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Education / Training HW 55 Tyrolean – Part 4

HW 55 Tyrolean – Part 4

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Today, I’ll finish the disassembly we started in the last report. I stopped at the point where all the parts were free to come out. Now, we’ll remove the barrel to get the piston out because the two are connected by the cocking link. The link cannot be removed from the baseblock easily, so the barrel has to come out to allow the other end to be disconnected at the piston.

Remove the pivot bolt
To take the barrel off, first remove the pivot bolt. Remove the locknut on the right side of the gun, then the bolt can be removed. I found a lot of tension on the bolt from the locking latch, so I’m looking into whether that is normal or not. In my experience, the latches have worked a little easier on other guns, but those were all older models that were well broken-in.

10-14-08-pivot-nut

The pivot nut and lockwasher are removed from the right side of the gun.

10-14-08-pivot-bolt

Next, the pivot bolt is removed. In this case, I unlocked the barrel latch to ease the tension on the pivot bolt. There’s telltale moly visible from a tuneup.

Once the pivot bolt was out, there was no longer any doubt that this rifle has been tuned after it left the factory. The baseblock and pivot bolt are covered with what looks like Beeman M-2-M moly grease.

The barrel comes off
The baseblock now easily slides out of the spring tube forks, which releases tension on the articulated cocking link. You can now slide the link, with its integral cocking shoe, up to a widening on the cocking slot, where the shoe can be removed from the mainspring tube. The barrel and spring tube are now separated.

10-14-08-baseblock

See the thin thrust washer that fits between the baseblock and the mainspring forks on both side of the gun? It’s been greased with moly which is proper for a tuneup.

10-14-08-barrel-off

The cocking link is removed from the mainspring tube at the opening at the end of the cocking slot. The 55 does not have a separate sliding shoe to fit to the piston. It uses a widened end of the cocking link, which is seen in the lower right corner of this picture.

Observations
The piston has a new type parachute seal. That I expected. The mainspring has what looks like a Delrin rear guide–also expected, as well as a short “top-hat” front guide made of Delrin. That was unexpected and a new one for me. It looks like a factory part, but I’ve not seen another like it. Now that I see the inside of the gun, I can say that whoever did the tuning knew his stuff. Maybe the mainspring kinked after he closed her up. However, the failure to adjust the trigger to even standard Rekord performance, to say nothing of what it is capable of, still seems strange for someone who knows what he’s doing.

10-14-08-piston

The piston has a new parachute seal as expected and a Delrin front spring guide that wasn’t expected.

The gun is now fully disassembled. The job took about 10 minutes, start to finish, though I spread it over two reports to show the details. I’ll now do the following:

1. Clean and adjust the trigger.
2. Select a new mainspring and fit it to the gun.
3. Adjust the locking lever for less tension.
4. Lubricate all parts and assemble the rifle.

When the job is done, the shooting behavior should feel very different.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

26 thoughts on “HW 55 Tyrolean – Part 4”

  1. B.B.,

    Your sure perform a great balancing act. Your ability to switch from vintage guns to the nuances of current models and then to powder burners (great article yesterday on the taurus, generated a lot of interest) and then to related topics (i.e., field target) keeps this reader interested. Thanks,

    kevin

  2. B.B.

    AMEN!! To what Kevin said!! I can’t believe how much I’ve learned since the first of the year, just reading and asking questions on this blog….
    Bless you, Thank you, Bless you, Thank you….

    This old, novice, air gunner, is having the time of his life..

    I’m now so curious who did the tune job, and why they left the trigger untouched… A quality spring guide, and bad spring.. interesting… what do you think is going on?

    If you don’t know, I know who to ask….my new friend Billy…

    Wayne,
    Ashland Air Rifle Range

  3. Hey Guys,

    Billy Lo here, just wanted to say hi and give you a little more history on this Tyro. It was purchased from “Breeze” and it was tuned by Russ Best.

    Glad you guys are happy and I will be sure to check out this blog when I have some time. Enjoy and glad your all happy with the rifle.

  4. Hm, I think I will be paying more attention to spring gun tuning. The B30 is generating the tiniest, tiniest amount of buzz that is starting to get under my skin…

    Billy that’s not you in the video martial arts match-up on YouTube is it? Just kidding. Thanks for stopping by. Congratulations on all of your achievements in airgunning which are so interesting to read about.

    Kevin, I also can’t believe that someone could buy a $500 gun then it leave in the back of a pick-up for 7 years. I’ll look forward to reaching such a state! I realize that a lot of the ground I’m covering such as with the Garand is probably old-hat to many experienced shooters but it’s like the saying about when you discover something you reinvent it. Besides I’m really sold on the idea that the Clint Fowler modifications have revealed even more capability in the already legendary design.

    Also, on the subject of experience, I solved my feeding problems with my bolt-action rifle by working the bolt more vigorously and getting full retraction. I keep thinking these guns are more fragile than they are.

    Matt61

  5. Billy,

    Thanks for that answer, now that you're here, we'll pester you with questions, and you'll never get away…

    I know we would all like to hear how the Air Arms S410 compares to the FX line, since you like the FX line so much, your keeping them, even in the hard times…

    Wayne,
    AARR&R

  6. BB…

    Did you determine if the seals in the Beeman RS series are leather or synthetic? I have a RS3(sold as a 1090 at Cabelas, 1000S??? in other places). Is there a quick way to check without tearing the gun down to look at the piston itself?

    If it is leather, how do I lubricate it without causeing too much dieseling. FWIW, I read past blogs and I thought the book “The airgun from trigger to target” would be a great book…..Amazon and Alibris have one copy for sale for $299….ouch.

