Does tuning air rifle barrels and air strippers actually improve accuracy...?

How to barrel index and improve group sizes in target air rifles.
Final range testing of the Anschutz 9015 running H&N baracuda ft pellets in preparation for long range target shooting
In an attempt to match the accuracy of the bog standard Air arms xti50 ive had to resort to drastic measures. its clear to see it didnt go quite to plan and i will be going back to the known good batches of the jsb pellets for the long range targets.

[@alanmorris8783]

The “true centre” of the rifle (assuming a perfectly straight barrel aligned precisely with the action/scope rail) may be at the centre of that circle of groups. Your “control” may just be a slight “bend” in the barrel/splitter combo, i.e. slightly up and to the right. So as you rotate the barrel, you rotate the group around this “true centre” and not the control. I hope you know what I mean as it’s difficult to explain without pictures. In effect, your gun shoots up/right by default which you have “fixed” using your scope adjustments to match your point of aim and point of impact. Of course this may be a load of old bollocks but it is the only way I can rationalise what I see without drinking half a dozen pints of Stella first!

[@tillysgunstocks]

I'm inclined to agree mate, however... The windage is only 3 clicks off the optical centre of the scope confirmed with all the other guns and the 2 other barrels I use in this 9015 the drop also falls exactly as it ought to (around 20moa) for this velocity and scope height. So it's very odd. I have a feeling the barrels are set and the alignment marks drilled ,before it's choked🤔 imagine if the choke process makes it a little eccentric. (Remember I've used the same scope on all the rigs and the 3 9015 barrels) All very unusual and a real puzzle right now. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it eventually 😉

[@erickfragata7975]

this work of yours, it made me doubt my barrel. Thanks for this out of the box thinking. Will keep checking the science behind it.

[@tillysgunstocks]

It's fun to try new things and think outside the box eh 😉

[@mikepattinson3285]

Very Interesting and contagious watch. Definitely not the sort of result you would initially pre test expect. When you looking at the point of impact diagram it would as you hinted too, give the impression the barrel bore is not quite concentric and is possibly additionally impacted by the additional weight of the stripper. Would be interesting to compare results of same exercise without the stripper. You definitely know how to scramble brains😂😂

[@nickwebb9290]

Wouldn’t honestly do this kind of a test myself but it was such an interesting experiment. The new camera works pretty well, good clear visuals. Hope that audio buzz was just a one off for you. Thanks for your time and patience 👍

[@philhouldridge6404]

Never thought of testing the rotation of the barrel. That's me off to the range to do the same. Great video!

[@user-uj2nc7eg5f]

Nice vedio and good work on airgunology

[@scrimdog3328]

Brews on. Settling in for this one 👍

[@tillysgunstocks]

Awesome mate thanks for watching 😉

[@Woodgate425]

Like you, those results are certainly not anywhere near what I was expecting. What on earth is going on? Fascinating,

[@ctom4103]

Great video as usual thanks very much. Indexing the barrel is a very common practice with FX rifles. It’s very easy with the liner system. It can improve accuracy by a good amount and did help with the two I had. Not many rifles lend themselves to doing it though.

[@three-phase562]

If CZ marked a barrel before it was drilled and swaged, then they could orientate the barrel in the drilling, swaging and crowning processes, presuming that the swaging die is also kept at the same orientation. Then they would have a more consistent performance guarantee for their barrels, but a slower production time. Certainly an interesting set of tests to see done, shows you what avenues may or may not be worth pursuing further at the very least.

[@stephenlambert9826]

Cz barrels have 3 indentations on the bottom and I was told this was to show which position the barrel should orientated so you might be right about them being marked prior to being worked on.

[@tillysgunstocks]

What if the choke was done last... Ofcourse they do choked and chokeless.. 🤔 rifled, alignment marks milled/drilled them choked to spec. Might be where the eccentricity creeps in. Dunno I'm stumped but also want to look at the barrel mounting grubs. The very latest 9015s now have 4 as opposed to 2.. not sure but the results are not what I was expecting and it's all fully repeatable...🤔

[@three-phase562]

@@tillysgunstocks If they are using a cold-hammered forging process to put the rifling in, then the most consistent way would be to have the choke put in at the same time as the rifling. Any time you move a component from one machine to another for a different process, slight in accuracies are bound to occur. If the crimp the choke from outside of the barrel after the rifling, then that could cause the choke to be slightly misaligned to the rifling. You'll have to get CZ to give you a factory tour, to see what their process is!

