Break Barrel Sudden R9 issue ,need some advice

[Sureshot]

Hi, I purchased an R9 4 years ago that’s always been an absolute joy to shoot. It has a Vortek HO spring , Vortek piston with the trigger set at 9- 10 oz. I am strictly a bench shooter. Up until recently,the gun has been extremely accurate out to 50 - 60 yds.
However , has suddenly become very inaccurate, mostly in horizontal stringing but not always. Dime side groups at 40 yds have become 3-4 inch at 30.,yeaks! I checked the usual culperts including stock screws , 22inlb front two screws, trigger screws; 40 in lb back,15 front.
The breech seal looked good but I did the tissue breech test to check for sighs of air loss.but none. Darn!
I cleaned the bail with pull through but there wasn’t much in there.
I ran the gun through the chrono , FTT 8.64 gr. Numbers were ; 844.8 ave ft/sec ,ES 3.4 with 13.7 ft lb energy. I might be reading these wrong but nothing that would indicate what I was seeing at the range.
I decided to take the gun apart , check the piston seal and spring. Unfortunately both looked like new. This is not looking good..
I cleaned all the old grease off everything including inside the receiver and greased again everything and reassembled the gun.
Ok, thought maybe it’s the scope. So I took the helix Elements 6 -24 x 50 off my TX 200 which I know works fantastic and put it on the R9 which had the Airmax 6-24 x 50 SF wide angle. I then mounted the Airmax on the TX 200 just to check it out. Both guns performed exactly the same as before meaning the R9 was all over the place and the TX was shooting dime size at 40 yards..
The only thing I haven’t done that I can think of is to replace the breech seal with an OEM seal but I have a sick feeling that that’s not gonna make much difference. The barrel has never been bent, and the gun is in mint condition , crown has never been touched and is like new.
Any suggestions on how I might be able to get this R9 back to its great form would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Al

 

[Hoppalong Doc]

I'm far from an expert on this, but I'd like to know if your barrel is latching properly after cocking? Could your barrel be drooping some? Enquiring mind here, Orv.

 

[Danman]

Hi, I purchased an R9 4 years ago that’s always been an absolute joy to shoot. It has a Vortek HO spring , Vortek piston with the trigger set at 9- 10 oz. I am strictly a bench shooter. Up until recently,the gun has been extremely accurate out to 50 - 60 yds.
However , has suddenly become very inaccurate, mostly in horizontal stringing but not always. Dime side groups at 40 yds have become 3-4 inch at 30.,yeaks! I checked the usual culperts including stock screws , 22inlb front two screws, trigger screws; 40 in lb back,15 front.
The breech seal looked good but I did the tissue breech test to check for sighs of air loss.but none. Darn!
I cleaned the bail with pull through but there wasn’t much in there.
I ran the gun through the chrono , FTT 8.64 gr. Numbers were ; 844.8 ave ft/sec ,ES 3.4 with 13.7 ft lb energy. I might be reading these wrong but nothing that would indicate what I was seeing at the range.
I decided to take the gun apart , check the piston seal and spring. Unfortunately both looked like new. This is not looking good..
I cleaned all the old grease off everything including inside the receiver and greased again everything and reassembled the gun.
Ok, thought maybe it’s the scope. So I took the helix Elements 6 -24 x 50 off my TX 200 which I know works fantastic and put it on the R9 which had the Airmax 6-24 x 50 SF wide angle. I then mounted the Airmax on the TX 200 just to check it out. Both guns performed exactly the same as before meaning the R9 was all over the place and the TX was shooting dime size at 40 yards..
The only thing I haven’t done that I can think of is to replace the breech seal with an OEM seal but I have a sick feeling that that’s not gonna make much difference. The barrel has never been bent, and the gun is in mint condition , crown has never been touched and is like new.
Any suggestions on how I might be able to get this R9 back to its great form would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Al

Welcome to Ham, can you shine a light down the barrel and see anything hung up in there? Have you shot any non-lead pellets recently? Try pushing a pellet through on a cleaning rod and check it for odd or one-sided damage. I'd be going after the barrel for sure, your piston/seal is fine, with those numbers I'd think. Are you shooting same ol ammo or new batches/sizes/weights? My TX loves 4.52 tight fitting pellets but just spits out 4.50/4.51 shotgun style most days. Lastly, is the R9 consistently shooting poorly or just the first group or two?

 

[jps2486]

How about the crown? Maybe the gun got accidently bumped damaging the crown. Just a thought.

