HB-22 Re-visited

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I paid quite a bit for this sow's ear in 2007. I note they have come down in price a lot since then.
Had much trouble with getting it above 340 fps when it was new. It sat in the scope drawer 2 or 3 years not holding air.

Tore into it last night, and cleaned all the metal shavings out of the tube, and replaced all the O-rings. Still can't get the pivot roll pin off. I suspect the factory soldered it in. That cup piston in there is a bit of a slacker.

After some minor tweaking of springs, the gun will now shoot 411 fps, with the 16 gr. Jumbo Straton, of all things, but it takes 15 pumps to get there. Still a long ways off from the mfgr's claims of 460 at 8 pumps...

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There's the long stainless probe and breech seal. On a 13-XX, this would be considered an extended probe.

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It shoots like that for me at 7 meters off-hand, kneeling. That's 5 of the Crosman Premier Hollowpoint. For my eyes, that is dad-gum good shootin...

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I has some self-prescribed help with the open irons. :P Flourescent orange paint by yours truly. It works...

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Enough pellets??!! That's just the pellet box, and doesn't count what's in the truck, or my camera bag, or god knows where else...

But.. back to the H-9A HB-22...

With the CPHP 14.3 gr, it averages 376 fps, with a surprisingly low extreme spread of just 6.5 fps over ten shots, at the factory mandated 8 pump limit.

My oxidized Crosman Competition 14.3 gr wad cutters cracked 400- 401.0 fps to be exact, at ten pumps. Extreme spread of 9.3 fps.

The above mentioned JSB 16 gr Straton points averaged 411 fps at 15 pumps. Extreme spread on those is geting up there, at 13.1 fps.

Pumping more than 15 pumps is just wasted effort on this gun. Despite the large exterior diameter of the valve, volume is quite limited... There's a button check in there that is a duplicate of what's found in the 13-XX.

Bbl is brass, as is the tube, valve, and breech.

I have a few concerns about this pistol. I think I'll go out of my way to select softer lead pellets.
I'm wondering how much of a pressure load that brass tube can with-stand. I'm beginning to see the reasoning behind the thick walled valve... I should probably accept the pistol for what it is, and try not to push it too hard...

The trigger needs a lot of work. Finding a lighter hair-pin spring for it will be a bit of a challenge.
I love the stream-lined look and feel to the gun. The slim grips are a pleasure to use after the bulky thumb-rest plastic grips on the 13's...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail