Air Arms Owners Club

This new discovery will revolutionize spring gun tuning. I've long suspected, and now am certain, that much of the accuracy in a tuned gun is in the spring. I'm talking about those guns with the tight guides and dull thud shooting cycles. When accuracy falls off, and it's not a dirty barrel, it is a spring that's no longer able to fully spring off that tight rear guide. I've seen it so many times, a good shooting gun suddenly goes off. It's been so good for several thousand shots. You clean the barrel, check the screws and then a chrono check. It's down as little as 15 fps from when it was really good and that just shouldn't matter, right? Wrong, drop in that new spring and all the lost accuracy comes back instantly. We spend so much time with all the other things when it can be as simple as a sacked out weakened spring that can no longer spring back with consistency. That last word in the previous sentence is the important one. When all else fails, check the spring.

It would be interesting to know how long a main standard manufactured spring will last compared to the aftermarket variety tuning kit springs, as in all things, the quality of the materials must play their part in the life of the mainspring. I am sure some have had the same springs in their rifles for years, but this is a very good subject matter. What do all the springer shooters think, and what about gas ram technology, and their lifespan compared to a spring?

IMHO far too many variables to answer that question in any useful way, I test thoroughly and service my competition TX springers every 6 months (unless issues arise which touch wood is very rare) which for me coincides with the warm / cooler temp change ref power calibration adjustments. I chrono with weighed pellets every month (temp change database) and always if changing pellets, components etc.
Typically for me, new...
Springs: >20000 shots
O-ring piston seals: >10000 shots (would go longer but, they cost nothing)
Breach o-rings: >10000 shots (as above)
Thorough degrease, clean (the primary objective) and relube >20000 shots

Individual guns, components, lubrication types / application & quantity, shot cycle, spring type & quality, pellet weight, stroke, frequency and duration of use, storage / shooting conditions ... etc etc etc will make a difference. But, for anyone interested that is my experience and regime.

Sake San, you do keep on top of them don't you ?

I do Nick, perchance a tad ott but, better that way than neglect & surprises. Have no doubt your kits will run longer, what sort of intervals do you recommend?.

Nothing that keeps consistency is ott. dave

mark holding wrote:It would be interesting to know how long a main standard manufactured spring will last compared to the aftermarket variety tuning kit springs, as in all things, the quality of the materials must play their part in the life of the mainspring. I am sure some have had the same springs in their rifles for years, but this is a very good subject matter. What do all the springer shooters think, and what about gas ram technology, and their lifespan compared to a spring?

jim tyler done a great piece on this in air gun world some years ago worth finding and reading .

Totally agree about the tired spring issue, sometimes you can hear or feel that the rebound vibration from the spring has somehow changed accompanied by a change in accuracy, great thing is though its not a hard or expensive thing to change whilst giving you the chance to change seals etc at the same time.