Budget Leishy with a surprise barrel

[Craig-P]

Thought some of the members may find my latest project interesting:
After using Eleanor’s Artemis a few things had become apparent.

1. The stock was far too long for her, forcing her to do the ‘stock under the arm’ hold, which along with being an incorrect hold encourages muzzle climb which can be dangerous.
2. It was a really handy little thing that Dad also wanted to use, so the replacement stock needed to be adjustable so as to fit us both.
3. We needed a .22 so as to make cans bounce a bit more and also improve shot count. And to be handy against rats, when Dad uses it.
4. The accuracy with the red dot was surprisingly good but id like to use an optic so I could stretch its legs a bit.
So, I went mooching around online and found a great looking stock from Bob Pattenden. It looked more than sturdy enough and I was informed there was no wobble when fitted. It also looked to offer enough adjustability for the both of us whilst still being light enough for her to use comfortably. Quick message to Bob and it was delivered in a couple of days.
Next I wanted to fit a picatinny rail to the very short dovetail on the receiver. This would allow a more comfortable position for the optic when used with the stock - and also allow swapping and changing of optics with minimal rezeroing.
Ant Supplies had a medium height model with a 60mm base, which seemed perfect. I messaged Tim at Ant Supplies on bank Holiday Sunday to see if they were operating a postage service and amazingly had a reply back the same day to say they were. Brilliant service.
Whilst waiting for the rail to arrive, I needed to address the issue of a barrel. I wanted something thick enough that a shoulder could be machined into (which would hold against the face of the receiver when screwed in) and therefore would not be held in place by pressure from the muzzle thread onto the barrel shroud, as the OEM version is.
I didn’t want to splash out a fortune on a match grade offering as this is predominantly for my girl to shoot fun targets in the garden with - and for close range pest control. A BSA blank seemed to fit the bill and I was about to order one. I mentioned it to Shaun and he remarked it was a shame we couldn’t get hold of a cheap Chinese barrel, just to experiment with. I then remembered I had a B2 in the loft...
Delivering the B2 to Shaun, he noticed the bore wasn’t anywhere near concentric to the barrel, so it wasn’t looking good. But we decided to give it a whirl anyway just to see if the entire project worked as imagined. He took a hacksaw to it and machined it up to fit the receiver, advising it would either be outstanding or abysmal.
Assembling it in the white for testing took a matter of minutes and I fitted a throwaway 3-9x32 to it, just to see how it performed.
At twenty yards with .22 Exact RS I saw a hole appear in my 5” ShootnSee target, I aimed at the same POA and didn’t see another hole appear, then the same again and again - I thought it was shotgunning so went forward to examine the target. And saw it was putting them through the same hole. Lovely.
I moved the target back to forty yards, replaced the ShootnSee for one of the small versions and managed the following group:

Pleasantly gobsmacked, I stripped it back down and returned the barrel to Shaun with my findings. He told me he’d had the same results with other Chinese barrels over the years (one was fitted to a very early AirStream FT rifle he’d made which went on to win some major titles). Others he’d tried had been absolute rubbish, so it does seem it’s a lottery with these barrels. He threaded it 1/2unf, tidied up the crown and retuned it.
He kindly offered to blue the barrel for Eleanor but seeing as this is going to get thrown around (and probably covered in the same stickers she’s redecorating our house with), I decided to etch primer it and paint it.
With the rail now delivered, I fitted a nice little Meopta Artemis 4x32 on a pair of QD mounts. It’s pointless having high mag that will see my girl wobble all around what she’s shooting at - but with the little Artemis having such lovely glass and useful reticle (4a) it’ll allow me to use it comfortably for my intended purposes.
Donny(FL) had very kindly given me one of his mods after I’d showcased some of his work, so that’s gone on too. The compact length suiting it well and hushing it up perfectly for backgarden use.
So another lockdown project finished and one happy little girl. She’s nearly as happy as I am with our ‘budget Leishy’.

One person who isn’t quite as happy is Ivan (Shaun’s dad and the ‘I’ in ISP Air Rifles). He really likes the B2 and has customised a couple over the years. He was therefore gutted to see us hack one up as we have...
So if anyone has a B2 barrel and breech hanging around, or even the whole rifle, please give me a shout.
Cheers, Craig