    -phil

  7. BB,

    All of us redneck tuners welcome Russ to the fold:). I assume you’re going to put a .2″ magnum spring in that puppy so it can shoot 700fps+ and shatter scopes:). Seriously, if you don’t use factory spring, it would be interesting to see your thought process on replacement selection.

  8. BG_Farmer,

    For anyone who cares to read, here’s how I pick a spring. I start with the old spring guide in hand and measure it’s OD. Then, measure the piston’s ID. Finally, roughly measure the old spring’s length.

    The most important number is the outer diameter of the spring guide. If I can’t get a good fit here, I’ll need to make a new guide on the lathe for the replacement spring–or the new spring will vibrate like crazy and soon be canted.

    It’s relatively easy to line the inside of the piston body for a snug fit with a piece of sheet metal. Again, a loose fit will result in excess vibration.

    Length of the spring is also easy to shorten with a grinder or lengthen slightly with washers.

    I then scroll through Jim Maccari’s selection of springs until I find suitable dimensions and order up. By the way, we’re really screwed if and when he ever quits the business.

    Derrick

    P.S.

    Check out buddy Nick’s http://www.anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com for the Crosman 38T that I’m currently butchering.

  9. Thanks for the scope mount video. I thought my scope mount screw pattern was(accushot 1or2 piece):

    F
    8-1
    2-7

    6-3
    4-5

    But now I can’t find my instructions. Or does it matter that much?

    I think you went in the video:

    F
    5-1
    2-6

    7-3
    4-8

    Oh well, I’m surprised how light you tightened the scope….I know enough not to over tighten, but I think I went a little tighter on my springer. Overtightening can be a problem with new airgunners.

    I hope we see more videos. They really help out a lot. Will you be teaching an online class on airgun maintenance next?

  10. ajvenom,

    This is a little bit of carry-over from the 13th:

    NS1200-016 Spring
    2300-038 Spring spacer
    2300-039 Spring spacer nut

    The above are the Crosman part numbers/descriptions to make your 1377 have a lighter trigger. Assembled, they are a drop-in replacement for the original spring. The spacer nut allows you to adjust the spring pressure. Cost for all three parts is around $15 plus, of course, S&H. I have the modification in all three of my 1377s. I also have trigger shoes installed on all three.

    –Witt

  11. Matt61,

    Your idea about small focus points has improved my indoor 20 yard “lazyboy off knee” groups with my Air Arms S410 .177 a lot, (some 1/4″ out of the 25 I shot), to the point that last night they were better than the bench rest groups I made after my disappointing 3/4″ groups with the Avenger 1100, to boost my spirits, and test holds in the bench rest..

    I think it’s because when using the bench rest I’m leaning forward on the corner of a desk..

    But in the Lazyboy I’m sitting back, feet locked FT position, left elbow on the left arm rest, so my knee with small foam pad, is now a locked bi-pod and my back is locked very, very, comfortably as well…. So front and back of gun are locked.. And I’m more comfortable.. But still I’m surprised, because the bench rest moves less still… I must be pulling it in the bench rest or the shot going off, pulls it…

    Any ideas pros?

    This is important, because “Bench rest” shooting of air rifles is the next and bigger market of growth in the industry.. According to Tim at Mac 1….

    Wayne,
    Ashland Air Rifle Range

  12. Wayne,

    Glad you’re getting results with the small aimpoint. The Lazyboy shooting position is so intriguing. I just can’t visualize it. When I’ve been in a recliner that I recall, I was not in a position to shoot anything. Be careful. Larry Stewart, the guy who went airborne by attaching helium balloons to his lawn chair, got the idea partly because he said that his chair from Sears was “extremely comfortable”….

    I don’t have much to add to your benchrest technique after my recent outing but I can distill some of the older blog if you haven’t gotten to it. There was a blog on some sort of gel pad sold by PA that is supposed to equal the consistency of the human hand for benchresting springers. I don’t know if it gives any advantage for the PCPs you like to shoot. Also useful are the Beeman benchrest bags front and rear. No way can foam padding on a recliner equal the solidity that you get with these things. The jury is out on the value of the rear bag for springers but for anything else it is a great help to stability.

    My difficulty with them is that between the height and shape of the benchrest table I use and the height of the chair, I just cannot get the benchrest bags into exactly the right position for a natural point of aim that is on target. The blog on this subject advised moving the rear rest back and forth along the stock for adjustment. That helps but it doesn’t get me all of the way there with the equipment I have. The directions supplied with the Beeman bags say that you are supposed to squeeze the rear bag to get the right position, but how you squeeze this rock hard bag is beyond me. A solution I discovered is another comfort item! I got one of those padded horse collar type pillows for airplane travel that is filled with tiny plastic balls. Placed on top of the rear bag and below the rifle you get support and just the right amount of give to squeeze the rifle into the right position.

    Otherwise, I’ll just observe that the $3000 machine rest I mentioned earlier seems to me negative evidence to indicate that there must be some movement of the sight picture even in a bench rest position. I was getting quite a bit of movement.

    By the way, who is Tim and Mac1

    Matt61

  13. Thanks Witt,

    Nice to have an adjustable system. I will check those parts out. If I don’t spend a lot on the trigger I may try out one of those trigger shoes and perhaps get a set of wooden RB grips.

    B.B. I was kinda joking on the online maintenance class…I noticed there was a poll about it on the PA homepage.

  14. Derrick (I think I figured out the 38 now:)),

    Thanks for the information, much more straightforward than the way I went about it. I obsessed about the stack height and worried about being coil-bound until it wasn’t much fun. Next time, I’ll enjoy myself. JM is the man when it comes to springs.

  15. Well I sanded a washer to get 3.5 lbs trigger pull and used a skinnier one to get down to 3LBS.

    So the 1377 with a little trigger work shoots pretty nicely. Now I would say it’s a really good pistol for the money.

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