Hawke has excellent customer service. Here is some good advice.
I'm seeing allot of threads where folks wanna know how to set-up their first springer, or accuracy problems with a new springer and a whole host of other things. I'm attributing this to all the NEW members that have signed on as of late. There used to be a thread on springer accuracy and proper "Out of the box" set-up. But it seems that I'm too lazy to find it and post it for others.
Anyway, here goes.
DO'S - The FIRST thing you should do when you unbox your new springer is STOP DROOLING!!! Let your heart rate drop and calm down! You've waited maybe 10 days to get it, you can wait a little longer
- READ THE MANUAL!!! Familiarize yourself with all the controls, adjustment screws and procedures etc. listed for your particular rifle. A little info goes a LONG way!
- Clean it!!! Wipe all the nasties off the stock and metal work. Run a goo gone soaked patch or 3 through the barrel then follow with dry ones until the last one comes out nice n' dry.
- Check ALL the screws. Make sure they're tight, but not TOO tight (especially if they're in a Wood Stock) . You don't wanna end up cracking the stock or pulling the screws through it. For break barrels, check the barrel pivot screw. Make sure IT'S tight. An easy way to check is when the rifle is cocked, the barrel will stay unassisted, in ANY position that it's placed in throughout it's swing. It should also be fairly smooth, with a slight resistance when closing the action.
- Take a few test shots WITH OPEN SIGHTS!!! This will tell you how the rifle will group or not with the particular pellet that you're using. It will also start the dieseling process. The frist few shot may sound like a Steroid Benji Pumper or a Rimfire Rifle going off, with a slight puff of smoke and the smell of being in traffic behind a city bus. Don't worry!!! This will go away in short order.
- If all is to your satisfaction so far, then mount the scope. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN the dovetail with alcahol, acetone, laquer thinner etc to get ALL the oil and grease out of them. Make sure NOT to get any solvent on that nice new stock unless you plan on refinishing it soon! Also clean the clamps and screws on the mounts, add a bit of blue locktite to the threads of each of the screws and install the mount. The rest should be pretty easy.
- Refer to the very FIRST thing I listed! WAIT!!! DO NOT SHOOT THE RIFLE UNTIL TOMORROW!!! You should wait until the LockTite has completely cured. Otherwise all the work you've just put into cleaning, LockTiting and careful mounting of your scope may be thrown out the window on your fourth or fifth shot.
- Sight your scope in.
I'm not really going to go into this as there are LOTS of posts and an article in the Library as to how.
DON'Ts - Don't skip the barrel cleaning. There may be junk left in there from Manufacturing that you don't want embedded in the rifling. There's usually also oil in the barrel that will diesel like a MoFo.
- Don't Dry Fire the gun. You'll ruin it!
- Don't add ANY oil to the spring, into the barrel OR into the transfer port. At the very least, the gun will diesel. At worst, it could explode in your face when you pull the trigger. I haven't seen it happen, but it could if there's a defect in the reciever tube or any number of other parts.
- Don't skip reading the manual! There's LOTS of information there which may come in handy in the future!
- Don't mount the scope right away. The gun may be bad from the git-go and mounting it would be a waste of time.
- Don't shoot at ANYTHING that you don't intend to kill, maim, hurt or otherwise want to punch a hole in. That's pretty much common sense there folks...
Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure others will chime in and add to the post or disagree with me on one point or another hehe.
And remember... WHATEVER you do... BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN!!!