I rebuilt the first gun (2260/Disco) I converted to the SSG today, using the last drawing in the post above.... It uses a much shorter spring guide that moves with the hammer, so the energy is not wasted.... Here are the two types.... I stole the spring from the top one for the new one, on the bottom....



The top one has a long guide that stops when the rear nuts hit the gap adjusting bolt.... The bottom one has a sliding aluminum collar that pushes against the end of the gap adjusting bolt when you cock the gun.... and the stop nut slides back inside the adjusting bolt.... When you fire, the guide accelerates with the hammer, and just before it hits the valve, the stop nut hits the collar and carries the collar with it.... All the moving parts provide their energy to the valve.... The gap adjusting nut must be larger in diameter to allow the stop nut to pass through the center when the gun is cocked.... The collar is centered in the front of the end plug, which keeps everything aligned.... You can see how much shorter the new setup is than the original, and when cocked, the stop nut stays inside the gap adjusting bolt, as in the photo below....



The photo above is with the gun cocked.... Compare that with the photo below of the original SSG setup, also with the gun cocked....



There is no longer a pinch point to worry about, and it looks MUCH nicer and more compact....

How does it work?.... FABULOUS !!!.... When I first assembled it, I used 0.1" less preload than I did in the original version, because I expected a stronger hammer strike and I didn't want to go past where I wanted to end up.... Well, it turned out I should have reduced the preload by 0.2", because I had more velocity than I wanted from the heavier hammer strike.... When I cranked it up (with no gap) it was well over 1000 fps with Kings, and I just happened to have some of the new 34 gr. King Heavies here, so I tried them.... With a minimum gap I was in the mid 800s, which was 55 FPE, compared to the best I could do with the old SSG with the Kings of 50 FPE.... So, I pulled it apart, increased the preload to maximum with the 2200 spring, and was rewarded with even more velocity.... By maxing out the spring to coil bind (preload, no gap), I hit 948 fps (68 FPE), which is harder than this gun has ever shot before.... Once I backed it out to get a tiny gap, it was shooting right at about 900 (62 FPE), but it was using a lot of air, so I backed it out another turn, and settled for a peak velocity of 880 fps with a 5-shot string from 2000 psi down to 1300.... The average was 866 fps (57 FPE), at an efficiency of 1.30 FPE/CI.... which is pretty astounding for a mildly modded Disco with the small tube from a 2260....

I really like this version of the SSG, particularly for guns where you need lots of hammer strike to get the dwell for high power with heavy pellets.... It still has the advantage of eliminating hammer bounce, but it doesn't waste the energy the spring puts into the guide, instead it uses the weight of the guide to increase hammer strike and dwell.... In addition, it is much more compact, and the guide can be hidden inside the adjuster, providing the hammer stroke isn't too long (this gun is 0.65").... All in all, I think it's a significant improvement over the original.... particularly for higher powered PCPs....

Bob