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All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => European/Asian Air Gun Gates => China/Asian AirGun Gate => Topic started by: howie1a on January 01, 2012, 11:41:50 AM

Title: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: howie1a on January 01, 2012, 11:41:50 AM
Hi I got this Ruger Air Hawk Elite rifle from Mike M like most of my rifles , I have modified it and rechaped the stock to be a righty tyrolean type stock also I have shortened the main string to 1/2 of the preload and put a pair of ball bearings on the cocking linkage to replace the one plastic roller. This has make the rifle very nice smooth cocking and by reducing the recoil it has made it shoot better, also the stock has been finished with 12 coats of gloss poly sanded between coats with 400 grit paper and the last sanding was with 600 paper.the beech was left natural and I have added some purple heart wood for trim . The picture of a target is with this rifle at 10 M and using a rest with iron sights ( I like iron sights better more of a challenge ) 5 pellets shot at each target. Howie
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: howie1a on January 01, 2012, 11:55:10 AM
Hi I though I've add a couple of additional pics since the first set didn't show the purple heart very good, Howie
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: Brutuz on January 01, 2012, 12:01:25 PM
Wow that's impressive, very nice !!
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: supertech77 on January 01, 2012, 12:30:21 PM
nice;;;;; very nice;;;;;;;;;;;;;  8)
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: Johnny Z on January 01, 2012, 01:08:52 PM
Very Nice work.
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: VINNY on January 01, 2012, 01:30:04 PM
WOW Howie! Your work is beautiful as ever, and those groups ase sweet!!
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: fperez0209 on January 01, 2012, 01:39:14 PM
Great looking rifle there. nice work on that stock.
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: sidfail on January 01, 2012, 08:21:51 PM
Wow they are amazing. Hey does reshaping the stock help with your shooting, ie make the rifle more comfortable or just make it look cool?
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: z28rod on January 01, 2012, 08:25:14 PM
Howie, that is one of the most beautiful air rifles I've seen on this sight, your wood working abilities are getting better and better, one question why do you make the cheek rest concave like that ? does it fit better and is it more comfortable that way ? Brent
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: shadow on January 01, 2012, 08:32:07 PM
Looking sweet brother. ;) Ed
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: larspawn on January 01, 2012, 08:59:55 PM
Beautiful work!  Trademark Howie Tyro job. Love it!

Hey does this look familiar?  It's the MM tuned one Warren had for a while before I got it from you. Love it!  Question though, do you remember if you used Poly on it?  Something crazed the line above the trigger. Prob me careless putting it away it's not scratched but the finish marred. Do you think light sanding and another coat of gloss poly would work?

(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww46/larspawn/6d495da9.jpg)
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: gmupatriot2010 on January 01, 2012, 11:26:09 PM
Hey Howie, that is one heck of a piece of art! If you decide to ever sell it, please keep me in mind!!!! :)
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: larspawn on January 01, 2012, 11:29:31 PM
Hassan, every man has his price. Even Howie sells his babies!
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: howie1a on January 02, 2012, 12:35:37 PM
Hi I make the cheekplates concave so your eye lines up with the center of the rifle sights better I have found that you don't have to lean into the rifle to get a better sight picture, It is something like the tyrolean type stocks, Also Larspawn  it fix and scratches or damages in a poly finish the easy way is to take the action out of the stock and thetrigger guard off when tape up the butt plate  to keep the new coat of poly off the butt plate and sand down using 400 grit paper and I hang the stock up using the foward screw holes using a wite coat hanger and you can get Min Wax poly spray in gloss at the depot use nice light coats and it's back like new again We used to keep up the varnish on Yachts that way but with a badger brush . You don't need a compressor or any fancy stuff to keep the gun nice. Howie
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: larspawn on January 02, 2012, 02:29:43 PM
Thanks Howie!  I really like the lines of your AirHawk stock. The fore end purple heart looks awesome!
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: Ahab on January 02, 2012, 03:54:58 PM
I like it a lot. ;D
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: chaindrivecharlie on January 04, 2012, 09:22:34 AM
Howie, that is a beautiful stock. Kudos on your work, artisan quality it is. Where did you find a bearing race to fit the cocking arm. I would like to try that on my guns.
Best Regards.
Charlie
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: howie1a on January 04, 2012, 02:02:30 PM
Hi we have a store near by that sells bearings it's called Terry Bearing of all things I'm sure you have stores that sell bearings for repairing stuff look in the yellow pages. It needed a 5 MM inside dia for the inner race and I only could get a bearing that was bigger than the plastic bearing sleeve type bearing on the rifle and had to make the shelf the old plastic sleeve road on deeper to adjust for the different Dia. , Also  you could just take the cocking linkage with you to the store to get a good fit or just take the plastic sleeve that is on the rifle cocking linkage. You might check on someone that sharpens router bitts they should have replacement bearings closer to the OD of the plastic sleeve, A lot of ball bearing router bitts have bearings close to what you would need . The ones I had off some of my router bitts were 1/4 inch close to 5 mm but you could turn down the shaft the plastic sleeve rides on. Howie
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: SAADE on January 04, 2012, 02:23:52 PM
Nice work as usual Howie, just sent you an email.

Brian in Idaho
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: chaindrivecharlie on January 04, 2012, 11:17:15 PM
Thanks Howie, I will check into it soon. I have a few of  those router bit bearings. Never would of thought of that.
Thanks Again,
Charlie
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: RCTrax05 on January 05, 2012, 06:11:27 PM
It needed a 5 MM inside dia for the inner race and I only could get a bearing that was bigger than the plastic bearing sleeve type bearing on the rifle and had to make the shelf the old plastic sleeve road on deeper to adjust for the different Dia. , Also  you could just take the cocking linkage with you to the store to get a good fit or just take the plastic sleeve that is on the rifle cocking linkage.

Just a thought on bearing suppliers... MY "other" hobby is racing radio control cars/trucks -- this is a pretty hardcore addiction also, and these vehicles use a wide variety of bearings in both SAE and metric sizes. Boca Bearings (Google them -- they are easy to find -- I can't post a link) has a website that allows you to enter the dimensions of the bearing you are looking for, and they have almost ANY size you can imagine...  Their bearings hold up well in the pounding we give them, so...???
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: chaindrivecharlie on January 06, 2012, 12:29:41 AM
Hey thanks RCtraxs, I will do that.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Ruger Air Hawk from Mike M. just moded.
Post by: Mikes Garage on January 08, 2012, 10:50:28 AM
Howie,

Thanks for posting this.  I was very excited to see that you had purchased an Airhawk Elite, because I knew you would make that stock look great!  The factory stock on these guns is just too clunky, heavy and suffers from poor lines.  I have my own Elite, tuned up by MM, and I wanted to "fix" the bad lines of the original stock, but didn't know where to start.  This gives me some great ideas. 

It looks like the purple heart trim in the fore end is inset, rather than added on as you did for the grip cap.  Is that so?  Can you show us some close-ups and info about how you did that little trick?

Also, where did you get the sights for this gun?  The original has no sights and is for scope only.

Thanks again,

Mike B