Tuning New .177 Akela pic (trimmed hammer spring)

[DeanB]

Received my new Akela from Pyramyd Air yesterday, came w/3,000 psi air.Had to email them as one of the mags has a crack in it running from the little pin in cover to outside edge, they are sending me a new one.
Took stock off immediately and put some Howard Feed n Wax, stock was as dry as a piece of paper.. started out putting a UTG 4X12X44 scope on but decide I didnt like it and then put on a brand new Hawke Endurance 30 WA SF 4x16x50. Bought same scope used and gentleman didnt tell me stuff was screwed up on scope so called Hawke and sent old one back then they sent me a brand new one.. love the scope nice big clear view.
Waiting on cleaning stuff for barrel to arrive but had to run 10 pellets over chrony, with Hammer spring turned in 2 full turns from all the way out it averaged with Predator poly mags 8 gr - 1,038 fps, extreme spread 39 and SD of 13.
The pics suck but its pouring down rain outside and hard to get good pics inside.

 

[orangeokie]

Congratulations on your new Akela. Mine is very accurate and a pleasure to shoot. Let us know how your experience goes as you get to shoot it.

 

[DeanB]

Have shot it a few more times just offhand at 20yds and it seems like its going to be accurate.. compared to my Cayden its rough cocking I can hear the hammer spring scrunching when cocking.. Also the magazine has jammed a couple times on the 1st round and it feels like the pellet is rubbing when being pushed into chamber..
Ive been shooting full sized air rifles etc for 50 yrs so going to take some getting used to the bullpup..
One other thing the top edge of finger groove digs into my finger as I have big thick hands, may have to round edge off.

 

[Raysfan]

Have shot it a few more times just offhand at 20yds and it seems like its going to be accurate.. compared to my Cayden its rough cocking I can hear the hammer spring scrunching when cocking.. Also the magazine has jammed a couple times on the 1st round and it feels like the pellet is rubbing when being pushed into chamber..
Ive been shooting full sized air rifles etc for 50 yrs so going to take some getting used to the bullpup..
One other thing the top edge of finger groove digs into my finger as I have big thick hands, may have to round edge off.

Cut the hammer spring down it will cock much smoother and be more efficient with air. There are many videos on the process.

 

[Ranchibi]

Beautiful, looks like you won the wood lottery.....congrats!

 

[DeanB]

Cut the hammer spring down it will cock much smoother and be more efficient with air. There are many videos on the process.

I plan to after I shoot it some more just to see where its at with different pellets.

 

[DeanB]

Beautiful, looks like you won the wood lottery.....congrats!

Thanks will look a lot better after a few more coats of the feed and polish.

 

[Benj312]

Great rifles! I bought one 6 months ago as a tune project (per sub12airgunner) while I was waiting for an AA S510. The stock received 15 coats of BLO and I also added a Lane regulator. The result far exceeded my expectations for accuracy and smoothness of operation. Polishing as recommended in sub12's video does make quite a difference. Just an FYI, I tuned mine to 15fpe, and get 150 shots per fill. Which I hear is possible WITHOUT adding the regulator. Good winter project though. Since this was my first tune, it did take quite a bit of time.

I will also add that the transfer port did have a burr which deformed the pellet when pushed through the barrel. Carefull removal of the burr resulted in no deformities when a pellet is pushed through. Polsihing the barrel also resulted in a smoother "push" of the pellet.

Your stock has nicer wood than mine. Enjoy!

 

[DeanB]

Great rifles! I bought one 6 months ago as a tune project (per sub12airgunner) while I was waiting for an AA S510. The stock received 15 coats of BLO and I also added a Lane regulator. The result far exceeded my expectations for accuracy and smoothness of operation. Polishing as recommended in sub12's video does make quite a difference. Just an FYI, I tuned mine to 15fpe, and get 10 shots per fill. Which I hear is possible WITHOUT adding the regulator. Good winter project though. Since this was my first tune, it did take quite a bit of time.

