Pro Sport spring guide?

[Jarkko]

After using hw97k for years, i wanted to step up the game and bought a pro sport .177.

And it surely is very nice after hw97k but one thing wonders me:

It is widely kept as ”tuned from the factory gun” that you dont have to mess with by any means. Why is the spring guide so loose in this gun? Should it be so? Even my hatsan 125 has a tight fit spring guide, not to mention my Weihrauch.

Is it faulty? I paid 1025€ for the gun so i was expecting something else.

The twang is not horrible but it is there, even though very little.

Maybe my expectation was too high regarding the shot cycle from the factory

Trigger and everything else sure is on another level.

[Toxylon]

There are no spring guns, at any price point, anymore, that didn't usually need work to make them tick. Twangy AA's aren't rare, and some of them have had serious manufacturing defects, up to cracked compression chambers, over the past decade or so. Ordering online, without a test shoot, is pretty close to rolling the dice, although the percentages go up the higher up the food chain you go.

My Walther LGV, like many other LGV's, was perfect from the get go. Gaylord wrote of his: "this gun feels like an expertly tuned gun, out of the box.", and I agree. But even here, there were people who had twangy etc. LGV's. And they aren't manufactured anymore, because it was just too expensive to make spring guns like that.

[Frank in Fairfield]

In my TX200, Motörhead, put in a DELRIN spring guide he made on his lathe.
This seems to be done by all tuners.
The ProSport uses the same spring guide.
I watched Scott do it and if I had a lathe I could make one.
When I rebuilt my TX Scott’s spring guide was TOO tight for the new spring so I didn’t use it.
Now the TX is a little twangy.
(Note: I shot my R1 for 30 years before I joined the GTA and became aware of TWANG.)
But it doesn’t bother me one IOTA!

[nced]

"this gun feels like an expertly tuned gun, out of the box."
Several years ago a shooter used his LGV at a field target match I attended and he let me take a few shots with it. Well, the gun was nicely finished and accurate, however I was less that "impressed" with the shot cycle. Still, I was curious enough to check the LGV further and was a bit disappointed by the cast metal clam shell assembly, stamped sheet metal trigger parts and "plastic" trigger blade considering the price...........


Anywhoo, certainly a "different strokes for different folks" issue with this one!

[Frank in Fairfield]

I agree with you Ed.
I had an LGV for a very short while.

[Fred J]

My TX200 has a bit of a twang with the stock spring guides. This mild twang did not effect the accuracy of the rifle.

I tried Vortek kits in the gun, which got rid of the twang, but the Vortek spring lost power or broke after 5,000 shots.

I finally settled on a TBT guides from the UK, with the stock spring. This got rid of the twang and maintained power for over 30,000 shots. These guides are real tight. The TBT guides did reduce the power of the rifle from 15.2 fpe to 14.2 fpe. I added a couple of power washers to bring the power back up to 15.7 fpe, but the shot cycle became somewhat harsh (recoil and surge).

I took the power washers out, which makes the rifle a joy to shoot. 14.2 fpe is plenty of power for Field Target and occasional pest control. I have noted that the reduction of recoil and forward surge during the shot cycle makes the rifle less hold sensitive.

Nick Stannus (TBT) now provides approve spring with the TBT guides, which he claims is much better than the stock spring.

[Frank in Fairfield]

Right on Fred.
I shot my TX with the original springs/rings, etc., 50,000 times at 885fps with 8.64gr pellets.
Scott put his DELRIN spring follower in.
Then last year the speed dropped to 820fps and my FT scores went from 50% to down around 30%.
(I told you I am not competition for anyone.)
I put in the factory rebuild kit (I did not use Scott’s DELRIN because it was too tight) and it was shooting right at 12fpe for about 500 shots.
Then, while shooting short range silhouette , the power jumped to over 14fpe with the speed at 860fps.
Now, after about 3500 shot on the new spring the power has settled inn at 13.5 fpe with the speed right 830fps with the same 8.64 grain pellet.
There is some twang (I mentioned that already, huh?) yes, but I don’t mind.

[Jarkko]

Just got ready with lube tune with pro sport and hw97k. The hw went from twang to zero twang. Like shooting a gas ram.

Pro sport went a lot worse than before lube tune. It’s awfully twangy compared to hw when i shot both in the garage. AA’s shot cycle is not that strong as in hw and i would say it’s better but it’s nasty to shoot because of the twang and also the sound of the twang varies almost from shot to shot.


