Thanks, Zack, yours was one of the reports I mulled over. Very well written. And there is good information in it as I learn this rifle. I noticed the tightness of the breech when pushing it closed, but I believe that in my case, it's more of an issue with the seals themselves.
Quote from: Yarddog on February 13, 2019, 01:58:32 PMThanks, Zack, yours was one of the reports I mulled over. Very well written. And there is good information in it as I learn this rifle. I noticed the tightness of the breech when pushing it closed, but I believe that in my case, it's more of an issue with the seals themselves.I'm pretty sure that the pop up breech is supposed to be pretty snug. If you lube the sides of the pop-up breech, and the seals themselves, this will help a bit. I would recommend Ballistol. Note that you will have to remove the small o-ring at the end of the stem to remove the breech from the action. Sanding the stem also eases the breech motion a bit (on my rifle, the stem was a bit rough).I'm glad that you got a shooter - Good Luck!
Thanks for the hw57 report. I’ve always wondered about the design of this gun. Why the pop up loading port and all the issues, real or imagined, that it creates? Seems like a scaled down 10-12fpe version of the hw97k would have been the better option. R
I look at it like this if that loading system was so great? Why would Diana and a few other manufacture's who use to make rifles with this type of loading system discontinue this design? I'll tell u why, because their were to many issues with this type of breech, the accuracy was to inconsistent and people had to many problems with the seals sealing correctly, and the cost to produce them out weighed further production, forums like this keep us informed, so as we all know when the latest and greatest is out there if it not up to snuff people are not going to buy it! Reviews and experience are what sells these toy's we play with! I agree that their are good and bad on all the brands out there, hit and miss so to speak, but when theirs more bad then good I'm not going to invest my money into a chance! the 57 has had more then just breech issues, theirs another gentleman on here who has a rifle that didn't even have the entire barrel rifled in the barrel, and that's not the only barrel issue I have read about from these rifles, the 57 IMO is small and light enough it could be made like the 97/77 and not be effected by the issues that plague this model! people complained for yrs about the HW30 and 50's cocking arms rubbing the compression tube, tho a minor fix it was it should have been fixed from the factory yrs ago! IMO if HW wanted to reach a bigger crowd on this model they need to make the gun like its bigger brothers, and eliminate the said issues, these little rifles are not cheap! When I think HW I think QUALITY!!!! ITS not a Diana!!! its an HW!!!! HW needs to get rid of that MICKEY MOUSE loading port! I guarantee u if they did they probably wouldn't be able to make them fast enough to keep up with the demand for them! as said we live in the information world, my 2 extra cents!
So, uh...there I was, yesterday, shooting that new -57, getting pretty good accuracy out of it. My neighbor and shooting buddy happens by, and obviously, I'm gonna invite him to shoot the new fellow, right? I demonstrate...twice...the proper cocking and loading drill, I caution him to make sure he pushes that port down all the way...and hand it over to him to load, cock, and shoot. He shoots...and WOW! Something ain't right, there! Very loud report, no pellet goes out, and we start looking for the lost pellet... and, we find it. Still in the loading port, nose flattened up against the forward breech, and a hole thru the pellet! The doofus didn't seat the port down all the way, denials forthcoming from him, but I'm pretty good at sifting thru the BS...and I wonder...I wonder just how fouled up things have gotten, I betcha all the air didn't got thru that pellet! Never seen anything...or heard anything...like that before.Well, needless to say, bring back 'shotgun time'! First I blame the scope, but then, after a little thought, I realize I'm on the wrong track...run it thru the chronometer again, no surprise, I've lost about ten to fifteen percent velocity, and I pull it apart to find what I expected...a trashed piston seal. Cracked, blown out, ya'll know the drill! It's not a warranty repair, it's all on me, and besides, I voided any warranty when I took it apart.Got a new Vortek seal coming, so the best I can do is just get philosophical, and reason that I was gonna pull it apart anyway and get rid of all that excess lube, cuz it was pretty juicy from the factory! Everything else looks good, breech seals good, no other damage, but I gotta adjust my generous attitude...I've never hurt an airgun, but this is the second air rifle that someone else has damaged in my short time in this sport! I'll see how it ends up after I clean things up, install the new seal, carefully relube things as per the good information I've gotten here, and see how it all pans out. I still like the rifle, and it was a breeze to disassemble, and it showed me that it had potential... and the adventures continue! If there's a better seal out there than the Vortek, I'm all ears. If there's anything else I should be aware of...other than "ya shoulda got this or that rifle"...I'm listening!
