What I've Learned About Breaking In New Rifles

[Fischer]

Today I've learned and proven to myself patience is a virtue whenever you get your brand new air rifle.

My routine is take the gun out and see the bore after breaking it open agains the sky or white wall to ascertain concentric rifling from breech to muzzle.

Then I load the pellet and shoot according to where the sights were "left" by the seller; such as AOA or Pyramid or Pomona Air or Beeman or anything anywhere I know them all and the check for concentric bore muzzle to breech is done by the light in the sky or white wall to see if "the hole" is exactly in the center of the right twisting or left twisting rifling.

Most air rifles are clockwise that I know but if you've got something like left hand twist don't worry a bit--Colt is always Left Hand Twist and nobody will argue against them for deciding that in the Colt Handguns we all wish we could own!

Pressure upon a break barrel will distort the "perfect" concentric bore but in time you find cocking the break barrel and looking into the bore at the sky or a white wall BEFORE loading a pellet will give the barrel "free swing" to look into the bore without hand pressure bending it.

I know lesson number one is ready to say....

1. The sights (or scope sighted) on top of your new rifle will MOST LIKELY be OFF! Especially in the case of me with AOA and PA and Air Venturi along with any other place that provides entire packages. You have to sight in your own rifle AFTER they sent it to you in a box.

So is the second lesson easy to say....

2. Stand 5 yards or 10 yards or 15 yards (stop here) and shoot the rifle with 5 pellets of your choice and see where THOSE FIVE PELLETS WENT according to your aim! You MUST stand STAND to make these groups because Spring Air Rifles have back thrust affecting group "tiny" "ness" inside a dime or quarter or so. When YOU STAND and shoot YOUR rifle at 10 or less yards with OPEN sights you learn right away whether the sights are on.

That's me everytime. Shoot "the new rifle" offhand to sort out the iron sights FIRST and then if a scope is considered the accommodations for THAT can be achieved MANY ways.

Most like peep type sights and go to the extent of ordering Williams or Lyman rear in place of the factory "middle" rear sights to fit a "bead" in a "u" notch or variations thereof.

The problem is for me I NEED the U notch and front Bead post sight to ACCURATELY shoot any of my HW35Es and so it is a personal note while others like pistol patridge or square or "V" rear notch. They are there to rotate around in the rear and replace in the front sight at will.

To me I have choices in pellets and lately I've crossed out all Crossman due to an inconsistency in their .177 10.5 grain "series" of CP Premier Domes, Pirahnas, Hollow Points, etc in tin. All tin in Crossman is OUSTED from my collection of air rifles FOREVER.

I have cardboard boxes of 10.5gr CPs Domes OVERSIZED from .177 SO FAR they will NOT fit inside my FWB Sport .177.

If a pellet won't go into my .177 FWB Sport from diameter OVERSIZING then I decide to DROP that brand. Shooting a PROPERLY designed pellet includes getting the chamber fitness right!

Pellets are a worry. It leads to the next thing I do as a rule with a new rifle....

3. Find a pellet weight and design YOU WANT to shoot in THAT rifle and start shooting it. Don't listen to people saying go "heavier" or "lighter" or "another brand(--avoid Crossman at ALL cost! They can't make pellets anymore to FIT the bore--). You decide WHICH pellet of reputable make you'd like to use for your shooting in that rifle.

I like reactive targets at various ranges and they are all made of steel or a pine board to keep shooting at.

If you hunt or punch paper then you choose the pellet. To me there are a few air gun pellets that always satisfy without non-conformity:

Kaiser

HN

Beeman

JSB

Sovereign

Air Arms light or regular



Then you start settling in with the rifle. Don't expect much right away. In time that rifle will become one with you after you master it standing offhand.

After standing offhand, if you want to find braced rests and things to lean on or fork into it's YOUR adventure!

I just say don't start with sandbags or a solid type of rest--get to KNOW the rifle offhand before placing it in a rest position.

You can get to know your rifle by shooting it at CLOSE range using open sights FIRST.

