Any HOTROD HB .22s out there?

[VAFarmer]

I am looking to up the ante a little on an HB........

First lemmie say, "Yes, I have owned a Crosman 1322"   It was one of the good ones, a Steel reciever medalist.   I am aware that they are more EASILY hotrodded...but I am not going just for power.  I have never liked the balance of the Crosman 13 series.   I have owned an HB .17, and it was perfect, just too little power for the purpose.

I haven't yet held the gun Im getting in my hot little hands, so I am bing a bit premature in that I dont know what it can currently do.   But I do know what they are rated at, and what I WANT from it....

I would like to see 480 fps out of 15 grains, or 8 ft lbs.   Now I know that I can accomplish this given enough pumps, but my goal here is to not wear the thing out (or myself).   

Have any of you made any upgrade mods to the gun, maybe like:

Piston/seal improvement
Valve improvement
Beefing up of the linkage
Hammer weight/spring combo suggestions

I have some steel around that should be perfect for a billet cutout, and I keep a supply of secret sauce handy.

I have worked on these Benji's before, I have a method to smooth out the trigger and shim it properly.

Advice on a trigger shoe would be appreciated.

I have crowned them successfully before.

Just looking for suggestions, guideance on the mechanical parts, for durability and efficiency/power.

God bless,

Farmer

[TimmyMac1]

Gremlin is a front end from something else.

The HB is the Sheridan Gremlin. They had the hammer and trigger group from the EB pistol sitting there next to the front end and piston from a Sheridan rifle and the geniuses in the Sales Office decided to make a pistol with too big a piston and not big enuf hammer and sell that. It is a well made poorly thought out set-up that could be modified to death for very marginal gains.
The same amount of toil that gets you double the power on the rifle may get you 20% on an HB and the market is 1/20th the size. It makes a billet lever a bad idea.
In practical terms it is a non-starter. I've done a few. I was unimpressed with my own work!

[Plekto]

I had one when I was in high school and it was well built but pretty unimpressive at the same time.  Ie - it is what it is, no more, no less.  I found that it didn't have the power to even reliably take out squirrels, so I sold it.

I've moved on to other things over the years (always trying something new - I think this is a common problem with us, no? ), but if I was starting out with a pistol, I'd get a 2240 instead of the HB22.  Easy to change things on and capable of some decent power.  Not bad, considering the silly low $69 starting price. 

[VAFarmer]

Thanks guys. 

May tinker some, but if no improvements, will just shoot it the way it is.....

Anybody that has one, what kind of energy do you get from these with 10 pumps and Barracudas?

It is not gonna be for any distance, probably 20 yds max.    Maybe heavier pellet will get me close.

Getting an INTEGRABASE on the way to supplement it, should help with a red dot, one of the small ones.

God bless,

Farmer

[TimmyMac1]

Put a longer trigger pin in it so the grips don't wobble. Relax the trigger return spring from legalese stiff to realistic while you have the sear out. Don't lose the trigger safety ball and spring when you take the trigger frame off and don't unscrew the front frame screw with the pump lever shut.
Enjoy!