Improving lock time

[Buster321c 1,010]

Ive been thinking about improving the lock time on my hunter ( S410k ) I have a few ideas , any of you tried anything or have any ideas on this ?

 

Bust .

[8shot 192]

buster i could see the point of doing it on a spring gun

but i just dont get why on a pcp

 

would it make any real differance......cant wait to see if someones done it and was there an advantage

[Buster321c 1,010]

I certainly hear what your saying about the pcp , but im at the stage where i seem to have quite a bit of time on my hands and to be fair there`s not much i could do with it to make it better . I guess im just messing Ive changed the spring for a short , strong spring and an ali spacer , im looking for a quicker response from the hammer ..........

[8shot 192]

keep us posted on how you get on buddy

[Phil8282 8]

Increasing the "lock time" on PCP's does have its advantages, basically it decreases the time between you pulling the trigger and the pellet leaving the end of the barrel. So any shooter error will be decreased, increasing the accuracy of the shot. I think BSA Hornets have the fastest lock time on any BSA gun, not to sure about the other manufacturers

 

If you have a gun with a standard "lock time" and a decreased "lock time" there is a very noticeable difference between the action of the guns, and the overall accuracy, however this only shows through when being used by a shooter, clamping the guns and firing will have no effect, I shouldnt think It's one of the few modifications that can only be measured by human usage!

[craig33 10]

you will be suprised at the differance buffing the hammer will make i do all mine to a mirror finish also the return spring put a slightly

stiffer one in but dont go mad or it could result in bent valve stems the return spring enables the valve to open and shut quicker combined with no friction on the hammer due to being buffed up you will have quicker lock time .

get buffin buster its worth it

[Buster321c 1,010]

Been there mate , done that . The hammer polish is indeed well worth doing as it will improve the consistency and even the shout count to a certain dergee . I`ve fitted new bushes to the hammer and it is indeed a mirror finish on the rail , but the dry or lubed question raised its head again . I generally run it with the smallest dab of valve oil on , to great effect , but im running it dry once more and have gone back to my short pull hammer with a stronger , shorter spring and ali spacer to take up the slack . The spring ends are also polished , infact anu areas that may come into contact are super smooth Everything is polished to avoid any friction anywhere , just after seeing what others have done , if anything . Bust .

[craig33 10]

dry you have got to run it bone dry mate . it sounds like you have done everything that could improve it i think you might have it as good as it will get without lightening the hammer but then you will have to put more pre load on hammer spring do you have a spare hammer to try to make a little lighter then try it

might be worth a shot eh

[Buster321c 1,010]

The short pull hammer is much lighter , thats why ive gone back to it .

[craig33 10]

gotch ya well thats my brain all picked out for now ill do some investigating

[Buster321c 1,010]

Thanks for the input , i thought ide post it , two head are better than one , and all that . Bust

[mick01 36]

i got smoke coming from ears after reading this post.. blown a fuse or something you boys got a excellent knowledge of air rifles and far to much time on your hands! haha.. i would love to see an s410 of yours, performance against mine, straight from factory and although its wiped down and kept rust free etc. had nothing in the way of maintenance or modifications. be interesting. interesting post lads though i understood very little of it! Mick

[markha 99]

Mick in its simplest terms :

 

Lock time - the amount of time it takes from when the trigger is pulled to the pellet leaving the end of the barrel.

 

If you polish everything, from trigger sears to the hammer rail you remove any friction which would make the lock time longer.

 

The same may go for lightening the hammer, the trigger sear plates etc

 

We are talking very small time differences though and to be honest I think there is only one thing you can do that will really make a difference on the 'lock time-accuracy' thing, and thats how steady you can hold the gun in the 1st place.

And on that front there is only one thing that will help with that, and thats the weight of the trigger pull, the lighter the trigger pull the less chance of snatching a shot.

 

Just my personal thoughts and as Im happy with my hunting and target work, I have never bothered to start polishing things.

 

I doubt there would be anything in it between a factory and a modded one.

[Buster321c 1,010]

Been doing a bit of `online searching ` and i found an interesting read in this post by Simon Howarth ( Tench or Tweaky )

 

The std ultra is made in many versions, the later ones with the number 2 on the breech use the scorpion hammer assembly, this is a heavier hammer than the earlier versions which achieves the required force at the firing valve with less spring preload resulting in lighter cocking effort but a slower hammer action, the hammer travel is around 18mm, i have modified my own target rifle to a hammer stroke of just 5mm, this gives a very fast lock time, but it is a bit more involved than you might first think, once the hammer has been extended at the front to strike the valve only a few mm from its cocked position on the trigger sear, it then requires a very strong spring to achieve the energy required when it strikes the valve from such a short stroke, this then causes the undesired fact the the hammer spring is acting against the exhaust valve closing and can cause excessive air consumption and even leaks, so to counter act this the spring needs to be very short but very strong so when the gun is uncocked or has just been fired there is very little force being applied to the exhaust valve by the hammer spring yet when compressed only 5mm it has sufficient strength to supply the required energy to the hammer, this very short stiff spring then needs spacers making to make up the difference in length between it and the available space for the spring. It is a balancing act between hammer weight, spring length, spring strength and travel, it is possible to make it even shorter, i know of one person who has had one running super fast with a stoke of less than 3mm!!

I am currently working on an anti bounce hammer aswell to aleviate all of the force applied to the valve by the hammer spring, and a new super fast operating exhaust valve.

 

 

 

 

I will be picking his brains when i get the chance

[mick01 36]

thanks for that markha good reading lads..