22mm Skirtless Conversion Review

As promised, here is a quick overview of the 22mm Skirtless Conversion from Tony Leach. I received my kit this past week and installed it this morning in my TX200HC .177. 

Here are some pictures showing what is included in the kit, and some comparisons to the stock components.

First off, Tony does not yet sell compression tubes, but at some point is planning on it. All he needs in order to manufacture his conversion kit for you is a stock MK3 compression tube. Tony supplied the threaded piston rod and the spring.


Included in the kit is;

MK3 compression tube, sleeved to 22mm

Skirtless Piston - includes a 22mm non-parachute style main seal, similar to the Vortek Vac-Seal

Tony manufactures his own threaded piston rods and they are Nitrided, making them stronger than the factory AA rods

The spring is a TX200 MK3 sub-12fpe. I measured this spring and it is .115" (2.94mm) diameter wire - thinner than my previous JM QX4600, which is .120", and much thinner than the factory .130" spring

Also included are several spacers of various thickness so you can fine tune to the energy you are looking for, and a small container of Moly 70% WS2. This is Tony's own blend that he mixes himself.

Thickness of the included spacers are as follows;

4.14mm
3.22mm
2.47mm
2.26mm

This gives you a nice range to fine tune to your desired sub 12 energy level. 

Tony tests each kit in his own rifle before sending them off to customers, making sure that he is able to achieve a minimum of 11 fpe

Here is the completed kit as it arrived;



Here are some comparisons of the stock piston to the 22mm skirtless piston






Comparison between the factory compression tube and the 22mm sleeved compression tube



The 22mm sleeve is cross hatched like the factory compression tube



Comparisons between the factory compression tube/piston assembly and the 22mm Conversion







The 22mm Conversion reduces the stroke to 90mm. As a result, the rifle now only used the first 2 notches of the compression tube. This is barely noticeable when cocking the rifle. After a few shots you no longer notice. As you can see in the comparisons below, the difference in cocking handle position when the rifle is cocked is minimal;

Handle position with the factory stroke length




Handle position with the 22mm Conversion shortened stroke






I ran about 100 shots through it so far, and this kit is already giving single digit Extreme Spread, and it is perfectly balanced. Both the JSB 7.87's and the 8.44's are coming out with the exact same fpe;

JSB Express 7.87
Weighed at 7.90 grains
799fps
11.20fpe

JSB Exact Diabolo 8.44
Weighed at 8.44 grains
773fps
11.20fpe


It was too windy to do any good outdoor testing, but here is a quick 5-shot group at 20 yards





In summary I will say that this 22mm conversion makes a big difference in the overall smoothness of this rifle. It is easier to cock, and much smoother on the shot with greatly reduced recoil. 

From the factory the rifle had a powerful jump to it. When I tuned it down to 11.3fpe with the JM QX4600 spring it reduced recoil and smoothed it out quite a bit. Switching to this 22mm Conversion kit took this even further. It is now putting out the same energy with a thinner spring, MUCH lighter piston, and reduced stroke. Cocking effort and recoil reduced even more

Comparing this kit to the way the rifle came from the factory would be like night and day, just no comparison

I will continue to put this kit through the paces outdoors. For now I will leave it set for 11.2 fpe, but final decision on that will come after I can stretch it out a little more outdoors








Update;
This morning I did some more experimenting and removed the 4.14mm spacer I had installed, replacing it with the thinnest 2.26mm spacer. The result was as follows;

Before
4.14mm spacer
11.20fpe

After
2.26mm spacer
10.84fpe

This equates to about 0.19 fpe per mm of preload

As good as the rifle was yesterday, it is even smoother now!!

Based on some previous tuning with the factory pistons, as you start to drop into the sub 11fpe range, the weight of the factory piston becomes more apparent, slowing down the shot cycle. The rifle feels smooth, but shot cycle is slow and can make the rifle finicky on target, actually tougher to maintain the tiny little groups consistently....so you speed the shot cycle back up, into the 11fpe range to get your consistency back.

With this small diameter, lightweight 22mm set-up, you can drop into the sub 11fpe category and still have an extremely fast shot cycle. This little piston is quick! What this means is that you can continue to soften the shot, dropping into the sub 11fpe range while maintaining the quick shot cycle. On target this means it is easier to hold those tiny little groups

Here is a 10-shot group at 20 yards from this morning. Yes you still have to do your part with good form, breathing, etc.....but this group was in no way difficult. One shot after the other was dropping right into this tiny little hole.

The more I shoot this rifle, the more impressed I am with this 22mm kit. I am extremely pleased and am going to let it right where it is.....and just shoot.







If anyone is interested in learning more about the 22mm skirtless conversion, you can reach out to Tony Leach on his FB group "Airguntech", or in the group "Lost Volume"

https://www.facebook.com/airguntech/


https://www.facebook.com/groups/1447138175311176/


Also on his blog;

https://www.airguntech.com


Tony has been very helpful in answering all of my questions, and I am very pleased with his work. To my fellow springer target shooters....Tony is in our corner!



Steve