As an engineer, i tend to look at things a little differently. When I was putting my Beeman Sportsman back together the other day, I got to wondering how much pressure is actually built-up by the spring before that pressure hits the pellet? My conclusion was, not very much. So i began to wonder if anybody had tried some sort of pressure buildup valve that would only allow the air to flow once it reached a certain pressure withing the plunger tube. Once that pressure was achieved, the valve would dump it into the barrel, all at once, instead of a slower, limited buildup.
Yiu see, I realized springers have one major inhibitor fir their efficiency. The pellet in the barrel starts to moce as soon as enough pressure is built up to overcome friction. That means the soring cannot build up its max pressure before the pellet leaves the barrel. By adding in a buildup valve, you can overcome that inhibitor. Also, because the plunger is still moving, pressed by the spring, that pressure would remain higher as the pellet moves down the barrel than it otherwise would have.
There would be several other advantages as I see it.
1. You would get performance more like that of a PCP, because you would have a chamber of built-up pressure released instantly before the pellet even moved instead of a relatively slow buildup as the pellet moved down the barrel.
2. Reduced recoil. Because that built-up pocket of air would act as a cussion, slowing the plunger so it doesn't smack into the tube as hard. You'd get less recoil, reducing wear and tear on the rifle.
3. You can TUNE the pressure by adjusting the valve to the ideal pressure for a given pellet. You wouldn't have to change springs!
Keep in mind, this would all happen within milliseconds, so I doubt a delayed vce, when tuned propey, would affect POI, especially with a reduced recoil. I'm confident a dump valve could be designed to release that pressure completely and quickly enough to improve performance.
I realize that I may be forgetting some things so please feel free to ask questions or point out obstacles I may have missed.
Feel free to call me crazy too. My inner mad scientist is cackling as I type this.
Yiu see, I realized springers have one major inhibitor fir their efficiency. The pellet in the barrel starts to moce as soon as enough pressure is built up to overcome friction. That means the soring cannot build up its max pressure before the pellet leaves the barrel. By adding in a buildup valve, you can overcome that inhibitor. Also, because the plunger is still moving, pressed by the spring, that pressure would remain higher as the pellet moves down the barrel than it otherwise would have.
There would be several other advantages as I see it.
1. You would get performance more like that of a PCP, because you would have a chamber of built-up pressure released instantly before the pellet even moved instead of a relatively slow buildup as the pellet moved down the barrel.
2. Reduced recoil. Because that built-up pocket of air would act as a cussion, slowing the plunger so it doesn't smack into the tube as hard. You'd get less recoil, reducing wear and tear on the rifle.
3. You can TUNE the pressure by adjusting the valve to the ideal pressure for a given pellet. You wouldn't have to change springs!
Keep in mind, this would all happen within milliseconds, so I doubt a delayed vce, when tuned propey, would affect POI, especially with a reduced recoil. I'm confident a dump valve could be designed to release that pressure completely and quickly enough to improve performance.
I realize that I may be forgetting some things so please feel free to ask questions or point out obstacles I may have missed.
Feel free to call me crazy too. My inner mad scientist is cackling as I type this.
