Originally Posted by
Geezer
I am not sure, all things being equal, that button rifling is better than cut. A lot of the CF precision shooters seem to believe that cut (or broached) is superior to button. I’d be interested in your source for that.
On WHB Smith, I’d note in passing that Lesley Wesley described the MkIII as “extremely powerful and accurate”. Of course, we now know that even by 1950s standards, it wasn’t the former. So maybe not the latter, too?
Of course, 1950s/1960s expectations of accuracy were less than ours. But did no-one then notice that the MkIII was perhaps worse than the Airsporter, Diana 50, etc?
I am sure that ammo quality was a factor. Two examples. The Crosman 160 was regarded as a pretty average rifle until in the 1990s people used modern pellets in them (typically Premiers) and discovered that they had very good barrels and shot very tight groups. Similarly the old Sheridan C9 Streaks had at best “ho-hum” accuracy with the classic Sheridan “slug”. They do much better with modern pellets.
And I still think the tap is critical. Good taploaders are quite capable of shooting into significantly under 1/2” at 25 metres.
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