Surprised by scope troubles

Spring-powered guns and Nitro piston powered guns are known to destroy scopes. Even the most expensive scope if not designed for the double recoil in the spring Howard gun. A Magnum Springer rated scope is a necessity. At what whatwhat range do you shoot most often? look on Amazon for a brand called hammers 3 to 9 by 40 scope. About $70. That scope will handle Magnum springers.

Sorry for the broken English in my reply. Was driving and the Bluetooth headset does not like my 4:00 a.m. voice.

Close-in shooting is tough with a scope due to focal length issues. You will want an Adjustable Objective scope (like the Hammers 3-9*40 AO) 



As you have already found, airgun are not an easy thing to learn when you have had 20+ years of powder burner experience. The fundamentals carry over, but the specific techniques are unique. This is a great bunch of guys who gladly share their passions, so welcome to AGN and feel like part of the family.

I use on my Hatsan 125 .22 Dampа monoblock and optics Leapers 4x32@35yrd and for now I have no problems!

Scope survivability on a springer are dependent of several issues.

1. Scope needs to be "hardened" for the "two way plus twist" piston gun shot cycle. Basically, needs to be SPRINGER RATED.

2. If the turrets are adjusted near their max travel (I suspect this if you're zero'd for 10 yards) then the erector spring is under uneven tension (strong on one side and weak on the opposite) allowing the erector set to "thrash around" with springer recoil. I personally "optically center" my scope (set the reticle in the center of the scope tube maintaining equal strong spring tension), then I bend my airgun barrels so the point of impact at my 30 yard zero distance is within about 1/2" of the aim point. The turrets are then used to do the fine adjustment only maintaining a relatively centered reticle. 

3. Springer with properly sealing internal seals (gun isn't slamming when shot). Related to this, high power springers (greater than 12fpe) and gas ram guns shake scope internals more than lower powered springers (less than 12fpe). I called the Hawke tech support concerning my 4-12x50 Hawke Vantage and it was is spring rated, however not recommended to exceed 12fpe. For over 12fpe Hawke recommended the more expensive AirMax, Panorama, etc.

If you want to minimize scope damage there are a couple options.

1. Use an adjustable scope mount with an optically centered scope so major adjustments can be made at the mount (or bend the barrel).

2. Don't put on a high recoiling springer, especially the gas rams since they have a sharper recoil than coil spring piston guns.

With the PCPs the care and feeding is partly offset by not needing a springer rated scope.

Anywhoo....when using optics with piston guns it's important to purchase a scope with a good lifetime warranty!

ed's right me thinks,

Tune that rifle! Even if it is 100% factory QC approved there is a good chance on your rifle(s) a simple tune, most likely only a seal ( might not need that) and lube - and attention to detail and elbow work- tho a sping guide would be nice, and or have you looked at "JM"'s web site for parts yet?

http://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/page/page/251327.htm

his universal spirng might work, good seals and lube.

Reduce the piston slam and your scope will be much happier!

Nothing to do with a scope but have you adjusted your trigger? Results?



I had an original Gamo 1000 , shot 1001fps average with 8.4g and wasnt too kind on scopes, I replaced only the seal and lubed it and it shot 990fps w/8.4g and no longer had that slap-jack feel/effect, cost about $10.00 but an extra lifetime supply of lube even enough to share.



John

"Bending the barrel is completely foreign to me! I will need to do some reading on that"

Not really "rocket science". If only "adding snoop" is needed then even a forked tree can be used to bend the barrel up a bit.........

https://imgur.com/AIzSnwO

https://imgur.com/6vaTNRU

The problem with a "bendin' tree" is that the barrel will need to be "re-adjusted" if the bend is excessive. Excess bending is rather easy to do because a bend that can't be seen with the eye is enough to move my .177 HW95 point of impact 5" at only 18 yards. Bending needs to be done carefully in tiny steps but a "bending tree" is difficult to use for adding "droop" to a break barrel springer.

To make it possible for easy barrel bending on my .177 R9 or .177 HW95 I made this "barrel tweaker" from some construction lumber, an eye bolt with a 5/8" diameter thread, and a Delrin "shoe" for the barrel so the steel eyebolt doesn't scratch the bluing. The Delrin "shoe" also spreads out the bending over a wider surface of the barrel to prevent denting or kinking the barrel with the eye bolt loop................

https://imgur.com/ybelPLM

https://imgur.com/rsK0loX

https://imgur.com/nppgPMC



Here is the process I used for bending the barrel of my HW95 when it was new using 5 shot groups at 18 yards. Surprisingly the poi was really close to begin with, but I tweaked the barrel a bit anyway before touching my optically centered scope turrets.......

https://imgur.com/NESfShI

As a side note........barrel bending is actually one of the processes used in barrel making. The difference however is that the technician in the pic is straightening the barrel rather than bending it..........

https://imgur.com/0mgPBHB

"How do I determine if my rifle has properly sealing internal seals? If it does not, can a novice correct it?"

Guess that this requires knowledge of the shot cycle of your gun and the use of a chrony. I don't know about your springer but a HW95 break barrel isn't difficult to disassemble since it has a modular design where the trigger block can be removed as a unit and there are no components that require the stock to hold them in place (there are some springers that are very tedious to reassemble). I really don't know is a novice can correct poorly sealing parts of your springer but there are YouTube videos of maintenance techniques for a lot of airguns, however I do suspect that a novice with some "mechanical aptitude" (plus info on the GTA) can successfully service their springer. There are also tuners that "earn their bread" tuning airguns that will service your gun for a fee.

Anywhoo....whenever the shot cycle of my HW springers "seem strange", the first thing I do is to take a few shots over the chrony to see if my velocity is consistent and normal..........

https://imgur.com/vXuoH5E

If you are really interested in how a springer works pick up a copy of From trigger to target

http://Airgun from Trigger to Target https://www.amazon.com/dp/0950510823/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_eQHqBbG0A27GG

There is more than you ever want ro know in this book.

"There is more than you ever want to know in this book."

And much of the info in this book isn't relevant to modern high powered piston guns with synthetic piston seals. This book was written decades ago when they were low powered (relative to modern guns) using leather piston seals. These seals requiring a couple drops of lube down the transfer port to keep the piston seal in good shape and there is a whole section explaining how a large percentage of the velocity was the result of the "dieseling oil".

With more modern synthetic sealed piston guns like my .177 Beeman R9 and .177 HW95, when properly lubricated, there isn't a large velocity added by dieseling oil. I did a velocity test with the internals lubed using molly paste (does diesel a bit), then I completely stripped the internals and only used "powdered graphite" (the kind you puff into locks) which doesn't diesel. The difference in velocity was only 10fps with the higher velocity from the "molly paste lube" (910fps vs 900fps). I'm guessing that the "vapors" giving off from the molly paste did add about 1% to the velocity, however no where near the percentages calculated for the guns of Cardew's era. Matter of fact, I only used the "graphite powder lube" for a few years till I tried the Krytox "space station lube" after reading a report from an airgunner on the forums.

Anywhoo...........

Cardew's "Airgun From Trigger to Muzzle" is available free online as a PDF file so you don't have to spend $$$$ to read...........

https://www.mediafire.com/file/5mcemcyutrm/The+Air+Gun+From+Trigger+To+Muzzle_s.pdf


There are "other irrelevant to modern high power synthetic sealed piston guns" tests in the book and it can "read for free" by downloading.