Many owners of airguns with a spring-piston trigger mechanism had heard about the miraculous gas spring. There are a lot of positive reviews in the media about this pneumatic accessory, but there is no information at all about the principle of operation and the process of installing it on a rifle. This needs to be fixed urgently. The focus of this article is a gas spring for pneumatics, its device and recommendations for selection and installation.
What is a gas spring?
For most people, a spring is a metal wire of high rigidity, wound in turns. But to imagine the participation of gas in this design is very problematic. Actually, you don’t need to imagine anything, the gas spring for pneumatics has this name thanks to the similar actions of the spring - when compressed, it decompresses.
The mechanism is very simple: there is a cylinder of a certain volume and a rod with a special cuff at the end, so as not to let in air compressed in the cylinder. Under the influence of physical efforts, the rod is pushed into the cylinder, compressing the air in it. At the time of the shot, a special bypass valve opens , which pushes the bulb outward with high pressure.
For a complete understanding of the principle of action, you can take a look at any car that has a rear trunk lid that opens and holds open thanks to a gas spring. That's just the opening is due to the return of the rod to its original position.
The logic of the masters does not fail
If you think about it, you can come to the thought of creating a gas spring from improvised means, the same car accessories for opening the trunk. A homemade gas spring for pneumatics will definitely cost the owner of a weapon much cheaper than acquiring a company one. It will not be difficult for craftsmen to drill a cylinder and install a bypass valve with the same ball mechanism that innovators love to mount in cars.
This entire system has one big pitfall - the small wall thickness of the working cylinder, which is not designed to work with high pressures. It is this reason that always leads to a gas spring rupture and damage to airgun modules. Perhaps this advice is useful to Kulibin: branded gas springs have a wall thickness of 2-2.5 mm, a cylinder for opening the trunk of the domestic auto industry is 1-1.5 mm, and foreign production is 1.5-2.5 mm.
What does this give the owner of pneumatics?
Having understood the device of a gas spring for pneumatics, the owner will wonder if he needs it at all. After all, replacing a standard spring-piston system with an expensive device requires at least complete disassembly and proper assembly of the weapon, not to mention the price and difficulty in servicing. In fact, there are much more advantages than disadvantages, and any owner of pneumatics should know about them.
- Constant high power. The constancy lies in the fact that, unlike a coil spring, to which the law of metal fatigue applies, a gas spring holds constant pressure during operation. The spring-piston mechanism has a drawback - the pressure during decompression drops after 50% of the effective action is performed, because the air that pushes the bullet creates an inverse resistance to the piston.
- Lack of two-way recoil when fired. Actual problem for shooters using expensive optics. The gas spring works unilaterally - compresses the gas, and the shot is made by bleeding compressed air. Naturally, the return is the same as in military weapons.
Going to action
Installing a gas spring on pneumatics is a rather complicated and time-consuming process. Many owners of airguns entrust this work to professionals, often played by sellers in the weapons store. However, judging by the numerous reviews in the media, the installation process is best done independently, in addition, all branded springs are accompanied by complete modernization instructions in Russian.
Before installing a gas spring, it is recommended that you take the time to study specialized sources of information on upgrading weapons that will be upgraded. Very often, professionals recommend to increase the power to seal the excess grooves of the breech with epoxy resin or to make boring and grinding in the nodes of the weapon. All modernization actions are always accompanied by photographs, so there should be no mistrust in the sources of information.
Only stars above
When it comes to the most powerful air rifles in the world, for some reason only one weapon comes to mind - Hatsan-125 pneumatics. The gas spring for this rifle is a real find, because the main problem of this weapon is a strong bilateral return. It is not clear why the manufacturer did not notice this during testing, because until recently, all rifles had a spring-piston system. Only after the presentation of the Vortex modification did the world's most powerful gas spring rifle appear on the market.
It is clear that the modernized rifle has become even more powerful, but the Turkish manufacturer is positioning it on a completely different side. Previously, the “Hatsan-125” was popularly called the “optics killer”, but after restyling you can forget about such a nickname. Thanks to the gas spring in the trigger mechanism, any optical sights became available to the owners of this wonderful weapon, even in the cheap segment.
Market trends
This is not to say that a gas spring air rifle is by far the most popular among potential buyers. The market is slowly being conquered by weapons with a pre-pumping system. Along with low returns, new items have much more advantages than weapons with a gas spring.
- Rate of fire. There is no need to bend or retract anything - the cylinder will be pumped 30-50 shots forward, and all that the owner needs is to install the bullet in the breech of the barrel. The revolving type system for 7-12 charges copes quite well with the goal.
- Pressure adjustment. Sometimes for entertainment or hunting, 300 meters per second is enough for a bullet to pierce the target through and through. But the decrease in pressure greatly affects the number of shots, which are often not enough for hunting.
- Small dimensions and weight. The barrel, starting from the butt and the trigger pulled forward, made the weapon very compact and light.
Increased demand for classic pneumatics?
It is not surprising that with the release of pre-pumped systems, potential buyers are in no hurry to run to the store to shop. It's all about the price, which holds back most buyers from a bad purchase. A gas spring for pneumatics is definitely cheaper for a buyer than acquiring a superweapon.
Experts in the media recommend not chasing after innovations, they themselves will come to the owners of airguns when the time comes.
Indeed, in classical pneumatics, if you understand, there are many advantages that deprived expensive pre-pumped systems. The same security - no seller can be sure that the supplied cylinder can withstand the maximum pressure. But in the media there are a lot of photographs that depict torn cylinders with company logos of the manufacturer.
Finally
As can be seen from the review, a gas spring for pneumatics is not so complicated at first glance. The principle of its action is quite simple, and dignity is evident. Yes, installation during the modernization process is not easy, but why not entrust the work to specialists who will make obsolete weapons that have long been written off, a new toy with great potential for hunting and entertainment.