 

[dizzums]

 alittle polish with some thousand grit on that sharp breech edge can work wonders .. i try to use crosmans because im not paying 25 bucks for a tin of pellets to 'just shoot' pretty much ever ... i use a more quality pellet in my pesting or hunting rigs 'if' theres a better one than crosman, but for example, a 200 tin of .25's lasts over a year because those guns are only for money shots lol .. but to me its ridiculous these days that several tins of pellets cost more than the average springer, nope , its eating crosmans if i have to get the drill and sander out to make it eat them lol ..

 

[Fischer]

And just for the record my friends in air!

I NEVER cleaned an air rifle bore with a worm or patch or snake or rod or cotton or even Beeman "clean your barrel" cotton wads.

I NEVER hurt the inside of ANY air rifle with a cleaning rod or solution or oil. 

I just use the next pellet to clean out the last one fired.

Cleaning rod? Worm? Bore Snake? Fish nylon in a knot around cotton patch?

You are ALL crazy to think about WIPING any air rifle bore.

What is the best solution when switching pellets or thinking a cleaning (like in Centerfire) is necessary?



NEVER! Just shoot your next soft lead and antimony pellet and CLEAN it out with THAT!

I was NEVER disappointed in any of my springers or PCPs or whatever is left to CLEAN the bores which may be made of Brass like Benjamin 322s.

NEVER EVER CLEAN your rifle bore. Load it up and shoot it out. 

After you obey my first rule: Observe the concentricity of your bore breech to muzzle.

I never had a bore obstruction of any worry in any of my rifles from the time I got them.

I am a rifle bore freak and treat the bore of any rifle as the heart of the rifle. No way am I going to "scrub" or "Solvent" away stuff inside an air rifle bore. They are not made of the same chrome molybdenum barrels of Remington 700s and such. That is reserved for THOSE high powered barrels to shoot at least 5000 or 10000 times before re-barrelling.

 

[Fischer]

alittle polish with some thousand grit on that sharp breech edge can work wonders .. i try to use crosmans because im not paying 25 bucks for a tin of pellets to 'just shoot' pretty much ever ... i use a more quality pellet in my pesting or hunting rigs 'if' theres a better one than crosman, but for example, a 200 tin of .25's lasts over a year because those guns are only for money shots lol .. but to me its ridiculous these days that several tins of pellets cost more than the average springer, nope , its eating crosmans if i have to get the drill and sander out to make it eat them lol ..

To me pellets are "bullets" in Illinois here.

They WILL kill out to over 100 yards and they WILL kill lightly at 25 yards depending upon which rifle I shoot for the game that has to be killed.

I don't need powder at all anymore where I live. I can shoot every one of my air rifles quietly and use them from close to far. I already know I can kill a hedgehog/muskrat/woodchuck at 105 yards using a sidelever in .20 with a muzzle baffling system designed to remove all back gassing in a springer after the pellet leaves the muzzle.

At this point I don't even need a .22 Rimfire of any sort!

 

[nervoustrig]

You are ALL crazy to think about WIPING any air rifle bore.

I am certifiably insane.

 

[Duckfish]

Lots of interesting opinions,

 

[wWilliam]

I clean my liner when accuracy falls off.

 

[jjonusas]

I too only clean when brand new and when accuracy drops

 

[thumper]

Number one rule of airgunning; 

Never take accuracy advice from a guy that ONLY shoots offhand and NEVER from a rest and ALWAYS with a cruddy barrel. 

Can you explain a little more about what this means: 

"Pressure upon a break barrel will distort the "perfect" concentric bore but in time you find cocking the break barrel and looking into the bore at the sky or a white wall BEFORE loading a pellet will give the barrel "free swing" to look into the bore without hand pressure bending it."

 

[thumper]

You are ALL crazy to think about WIPING any air rifle bore.

I am certifiably insane.

Count me in too. 

Might as well throw in the guys that win FT and Benchrest comps as well. I know they aren't out there winning with a crudded up barrel. 

 

[Moog]

About every 500 shots or so I clean the bore with Simple Green and then apply a very light coat of oil.

