GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => European/Asian Air Gun Gates => Czech & Russian Air Guns => Topic started by: subscriber on November 08, 2018, 08:27:47 PM
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I got my red plastic stock Slavia 634 yesterday. There is something "just right" about it.
The 634 reminds me very much of the 620 I had between 1974 and 1995. The 634 is just quite a bit more potent. I was concerned about the barrel latch, but find it does not seem to bother me. Certainly, not having to pluck or slap the barrel out of detent is a plus.
The cocking effort is very easy: It starts very soft and allows you to build momentum; so if you cock it quickly, the impression is that the peak force is very low. If you deliberately slow down half way, then the peak force feels much heavier (rated at 30 lb).
Certainly, this airgun seems more powerful than the total cocking effort would suggest. I have not measured the velocity, but was looking at the width and depth of penetration in a block of oil based modelling clay, that I have "imprinted" with various other airguns recently.
The sights are an interesting mix of fine target post, with glowing red and green fiber optics. I find them very fast to acquire, and precise enough to immediately enable keeping shots inside an inch at 10 yards, offhand. I used to eschew fiber optic sights as a fad, but now that my close focusing ability is history; I find that I could use them on all my open sight "projectors".
The above impression of potential accuracy is within the first 25 / 30 shots, where there was enough smoke to suggest some excess lube burning off. Also, I find the trigger quite usable right out of the box. May adjust it down later, but it is probably around 3 lb right now. And more crisp than reading threads about trigger improvements to the 634 here on GTA would suggest.
I tried various RWS and JSB pellets. All of them seem to work rather well.
My immediate impression is that this air rifle would be a steal at $100 (even though I paid $158 from CZ-USA). The idea of buying another one before they are "all gone"occurred to me, so I spent about 40 minutes researching "old stock" in obscure places. I found 38 red stock 634s listed for sale at Cromwell's Firearms for $107:
http://www.cromwellsfirearms.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=slavia&product_id=88455 (http://www.cromwellsfirearms.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=slavia&product_id=88455)
If it were not for their website's lack an SSL connection, I might have bought two more on the spot. Should probably phone them before you guys buy all of these bargains up :)
Also found blue ones at Armory Supplies for $160: https://armorysupplies.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=slavia (https://armorysupplies.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=slavia)
Then there is CZ-USA at $158: https://shop.cz-usa.com/ProductDetail/07009_Slavia-634--Cal-45mm-Airgun--Red-Stock (https://shop.cz-usa.com/ProductDetail/07009_Slavia-634--Cal-45mm-Airgun--Red-Stock)
Have any of you ever heard of Cromwell's Firearms? It may be their obscurity that has them still have "so many" 634s at such a good price...
The only real negative is the spring buzz. It is louder than any of my other springers (HW and RWS). This buzz is not a surprise, and I have seen many discussions on how to improve that. The fact that this airgun will come apart without a spring compressor is one of the reasons I am willing to buy one with the intent of "fixing" it. If getting it back together proves difficult, I will use my lathe tailstock with live center (and appropriate support adapter) to drive the parts back together.
The hard butt pad actually seems to let some sharpness though that my old shoulder finds surprising. My RWS 350s are soft shooting; unless you pull them hard into your shoulder. Then they have rather a hard thump to them. I have not tried different holds with the new 634; just use my typical light hold, as if it is a .22 rimfire. With a light hold, the RWS 350s have one saying; "what recoil?"
Now, it is possible that what I am feeling is related to the spring buzz, and that after that is dealt with, the other apparent sharpness will be gone. If not, then a rubber butt pad on the 634 should take care of it...
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I too, am a big proponent of the cz 634.... A little trigger work, added weight in the stock and about a teaspoon of heavy tar on the spring and one has a sweet shot cycle - a good enough trigger - and comes pretty close to being as accurate as my R7 - while shooting @ 800 fps.... I don't think anything comes close to being as good as this "cheap" springer.. I'd highly recommend them...……….
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A favourite for accuracy at a modest price.
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Subscriber, Thanx for your post notifying us to the existence of the 634's. I bought one and am one happy camper. Thanx again. Joe
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I have a blue 634 and a 631 great guns. To me they're fine as is and don't need anything done to them. I don't pay any attention to "spring buzz". It never made me miss. Seems natural for a unloading spring. Maybe that's why I don't like gas rams, they don't buzz or twang.
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EDIT: Feedback based on prior experience at the thread link, suggests too much risk of the rollers falling out and damaging the gun.
While I understand the instinct to leave airguns alone, or not buy ones that are not "good" out of the box, I just posted an idea about reducing spring windup related vibration, here:
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=150566.msg1538014#msg1538014 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=150566.msg1538014#msg1538014)
These images provide a clue:
(https://www.mcmaster.com/mvB/Contents/gfx/ImageCache/590/5909K33p1-d03c-digitall@2x_636395278560719046.png?ver=ImageNotFound) (https://www.mcmaster.com/mvB/Contents/gfx/ImageCache/590/5909K46p1-d03c-digitall@2x_636397874683838896.png?ver=ImageNotFound)
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Subscriber, Thanx for your post notifying us to the existence of the 634's. I bought one and am one happy camper. Thanx again. Joe
Hi Joe,
Please let us know how you like the 634. And the buying experience from Cromwell's.
Delivery must be imminent :)
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the spring buzz is a typical for all slavia because their spring guides are way too loose and too short.
The best solution to eliminate that is to buy or make a fitted spring guide and all the noise and vibration will go away.
