This is the rest of the story from my 11/29/08 TF 6 story.
For the last four months I have been customizing a series of TF 6's. Since last November I bought a 36" PTFE rod and made my own Teflon piston seals, to replace the leather seals the factory TF 6's came with. I instantly gained 100fps up to around 525fps with 8.0gr pellets, using the stock Chinese mainspring. I installed an old C1 spring, MV was now up to 560fps. Now that the MV was getting better I started working on the accuracy. The Chinese barrel was drilled and rifled so for off center, I had to bend the barrel to move the pellets impact to the red dot. I decided to put new barrels on my TF 6's. I found an HW 16mm barrel, which I promptly took to my machinist. Cecil cut the barrel into three pieces, 6", 8", 10". Then cut the breech tapers and threaded the barrels, to 16mm x 1.5mm. Then he line bored the receiver tubes. To make a long story short. I have my first HW barreled TF 6 up and running. I chose the 6" barrel to start with. Not only is it running, it will group with any of my better field grade air rifles, Approximately 1" offhand at 25 yds. Since then, I have focused working on the best spring combination for power. Currently, I am using a James Maccari "Tarantula" spring slightly modified. I am trying to reach 800fps with 8.0gr pellets. The best MV to date with the 6" HW barrel are 595fps with 8.0gr Crosman "Points", 680fps with 6.2gr Beeman " Lazers", 790fps 5.4gr Crosman "Silver Eagle" pellets. The way I see it I am very close to setting a new spring piston powered air pistol MV record. My prototype 6" barreled TF 6 is already shooting 100fps faster than the new Diana RWS LP8's, and RWS Diana 5G Magnum's 700fps and almost 200fps faster than the Beeman P1's 600fps. My TF 6 is under 16" long with a Leapers 4 x 32 Bugbuster scope, with the stock folded up and 24" with the stock extended and weighs 5lbs 5oz. It fits nicely into a small laptop computer bag. I also tuned the trigger which now breaks cleanly at 4 lb 2oz with no creep. I am already thinking about my next project maybe a Tech Force 3-1 Pislol ? I wish I knew how to put pictures on the net this little thing is a hoot.
If ayone is thinking about making their own piston seals, I have a great place to buy PTFE virgin rod in 36" lengths at a fairly reasonable price, (
http://www.plasticsintl.com) they pay shipping.
Thats all for now.
Sparky
