Canadian Airgun Forum

i called my Ruger Airhawk, a problem child in a previous post, yup, still at it after almost two months

i did the following work on it;

1-when received, i noticed the flat breach seal right off the bat, and the moving barrel up and down(when closed), replaced the seal, and had to fabricate a shim, that was an adventure in itself, but the barrel was no longer moving as it was
2-locktited the stock screws, and tried to set the gamo scope that came with it, it would no hold zero for more then 3 shots
3-in trying another scope, i noticed the elevation knob was all the way down in the tube, and the elevation could no longer be set to go higher as the gun was shooting down(cant remember anymore), examined the barrel, and confirmed with a long ruler that it was bent upwards and to the left, i bent it back down only
4-tried a combination of 4 different scopes and 4 different sets of rings and mounts, from 2 pieces, to a single piece, as well as dovetail to weaver adapters(including a compensated one), would not hold zero
5-ordered a cheapo scope, happened to be the exact same as the one on my browning leverage, had high hopes since it works flawless on that one, bought a mini torque wrench, then locktited the screws on the mounts and rings...still not holding zero for more then a few shots, but it seemed to be more up and down then side to side, but now i know there is no slippage
7-put a drop or two of rmcoil in the chamber, big mistake, started dieseling like crazy, took the gun apart, cleaned it, and re-lubed it with moly, now very smooth
6-replaced the last scope with a centerpoint 4x32(known to hold zero on my other guns) just to see if this gun can shoot straight, elevation knob is normal, windage has to cranked to extreme right....still not holding zero
7-rechecked the barrel today, movement up and down, and a bit left to right, took the barrel off, addressed the pointing left issue, now barrel is straight, put it back on the gun and made sure the breach opening was snug by squeezing it, cleaned, lubed, and locktited the barrel screws, movement is now gone, closes solid

chances are, i'll be trying it tomorrow, if the thing can at least shoot straight, then i'll know i'll have to buy a better scope for it, open sights are non existent in case your wondering

that is way too much work on one gun, selling it with full disclosure crossed my mind a few times during the last two months...i'll report back if i get the desired results

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Can empty space really exist ?

What happened to the open sights? Is it the Elite model?
In my experience with a few Airhawks has been quite the opposite of yours. Mind you I prefer open sights. The scopes that came with the gun are nver going on any springer I own. I will keep them for a pumper or CO2.
As I read your post I was thinking "it's the scope, it's the scope" I wonder if it had open sights you could have easily diagnosed the problem before bending the barrel.

The barrel up and down movement sounds like a lock up issue. Does the ballbearing feel stiff, hard to push in? Where the ballbearing locksup with the action there is a little nipple, is it present in your gun? Perhaps it may have broken off. All of mine have had solid lock ups.

My only complaint about the Ruger Airhawk is it has cost me dearlyy $$.
By being such a nice gun I fell in love with it. Realizing it is a copy of a Diana I have now become obsessed with Diana guns. Like I said, it has cost me dearly.

hi woody

like you, i thought it was the scope, that's why i tried so many configurations,, once i eliminated the slippage issue(visible at times), the remaining culprit is either the gun or the scope itself, the bent barrel had to be fixed, or else, it would make the scope go into adjustments it can't compensate for, so with that taken care of, i turned my attention to the rest of the gun, a moving barrel can't be good for accuracy, so i addressed /checked the following;

-ballbearing can't be pushed inside with my fingers, so i would say its stiff enough, the little nipple is also present and seems intact
-checked the crown with a magnifying glass and a Q tip, no burrs present
-tried multiple pellets(10 kinds), different weight, from stoeger to crosman, to H&N, to jsb's, in fact, multiple models of jsb's, the express seems to be the best in the times when they did group for 20 shots or so

i'm trying it one more time tomorrow, and if it doesn't work, i just might sell it cheap on here

shame, cause i really like that gun, anyway, a Diana is in my future as well, next spring

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Can empty space really exist ?

oh yeah, forgot to mention, its a used gun, had an aftermarket muzzle break, no open sights

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Can empty space really exist ?

The rifle may have a bad crown.
It has rear open sights, so try to get a pin or something on the muzzle and see if it will group with opens. But first, remove the brake and check the crown.

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Iacio, ergo sum

Hi Duke

yup, i did remove the muzzle break and checked the crown, no burrs, looks good there, i still have the back sight, might be an option to try.

i don't know why i'm thinking this is still a scope issue, i just don't want to invest in a worthy scope just to try that out, although, that scope could go on my future Diana if it doesn't work out

i'm thinking; since the gun has much power, and therefore much recoil, maybe those scopes just aren't up to the task

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Can empty space really exist ?

I think that is the issue. Low cost scopes generally don't hold up well to springers.

What FPS is it shooting at. If it has a lot of power like you say, and it breaks 950, it will shoot all over everywhere. Slow it down a bit and see what happens. It will do the same thing if it diesels too.

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"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson.

don't know what the numbers are at the moment, will have a chrony thursday, that was also on my list of potential suspects, so i ordered jsb's heavy 10.34 gr, tested them, no help

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Can empty space really exist ?

Father in law oversprung his. Was likely close to 1000. Would not group good enough for plinking after that.

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"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson.

You say "the barrel was no longer moving as it was" after you shimmed it, that the gun with scope "would not hold zero," that regarding the barrel you have "confirmed with a long ruler that it was bent upwards and to the left," and that "i bent it back down only". It sounds like this barrel may have been "straightened" by a previous owner, perhaps to compensate for barrel droop, and that the barrel is no longer fixing tightly when the action is closed. That might explain the inability of the gun to shoot anything resembling a group. If the barrel still moves despite being locked up and everything is tightened as far as reasonable then your gun may well be "attached to another object by an incline plane wrapped helically around an axis". (i.e. screwed).

i did consider the fact that this barrel might have been purposely bent to compensate for droop, and maybe the guy overdid it, no sure, but at the moment, there is no visible movement, just a very slight feeling that it is, but at least not visible like yesterday, i also noted that the breach opening is wider near the transfer port, bad machining !


this gun is either going to finish in my parts bin, or be sold real cheap, cause i'n not putting any more money on this puppy

in the meantime, here is a pic of shots i just took at 20 yards, using a centerpoint 4x30 scope, so you would have to account for the lack of adjustments...not sure what to make of it

my underpowered, made in turkey winchester 500x gets tighter groups with the same scope(all in the black)

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Can empty space really exist ?

here are two more shooting sessions just now, at 20 yards, same pellets, one with the Winchester, the other with the Browning, those are results that i would like to see with the Ruger

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Can empty space really exist ?

Do yourself a favor..get a Diana 34... and end the problems..get a good quality scope
& mount... something with a scope stop and have fun shooting instead of trying to fix a dog!.........KEN.

Several sources for replacement barrels.

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"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson.