Air Hawk - Loose Piston Shaft - Normal ?

[jfrey]

Air Hawk Question:
The shaft that runs down through the center of the piston is loose from the outer piston body.   Enough that I can rotate the shaft in relation to the piston body by about 5 degrees and the "trigger" end of the shaft can wiggle about 1/16" side to side.   Is this going to be a problem.   I remember it from the only other time I disassembled the gun so it's not a new condition.?

I did a little research, loose air hawk pistons were discussed about a year ago but with equal numbers of members repairing or replacing it as saying it was not a problem:
Old thread is here:   http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=27115.msg248092#msg248092

I think that the front edge of the spring guide gets some of it's lateral stability from the piston shaft.  Without a solid piston shaft the spring guild cant provide as much lateral stability to the spring.   Which I'm guessing is a big part of its job.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks for putting up with all my questions and YES my air hawk is currently disassembled on my work bench.  How did you know......

John

[pappa]

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=27115.msg248092#msg248092

The above discussion which you have already read should tell you everything you need to know about the problem. Also, although not extremely well presented, is the well proven fact that the best thing to do with a spring sleeve in these rifles is to throw it away and install a tophat. The tophat is the better front guide and stabilizer for the spring so the sleeve is not needed after PROPERLY installing the tophat and the rifle will perform much better. Also, YES, the piston should be firmly and strongly attached to the piston shaft. You should either get a GOOD welding job to properly attach it or get a new piston. You might want to consider getting a new piston for an RWS D34 from Umarex since your rifle is a clone of the D34 and all internal parts are interchangeable. The better quality of a D34 piston should be well worth the extra expenditure.

[mikeiniowa]

The RWS piston is also prone to this problem, as the shaft is  solidly connected to the head of the piston it should not cause any operational problems