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

Hi, I purchased an R9 4 years ago that’s always been an absolute joy to shoot. It has a Vortek HO spring , Vortek piston with the trigger set at 9- 10 oz. I am strictly a bench shooter. Up until recently,the gun has been extremely accurate out to 50 - 60 yds.
However , has suddenly become very inaccurate, mostly in horizontal stringing but not always. Dime side groups at 40 yds have become 3-4 inch at 30.,yeaks! I checked the usual culperts including stock screws , 22inlb front two screws, trigger screws; 40 in lb back,15 front.
The breech seal looked good but I did the tissue breech test to check for sighs of air loss.but none. Darn!
I cleaned the bail with pull through but there wasn’t much in there.
I ran the gun through the chrono , FTT 8.64 gr. Numbers were ; 844.8 ave ft/sec ,ES 3.4 with 13.7 ft lb energy. I might be reading these wrong but nothing that would indicate what I was seeing at the range.
I decided to take the gun apart , check the piston seal and spring. Unfortunately both looked like new. This is not looking good..
I cleaned all the old grease off everything including inside the receiver and greased again everything and reassembled the gun.
Ok, thought maybe it’s the scope. So I took the helix Elements 6 -24 x 50 off my TX 200 which I know works fantastic and put it on the R9 which had the Airmax 6-24 x 50 SF wide angle. I then mounted the Airmax on the TX 200 just to check it out. Both guns performed exactly the same as before meaning the R9 was all over the place and the TX was shooting dime size at 40 yards..
The only thing I haven’t done that I can think of is to replace the breech seal with an OEM seal but I have a sick feeling that that’s not gonna make much difference. The barrel has never been bent, and the gun is in mint condition , crown has never been touched and is like new.
Any suggestions on how I might be able to get this R9 back to its great form would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Al

I am really interested in this thread. I have a Beeman R9, too. I sure hope we can help you. Here are my suggestions: When accuracy fell off, did you open a new tin of pellets? What pellets do you typically use? You may be into a new lot or pellets swaged from a new die, causing your gun to have indigestion. Some spring piston airguns are remarkably pellet picky. Do you have any 2nd best pellets in inventory to check?

Second, please describe your cleaning regimen in detail. R9's are fairly powerful so I would think that eventually they may get enough leading to need a more thorough cleaning, especially fepending on the pellets you use. Have you ever used JB Non-embedding Bore Paste and JB Bore polish? Search for the recent thread about polishing a bore for more info on how to thoroughly clean the bore. I'll post a link if I can. The sudden inaccuracy and horizontal stringing is a clue, I think.

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

Hi, I purchased an R9 4 years ago that’s always been an absolute joy to shoot. It has a Vortek HO spring , Vortek piston with the trigger set at 9- 10 oz. I am strictly a bench shooter. Up until recently,the gun has been extremely accurate out to 50 - 60 yds.
However , has suddenly become very inaccurate, mostly in horizontal stringing but not always. Dime side groups at 40 yds have become 3-4 inch at 30.,yeaks! I checked the usual culperts including stock screws , 22inlb front two screws, trigger screws; 40 in lb back,15 front.
The breech seal looked good but I did the tissue breech test to check for sighs of air loss.but none. Darn!
I cleaned the bail with pull through but there wasn’t much in there.
I ran the gun through the chrono , FTT 8.64 gr. Numbers were ; 844.8 ave ft/sec ,ES 3.4 with 13.7 ft lb energy. I might be reading these wrong but nothing that would indicate what I was seeing at the range.
I decided to take the gun apart , check the piston seal and spring. Unfortunately both looked like new. This is not looking good..
I cleaned all the old grease off everything including inside the receiver and greased again everything and reassembled the gun.
Ok, thought maybe it’s the scope. So I took the helix Elements 6 -24 x 50 off my TX 200 which I know works fantastic and put it on the R9 which had the Airmax 6-24 x 50 SF wide angle. I then mounted the Airmax on the TX 200 just to check it out. Both guns performed exactly the same as before meaning the R9 was all over the place and the TX was shooting dime size at 40 yards..
The only thing I haven’t done that I can think of is to replace the breech seal with an OEM seal but I have a sick feeling that that’s not gonna make much difference. The barrel has never been bent, and the gun is in mint condition , crown has never been touched and is like new.
Any suggestions on how I might be able to get this R9 back to its great form would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Al

Here is the thread I was thinking of:

Sonoran To Polish Or Not To Polish?