I guess I'm nuts too.

 

[MDriskill]

Well - save me a room at the asylum; make my straitjacket a 40 long. I like cotton patches and Ballistol for barrel cleaning.

Hard to understand how a metal projectile moving at hundreds of feet-per-second can be less of a problem than soft cloth moving at feet-per-minute speeds, but hey, I've been wrong before.

 

[Duckfish]

Opinions are like haircuts. Everyone has one. Unless they are bald.

 

[c801tfd]

After reading the maual and doing a quick pre-shoot inspection what I learned about breaking in a new rifle is I don't break in a new air rifle, it breaks me in, simply because I must learn what pellets it likes and its shooting charateristics. 

 

[bubblerboy64]

I don’t take a bath. I just roll in the mud and let the new dirt rub off the old. I don’t use toilet paper either.

 

[bubblerboy64]

That last one was intended to be humorous. HOWEVER opinions are always welcome and I’ve learned that I’m not always right. In fact the longer I live the less I am certain of.
Cleaning by shooting would be affective if 100% of the fouling was removed with each shot. But the point that air rifles don’t needed to be cleaned is largely true if you shoot lower powered guns and perhaps use some lubrication. I clean when I have accuracy issues with a known “ good” pellet. 
Anyone who can determine much looking down a barrel without a bore scope has pretty darned good eyes.
Shooting off hand is a test of the shooter much more then the gun. It certainly will separate the men from the boys. We all should do much more of it. 
You can damage a gun cleaning it? You can damage your teeth brushing them . Doesn’t mean don’t brush . Do it correctly 

Shooting groundhogs at 105 yards with a air rifle ( I’m assuming off hand and a springer) I’m going to just let that one go…. 

 

[Fischer]

Number one rule of airgunning; 

Never take accuracy advice from a guy that ONLY shoots offhand and NEVER from a rest and ALWAYS with a cruddy barrel. 

Can you explain a little more about what this means: 

"Pressure upon a break barrel will distort the "perfect" concentric bore but in time you find cocking the break barrel and looking into the bore at the sky or a white wall BEFORE loading a pellet will give the barrel "free swing" to look into the bore without hand pressure bending it."

What I meant was when you want to inspect concentric bores rifled correctly, the center of the bore will be in the center and the rifling (whether 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 "lands") will circle around the bore perfectly from every focal point you use inside the barrel with the sky or wall.

 

[Fischer]

Number one rule of airgunning; 

Never take accuracy advice from a guy that ONLY shoots offhand and NEVER from a rest and ALWAYS with a cruddy barrel. 

Can you explain a little more about what this means: 

"Pressure upon a break barrel will distort the "perfect" concentric bore but in time you find cocking the break barrel and looking into the bore at the sky or a white wall BEFORE loading a pellet will give the barrel "free swing" to look into the bore without hand pressure bending it."

thumper, you're half right and having fun with me on this but consider the actual consistent rifles you shoot offhand over and over and over and over with millions of pellets of all calibers.

I got to know which rifles always shot where I pointed them from the time in the scope at 15 yards or 10 yards clear out to 105 yards offhand with my D54 .20 27 von 30 L-W .20 barrel with 8 landings for .20 caliber instead of the usual things we have to waste our time with such as .177 and .221

I haven't a need for an accurate rimfire when this air rifle is used instead with air and less lead.

I was saying that you have to cock the break barrel FULLY and FREE of your hand to "hold it open" at the crack point and look. The pressure to "crack" any springer break barrel WILL temporarily BEND the alignment of the stressed steel barrel (by YOUR BREAKING IT OPEN--it WILL bend and return to original WHEN YOU HAVE IT COCKED ALL THE WAY in free swing.

But do NOT dry fire after you do this! If the bore is clear and rifled correctly like all AOA air rifles are BEFORE their packaging you KNOW they SHOT the rifle to RECORD pellet and VELOCITY which is a REQUIREMENT that MUST be followed by serial number and paper and signature to these types of springers that CAN do bad things at 100 yards and beyond.

