Story of my Air King

Ok, this is long but it is well due. It is all about my RWS 54 Air King in .22calFirst, I was given a gift of a RWS 54 in .22cal. I never had any experience with one let alone a side cocking airgun. It was a refurb and that could mean anything. But come later to find out that with this particular rifle, it didn't mean nothing. I was so excited because I have heard soooo many good things about them except for scoping them or finding a scope and mount that stands up to their "terrible recoil". First impression: She was heavy as all heck. And mind you, I had a RX2 before. It was bulky and the side cocking was very odd to me. I didn't have a scope or mount for it at the time so I just shot it open sighted. Now I am pretty proficient w/open sights but when I was shooting it at 1" squares at 30yds, it didn't impress me what so ever. I had a blue streak and a hw95 in .22cal that seemed to do as good if not better. What I did notice was that I had to adjust my rear sight way up in order to bring my groups up so barrel droop was very evident. I did not and still don't have a chrony so I was semi in the dark as to its health. I wanted the rifle to be what so many rave about. I wanted it to be gone through, I wanted it to be seen by an airgun doctor. Because I didn't have a chrony, nor did I have a spring compressor nor did I have the knowledge to do anything about it even if I had those things. A prosport, a hw95, yeah no problem. An Air King? No way. Plus being a refurb, I didn't know if what I had was sick or ok. So I reached out to someone who does. So I called "The Man". Who is this "Man"? John Thomas aka John in PA. Why do I choose to describe him as "The Man"? Well if you ever had chosen him to tune your rifle, then you know why. If you hadn't had the pleasure of talking with him, asking him questions and/or having him tune your gun well brother's and sister's you don't know what you are missing. I talked to John, great dude to talk to and with by the way, and he told me my options: 1) Just scope and shoot it. 2) Just because it's a refurb doesn't mean it was broken or trashed. 3) Send it to him for a complete go through and repair, replace, install etc. What was offered and done was a complete go through. A lapped and polished bore. A break down of the trigger and trigger housing with a smoothing and polishing of the surfaces with a final pull weight of 14oz's. A honing of the compression tube. 6 buttons installed, drilled not glued on, 3 on the tube, I believe, and 3 on the piston. *John if I am wrong about the placement, my apologies* A Vortek PG2 kit installed with a Moly infused piston seal and breach seal replacement. We were going to go with the O ring seal but later decided to forgo that way. He adjusted my sled and put an O ring in there as well. Also a proper deburring and lube with the proper lubes. He even sent the oem spring and piston seal back.Now waiting is one of the hardest parts of this situation. Honestly it felt like forever. I wanted to call everyday to hear the progress and so forth. But I showed discipline and patience. Plus I didn't want to bother John and make him feel like he had to rush and you know what happens when we rush anything, we mess up. But that wasn't the case w/John. In fact, it was only a month that I waited and as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. But here is the tale of the tape. He sends you documentation of what he has done and along with that, he sent chrony #'s...now here's the kicker. Here is what makes him the man. He chronied the rifle before and after. The gun was good, number wise, and it showed 720fps with a SD of 5fps pre tune with jsb 18gr. Now we all would be happy with that right? Of course we would. But what does John do? He added 28fps more with the installment of the PG2 kit and cut my SD of 5fps down to 2.3fps. So 748fps with a SD of 2.3fps. 21ft/lbs. Freaking amazing.Now she isn't truly broken in if it takes 500rds to be called broken in. But I probably got half of that in. While waiting for the gun to be returned, my family had bought me a Diana ZR bullseye scope mount which has been working fine so far and a sightron 4-12x FT scope which cost $200 and isn't bad. No illuminated reticle and the reticle is kind of thick in my opinion but I tell you what, it's front AO is pretty darn close in its bell yardage markings than any other scope I have had/used. Not bad for $200 and it tracks pretty well.Ok, when she got home I put the mount and scope on. Loaded a pellet and hey!!!! I barely touched the trigger. 14oz's, man if felt like 8. I mean she was light and the shot felt like a hard thump on a solid piece of wood. Like when you hammer fist a solid wall. It don't feel like a 21ft/lb rifle. But I'll tell you when I did feel it. Upon standing it up on my thigh to cock and load it, the sled engaged but upon returning the cocking arm back to battery while the rifle is vertical, the sled came out of battery and I didn't slide it back forward. A pull of the trigger, whoa, a jolt of a magnum springer moved my shoulder and cheek bone enough for me to NOT forget its a magnum and to make sure the sled is in place. And the difference in POA/POI is dramatic. At least 10 inches. Now I don't know if I am spoiled because I have an outstanding, straight from the factory Air Arms Prosport that does pretty good at 50yds and I know the Air King isn't a prosport but maybe I was asking too much from the King or comparing apples to oranges but using a pellet sampler from good old straight shooters I set a target at 50yds and commenced to finding the perfect pellet. I do not have a sturdy bench. I have a fold out plastic table. It folds out onto a piece of yard that has a bunch of layered mulch. About 6-8 inches of it. I have a patio chair that sinks lopsided just as the table does. I do not have a rest or vice to place the gun in or on. I have a red brick with a rolled up towel so that is what I have to use to try to find the magic pellet.You know aside from having one of the top 10 airguns, aside from having Mr. RWS tune my gun, aside from having its SD cut in half, do you know what is truly amazing and somewhat baffling??? Having a cheap or should I say affordable (price wise, not quality, even though it is sometimes debatable) and easily obtainable pellet being the magic pellet. What I am talking about is the CPUM and H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme's. I mean when you consider pellets costing anywhere from $12-$18+ a tin and waiting for the UPS or FEDEX man to come as to $9 a tin and a trip to a big box store and a 1 1/4" group as to a 3/4" group I am truly blessed. Yes the JSB's 18gr are nice but the CPUM and Extreme's beat em fair and square. I did mess up when trying to find the magic pellet because at first I didn't season the barrel for each pellet nor did I clean it. Then when trying again on other pellets, I did.It is always nice to have a hunting pellet perform in a hunting rig or a rig that is powerful. I was really astounded that those 2 pellets performed so well. Well I guess that I better stop looking a gift horse in the mouth, lol. Oh yeah, as airgunners, we love to tinker. But my problem is not leaving well enough alone and what I am talking about is the T06 trigger. Awesome trigger. Is it a Rekord or a Air Arms? No but very adjustable. I only have one true gripe about the Air King. I can deal with the weight and the awkardness of the side cocking. I can deal with the forgeting of making sure the sled is in battery but I truly dislike how far the trigger moves when you cock the rifle. It literally goes 3/4" forward. I thought that it was the 1st stage travel length and was all over the forums of how to adjust it and so forth. Even tried another members grub screws. All in all I just stayed with John's trigger tune job because it was so smooth and that the 1st stage travel had nothing to do with my problem as I thought it did. See when you cock the rifle, the sled moves forward into battery and when it moves, the trigger does as well. It would be great if the trigger stayed, but oh well, I can't have my cake and eat it too. url=http://i.imgur.com/VN7Lut2.jpg][/url]
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