I made myself a spring compressor yesterday , I've had a couple of Macarri springs for a R7 for almost a year and I finally got around to ordering some of his lubes a few days ago. With springs , lubes, and compressor , All I needed now was the nerve to take one of these babies apart. All I really wanted to accomplish for now was a lube change , and since I was gong to open her up I thought I may as well change the spring . I set up my spring compressor and tools out on the picnic table under a big pine tree out back . I removed the stock , then the trigger housing and placed the R7 into the spring compressor and relieved the pressure on the spring just enough to remove the single screw that holds everything in and then slowly back off on the c-clamp on the compressor; out slid the end cap and spring . I removed the spring and guide and degreased them and then with a covered wooden dowel inserted into the receiver , clean what I could out of there. That's as far as I wanted to open her up for now . Maybe the next one , I can try to change the lubes on the piston and compression tube . I took the Maccari spring and noticed it was a little longer but I read it would be and smeared a light coating of heavy tar on the ends and outside wearing a rubber glove on my right hand to keep the mess down . I also coated the guide with a light coat . Then I carefully replaced everything in the reverse order I removed them ; using the C-clamp to compress the end cap and spring back into the receiver , being careful to keep everything lined up , Until I got the screw hole lined up and replaced the screw that holds everything in . I then replaced the trigger assembly after removing excess grease that was all up inside with a toothpick the best I could. I notice the cocking arm was rubbing on the bottom of the receiver ,so I smeared a little molly paste on the wearing areas . After replacing the stock and scope it was ready to try her out . Right away , I noticed it cocked better than before . My first few shots , I got a lot of dieseling, probably from moving everything around inside. After less than 10 shots she settled down and a quicker , quieter shot cycle was noticed right away . I shot twenty or thirty shots and decided to check her out with the chrony. I'm going to list the pellet , the avg. before and the avg. after . JSB Exact ,before : 604fps after 620fps ; Superdomes before : 579fps after 601fps; CPL's before 590fps after 616fps. . I'm still getting some dieseling maybe once every ten to fifteen shots . I think this would be expected as the gun wasn't quite broken in yet anyway. It was definitely a learning experience and I wouldn't recommend it to everybody . And I'm sure with other makes of air rifles, a lot more needs to be done to them to get a desired outcome and a sweet shooting rifle and I'm sure a lot more could be done to this one, but I'm pleased with the outcome and feel right proud of my accomplishment . kirby
