Comments, observation, bore polishing and point to argue

Jump to latest Follow Reply
ThomasT

ThomasT

Member
Apr 25, 2021
3,902
5,678
83
Deep East Texas on Sam Rayburn Lake, United States
www.uncletomsplace.net
Hello everyone,

I just want to make a couple of comments on an observation about “polishing the bore” on your gun. After reading a lot about the benefits of bore polishing I decided to order all the required materials and then polished the bore of my FX Crown. I actually did not see any “huge” change or improvement in the accuracy at first. However as I shot more and more pellets down the barrel I did notice that even though I still would get a “flyer” from time to time, the spread was decreasing significantly.

I have been shooting the 30 Yard Challenge here on this Forum for about 3 months now using the .177 cal FX Crown. The first photo (05/27/2022) shows one of my early cards and you can see how many 8's I had scored. The spacing between these rings is very small, so if you had been shooting at a squirrel at 30 yards, chances are that would have been a dead squirrel, OR you could have missed by just a hair. The point here is the size of the spread on an 8 to a 9 score. The next photo is a more recent card (06/18/2022) just prior to the bore polish and note the second shot in Section 11 and the first shot in Section 12 both are a 9 score. The difference here between being a 9 score and a 10 score is no more than the thickness of the printed line of the circle. I know that this can be a point for the argument whether or not is this a “flyer” or has my shooting skills improved from shooting 8's. I can tell you this, for the last month I have shot a ton of cards all in the 197 to 199 scores and a lot of 9's that were just barely a 9, in other words they were close to being an 8. The next photo ( 07/04/2022) a card with a score of 199 with 18 xx’s, this is after the bore polish. The four 9's on that card prevented a possible 200 score and again the point is the spread of a flyer is much smaller than before the bore polish and the overall accuracy has increased considerably. So the argument is, are the 9's “flyers” or shooter error? I believe in this case it is shooter error simply because of the 18 xx’s shot on this same card.

My final card with a score of 200 had 15 xx’s and no flyers and I am convinced that the bore polishing was a major contributing factor. Also lets face the truth, there is a certain degree/percentage of luck always involved. I know that not everyone requires the maximum accuracy and completely satisfied and enjoy their gun as is. We all love our air guns and all that they have to offer and that is why we spend so much time, money and effort on this hobby/sport. However I think it would be interesting to get a wide range of opinions on the above subject.

Have a great day,
ThomasT

Airgun-1a.jpg
Airgun-2a.jpg
Airgun-3a.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: qball, Str8tshooter, Struckat and 2 others
Those results certainly speak for themselves! Congrats on the excellent shooter.

I polished my 35E bore and it went from over an inch at 30m to 1/2" at 30m every time. I assume I just had some burrs/imperfections in there that the polishing just smoothed over. It took me a good 200 shots to "foul" the barrel before accuracy improved though. Either way, I am very happy with the results as well. I have every intention of doing the same to my .177 97K as well and possibly my Dreamline.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: darylm and ThomasT
Upvote 0
Sqwirlfugger57 said:
Those results certainly speak for themselves! Congrats on the excellent shooter.

I polished my 35E bore and it went from over an inch at 30m to 1/2" at 30m every time. I assume I just had some burrs/imperfections in there that the polishing just smoothed over. It took me a good 200 shots to "foul" the barrel before accuracy improved though. Either way, I am very happy with the results as well. I have every intention of doing the same to my .177 97K as well and possibly my Dreamline.
Click to expand...
Hello Sqwirlfugger57,

It took maybe 200 rounds down the polished bore before the real improvement showed up. I have shot more this past two weeks than I ever have at paper targets and no question that the Crown is shooting better now. I shot a bunch ( really not sure how many ) of targets this week and almost no "real flyers". By real flyers I am saying one pellet out of ten that had a spread greater than 1/4". As I stated in the post, most of the misses were "shooter error".

Have a great day,
ThomasT
 
  • Like
Reactions: darylm
Upvote 0
ThomasT said:
Hello Sqwirlfugger57,

It took maybe 200 rounds down the polished bore before the real improvement showed up. I have shot more this past two weeks than I ever have at paper targets and no question that the Crown is shooting better now. I shot a bunch ( really not sure how many ) of targets this week and almost no "real flyers". By real flyers I am saying one pellet out of ten that had a spread greater than 1/4". As I stated in the post, most of the misses were "shooter error".

Have a great day,
ThomasT
Click to expand...
It sounds like our experiences were pretty similar it seems. A "flier" these days out of my 35 will simply open the group up a hair. Before a flier could have been an inch in any direction. Its a great feeling knowing that you can have absolute confidence that your shot is going where its supposed to go (when you do your job at least). Its an even greater feeling knowing that YOUR efforts are the reason that gun is shooting so well.

Your post now has me pumped to go play with a few other barrels. Thanks for the push to improve sir!
 
  • Love
Reactions: ThomasT
Upvote 0
Jasonmc said:
There is probably no doubt polishing the barrel probably helped some.. but most in likely 1. Your rifle is breaking in nicely
2. Your learning your rifle. 3. Your practice is paying off and your perfecting your technique...
Nice shooting too!!
Click to expand...
Hello Jasonmc,

I truly believe that you are correct to some degree and I eluded to that fact in my post. I changed scopes, I moved my bench rest inside my a/c shop ( boy that was smart ) I actually changed the position of my Bag Jack (*) I changed how I sat in the chair and rested my chest against the bench rest....I'm sure you get the picture of what I am saying and at the same time agreeing with you. (*) the simple changing of the position of the Bag Jack doesn't sound like much, but I had the crank knob facing me which made it a bit hard to reach, I rotated it 90 degrees and it now feels natural.

