Tuning a spring rifle

[PTaylor2k4]

Hi, when my new air rifle arives (springer) is it worth taking the thing apart and cleaning oiling polishing or whatever you do to it, will this make the gun any better? If there is ANYTHING you can do to make your springer work better i'll do it, even it its use the right oil etc if theres no point in doing anything to it just let me know after you break the gun in it can do sub 1" groups at 35yrds so it aint that bad

 

Thanks.

 

(gun is a gamo shadow 1000, ordered but posting it in jan )

[oddbob]

Hello PT,

sub 1" @35 yards is good, you have no worries there m80

Tuning can be anything from just taking all the factory oils and greases out and putting aftermarket stuff in, to a full scale rebuild.

In the early 80s, tuners used to strip the gun down and give everything a mirror finish inside, then slap a bit of grease in and bolt it all back together. Nowadays tuners tend to leave the compression chamber alone, as it is now recognised that piston guns need a minute amount of oil on the compression chamber walls to give full power, it's known as controlled dieselling, and is nothing like the brown smoke your barrel may have had in it for the first few shots when the rifle was new.

If you want to tune the gun, strip it down and de-grease it fully. You will need to examine all the bearing surfaces, such as where the cocking link enters the main cylinder, and look for sharp or rough edges. These can be dressed with needle files and wet'n'dry paper (start polishing with 1200 grade) and then a bit of metal polish. Do the same with the link itself, not forgetting the upper face as the mainspring sometimes contacts this as the gun fires. The bearing surfaces on the piston can also be polished, as can the rear of the main cylinder. Some people like to take any internal blueing off the compression chamber itself, but don't polish it. The inside of the piston will also benefit from a polish, as will the spring guide., but these need not be a mirror finish, they need to be able to hold spring grease such as Abbey LT2. The hardest part is the mainspring itself. As the gun is cocked, the mainspring tries to coil up and twist, and as it fires, the mainspring tries to 'uncoil'. This is what causes a lot of the friction and vibration as a spring gun fires. What you need to do here is to look at the areas on the spring which contact other parts of the internals, the ends and the inside and outside of the coils. Also, many manufacturers fit bearings, usually washers, at either end of the spring. All these points benefit greatly from a good polish. Unless you know what you are doing, I would advise you to leave the trigger and sear alone. You can also give the barrel detente and pin a polish, this will make breaking the barrel smoother.

Give the all the parts a good degrease again, and leave them to dry somewhere they will not be disturbed. For re-assembly, you will need a set of oils and greases from a specialist such as Abbey or Napier, and apply sparingly. Nothing needs to be thick with grease or dripping with oil.

Your rifle should be smoother and easier to cock, and may have gone up in power too. If it has, you may need to take a coil or two off the mainspring. This is a bit tedious, as it can be trial and error, as many spring guns can actually go up in power when a coil is removed! You will need to grind the end of the spring, heat it up and flatten it to leave it looking like the other end each time you remove a coil. But if you are getting good groups as it is, some may say leave it alone, it's up to you. The gun will smooth itself out over thousands of rounds, but I suspect you are like many other shooters, you just take pride in owning something you have improved with your own two hands, and that is part of the pleasure of our sport.

[PTaylor2k4]

you got it in 1

 

i hear that with this gun accuracy improves up to 1000 rounds fired but i might see how it goes after ive fired quite a few pellets through it, i think if i take the gun apart i'll break it

 

might try it after i take it apart and if it looks too tricky i'll just leave it, would it be worth taking it to the local gun shop and asking him to do it? altouhg i wouldnt get any pleasure knowing i didnt do it

[1 of 5]

Article here on tuning a gamo. Hope your Spanish is good.

http://213.96.41.134/poyatisio/art1.htm

[PTaylor2k4]

lol i might give it a go after i get used to the thing first

 

im looking at the BAR site and there are so many oils and grease etc, what would i need to keep my gun in good shape (not taking it apart)?

 

the link im looking at is here:

 

http://www.airgunbuyer.com/Showproducts.as...e%20Accessories

 

the stuff from bisley looks the cheapest, was gona get the abbey maintinance kit from JSR but i think someone left the phone off the hook they are always engaged

[oddbob]

Ramsbottom is a hard man to track down, he needs to sort his web site out so we can order from him! I bought my first airgun from him, in 1981

Air rifles don't need an awful lot of maintenance, one of their good points I think, and it may be worth just asking at your local dealer what he has. You are unlikely to need the whole lot listed at BAR, even if you do decide to do the full tune.

I had a quick look on this link to see if there was a plan for the Shadow, but it's still new so this was as near as I could see

http://www.chambersgunmakers.co.uk/ASI%20p...,440%20plan.htm

but have a look at the rest of the site, I have had good service from them in the past and they do web orders, though you have to type stuff into the order sheet last time I bought from them.

Happy new year and happy hunting.