gun power output.[springers]

[red bob]

having ventured into a/g renovation as a sideline to the bell trgt building;i have found it quite interesting after the aesthetics have been delt with getting the best output without doing anything non standard [big springs]etc
.so far i have bought back to life several classics .web mk3,airsnorter,meteor,
mercury, caddy's,i have most fun with the gear as they can respond to a bit of extra work .to date the best confirmed output is from a .22 mercury at around 11.5ft lbs this got the usual fettling a total clean and then polishing the chamber and spring plus all the internal fittings in the direction of travel,i have made various tools to do this including the ends of the main spring even to inside the mainspring guide.all the above received the same treatment so there must be a detail other than my work ,mainspring performance? leather versus the man-made piston seal? the airsporter was my last effort and as colleagues predicted on the test day 10/10.5 ftlbs it came out at 10.3 and smooth as silk a little dieseling then back to 10.5. the meteor was high tens but twangy and was a disappointment considering the input so this one needs another go although the local crowd all said don't be surprised as they were always a bit that way umm... Incidentally my biggest success to date was and no surprise here the fwb124 new spring and piston washer and useual polish and oops a tad over the 12 then after 10 or so shots 11.8 .the length of the mainspring blimey got to be the longest ive seen and getting it back into the chamber was a kin to forcing an anaconda into a bakebean can all that tension with a sash clamp holding on for dear life "scarey". o well great fun and a great hobby .