A brief explanation of how to collapse a coil in order to lower the power of a spring rifle. Also some explanation of heat processes. To cool - quench in cold water. Do not attempt to re temper a spring as it is a specialist process.
When I collapse a coil I don't quench it. I simply leave it to cool in air (normalise it) as I have found quenching in the past can lead to brittle end coils which have been known to snap. Keep up the vids I love seeing the shooting cycles of the tuned springers you have :)
Matt Winser Cheers - and yes you're right - you could just anneal the metal on the end. Effectively - the metal that you crush down loses all its working properties within the spring and just acts as a spacer - so takes no part in the movement of the spring.
nice one mr birkin.not overly done.ive been doing mine like that for years,also annoys me when i hear of multiple quenching and re tempering threads.ive not had one fail doing it your method.
There has been a lot of discussion about quenching and whether or not to do it. One very respected and well known tuner advocates quenching the spring end in water. Others say leave it to cool - I take a sort of middle route. I do quench in water but I am in no rush to get the metal from the heat into the water. Quenching cools the spring before the heat in the modified end has chance to affect any of the rest of the spring - however there is the risk of hardening - hence the reason that I wait a few seconds before quenching.