Jun 5, 2025

My polishing supplies are arriving today. My plan is to polish the Ghost .25 and the Sonoran .30 Sub-MOA barrels with J-B followed by Flitz. I bought the Ghost used from AOA and so I have no idea if it has ever been polished. My gut feeling is that if it’s done properly, it can’t do any harm. The Sonoran is already very accurate. can polishing take away from the accuracy? I don’t care if there’s no improvement, I just don’t want to violate the: “ if it works, don’t … with it” unnecessarily lol.

• Billm
• Replies: 72
• Forum: BRK (Brocock) Airguns

• 

 

[Madhatter]

Are you sure the skirt of the pellet isn't getting deformed? Do you use anything to seat the pellet? Do you drink a lot of coffee in the morning? As you probably are aware, springers are very hold sensitive.

 

[Sureshot]

Here is the thread I was thinking of:

Sonoran To Polish Or Not To Polish?

Jun 5, 2025

My polishing supplies are arriving today. My plan is to polish the Ghost .25 and the Sonoran .30 Sub-MOA barrels with J-B followed by Flitz. I bought the Ghost used from AOA and so I have no idea if it has ever been polished. My gut feeling is that if it’s done properly, it can’t do any harm. The Sonoran is already very accurate. can polishing take away from the accuracy? I don’t care if there’s no improvement, I just don’t want to violate the: “ if it works, don’t … with it” unnecessarily lol.

• Billm
• Replies: 72
• Forum: BRK (Brocock) Airguns

• 

Hey Roamin, Thanks for taking time to reply. I’ll definitely check that thread out. I’ve never polished a barrel in my life and as indicate ,you don’t wanna do any more damage or make things worse.I’ll tread lightly with this one.

 

[Sureshot]

Are you sure the skirt of the pellet isn't getting deformed? Do you use anything to seat the pellet? Do you drink a lot of coffee in the morning? As you probably are aware, springers are very hold sensitive.

Hey Madhatter, appreciate you taking the time to reply. I don’t use any form of pellet inserter other than my fingers and I think they’re going in pretty clean. As far as checking for deformed skirts, not sure how to do that? No coffee for me and yep, aware of the sensitivity of springers . I’ve been doing the same thing for five years and it’s just suddenly become an issue with the R9. I’m not a big fan of the military hold though. I’ve tried it and it just seems too awkward for me. I shoot off of a front gun support with a piece of nylon over it that has a very low friction factor. The gun stock slides very easily upon recoil.

 

[Sureshot]

I'm far from an expert on this, but I'd like to know if your barrel is latching properly after cocking? Could your barrel be drooping some? Enquiring mind here, Orv.

Thanks for the reply. I really think you zeroed in to the problem area on my gun which is the latching of the barrel to the receiver. How would I know if it’s latching correctly? There seems to be a definite clunk like a solid door closing so I assume it’s latching properly . There doesn’t seem to be any air escaping from the tissue testand when I turned the gun around and blow down the barrel I can’t blow out and I can’t suck in so it seems like a tight fit? Yet, that’s where the problem has to be because of the stringing of my shots. It’s a stickler for sure. I’m hoping when a new seal arrives iand I replace it correctly the problem will be solved but if it doesn’t, as of now ,I have nowhere to go.

 

[Sureshot]

Welcome to Ham, can you shine a light down the barrel and see anything hung up in there? Have you shot any non-lead pellets recently? Try pushing a pellet through on a cleaning rod and check it for odd or one-sided damage. I'd be going after the barrel for sure, your piston/seal is fine, with those numbers I'd think. Are you shooting same ol ammo or new batches/sizes/weights? My TX loves 4.52 tight fitting pellets but just spits out 4.50/4.51 shotgun style most days. Lastly, is the R9 consistently shooting poorly or just the first group or two?

