Barrel "Conditioning".

[Moss74]

I have always cleaned a barrel from breech to muzzle for no other reason than that's the way the pellet travels,
After reading this thread it would make sense to pull the dirt away from the muzzle.
A very interesting thread. Thanks to all that contributed. Martin

[zephyr]

I have always cleaned a barrel from breech to muzzle for no other reason than that's the way the pellet travels,
After reading this thread it would make sense to pull the dirt away from the muzzle.
A very interesting thread. Thanks to all that contributed. Martin

A mischievous, tongue-in-cheek comment: I’d rather any muck comes out completely, not left at either end! AND... why pull the muck towards the air port on PCPs?

[Moss74]

That's a good point Zephyr, didn't think about that either atb Martin

[john79]

Great thread Neil

[u.k.neil]

I have lost count of the number of times I have seen shooters on a sighting in range with four or five different makes of pellets opened in front of them, taking five or so shots with each type and then saying that their gun is not grouping.

Whenever a brand of pellets is changed (sometimes even different batches of the same pellet) or if the barrel has been cleaned then the barrel has to be "conditioned" to that particular pellet by putting at least ten shots (I do 20 to be on the safe side) through it before trying a group.

Different brands of pellets have different percentages of elements in them which affect hardness, coefficient of friction, B.C's etc which all have an effect.

Just thought a "Heads-Up" on this subject might stop a bit of frustration....

Neil

I posted this16 years ago, but it is obvious to me reading some of the posts on here that many people have not found it.

Therefore I will post on this thread to take it to the top again in th hope that it will help some.


Neil

[Shed tuner]

I posted this16 years ago, but it is obvious to me reading some of the posts on here that many people have not found it.

Therefore I will post on this thread to take it to the top again in th hope that it will help some.


Neil

And I still 100% agree Neil !

With my very accurate competition TX back in the day, from a cleaned barrel it literally took about two dozen shots to restore full accuracy. This is a gun consistently capable of 1/4" groups at 30 yards. First five shot group on a clean barrel was often was 3/4", the second not much better, only really started looking promising from the 4th group.

[Hsing-ee]

And I still 100% agree Neil !

With my very accurate competition TX back in the day, from a cleaned barrel it literally took about two dozen shots to restore full accuracy. This is a gun consistently capable of 1/4" groups at 30 yards. First five shot group on a clean barrel was often was 3/4", the second not much better, only really started looking promising from the 4th group.

If it takes 24 shots to condition a very finely finished Lothar Walther barrel, then perhaps it takes an order of magnitude more to condition a grittier one from a cheaper manufacturer? Or are the imperfections filled and the barrel conditioned in the same number of passes? Am I thinking of sandpaper?

I have a Milbro Diana .177 barrel soaking in oil at the moment, the rifling is actually hard to discern and the bore very 'matt'. Even once that is clean I imagine half a tin of pellets will need to be put through it before any firm conclusions about accuracy can be guessed at.