..
 
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What...exactly..."breaks in" ?

Sure, soft lead pellets change a steel barrel..! Not without rapid firing about 5,000 pellets through it.



MIke
Click to expand...

^^^^ What Glenroiland said ^^^^


He is probably talking about a spring rifle. On spring rifles you "wear" things in. The shot cycle smooths out with a few hundred shots. Pistons "find" a comfortable seat. Springs and cylinders wear in a bit. Lubricants are uniformly distributed, etc. The barrel leads up a bit and that smooths out some of the rough spots. Spring rifles just shoot better after they have had a couple of tins of pellets through them.

Me I just mount the scope and commence to throwing lead knowing full well that things will need to be tightened and zeros will drift around some for a while.
 
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What...exactly..."breaks in" ?

Sure, soft lead pellets change a steel barrel..! Not without rapid firing about 5,000 pellets through it.



MIke
Click to expand...

^^^^ What he said ^^^^


He is probably talking about a spring rifle. On spring rifles you "wear" things in. The shot cycle smooths out with a few hundred shots. Pistons "find" a comfortable seat. Springs and cylinders wear in a bit. Lubricants are uniformly distributed, etc. The barrel leads up a bit and that smooths out some of the rough spots. Spring rifles just shoot better after they have had a couple of tins of pellets through them.

Me I just mount the scope and commence to throwing lead knowing full well that things will need to be tightened and zeros will drift around some for a while.
Click to expand...

This. I just mount the scope and shoot. 
 
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I'm not sure I believe in that concept. Seems to me your groups will improve in time whether the scope was mounted from the beginning or not. Break in improvements (especially velocity) are a result of piston seal seating and increase in piston speed upon firing IMHO.
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I agree with you. I took it as the OP waiting to mount the scope until the gun settled to avoid having to adjust the scope as the gun settled. Just like shooting a tin down range without grouping or sighting at all prior to scoping the gun to break it in, then scoping it..
 
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Thanks for this post, good advice that I wholeheartedly agree with.

I’m amazed at how many folks don’t understand this these days. A spring-piston airgun (even with a gas spring) is a very simple mechanical device that will tend to “settle in” and work better over time. It’s not realistic to think they will be perfect out of the box. I’m old enough to remember when cars came with detailed instructions for their break-in period...!

I don’t buy new guns too often (I let others break them in, LOL), but when I do I always run a tin of pellets through them and then drop them out of the stock, check things over, lube, clean and loctite screws, adjust trigger, breech tension, etc., before doing any fine sighting in.
 
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I bought a used T05 48 hoping it would have been broken in. Couldn't have been more wrong. I seriously doubt even 20 pellets were put through this gun. Broke in very nicely, but learned that even older guns may not be broken in. Seems many people buy them to collect dust.

Well, I did get a GREAT deal on a fantastic gun, so I'm not complaining!
 
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The guns accuracy and velocity will improve over time. There's no magic in not scoping it right away that will make it more accurate than if you did scope it ! Accuracy will improve with open sights or a scope. Now if the argument is not subjecting the scope to the harsher pre break-in firing behavior I can understand that aspect of waiting.
 
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