HW/Weihrauch for you DIY tuners

Jump to latest Follow Reply
That's an impossible question to answer. There's so many different levels of tune. You can drop in a Vortek kit or a JM kit in half hour and have it shoot great. Then you can add some basic trigger work, deburring, replacing piston seals, make piston liners and guides from scratch. Then some guns are problem guns and need honing, barrel angle correction and or the supplied kit doesn't work out. Then there's post build spring length adjustments for the best shot cycle. Oh let's not forget about accuracy problems like rough dirty barrels and lock up issues. For such simple gun designs they can snowball into problem children quickly.
If i had to guess on average I spend about 10 hours working on a gun. Then again I test fire every gun to check everything that can go wrong, fix what it's wrong, clean and polish the barrel, deburr the tube, replace piston seals and springs kits. Then I'll test fire for performance, accuracy and manners. If something doesn't meet my standards it comes apart again and I fix that. I often go through 500 pellets of testing before I'm finished.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: maxtrouble, Bandito, Deerstalker and 5 others
Upvote 0
beerthief said:
what would you say is an average time you spend on a full tune ? new parts, spring at a specified FPE , polishing all parts , adj. trigger , do everything for the smoothest cycle .?
I realize it has a lot of variables as to what gun .
Click to expand...
Hey Beer,
That's a good question ........ and will likely show how much time I waste on a complete tune.
First off, I don't tune airguns for $$$ ............ only for myself and friends. I take my time and try to cover everything completely.

Because I make everything needed except a ARH or Vortek spring, its a labor of love to achieve the best tune possible.
Also, because I button the piston, do a complete trigger disassembly (tune) and remove/polish the cocking wedge assembly - not to mention other basic stuff ...... it probably takes at least 10 hours of work.

Further, if the gun's shot cycle doesn't feel quite right, I open her up again and address coil cutting/compressing or getting a stronger spring.
I usually start with more power via spring, spacing and reduce as needed.

I usually go for the tune that has the most power, but is reduced to the point where the shot cycle feels in balance with the platform.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcoulter, rkansas, Bandito and 9 others
Upvote 0
Mycapt65 said:
That's an impossible question to answer. There's so many different levels of tune. You can drop in a Vortek kit or a JM kit in half hour and have it shoot great. Then you can add some basic trigger work, deburring, replacing piston seals, make piston liners and guides from scratch. Then some guns are problem guns and need honing, barrel angle correction and or the supplied kit doesn't work out. Then there's post build spring length adjustments for the best shot cycle. Oh let's not forget about accuracy problems like rough dirty barrels and lock up issues. For such simple gun designs they can snowball into problem children quickly.
If i had to guess on average I spend about 10 hours a gun. Then again I test fire every gun to check everything that can go wrong, fix what it's wrong, clean and polish the barrel, deburr the tube, replace piston seals and springs kits. Then I'll test fire for performance, accuracy and manners. If something doesn't meet my standards it comes apart again and I fix that. I often go through 500 pellets of testing before I'm finished.
Click to expand...
exactly what i wanted to hear , thankyou

just was curious is all .
 
Upvote 0
EMrider said:
I don't have the skill or equipment to do a comprehensive tune. Mine involve just dropping in an ARH or Vortek kit, sizing the piston seal if necessary, and applying the correct lubrication. Usually takes about 1.5-2 hours start to finish.
R
Click to expand...
Normally I'd think that's about right for a good home tune with a decent skills, design familiarity and tools. I'd think sizing a piston seal would make it a bit longer. I hate sizing piston seals. I can easily spend an hour sizing one. It's why I don't use seals that need sizing. The juice just isn't worth the squeeze. Actually it's not worth doing at all with today's options.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito, fishing43, EMrider and 2 others
Upvote 0
Sizing a piston seal is pretty straight forward if you have even a cheap lathe handy. I made a few dummy piston ends to hold the seals firmly and then just spin them against some sandpaper and check fitment frequently. I'm with Mycapt though, I rarely even need to because Vortek seals are usually so close I don't even bother. Plus they last a looong time. I did a 55 awhile back with an ARH seal in it. The gun shot at 6fpe and honestly felt great. Tight seal though. I sized it down, chronoed the gun, and was somewhere a hair over 10fpe without any other changes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito, fishing43 and Mycapt65
Upvote 0
Uglyjohn said:
I’ve had pretty good luck tuning TX triggers in the past. I got a new MK3 a year ago and have at least 12 hrs on that miserable trigger tune and still don’t like it. Time to throw in the towel and send it to David Slade or another pro to get it right.
Click to expand...
@bustachip did a pretty stellar job on his ProSport trigger if memory serves. He may have some pointers for you
 
