Today’s springers

[LWR58]

I’ve been working on a lot of springers lately since I started helping out at the Gunroom. All sorts of oldies that take me back right up to current ones. In a lot of ways , I can see today’s springers are better than their predecessors. There’s obviously less human involvement in their construction and they’re probably a lot more consistent gun to gun.
Nice touches like ditching cheesy Phillips head screws and using Allen or torx screws are good and in some cases, trigger assemblies are unitised into cassettes rather than a hobbled together collection of springs,levers,wires and pins which fall out on the bench and onto the floor.
All the gun shop specials boast 1000FPS velocities,fibre optic sights,synthetic stocks,3/8 dovetail etc. You know the rest!

What I do notice is that they’re all rather awful to use! They are hard to cock and make horrible crunching and clacking noises,with their double jointed levers and and are as rough as hessian underpants to shoot! They smoke and bark and are a real handful! Triggers are universally ordinary as well as that does not help.

Most will crack 1000FPS eventually when you find a light enough pellet.Are they under 5 gns yet?
Most seem to be humble 700 to 800 FPS springers heroically modified to get to 1000FPS at any cost!

Whenever I pull them down, I always find a spring that’s too long and bent like a sine wave and a burnt plastic piston seal from dieselling and in some cases detonating!

Once I clean all the gunk out of the receiver and barrel and off the piston I put it all back together with a Maccari piston seal and a sensible spring using the fabulous JM Moly and Spring Tar.

As soon as you cock it you know it’s a different gun
It’s lighter to cock,nothing is getting loaded up like before and the firing aesthetics are transformed. Recoil is like a pulse and vibration is next to nothing. Even the trigger feels better!

They’re a whole lot easier to manage and you can hit things consistently.
Screws don’t keep loosening causes point of impact shifts and scopes stay alive.

Seems the platform is there in many cases on the modern cheapies to get a sweet shooter. It surprises me some times. They remind me what springers are all about.

Would I want one over my Beeman R9 or FWB 124? Never! I just find it interesting to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.

My thoughts anyway.

[Gavin M]

Lewis things sure have changed in the airgun world the last few years and at a rate of knots. You see it in the springers but for me more in the pcps. Especially with FX. Good to see you have the buzz back but l don’t think it ever left.
Your FWB 124 is that the older version or the newer sport model.
I have always thought about getting a FWB 300. There are a few slightly different models is one more desirable. What are your thoughts on this gun.
I have a mate in Victoria who has just bought one and he is a high powered pcp guru so l look forward to his opinion when it arrives.

[LWR58]

Hi Gavin,

The 124 Sport is the original one from the ‘70’s while the new one from 2014 is just called the Sport

The FWB 300 is an absolutely wonderful air rifle! They always were the best of the spring piston 10M recoilless match guns and it still holds true today

Parts are still available and they can be kept alive forever. I’ve fitted a lot over the years with a Maccari HP spring that gives them a bit more oomph for outdoor work. The German limit was and is 6FP at the muzzle and the Maccari gets them up another FP sometimes more

You cannot find a nicer spring piston airgun to own.

All variants are gorgeous . I really like the Tyrolean and especially the Junior .

[fenring]

Hi Lewis - good to see you posting!

It makes you wonder why the manufacturers just don't learn about proper short spring design and proper lubes.

I guess decent wire for short springs cost more.

One thing I notice with new springers and especially Spanish ones, is the hideous stock designs that mirror some of the bulbous things on PCP's.

When you think back to the lines of the FWB F12 series, the HW35E and L, Webley Omega etc etc you realise how much more handsome the stock designs used to be - and more practical in the field!

[New to 223]

An expert in stock design and functionality are you

[LWR58]

Thanks Scott

Unsurprisingly, I totally agree with you and we are not alone!

[LWR58]

Everybody is PCP crazy
They are convinced that their spring gun is holding them back

I saw this with the 10M crowd years ago!!
I bought some beautiful FWB’s back then!!!

There is nothing at all wrong with a well tuned quality spring gun especially with a nice Maccari soft tune kit and seals!!!

You don’t need any more than 12FP

[fenring]

An expert in stock design and functionality are you

Oddly enough, the finest and most practical sporting rifles and shotguns made do not feature these bulbous stock shapes and tactical ripoff wank features.

[fenring]

You don’t need any more than 12FP

I will admit that I enjoy shooting my Diana 350 Mag which is doing around 24ft/lb last time I checked.

[Andrew T]

OMG is that you Lewis?

You've been gone for sometime and from the AVA as well.

Hope all is good with you and family.

Just saying Hi,

Andrew the mad HW 55 collector from Melbourne.

[LWR58]

Yes it’s me Andrew

Blame my son Angus for pulling me out of the cobwebs!!

He’s a bigger airgun nut than me!!

How are you ?????

[RayG]

I agree with Lewis today's springers will do me anytime. Case in point, I have been out for 3 hours tonight on a feral pigeon cull in a local factory. Air rifle of choice for this work lately is a TX 200 MK111 in .22 cal equipped with a factory FAC upgrade running at 16 FPE with 14.5 Grain Crosman Premier Hollow points. My best rested Pigeon shot for tonight was a lazered 52Yard neck shot. I won a bet with my mate on that shot. The rest of the cull ranges were from 15 to 40 yards some indoors and some outdoors luckily no wind tonight.
My other Springer of choice for this work is an Ian Mcintosh tuned Weihrauch 77K (Neutered 97K) It runs at about 15 FPE with H&N target trophy pellets and is a deadly combination on pigeons.
So the good ol springer will be on my list as long as I am able to cock and fire one.
RayG.

[LWR58]

Theres nothing wrong with a well tuned and set up springer as Ray surely attests

I’m really enjoying doing Maccari soft tunes on HW and Diana’s at the monent

More and more customers are coming in requesting a detune which is a welcome change!

[mattw1]

Ray,

You shoot some lovely springers & you are right if people take the time to shoot a springer properly they are every bit the equal to a PCP.

Chrono a well tuned springer & its velocity spread will be tiny compared to that of an unregulated pcp & the match of a regulated one.

My latest project is to tune a HW77 that I purchased recently, in .177 & 25mm piston set up.....its a beauty in untuned form.

Cheers

Matt W

[Andrew T]

Yes it’s me Andrew

Blame my son Angus for pulling me out of the cobwebs!!

He’s a bigger airgun nut than me!!

How are you ?????

Good to see you're around still.

Good onya Angus,

Some of us missed your very knowledgeable dad.

My air gun collection has grown so much I could start an air gun bazaar, enjoying the antique and vintage collecting now.

Also got into collecting Colt SAA pistol's, have a few of those now and it's fascinating getting an archive letter from Colt dating it when and where it was sent to etc.

This is my favourite pearl handled beauty, sorry not air gun but worth a look.