Theoben Fenman sort of ironic rammer.

[look no hands]

Hi all,

I obtained a bit of a project Fenman while ago that had been "converted to spring", well if you call shoving in a massive spring with no guides a spring conversion then we've all been doing this tuning lark wrong, anyway the rifles had been a bit abused in its life, some of the internals where missing, so it was either going to be a nicely done spring conversion (which I already have a kit sitting here) or try to convert it back to a rammer again, now on doing a bit of Google searching I realised that the HW90 has roughly the same size and design of rear valve guide and the cross pin retaining holes and pins are the same size as well, so a secondhand one was obtained, I thought that the rear guide that goes inside the piston and seals against the piston wall on the 90 would have worked on the Fenman piston but after examination by our very own Nick G at one of the bashes, I was told that the fit was not tight enough, so Nick kindly made me up a new seal carrier (which was one of the original parts missing from inside), after all the work that had been done by Nick, when I went to screw the new filling valve into the original Theoben valve housing it would only screw in so far and was sticking out the end, I had 2BA thread tap handy (like you do) and retapped the thread but the valve still only seated down a tiny bit more, so the pump can't be attached to fill the rifle, so plan B was started, whilst Nick was doing the seal carrier for me a Diana 340 N-tec drop in ram became available on here which I purchased and was put in one night just to see if the rifle would work with it and to see if the new Diana 35 piston head Nick helped attach to the front of the piston as the original seal was buggered (like they always are), well I have to say that it shoots pretty nice with they Diana ram in it and not as harsh as a proper rammer dare I say, I'll compare my Sirocco with the Fenman at the next bash to compare their differences, at the moment it's doing about 10.2fp with 16 grain AAs and 10.9 with 14.66 Excite hammers.

Cheers

Pete

[rapidresponse1]

well done pete glad you got it sorted

[Shed tuner]

try it with 13.43 grain RS/ FAPs...

[baldinio]

Nice one Pete, sounds like a elegant solution mate

[look no hands]

try it with 13.43 grain RS/ FAPs...

I have some of those left, I'll see what it produces but it's which ever ones are the most accurate at the end of the day, it will probably gain a bit in power anyway as its still running in as the piston seal is brand new, it's only just stopped dieseling.

Pete

[rapidresponse1]

i had one years ago from the airgun centre lovely guns

[look no hands]

Nice one Pete, sounds like a elegant solution mate

Thanks Chris, is it you or Mike who has a Fenman?

Pete

[Muskett]

I never understood why someone would take out a perfectly good rammer to put a twisting spring in. My Fenman is 30 years old and shot loads with never needing anything done. Heck, I sent it off five years ago for a service, just to be sure. It was returned with: "nothing needed doing".

They point rather well. There are better triggers out there, but the one they have is good enough.

Such of the fun is The Project. Well done, but more than I would take on.

I shoot RWS Superdomes .177 in mine and can hit small things out a good way.

[evert]

I never understood why someone would take out a perfectly good rammer to put a twisting spring in.

After about 10 years of trying to get along with a .177 Evolution, I traded it for a 1988/89 HW85 with close to no use.
The only other option would have been to start working on the slammy mess the Evo was.

[Muskett]

The seven or so Theobens I've owned for a while over the years were all pre millennium manufacture, so I can't give a view on later rifles.
They all shot exceedingly accurately. They make a different noise to a spring gun. Non gave me any problems.

Two I lent to friends and they came back with bent barrels. Others I just traded along as part of the hobby. Most I'd be happy to have kept. Quality always way ahead of nearly anything out there. Of their time, but so are spring rifles.

I have a Steve Pope tuned HW95 which is more hold sensitive, though has the better trigger. Its smoothness is more refined but all round quality not a patch on my Fenman.
Both it and my Fenman get the job done in a very similar fashion.

[rapidresponse1]

ive a early 95 in 22 fully tuned one of the best guns ive owned

[baldinio]

Thanks Chris, is it you or Mike who has a Fenman?

Pete

Yes mate I have a fenman, I love them. Look forward to having a try of yours to compare and contrast the two in september if you are bringing it to the bash

[look no hands]

Yes mate I have a fenman, I love them. Look forward to having a try of yours to compare and contrast the two in september if you are bringing it to the bash

You took the words right out of my mouth, it'll be interesting to see if there is any difference, just got to decide what scope to put on it.

Pete

[Muskett]

I have a little period B&L 2-7X32 on my .177 though it is accurate enough to utilise more magnification. I suggest nothing too big.

[look no hands]

Yes mate I have a fenman, I love them. Look forward to having a try of yours to compare and contrast the two in september if you are bringing it to the bash

Is yours .22? If so what pellets do you use please.

Pete