Revitalized Springs?

[Paul68]

As we all know, springs wear out over time. Usually we just buy a replacement and be done with the problem and carry on. Of course, being a cheapskate and always ready to either screw something up royally or make it better (few betweens with me), I recently considered replacing the spring in my Wally Worl Beeman RS2.

After about 3K shots, power was down on the stock replacement China spring I installed after purchase of the gun to about 13 FPE from a previous 17-18 FPE. Vortek is willing to set me up with a custom spring, but I haven't got the specs I want down yet. In the meantime, the gun has been apart for about 2 months while I work on other things and contemplate just what I want to do to this rifle.

At any rate, I know that springs for vehicles can be retempered, so I figured why not an air rifle? Bored last night and tired of seeing the rifle taking up bench space in pieces, it was clearly time for another redneck experiment.

To that end, I took the spring from the Beeman and set it up on a snug fitting steel rod to make it easy to handle and keep it straight once heated.

I then took my torch and heated the spring to red hot, taking care to keep it horizontal to avoid any compression while pliable,  then immediately quenched it in water. Once cooled, I then reheated it, but this time only enough to produce a slight bluish discoloration of the spring and did not let it get red hot. I then allowed the spring to cool for about 45 minutes until it was cool to the touch. A better cooling process would be to bury it in Vermiculite and let it cool more slowly, but had none on hand.

Reinstalled in the rifle, the gun is now producing 18 FPE consistently again. Averages 657 FPS with 19.09 gr Barracuda Hunter Extremes. Only about 20 shots through it so far, but the gun is showing consistent numbers and a smooth shot cycle. Too early to call this a success as the spring can still potentially wear out prematurely, shatter, or just break in the near future, but so far promising.

Some alternative changes to this include setting up the spring on some allthread and using some sort of clasps and nuts on the end to stretch the spring to pre-set length while heating, although a this point I'm not seeing much reason for undoing the spring set.

Granted not scientific or precise, I never did bother to control the temperature. I followed the same simple procedure we used back in the day for restoring automotive leaf springs and just judged heating by spring coloration.

[amb5500c]

Very interesting. I figure that you had nothing to lose by trying and I hope it works out in the long run. 
Richard

[Kailua]

Good post would never have thought that was possible until you brought that up.  I not exactly sure of the RS2 spring dimensions but I thought it was the same as the AR1000 which ARH might still have.

[Paul68]

I have the spring specs, I just prefer to use a slightly heavier spring if I'm going to replace it, and neither ARH or Vortek carries a drop in upgrade. Vortek stated they would be glad to have me ship the old spring and they'd see what they could come up with. But in the meantime, I think this is a good test for my other rifles when they eventually wear out their springs as well. Takes all of about an hour to do and costs nothing. If it can give a spring new life, it's worth it.

[Paul68]

Just a minor update. 500 shots through the gun and still a good shot cycle and 18fpe.

[dink]

Can you give info on performance after more time using rifle?

[Paul68]

The spring recently broke, I am guessing at around 4k shots.

[mpbby]

4k rounds after retempering or in total? 3k+4k - or - 3k+1K?

Did you have other experiences?