Barrel "Conditioning".

[SussexDave(big)]

I know a good shooter, who cleans his barrel every shoot, an puts very few conditioning pellets through. But it seams to suit his style, his rifle etc as he normally gets in the 50's (HFT)

I myself haven't got skilled enough yet, to comment.

[stokie99]

Does anyone have a recommendation on filters that are slim enough to use on a .177?

swan extra slim

[ses6jwg]

some really useful information in here thank you

[1988rapid7]

if I get a rifle that wont group first thing I check is the crown for nicks or burrs, then I get some fine polishing paste and a thin wooden dowel and wrap some soft cotton around end of stick and secure it with thread wrapped around the cotton material,
then apply some fine polishing paste to the cotton and then push the dowel in the barrel and work it in and out the full length of the barrel for about 10 mins, then I clean barrel with spirit or something similar and then push clean piece of cotton through, then fire rifle to see if it groups any better,
if not I repeat the process one more time, if it still doesn't group with any brand of pellets I try its time to strip rifle down and check other components like barrel bands and the likes.

[Tallyho]

Yes you are right neil, what i do and tell shooters if your going to change over a diffrent brand of pellets you must first clean the barrel nicely and properly then run several shots through it and then zero in. the reason to clean the barrel is to remove the tracks left behind from the privious pellet and the new pellet will make and leave its own.

Never though about cleaning when changing over pellets. Only changed once when I couldn't get the AA's for a day or so. I thought they were rubbish, but there may have been a good reason now I've learnt the above. Looks to make a lot of sense to me, just wouldn't have thought about it. So many thanks for putting another newbie straight.

[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.

[Adam999]

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....

Neil

Without a doubt, very true and once you find the feed your rifle prefers keep cleaning to a minimum and reapply the same method

[mr dink]

I find the steyr and the AA400 will shoot most good pellets ie new AA or jsb but am finding it hard to get the HW 100 to like anything.

[Mr_Ed]

With regards to Barrel cleaning, has anyone else noticed that their EV2 needs its barrel cleaning after around 500 shots or so as it starts to go off.

I ask as this is what i'm finding.

Would it perhaps be better if i polished the barrel (internally of course).
Has anyone else done this and what were their results like afterwards?

And finally, what is the best way to polish a barrel up?

Many thanks,
Steve Ed

[mmmaxx1]

Some barrels are better than others and some are more sensitive than others.

Some .22 rimfire match rifles have a cycle of cleanliness/dirtiness where the rifle performs at it's best after a certain number rounds have been put through the barrel. The accuracy can start to deteriorate and then it becomes neccessary to clean the barrel and start dirtying it up again until the accuracy returns.

Some barrels are more sensitive to dirt than others (i understand that .17 HMR, .17 Mach2 & .17 Remington are quite sensitive to barrel fouling and the accuracy can deteriorate after 25-35 shots). I have read about new barrels being 'conditioned' when new by routine of firing and cleaning. This is designed to remove and roughness in the rifling.

I've had one customer who was being driven nuts by an RWS Excalibre which was stupidly accurate when operating room clean but wouldn't group for toffee once it had the slightest spec of fouling. I suggested he should try lapping the barrel but i heard months later that he sold the rifle.

Good info! Thanks.

[walrus1#]

With regards to Barrel cleaning, has anyone else noticed that their EV2 needs its barrel cleaning after around 500 shots or so as it starts to go off.

I ask as this is what i'm finding.

Would it perhaps be better if i polished the barrel (internally of course).
Has anyone else done this and what were their results like afterwards?

And finally, what is the best way to polish a barrel up?

Many thanks,
Steve Ed

Best method is "Hand Lapping" you need a proper cleaning rod with a swivel handle,and the barrel is best removed from the gun.Using molten lead you make a plug for the barrel onto the end of the rod you then use fine jewelers rouge as a polishing medium or if you fancy spending a bit then the diamond polishing pastes are excellent.You then put the polishing medium onto the plug and a bit into the bore ahead of the plug and work it back and forth keep checking that the plug is still fitting the grooves of the rifling as you progress.If the bore is choked then be wary of going too near the end when you have polished it a bit then concentrate on the rifling leading up to the choke.You can measure where the choke is by pushing a pellet slowly up the bore with the rod before doing anything else.Take the measurement from the rod and mark this with chalk or a pencil on the outside of the barrel as well as on the rod itself (I use tape on the rod.) This is also good for showing up any tight spots in the rest of the bore too and they should be marked on the barrel and the rod too.These are then worked on more than the rest until the bore is feeling smooth up to the choke.
The other method is fire lapping (Fire arms owners will know about this method ) you impregnate some Ammo (I found the Milbro twin rings to be very good for this) by rolling them between two flat surfaces and the polishing medium Use some plexi glass or similar start with coarse and work your way down the grades until you are using something like T cut metal polish.Solvol Auto Sol is good for the stage just before the T cut polish as T cut is finer.fine grinding compound from the Auto store is a very good first stage polish.Use around ten pellets for each grade of paste.Smokers Tooth paste is very good for this too by the way just use about 15 for first stage then go to Solvol then T cut for 5 shots to finish.Test the bore again by pushing a pellet up it slowly feeling for any rough spots or tight spots other than the choke.
Clean the bore and then test for accuracy.
All things being equal unless there are tight spots in a barrel I just use the fire lapping method and have had great satisfaction with it for 99% of the barrels I have had to polish.
If your crown is in good shape then kiss it and do nothing else to it, but if it looks dodgy or you are not sure if it is good then a touch up using a brass domed screw of the slotted head variety can be used to polish it up using the paste too.
Polishing the whole bore has the side effect of making the probe seals on PCP guns last a lot longer

[keithy]

Got a bsa r10 and tried allsorts of pellets and found the only thing it would group were bisley mags but now after about 1500 pellets is starting to settle down with aa field after cleaning the barrel with a bisley cleaning kit

so it definatly did help cleaning the barrel

paul

I cleaned my r10 barrel before firing a shot and the pull through came out pitch black! They seem to have a protective grease? sprayed down the barrels.

Also dont try a couple of different pellets from your mates at the range it ruins your zero for at least 20 shots (in my HW100) some pellets are harder than others and will strip the lead out of your barrel and you will have to re lead yet again.

[chris21]

any videos please for the fire laping method?

[konga]

really useful information atb

[suds]

To be on the safe side I need to pull my Steyr barrel through every time I do a serious shoot yet my Dommie is not so fussy, I do however pull the Dominator barrel through when the groups get erratic