LW polygon barrels

Matt, Congrats on the new setup! Awesome!

Hey, just my .02

If you say the bbl is one of the cleanest you've ever seen from the start.. 
Then it shoots really well..
Then when it gets 'dirty' after only 150 or so pellets, the accuracy suffers..

Keep this in mind: "Leading In The Barrel".

As the lead starts to deposit in/on the inside of the bbl, 
it'll be depositing in random areas, so, bare/smooth spots and leaded spots.. 

I think that until' there's a really good amount of lead in there 
and the pellets really have a chance to smooth it around for consistency, 
you'd be seeing a difference..

I've got guns w/ bbls that I've never cleaned! They just kept shooting Better. 
I'm a fan of leading in. I still clean, but, very very mildly - so not to disrupt anything.

I'm really curious if that could be the issue that you're running into..



Sam -

PS: Why are you reading this? You should be outside shooting!

Clean then lap it with some bore paste then finish up with diatomaceous earth (find it in the garden center) for a mirror finish.

Try some lube on your pellets & see if that helps. Lube can help keep lead build up to a minimum

Are the polygon barrels supposed to be “better” than a standard LW barrel? Or only in certain situations?

I’m wondering why they would put the polygon barrel in a $1500 brocock but leave it off the $2400 red wolf standard.

I dont think the polygon barrels that the RW uses are off the shelf. Maybe a custom run for Daystate.

When I had a tight bored hammer forged .22 barrel, it needed cleaning about every 50 shots.

After cleaning pellets (jsb 18gr) with naptha, drying, and a very light lube (1 drop per 100 pellets in a baggie) of FP10, and I was getting a couple hundred shots between cleanings. That's been the only time that cleaning and lubing had much of an effect for me.

For what its worth, I have the same rifle in .25. I had to clean the barrel 2 or 3 times per tin when it was new. after a few tins, my accuracy lasted longer and longer between cleanings. I have about 1,000 pellets and slugs through it now since its last cleaning, and accuracy is still good. I guess just give it some time. 

I've been struggling with that since the beginning. Currently searching for the best lube and have tried many. @T3PRanch's suggestion has helped with the seasoning as it will shoot consistently from the 1st or second shot now but my MAIN leading now is about 6" from the breech. Theories are that the loose flakes are dropping off the pellet into the bore and being ironed into the bore where they start the leading process. I've tried waxing with Carnauba and seemed to be better but still too soon. Looks like the next step for me is to clean and lube a batch. Like @Wimpanzee suggested, we did that process on Premiers when they were good for FT, but FP10 always softened the Buna orings in use at the time, so we went to 1Lube instead. 1Lube hasn't been good for me with 25.4s at 970. Currently trying a Lucasoil firearm lube and the accuracy seems very good so far. No sign of leading after 75 shots but need to do several cycles to find when(or IF) it starts leading .

The poly's were designed in the 90s to be used at high speed and generally give a higher bc on any given pellet as measured with the Labradar. The current ones may have evolved from the ones in the 90s, I'm not sure. I only have 1 example from around 1996 and it's 177.

If you find the answer.... we would all love to hear.....

Bob

Molybdenum disulfide? I mean the real stuff!, not what’s in a aerosol can with a carrier that evaporates off, might try a very light I mean very light coat ( like maybe a pinch in plastic butter dish and roll pellets around ) because it’s extremely messy! I’ve heard it’s a no,no, but not sure why? It’s exclusively meant for metal to metal wear and should build up a very thin coating in barrels? What I have was manufactured by Bel-ray yrs. ago!

I will never buy a poly barrel over a cut rifled barrel. I've had one, and fouling was a continuing issue. Poly barrels were designed during g WW II in Germany for machine gun barrels. After the investment in hammer forging machinery, they are fast to produce. They were designed for jacketed bullets. The increased bearing surface and tighter gas seal may be advantageous with metallic jacketed ammo, but with soft lead bullets or pellets, I believe it presents problems that are avoided in cut rifled barrels. Of course, good and bad barrels can be produced using either process. The poly barrels are a bit more power efficient, and I guess that is one reason they are so popular with the HP rifles.

I thought LW barrel were button rifled?, and to get a barrel manufacturer to invest in a .177 cutting process would never be profitable enough for them, let alone the cost for airgun manufacturers and or individual purchasers to afford? 

I also wanted to add on the moly, is you would need to have all lead and graphite out of the barrel to make it truly Effective! And believe you would need a process of liquid and JB bore past or equivalent to really get the bore clean? (Putting moly over lead won’t work...) then I would use a bore mop And many strokes To burnish and work the moly in Into bore. That’s how I would do it anyway! Mind you I’m no expert in this Procedure so someone please chime in if you have experience with use moly

As far as I know, all polygonal barrels are hammer forged. Some of the custom makers may have some hybrid processes for a type of poly barrel that is cut, but I'm not sure how that would work, since there are not distinct grooves cut in the steel. 

I thought LW barrel were button rifled?, and to get a barrel manufacturer to invest in a .177 cutting process would never be profitable enough for them, let alone the cost for airgun manufacturers and or individual purchasers to afford?

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Yes, LW barrels with traditional rifling are button rifled. Why Daystate ART are poly barrels then?



I have some experience with a standard LW poly barrel in .25 and it is worse than a traditional one with Kings and King Heavies.

I believe I found an answer. The LW "poly" barrels, are not, exactly. They are cut with a "rounded land", which is why the bore looks quite different than, say Glock or H&K polygonal barrels, which are hammer forged. Since "polygonal" is a generic term and not a trademark, I suppose it can mean whatever the maker chooses. I would look at the LW poly as simply another profile.

There are no mass produced airgun barrels with cut rifling.

There are no mass produced airgun barrels with cut rifling.

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And button rifled barrels, on average, are as good. In fact, I believe you will find more high level BR results with button rifled barrels. And I probably misused the "cut" rifled description above. I refer to cut and button rifled together, as opposed to the hammer forging process. I assume LW uses a specially shaped button to make their "poly" barrels.