Quote Originally Posted by Rapidnick View Post
I will admit to not having read every single post on this thread so I may well be repeating advice already given. As a general rule a deterioration in performance from a quality air rifle like the HW100 means either 1)the barrel needs cleaning 2) the barrel is loose 3) the moderator is causing the pellet to clip so test without the moderator or 4) try different pellets. In addition as a specific issue with the HW100, the 'figure of eight' barrel clamp may be causing a problem so try a test with the clamp removed.
Thank you for your response: 1) done 2) done 3) done 4) done

The barrel band does not appear to be restricting the barrel and it serves to hold the barrelled action into the stock at the front end. It may be possible to nip it up far tighter than is desirable and bend the barrel and hold it bent. I guess the torque required to do that would be significant. Until I removed the barrelled action, there was no previous removal of the barrel band and no obvious reason for its retaining bolt to have tightened itself. I will let my gunsmith know that this is a thought that requires some investigation.