They say 400 yards is about the best "length" to be safe if you are shooting a pellet rifle. (Forget those bb gun toys).

They say around 1.5 miles for .22 Long Rifle and 1.75 miles or more for the .22 WMR. Forget about even going to centerfire with a Hornet. If you need a Hornet you break the decibels and the bullet is way more dangerous than a pellet with a LOT further range.

 

[thumper]

Number one rule of airgunning; 

Never take accuracy advice from a guy that ONLY shoots offhand and NEVER from a rest and ALWAYS with a cruddy barrel. 

Can you explain a little more about what this means: 

"Pressure upon a break barrel will distort the "perfect" concentric bore but in time you find cocking the break barrel and looking into the bore at the sky or a white wall BEFORE loading a pellet will give the barrel "free swing" to look into the bore without hand pressure bending it."

What I meant was when you want to inspect concentric bores rifled correctly, the center of the bore will be in the center and the rifling (whether 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 "lands") will circle around the bore perfectly from every focal point you use inside the barrel with the sky or wall.

So what do you do if it doesn't? I've got barrels that I have bent personally to remove droop, and you can't tell by looking through them. And they shoot very accurately. 

And an FYI, even the touted FWB barrels aren't drilled concentric. I indicated one in my lathe a few weeks ago and the bore was .004" off center at the muzzle. 

 

[thumper]

Number one rule of airgunning; 

Never take accuracy advice from a guy that ONLY shoots offhand and NEVER from a rest and ALWAYS with a cruddy barrel. 

Can you explain a little more about what this means: 

"Pressure upon a break barrel will distort the "perfect" concentric bore but in time you find cocking the break barrel and looking into the bore at the sky or a white wall BEFORE loading a pellet will give the barrel "free swing" to look into the bore without hand pressure bending it."

thumper, you're half right and having fun with me on this but consider the actual consistent rifles you shoot offhand over and over and over and over with millions of pellets of all calibers.

I got to know which rifles always shot where I pointed them from the time in the scope at 15 yards or 10 yards clear out to 105 yards offhand with my D54 .20 27 von 30 L-W .20 barrel with 8 landings for .20 caliber instead of the usual things we have to waste our time with such as .177 and .221

I haven't a need for an accurate rimfire when this air rifle is used instead with air and less lead.

I was saying that you have to cock the break barrel FULLY and FREE of your hand to "hold it open" at the crack point and look. The pressure to "crack" any springer break barrel WILL temporarily BEND the alignment of the stressed steel barrel (by YOUR BREAKING IT OPEN--it WILL bend and return to original WHEN YOU HAVE IT COCKED ALL THE WAY in free swing.

But do NOT dry fire after you do this! If the bore is clear and rifled correctly like all AOA air rifles are BEFORE their packaging you KNOW they SHOT the rifle to RECORD pellet and VELOCITY which is a REQUIREMENT that MUST be followed by serial number and paper and signature to these types of springers that CAN do bad things at 100 yards and beyond.

They say 400 yards is about the best "length" to be safe if you are shooting a pellet rifle. (Forget those bb gun toys).

They say around 1.5 miles for .22 Long Rifle and 1.75 miles or more for the .22 WMR. Forget about even going to centerfire with a Hornet. If you need a Hornet you break the decibels and the bullet is way more dangerous than a pellet with a LOT further range.

So the barrel bends when you cock the gun, but returns to straight once cocked. And then you determine if the bore is centered by peering through it. Alright. I've bent them on purpose in a press, deliberately putting a bow in them, and I find that a bit far fetched. 

What will you do when you find out that the previous owner of your fabled .20 caliber RWS cleaned the barrel on it? Will it then no longer shoot one inch groups at 100 yards offhand for hunting woodchucks? Because a 4-5 inch group isn't good enough for that, and the energy level is very marginal anyway. You mentioned once about tomato sized groups, and tomatoes are about baseball sized here in Alabama. 

And again, you've got off on a tangent talking about firearms here on an airgun forum. That's of no relevance to anything here, we can all live without that.