TargetTalk

Has anyone tryed indexing their barrel with any luck? I know that smallbore benchrest shooters do.

I have not, but have read much about it. I don't have an opinion, but It seems to be a fluke to one of the best gun builders in Rimfire...(Bill Calfee) You might jump over to Rimfireaccuracy.com and search and ask. Bill hangs out there and is very informative and loves to help folks. Many beleive in it. The only gun that seems to be easily indexed is the 20 series Anschutz. Others that have threaded barrels its quite difficult and expensive to do. Bill has likely built more winners than anyone and he doesn't do it. Though he has tried it and has had very much to say about it. You might enjoy all the discussions over there. Its a new site.

Good Luck,

Charles

What is indexing the barrel?

Indexing is rotating the barrel such that the bore curve is oriented in the vertical plane.

Indexing a threaded action is not really hard to do, just more time consuming. Not overly expensive when done by a gunsmith with an understanding of the principles involved and simple math skills to calculate the amount to cut off of the mating face.

My experience with indexing is limited and, of course, anecdotal, but here goes. About 4-5 years ago I bought a 2013 from an individual who had been permitted to select the rifle at Champions Choice on the basis of the Anschutz test target. He got the best one in stock and it's a good target - less then .4". I have been happy with the way the rifle shoots and after I heard about indexing, a friend and I tested it and satisfied ourselves that Anschutz had inadvertantly "indexed" the barrel. Along the way I bought one of Lilja's pre-fit barrels for it and was happy with the way it shot. Later I decided that I didn't need it and sold it to a shooter who had it indexed. He says it now the best shooting barrel he's ever had. I could kick myself for that one. I'm sure that there have been and will be many great shooting barrels that are not indexed. You won't know if it improves your barrel until you have it done. If you're thinking about it, I can give you the name of a competent gunsmith who does it.

1813benny wrote:Indexing is rotating the barrel such that the bore curve is oriented in the vertical plane.

Define bore curve?

You may want to jump across to http://forums.delphiforums.com/Smallbore/start. You will have to register to view the forum but you will find what you are looking for. Posters on the forum have shot test groups with the barrel rotated at various angles.

I have also read a lot about this, and I am not sure if it works or not.

What I do know is that I want more proof than ONE amazing 5-shot group. See, you will find a lot of strange "proof" when it comes to revolutionary ideas in rimfire. And what are the proof presented? Many times it is one single 5 shot group shot on a paper target. Is that good enough for you?

I shoot groups like that every now and then. But I also shoot some ugly ones right after. My point is - for true verification that someting really work, these kind of gropus have to be repeated over and over again. Say 10 really good 5-shot groups shot in a row - THAT would be proof enough for me. Otherwise, I would just consider that single 5-shot group as.... well, a lucky strike.

The targets posted on Delphi are only a sampling of what Mike Ross has done to date. When the Smallbore Journal was still online, there was over 20 targets that demonstrated not only the same trapazoid pattern, but almost always the barrel showed a preferential grouping at one index angle over another.

This topic has been an extensive discussion for over two years on the Delphi Forums and has been documented with photos of the targets.

I recommend reading further to make your own decision, but at least Mike Ross and others on that forum back up their testing with data and also detailed explanations of their methods. Can't say that for other sites.

To me, a degreed mechanical engineer, the repeatable methods used are as important as the repeatable results.