Keeping cocked for extended period?

Hello all. After a few years of waiting, I'm the proud new owner of an hw30s. The rifle arrived 3 days ago and I'm Loving it.

On to my question....

I've taken the rifle squirrel hunting the last two evenings and wondered if leaving it cocked for a prolonged period could/would cause it any harm. How long is too long?...

Thank you for your time and response, Flintlock.
 
Every spring gun is different. It depends on the spring and the design of the gun. I left my Hw30 cocked over a weekend and it lost about 7% velocity. About 50 fps. That was with a Vortek spring. Another spring might lose none, less or more. A few hours in the woods isn't going to hurt any of them.

Enjoy the new gun. The Hw30s are my favorite. I have two and my wife has one as well.

Ron
 
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I have an RWS 34 that was unknowingly left cocked for several months. When I discovered it was cocked I decided to check it's velocity fully expecting to find a substantial decrease. Surprisingly, there was no decrease, in fact there was a slight increase from an average of 860 fps to 864 fps.
 
The basic rule of thumb is to not leave a springer stored in the cocked position for extended periods . .while out hunting they are fine loaded and cocked for hours but unlikely you would even cock and load a springer and wait for 2 hours ..Common sense goes a long way.No offense if my message is taken the wrong way..All good intentions were meant .
 
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Some spring gun enthusiasts actually season a brand new mainspring by leaving the gun cocked overnight.
The slight loss in power that comes from this, is due to the normal loss that you would get from using the gun/mainspring for the first month, or so and then settling into its consistent function thereafter.

So the short answer is you may lose power on a brand new spring, like the guy who fitted a new Vortex above but hardly anything on a seasoned spring.
HW OEM springs are about the best i have encountered for longterm stability, Cometa springs less so and BSA springs somewhere in the middle..
 
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