Canadian Airgun Forum

This is my first post after taking a deep dive into air rifles a year and a half ago. My air rifle has a 12mm LW barrel, and I'm not getting the accuracy I want after a full season of non-stop effort. My plan is to replace the 12mm barrel and shroud with a custom-machined bull barrel. But I am pulling my hair out trying to order an air gun barrel blank in Canada. I see in comments that others regularly get barrels in, with, for example, Bob Sterne acquiring TJ barrels for his custom builds. Can I ask a few questions for those of you with experience in getting airgun barrel blanks in Canada:

- What source of air rifle blanks are there? LW advertises a whole series, but it is hard to find them in a retailer. I've only been able to find thin CZ replacement barrels for specific models, not thicker barrel blanks. I read about TJ's offering airgun barrels, but can't find any online presence.
- Has anyone tried Alpha Precision barrels from Russia? How does their accuracy stand up?
- Is there a vendor in Canada that will order in barrel blanks? I've been talking with one of the primary Canadian air gun retailers since the fall, but nothing has materialized yet.
- Are there any restrictions on importing an airgun barrel blank into Canada from the US? Since there are no restrictions on airguns it would make sense that airgun barrel blanks would be the same, but common sense and export restrictions are often at odds.
- Is there a gunsmith / airgun guy in Canada who has experience with turning blank barrels to fit various models?

Any guidance on this is greatly appreciated!

Out of curiosity have you taken a really good look at the crown and leade?

I have thoroughly inspected the existing barrel, including with a bore scope. But my knowledge of what to look for is limited. The crown looks even for the whole circumference to my eyes. I definitely don't know what I'm looking for with the leade.

What airgun are you shooting? What pellets have you tested?

Yep! Want to know about that too... And if some chrono readings too could be prefect...

Usually to my understanding, the LW barrel is top notch among all the barrels... Can't say anything better or if it's the best but sure LW barrels is one of the best barrels...

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~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe

First, Where are you located?
It is hard to recommend a shop or business, Canada is a big land.
I have couple Alpha Precision barrels from Russia, .22x500 and .25x350 and .25x500 , the quality and accuracy is impressive. Not sure how to get these lately without some friends on the ground.

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FX Impact MK2 PP - heavy modded
Edgun Leshiy2 - heavy modded
and a lot more scopes with great glass

Thanks for the replies. I'm a bit reluctant to mention the rifle as I'm not sure I'm being fair with my expectations. There seems to be almost no one posting statistically valid data on what their rifles are shooting, so I only have a few benchrest stats for comparison. After a season of constantly working on the accuracy of my rifle, I've got it to the point where I shoot 50 shot groups (using OnTarget) that have a standard deviation of between .375 and .45 MOA at 25 yards with wind under <1mph. I know this isn't awful performance, but shouldn't a high end air rifle be able to put all shots within an MOA at 25 yards when wind is minimal to none?

More info. The reason I am very curious as to whether a thicker barrel will improve my precision relates to the fact that my air rifle comes with a shroud and barrel band. When shooting with the shroud and barrel band in place I was getting an SD of around .65 MOA at 25 yards with 50 shot groups. When I removed the barrel band the POI shifted 2 MOA right and 4 MOA down and the SD improved to around .575 MOA. When I removed the shroud, the POI shifted again and my SD at 25 yards dropped to around .45 MOA or a bit lower. So the deflection of the skinny barrel by the barrel band and shroud was significantly reducing precision. Would using a much thicker barrel (16 or 18mm instead of 12mm) further improve accuracy? And quite frankly the little pencil barrel without the shroud looks ridiculous in comparison to the regular sized stock and large air cylinder. A 23" bull barrel would make the rifle look much more balanced. Plus I love experimenting.

You are within 1 MOA, your less than 1/2 MOA.

What gun and what velocity are you shooting. A detuned sub 500FPS high end gun can be blown away by a high velocity gun costing much less.

A thicker, longer barrel may help. It does in the powder burning world. But there may be other cheaper, easier options. Like maybe a regulator, or a change in pellet.

Tell us what you are shooting. Gun, pellet, velocities (Chrono data). You may get some helpful suggestions

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Be The Pellet

Oshoot.ca has Lothar Walther 12mm barrels for air force guns

https://oshoot.ca/barrels/6408-airforce ... lther.html

https://oshoot.ca/barrels/6409-airforce ... lther.html


CAF store
https://www.airgunforum.ca/store/produc ... ucts_id=84


Crosman LW barrel 17xx
https://www.airgunsource.ca/us/crosman- ... arrel.html

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SKANZY

A Minute of Angle is just over 1" at 100 yards at 25 yards it is only .261".
How can you measure .375 of an MOA at 25 yards. That is less than 3 mm

Robert

In the powder burning world. Bull Barrels or thick barrels help in a few ways.

The deal with heat generated when firing better. Not an issue with airguns.
They reduce recoil a bit. That would be a benefit with springers.
They are stiffer, reduce vibration. That would help.

Loosing the accuracy of a LW choked barrel by replacing it with a thick barrel might be a step down. If you really want a thick barrel you might think of having a thick metal sleeve made to slip over the LW barrel. Giving you the added thickness while retaining the LW choked advantage

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Be The Pellet

By barrel blank I'm guessing you mean a barrel without rifling? If so you can always check out Ali express. They sell them.

Jay

Not all L/W bbls are choked, and until the O/P identifies what he has, this discussion is actually sort of pointless.

The L/W bbls that are choked can be a bit fussy when it comes to pellets. If the O/P's L/W bbl is choked, moving to a high quality competition grade wad cutter pellet will work wonders.

-D.S.

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"Ain't no half-way"
-S.R.V.

I guess we have to assume the OP is using the most accurate pellet for THAT particular barrel.
Producing 1/4" MOA groups at 25 yards for a 50 shot group is quite amazing, imho.
Or - is that 10, 5 shot groups? 5, 10 shot groups is not a 50 shot group, not even close.
I have 3 PCP's that shoot 1/2" at 55yards. That's a little better than 1 MOA - for 5 shot groups.
I'm happy with that. It was a switchy wind that day, but I did not have wind flags out.
One is a Lothar-Walther barrel, on the Condor. One was an Aselkon MX9 and the other is an FX Dreamline, all .25 cal.
1st and 3rd shooting JSB Hades pellets and the Aselkon likes the JSB 33.95 gr. Exact.
I have one springer that shoots 1/2MOA at 20yards. That's 1/10", 5-shot groups. Those 3 PCP's do better than that
for 5 shots, but not for 10, let alone 50 consecutive shots on the same target. That would be an endurance test of
the shooter, not an accuracy test of the rifle.
A rifle accuracy TEST of that many shots, would be more accurate if you used 17, 3-shot groups all averaging 1/10",
not 10, 5-shot groups and especially a single 50 shot group.

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Best Wishes
Daryl