Break barrels, inaccurate by design??

[springer]

If you have your scope mounted on the receiver, and the barrel is pivoting, is this a recipe for inaccuracy disaster??

Thoughts solicited.

Will

Not here......... Gamo Whisper Fusion 22 cal...........5 shots.....15 yards

I asked the same question about thirty years ago. I devised an experiment to answer the question. If one could mount a scope first on the dovetail of a break barrel and then on the breach block and compare results you would have an answer. I contacted Redfield, which at that time were still in business making rifle sights for help. They liked the idea and agreed to provide the necessary gunsmithing.. Their machine shop modified my BSF S60 break barrel to accept a mount on the breach block..

Holes drilled in the breach block to accept a one piece scope mount.

A 4X scope sight and a 2 1/2 X long eye relief pistol scope were modified to focus at 20 yards. The proprietor of an indoor range set up an alley placing targets at 20 yards. I fired 25 shots with the 4X scope mounted on the dovetail and then 25 with the 2 1/2 x mounted on the breach block. No difference. I published an article describing this process in an early airgun monthly.

This is brilliant! The ultimate answer to this never-ending question, LOL. 

I'd love to read your original article. Is it available online somewhere, or can it be scanned and posted?

Sorry to disagree but all that single experiment showed was that THAT PARTICULAR RIFLE produced the same groups with the scope mounted on the breech block as it did mounted on the receiver. If THAT PARTICULAR RIFLE had excellent lockup to begin with, what else would one expect to see?

Are you arguing that a well made break barrel will be accurate but a poorly made one will not, in which case design is not at fault, but rather manufacturing?

 

[bandg]

My view is that one example of an experiment (as commendable as it was) doesn't "prove" the concept. I would say this-if the gun tested had excellent lockup you would be unlikely to see much change between the two mounting methods. Did you use a rifle with a lockup problem? That might have been more telling.

 

[Septicdeath]

Hatsan 130QE .30 thirty yards. Iron sights no rest. Accurate enough to kill the critters 

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[springer]

My view is that one example of an experiment (as commendable as it was) doesn't "prove" the concept. I would say this-if the gun tested had excellent lockup you would be unlikely to see much change between the two mounting methods. Did you use a rifle with a lockup problem? That might have been more telling.

The gun was tight and well made. I think this test proved that there was no difference in accuracy whether the scope is mounted on the rails or breach block. Shortly after I did this experiment BSA introduced a break barrel equipped with a scope mount on the breach block, claiming this would enhance accuracy. It did not remain on the market very long, perhaps because few people had the necessary long eye relief scope.