Beeman R1/HW80 servicing recommendations

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Jun 3, 2018
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Not usually over here on the springer side, but I just snagged an R1 in .177 that popped up on the AoA site for cheap and should be here shortly. However... they noted on the invoice "may need rebuild". That wasn't a huge concern given the price and I'm not worried about servicing it, but other than a piston seal, are there other recommended items to do while in there?

I see the products for "tuning kits" from both Vortek and Maccari. I'm not looking at raw power as a must have, I have plenty of PCP's to do that. I would like to wind up with a solid and reliable springer that might not be as harsh as my RWS 45. I wouldn't mind maybe building it as a .22, to better use the powerplant, so I may look into rebarreling the barrel block since I don't feel like buying a new barrel assembly.

So for those that have one, I would like to hear your inputs if you have any personal preferences for a given product over another.If just resealing it will be enough, all the better, but if there is something worth doing at the same time, I'm all ears.

Thanks

Mark
 
I'd wait and get it and take it apart to see what you have before doing anything. May need more than a spring and seal, but I hope not. 

Id definitely go Maccari on the parts. I bought an HW80 in .22 with a Vortek kit a couple years back and it was awful. Kicked like a mule and very harsh. Put a Maccari spring kit in and it was much less terrible. 

Check the tube and see if it's good and even, if it is id recommend the cup faced seal. The parachute lip seals tend to add too much braking force with heavy springs (like in an R1) and can ruin any power potential. The one I had made 13fpe with a deep lip parachute seal, and by simply swapping to a cup face seal went up to 16fpe instantly and shot better. 

I saw that one too and almost snagged it, but decided against it after my last HW80 fiasco I bought. 

Hope you get it up and going. They are very well built guns. 


 
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Probably 35 years ago, I had one in .22 that I bought used from the Kittery Trading Post in ME. Cycled smooth, but didn't hold a candle to my RWS 45 for accuracy and I sent it down the road. Later regretted selling it as I didn't have more pellet choices available back then. 

Reading up on the Interwebs, the Vortek keeps being used in the same sentence as the word harsh, so I'll admit I was leaning towards the Maccari parts. It seems he has a piston seal made with a graphite impregnated urethane, so it may be a good choice.

I appreciate the feedback!

Mark
 
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JayJay,

I didn't realize they will work with you. I'll hazard a guess that many of the negative comments were from a pure power standpoint.

However, there is no doubt that these are a harsher gun in any form due to the powerplant size. I learned years ago about "scope killers" with my first RWS 45 back in the 80's, one had the erector stop working, one shattered the forward lens and the last victim separated all of the lenses from their seats. Amazingly, a Bushnell 2x7 Custom rimfire scope wound up surviving and still remains on that rifle to this day (my buddy still owns it). 

I appreciate the counterpoint in favor of the Vortek and a phone call to discuss it when I perform the autopsy may be in order.

Mark
 
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I own four R1’s. Three of them have Vortek kits in them. One is a 12 ft-lb kit and it is the least enjoyable to shoot. With the softer spring you can feel the piston bounce at the end of the shot cycle. The full power guns do have recoil, but I would say that it is less harsh than a stock gun. There is no way to make that much power with a spring while moving components of that weight and not get recoil. Given the weight of the overall gun however, I would say that is manages it well. I have not tried ARH products because I like the dampening qualities of the sleeve over the spring in the Vortek kit, I hear ARH makes fine products. The R1 is not the first gun I grab to shoot in the yard, that is an R7, but if I could only have one gun, it would be an R1. It can plink in the yard, its just not “casual.” But that “joy to shoot” R7 will not knock a squirrel out of the tree at 50 yards.
 
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Quick update, the rifle showed up unscathed on Saturday. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of trying to shorten my lifespan working on my back yard and was too wiped out to do much more than a quick visual inspection and fire one pellet to see how it felt. The action felt smooth and strong when cocking and the shot cycle felt fine. The pellet buried itself into a pile of carpeting, but I didn't check penetration. I'll try to run a few shots through the chronograph in the next day or two in order to get a baseline.Other than the stock needing a thorough refinish, the wood isn't scarred up badly and the metal still has good bluing with some light rust in areas that should clean up without loss.Overall a solid purchase and happy with the rifle.

Mark
 
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Well..... I went and took off the stock, then I pulled the trigger group out, then I pulled the barrel and next thing you know, I pulled the end cap to check the spring and piston. So currently, it's at parade rest. The piston cup looks to be in good condition and the spring looks to be in good order. I measured it at just a hair under 10", but have no idea what the baseline length should be. I'll need to relubricate everything, so if anyone has recommendations for what to order, I'm all ears. All I have noted to this point has been aircraft type grease in the trigger group, moly lube on the barrel pivot and cocking shoe and the mainspring had a red grease that looked like the run of the mill synthetic.

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There were some slight longitudinal score marks on the piston body, but the bore of the tube looks good. I did notice some light rust inside, at the forward part of the tube, so some cleaning there and a good polish on the piston should eliminate any rough spots. Thanks for following along.

Mark
 
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I have a piston seal and a breech seal on the way from Vortek, since ARH didn't have what I needed.. I'll use some moly and some copper anti-sieze for lubrication. The stock turned out great, the finish was delaminated and made the stock look worse than it was. After stripping, I put some Minwax provincial finish on and it looks great. This will be a fun rebuild.

Mark
 
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Well, things got interesting.... I finished the stock and waited for the new seals to arrive. In the meantime, I got some teflon instead for lubrication. The seals arrived last night and after my honey-do list this morning, I put it back together.

The first thing I noticed was that the cocking stroke was butter smooth and quiet. I proceeded to run about a dozen shots until the piece of wood I was using as a stop was no longer showing black crap out of the muzzle. I didn't have any dieseling and there was no smoke. I set up my chronograph and fired another dozen shots outside. Using 7.87gr JSB's, my first shot was at 909fps, but the next 11 shots were between 823-825fps. I'm surprised at the velocity drop from my before testing, but I'll chalk it up to the new piston seal needing a break in period. 

Time will tell, but the cocking and firing cycle is so dang smooth, I'm not going to mess with it. I'm sitting at 11.87 ft/lbs, so I'm running right at U.K. specs if I ever want to visit. 😁

Some pics.

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Mark


 
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