Broke a spring today

[FPoole]

I was warming up my main FT TX200 and the cocking lever suddenly felt a bit off. It was just a bit easy to cock, but I opened it up and found 4 coils snapped off the top end and threaded down into itself. Was grouping really nice at 25m and only half a foot or so low at 50m. I had a new spring with loads of preload and it fit the guide great, so I dropped it in just to get going again. Took my first shot at 25m and hit the pellet hole I was aiming at. Now this was straight from the repair with no sight in shots. I'm now way over your legal limit, but I only had the mega spring. It is still twang free and very accurate. I guess I have to get out the chrono to check actual power and see if a short stroke piston or maybe just removing the weight in the piston will be back around 12 ft. lbs. For the record, the last spring had been in the gun for a year or two and that's not bad. I shoot a lot of pellets, but I had taken a 6 month break so this spring only made maybe 10,000 shots.

[wastrel]

which make of spring was it?

[FPoole]

I can't remember which spring it was, having 7 TX's running at any one time. I have this box of old springs that I discard after they've lost velocity. Strange thing is that they seem to work well after they sit in the box for a year or two, just not up to speed without more spacing. They mostly get crooked or a coil collapses and this plays havoc with accuracy. The spring must be pretty much straight for best accuracy. I've read that this is not the case and a snug guide will keep them straight even if they're crooked. I once had a fantastic shooter(same gun that I just re-sprung) that suddenly just wouldn't group like I knew it should. It sort of walked around the edges of the 1/2" ring on paper and it normally was inside the 1/2" ring at 25m. I pulled the spring and it was curved pretty bad. I dropped in a new spring and all was well. I've had this happen many times since and it's always a new spring that brings back the accuracy. My problem these days is my FT hold isn't as steady and I just can't tell if it's gun or shooter. I will add that Air Arms springs seem to be the best in terms of staying straight and retaining velocity for the kind of shooting I do. Problem is, the last FAC AA spring I bought wouldn't fit into my pistons. I really liked the old MarkII springs.