First, I would like to thank Tom at Vortek, for his incredible patience and tremendous customer service, as we communicated a great deal with regards to this project. He is second to none to work with as a vendor and subject expert relative to spring gun power plants.
Second, thanks to all of you that have taken the time to post on-line videos regarding the disassembly and reassembly of the RWS side lever series rifles. They sure made my life easier the first time, and I can now disassemble and reassemble the 48 and 56 series rifles in about 30 minutes time, unless I am going for a total seal change-out, then an hour or so is required. A total piston and compression tube polish, barrel cleaning, and repower can be accomplished in about three hours time, for those of you that are contemplating such a project.
My goal was to take the often touted "scope crushing," high recoiling 48 and 56, and turn them into an extremely pleasant and smooth rifle to cock, and shoot, with deadly and dependable accuracy. Already known for their accuracy, these guns have a reputation to not only be devastating to scopes, but to seals as well. Having owned several of these guns, my experience is that even though they are accurate at their factory output levels, one cannot keep the scope on the target through the shot and follow through.
I decided to "tame" them and see what the results would be.
I purchased a 1992 RWS 48 gun on e-bay, nearly like new. It is old enough, that the safety was made of steel, and rotated up instead of being pushed straight in like current models. Though it hardly appeared to have been shot, the grease had totally dried up and turned hard.
With Tom's help and mentoring, I learned how to install a Vortek Pg3 Steel <12 Ft Lb tuning kit, adding the two 3/8" shim washers supplied. All parts were hand polished to a mirror finish before reinstalling with new seals and lube. The results were incredible. It is a dream to now shoot and cock, and the accuracy from 18 yards to 50 yards is remarkable. I settled on the 7.87 Gr Air Arms Express pellet, as a result of the two50 yard 10 shot groups averaging under 1" C-t-C. I couldn't ask for a better result.
As for my 56 TH, my request of Tom was a spring kit that would produce between 15 and 16 FPE, stepping the rifle down from its current 19.8 FPE output. He manufactured and shipped out a custom 27 coil PG3 Steel spring kit for me. Again, the rifle is now a dream to shoot, so much smoother in the cocking stroke and shooting cycle. It shot the Hades and AA 18.0 grain pellets "lights out". I quit working on it when the final 50 yard test target produced a group of 1.11" C-t-C, though 6 of the 10 shots were inside 3/8".
Tuning these two rifles to shoot so smoothly and accurately was a great project. Thanks for your interest.
Second, thanks to all of you that have taken the time to post on-line videos regarding the disassembly and reassembly of the RWS side lever series rifles. They sure made my life easier the first time, and I can now disassemble and reassemble the 48 and 56 series rifles in about 30 minutes time, unless I am going for a total seal change-out, then an hour or so is required. A total piston and compression tube polish, barrel cleaning, and repower can be accomplished in about three hours time, for those of you that are contemplating such a project.
My goal was to take the often touted "scope crushing," high recoiling 48 and 56, and turn them into an extremely pleasant and smooth rifle to cock, and shoot, with deadly and dependable accuracy. Already known for their accuracy, these guns have a reputation to not only be devastating to scopes, but to seals as well. Having owned several of these guns, my experience is that even though they are accurate at their factory output levels, one cannot keep the scope on the target through the shot and follow through.
I decided to "tame" them and see what the results would be.
I purchased a 1992 RWS 48 gun on e-bay, nearly like new. It is old enough, that the safety was made of steel, and rotated up instead of being pushed straight in like current models. Though it hardly appeared to have been shot, the grease had totally dried up and turned hard.
With Tom's help and mentoring, I learned how to install a Vortek Pg3 Steel <12 Ft Lb tuning kit, adding the two 3/8" shim washers supplied. All parts were hand polished to a mirror finish before reinstalling with new seals and lube. The results were incredible. It is a dream to now shoot and cock, and the accuracy from 18 yards to 50 yards is remarkable. I settled on the 7.87 Gr Air Arms Express pellet, as a result of the two50 yard 10 shot groups averaging under 1" C-t-C. I couldn't ask for a better result.
As for my 56 TH, my request of Tom was a spring kit that would produce between 15 and 16 FPE, stepping the rifle down from its current 19.8 FPE output. He manufactured and shipped out a custom 27 coil PG3 Steel spring kit for me. Again, the rifle is now a dream to shoot, so much smoother in the cocking stroke and shooting cycle. It shot the Hades and AA 18.0 grain pellets "lights out". I quit working on it when the final 50 yard test target produced a group of 1.11" C-t-C, though 6 of the 10 shots were inside 3/8".
Tuning these two rifles to shoot so smoothly and accurately was a great project. Thanks for your interest.
