i shot my 800 tonight, up against the 9015 for the first time. The 800 is a 16J FT version, and I hate the stock, totally wrong for BR, I struggled to get a decent hand position support at the rear end. But when I did, amazing, so much less pellet fussy than the 9015, shot 10s on most pellets, seemed to like the JSB premium the best, which the 9015 won’t group at all on. Funny thing, maybe it’s the metal FT stock, but the 800 has a lot more going on, can feel the shot, and hear it all happen thru the cheek piece, while the 9015 is completely dead. Still, at 20m the 800 seems more accurate on pellets straight from the tin, with the 9015 I need a specific batch, sorted, guaged and weighed to get that level of accuracy. Not much in it trigger wise, the 9015 has the edge though. The 800 was supposed to be my backup rifle, but it could end up being prime, maybe I need the basic wooden stock instead of the silly metal one to be perfect! The 9015 is the better rifle to shoot in its benchrest stock, it feels very natural and dead. The 800 is so mechanical and metallic by comparison, but at the moment, more accurate... Geoff.
Assuming the 9015 isn't far off the usual Anschutz path the barrel isn't that difficult to machine (he says having only just looked at one).
So far, we've not had a bad LW barrel... and some have been using them for bench, so that might be a cheaper option (he says not knowing how much an FWB barrel is)
If I wanted a LW barrel in my 9015, who can do this, and how much does it cost? PS, would I be able to keep my barrel shroud, as I have quite a long air cylinder, would be nice to keep both bits looking like the same length. Thanks!
When you buy a 15mm Lothar Walther blank (see at the bottom here: .177 (4.5mm) Airgun Barrel Blanks - Lothar Walther Barrel Blanks | Chambers Gunmakers - Airgun, Shotgun & Rifle spares. Parts for Air Arms, BSA, Crosman, Diana, Gamo, Relum, Webley, Weihrauch and many, many more ) it would have the same diameter as the original Anschutz barrel. Meaning the Walther barrel would fit in the original shroud. The biggest problem is probably to get the shroud from the original barrel off. Probably glued on. A new stainless 18 mm OD and 15m ID tube would be the easiest option I think.
Stainlees steel tube 18x1.5 : STAINLESS STEEL TUBE 18MM OD X 15MM ID (1.5MM WALL) 316 SEAMLESS | eBay
The shroud will come off with moderate heat from a blowtorch. I removed the shroud from my 9015, mainly to save the weight and increase the volume in the carbon shroud . The factory stainless shroud,isn't evenly glued on. The barrel performs better without it too. A few other guys have also done this and found the same. It's a free modification, and reversible. I'd definitely be inclined to give it a go. Before considering binning the barrel. If you do decide to bin it, send it my way. It now gives far more acceptable groups with pellets it wouldn't previously . And feels slightly more sedate on firing.
One point of note, the 9015 barrel is necked down marginally along its length. Mine had 2 small steps down, so the choke end is a smaller od than the breech end. I can only assume this is to allow it to be glued on
I got the shroud off an Anschutz 2002 years ago and was also surprised to find huge voids between barrel and shroud almost like they deliberately wanted to use the absolute minimum of epoxy. Maybe for 6fpe it's less crucial but I'd imagine that stepping up to 12fpe all kinds of weird resonances are going on within the barrel when there's huge air gaps. I replaced the should with a rear vented broomstick dessign with pepperpot exit and it shot a lot better.
Ive got 2 Anschutz barrels and a LW barrel for my 9015 . the best bench rest score I've had with this rifle (25yrd 250 17x) is with the bare Anschutz barrel (steel tube removed) nothing else fitted no stripper etc.
From memory it was stepped down slightly (1mm or so) going into the receiver and again a couple of inches back from the muzzle.
Im not going to remove the shroud from the 9015 yet. The cylinder is longer than the shroud, and it will look a little silly with the cylinder being twice as long as the barrel!!! Will a carbon shroud bonded on with low modulus adheasive be OK? I didnt like the metal stock on the 800 much, so am going to get a custom wooden one made similar to the 9015 BR, so thats put the 800 out of action for a couple of months. Hopefully will get this in time for summer series as im writing off winter series anyway now. Cheers.