Yep me and my rifle are getting better acquainted and I am loving it.

Thank you and have a great weekend,
ThomasT
 
Upvote 0
Cannonball said:
I have polished several of my barrels, I think the exact number is 6 if I’m remembering correctly. I have noticed improved accuracy, fewer fliers, easier cleaning and being able to shoot more pellets before cleaning is needed.
Click to expand...
Hello Cannonball,

I agree on all that you stated and they are all good :)

Have a great day,
ThomasT
 
Upvote 0
john8 said:
Encouraging results, I wish to gain the dame benefits from my polishing. Did you experience any increase in speed?
Click to expand...
Hello john8,

Actually I did not, but the Deviation was improved by more that 50% and that is great news. What I need to do now is run an identical test like I did right after the polishing, because the bore surely has improved to some degree.

Have a great day,
ThomasT
 
  • Like
Reactions: john8
Upvote 0
Sqwirlfugger57 said:
It sounds like our experiences were pretty similar it seems. A "flier" these days out of my 35 will simply open the group up a hair. Before a flier could have been an inch in any direction. Its a great feeling knowing that you can have absolute confidence that your shot is going where its supposed to go (when you do your job at least). Its an even greater feeling knowing that YOUR efforts are the reason that gun is shooting so well.

Your post now has me pumped to go play with a few other barrels. Thanks for the push to improve sir!
Click to expand...
Hello again Sqwirlfugger57,

Yes it does and like you, I sure do enjoy the positive results of my efforts. Even though an "effort" might not be the correct word for me having FUN.

Have a great evening,
ThomasT
 
Upvote 0
douger said:
never hurts to give the barrel a nice once over
Click to expand...
Hello douger,

You are correct, I have been so wrapped up in shooting paper targets that I have not stopped long enough to do a complete review and inspection of the barrel. Thank you for the suggestions. My dear ole daddy used to thump me on the head to get me to slow down and think, o_O.... I don't think that it had any lasting effect on me....

You have a really great evening,
ThomasT
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
There’s also a psychological side of shooting that can’t be overlooked. Some guys have it worse than others. When we make a mod or what we believe is an improvement, our confidence rises and we do better. It’s one of the things that makes the wheels on any industry go round and round. I personally have never had a barrel shoot better after polishing. Maybe consistent longer but not better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nomojo65 and ThomasT
Upvote 0
Vetmx said:
There’s also a psychological side of shooting that can’t be overlooked. Some guys have it worse than others. When we make a mod or what we believe is an improvement, our confidence rises and we do better. It’s one of the things that makes the wheels on any industry go round and round. I personally have never had a barrel shoot better after polishing. Maybe consistent longer but not better.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. Maybe you‘re a pessimist and expecting it to not improve anything so you have low confidence and don’t shoot as well. I myself am half crazy so it cancels everything out and doesn’t affect me either way. 😂
 
Upvote 0
I usually do a light polish with flitz. I usually clean the barrel really good with ballistol then coat a new cotton mop and give about 50 strokes. I had one barrel that liked cleaned about every 100 shots, the polishing pushed it closer to 500. It also took about 1/3 as many patches to clean. The gun seemed to shoot more consistent too, I’m a firm believer. I haven’t had it make one shoot worse yet, that includes my powder burners. I think as long as you don’t go crazy or mess up the crown it is a positive.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: wWilliam and ThomasT
Upvote 0
Archdesigner03 said:
For those who polished their barrels, did your barrel prefer a different pellet afterwards?
Click to expand...
Hello Archdesignner03,

As a matter of fact, yes it did in my case. I had been shooting JSB Monster 13.43 before the polish work. After The Monsters came in a distance 3rd against JSB Heavy 10.43 and Crosman Domed 10.5. My test results were done over a period of time and a lot of test shooting, some of which I published here on the Forum.

Thank you and have a great day,
ThomasT
 
Upvote 0
Vetmx said:
There’s also a psychological side of shooting that can’t be overlooked. Some guys have it worse than others. When we make a mod or what we believe is an improvement, our confidence rises and we do better. It’s one of the things that makes the wheels on any industry go round and round. I personally have never had a barrel shoot better after polishing. Maybe consistent longer but not better.
Click to expand...
Hello Vetmx,

I am not disagreeing with you but: I clamp my rifle in a Gun Vice and then clamp the Gun Vice to my bench rest and do my testing in this manner. This does eliminate the human factor / error, so any results ( in my opinion ) are very accurate. In my case, with my rifle, there was an improvement in accuracy and in the Deviation number. I do want to make myself very clear, that I am not promoting bore polishing and I have stated this a number of times. I have been sharing the results of the work that I did and asking for input from other members.

Have a great day,
ThomasT
 
Upvote 0
Cranky1 said:
I usually do a light polish with flitz. I usually clean the barrel really good with ballistol then coat a new cotton mop and give about 50 strokes. I had one barrel that liked cleaned about every 100 shots, the polishing pushed it closer to 500. It also took about 1/3 as many patches to clean. The gun seemed to shoot more consistent too, I’m a firm believer. I haven’t had it make one shoot worse yet, that includes my powder burners. I think as long as you don’t go crazy or mess up the crown it is a positive.
Click to expand...
Hello Cranky1,

Your process using Flitz might be a lot better than using the JB compound which is a bit more abrasive. I will have to do some testing with your process. This is the kind of information that I am looking for and I thank you for sharing.

Have a great day,
ThomasT
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cranky1
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu