Hammerli Titan Inside and Out

[Gene_SC]

Some of you have already been following my thread on the Main Air Gun Gate about the Hammerli that I have recently purchased. My first opinion was the Titan was a very attractive air rifle and I still hold that opinion. After I bought the Hammerli, I took it over to CDT's for him to see if anything looked familiar. And of course he had seen this type of Chinese built air gun many times. He was impressed after he shot it a couple times and ran it through the chrony. Told me I may have gotten a good one... First thing I wanted to do was tear into it and make a spring guide, seal retainer for the new Apex seal I had bought from CDT and the big thing was to go through the trigger. The trigger was very promising since it was a true two stage trigger. The next morning I headed over to CDT's again for a lesson on triggers and how they worked so on and so fourth. He began studying the trigger and how it worked and after about 10 minutes called me over to his work bench. So then we proceeded to pull apart the trigger piece by piece until it was just pieces and a trigger body. He let me do most all the work that was needed for a major trigger tune, with his guidance of course.. After about 2 hours it was ready to put back together. Before we started the trigger had about 6 lbs pull through the first stage and about 10 lbs on the second. When we were all don it was about 2 lbs through the first stage and 1 lbs for the final crispy break. I was impressed to say the least. I am very fortunate that I live so close to a man that would do anything to help me with what he knows. Bob is truly an expert when it comes to air gun springers. I left and came home and proceeded to spin a new aluminum seal retainer for the piston, deburing all the stamped out Chinese parts and a few other little tricks that Mr. Tuna has been so kind as to show me.. Early this morning I proceeded to do the final 5 step lube tune on all the parts in the right places. One thing about this type of Chinese air rifle is that you have to have a special made tool in order to compress the spring and install the trigger on re- assembly. Of course Mr. Tuna had one he let me borrow.. Everything went back together great without a problem. I would say that I would rather do a tune on a Gamo or RWS rather than this Hammerli Titan.. It is though decent build inside and I thought it was about a notch under any Gamo I have ever tuned. The special tool needed to reassemble it would make it very hard for an average air gun enthusiast to do his own tune. For sure you would need a special tool to finish up with. Now for the chrony and accuracy... I shot 15 consecutive shots with it through the chrony and the overall deviation was around 5.5 and was holding a steady 898 fps through each shot with exception of first shot, which was over 900. Now keep in mind that this air gun has only had a total of 55 pellets through the muzzle so far. So I am sure after everything gets seated in that my fps will be in the low 900's. It shoots rock solid with a nice smooth recoil. I was surprised with this and maybe it may change but it was sure nice. Even felt a bit nicer than my RWS 34 which I love to shoot. I put a BSA Rimfire 4x32 on it for testing with a BKL Cantilever mount. After getting the scope sited in after 5 shots at 15 yards, I moved my mud flap target stand back to the fence which is 40 yards from my shooting position in the garage. I took 15 shots with RWS Superdomes and was surprised at the consistency of the groups. They were within a two inch pattern but tight. I will of course put two tins of pellets through this air rifle before I start checking out other pellets. But for the those 15 shots I did not have one flyer and the gun cocked very smoothly and shot with a great solid feel to it. The muzzle bark was no louder than any of my other .177's. I really do not have a problem with neighbors and noise.. All in all I am very happy with the Hammerli Titan I bought for $137.00. The wood and overal finish is above the norm.. Anyway I have a few pictures to show everyone that reads this post so if any of you have any questions, feel free to ask ...

Gene

[longislandhunter]

Enjoyed your review very much Gene !!  Nice lookin rifle, I love the stock.  Only one thing bad about your review............. now I want one  

Best of luck with the gun.  

Jeff

[PeakChick]

Very nice review Gene. It is a very nice looking rifle, Chinese clone or not. Short of the high end BAM rifles, those AR1000, TF89, Titan rifles are the cream of the crop for Chicom springers. It definitely is pretty close to the spittin' image of the Norica guns. That new Apex seal sure does look nice on the end of the piston.

