What I've Learned About Breaking In New Rifles

[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.

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. 

Yes you can bend a barrel into accuracy!

But I don't bend or try to bend barrels; and that makes me say yes you can have a rifled barrel turned all the way around to deliver accuracy to shoot the shooter.

Bending barrels is an art.

My first FWB 124 .177 (1988) WAS bent UPWARDS to hit "center" and I was able to use that with precision. But today a barrel should be drilled concentric from breech to muzzle without excuse.

Today, concentric bores from breech to muzzle are easy to sight in. If you have a model you want try try to bend like the customary Colt Single Action Army front sight to groove then a barrel bend can be done by those willing to BEND their COLT handgun barrels into perfect sight alignment in FIXED sights.

Today no air rifle made has any excuse to put open sights out of alignment with most human eyes whether assisted by eyeglasses or none.

Peep sights! Don't go there. I am over 60 and seeing clear wires in a telescopic sight is the best way to test a rifle AFTER sighting in the iron sights.

No barrel bending or other along the way unless you are dealing with a real lemon sow's ear trying to put it all back together like Humpty Dumpty!

Get the rifle that is RIGHT from the start and then you can build upon it after the sights or lack of sights in the case of HW98s. Those don't need any barrel bending at all and they are made to shoot thousands of rounds without you having to worry about a replacement kit to "make it better" or "improve its performance."

It takes time and many many pellets to "get used" to what your brand new air rifle is capable of doing.

Never do anything "drastic". Take your time and put the rifle away for tomorrow and use it tomorrow and keep on going. 

When you "need a break" from the new rifle you are working with pick up something else in your own inventory to "follow up on". If it's your first and only air rifle without resort to a break to other rifles then still put it away and DO SOMETHING ELSE to get your mind of your expectations; realizing despite factory and seller standards the rifle has to be part of you instead of the bench rest or two sticks in a fork or whatever you think will remove your offhand "wiggles".

It's your offhand shooting with any rifle that tells you it is a true rifle.

Kindly remembered in this response!

 

[copdills]

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.

Hey I think I use to work with you LOL

 

[Guest]

On adjusting a barrel by bending it. A problem that you can create when using the technique is an oval bore. Tubing is bent on a mandrel because the bender wants to keep the hole in the tubing round. What difference does an oval bore make? Probably none, until you decide to shorten the barrel and you remove enough to get to that oval section. Now the pellet is leaving the bore having been forged into an oval section. The results are generally not only unacceptable but also irreparable.

Personal experience.

 

[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.

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. 

If I find my rifle is visibly concentric then I know anything else I have to say about missing my target is an inexcusable excuse made by a soldier.

That is the way I feel. You are issued a rifle for your money and if it comes with a bent barrel then you return it like I did to Beeman in 1988 (an R9 .20).

If you can bend the barrel to point of aim then I know what you are doing. It has worked and I noticed my FWB 124 .177 in 1988 WAS BENT ALREADY upwards out of the box!

I shot it and found out it was sighted in! Feinwerkbau did THAT before the rifle was "sent out" of the factory.

That was the last "crooked" bore in air I ever owned and I later sold it to get an R1 in .177. That is when I realized the HW rifle had WAY more power and the scope and rings kept sliding back on those silly dovetail rails we should outlaw.

However, the trigger of the HW and the HW continue to hold the largest inventory in my house and I've got a Theoben Eliminator .25, Beeman Falcon R-x .25, Daystate Huntsman Regal .177, Diana D54 .20 still here but they are few among MANY HW rifles.

I have all the HW35Es in both calibers, I have 3 HW98s in .177, .20, .25, HW57 .177, HW97K-T .20, HW80s in .177, .20, .22, .25, R9 Beeman .177, HW95 .177, HW95L .22, HW95L .25.

I have more I'm not remembering in my places around the house; but the bottom line is cleaning a bore on any air rifle is as senseless as cleaning an Olympic Match .22 Rifle in LR. The bore with cleaning always needs more shooting to shoot right. The bore that had nothing but lead pellets at 700 or so fps NEVER needs cleaning outside of another pellet to shoot out after.

I stand on it and have since 1969.

Anyone want to challenge me with an offhand shoot?

Eagerly awaiting,