Springers

[carlstoke 34]

how long do you guys leave your guns cocked when hunting, does leaving a gun cocked for longish periods have any efect on a spring?

[silentshot1 206]

If I'm honest, out pigeon shooting I'll leave the '97 or '77 cocked for up to an hour, then shoot at a bit of chalk just to let the spring release.

 

That said, I've left the '77 cocked for over that on quite a few 'quiet' rabbiting trips where you don't see anything for an hour, but you don't want to cause a commotion by shooting and it's still throwing pellets out at 11.3 ftlbs average with little deviation.

 

Be interesting to see more technical minds thoughts.

[Marksman 934]

wont make any difference between an hour or 6 hours the rifle will still perform the same

[pianoman 3,587]

I have spring rifles that have been left on-cock for hours on shoots over years of such use and never known a loss of energy output as a result. MY 16-year old HW80 .22 is on its second Titan spring, replaced last year and shoots as well as ever it did. It has regularly been used and left on-cock for hours as the rabbits on my Permission in West Yorkshire are few and far between these days.

 

Only when springs have broken with wear or just a duff quality have I had to replace them.

 

Simon

[Coypu Hunter 486]

Keeping a springer cocked while hunting is something I do quite regularly (for stealth), often for an hour or several. My chrono results are still consistent after a couple of years of doing this.

 

However, if you leave a springer cocked for long periods, you will suffer the consequences. Here's a test that some (presumably rich) shooter ran on various rifles: http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537/message/1009595055/How+long+do+you+keep+your+springer+cocked-+Here%27s+a+test-

 

And here's a relevant quote from the PyramidAir blog in the US:

 

"So how LONG does a mainspring LAST?
Tom Gaylord published the only report I know about on the subject of mainspring life. In his R1 book, there is a chapter called the Mainspring Failure Test. He tested a factory R1 spring, a Beeman Laser spring, a Venom spring and a Maccari custom spring by cocking them all and leaving them cocked for ONE FULL MONTH! That's 735 HOURS of being cocked. Throughout the test he took shots at intervals to see how the springs were holding up, then recocked them until the next test shot. Each spring was test-fired this way 23 times during the test.

 

The mainspring that lost the most power was the Beeman Laser spring. After being cocked for 735 hours, it had 93.25 percent of the power it had at the start of the test. The factory spring retained 93.89 percent of its original power. The Maccari spring retained 94.65 percent of its original power and the Venom spring retained 96.93 percent of its original power. The Vemon spring was slightly bent and had begun to vibrate - something Gaylord stressed it did not do before the test. The factory spring was ever-so-slightly bent and both the Maccari and Laser springs were still perfectly straight."

 

Here's the link: http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2006/05/how-long-does-mainspring-last-part-2.html

Edited February 19, 2014 by Coypu Hunter

[silentshot1 206]

wont make any difference between an hour or 6 hours the rifle will still perform the same

 

 

I have spring rifles that have been left on-cock for hours on shoots over years of such use and never known a loss of energy output as a result. MY 16-year old HW80 .22 is on its second Titan spring, replaced last year and shoots as well as ever it did. It has regularly been used and left on-cock for hours as the rabbits on my Permission in West Yorkshire are few and far between these days.

 

Only when springs have broken with wear or just a duff quality have I had to replace them.

 

Simon

 

That's exactly my own experiences and have not had an issue yet, but not being technical I couldn't confirm it. The Venom spring in the '77 is 25 years old + now and still does the job.