how to tune a SPRINGER

For an HW97, TX200 or Prosport; a Vortek kit will take care of it.

It's an aftermarket spring and top hat designed with self lubricating delrin parts and a high quality spring. It should come with some moly grease and there is a bit more to the process than just drop it in. You should grease the spring part by putting some in your hand and rubbing it into the spring with a closed fist. Yes the picture in your head is indeed how to do it. Don't leave globs of it on but make sure there is a layer over the spring. Then on the piston seal put a thin almost imperceptible amount on the sides of it and a little more behind that so it puts a tiny layer into the piston sleeve which should be cross hatched with a brake cylinder hone. There are several youtube videos on this process. Mike mellick from flying dragon air rifles is a great source of tuning information on Chinese airguns but he can order you an hw97 and tune it for you at a really fair price. Maybe even cheaper than buying an untuned hw97 from pyramid air. He would do a better job than you could guaranteed. He has years of experience and helped me tune my dads benjamin titan. Check him out if you want to go that route. There are others here that can do that work as well. Good luck. 

An HW97 from Krale will be about half the price of a TX200 to get started. Don't worry about the bore, except to clean it when it is new. The rifle will be more accurate than you for awhile. Springers will expose your weaknesses like lack of follow through and not finding natural point of aim when setting up.

Do two things.

1. Cut down the vibration via tune kit or making a spring guide and top hat that fits the spring. This also helps reduce damage to your scope and loosening screws.
2. Make the rifle recoil straight back into your shoulder. Eliminate harsh jumping during shot cycle by cutting coils off the spring or increasing the weight of the custom stock fore or aft until you get a gentle shot cycle.
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   Your goal should be making the rifle easy to shoot accurately for 60 or more shots for an entire match. Power and speed should not be concern only accuracy. You can still be competitive with 10 FPE. Just practice in the wind and rain - less than ideal weather conditions.