Hello Danman, Thanks for the reply. I have not shown a light down the barrel, but I will just to be sure there is no obstruction . I have also not shot any non-lead pellets.I do shoot Crosman‘s occasionally, and I’ve heard that because of the hard substance used in the manufacturing , they may clog up the micro grooves in the barrel that a pull through will not clean out. This may create possible inaccuracy when switching back to softer more expensive ( only because of the shipping cost) pellets. I don’t know if this is true, but always use that as an excuse after using Crosman’s then going back to HNN’s or JSB’s my gun seems a bit less accurate.
I think your notion of using the same brand, same head sizes that have a history of shooting well definitely has some merit in my situation. My R9 does really well with Barracuda FT, which I have been using for the last five months, but ran out. I managed to get another tin but in different head sizes and it seems that’s when I noticed that the gun was really starting to not perform well.
However, I don’t think a different head size or even pellet brand is my problem here because there’s such a drastic drop in point of impact from say a group of six shots at 40 yds. Three will be with an inch and a half which isn’t great but four and five will be 5 inches and 6 inches lower. That’s not normal.. that just screams breech sealed / lock up issues to me, but as mentioned before everything seems OK there visually and sort of mechanically? I don’t know.
In reference to your last question; The gun is consistently shooting poorly, and it doesn’t matter which pellet I use as I’ve tried three or four that had been successful in the past especially FTT‘s 4.52. The gun is just not the same as it was before. I must’ve shot 60 or 70 rounds tonight through it hoping that miraculously, the problem disappeared but nope.
I decided to put it away until I get a new breech seal, this week hopefully. I’ll see where it goes from there..
Thanks again,
Al

 

[Danman]

Hello Danman, Thanks for the reply. I have not shown a light down the barrel, but I will just to be sure there is no obstruction . I have also not shot any non-lead pellets.I do shoot Crosman‘s occasionally, and I’ve heard that because of the hard substance used in the manufacturing , they may clog up the micro grooves in the barrel that a pull through will not clean out. This may create possible inaccuracy when switching back to softer more expensive ( only because of the shipping cost) pellets. I don’t know if this is true, but always use that as an excuse after using Crosman’s then going back to HNN’s or JSB’s my gun seems a bit less accurate.
I think your notion of using the same brand, same head sizes that have a history of shooting well definitely has some merit in my situation. My R9 does really well with Barracuda FT, which I have been using for the last five months, but ran out. I managed to get another tin but in different head sizes and it seems that’s when I noticed that the gun was really starting to not perform well.
However, I don’t think a different head size or even pellet brand is my problem here because there’s such a drastic drop in point of impact from say a group of six shots at 40 yds. Three will be with an inch and a half which isn’t great but four and five will be 5 inches and 6 inches lower. That’s not normal.. that just screams breech sealed / lock up issues to me, but as mentioned before everything seems OK there visually and sort of mechanically? I don’t know.
In reference to your last question; The gun is consistently shooting poorly, and it doesn’t matter which pellet I use as I’ve tried three or four that had been successful in the past especially FTT‘s 4.52. The gun is just not the same as it was before. I must’ve shot 60 or 70 rounds tonight through it hoping that miraculously, the problem disappeared but nope.
I decided to put it away until I get a new breech seal, this week hopefully. I’ll see where it goes from there..
Thanks again,
Al

Definitely let us know how it goes, all the best with it, im definitely curious! Your from Canada....where you at?

 

[Dogowski]

Hello Danman, Thanks for the reply. I have not shown a light down the barrel, but I will just to be sure there is no obstruction . I have also not shot any non-lead pellets.I do shoot Crosman‘s occasionally, and I’ve heard that because of the hard substance used in the manufacturing , they may clog up the micro grooves in the barrel that a pull through will not clean out. This may create possible inaccuracy when switching back to softer more expensive ( only because of the shipping cost) pellets. I don’t know if this is true, but always use that as an excuse after using Crosman’s then going back to HNN’s or JSB’s my gun seems a bit less accurate.
I think your notion of using the same brand, same head sizes that have a history of shooting well definitely has some merit in my situation. My R9 does really well with Barracuda FT, which I have been using for the last five months, but ran out. I managed to get another tin but in different head sizes and it seems that’s when I noticed that the gun was really starting to not perform well.
However, I don’t think a different head size or even pellet brand is my problem here because there’s such a drastic drop in point of impact from say a group of six shots at 40 yds. Three will be with an inch and a half which isn’t great but four and five will be 5 inches and 6 inches lower. That’s not normal.. that just screams breech sealed / lock up issues to me, but as mentioned before everything seems OK there visually and sort of mechanically? I don’t know.
In reference to your last question; The gun is consistently shooting poorly, and it doesn’t matter which pellet I use as I’ve tried three or four that had been successful in the past especially FTT‘s 4.52. The gun is just not the same as it was before. I must’ve shot 60 or 70 rounds tonight through it hoping that miraculously, the problem disappeared but nope.
I decided to put it away until I get a new breech seal, this week hopefully. I’ll see where it goes from there..
Thanks again,
Al

I hope a new barrel breech seal sorts out your problem with your rifle. Also welcome to the forum!

