Quote Originally Posted by Phil Russell View Post
I am surprised that there have been no 'they are horrible; destroy your rifle' type posts yet because that certainly is the impression given by many people. I have seen, and shot many rifles fitted with square section springs; they may have been Ox brand (are there others?) but generally speaking the rifles shot very well and I could see no sign of any damage caused by the spring. A few were 'harsh' but on inspection they were clearly running very close to or over the limit. No doubt the previous owner had bought a replacement spring that turned out to be a square section one and crammed it in with no thought to power output as they most likely had no chronoscope. I have also seen an inappropriate square section spring fitted... clearly the wrong size, too great od such that it began to bind in the piston on cocking.
So ... I am not sure they deserve the bad reputation they seem to have built up ... but personally whenever I am replacing a spring I will use a round section one.
Cheers, Phil
I too have been surprised at the mild response to this question.
About thirty years ago I bought a new HW77 and within a year or so decided to tune it with a GunSport Maximiser kit - advertised to improve the consistency etc of your rifle but guaranteed not to take it over the limit. The kit included an Ox spring along with a spring guide, piston sleeve, new seal and several "special" lubricants.
At that time chronos were not commonplace and a different attitude to air guns prevailed so I never worried too much about it. I had a FAC for a 0.22 target rifle and pistol so played with the air rifle as a garden gun.
I have played with the gun on and off over the years until recently a friend obtained an FAC and with it a 40 ft-lb rifle. At this point a chrono became available and I discovered that my '77 had been over the limit for many years. I therefore stripped it to detune it and despite all the horror stories that I had heard could find no internal damage.
I have now replaced the Ox with a modern V Mach kit but find no improvement in the shot cycle and still had to do a load of fettling to keep the power under the limit!