AA’s spring was under a HEAVY grease from the factory. Wich route should i go? Putting a heavy moly grease in the spring or get a decent spring guide?

What moly do you recommend?

There is now lubro teknin sg3 heavy duty grease but thats not so heavy that i could  cover the spring with it. And this is also not ”moly”?

I would prefer the grease methold if possible because im not sure were i could source the new better spring + guide delivered here in Finland.

[Jarkko]

Just had the gun open. Did three things:

-added more grease to spring (lubroteknik sg3)
-sanded spring ends with 2000 sanding paper
-checked if the guide will fit better in one end of the spring. Find out that there was a slight difference.

As a result the gun now shoot’s like a dream. No noticable twang anymore and the sound doesn’t change from shot to shot.

[nced]

Just got ready with lube tune with pro sport and hw97k. The hw went from twang to zero twang. Like shooting a gas ram.

Pro sport went a lot worse than before lube tune. It’s awfully twangy compared to hw when i shot both in the garage. AA’s shot cycle is not that strong as in hw and i would say it’s better but it’s nasty to shoot because of the twang and also the sound of the twang varies almost from shot to shot.


AA’s spring was under a HEAVY grease from the factory. Wich route should i go? Putting a heavy moly grease in the spring or get a decent spring guide?

What moly do you recommend?

There is now lubro teknin sg3 heavy duty grease but thats not so heavy that i could  cover the spring with it. And this is also not ”moly”?

I would prefer the grease methold if possible because im not sure were i could source the new better spring + guide delivered here in Finland.

"Putting a heavy moly grease in the spring or get a decent spring guide?"
Personal opinion/experience here!
When I first tried killing twang and vibration with the .177 R9s I bought decades ago I also started with "spring tar" slathered on the spring. The thick "molly bearing stuff" did kill twang for a while however there was a bad side effect with the goopy stuff. The main issue I had was the fact that the "goop" made my R9 "temperature sensitive" where the poi would change with changes in lube viscosity due to the temperature. When my brother and I would go on a squirrel hunt and zero the R9s (he had one too) in a cold fall morning all was good till the afternoon and the temp rose into the 50s. My brother and I were shooting hunter class field target a some fun "practice for squirrel shooting" and during one spring match we both had a 1" poi shift as the match was ending. An experienced springer shooter advised us to strip out all the "spring tar" and relube with only a thin coating of molly paste. This was done and indeed the "temp induced poi shifting" was reduced but the twang/vibration returned. IMHO, the only long term twang/vibration method is a tight fitting spring guide and top hat.

I ended up buying a small bench top lathe and making my own Delrin spring guides for my springers.......


"What moly do you recommend?"
Whatever you use don't "slather the stuff" because it can migrate past the piston seal and diesel causing erratic velocity! Of course, if you're trying to kill twang this isn't an option. Here is an example of "too much molly" and a couple pics of molly paste that thickened in a sealed tub by outgassing.........


Years ago I stopped using dieseling prone molly lubes that also thicken in time as the petroleum based carrier out gasses replacing all my springer lubes with non-dieseling synthetic lube called Dupont Krytox (I like the GPL205 version).....

[Toxylon]

"this gun feels like an expertly tuned gun, out of the box."
Several years ago a shooter used his LGV at a field target match I attended and he let me take a few shots with it. Well, the gun was nicely finished and accurate, however I was less that "impressed" with the shot cycle. Still, I was curious enough to check the LGV further and was a bit disappointed by the cast metal clam shell assembly, stamped sheet metal trigger parts and "plastic" trigger blade considering the price...........

I agree the trigger system realization (but not function!) is the What Were They Thinking? moment for the LGV / LGU. Every gun has 'em, no matter the price tag or prestige, from the Lowe's aluminum profile, hand-digging cocking arm of the ProSport, or the cast, crack-prone cocking shoe of all AA springers on.

After thousands and thousands of pellets shot from my LGV, the trigger works perfectly. The superbly positioned and functioning re-settable safety is a joy to use, the best on the market. If I get tired of the plastic trigger blade, metal aftermarket ones are to be had from several sources.

I have heard of LGV's that didn't have a superb shot cycle. Early specimens especially seem to have had issues, no different from car manufacturers. But there are many who had the same experience as me. Tom Gaylord and Terry Doe, for a couple of illuminaries from both sides of the Pond. "The best new breakbarrel of the past 50 years" quote is no exaggeration.

FWIW, my LGV is a late one, from after many years of production.

These days, people seem to pay way more for an LGV than what they went for when new. How's that for appreciation?