Also piston sleeve made from the beer aluminium foil should do the job, it will lower spring vibration.
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Nice find, Subscriber sir 8)
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Subscriber, Thanx for your post notifying us to the existence of the 634's. I bought one and am one happy camper. Thanx again. Joe
Hi Joe,
By now you should be able to tell us if your experience with Cromwell's was as satisfactory as that you reported here for Richies: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=57768.msg553512#msg553512 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=57768.msg553512#msg553512)
It would be a public service to provide some feedback on the new purchase. Is your second 634 just like your first?
Thanks
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Love mine. It's stupid accurate. Does anyone know where to find springs and seals? I have posted this question previously. I checked the CZ website and a spring and seal with shipping will cost almost as much as I paid for the gun. I agree for the money these are awesome-poor man's (blue plastic) HW50.
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Scotty,
I wish I had saved the links where sources for replacement springs and seals were discussed on various airgun forums. I convinced myself that this would not be a problem, and that for so little money for the rifle I was not taking a big chance.
Looking through my browsing history may have found sources you have seen:
https://www.afg-defense.eu/piston-seal-slavia-634/ (https://www.afg-defense.eu/piston-seal-slavia-634/)
https://www.afg-defense.eu/airgun-standard-mainspring-for-slavia-634/ (https://www.afg-defense.eu/airgun-standard-mainspring-for-slavia-634/)
Then there is this:
I bought another 634 to detune and make an indoor plinker. The piston seal had a big rip and it wasn't sealing well. So I grabbed my calipers and coffee can of old piston seals....
Long story short: the oem seal from my Gamo Accu was the same size and fit well other than needing the O.D. sanded down a few thou to fit the tube perfectly.
So if you need a seal, check out the ones for the Gamo family of rifles that share the same seal with the Accu. I believe the Crosman B19 series are the same seal as well? I'm going to to order a few seals from Crosman and see the next time I have a 634 apart.
Thanks. Spare parts availability is my only gripe with Cz. Any idea where to find a spring to fit as well?
I'm experimenting with a .113 Vortek spring right now. It fits perfectly on the rear guide that I expanded slightly.
Full length at 35 coils gives 10.42 fpe, but is hard to install, (too much preload) and harsh shot cycle.
28 coils gives 7.98 fpe, very easy to install, easy to cock, and smooth shot cycle.
27.5 coils produces 7.8 fpe, has about half inch of preload, easy to cock, smoooth. This is where I stopped because I am tuning to make an easy-shooting rifle.
I don't have data for the range of coils between 35 and 28 because I didn't realize my piston seal was so bad when I was experimenting in that range. The 35 coil data was taken after replacing the piston seal by using another new spring I bought for another project.
Based on my results, if I wanted a factory 10 fpe power level and shot cycle I'd order a spring with 32 coils. Or I'd go with the .118" spring.
Here's the spring:
http://vortekproducts.com/ourstore/airgun%20Springs/Air-Gun-Springs/spring-coil%20spring-airgun%20spring (ftp://vortekproducts.com/ourstore/airgun%20Springs/Air-Gun-Springs/spring-coil%20spring-airgun%20spring)
I also have a Vortek .118" spring. The I.D. is a few thou smaller than the stock spring and about .010 smaller on the O.D. It fits slightly tighter than stock on the rear guide, but still a loose fit. I didn't try it, but I'll bet it would be a drop in replacement if you called Tom and told him how long your stock spring is and wanted the new one cut to the same length. From eyeballing what I have here it looks like 28 coils would do it. I'd likely order 30 and clip a half of a coil at a time until I got what I wanted.
http://vortekproducts.com/ourstore/airgun%20Springs/Air-Gun-Springs?product_id=106 (ftp://vortekproducts.com/ourstore/airgun%20Springs/Air-Gun-Springs?product_id=106)
http://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/page/page/251485.htm (http://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/page/page/251485.htm)
I am sure there were other sources on GTA and on Airgunnation. I was looking for threads on the 634 and stumbled on the spring / seal topic...
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Thanks much for this info subscriber. I always thought I could make up a spring but the seals were my worry. I actually have a couple of old crosman seals so may go that route.
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Folks,
I was happy with my new 634, till I discovered something I consider an anomaly that should make it spray like a shotgun (but doesn't).
As I would like other 634 owners to chime in, I started a thread on that specific topic here: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=150965.msg1542491#msg1542491 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=150965.msg1542491#msg1542491)
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UPDATE: I just called Cromwell's to order two Slavia's. They told me that the link to stock I sent out was an error in their archiving. So, no actual stock from them:
I found 38 red stock 634s listed for sale at Cromwell's Firearms for $107:
http://www.cromwellsfirearms.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=slavia&product_id=88455 (http://www.cromwellsfirearms.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=slavia&product_id=88455)
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Subscriber, I thought I bought one but as it turns out they are out of stock, so out of luck. Thank the gods I got mine when I did [2017] because I love it. Joe
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Joe, I just bought another one from Armory Supplies. I have a red one, so I took their last blue one. They have one red 634 left:
https://armorysupplies.com/cz-usa-slavia-634-lux-177-red-syn-stock-07009
I got my red on from CZ-USA. They are now completely out of stock:
https://shop.cz-usa.com/ProductDetail/07009_Slavia-634--Cal-45mm-Airgun--Red-Stock
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There's a blue one for sale in the member classifieds.
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Thanks Dennis.
Here is the link to that item: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=151324.msg1546603#msg1546603 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=151324.msg1546603#msg1546603)