Quote from: Yarddog on February 17, 2019, 08:55:21 PMSo, uh...there I was, yesterday, shooting that new -57, getting pretty good accuracy out of it. My neighbor and shooting buddy happens by, and obviously, I'm gonna invite him to shoot the new fellow, right? I demonstrate...twice...the proper cocking and loading drill, I caution him to make sure he pushes that port down all the way...and hand it over to him to load, cock, and shoot. He shoots...and WOW! Something ain't right, there! Very loud report, no pellet goes out, and we start looking for the lost pellet... and, we find it. Still in the loading port, nose flattened up against the forward breech, and a hole thru the pellet! The doofus didn't seat the port down all the way, denials forthcoming from him, but I'm pretty good at sifting thru the BS...and I wonder...I wonder just how fouled up things have gotten, I betcha all the air didn't got thru that pellet! Never seen anything...or heard anything...like that before.Well, needless to say, bring back 'shotgun time'! First I blame the scope, but then, after a little thought, I realize I'm on the wrong track...run it thru the chronometer again, no surprise, I've lost about ten to fifteen percent velocity, and I pull it apart to find what I expected...a trashed piston seal. Cracked, blown out, ya'll know the drill! It's not a warranty repair, it's all on me, and besides, I voided any warranty when I took it apart.Got a new Vortek seal coming, so the best I can do is just get philosophical, and reason that I was gonna pull it apart anyway and get rid of all that excess lube, cuz it was pretty juicy from the factory! Everything else looks good, breech seals good, no other damage, but I gotta adjust my generous attitude...I've never hurt an airgun, but this is the second air rifle that someone else has damaged in my short time in this sport! I'll see how it ends up after I clean things up, install the new seal, carefully relube things as per the good information I've gotten here, and see how it all pans out. I still like the rifle, and it was a breeze to disassemble, and it showed me that it had potential... and the adventures continue! If there's a better seal out there than the Vortek, I'm all ears. If there's anything else I should be aware of...other than "ya shoulda got this or that rifle"...I'm listening! I'm a big fan of OEM seals. I don't like the Vortek moly seals, because I have found that they can shrink after a short amount of time. I'm also not a big fan of ARH seals, ONLY because they need to be properly sized. They are of excellent quality, as Jim does great work. The OEM seals are going to fit, and tend to last a long time.Also, it may not be your neighbors fault. I had the loading port pop up after a shot, and it sounded like a 22 rimfire going off. I was also 100% sure that I lowered the tap all of the way. I think this is just a possible flaw of the loading tap.Good luck!
Wholeheartedly going to disagree on OEM seals being best .... IF YOUR LUCKY to get a seal that is fitting correctly and was not damaged during factory assembly you end up with good shooting gun.have a damaged seal ( Quite common ) or a seal that fits on the loose side shot cycle suffers and a wide ES generally results. A spring piston air gun being tuned will "Nearly" always find improvement with a correctly fitted seal which may be a sized down OEM seal or Aftermarket.Fit is paramount and you may get a good fit with a vortek seal, maybe not, same as OEM ... but if your wanting a specific fit and have the ability to size correctly ... IMO few one size fits all seals will be as good as one that came oversize and is PRECISELY fitted to the Compression tube ones using.JMO tho ...
Indeed, a debugging will happen before putting it together, and I'll research what it takes to size the seal...thanks, gents, for your input!