Throw good money after bad?

[atchman2]

Well I'm totally conviced that this Ruger Air Hawk refurb is a total piece of junk!  I"m sure one of you tuner types could fix it, but is it worth it?  I mean it is already de-valued because it is a refurb, do you spend some $$$ and fix it or do you just chalk it up to lesson learned and buy another gun-this time a quality gun.  

Is a tuned Ruger as good as an un-tuned RWS Panther?

[daved]

What did you pay for the refurb, Randy, and what qualifies it as a piece of junk?  You don't have to be a tuner to do a respectable job tuning a springer, and if you have a cheap gun to start with, who cares if you mess something up?  A spring, piston seal, and lubes will run you about $50, you can build a spring compressor from a pipe clamp, time spent on the tune can run from less than an hour to a full day, depending on what you want and how meticulous you are.  It's a fun learning experience, and it's very gratifying to take a POS and turn it into a nice shooter.  Later.

Dave

[atchman2]

Well accuracy is terrible!  You are lucky if you can hit a 2" target at 10 yards.  I've locktited the screws and did as much as I could without going all out.  It was a cabellas refurb gun for only $75.  You can't even get the iron sights to work as they won't adjust far enough to the right.  The spring sounds like a ratchet and it is pretty hard to cock as well.  That is after about 700 pellets.  

I'd just expect even the worst of guns to hit a 2" circle at 10 yards.  I can do that with my 20 year old Daisy Pump gun

[Bogey]

This is a good question that only you can decide.  An airgun is just something that is machanical.  And in the experiences of most,  if not all of us,  is that for some unknown reason you can be assured of getting  "Lemons" out of every batch.  Even with the best quality control.  And sometimes the problems can remedied and sometimes they can't. And on the topic of quality control,  chinese arms,  on every level,  military arms  or civilian airguns, can be dodgy at best.

This AG may be one of those .

[daved]

Sounds like the crown could be messed up.  And if you got it at Cabella's, and it came off the shelf, it was probably dry fired about a million times.  I've been in two different Cabella's now, and those idiots know nothing about air guns.  I suspect Cabellas.com is no better.  Hard to cock could be lack of lubrication or even a busted spring.  Either of those would also make it noisy.  I'd say check the crown, there's info in out library on how to fix a bad one.  And if you have a chrony or access to one, I'd say check that, too.  A busted main spring can cause BIG variations in velocity, which can cause the poor accuracy you're getting.  I've had that problem a couple of times, the chrony tells the tale.  I had a spring do a partial collapse once, and was getting 100 fps velocity swings.  Needless to say, the only way I could hit the broad side of a barn was from inside :-)!  Unless you can send it back for a refund, I'd say open her up.  What have you got to lose?  Keep us posted.

Dave

[shadow]

I would cover all the bases on the outside as mentioned crown etc. then dive inside and give her some TLC. :) eD

[atchman2]

If I bought this:  http://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/catalog/item/251488/2514146.htm

Do you think I could put it in if I made myself a spring compressor?  I may take the road you guys suggest and just use this as a learning experience.

[RedFeather]

Ask Gene for what to get.  He did my Air Hawk with a JM spring and Apex seal.  They CAN be made into nice rifles - as nice as a tuned 34, BUT you are looking at about another $70 or so.  Shouldn't have to spend almost as much, again, to make it right.  This is the old "sunk costs" trap.  Sometimes it's better to chalk it up to experience and not keep pouring more money in.  Do you have any right of return?  They might send you another in better shape.

[howie1a]

I don't know about about you but the Ruger I got had some stock issues but it shoots fine I can do one ragged hole at 10 yds. see the pic after it has been re finished. howie

[JimL911]

Yes that spring kit will work but don't forget to order a seal. As for the ratcheting sound someone probably dented the piston liner just remove it. The Air Hawk when broken down will look like a smaller version of your 350 so it would be a great learning tool for you. Because of the articulated cocking linkage you can remove the barrel and simply use a 2' bar/pipe clamp to open it up. while you are at it replace the stock screws with allen heads I think they are M6 just take the with you to be sure. You will have to cut about 1/2 inch off the rear one. Here is a link of a 34 spring change but use a compressor of some sorts to be safe.
http://web.mac.com/photomark/iWeb/Airgun%20Adventures/Diana%20RWS%2034%20Spring%20Upgrade.html

Good luck.

[AKJC1977]

I agree with daved totally, If ya dont have much in it it may turn out to be the most valuble gun ya have . Cause you can tear it apart and try to fix it,thus learning how to work on a airgun better. I know that there are tons of people on this site that would help you the whole way.And from what I have learned,a good tune is equal to a completely different gun. The Ruger airhawks must be a decent base platform as Gene has one with a lot of mods done to it,and he seems to like it alot. Maybe buy ya a real good gun(if possible) and work on this one too. Either way dont give up. And if ya just wont fool with it name a price and I pay a reasonable amount to have one to work on. let me know AKJC1977@yahoo.com

[atchman2]

Thanks for the link!  I may go ahead and give it a try.  All I can do is "learn"  I can't make this gun any worse!  

I did manage to get some semi decent groups on Friday using a loose hold.  However, it isn't forgiving at all like my Whisper.

[Gene_SC]

The(New) Ruger Air Hawk for the money IMO is a great buy. It is a crap shoot if you expect to get a decent Refurb. Why not just spend the extra $30.00 and buy a new one that you could of returned if it had defects?

There are a few springs that will work depending on what you want to use the Ruger for. A direct replacement spring would be the GRT spring from JM. Many of the Refurbs have inherent built in problems such as no crown. That is the biggest issue for accuracy. You can tune it twenty times but unless you have a crown you will never achieve good groups. The tune would make your cocking and firing cycle way smoother.

So when you buy a Refurbished springer you are taking a chance. And for sure you are getting just what you paid for..:)

[atchman2]

How would you check/fix the crown?  I have a friend with a metal shop.

[atchman2]

I've been shooting it, but it is really a waste of pellets.  Would you try the re-crown first before trying the spring kit?