I bought a new Anschutz HP 9015. The latest model with the 4 bolts securing the barrel to the breech block. I chose the BR50 stock.

I thought I was buying a well made, quality item.

Nope...it wasn't that at all.

Firstly it didn't seem to like any pellets. Shooting 23mm - 26mm 'groups' of 5 shots (at 25 yards)...when it should have been pellet on pellet.

I persevered with it. Tried another scope, made sure the barrel bore was really clean, all the screws and mounting bolts were tight. Nothing helped. Wasted a lot of time and a lot of different pellets.

A quick look down the front of the barrel showed one of the problems (bear in mind that the barrel is covered by a stainless steel shroud epoxied on to it). That shroud is 95mm longer at the front so that the actual muzzle is 95mm back inside that shroud, so I used my trusty bore scope to take a peek (and the photo).

Eeek, that's not a muzzle. I'll let the photo show you (hopefully the link works).

Fixed...cut the shroud back to expose the muzzle and faced it true on the lathe.

Plus, the action was sitting up off the stock (held up there by a 5mm thick washer), and so the action was not seated anywhere except for the wee bit teetering on this 5mm thick washer. I could also easily push the action sideways by about 1.5mm each way. There is a metal seating lug at the rear of the action and the stock has a wee ledge for the lug to bed on to. Nope...mine had about a 2mm gap.

Right...I added some shims to each side of the action (an old credit card cut down was perfect).

Then threw the 5mm washer away and added a nice piece of American Oak to the floor of the stock inlet, plus some glass bedding when I was happy with the general fit.

OK, it looks a tad dorky with the short barrel (but that is the true length of the actual barrel inside the shroud).

Now it shoots how it should have from the start.

Anschutz were no help when I sent them the photos. Said "it meets our requirements".

Will I ever buy another Anschutz? No way. An older model would be fine, but the new ones are made by bean counters and accountants...with no regards to the final result.

Oh yes, the dorky looking rifle.

I had to add the cheek riser as a neck injury doesn't allow me to 'float' my head and shoot free recoil style.

I also added the quick connect fitting to the front of the cylinder. Makes way more sense than removing the cylinder to fill it from the back end as Anschutz designed it.

Yes, and the cost isn't that cheap either.

$3500+ for the Anschutz.

You would think a wee bit of care would be taken.

I intend to get another PCP rifle in .22 but that's another story as I have no idea what's good and what's not at the moment.

Edit: Oh...did the photos show OK for you?

Thanks for that.

Sometimes I find that I can see photos I put up, but no one else can.

Yes indeed.

I went to our friends at Ali and bought a .17 cal bore snake as my 9015 can't be cleaned with a brush from the breech end (unless I remove the barrel).

$3.76 plus $6 shipping.

To buy new in NZ...$37 (but none in stock anyway).

Buy in bulk and they are cheaper, so a NZ supplier would get them at a lower cost, add in a profit margin and GST, another profit margin, then a profit margin (just 'cos), and then a final profit margin = $37.

Basically you pay 4x the price if you buy in NZ.

The muzzle of my barrel was explained by Anschutz as...the barrel is glued in to the outer shroud.

Once the glue has set they drop an end mill down inside the shroud and cut away the excess glue.

Obviously this is done by some random factory guy with an electric drill mounted with an end mill.

He just drops the end mill down inside the shroud and pulls the trigger on the drill.

Racks it around a couple of times with no idea of keeping it all square to the bore, but then calls it 'job done', and on to the next one.

It also shows that the barrel muzzles are not machined in any way square or true before they are glued into the shroud.