[@jp8351]

That looked vert labour intensive. Thanks for sharing👍

[@tillysgunstocks]

Sure was mate. As per usual more head scratching results 🤔

[@NvTwist]

14:51 That Face after the shot😵‍💫. lol I love theae testing videos you’ve been doing, nothing like having your mind worked trying to conclude wtf is going on. 😬

[@tillysgunstocks]

It's always fun trying things out especially when it debunks things often considered fact. The peculiar results are often the best as we learn more when things dont always go to plan 😉 gets the brain going for sure

[@MassiveLib]

The long winter evenings must fly by

[@tillysgunstocks]

Sadly not...I just can't keep still for 5mins...

[@NvTwist]

15:18 Now resist all temptation to Move, Change, Adjust or touch it with a Tool. We both have the same luck so if you loosen or tighten a single fastener that “tightest group ever” will fall out of the rifle.

[@grantmedical]

Interesting video… Nice camera work… I think you will find that setting the air stripper to the LENGTH corresponding to the distance between the contact edge of your pellet head to the skirt will give you the best results…. (At least that is what I have discovered in my testing)!

[@tillysgunstocks]

It's entirely possible mate, practically every rig will have its own specific setting. I can say for certain it's pellet batch specific and can also be reg pressure/volume sensitive. Fun trying it all and whether we will ever get definitive answers...I just don't know... Fun trying though 😉

[@petercumiskey2746]

I agree the most logical reason must be the bore being concentric to the OD.I would ditch the stripper.

[@tillysgunstocks]

Yep I'm inclined to agree mate, the factory barrel runs best bare too. I'm also a little suspect of the 2x barrel retaining bolts.especially now that the latest 9015s run 4... 🤔

[@philsouster7221]

I would have thought the group would have rotated as the barrel was turned, just showing that logic is having a day off. New camera seems to be performing well, anything in life that makes it smoother and more user-friendly

[@tillysgunstocks]

I'm quite surprised at the results mate, I'm also a little sceptical of the barrel mounting arrangement too. might end up adding more fixing bolts. The latest 9015s have 4🤔

[@philsouster7221]

Only takes a couple of thou to technically be a sloppy fit as far as testing is concerned , magnify that by the length of the barrel and add the fact that the bore may be off centre to the external diameter.

[@dttrandom]

In your diagram near the end where you drew the various position changes at each angle, it seems to me that maybe the visual center of those dots is where the barrel is actually pointed at, which would be about midway between your control point and the 180 degree point. If so that might mean that the barrel's harmonics is making it whip not directly vertically up and down, but at an angle. Having that weight up front could also affect it so that as the points of impact rotate around that visual midpoint they also get "weighted" toward where the barrel is weighted down, which would explain the cluster of the angles near the 180 degree being closer to each other than the 315, 90, and 45 are from the control.

[@tillysgunstocks]

Yeah I'm pretty stumped mate. I reckon the bore wanders along the length of the barrel a bit too. It's concentric at both ends but it is quite common that her forged barrels aren't true the full length. Not sure but will do some further investigation 😉

[@keith6930]

Would they laser bore sight it before leaving the factory putting the barrel in the correct orientation?

[@tillysgunstocks]

It's entirely possible mate, however I'd be more inclined to think that they are rifled,then the grooves cut and then choked after that.that might explain the eccentricity... Dunno I'm open to all ideas at this point tbh. 🤔😂

[@markhomer5704]

Fascinating stuff.. Even the Mrs found it interesting so its a winner all round

[@alfredotito2143]

Excellent video. Is the weight that you adjusted, inside the air stripper heavy? Is it made aluminum or another heavier material like steel? Thank you very much, greetings

[@Judge_Dredd]

In terms of video resolution, I watch your videos in 1080P normally, and this video is lossy, I suspect you're not recording at 35Mbit, or perhaps the default software settings in your video editor need a tweak, plus the fixed focus appears different to your previous equipment.

[@jerryosorio]

Good morning, where can I order the xti air stripper? Thanks & great to watch your channel.

