While there's a HW35 thread up...

Springs and pre-load. I recently bought a new HW35E from Schneider, along with their export spring (240mm long, OD 23mm, ID 15.8mm, wire 3.6mm). It was an utter sod to get in; maybe 4cm of pre-load. I was expecting it to shoot horribly, but it's not bad and it's within the limit. Cocking effort is not terrible, but is significantly higher than I remember my FWB127 to be.

It seems everyone else manages to fit a spring with next to no pre-load. I'm tempted to try cutting it down in order to achieve this, but given that it shoots okay, is there anything to be gained?