Do you guys check for tight spots in your barrel

[TonyL]

It isn't something that I've ever done nor felt the need to. As some others have said, I would do it if I felt there was an accuracy issue.

[Barryg]

It isn't something that I've ever done nor felt the need to. As some others have said, I would do it if I felt there was an accuracy issue.

I only checked because I was looking at my spare barrel and remembered hearing about tight spots in barrels.
I have been thinking about it and I think that there is only a problem when using green pellets as the soft skirt will take up any slack with lead, my .22 80 barrel loses a fair bit of power when using green pellets as dose my Diana but my TX loses none so I am expecting the Diana to have a tight spot when I check it later and the TX to have no tight spots

[TonyL]

Understood, Barry.

And I won't be using any of those tin pellets until we're forced to, should that ever be the case in the future.

[evert]

When I have rifles apart in the workshop, I usually push a few pellets through the barrel.
If you have never done this before, you'd be surprised how many barrels are tight at the breech, only to be save by the choke.

[Barryg]

When I have rifles apart in the workshop, I usually push a few pellets through the barrel.
If you have never done this before, you'd be surprised how many barrels are tight at the breech, only to be save by the choke.

Do you agree this can lead to power lose and are the newer HW barrels better?

[Shedder]

I was trying to find out why an Airmagnum barrel was hopelessly inaccurate and I did try pushing pellets down the barrel. It was an "interesting" exercise because I found that there is/was a tight spot about two thirds of the way down the barrel at a point which seemed to coincide with a "dovetail" shaped notch that is deeply machined into the barrel. It did concern me that this tight spot had apparently been made during the machining/manufacturing process. However, the inaccuracy seemed to be nothing at all to do with the tight spot, but was caused by a poor crown. Visually the crown looked fine, but in desperation, and thinking I had nothing to loose, I coarsely reground the crown and the accuracy was transformed.
The lesson seemed to be that the last quarter inch of the barrel is most critical to "accuracy" but I was pretty shocked by the depth of the machined notch in the barrel and the tight spot it had caused. Afraid that has made me suspicious of Umarex quality. (I think the notch is associated with retaining the 88g bottle cover on the Airmagnum, but i have since fitted a straight barrel)

[Bellycrawler]

I'd be more concerned about a loose spot than tight. Any rod could be pushing the skirt out / deforming & it's your brain interpretation what resistance you feel. Is the end of a rod shaped to fit the pellet correctly to push in the required area or flat & not put the pushing force evenly possibly deforming the skirt.

[harvey_s]

Why bother unless the accuracy isn't there...?

[Barryg]

Just checked the Diana and TX to my surprise the Diana is OK except a really tight choke this explains the power lose with the green exact's even though no loose spots for the air to go around the pellet like the .22 80 with the loose area in the middle of the barrel.
As expected, the TX was fine even with the dreaded greens.

You need the greens to test as they don't deform when pushing through but keep their shape in the loose spots where they have been resized by the tight spots.

So I might give the .177 barrel a go on the 80, I did the crown with the help of Mick and others with a ball head screw some time back and have not tested it yet so will be interesting in more way than one

[evert]

Why bother unless the accuracy isn't there...?

Because its interesting to play with and understand mechanical stuff?

[Muskett]

Why bother unless the accuracy isn't there...?

This in heaps ^.

In fact some right ropey old barrels can deliver extraordinary accuracy. No two barrels are exactly the same. Remember pellets are plenty plastic/soft enough to conform and accommodate a whole lot of barrel irregularities. Even the voodoo science of those that tune barrels can only take out some of the most obvious "possible" issues. And then we get into the harmonics, the spring system, transfer ports, and buffering of the piston. Usually the barrel is the least of the worries.

Maybe a Olympian target rifle, or high end PCP, might benefit from ensuring micro accuracy from having a near perfect barrel.

If a rifle is shooting great then leave it alone; be happy.