[@SoundAssault]

Interesting test... and a bit frustrating at the same time! New camera image is clear. Looks like the shutter speed is set quite high? Not sure what the section of footage, out in the field, with the loud/mechanical audio was about... Thanks for posting 👍

[@tillysgunstocks]

No idea on the noise mate. I checked my rendered version and that's clean. Must be an upload thing.super annoying but the new camera saves me a ton of time so I'll do my best to learn how to get the best of it 😉

[@SoundAssault]

@@tillysgunstocks anything that makes it easier for you to make more videos, gets my vote! Just about to order my first rifle yet, and very much enjoy watching your vids... I'm hoping that I will absorb some of your shooting skills via the interweb radio waves 😆

[@jonathanperkins5232]

Often see in your videos when pellet testing that it takes a few pellets to harmonise with the rifle before it’s worth recording results. How many pellets on average do you think it’s worth writing off as a warm up? Additionally what is the science behind this slight period of bedding in? Is it the way each pellet leads the barrel slightly differently? Ta, great videos.

[@stephenlambert9826]

Ok I am no expert but I have a cz s200 barrel in .177 machined to fit my hw100 and the bloke who machined it for me is pretty well known for his work with air rifles in my area(northeast England)and he told me the cz barrel is designed to be fitted with those 3 circles facing downwards and I’m sure he also said the reason for that was because the bore does not run concentric through the barrel.

[@tillysgunstocks]

In the factory orientation on the s200, the 3x shallow dimples are at the top. They are what the locating grubs bite into ,same with the slit at the muzzle they are all in line. A lot of hammer forged barrels,the bore isn't true the full length. This one is pretty concentric at both ends, best guess is some weirdness at the choke...🤔

[@stephenlambert9826]

@@tillysgunstocks I very possibly butchered what he told me 😂 it has been a good 6+ years since I had the work done.am I totally wrong in thinking the barrel needs to be orientated correctly to make it shoot in a straight line?also,do you find your cz barrel needs to be cleaned very regularly?

[@jonathanperkins5232]

Where do you get your 12 point zero targets from?

[@tillysgunstocks]

Sadly the firm that printed them has shut up shop. I'm looking at having my own done though 😉

[@vipernight2]

At 21.45 mins into the video headphone users beware there is a very loud buzzing noise for a few seconds. Other than that great video and some intresting results.

[@tillysgunstocks]

Strangely mate,my rendered version doesn't do it 😭😭 Nightmare!

[@vipernight2]

@@tillysgunstocks bound to get gremlins when trying new things its understandble mate strange you didnt hear it tho in render.

[@tillysgunstocks]

@@vipernight2 it's gutting tbh mate. But the new camera is much easier to use and get the footage into the laptop. It'll save a load of time 😀 I'm learning all the settings so hopefully going forward it'll be better still

[@vipernight2]

@@tillysgunstocks Yeah new camera looks good too its only for a couple seconds near the end so got lucky with that. Im sure the next video will be perfect and you will get it under control mate.

[@mrln247]

Looks like CZ know what they are doing even if some of its industry secrets.

[@tillysgunstocks]

Yep these boys know the score... 😉 And like to trick me 😂

[@skalliwag2766]

Hi, is that the new falcon 50i , ? 5 x 50 x 60

[@tillysgunstocks]

Hi mate,this one is a prototype 30mag endura, it's been superseded by the new 40mag s40i that is due out very soon. I'll be getting the new version when they are out 😉

[@Airgunfunrich]

You sure those squares at 5mm not 10?

[@johnvanberrgem286]

I think perfectly concentric barrels do not exist. I have watched de video of sub 12 airgunner where he machines a new crown on a barrel and he has to use a four claw chuck in the lathe to find the absolute centre of the barrel.

[@tillysgunstocks]

This one is pretty concentric at both ends,but I reckon there's some misalignment where it gets choked maybe..🤔 it's not uncommon on hammer forged barrels that the bore is true for the full length of the blank. They can wander a little along the length 😉

[@roberthowe2910]

O.ve find on my rifles don.t make any difference ..even silencers.on sum rifles effect accuracy.....

[@NateChrony.]

Half job Harry over here.... Pretty lazy approach - i mean there's 360 degrees in a circle right??? 🤣

[@chapinblack]

Another interesting video, thank you. Any reason why the Katraan doesn't see much light? Might be worth shooting and uploading in 4K too, the 1080p quality isn't the best.

[@tillysgunstocks]

I've been having a few minor niggles with the katran,I've got it running well(ISH) again just recently so will get it back on film when I can get a slightly higher mag scope for it 😉

[@donart8841]

Excellent vid, video & sound quality, good, I’m amazed at the difference between each turn, technically it’s a hole in a tube & yet 🤯. Q, what happens when you get it perfect, 🫠

[@tillysgunstocks]

Madness eh! Just when we think we know the score something crops up and throws a spanner in the works...🤔