Gas ram vs. springs

[sshewins]

Sorry to bother you guys again, but I'm curious how many of you have the gas ram venturi thing and if its any better than the spring set-up?  Would it be safe to say its like buying a rifle with a tune already?  does the GRT III trigger work with it?  Pyramid offers the whisper with the ram for an extra $100.  I'm wondering if its something that could be bought and installed by myself or not.

Thanks in advance,

[kidscollegefund]

I really like my .22 Whisper with gas ram.  No twangy spring, just a solid thump.  Just make sure you check all the screws often.   I wouldn't try to install it yourself, they give a 1 year warranty, worth the money.

[Big_Bill]

Hello Scott, your no problem, just a member with a question :emoticon:

The Pyramid Air Ram is not a "Tune-up" by any means, they only replace your spring with the Gas Ram. Nothing is deburred, checked, lubed or replaced but the spring. For a full understanding of what a "Tune" is, I refer you to the description byBob Warner, known in the AirGun World as CharlieDaTuna, a VERY MASTER AIR GUNSMITH: http://www.airguntoys.com/whytune.htm.

You can see that a tune will do much more for you air gun than a Gas Ram alone ! I have just had my HW-30 Super Tuned by Gene Curtis of Gene's Tunes and Toys, what a change, and I loved that airgun before it left my house. It came home smooth, no twang at all, and felt like a gas ram. It fired so straight and smooth, and so fast I was amazed ! Plus I received everything else involved in a Tune Yes, I am HAPPY !

The gas rams from Pyramid also tend to be less powerful than the spring model air guns, more expensive gas rams are more powerful, but not available at Pyramid.

Just my 2 cents !

Bill

[airiscool]

Bill,

Original coil spring stronger than a Pyramyd gas spring -  I'm not sure that's a given. Pyramyd may be using differant gas springs (mine's a bit differant than Jared - CO airgunner).  See this thread down below;
 http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17066&posts=14&start=1

Last week I  put a new Pyramyd gas spring in my 3 month old .22 Whisper.

While I don't have crony results to compare actual numbers, it certainly takes more 'umph' to cock it now, and it does have more kick. Also, Superdome  pellets are now going a bit deeper into a stack of news paper than before.

And, after about 50 pellets with the new gas spring, the Tasco scope I had on it, which has been fine for close to 1000 pellets, started loosing zero.  When I got the scope off to replace it, I noticed that the hole in the reciever for the scope mount pin had a large burr worked up on the rear edge since it had been checked and re- locktite-ed down only a couple hundred pellets before. And the mount and scope were on there  nice and tight.

All things that lead me to belive the gas spring is a bit stronger than the original Gamo spring.

And as others have mentioned, it's certainly a nice plus that it's now smooth cocking and  with no more twang. :emoticon:

sshewins,
Yes, the GRT III trigger is a big plus, with either coil spring or gas spring. But, "safe to say it's tuned"? NO WAY !!!!!!!

Even though it's smoother cocking and no twang, if anythin,  I'd have to say that the firing cycle is noticably harsher. I switched to the gas spring not for increased power, but because I don't want to have to worry about broken springs, or weakened springs/new poi from walking around the woods with it cocked for long periods of time.

I'm gonna use it through the up-coming hunting season and then see about contacting Gene to send it in for a tune ....... if he'll do one of these gassed up ones ??

Paul.

[sshewins]

Ok, I get it now.  The reason I asked is that when scrolling through Pyramid's newsletter, they made mention that the cold could affect the tar on the spring, IIRC.  And seeing that squirrel season ends in Feb (begins Aug 1) I was curious about that.  

Thanks,

[leftcoast1]

If you are still interested in the Gas Ram Theoben builds one for the Gamo / Crosman guns. It runs about 145.00 but worth it if your hunting a lot. Jm2cw

[sshewins]

do tell!  Before I would invest in a full tune, I would like to do a gas ram.  One of the aleged benefits is being able to have it cocked for extended periods of time.  Which I would have to think would be a huge plus while suburban nutter hunting ( they just don't sit in front of the window all day long  LOL)

Where can one look up info on this gas ram?  Thanks in advance

[CO_AirGunner]

I would actually say the Air-Venturi gas ram is STRONGER than the factory spring.  My initial results say 5-8 % better in fact.  (see this thread: http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16773)  I also did a home-tune at the same time, and it is my understanding that this typically decreases velocity a little bit, so the AV gas ram may be even better than what I saw.  I have not done further chrony testing, but I expect it has gotten slightly faster now that everything has settled in.

I don't know if I would say the firing cycle is harsher.  When you pull the trigger, you get a nice solid THUNK and no vibration like with a spring.  The recoil might be higher in one direction, but it is not the compound recoil you get with spring torque and rebound.  I think the rifle is easier to shoot, leading to higher accuracy, fwiw.  My factory Gamo scope DID die shortly after installing my AV gas ram (it had around maybe 1500 shots on it prior to AV).  I replaced it with a CenterPoint 4-16x40AO from Wally World and that seems to be holding up just fine.