I will also add that the transfer port did have a burr which deformed the pellet when pushed through the barrel. Carefull removal of the burr resulted in no deformities when a pellet is pushed through. Polsihing the barrel also resulted in a smoother "push" of the pellet.

Your stock has nicer wood than mine. Enjoy!

Thanks hope mine turns out as good as yours.

 

[orangeokie]

Cut the hammer spring down it will cock much smoother and be more efficient with air. There are many videos on the process.

Ray, can you post a "how to" cut the hammer spring for those of us with the Akela? (Maybe with photos?)

 

[Benj312]

I'm not Ray, but this is the one that I use. Just be aware that you lose a little length when you heat and compress the end.

https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/cutting-an-airgun-spring.782252/

 

[2L8]

Nice!
Enjoy.

 

[Raysfan]

Here is a great write up and video from our friends at Gatewaytoairguns.org

Simple Akela hammer spring cutting (clipping) instructions - Airguns & Guns Forum

Simple Akela hammer spring cutting (clipping) instructions, Air guns, Airgun Forum

www.gatewaytoairguns.org

Hope this helps, you will lose a little when you close the end remember.
Mine finished at 2 5/8 long and works great.
Good luck my friends.

 

[EPG]

I did extensive research and testing of various hammer spring lengths - and posted results on the GTA (I’m EPG8 on that forum) as well as here on AGN.

Here is one of my threads on GTA:

Akela Cayden Kratos Hammer Spring Shortening Results - Airguns & Guns Forum

Akela Cayden Kratos Hammer Spring Shortening Results, Air guns, Airgun Forum

www.gatewaytoairguns.org

You will want to shorten your .177 Akela spring to 2.57”. If you have a .22 Craftsmen Series rifle (Akela, Cayden, Kratos), then you will want to shorten to 2.8”.

The .177 Akela with its delivered 3.5” hammer spring is so oversprung that its basically ridiculous. You will have a cliff shot string even with the hammer spring adjustment screw backed all the way out - and poor efficiency with PoI shift due to velocity drop.

The good news is that by shortening the hammer spring (a 5 minute job), these rifles become amazing. They will then have nice long bell curve shot strings with great efficiency.

Using the transfer port restrictor knob (“power adjuster knob”) will reduce velocity, but will NOT solve the cliff (steadily declining velocity) shot string and poor efficiency issues.

Once you shorten the spring, the hammer spring adjustment screw becomes “usable“ as you no longer need it to be backed all the way out. Read the picture below (from my thread on GTA where I show how nicely the hammer spring adjuster works to tune velocity with the 2.57” spring.

I even posted a tutorial on GTA on how to shorten the spring.

If you want to get really into it and have a spring length optimized for different weight pellets (more applicable to .22 caliber), then you can order more springs from Crosman (Velocity Outdoors) - part# CR-017 ($3.50 each).

-Ed

 

[DeanB]

Trimmed spring down on my Akela today, my digital calipers battery went dead so used a Starrett metal ruler and cut it to a bit over 2 5/8 in long and then heated ends and flattened bottom..gun is now super quiet, cocks nice and smooth, with no ping just hammer hitting. Its quiet even in basement echoing off walls.. Shot 95 shots which must be the limit of my chrony as it quit reading after that, deleted the 2 highest and 2 lowest out of string so ended up with 91 shots..
, Fill was 3100 psi which settled at 3,000 when gun cooled down and with a total of 101 shots including the ones after it quit reading stopped at 1800 psi..
Numbers were 91 shots after 2 lowest/2 highest deleted , Extreme spread 73 fps and 19 fps SD.. gun was still shooting in the 850-860s when I had to stop so could of gotten a bunch more shots Im guessing.. Started out at 17.16 ftlb and went up to 19.32 ftlb.
I hunt and will never shoot a 100 shots in a day so I'm completely happy with where its at, forgot this was with Beeman Kodiak pellets and hammer spring backed all the way out and power wheel on full power.

tried some cphp at 1/2 power and they averaged 904 fps, next to lowest setting they averaged 700 fps. Didnt try the lowest setting.