Barrel Droop: Is There A Way To...?

[DevilsLuck]

A few of my rifles; after buying a mount, and installing a scope; I've discovered that what I really need is a drooper mount. Is there any way to save some time, money, and hassle; and determine straight away that one requires a drooper mount? I think if there were, it would be helpful to us all. But most especially the new shooters.

[Dave19113]

A few of my rifles; after buying a mount, and installing a scope; I've discovered that what I really need is a drooper mount. Is there any way to save some time, money, and hassle; and determine straight away that one requires a drooper mount? I think if there were, it would be helpful to us all. But most especially the new shooters.

Im sure someone will chime in but from what Ive seen its more like some guns are just prone to it like Diana's. Everyone of mine had it so I always just bought the mount when I bought the gun. Ive never had a Hatsan need one.

As for looking at the barrel I was never able to tell by eye ball or anything myself.

[lefteyeshot]

Put an old scope on it and shoot it. If it has droop bend the barrel or order a droop mount. I'm  trading  my Norica .25 for and old .22 TF99. at a fun shoot today and I took the scope of my old Ruger to check out the 99.

[DevilsLuck]

The mere thought of me even attempting to bend my barrel terrifies me. I hear it's very doable. I'm not even hesitant to gut my rifles, and tune them myself... But I just can't work up the nerve to try and bend one of my barrels.

[TwiceHorn]

The mere thought of me even attempting to bend my barrel terrifies me. I hear it's very doable. I'm not even hesitant to gut my rifles, and tune them myself... But I just can't work up the nerve to try and bend one of my barrels.

I'm with you on that!

[DevilsLuck]

Put an old scope on it and shoot it. If it has droop bend the barrel or order a droop mount. I'm  trading  my Norica .25 for and old .22 TF99. at a fun shoot today and I took the scope of my old Ruger to check out the 99.

While those are good ideas... I was hoping for a solution for those who may not have an extra scope, and mounts laying around. Particularly a new air gunner. Though the same applies to others, who Just have all theirs mounted up on other rifles.

[mpbby]

You could lay the rifle above a straight line; adjust the cylinder to 'match' and watch the barrel..

The mere thought of me even attempting to bend my barrel terrifies me. I hear it's very doable. I'm not even hesitant to gut my rifles, and tune them myself... But I just can't work up the nerve to try and bend one of my barrels.

I'm with you on that!

I WAS with you on that!

Once you are tired to shim scopes and want to use a DM60 (flat dampa mount), you may get the appropriate device to bend the barrel.. What you felt as a madness may become an exercise of patience (trial and error).

[Roadworthy]

I don't like the idea of bending a perfectly straight barrel.  If there's droop and the barrel is straight there must be another cause. 

I had a Crosman Nitro Venom with significant droop. (My Diana 34 has none.)  Another member suggested the breech face may not be perfectly square with the top.  If slightly undercut it could prevent complete closure of the action causing barrel droop.  Mine appeared to be perfectly square.

Looking at the gun from the side you could tell the breech block had a slight downhill cant relative to the rest of the barrel.  The bottom of the breech block (above the alive jam) rests on the cross pin.  I filed that area down a bit, being careful to keep it square. 

My small amount of filing allowed the gun to appear more in line along the barrel when closed.  It also eliminated the need for the droop mount I had previously purchased.

[nervoustrigger]

It is rather easy to assess the parallelism between two closely spaced lines.  In some cases you can simply remove the rear sight and lay a straight edge on the receiver such that it extends out over the barrel.  If the gap between the straight edge and the barrel grows as you get further out toward the muzzle, there is droop present.

A bit of middle school trigonometry will reveal the angle (Oscar had a heap of apples), which can then be scaled to minutes of angle.

[desmobob]

Droop is so irritating!  Everyone hates it; nobody needs it, right?  Why don't manufacturers eliminate it?

My new Diana 34, which I dearly love, has so much droop it is plainly visible with the naked eye.  I tried mounting a scope using a Diana T06-specific 10* drooper base, plus adjustable rings with the rear ring jacked up close to 1/8" and I still had the scope's elevation adjustment up so high it wouldn't hold elevation zero.

It doesn't bother me too much because that light, handy rifle is a joy to shoot with iron sights.  But it would be nice if it was scope-ready without the necessity of barrel bending!

Tight groups,
Bob

[DevilsLuck]

Droop is so irritating!  Everyone hates it; nobody needs it, right?  Why don't manufacturers eliminate it?

My new Diana 34, which I dearly love, has so much droop it is plainly visible with the naked eye.  I tried mounting a scope using a Diana T06-specific 10* drooper base, plus adjustable rings with the rear ring jacked up close to 1/8" and I still had the scope's elevation adjustment up so high it wouldn't hold elevation zero.

It doesn't bother me too much because that light, handy rifle is a joy to shoot with iron sights.  But it would be nice if it was scope-ready without the necessity of barrel bending!

Tight groups,
Bob

Wow! That's a lot of droop!

[SteveP-52]

Don't at the moment remember where I read it but Diana deliberately puts the droop in their barrels so the front and rear sights line up better when shooting, then had to design and build the droop mounts to compensate for it (which of course makes them more money) for shooters that wanted to scope their rifles...which happens to be a healthy chunk of them.

[DevilsLuck]

It is rather easy to assess the parallelism between two closely spaced lines.  In some cases you can simply remove the rear sight and lay a straight edge on the receiver such that it extends out over the barrel.  If the gap between the straight edge and the barrel grows as you get further out toward the muzzle, there is droop present.

A bit of middle school trigonometry will reveal the angle (Oscar had a heap of apples), which can then be scaled to minutes of angle.

That seems logical. I just wonder if the eye can pick up a difference that matters at say... 30yrds from the muzzle. It would make a neat experiment. Take a rifle with known droop, and...

[desmobob]

Droop is so irritating!  Everyone hates it; nobody needs it, right?  Why don't manufacturers eliminate it?

My new Diana 34, which I dearly love, has so much droop it is plainly visible with the naked eye.  I tried mounting a scope using a Diana T06-specific 10* drooper base, plus adjustable rings with the rear ring jacked up close to 1/8" and I still had the scope's elevation adjustment up so high it wouldn't hold elevation zero.

It doesn't bother me too much because that light, handy rifle is a joy to shoot with iron sights.  But it would be nice if it was scope-ready without the necessity of barrel bending!

Tight groups,
Bob

Wow! That's a lot of droop!

Enough to put grandma to shame.   

Just for giggles, I'm going to mount my Diana T06 drooper base and add Weaver rings equipped with Hawke Optic's 25 MOA scope ring shims to see if that will put my scope in a happy place on my Diana 34.  (I still intend to keep her as open-sighted, though).

When I have the rifle out, I'll take a photograph that I hope will show the excessive droop this rifle has.

Tight groups,
Bob

[lefteyeshot]

My Diana 350PC has reverse droop. Shoots to high. Had a spare droop mount and mounted it backwards. Worked perfect.

[Coloman]

Put the gun in question in a gun cleaning stand. Level the gun so that the breach tube is level. I use a 2" level. Now simply put the level on the barrel in several places to see if it is also level. I usually work from the breach end towards the muzzle. If there is droop it will show up on the level. My 100x showed about a 1/4 bubble of droop. I made shims from a soda cut in strips to fit the mount and wrapped it with electrical tape.