Ruger Air Hawk piston

[sleeper71]

I have just acquired a Ruger Airhawk. I have disassembled it to clean it up and re-lube but I think I have found a couple problems. First the center shaft in the piston is loose, is this normal? Second there is remnants of metal in the bottom of the piston spring seat area. The look like a little series of triangles in the bottom of the piston. When I took it apart some of these metal pieces fell out into my hand. Is this remnants of some kind of washer, top hat, or what? I have no idea what it could be.
thanks
Denny

[Frank]

That happened to my AirHawk also. The shaft was loose and no that is not normal. The triangle pieces you mention are from the black sleeve. I did replace the piston I ordered from Mike Milnick. ( He is in China right now ) but did not  replace the sleeve. I also replaced the seal while apart.

[sleeper71]

I just got back from or machine shop. I machined a pilot out of aluminum to center the shaft in the piston. Then I used a counter sink to drill holes through the crimping slots that held the end of the piston on. I then welded the holes back shut with the pilot holding the center shaft in place. The piston is rock solid now. We will see how well it works as soon as I get a new seal and machine a top hat out of brass.
Thanks for the info
Denny

[sleeper71]

Frank you was right the little metal triangle pieces broke off the bottom of the piston sleeve. I broke the rest of them off and deburred the sleeve. I have decided to just go ahead and order a PG2 tuning kit from Vortex. Have you noticed where the cocking lever joint rides on the stock? I am thinking about machining two rollers for that pin that rides on the stock when it is cocked. Has any body else tried this to smooth the cocking effort.
Thanks
Denny

[VAFarmer]

this seems to happen on these models......

I determined that I would just spot weld if needed. 

God bless,

Farmer

[Paul68]

My Airhawk had a very noisy cocking action. Got a tophat from FlyingDragon and modded it a little by removing some material from the bottom for a larger footprint and added a polished washer for the spring to ride on and add a little wieight. Threw away the sleeve. Replaced the rear spring guide washer as well with a thicker polished version. No more cocking noise, very solid and smooth action now. Tophat and washers increased preload by about half an inch, and throwing away the sleeve lightens the piston so take it into account. Only real issue with the gun was the sleeve. Great shooter now. Going with a tophat instead of sleeve seems to be the way to go with these accordin to Mike at FD.

 

[microsalmo]

The loose shaft on the piston is normal. It's just crimped on there. Mine had no influence on firing cycle or accuracy.  The riffle shots very well with the shaft this way. 

[Paul68]

Yeah, the shaft in the piston on mine looked like a press fit, which had me kinda looking at it sideways a bit wondering how durable it would be. Wasn't loose though.

[sleeper71]

Got my airhawk back together and I very satisfied with the performance. I cleaned, deburred, welded the piston shaft so it would be solid, put a PG2 kit in it, a Leapers 3 x 9 x40 scope. Drilled the receiver so the set screw on the scope mount could recess into the receiver. It shoots dime groups at 15 yards with Beeman silver bear .177 pellets and chronys at an average of 971 fps. Shoots with a solid thunk, no twang.  I am really surprised with the results. 

[Paul68]

Good deal. These Ruger AH's are a heck of a pellet gun and seem to usually need very little to shoot well judging from the posts here. I'm getting cloverleafs at 25 yrds with Beeman FTS's, which is good enough for me to not change anything else and just shoot now