QB-57 tunning help needed

[zartoon]

Greetings all,

I just picked up a QB-57, and wanted to see if anyone had any advice on how to tune this puppy.
I have searched the forum, and found some posts about modifications, but particularly, I'm interested in a source for a main seal and spring change advice.

if you have any other tricks up your sleeve about this neat little rifle, i'd much appreciate that too.
I got the one in .177, and I'd like to make it a hunter for distances of about 20-30 yards for nutters, and such.

Any help would be greately appreciated.

thank you,

-Z

[Big_Bill]

Welcome to the GTA Forums Arbik,

The BEST Air Gun Forum on the Internet !!!! And, A GREAT PLACE TO BE ! ! ! ! !

I tried to find that post by Gene_SC, but it must be further back than a year. He did a full makeover of his QB-57, and man was it nice ! I hope he will stop by with a few tips !

And now that you are a member of our airgun addicted family, I hope to see you here often !

Bill

[zartoon]

Thank you Bill,

The addiction has begun.  
I love this little rifle.  Its accurate, and feels great.
I'd just like to tune it up a bit, maybe up the velocity a little bit, and put better lubricants in there and a better seal..to give it some stability/longevity.

Any help on what lube to use, where, and what parts substitutions I can make, and where to obtain them would be greatly appreciated.

thank you,

-Z

[fxud]

Gene's post can be found here:

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=3469&mid=23257#M23257

Sorry, I do not know how to make it a link, but you can copy and paste the url

[longislandhunter]

Here's another link that might help you out......

this link deals with tuning a B3-1 (AK-47 version) but the inside is basically the same..

http://my.tbaytel.net/~coopers@tbaytel.net/XS-B3%20Review/

You can use the QF-2 tune kit available online.... it gives you a replacement spring and seal... both of which work very well.  I've used my share of the QF-2 kits on my Chinese guns and the results have always been very good....

You can get the QF-2 kit from here....................

http://www.southsummit.com/

Jeff

[zartoon]

Great info!!!

Any pointers on what lube to use, where to source it, and where to apply them?

Also, in reading Gene's tune notes, he uses a "secret" Gamo spring, and an Apex seal.
Where can I get my hands on these secret parts?

Thank you,

-Z

[lillysdad621]

I got a B3- 1 (ak47 lookalike) in  .177 that shoots premiers at 686 fps without a variation larger than 6 fps above or below. That is tested in 2 strings of 50 shots each. the first string i shot was all consecutive. the second was 5 shots consecutive, anda cool down for the springs of 2 minutes. The highest velocity aqcuired was 692 fps, and the lowest was 681. I have since moved to shoot the rws hobby basics (7.0) and those shoot at 710 fps. But the premiers carry on farther and this little rifle can go through a can of soda (empty) at 50 yards, using a 4x32 and aiming with the thick of the bottom post of the reticle. The rifle was disassembled completely, degreased of the soy sauce and relubed using pellgun oil and lithium grease, depending where it was applied. The trigger was smoothed but it is still too heavy. The wood was sanded down and left bare (i love the look) and the whole rifle was solidly assembled back together. It sports a gamo 4x32 scope and is smooth and quiet.These rifles are great to learn home tuning so don't be afreaid to dig into them. go for it. I am waiting for my qb57 but as soon as it gets here, it will get the same treatment.

[zartoon]

That is great advice!!
Can you possibly tell me where to put the pelgunoil, and where to put the Moly/lithiumm grease?
I'm new to tuning guns, and wouldl ove some input.
My understanding is, lube the seal with pelgunoil, and the spring, spring ends in moly grease. The rest of the joints (trigger pins, etc.) just lube with standard gun oil.

does that sound right?

Thank you, and this is getting to be really fun!!!

-Z

[lillysdad621]

yes. make sure that you clean the entire gun, barrel, action, etc, and that is nice and dry. then run your hands over the action, cone seal on the air duct that connects to the breech.clean the spring. tHe seal should be either leather or synthetic, but it should be moist unless is a very old example, which due to their popularity i doubt. use pellgun and moly. no gun oil necessary. pellgun is good enough. MAKE SURE THAT YOU CLEAN THE BARREL UNTIL THE WADS COME OUT CLEAN!!!. use the metal bristle brush of according caliber, then wads soaked in Goo gone. then wads to dry it and keep passing them until they go in clean, and they come out clean. then make sure that every thing is snug and tight. It will feel like a new gun. And it will group easier due to consistency of speed. mine dieseled a lot. It smoked until its 150 shot!. I kept cleaning the bore and trying again, now it shoots perfect (trigger aside) and it does not smoke at all. good luck!

[lillysdad621]

remember that this are not magnum power rifles, so accuracy is adamant to clean kills. Longislandhunter is very succesful at hunting with his qb-57, and every other derivative of that rifle. key is headshots!

[longislandhunter]

Gabe is correct..... with some TLC the QB-57's turn out to be fine shooters quite capable of taking game at reasonable ranges.  Mine have taken their fare share of game very effectively.....

Jeff

[zartoon]

Well, I done it now!!!

I built a spring compressor today, and finally took the QB57 apart.

First thing that happened, is, the little catch that keeps the lever in the closed position, broke at the tip. It looks like its a cast piece.  I need to figure out how to resolve this issue.
Upon taking apart the rifle, one thing became very clear.  The spring guide..is VERY crooked.  Basically, its way off, and it looks like this is how it was manufactured.  Its made from a steel cap, and a rolled steel tube, but the rolled steel tube is not centered on the cap, so when installed, it bends the spring to the outside wall (wherever it lines up).  

The rest went pretty smooth.  I smoothed out the cylinder, and the piston, the trigger felt pretty good to begin with, so I didnt do much else to that.

Any ideas on how to resolve my two issues?

Thank you again for your guidance,

-Z

[longislandhunter]

As for the cocking arm here's a  $8.99 fix  

http://www.archerairguns.com/QB57-Cocking-Arm-Kit-p/qb57arm.htm

As for the spring guide......  here's another replacement part package......

http://www.archerairguns.com/QB57-Piston-and-Spring-Kit-p/qb57pistonspring.htm

Jeff

[zartoon]

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for the quick response.
I'm thinking, maybe just get the arm, and see if I can have someone machine me a delrin spring guide.
I figure, if I end up buying both parts (9+17=26), that's starting to approach just getting another QB57 to use as parts...

what do you think about replacing the spring guide with a delrin one?

[longislandhunter]

Delrin should work fine..

Jeff