Here's a pic of my GH950 for comparison:

[shadow]

Great reveiw buddy and I love the stock, she's pretty. I want one too hehe. Ed

[longislandhunter]

I was just lookin at  one on Pyramydair,,,,, not a bad price,,,,, hmmm hmmm   my "order button" finger is twitchin again  

and there is that good forever 10% off coupon,,,,,  

Jeff

[PeakChick]

Use the opposite hand to restrain the finger wavering over the order button, look away, turn off the computer, get up and take a walk..........It's no use Jeff, you'll be back.

[Big_Bill]

Sweet lookin baby you have there Gene,

I can see what attracted her to you, very, very nice !

Great review also, and the photos are GERAT !

I have a feeling you will need to post a how-to on that spring compressor. hehe

Good luck with your new baby Gene, she sure looks like a winner !

[Gene_SC]

Ya Stephanie, they do look similar. Your trigger looks very close but the breech shows on yours and not on the Titan. Could be my forestock is longer.. Yes the apex seal works great and had a nice fit when I put it back together. Also the Titan has very nice sites, which I do not use but did take the rear one off and noticed that there is a nice fine adjustment for left and right, besides the wheel for high and low. I think Vince would probably appreciate the sites on this model... And thanks for your kind words along with the rest of the gang.. Maybe someone else may want to buy one.. hehe

Gene

Thank you for a great review.  I'm pretty new to the forum and air gun shooting in general.  I bought a Titan last week at Sportman's Warehouse and so far like it.  I've put maybe 500 shots through it with three types of pellets (Daisy presicion pointed, Beeman silver pointed, Beeman Crow magnum).  The Crow magnum are the best of the three, tighter groups.  So far I like the gun.  

Couple of questions: why a different spring retainer, what is wrong with the original retainer.  I have messed with the three screws on the trigger without really knowing what they do.  I have the pull light and it is all working, but I would really like to know more of the purpose of the three screws and what happens when they are turned in/out.

Thanks again,

[Gene_SC]

If you mean the spring guide, the reaons behind making a new one is that the original one is very cheap and it has a hole down the middle of it which makes it even cheaper.. The spring guides in most of your average springer are very loose when they slide inside the spring. The tolerance's are terrible. Delrin makes for a much better spring guide when machined to fit the inside diameter of the spring properly and you can make it a solid guide in most cases. Also you will eliminate most of the twang that you get out of a springer as well. It is not only the spring guide that makes up a good tune on a springer but all the other things that you do. I have over 20 springers now and most all of them have been tuned this way, and it makes the shooting a more pleasurable experience.

Hope this answers your question...

Gene

[Big_Bill]

Hi Brody,

Welcome to the GTA Air Guns Forums !!

I do not have a Titan, yet, But you should read the instructions that should have come with your rifle, before trying to adjust it.

The screws in the trigger normally adjust the first and second stage of the trigger pull, travel,and the sear engagement, the amount the sear holds the bolt. Buy adjusting them without knowing what you are adjusting can make your rifle unsafe, and can cause it to fire when you don't expect it to. Like touching the trigger, bumping it, or just rough handling.

Care should be used so that an unsafe condition is not created.

Gene,

thanks, it is the spring guide I'm asking about.  Guess that is something that will have to wait, I don't have the tools and knowledge to do it myself, and I have not found anyone in the Olympia, WA area who works on air guns.  As long as it shooting ok I am fine with it.

Brody

Bill,

thank you.  Unfortunately, the instructions that came with the gun are very limited.  They provide information about how to cock, load, shoot, adjust the sights, lubricate, and little more.  No where is trigger adjustment provided or any reference made to the three screws.  So, if someone can enlighten me as to the purpose/function of them I would appreciate it.  

[DanoInTx]

Very nice Gene!!!

I have two tins of pellets here I am willing to shoot through it to break it in properly, just send the gun here...I think you have my address:)

[Gene_SC]

Oh! the joy of friends,,,,:) What would I ever do without a good ole friends like you Dano.. hehe....... I think on this one, I will break it in myself buddy. Thank you very much for your generous offer..

Gene