Barrel "Conditioning".

[cambrai1917]

I have lost count of the number of times I have seen shooters on a sighting in range with four or five different makes of pellets opened in front of them, taking five or so shots with each type and then saying that their gun is not grouping.

Whenever a brand of pellets is changed (sometimes even different batches of the same pellet) or if the barrel has been cleaned then the barrel has to be "conditioned" to that particular pellet by putting at least ten shots (I do 20 to be on the safe side) through it before trying a group.

Different brands of pellets have different percentages of elements in them which affect hardness, coefficient of friction, B.C's etc which all have an effect.

Just thought a "Heads-Up" on this subject might stop a bit of frustration....

I
Neil

I've read much about barrel conditioning......all of it seemed great sense!
My Webley Omega .177 cal was producing very poor groups at all ranges. Was it me or was it the gun. I'm not the worlds greatest shot but surely I thought.......I can't be that bad!!
This afternoon I decided to clean the Omega's barrel.
With cleaning paste, coarse and medium felt pads & a wire pull through I began.
What a filthy state the felt pads were in after pulling them thru' the barrel!!
About 20 coarse followed by 15 medium pads were used to remove the "deposits" on the bore.
I finished off with a few pull-throughs of a recommended propriety teflon grease - just to 'line' the bore.
I used about 20-off AA 4.52 cal to condition the bore.

My groups were superb!

Only fired over 20 yards but managed 5 shots in a diameter of a 5p coin!!

I think I'll do my Webley Eclipse .22 cal next!!

Also I must remember to clean & condition the barrels after 200-300 shots.

Thanks UKneil

[ratgunner]

I go with Neil as for barrel conditioning 25 shots per per pellet type using the last five on a clean target and taking my results from this,

I am not a big scour the crap! out of any gun barrel Fan,

So I run a soft brass rod with an oiled mop a few times through the barrel of my springers after each use and then put a felt into the breech to stop any oil running back into the compression chamber to prevent dieseling,
then fire three pellets into the bank on the range the felt dries out the barrel and next two to make sure it's oilfree,

shoots consistently everytime,

PCP's

Refill gun with air, shoot through three dry felts (at an old carpet) fire one more with two drops gun oil on it, and insert dry felt,

At the range fire dry felt plus three pellets, away ya go,

Have learned a lot of this on here,

Great Thread Neil, saved a lot of lead and annoyance,

Hold The Zero Everyone.

[verminhunter]

Yes I vote this as one of the most useful threads for all air gunners.
Well done UK NEIL! even though you come from the black country.

[GERALD BUTLER]

Yes I vote this as one of the most useful threads for all air gunners.
Well done UK NEIL! if though you come from the black country.

Thank's Neil/Costas for the tip (excuse the pun) using the fag filters are the sizes suitable for .22 as I know you were refering to your elephant gun Costas Gerald.

[big_phil555]

Another thank you from me for UK Neil

I cleaned my barrel as the grouping went out the window - I used the pull throughs , then fired 25 pellets thru as a warm up

Then at 55 yards it gae me ragged one hole groups - well happy - thanks Neil

[10-ring]

I don't think there is any set in concrete rules as every barrel is different. My TX200 .177 doesn't show any problem with changing brands apart from the P.O.A. in most cases. A Pro Sport I once owned took at least a dozen shots to settle down after a pellet change. I've owned FWB .22LR match rifles that were similar.

The other day I changed from Accupell to JSB Express, no change apart from the P.O.A. The Express grouped as well as ever from the first shot. Same in reverse and same with AA Fields and Edgun 8.4gr. After cleaning the barrel, the rifle groups straight away. Mind you, it's a particularly accurate TX200, although that may have nothing to do with it.