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"Warming Up" a barrel??

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EdCaffreyMS

EdCaffreyMS

Member
Mar 6, 2020
96
34
Montana, United States
 Just throwing this out there for the community..... I own a Gamo Swarm Whisper..... something that I have notice with this particular gun.... after not shooting it for a while, like days, the first mag is all over the place, and most times, half way through the second mag, it starts to put the pellets into the aiming point. At first I thought I was going a bit stir crazy, thinking such a thing couldn't be true, but this has occurred time and time again with this gun. The last couple of times, I've shot my Sig ASP20 for a while, before shooting this gun, thinking it might be ME needing to warmed up, but the same thing keeps happening.

Anyone else have anything like this occur? This doesn't occur with any of my other guns....just the Swarm Whisper. Thoughts? 
 
I had the same issue with my Gamo Whisper Fusion Mach 1. !st shot was always low and took about 4 or 5 to get up to where it should be. I was ready to sell it because to me a gun that isn't first shot accurate is of no use to me. I had been using Crosman CPHP to break it in and perfect my technique then switched to H and N FTT 5.53mm head. They shot great after warm up but fouled the barrel too quickly IMO and to get things back I had to use a brush and solvent. I experimented with lubing both types of pellets but same issue of cold shot poi being off. Before selling I decided to try some JSB's which have a softer lead and have found the solution for my Gamo. I started with a clean barrel and shoot 20 lubed 14.35 gr. pellets to season and zero scope. Next I pull a very tight dry patch through it. Then I lube 40 to 50 pellets with White Lightning bicycle chain lube for dry chains. After I have shot the last one I repeat the process with 40 to 50 more pellets. The rifle shoots tight groups and is first shot accurate including the first shot after the dry patch. I can get many more shots without accuracy dropping off but if I shoot too many more the first shots after the dry patch will be off. I don.t know if this will help you but you may find it worth a try. This may be a little inconvenient for someone who only shoots target but as a hunter/pester it works for me.
 
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So it's not just me?? That's both good and bad. Good that it seems to actually be a "thing"..... but bad in that I agree that any rifle that isn't "first shot accurate" isn't worth having! Like I said in my initial post.... my Sig ASP20 doesn't exhibit this behavior, but the Swarm Whisper does it EVERY time..... I can shoot it in the evening, get it dialed in, and the next morning, shoot it again, and the first 10-20 shots are all over the place. Maybe I'll find some deserving kid and give the Whisper to them. The main purpose of my air rifles is pests, and that means one shot, one kill. I've been on this air rifle road for a while now, but it seems there are constantly "issues" with any air rifle I get my hands on....sometimes I think I'd just be better off to get/use sub-sonic .22 ammo for my powder rifles.
 
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Springers are so dependent on technique that if I do have a first shot flier I am not sure if it is me or the gun. I have noticed a tendency for a shift in poi with my TX200 during the course of a shooting session. But we are talking maybe 1/2" down at 50 yards over the course of 20-30 shots, so nothing that would affect practical accuracy at typical pesting distances.
 
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I haven’t noticed it too bad actually and I used to go out shooting for groups all the time. Maybe 1 or two shots to get some lead in the barrel. I also rarely cleaned my barrels as I found that when I did I had to start over from scratch sometimes. A side note is that even when I had sprinters dieseling with some pretty extreme velocity spreads they were still shooting pretty tight groups at my 30yd and under ranges. Are you cleaning your barrel after each session?
 
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That's rich. I brought this topic up on another forum because I noticed the same thing with my springers. They laughed at me. Here is how you solve your problem if you want to keep your rifle. Figure out your cold bore zero. Snipers in the real world have to deal with this problem. They ALWAYS log their first shot in their journal, that way you know how far to hold off (or you can set the rifle up to shoot to it's cold bore zero). Springers are literally worse than PB rifles about this. It takes them more than a couple of shots to settle in usually. So ... I guess I am not as stupid as they said I was over there at GTA.

As a hunter and a springer lover the problem is solved for me by shooting the rifle to check zero before I point it at anything that I want to put down humanely.
 
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I have a FWB300s (SPRINGER) and it never missed it's first (COLD)shot...EVER. Even after not shooting it for 6-8 months. I shoot it between 35-55 yards using an old 4-12x Bushnell AO scope with BDC reticle. YO!
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Yeah, but it is an FWB 300 target rifle. As mentioned the lower fpe springers don't show it as much as the magnums. My D48 and D460 usually take about 3 shots to settle on the zero. I don't think I have noticed the problem with the 430L (yet). Now I will be looking. Yo! 😁
 
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That's just plain odd for a Diana. I had a Ken Reeves tuned RWS Diana 48 in 177 that never experienced needing warm up shots also still have a few RWS Diana 54s and 56 in both calibers. Nothing was done to any of them and I have never experienced this phenomenon with any of these Dianas as well. There was a time that I shot these on a daily basis when I needed to drop some pest birds out to 60 yards and I had problems filling my tanks and these are magnum springers not even tuned or worked on. Not even the triggers were adjusted so that's why I can't believe it. Same with my HW springers never noticed missing on the first shot not once. Is it possible the shooter needs the warm up shots? YO!
 
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So it's not just me?? That's both good and bad. Good that it seems to actually be a "thing"..... but bad in that I agree that any rifle that isn't "first shot accurate" isn't worth having! Like I said in my initial post.... my Sig ASP20 doesn't exhibit this behavior, but the Swarm Whisper does it EVERY time..... I can shoot it in the evening, get it dialed in, and the next morning, shoot it again, and the first 10-20 shots are all over the place. Maybe I'll find some deserving kid and give the Whisper to them. The main purpose of my air rifles is pests, and that means one shot, one kill. I've been on this air rifle road for a while now, but it seems there are constantly "issues" with any air rifle I get my hands on....sometimes I think I'd just be better off to get/use sub-sonic .22 ammo for my powder rifles.
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If you are needing to shoot 10 or 20 shots then something is wrong. Clean your barrel and give the process I described a try. What do you have to lose? If you have any questions please feel free to pm me. As far as rimfire for pests the CCI 22 quiet which is rated at 710 fps with 44 fpe is a viable option but just not near the fun, or challenge. Best of luck. Gary
 
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