  • Like
Reactions: bustachip
Upvote 0
Mycapt65 said:
Normally I'd think that's about right for a good home tune with a decent skills, design familiarity and tools. I'd think sizing a piston seal would make it a bit longer. I hate sizing piston seals. I can easily spend an hour sizing one. It's why I don't use seals that need sizing. The juice just isn't worth the squeeze. Actually it's not worth doing at all with today's options.
Click to expand...
I have not had to bother with sizing a seal since I switched to using Vortek seals. The few times I needed to do it with ARH seals, it was a PITA and I've burned at least 2 seals by taking off too much material on the first pass.
R
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito
Upvote 0
beerthief said:
what would you say is an average time you spend on a full tune ? new parts, spring at a specified FPE , polishing all parts , adj. trigger , do everything for the smoothest cycle .?
I realize it has a lot of variables as to what gun .
Click to expand...
Never bothered to watch the time since I am not doing it for money. I work on my own stuff so it's usually tackling one thing at a time. I might do spring work, seal, and lube, then shoot it for a while. Then go back in to take on trigger adjustment, and polishing etc. Some other time. Working on my own affords the luxury of no deadlines or need to do everything at once. I also kind of like the progression of changing 1 thing, and getting to observe the effect on its own. Rather than doing 5 things and having the "that made a difference, but I am not sure which had the biggest impact on the shooting experience because it all happened at once."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito, beerthief and bustachip
Upvote 0
Uglyjohn said:
I’ve had pretty good luck tuning TX triggers in the past. I got a new MK3 a year ago and have at least 12 hrs on that miserable trigger tune and still don’t like it. Time to throw in the towel and send it to David Slade or another pro to get it right.
Click to expand...
I've went through my 2 record triggers and recently did my prosport trigger and they all work great. They all have set back trigger blades as well. I just disassembled them and removed all the grease, cleaned all the parts. I polished the sear surfaces without changing any angles, paying attention to the sharp edges where the trigger breaks. I also make washers to take up any side to side play between the trigger blade and the housing it fits in. Reassemble with rem oil
only and adjust to my liking. The prosport trigger has more adjustments than the records which is nice. I have my prosport set with a long first stage and a light break on the second stage.
I use a trigger pull gage so I can check my adjustments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito, beerthief, fishing43 and 1 other person
Upvote 0
Hold_Over said:
Never bothered to watch the time since I am not doing it for money. I work on my own stuff so it's usually tackling one thing at a time. I might do spring work, seal, and lube, then shoot it for a while. Then go back in to take on trigger adjustment, and polishing etc. Some other time. Working on my own affords the luxury of no deadlines or need to do everything at once. I also kind of like the progression of changing 1 thing, and getting to observe the effect on its own. Rather than doing 5 things and having the "that made a difference, but I am not sure which had the biggest impact on the shooting experience because it all happened at once."
Click to expand...
Hey Hold_over,
I wish I had your patience ........ I (compulsively) do everything I can think of at once and hope to never go back into the gun ;) .
I do this after owning the gun for about a week and determined there's nothing terribly wrong ... except twang and stiffness since it hasn't been broken in.

Your step by step method of doing one thing at a time is a very good idea ................. plus I never write anything down:whistle:.
These deficiencies are especially troublesome when tuning a PCP.

Fortunately, I tune most Springers the same way ..... after doing about 25/30 over the last 10 years ..... ya kinda know what to expect and do.
The only thing I try to stay away from is excessive work on piston seal sizing - my efforts on ARH seals for Hatsan 95's was a disaster.
One minute it's too big ..... the next ...... it's too small and ruined.
Therefore, I use OEM Weihrauch, Aussie (green/red) seals and hope to try the Vortek some day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito and Hold_Over
Upvote 0
SpiralGroove said:
Hey Hold_over,
I wish I had your patience ........ I (compulsively) do everything I can think of at once and hope to never go back into the gun ;) .
I do this after owning the gun for about a week and determined there's nothing terribly wrong ... except twang and stiffness since it hasn't been broken in.

Your step by step method of doing one thing at a time is a very good idea ................. plus I never write anything down:whistle:.
These deficiencies are especially troublesome when tuning a PCP.

Fortunately, I tune most Springers the same way ..... after doing about 25/30 over the last 10 years ..... ya kinda know what to expect and do.
The only thing I try to stay away from is excessive work on piston seal sizing - my efforts on ARH seals for Hatsan 95's was a disaster.
One minute it's too big ..... the next ...... it's too small and ruined.
Therefore, I use OEM Weihrauch, Aussie (green/red) seals and hope to try the Vortek some day.
Click to expand...
Doing 1 thing at a time I find I keep focus on things better. I have 1 i am working on now. I took it apart, squared the spring ends, de-burred the cocking channel and other holes, applied moly/tar where needed. Am now focused on running lead through it getting the break in done. Monitoring progress/consistency using a chrony every 250 shots or so. Making needed sight adjustments etc. With a nice smooth shot cycle, and an overall deviation in fps shrinking to a very consistent number, I am free to focus on everything I do/don't like about trigger pull weight and smoothness, break etc. Without being distracted by twang, and other things at that same time.
I also should be better about writing things down...instead I have done a post on here with the details so I do have a record to go back to for info if I need it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito, bustachip and SpiralGroove
Upvote 0
Hold_Over said:
Doing 1 thing at a time I find I keep focus on things better. I have 1 i am working on now. I took it apart, squared the spring ends, de-burred the cocking channel and other holes, applied moly/tar where needed. Am now focused on running lead through it getting the break in done. Monitoring progress/consistency using a chrony every 250 shots or so. Making needed sight adjustments etc. With a nice smooth shot cycle, and an overall deviation in fps shrinking to a very consistent number, I am free to focus on everything I do/don't like about trigger pull weight and smoothness, break etc. Without being distracted by twang, and other things at that same time.
I also should be better about writing things down...instead I have done a post on here with the details so I do have a record to go back to for info if I need it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, for the most part my posts are notes to myself.
I often refer to them to remember what the heck I did, and what crony reading I got previously ............... before going back in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bandito and Hold_Over
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu