Relum Tornado spring advice?

[comanche 2,799]

Saw an old underlever Relum Tornado in a customer's out-house and mentioned that if he ever wanted to sell it I'd be interested . "Its knackered and you can have the bl**dy thing", came the reply!.

When I was 14 I skipped school lunches and saved my dinner money to buy a Relum Telly-the break barrel version of the Tornado- from my Mum's catalogue . I really liked the look of the Tornado but they were £14 so settled on the £10 Telly before Mum began to ask questions regarding the missing dinner tickets .. About 30 years ago I fitted a PTFE washer and spring upgrade which definatly increased power though the cost was a heavier trigger.I still use it but it is getting a bit soft now .

Back to the Tornado . I've wangled the remains of five pellets out of the barrel and discovered that the reason they were stuck was certainly due to the total lack of a piston washer!.

I was going to make one using three or four thicknessess of leather but have since found plenty of the originals available though no one seems to advertise the PTFE ones anymore .

This rifle is fitted with two springs as standard. The conventional mainspring has another -longer and thinner- spring running inside it . I can only think that it is supposed to act as a guide or possibly as a shock absorber to reduce recoil. I can't help thinking that inevitable contact between the springs could have an adverse effect .

These double springs are also still readily available and apparently springs from several old BSA models can be used . I intend to use a Weiracht spring simply because I already have one that will be a good fit once a coil or two has been removed . I also have a nylon spring guide that looks like it will be suitable with a minimal amount of work.

I'll play with the old and new springs and have the power out-put checked with each. I'd expect something over ten ftlbs. Anything less( or the unlikely event of it producing too much ) would indicate that more work is needed .

My question is this . Does any one know quite why Relum settled on a double spring design originally and would there be any real advantage in sticking with it ?.

Edited September 3, 2011 by comanche

[andyfr1968 772]

They used a double spring simply because the quality of the steel they used was shite. Eastern European rubbish.

 

Replace the double spring crap with a decent quality one speced for a BSA Mercury or Airsporter

[comanche 2,799]

Several folk have suggested the "crap" steel theory but my memory of the original spring in my old Telly was that it lasted well and the ten quid Relum certainly performed better than the Meteors that seemed to be a common rifle of choice for a lot of my mates in my youth. Maybe I was lucky.

The central spring is relatively weak and I can't think that it performed any usefull function as far as adding to power output.

Edited September 4, 2011 by comanche

[comanche 2,799]

MISTAKE NUMBER 1 ...I only really intended to whack in a new washer and replace the original springs with an old Weiracht one I had kicking about just to get the thing working . So apart from a cursory wipe with a rag on a stick the cylinder itself recieved little attention.

This was a mistake . After reassembly the thing was only popping out 6ftbs.

 

Ok, so I hear cries of "What do you expect. Its a Relum".

A mere five minutes with a couple of screwdrivers and a hammer saw the beast in bits again. The piston had obviously hit a foreign body at the end of the cylinder and the new washer was a bit distorted but the central spacer had luckily taken most of the impact . Even with a torch I was hard pushed to detect what I thought was a bit of compressed swarf or dodgy Hungarian welding next to the air hole. It turned out to be part of what appeared to be a thick steel needle. I guess someone had either tried to remove a stuck pellet with a probe or more likely had tried to load the thing with A Gat dart . It had all gone horribly wrong any way !.

 

MISTAKE NUMBER 2......I have one of those little extending wands with a light and magnet on the end . "Just the thing ",thinks I ,"for a combined closer examination and removal of steel debris from the chamber ."

Unfortunatly the magnet popped from its housing and became firmly stuck to the face of the cylinder . Eventually I retrieved it by poking a cleaning rod tipped by a flexible brush up the barrel,through the loading port and into the cylinder and catching the wayward magnet with a hack saw blade .

 

Having spent a while longer playing with the device than I'd intended I decided that I might as well invest a bit more attention and also buy a new spring . Everything was smoothed and lightly polished . The washer -despite its traumatic collision with a steel needle resumed its desired shape and after a few little tweaks and attention to the sealing around the loading port the rifle was assembled with care and that grey grease that looks like lead mixed with vaseline . . The spanking new spring ,complete with "top-hat" and nylon guide looked a bit more sophisticated than the original wonky double spring set-up.

 

SUCCESS. I'm waiting to borrow a chrono but seat-of-the-pants firing indicates that the former Gentle Breeze is at last living up to its name of Tornado . For the time being at least .

RELUM TORNADO. Some folk hate em . I love em but then I've a warped sense of humour .

[long dogs 580]

i nearly lost one of my fingers to one of those feckers lol

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

Hi Comanche.

 

What a great story, and an even better restoration.

Wish you luck with her

 

 

ATB.

 

 

Bill.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Just how long is that thing?

[comanche 2,799]

Just how long is that thing?

Its no trendy carbine !

Overall its 45" long and the barrel is close to 18.5".It's well balenced though and feels just right for open sight hunting in cover where something with a bit of swing is an advantage and a scope would be a hinderance . The whole thing is a little crude and workmanlike -as you would expect from an East European manufacturer- but the quality of the barrel and accuracy is surprising for what was an inexpensive rifle that probably harks back to the mid 1970s.

Sadly I think later Relums lost a bit of their robust quality and became just another budget air rifle with a bad reputation.

Edited September 8, 2011 by comanche

[Marksman 934]

nowt wrong with that mate

I refurbed one not so long ago and it's pushing out around the 10ftlbs mark, good rifles the old swamp donkeys, it was my first rifle when I was a young'un!!

 

Darryl

[comanche 2,799]

nowt wrong with that mate

I refurbed one not so long ago and it's pushing out around the 10ftlbs mark, good rifles the old swamp donkeys, it was my first rifle when I was a young'un!!

 

Darryl

 

Have yet to measure it on my Son in Law's chrono but the Tornado is matching my HW97K pretty much page for page in slightly unscientific penetration tests using piles of magazines as a backstop.

Out of interest . Have you found that your Relum has any preference when it comes to pellets?.

The Accupels that my HW likes were inconsistent . Apart from the odd weird "flyer" I've managed a few thumbnail groups using cheap old Marksman pellets up to 20 yards whereafter my aging speccy- eyes,crude open sights and general wobblyness combine to limit further accuracy .

[Daveeee 0]

I'm just sorting out a Tornado now a early Czechoslavakian and a HW95 spring is looking better than a BSA Meteor spring for a straight swap. Tornado was my first rifle too love the buggers.. 

[Daveeee 0]

I forgot to ask is there a trigger upgrade for the Tornado that anyone knows about. 

[Dervburner 2,548]

Interesting project, will you be posting some power and accuracy results and a few pictures?

[Daveeee 0]

Yes I've started a new conversation about this just waiting for the mods to approve it talking more of what I'm doing may put the whole HW95 spring guide in eventually the spring is such a good fit compared to the Meteor. 

[Daveeee 0]

Dumped the rivet for a machine screw countersunk m6 which did not fill the hole at top of the cylinder so I put a small sleeve inside there, used a nylon locking nut and lock tight other side. I trimmed a HW95 slip washer which I'll replace with a homemade top hat in the future. HW95 spring works took a little too much off a number 8 but shoots fine just ordering a No. 7 to drop in and it'll work much better.