Performance tuning is the art of finding the precise balance of many aspects of the weapon to achieve the best possible performance. These aspects range from recoil management to muzzle energy to shot constancy and a host of others, each rifle is unique and has to be treated differently from the next. As you might expect it’s a delicate juggling act.
The process differs greatly depending on the type of gun and its intended application. Springers are set up with recoil as the biggest factor, achieving the customers desired muzzle energy while keeping the recoil as low as possible. PCP’s are a different ball game where the best muzzle energy is often dictated by the barrel. Every barrel will have a preference to pellet type, weight and speed to achieve optimal accuracy. Finding this balance requires testing, and LOTS of it! Each test is done over the Chrony to determine muzzle energy variances while aiming at a target to determine accuracy. Shot count is another aspect that needs to be thrown into this already overwhelming array of areas under consideration. High muzzle energy requires more air, and thus fewer shots between fills.
We thoroughly test the muzzle energy throughout the entire process. Testing before any work is done gives us a base line to work from and will tell us if there are any major issues that will need to be attended to during the tune. The chronograph testing is done indoors with all variables under constant control. We only use high quality match grade pellets to test our weapons, the pellets used are inspected and weighed individually to eliminate “dud” pellets that are either too heavy, too light or are deformed. Dud pellets would skew the results and even top shelf pellets have imperfections that need to be weeded out. the weapon is usually tested with a number of different pellets in order to identify which pellets work the best in that specific weapon.
The chronograph results are carefully monitored via a computer interface which gives us real time data shot for shot.