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333mmm · New Member

The consensus is that mainsprings should receive a light coating of heavy tar because heavy tar resists being flung off better than lighter tars and mainspring tar is not meant to dampen vibration but to prevent galling and act as a lube to aid spring release. A tight fitting mainspring guide and synthetic tophat or synthetic mainspring guide dampen vibration. A thick coating of tar only slows down the gun and the excess is flung off. So should the same light coating of heavy tar be used on low powered and high powered springers e.g. an R7 and an R1? Also, some like to use velocity tar on the mainspring guide while others use moly on the guide maybe because velocity tar can be hard to find. Is either better for the guide and how much should be applied to the guide? Thanks for any replies.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

I use moly on the inside of the spring, and on the outside I smear just enough velocity tar so that when you run your finger down the spring, you get just the thinnest of stringing of tar between coils, any surplus will be thrown off anyway and the thing is to keep this to the minimum.

Al

kanyon · Silver Status Member

I use a thick grease on the spring....To much drama to get tar sent out here....but have noticed 2 of my springers are in need of a relube....
the spring twang has returned took about 1000 shots.

Teryx · Veteran Member

An excellant grease for this application is PowerPunch. It can be had in tubs or cartridges and is usually found in automotive parts houses. The stuff is as sticky as honey. It won't get thrown out of anything!

teryx

Amigo · Veteran Member

333mmm:

Heavy tar is actually intended to dampen vibration and harmonics in the piston spring. This occurs when the piston violently hits its air cushion, rebounds and then resumes its travel to the end of the chamber.
Note: "Dry firing" is even more violent.

Just about any EP grease film will prevent galling. This especially true in an airgun application where there is a harder heat treated spring in a relatively light sliding contact with the inside of a softer piston. Metals of equal or near equal softness tend to gall more easily and even more so if of like alloy.

Hope this answers your question,

Amigo