How to know when its time to rebuild your springer?

[FlexWagtail]

I recently bought a Weirhauch HW97 .177 and promptly became obessive about learning how to shoot it because my early results with the gun were so bad. (Here's my post on the issue). 

Anyway, I've gotten a lot better with the accuracy BUT it seems to me I'm wearing the damn thing out with all the shooting. I'm now 4000+ pellets into it, and the gun has lost 20% of its power. It went from 14 ft/lbs out of the box down to 11 ft/lbs. It's shooting very consistently with a nice low ES, but its taking itself out of the power range I'm comfortable with for hunting.

So, I don't know dick about these guns --- and now I'm wondering if I need to rebuild it with one of these aftermarket spring kits, or change out the seal or what? -- or just leave it the hell alone.

Lemme know and thanks in advance.

 

[wheelie]

Likely shooting more true now than it has been. Every air rifle I have bought dieseled for a few thousand shots. Triggers break in after a few thousand shots. That's been my experience. I would leave it alone and see if anything changes from this point. CHEERS!

 

[JH4410]

I knew it was time when my spring broke. 

 

[JohnL57]

I could tell by shooting into a piece of wood-the pellets used to bury themselves then they only went part way in. Turned out my spring had broken. This was at around 6000 shots. If it's accurate I'd have a tendency to leave it alone if you like the shot cycle. After I put a Vortek kit in my R9 I had to relearn to shoot it, not sure why.

 

[Brian10956]

It may be something simple to fix like a seal.on the piston

 

[crittahitta]

guns have vaginas not dicks.

 

[Skillet]

Breech seal still good?
EZ fix. 11 fp ain't all that bad. Used to hunt with an 8fp rifle, was all I had. Killed big fox squirrels stone-dead if I did my part.

 

[coop709]

If it dropped off that much, something is wrong. It’s best to take it apart while you can still get help from YouTube before they ban that too...

 

[EMrider]

"FlexWagtail"I recently bought a Weirhauch HW97 .177 and promptly became obessive about learning how to shoot it because my early results with the gun were so bad. (Here's my post on the issue). 
Anyway, I've gotten a lot better with the accuracy BUT it seems to me I'm wearing the damn thing out with all the shooting. I'm now 4000+ pellets into it, and the gun has lost 20% of its power. It went from 14 ft/lbs out of the box down to 11 ft/lbs. It's shooting very consistently with a nice low ES, but its taking itself out of the power range I'm comfortable with for hunting.
So, I don't know dick about these guns --- and now I'm wondering if I need to rebuild it with one of these aftermarket spring kits, or change out the seal or what? -- or just leave it the hell alone.
Lemme know and thanks in advance.

I shoot the heck out of my hw97k too. Great guns. 

Some power loss is normal as a springer gets broken in with shooting. Mine dropped about 2fpe to around 12fpe after a few thousand shots and then it stabilized.

If your hw97k is accurate and shoots well, my guess is that all is well and power has just stabilized below what you'd prefer. 

Easiest fix is a vortek or JM drop in tune kit. I prefer JM, but vortek kits often produce more power and come with a new piston seal. Go you youtube and search hw97k stripdown or tune. The process is easy and there are many videos that will walk you through step by step.

R

 

[iguanero]

I had noticed a power drop off on my hw50 .177 after close to 6000 pelets . Turned out to be a broken spring . Now she has a vortek kit in it . Im going back to stock when i brake this one .