G
Guest
Guest
As some of you probably know, I thoroughly clean, weigh, and lube my .25 cal. JSB 34gr. Heavy's with Napier Pellet Lube. I shoot several cans of pellets through my Wildcat MKI and former Streamline until I perceive a change in accuracy. At that point I run a dry patch through the barrel a couple times and it only shows a little color. But after the dry patch my accuracy comes right back where it should be.
Having purchased many different barrels for some of my air rifles I do not believe it is possible to make general all inclusive statements about any barrels, regardless of maker. It is possible to get a bad barrel even from a reputable maker but as a general rule you get what you pay for. In a conversation with one of the guys at Airguns of Arizona one time I was told that they have a whole box full of bad FX barrels that they cut up and use for tent pegs on camping trips. On the other hand the Smooth Twist barrels on my Streamline and Wildcat rifles are just boringly accurate and will do one hole groups at 50 yards measuring 3/8" effortlessly.
Having purchased airgun barrels from FX, Lothar Walther, Sam Yang, Lilja Barrels, Martin Rutterford, Mike Sayers, Woody Woodson, and others, I can only say that in my opinion the accuracy of the barrel you get boils down to the luck of the draw! Here is a link to an interesting video showing the difference between a new hand lapped Lilja barrel and a brand new Remington rifle barrel. You will be amazed at what you see, but what the video does not say is that in spite of its imperfections the Remington barrel might shoot 1" groups at 100 yards...maybe it won't put every shot in the same hole at 100 yards but the Lilja barrel won't either unless you spend the time it takes to work up a hand load for it to do so. Check out the video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9zZqn00CA
All the best, Chuck
P.S. I also recommend you watch this video interview with Mr. John Krieger... one of the world's premier barrel makers. One interesting point he makes is that regardless of the fact that your barrel may be hand lapped like a Lilja barrel so that all the transverse tooling marks are gone, the throat of the barrel has transverse tooling marks from the hone that are across the direction of bullet travel and can cause inaccuracy problems. How that point applies to us airgunners is that even assuming we have a perfect barrel we have to wonder about the brass barrel inlet and its effect on the overall accuracy. I have never thought to mention it before, but I diligently polish the inside of my brass barrel inlet and the leade into the barrel itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d0-FOEpAuw
For example, when you drill a hole in the brass inlet to make the transfer port the hole will have very sharp edges or burrs that will abrade the head and skirt of your pellets and cause poor accuracy in a rifle that otherwise actually has a super accurate barrel. And don't forget the crown at the other end of the barrel... it only takes a small imperfection here to ruin the accuracy of what could be an otherwise perfectly accurate barrel. So don't be afraid to put a small dowel rod with some 1200 paper on it and polish the inside of your brass inlet, and don't hesitate to put a brass screw in your hand drill and retouch the crown on your barrel once in awhile... especially if you notice a drop in accuracy beyond what a dirty barrel would cause. If you have ever wondered why my guns shoot so accurately now you know a couple more of the reasons why.
Having purchased many different barrels for some of my air rifles I do not believe it is possible to make general all inclusive statements about any barrels, regardless of maker. It is possible to get a bad barrel even from a reputable maker but as a general rule you get what you pay for. In a conversation with one of the guys at Airguns of Arizona one time I was told that they have a whole box full of bad FX barrels that they cut up and use for tent pegs on camping trips. On the other hand the Smooth Twist barrels on my Streamline and Wildcat rifles are just boringly accurate and will do one hole groups at 50 yards measuring 3/8" effortlessly.
Having purchased airgun barrels from FX, Lothar Walther, Sam Yang, Lilja Barrels, Martin Rutterford, Mike Sayers, Woody Woodson, and others, I can only say that in my opinion the accuracy of the barrel you get boils down to the luck of the draw! Here is a link to an interesting video showing the difference between a new hand lapped Lilja barrel and a brand new Remington rifle barrel. You will be amazed at what you see, but what the video does not say is that in spite of its imperfections the Remington barrel might shoot 1" groups at 100 yards...maybe it won't put every shot in the same hole at 100 yards but the Lilja barrel won't either unless you spend the time it takes to work up a hand load for it to do so. Check out the video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9zZqn00CA
All the best, Chuck
P.S. I also recommend you watch this video interview with Mr. John Krieger... one of the world's premier barrel makers. One interesting point he makes is that regardless of the fact that your barrel may be hand lapped like a Lilja barrel so that all the transverse tooling marks are gone, the throat of the barrel has transverse tooling marks from the hone that are across the direction of bullet travel and can cause inaccuracy problems. How that point applies to us airgunners is that even assuming we have a perfect barrel we have to wonder about the brass barrel inlet and its effect on the overall accuracy. I have never thought to mention it before, but I diligently polish the inside of my brass barrel inlet and the leade into the barrel itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d0-FOEpAuw
For example, when you drill a hole in the brass inlet to make the transfer port the hole will have very sharp edges or burrs that will abrade the head and skirt of your pellets and cause poor accuracy in a rifle that otherwise actually has a super accurate barrel. And don't forget the crown at the other end of the barrel... it only takes a small imperfection here to ruin the accuracy of what could be an otherwise perfectly accurate barrel. So don't be afraid to put a small dowel rod with some 1200 paper on it and polish the inside of your brass inlet, and don't hesitate to put a brass screw in your hand drill and retouch the crown on your barrel once in awhile... especially if you notice a drop in accuracy beyond what a dirty barrel would cause. If you have ever wondered why my guns shoot so accurately now you know a couple more of the reasons why.
Upvote 0
only because I did not understand what the retouching your crown with brass screw part meant. I know brass is softer than barrel material but still I need some pictures/video/explanation to make sense of this.