Canadian Airgun Forum

I have run into a curious issue with a Princess Auto Break Barrel.

I bought another wood stock Princess Auto Chinese .177 break barrel, a couple of years ago. But never used it or took it out of the box.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/break-b ... 0008861726

Bought it to replace the one I had, which I thought was breaking (but is still working fine to this day, other than some twanging when shot) and that PA might not be carrying it anymore (& it was less than $35). This one is marked "B1" on the barrel, mine has no markings.

It just sat in the in the box in the corner of my cabinet. Last month I figured I would give it to my Neighbor's 2 boys as a present for this Christmas. They are new to airguns, but their father is very experienced with firearm safety. So I knew it would be safe. I also gave 2 pairs of shooting glasses, pellets, and targets with the gun.

Understand they put over 300 pellets thru it in last week or so without any issue.

Today neighbor told me it stopped shooting. I lent them my PA break barrel, and looked over theirs.

I put a .177 Grizzly flathead pellet in the barrel, & tried to shoot it. It would not move in the barrel. Re-cocked a couple of times, but would not shoot. Then tried a Crosman wadcutter pellet, same effect.

Used wood dowel to remove the pellets each time.

But then put new pellet in & seated it about 1/8" (with ball point pen). Gun worked properly. Tried this multiple times, it works well. The .177 pellets fit very tight in the barrel.

Anyone know what's wrong. Neighbor asked it they will always need to seat the pellets in it?

Why would it work OK without needing to be seated for around 300 shots, But now needs to be? This seem real strange to me.

Looked to just buy another one, but seem to be out of stock.

Thanks

Any leaking or loss in power (fps)?
Seal issues?

I think it's still the problem of the tight pellet /barrel combination. Try another smaller size pellets...

At the beginning, the gun was dieseling so got higher power to push the pellet out even it's a very tight fit.

When it settled down, the weakered power is no more enough for doing that again... And deep seat the pellet which I think can 'pre-cut' the rifling when you pushing it in, so the gun doesn't need that much power to start the flying journey of the pellet...

I lost about 30 to 40 fps on my HW45 when using Hobby pellet without seating it in. And worse case is I did have a few times the tight Hobby pellet stuck in the barrel couldn't shoot out... Paid some good money and time, effort to find out I actually only need to seat the pellet and do nothing on the gun... However that's not that bad as I learnt a lot and the HW45 got well tuned at the end~

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AA ProSport 177 walnut in 12fpe
FWB300S Universal
HW 30s / 35e / 40+Extender / Scoped P3
HW45 with customized grips from UK
Russian Izzy 46M
2240 14" barrel carbine
Camo Chaser long barrel carbine
PP700SA long barrel carbine

lube up the seal and give it a try unseated.

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i have 3 of these and the barrels are indeed very tight, all 3 work perfectly but if i was to put in a tighter pellet i would most likely have the same results as you

try a looser pellet, like a 4.50, or another suggestion would be JSB RS pellets which perform well in those rifles...if you are still getting issues with the new pellets, then you probably have an issue with either your breach seal, piston seal, or maybe broken main spring

i favor the broken main spring, none of mine twangs, at least not that much

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Can empty space really exist ?

Thanks all for the recommendations.

Not sure about loss of power issue, as I only tried it after about 300 shots. When I shot it after seating the pellets, velocity seem in the high 400's, which seems reasonable as it is advertised on the box as 450 fps. But I don't have a chrono, so it's just an educated guess.

Is this the lube I should use?

https://www.cabelas.ca/product/90082/cr ... hamber-oil

Could someone recommend a smaller .177 pellet? I tried both Grizzly & Crosman Wadcutters, both needed to be seated.

BTW, it's my old one that has a twang, not the new one. But, other than the twang, it works well & shoots in the high 400's. (est.). New one shoots solid, once you seat the pellet.

Yes, if need to oil a springer seal, silicone air chamber oil is the one you should use. Just one or two drops to the tiny hole shows up on the action side when you break open the barrel. I have similar one from RWS, seldom use it tho.

The two pellets you mentioned is tight fit to me experience. However the Crosman super pointed will be tighter.

As mentioned above, the JSB domed has softer skirt and will be working fine.

Anyway, I think seating a pellet on sub 500 break barrels is a good practice for higher muzzle speed and more consistent performance which is good and need getting used to...

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AA ProSport 177 walnut in 12fpe
FWB300S Universal
HW 30s / 35e / 40+Extender / Scoped P3
HW45 with customized grips from UK
Russian Izzy 46M
2240 14" barrel carbine
Camo Chaser long barrel carbine
PP700SA long barrel carbine