Long gun barrel choke?

[outdoorman]

New to air gunning. Got a Diana 34 in April and now just bought a Crosman Nitro Venom. Recently read an article indicating that air gun barrels are choked. I noticed this with the Diana when inserting a laser boresighter but I don't feel that at all on the Crosman. How common is choking among brands/models?

 

[T3PRanch]

From the factory nearly all small bore pellet rifles are choked but each manufacturer may have their own specific sizing for the chokes. If the gun was built for slugs (big bores) then no choke.

Thurmond

 

[thwakkk]

From my experience with over 15 air rifles which are mostly break barrel springers I've found the better quality guns like the HW95/R9 seem to have a choke but the cheaper ones I've owned were not choked. When I say "choke" I am referring to roughly the last inch +/- of the barrel on the muzzle end being smaller than the rest of the barrel. About half the springers I currently own are German made and originally have/had grooves pressed into the end of the barrel to mount the front site which restricts the bore somewhat thus my statement that they seem to have a choke. I can't test them to verify as most of my German springers have had the barrel chopped and choked making them both shorter and a little lighter.

I've seen several cheaper break barrels where a pellet pushed thru the barrel from the breech to muzzle while pointing down actually fall out of the barrel with very little to no pressure applied once past the breech area. Some of those actually had decent accuracy given the proper pellet but many were poor at best and considered close range plinkers. 

There are many who believe a choke is worthless but I am a believer in them and have found they make the gun more pellet friendly. That said if a barrel is consistent in bore diameter from breech to muzzle I feel a choke would provide no benefit but I have yet to see a break barrel springer have a consistent size bore. I've only owned one under lever gun and that was one of the first Chinese copies of a TX200 which I promptly sold so I have no experience on that design one way or another.

I do own a couple PCP rifles and have only pushed a pellet thru one of them (FX smooth twist) so I can't say they are or are not choked but from what I have read they are both choked as well.

 

[T3PRanch]

Woody Woodall of Lothar Walther tells me that their barrel chokes are the last 3/8" to 1/2" of barrel which can be cut off and the barrel re-crowned for converting it to a slug barrel.

Thurmond