Author Topic: Barrel Droop (Read 956 times)

gunnstack · « **on:** May 11, 2005, 09:41:41 PM »

I have read a number of articles regarding barrel droop in brand new springer rifles (not that I have a rifle with droop-in other places yes- but that's another story!). I come from an engineering background and have some problems understanding why a barrel in a good, high quality rifle should droop in relation to the main tube assembly. Is barrel droop common and deliberately engineerered or is this just something that happens due to component parts not being machined to precise enough tolerances whereby some will have droop and some not? I have also seen posts where people have to resort to bending the barrels on their rifles to re-align them. I can recall in my engineering days having to put shafts, spindles etc. into a horizontal or vertical drill and tap them with a mallet till you got the piece back within tolerances. But that was something like 40 years ago and any item treated thus was always a bit suspect. On brand new rifles I would expect everything to align perfectly-or am I just expecting too much of the manufacturers? Or just too bloody old?
If a barrel has droop or is misaligned should the defect not be addresed by the manufacturer prior to being sent out rather than having to buy special scope mounts, etc. to correct the problem?
:roll:
Regards Gordon

victorcharlie · « **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2005, 08:52:08 PM »

That's a very good question.......I'm waiting on my first springer to arrive, a Techforce 99 in .177.......should be in today.......

I would expect the barrel to be straight and would return it if it's not.......have studied a bit before making the purchase.....I was thinking the barrel bend was due to the spring and cyl. being attached to the barrel and putting pressure on the barrel...........and over time, bending the barrel........but I an not 100% on this.......

Hopefully one of the guys in the know will explain the problem to us!

Medbill · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2005, 10:57:50 PM »

Easy fix, just buy yourself a set of Burris zee rings. For my TX 200 I bought the new BKL dovetail to weaver one piece base from Brownells. Then I bought a set of Burris Weaver Zee rings with inserts that allow you to adjust for drop and get your scope in line with your barrel rather than having to worry about correcting the droop. Its a great way to go and has been holding up just fine so far. I can take a pic and post it if your interested later.

Good luck,

Billy

PS: The other alternative isn't as pretty and not for the faint of heart but that works too. I learned it from Larry Durham and I call it the Samurai airgunsmith technique. Remember when SNL was funny back in the Belushi days? That should give you a clue on what you have to do.

Lawdog · « **Reply #3 on:** May 13, 2005, 12:36:00 PM »

victorcharlie,

Barrel droop is almost always found in break barrel(barrel cockers) rifles when it is found. It is usually caused by the compression chamber and the loading breech being misaligned(pointing down). On under lever/side lever rifles it is almost unheard of. Even so it is an easy fix with adjustable rings from either Beeman or BKL. I really doubt your M97 will have barrel droop but if it does let me know because it would be the first time. The only air rifle that I ever had that had barrel droop was a Beeman Kodiak. The value of the rifle doesnt have a darn thing to do with whether it has barrel droop or not. Lawdog

gunnstack · « **Reply #4 on:** May 13, 2005, 07:24:02 PM »

Lawdog

Just out of curiosity I just checked my Tomahawk & HW95 and found there was absoluteley no barrel droop to speak of. Previously I had only eyeballed the alignment but re-checked with a straight edge and feeler gauges. There may be a few thou but nothing to worry about. These rifle manufacturers seem to have good quality control in place. OK- am I nitpicking by expecting that all high quality break barrel rifles have the barrel/breach aligned to within certain tolerances? It appears to me (from reading a number of forums) that many people simply accept this as a fact of life and buy scope mounts etc. to compensate. Is the alignment just too difficuilt for manufacturers to achieve in production? It sort of reminds me of the days when Harleys were called Hogs-for good reason-then QC took hold and they have never looked back. Maybe I'm reading this wrong and that there may be a need in some rifles to have barrel droop. Can you throw some light on this for me Lawdog. Many thanks
Gordon

Jason · « **Reply #5 on:** May 13, 2005, 08:56:54 PM »

In many instances, the barrel droop is by design. The guns are designed for using iron sights and the tall front sights necessitate either some barrel droop or a very tall rear sight that would prevent a good cheek weld without a very high comb stock. I've seen some expensive airguns with barrel droop, as well as some cheaper ones. It's a bit of a stretch to think that all the guns out there with barrel droop are mistakes of manufacturing that the factory decided to go ahead and ship anyway, don't you think?

Lawdog · « **Reply #6 on:** May 14, 2005, 10:14:58 AM »

gunnstack,

Barrel droop just seems to happen every so often. Cant be tracked to any one model or particular run of rifles from any one manufacture either. I have seen reports of barrel droop on european rifles costing upwards of $1,500.00(+/-) and again on the very lowest cost Chinese ones. I believe it is a product of mass production where you have a number of milled parts that are supposed to end up locked together to form one rigid piece. Barrel droop only causes a problem when using a scope and like I said before, adjustable rings takes care of the problem nicely. Basically it just looks funny in the worst cases. Lawdog

Questor · « **Reply #7 on:** May 16, 2005, 08:41:35 AM »

I had a break barrel Weihrauch pistol with this problem and it eventually caused such shooting problems that I threw the gun away. My current air rifle has a fixed barrel.