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

If it were my gun, I would start with a thorough barrel cleaning with JB. Sounds like over time the Crosman pellets have leaded the barrel. Then I would try the H&N Field Target Trophy pellets in different head sizes (my R9 likes 5.53mm).

 

[Madhatter]

Without the barrel locked up is there any side to side slop? There shouldn't be any at all and there should be a little drag when moving it. Blowing into the barrel isn't going to show a leaking breach seal. Springers develop a 1000psi or more.

 

[Bladebum]

If velocity is consistent and same as before I very much doubt the breach seal. Sounds like a barrel issue, most likely heavily leaded. If shooting premiers they tend to be some of the worst for fouling. I didn't read through all the posts, but I'm assuming you did the obvious screw check and barrel tension is set correctly? Barrel tension and the right lube between the block and shims makes a big difference in wear overtime. They tend to come WAY to tight from factory and after some time will wear the block. A "just fall" tension is what you want there for longevity and accuracy.

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

Personally. I don't think you will hurt the barrel with a thorough clean and polish with the right tools and JB, and the polish will make it easier to clean in the future. If accurracy returns, problem solved. If it doesn't, you eliminated a common cause of sudden inaccuracy.

 

[Sureshot]

Definitely let us know how it goes, all the best with it, im definitely curious! Your from Canada....where you at?

Hi Danman.
Well well, problem solved. It was the breech seal. When I pulled the old one out, it was completely flat on top like a pancake, measuring 3.1 mm in diameter. The new OEM seal measured 3.4 mm diameter. Interesting thing was that there was no indication of any air leaks that I could detect other than the drastic sudden stringing of shots. That’s why I had such a hard time diagnosing the problem.
I put it through the chronograph after and for some reason, there was a drop in horsepower, 854ft/sec to 803ft/sec over 15 shots?But, the ES was only 2.7 ft/sec. That’s as low as I’ve ever seen on any of my guns. I can certainly live with that. The accuracy is back to a dime or less at 40yds. I think the new vortex piston seal that I put in was to tight and I thoroughly degreased the receiving chamber before putting it in so that probably sucked a lot of the energy out of the spring.
Question; Is there supposed to be some minute trace of grease in that receiver before inserting the new piston seal?I’ve heard people talk about always decreasing the receiver with brake fluid or alcohol before putting in a new seal but then again if the receiver is so dry, a oversized piston seal will create a lot of friction trying to work its way down that tube, causing loss of power. The termcross hatching or something to the effect is mentioned? Any clarification on that would be greatly appreciated. I thought about taking the gun apart and sizing the Vortech piston a little bit better but the accuracy is really good so I’m just gonna let things go and probably it will eventually increase as the seal wears in hopefully. I’m not worried about excessive power , accuracy is what’s important for me.
Thanks again for all your help.
Al

 

[Sureshot]

If it were my gun, I would start with a thorough barrel cleaning with JB. Sounds like over time the Crosman pellets have leaded the barrel. Then I would try the H&N Field Target Trophy pellets in different head sizes (my R9 likes 5.53mm).

Good suggestions. I’ve never used JB in any barrel. I assume you do that with a brass brush like you find in a general cleaning kit.
But,good news, I replaced the seal and problem solved. The culprit was a flat seal. When I took it out it measured 3.1 mm diameter while the new one is 3.4 mm . Overtime , even though there was no air leaking from the breech that I couldn’t find and visually it looked great , the seal had tanked . Lesson learned there. FTT‘s 4.52 seem to be back in favour for this R9. Woo hoo !!
I’m gonna be much quicker to replace the seals in my guns from now on even though I think they look decent.

 

[Sureshot]

I'm far from an expert on this, but I'd like to know if your barrel is latching properly after cocking? Could your barrel be drooping some? Enquiring mind here, Orv.

Thanks for the reply Orv
Actually there’s no barrel droop in this gun, which is surprising because every other HW break barrel that I own has suffer suffers from some form of barrel misalignment. My HW 50 right out of the box was so far off to the left that I couldn’t even put a scope on it. I became so frustrated with it that I put a C clamp where the barrel goes into the receiver and on a flat surface , bent it back over and now it’s perfect. Not exactly what I wanted to do with a brand new gun but for some reason, it worked really well. I think I got lucky.