r 1 majik (happy thanxgiving, yall)

[ranedouglas]

i'm slowly as possible, rebuilding a minty .20 caliber beeman r1 combo that has been laserized. i just want to take it all in and gain every chunk of atrophied piston seal, every dehydrated morsel of the other-worldy lube, and every custom part, into the essence of my being......this is majik.

 

 

[Yarddog]

I feel ya! I bought a beater R1 .22 about three weeks ago, but this thang is an extremely accurate unit! Somebody cut about eight inches off the barrel, but it hasn't affected accuracy, as far as I know! I'm looking for a full length .22 barrel for it, since it's real hard to cock but...if I don't find one, it ain't the end of the world, by far!!! I hope you share your project with us...I'd like to follow it!

 

[DualMagMike]

love my R1's Laser's and standard

 

[ranedouglas]

i like that laserized carbine with the sling...

 

[ranedouglas]

...all right. it's gonna over 75 degrees here in fort worth tomorrow. i'll test it a bit . the laser stuff seemed a bit fatigued , so i went with macarri's r1 power kit : http://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/catalog/item/251488/5372266.htm  . they look much the same, except for the wire and macarri's spacer atop the tophat , which is a very hard plastic around 1/4" thick. his wire is .138 and the laser wire was more like .148, like the drop in spring. after getting the stack height of each situation , the power kit had the closet to five inches altogether.

 

[ranedouglas]

.....and , by the way , does anyone know what this laser lube is ?? looks like what the street girls wear for eye makeup around here....gold or brazen and glittery...

 

[kingfisher61]

.....and , by the way , does anyone know what this laser lube is ?? looks like what the street girls wear for eye makeup around here....gold or brazen and glittery...

Paul

From what I can remember, the lube was some type of copper based moly. It dries in older rifles and becomes like resin. How far we have advanced in that area!

 

[DualMagMike]

the laser lube was reported to be copper anti seize compound. yes the one with the sling is Laserized and not a full Lase model as the 2 below it are MKI & MKII. I put a Vortek kit in it, it now makes ~23fpe

 

[ranedouglas]

23 footpounds ? the most i had heard of from this powerplant was around 820 fps........trip..........because i'm about to go back on the bench and rip that macarri power kit right the 'f' outta this r1..... lame-o , mucho lame-o..... 665 fps with 11.42 grain ftt pellets at 750 ft evelation....it should be ABOVE 820 fps..... maybe we shouldda went with tom gore......

 

[Wadcutter]

Paul,

Keep shooting it. Those kits have a longer break-in period for max velocity.

http://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/catalog/item/251488/5372266.htm

Below is an excerpt from kit description on ARH website.

**If you are a first round chronographer you will be disappointed. However you can leave the gun cocked in a safe place (unloaded of course) for an hour or so to speed up the break-in process right after the install.

 

[ranedouglas]

...man.... trust me....i read all of that , more than once and i have done ALL of that...... maybe someone out here knows from expereince if this kit will actually climb from 665 fps to 825+ with .20 cal ftt's ( that's almost 200 fps)........

 

[Wadcutter]

What piston seal did you use with the power kit? Could be it is too tight and should be resized to fit your cylinder. 

 

[ranedouglas]

it is too tight..it's that orange one that looks like a v-mach (steve pope) piston seal. what's the best way to size these piston seals that have no hole in the center , wadcutter ? i have an adaptor to resize webley and diana - type seals ...it just fits onto a cordless drill.....but how does one spin the seal of these hw seals ? spin it after it has been mounted onto the piston somehow - or what would you do here ? it's the seal that comes with the r1 power kit.... kinda like this but orange (and i'm colorblind - so i could be off) :

 

[Franklink]

I've had luck sizing HW seals by installing it on the piston, chucking the piston in a drill (using the cocking latch/rod), and spinning it against sand paper on a small flat piece of hardwood to keep the angle right. On looser fitting seals I've used a sacrificial oring right in the small gap where piston meets seal to keep the seal spinning. Have used 80 grit when the seal was very oversized but I like to finish with 220. I then like to work some moly into the sides of the piston seal to somewhat impregnate the seal .It works into the newly roughed up surface quite well. Finally, I wipe off any excess. Doing it this way seems to give a nice consistent fps. I've never liked the idea of letting it diesel to burn off the excess. Not starting with any excess seems more logical.

Hopefully this applies to the R1, it worked for both my HW50 and 77k, numerous times as I tried out different seals, hunting for that magic combo. 

 

[Wadcutter]

In the past I have used methods similar to Franklink's suggestions above. Access to a metal lathe is ideal. Just pop the seal onto the piston. 3M weatherstrip adhesive can be used to hold in place if loose fitting. Ultimately, the piston and seal should slide into cylinder without excessive force. 

Steven

 

[ranedouglas]

ideally , when i get one just right , i can put the piston into disassembled tube and hold my finger over the tranfer port - and when i release my finger , the piston slides down......some of the uk webleys would do that for me... guys - ive been messing with so many pistons that latch onto the outer edge of the piston (like ones that can easily take a gas ram) i had forgotten about the rod that runs thru the center of german pistons...duh... i'm getting old... what a perfect place to attach a drill.....