Hey NCED, got a R9 question......

[tomykay12]

Hi. This is sorta related to the post below regarding caliber for hunting in a R9. I ended up with a .22 R9, new style recently. I also have an older .177 R1, which I just home tuned using Ultimox and some JM parts; thankyou for the thoughtful posts on Krytox. I'm thinking of switching the barrels, as I have read that can be done. Seems like it would be a more sensible use of each powerplant. what do you think? Foresee any mechanical issues? Thanks, tk

[nced]

Hi. This is sorta related to the post below regarding caliber for hunting in a R9. I ended up with a .22 R9, new style recently. I also have an older .177 R1, which I just home tuned using Ultimox and some JM parts; thankyou for the thoughtful posts on Krytox. I'm thinking of switching the barrels, as I have read that can be done. Seems like it would be a more sensible use of each powerplant. what do you think? Foresee any mechanical issues? Thanks, tk

Well....after I sold my .20 R9 barrel I bought a used .177 R1 barrel and used it for a while. Worked fine but the R1 barrel length on the R9 was a bit awkward for ME. The R1 carbine had a barrel length similar to the standard R9 barrel length so the R9 barrel would work fine on the R1 but the cocking effort would be higher due to the shorter "cocking lever".

Personally, I'm of the opinion that it's ill-advised to "strangle" the large swept volume of the R1 with a .177 barrel! IMHO, the R1 is indeed better balanced with the .22 barrel.

Concerning the R9..........it's up to you to determine if the long R1 barrel (assuming it isn't a carbine model) will work for you. Myself, I chopped the .177 R1 barrel, then home choked and crowned it.........the result worked out fine............

LOL....until I got my newest .177 R9 that home chopped and choked R1 barrel was the only one that shot the Beeman FTS (rebadged H&N Field Target Trophies) well! By the way, those groups were shot sitting on a bucket resting the gun on cross sticks.....not bench rested.

Hope this helps some!

[Mark 611]

I agree ED the R1 is better suited to 20 or .22cal bore the .177cal,   

[tomykay12]

Thanks Ed; I wondered about the barrel length making the R9 a little leggy. Actually it may not be optimum, but the R1 in .177 is quite accurate and pretty flat shooting. Looks like if I want to do this I'll pick up a .177 R9 barrel, and either swap the .22 with the R1, or not. It is really shooting well with the Ultimox treatment. hate to mess with success, lol. Thankyou again, tk

[nced]

Thanks Ed; I wondered about the barrel length making the R9 a little leggy. Actually it may not be optimum, but the R1 in .177 is quite accurate and pretty flat shooting. Looks like if I want to do this I'll pick up a .177 R9 barrel, and either swap the .22 with the R1, or not. It is really shooting well with the Ultimox treatment. hate to mess with success, lol. Thankyou again, tk

Keep in mind......if you buy a new barrel you'll either need to buy it with the cocking lever attached (more $$), buy another cocking lever and rivet, or you'll need to press the old rivet from the unneeded barrel assembly and reuse the cocking lever/rivet. Either way, you'll need to re-flare the rivet ends to keep them from working out.

To press out the old rivet and reuse it or install a new rivet I found the best tool to do the job is a "chain breaker" that doesn't cost too much at a Harbor Freight store.
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=chain+breaker
When I bought mine they were under $10 LOL!

You really don't NEED a chain breaker if you have a steel drift of the appropriate size and a heavy hammer. Lay the barrel assembly on it's side with the cocking lever bracket on a solid plate with a hole drilled in it so the rivet can be driven through. I used a 3/8" thick steel plate I had laying around and drilled a hole in it for the rivet to be driven into, but I'm guessing that even a small pipe coupling can be used for this. With the bracket solidly on the support with the hole centered under the rivet..........use a firm sharp hammer blow to drive the rivet free. This does work and I've done several times, however I prefer the "chain breaker" since I don't have to pound on anything.

To re-flare the replacement rivets I stick a 1/4" hard steel ball bearing (available from McMaster Carr) to each end of the installed rivet then clamp the assembly in my vice till the rivet ends are flared.