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Thread: If Ox springs are so bad then why do.......

  1. #1
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    Talking If Ox springs are so bad then why do.......

    Airgun dealers stock them.

    Most of you on this BBs recommend not using Ox springs, so why do well known and respected airgun dealers sell them, BAR, BEN T, Chambers and the like all have these listed on there sites.
    Surely they would not sell you these if they were bad news, would they ???
    C'mon whats the crack here

  2. #2
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    Cigarettes are also bad news (they kill you and others) - plenty of reputable shops flog them though

    Paul.

  3. #3
    Simon Smith Guest
    I think it is all to do with "what the customer wants", and making money.

    I can only speak from personal experience, but after fitting an Ox spring myself. Yes they are sh**.

    For example, most lawnmower shops sell electric flymo's because the customer believes they are the best, we dont sell them as they are about the same quality as Ox springs.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by GATMAN
    Cigarettes are also bad news (they kill you and others) - plenty of reputable shops flog them though

    Paul.
    And it states on the packet they are bad for you, so why not have a gun health warning on Ox springs

  5. #5
    PeteB is offline Personally, I don't trust any bloke that makes me feel stiff in the morning
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    As Simon says
    Belive it or not, some people go out to by a "Hox" spring, beliving they are the be all and end all to make your rusty old bsa meteor take off a nats knacker at 100 yards. You, I or Ben T can't tell them otherwise, so rather than loosing a sale, they provide the customer with what they want.

    Pete
    I plink, therefore I am.

  6. #6
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    Dont you just love marketing, for the uninitiated its all designed to empty your pockets of your hard earned.

  7. #7
    bozzerman Guest
    Just backing up what's been said.

    Unfortunately, if you bump into 10 airgunners at different times....at least one of them will tell you that he's put an Ox spring in his gun and can now kill elephants at 300 yards.

    Firstly they will ruin your gun, secondly they will ruin your gun and thirdly they will ruin your gun....get the message!

    Sadly a high percentage of airgunners still believe power is the ultimate ingredient. If they have a gun that jumps over their shoulder when they pull the trigger they think it's great .... even if they can't hit anything with it. It's like a substitute for Mr twinky that lives in their trousers.

    On the Ox spring pack it says something like...fit this to your gun and it may go over the legal limit...this alone is enough to attract a fair share of heroes.

    If shops are going to sell dozens of these then they will stock them.

    Boz

  8. #8
    WILBA Guest
    save on machining out your piston just fit a ****** spring and it will file it out for you. also as a side effect you will if you clamp your gun in a vice hit and kill elephants at 500 metres only thing guaranteed by fitting an oxo spring is it will **** up your gun by shaking it to pieces. thinking about that it will save you a lot of time on stripping the gun done by it falling apart for you
    chris

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andyman
    And it states on the packet they are bad for you, so why not have a gun health warning on Ox springs
    Unlike fags, Ox springs are not addictive (amongst most shooters anyway ), so more punters would heed the warning with consequent lower sales !

    To be fair to Ox Springs - I know a guy who did a home tune on a '97k .22.

    Nothing drastic. Just a strip, de-grease, de-burr and light polish. after re-lubing with the correct silicon oil and moly grease, he fitted an Ox Accelerator mainspring.

    I can tell you that once run in, that 97k was transformed. It is ultra smooth to cock and extremely accurate and smooth to shoot.No recoil to speak of either - just a Venom like nudge at the shoulder!

    I don't use them myself though - I prefer Venom F1 or Titan from John Knibbs.

    Paul.

  10. #10
    bozzerman Guest
    I'm going to sound like a real hypocrite now.....

    I first fitted an Ox spring to a Webley Vulcan many years ago. The gun cocked like a pig and shot like a pig. After a few hundred shots the holes at the back of the action had elongated.

    I fitted another one (again many years ago) to a HW77. I nearly lost an eye fitting the damn thing. The gun again cocked like a pig and shot like a pig. The recoil made you think it must be doing @ 50FP but it was actually doing 13FP....still over the limit.....the spring was removed after just a few shots. When I removed the spring the rear spring guide was totally ruined. The spring had ripped it to bits.

