Shorten Meteor barrel?

[Silverfox1307]

Hi all - First post!
I was given a Weihrach moderater the other day which made me dig out my 40 year old BSA Meteor .22 and fit it to see if it made things quieter - not much! but what it did do in my opinion was improve the appearance albeit it now looks ridiculously long! (17.5" from breech to end of barrel plus the mod = Approx 26").

So my question is - Can i shorten the barrel (and re-crown) by 3" to 14.5" or would this just mess the whole thing up as it is quite accurate to 30yds at the moment?

[piggy589]

You'd be far better off leaving your Meteor as is and buying a Weihrauch Karbine to attach the moderator to.

Cutting a barrel is child's play,correctly finishing the muzzle including the crown isn't .

[Silverfox1307]

You'd be far better off leaving your Meteor as is and buying a Weihrauch Karbine to attach the moderator to.

Cutting a barrel is child's play,correctly finishing the muzzle including the crown isn't .

Thanks for your reply piggy589.
In one way I agree with your suggested easy option but doing the crown is within the realms of capability given my background and the tools I have to hand from a previous life!
I was really wondering what affect it would have by shortening it - would it lose a lot of ft lb and acurracy if I were to go ahead?

[piggy589]

Thanks for your reply piggy589.
In one way I agree with your suggested easy option but doing the crown is within the realms of capability given my background and the tools I have to hand from a previous life!
I was really wondering what affect it would have by shortening it - would it lose a lot of ft lb and acurracy if I were to go ahead?

Alright you have an engineering background.

Shortening can cause a slight drop in muzzle energy,not really a problem with a small break barrel.

Accuracy?,might even improve as the pellet exits the gun earlier in the firing cycle and is less effected by recoil.

[Harrympope]

I damaged the end of a walther lgv barrel.I cut off 3" and picked up a few fps and accuracy was unchanged.I thought cutting the choke out would destroy accurate shooting but it didn't.

[Silverfox1307]

Alright you have an engineering background.

Shortening can cause a slight drop in muzzle energy,not really a problem with a small break barrel.

Accuracy?,might even improve as the pellet exits the gun earlier in the firing cycle and is less effected by recoil.

Yes I do have a bit of a background in engineering but not for too long, I got bored and went trucking for 26 years but I do still dabble! Anyway, your comments are interesting and I can understand the theory behind your suggestions, if I do decide to do it I'll let you know how it turns out.. Or I may just get an HW ?? K😉

[Silverfox1307]

I damaged the end of a walther lgv barrel.I cut off 3" and picked up a few fps and accuracy was unchanged.I thought cutting the choke out would destroy accurate shooting but it didn't.

That's surprising, I would have thought it would have swung the other way! Thanks for your comment.

[piggy589]

Yes I do have a bit of a background in engineering but not for too long, I got bored and went trucking for 26 years but I do still dabble! Anyway, your comments are interesting and I can understand the theory behind your suggestions, if I do decide to do it I'll let you know how it turns out.. Or I may just get an HW ?? K😉

By all means, keep us informed .

[webb22]

Hi all - First post!
I was given a Weihrach moderater the other day which made me dig out my 40 year old BSA Meteor .22 and fit it to see if it made things quieter - not much! but what it did do in my opinion was improve the appearance albeit it now looks ridiculously long! (17.5" from breech to end of barrel plus the mod = Approx 26").

So my question is - Can i shorten the barrel (and re-crown) by 3" to 14.5" or would this just mess the whole thing up as it is quite accurate to 30yds at the moment?

have you tried searching for shorter barrel mate? it probably won't be screwcut but you can always use an adapter, as long as you don't hold onto the mod to cock the rifle.

[Silverfox1307]

have you tried searching for shorter barrel mate? it probably won't be screwcut but you can always use an adapter, as long as you don't hold onto the mod to cock the rifle.

Web22 - No I didn't, to be honest I wasn't intending to waste too much money it, it was going to be one of those cases where if it worked then fine, if not, heyho not much lost, I'll go and buy myself summit more up to date and built as near as dam to how I want it to be in a springer ie. (and this is my opinion only) an HW95K.
Anyway! I did the deed today and docked 3" from the barrel (Barrel length now 410mm), re-crowned it, pumped about 30 pellets throughout it this evening and it is just as accurate as it was - I'm not sure if there is much power loss (doesn't seem to have!) and won't know until I can get my mate to chrony it.
Just need to get the trigger a bit lighter now (any suggestions on how to achieve this would be good?) and I may give it a bit of tune and hopefully I will have a nice little air rifle to have some fun with.

[webb22]

Web22 - No I didn't, to be honest I wasn't intending to waste too much money it, it was going to be one of those cases where if it worked then fine, if not, heyho not much lost, I'll go and buy myself summit more up to date and built as near as dam to how I want it to be in a springer ie. (and this is my opinion only) an HW95K.
Anyway! I did the deed today and docked 3" from the barrel (Barrel length now 410mm), re-crowned it, pumped about 30 pellets throughout it this evening and it is just as accurate as it was - I'm not sure if there is much power loss (doesn't seem to have!) and won't know until I can get my mate to chrony it.
Just need to get the trigger a bit lighter now (any suggestions on how to achieve this would be good?) and I may give it a bit of tune and hopefully I will have a nice little air rifle to have some fun with.

well done - very brave - but well done. don't underestimate how good these little springers are for 12fpe shooting and a classic also. you won't loose much power tbh, but you would if it was a pcp... it will be noisier, but the mod will sort that out for you though

[RobF]

Accuracy?,might even improve as the pellet exits the gun earlier in the firing cycle and is less effected by recoil.

Let's say it's doing 500 fps. So let's say he takes a 1/10th of a foot off it. Do you think you'd notice it getting out 1/5000th of a second faster considering a blink is 100x slower and reaction time 1000x slower?

[lensman57]

I damaged the end of a walther lgv barrel.I cut off 3" and picked up a few fps and accuracy was unchanged.I thought cutting the choke out would destroy accurate shooting but it didn't.

One Reason could have been that the choke was too tight. A properly designed barrel will utilize all the energy that the propellant has to give to the projectile and then ends.
If shortening a barrel has caused an increase in ME then the original barrel probably did not have the proper length for the amount of energy available to the projectile.
In the world of our all conquering sub 12 ft.lbs rifles, all this means that your barrel was probably designed for what you would call an FAC gun.

A.G

[lensman57]

Let's say it's doing 500 fps. So let's say he takes a 1/10th of a foot off it. Do you think you'd notice it getting out 1/5000th of a second faster considering a blink is 100x slower and reaction time 1000x slower?

Shortening a barrel arbitrarily may in fact cause a decrease in accuracy as there is every chance that ideal spin rate may not be achieved.

A.G

[TonyL]

Welcome to the forum, Silverfox.

And I see you you're a hands-on sort of chap.

Nice one for having a go. Many different views up above, all valid.


How about coming along to the Boinger Bash next weekend? I'm not sure where Bruton is?? The Bash is near Nuneaton.

There you will find a bunch of friendly, dedicated springer enthusiasts. It IS NOT a competition and all are made to feel welcome. Shoot your gun at ranges up to 75 yards in safety and in the company of fellow enthusiasts. Lots of different guns for you to try. Talk guns, pellets, 'scopes, hunting, tuning, springs, barrel shortening, beer, whatever, you like really, more beer....We have a caterer on site attending to all our food and refreshment needs.

If you can make it, I guarantee you an enjoyable day / weekend and you'll meet many of the springer enthusiasts on the BBS "in the flesh"!!!!