I'm thinking about doing a barrel chop on my next project. What's an idea oal for a springer barrel? Also, would them heavy duty pipe cutters (for the metal pipes) work?

I chopped mine to 10" from the outside of the breech. That left about 12" of usable barrel give or take. I read somewhere that springers only utilize about 10" of barrel and the rest is drag or wasted tube. I don't think a heavy pipe cutter would do the job. If you are good with a hacksaw, I'd give that a shot first. You will need to recrown your barrel when you are done. I'm lucky to have a lathe for this, but you can use a brass screw with a round head and some valve grinding compound to achieve a crown. Just chuck up the screw in a hand drill and dab a bit of compound on it and go to town on the muzzle. Your cut will have to be pretty darned square, so dress the barrel with a file and check it with a square as you go.

Crowning won't be a problem; it's the square cutting that's gonna suck. I've been experimenting with a hacksaw and an old 2250 barrel and can't seem to get the cut super straight. I guess hours with a file and square is gonna have to do...

Now that I think about it, I may be able to use a stop collar as a hacksaw guide when cutting; I'll just have to cut slowly and carefully...

I chopped mine to 10" from the outside of the breech. That left about 12" of usable barrel give or take. I read somewhere that springers only utilize about 10" of barrel and the rest is drag or wasted tube. I don't think a heavy pipe cutter would do the job. If you are good with a hacksaw, I'd give that a shot first. You will need to recrown your barrel when you are done. I'm lucky to have a lathe for this, but you can use a brass screw with a round head and some valve grinding compound to achieve a crown. Just chuck up the screw in a hand drill and dab a bit of compound on it and go to town on the muzzle. Your cut will have to be pretty darned square, so dress the barrel with a file and check it with a square as you go.

good tip.;)

Jon, a pipe cutter will get you started, but will not cut all the way through, also be sure you have spare blades. Then you can hacksaw the rest, just to the waste side and file it down to the shoulder, of the pipe cut. I've done half dozen or so this way and it works quite well.

Jon, clamp your barrel in a mitre(sp?) box.

all this talk about choppin barrels is gettin me thinkin.
thinkin i'm gonna chop one my damn self.:rockon:

Don't go ruining airgun barrels because I did. I was just out of options to try and get this thing to shoot straight. It's better than it ever was, but it still won't shoot great groups.

i hear ya Ralph, i'm just needin to tear into sumthin....:lol:

i hear ya Ralph, i'm just needin to tear into sumthin....:lol:

Same here - so I decided to chop one today. Hell, it's just an airgun right? Stock length was 18.5" - I brought it down to 14". I still have to work on my crowning skills a little more but it's pretty smooth right now.

i'll do mine as soon as you tell me how it worked out for you.

Lol! Yeah, I should be able to test her out tomorrow when everything's dried up.

whats nice is when you decide to chop one and shove a pellet down the tube and find it gets tight like 2 - 3 inches from the end.
WALLA heres where i chop it and have a choked barrel ta boot.:rockon::rockon:

Looks good Jon. Can't wait to see pics.

You know I didn't even check for a choke. I just went and chopped her. My initial test shots looked normal but I didn't get to shoot too much since the sear started acting up. Now I'm waiting for a replacement sear. This always happens to me...

VERY NICE looking job on the "Chop" & dam nice looking crown Buddy!! I have been known to "Chop" a few myself!! He He!! Ive done about 6 Dianas,34,s/350,s,, couple of Quest,s. Thus far, ALL have shot better than prior. Keep up the GREAT work!! Tim. P.S.,, I use a 12" cut off saw with water running on cut area,, makes for a no brainer square cut!!

Thanks Tim - I used a hacksaw and miter box bolted to a table. I clamped the barrel (in front and behind the cut area) down good into the miter box. I then started with a brand new hacksaw blade and just took my time while using just a little pressure and adding a few drops of oil as I went. The oil actually helped lubricate the cutting area as well as collect all the shavings off to the side on its own. It took about 10 minutes of careful sawing but I was happy with the end result.

Another 30 minutes of hand sanding to smooth the face, about another 10 to dremel out and polish the crown and wala. I did manage to fire about a dozen rounds to test her out at 10 yards and it's looking promising. She's a friggin' bear to cock though...

Here she is; my chopped Storm XT. The barrel is 14" from the breech to the muzzle (I took off 4.5") and she's in a G1 stock. I've been able to test a few rounds at 10 yards and it's looking promising, but there's still a sear issue I'm working on before I can do a full test. I'll tell ya, she's a bear to cock but if it works out well I'll probably add a shroud or a weighted brake.

I did a few dozen test shots today and it's a little spotty right now. At 15 yards Gamo hunters will clover but at 20 yards it opens up to about 1 inch. I'm finding she's very hold sensitive right now so I'm still messing with her to figure out the perfect hold. I just put a G1 brake on her and will shoot her again tomorrow once the threads have dried up. Maybe the extra weight up front will help the POI a little; or maybe not. We'll see...