    Now the hypocrite bit.....some time later I bought an old Diana 38 off a local old guy who had quite a collection. It was .22. The gun seemed to cock and shoot well enough. I tested the gun and it was doing 14FP. I stripped the gun and inside was a square section spring......I'm presuming an Ox. However on this spring the square coils seemed to sit squarer (I know that sounds daft). In other Ox springs that I've seen/used the coils sort of bend over so the spring is presenting a sharp edge in contact with the guide etc. Maybe this had been worn in? Anyway I replaced it with a round spring but kept it.

    Just last year a local lad brought a HW77 to me that he said wasn't shooting right. I stripped the gun and the spring was broke. He hadn't got any money so I told him I had an old square spring that I could fit (it was the right size) but couldn't promise it wouldn't wreck the gun. The gun looked like it had been mis-used anyway. He said to fit the spring. I fitted the square spring with a top hat. It fitted the rear guide really well and the length was probably no more than a Venom F1.....as I say this spring may have been well worn in the Diana.

    The gun cocked and shot as smooth as anything I'd owned. It shot .22 at @ 11.5FP and was very very consistent. He's still got it now.

    As I said....I'm not sure if this was an Ox but it worked well.

    I'd still say don't buy one.

    Boz
    Last edited by bozzerman; 31-12-2004 at 09:19 AM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by bozzerman
    I fitted another one (again many years ago) to a HW77. I nearly lost an eye fitting the damn thing.
    Boz
    Perhaps Ox spring SHOULD have a health warning on them.

    Personally I always use Ox springs (in my pogo stick, on my garden gate etc.) but never in my airguns.

    I remember the hype launch of the Ox spring. For months in advance Airgun World just carried the wording 'ITS COMING'. By the time 'it' arrived (the Ox) everyone wanted one wether you needed one or not.
    Founder & ex secretary of Rivington Riflemen.
    www.rivington-riflemen.uk

  12. #12
    Big Si is offline Great Uncle Bulgaria, Chief Womble
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    I have found that if you use a manufacturers replacement spring, that you clean and polish well (Dremils are good for this) then make sure that the top hat is free to move and a good re-lube then in most cases it always makes them shoot better. I sometimes make a plastic spring guide from a pop bottle and ocasionally I will add a washer or two at the front of the spring behind the piston. However any thing over 11fps is OK. Also because it's not a radical tune the gun usually shoots as smothly if not more so than before.

    Rgds

    Big Si
    Lo there do I see my father. Lo there do I see my mother, and my sisters and my brothers. Lo do I see the line of my people back to its beginning. Lo they do call to me and bid me take my place among them, in the Halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.

  13. #13
    Eightpots Guest
    I remember the hype launch of the Ox spring. For months in advance Airgun World just carried the wording 'ITS COMING'. By the time 'it' arrived (the Ox) everyone wanted one wether you needed one or not. [/QUOTE]

    Good exercise in marketing then. How much did the makers of Ox pay the mags I wonder?

    The best results I've seen with one of these springs is when a couple of coils have been cut off. Put one in a rifle and took 3 coils off and put a spacer behind the piston to take up the slack. Proper lube job and the rifle run quite sweetly. Wasn't harsh at all. Stayed within the legal limit too.

  14. #14
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    [QUOTE How much did the makers of Ox pay the mags I wonder?
    [/QUOTE]

    Normal magazine advertising rates I would have thought but if that advertising campaign is a result of todays 'need' for an Ox its repaid them well.

    A.T.B.
    Ian
    Founder & ex secretary of Rivington Riflemen.
    www.rivington-riflemen.uk

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeteB
    As Simon says
    Belive it or not, some people go out to by a "Hox" spring, beliving they are the be all and end all to make your rusty old bsa meteor take off a nats knacker at 100 yards. You, I or Ben T can't tell them otherwise, so rather than loosing a sale, they provide the customer with what they want.

    Pete
    What do you mean take off a nats knacker at 100 yds? Read the crow thread. There's a guy on there can do rats, so he should be able to do nats knackers! (ox spring or not).

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