Quote Originally Posted by bozzer View Post

I remember going to a local FT club with a springer. I wasn't doing that well. A guy, who became a good friend of mine, Keith Mepham, who ran a custom air rifle shop, said to me " I can keep tuning this rifle all you want ... but before you decide to keep spending money on it I suggest you let an experienced springer shooter show you what it is capable of in it's current state ". I thought they were harsh words but it was the best advice I ever had re springer shooting.

I keep asking for someone to do this but I'll probably have to do it myself. Take one of my 77's. Put in basic internals. Shoot groups at a range and maybe do it in a variety of body positions. Then swap the internals for a set of fully tuned ones and, despite the probable smoother cocking/shooting cycle, see what the actual real life difference is on the targets. I've had basic rifles, and certainly basic home 'polished' ones, doing 18mm at 45 yards and an inch at 55 yards rested. How much better than that do you need, especially when trying to shoot standing or kneeling the groups open right up and wind drifts the pellets up to several inches. Always seemed to me that learning technique and wind was far more important than spending money trying to make a 18mm group 16mm at 45 yards.
Wise words. But I would say that tuning isn't all about accuracy, it's about the "experience" of shooting too. Accuracy aside, people enjoy having a rifle that's as smooth to shoot as possible. I disagree that you need to be a brilliant marksman to enjoy a highly tuned rifle. It's like saying only racing drivers would enjoy driving a Ferrari.