#1:  I want to send my gun in to get tuned and I want to get as much power out of it as possible?

My #1 goal when tuning a gun is to have a pleasant shooting gun that will stay that way for a long time.  If your primary goal is to have a gun that will shoot peak velocity right after the tune there are several tuners that will do this for you.  I could do the same but the end result is a gun that will shoot harshly and develop spring noise after 1500-2000rnds.  Sometimes a higher power spring can be fitted but with the tolerance on current production gun's compression chambers, this will sometimes give less not more power.  Until your gun is here and I work on it I can't tell you what it will shoot.  I will say this, most guns sent in for high power tunes are guns that never shot at advertised velocity due to bad spec guns and the owners are hoping tuning it will be the silver bullet that fixes it all.  Almost all the time, it is not.

#2  What is buttoning pistons?  What will it do for me?

Piston buttoning is where shallow holes are milled into the piston and 3/16 - 3/8th delrin buttons are inserted and then fitted to match the receiver of the gun.  It makes the gun cock a little smoother.  It eliminates metal to metal contact to eliminate galling on guns with soft pistons.  It will often cut down on vibration in guns where the piston to receiver fit is loose.

#3  What is a good gun to get nowadays?

Recommending a air rifle is like recommending a car or truck.  Personal taste weigh in too much for me to comment.  It's best for you to try them out yourself and see what you like.  In the past I've recommended guns only to have people complain.  I recommended a TX to one fellow several years back only to have him complain about how hard it was to load and how heavy it was.  I had one guy that couldn't handle the recoil of an R7 (go figure).  Everyone is worried about making the wrong decision, but soliciting opinions very rarely helps.  Often it just confuses things.  Try the stuff out and form your own opinions.  Try FT shoots or one of the airgun shows if possible.  Little Rock is the main one if you want to try stuff.  Contact a dealer before going if you want to try something specific out.

#4  How do I pay you?

Preferably with money ;-) LOL  Checks, Money Orders.  Checks are held until work is started on your gun.  If you have concerns about your gun actually arriving, waiting on the check to clear is not a good way of doing it.  Just give me a call to check on arrival.

#5 I want to send you my HZ2312 for a tune.  I want the gun to shoot 900fps with 8.2 JSB pellets with little to no recoil.  I shot *****'s gun the other day and that's what his does.

There is no way "Any" tuner can tell you what your gun is going to shoot sight unseen, even if he knows what spring is going to be used and the caliber of the gun.  Some guns that shot in the mid 900's with a Maccari TSpring ten to fifteen years ago are hard pressed to shoot 820 to 860 fps with all the identical parts.  Receiver and compression tube tubing being the major culprit.   If you send me a gun with a detailed list of what is and isn't acceptable velocity wise, you leave me no choice but to bow out.  There is no way I can guaranty what your gun will shoot anymore. If you send it wanting to see what can be done with your particular gun, I have no problem with that and I'll be happy to help.

#6 How do I make a seal for my gun and what material do you use. (General how to questions)

    I get several of these requests a week.  I've spent tons of money finding what will and won't work.  The only way for me to recover my expenses and R&D time is to sell what I have come up with.  Besides that, most often the people that ask for help with a problem never have the decency to give me a thank you.  I just never here from them again.

#7  I've got a  **** and it has never shot as well as other guns I've tried the same model.  I want to send it in and get you to fix it up for me.

Every now and then a gun comes across my door that has various issues that leave it sub par.  That's not to say that it can't be made nicer but most of the time it can only be improved.
    Other times the owner compares their gun to another gun they think is similar and they aren't happy with it.  Many compare the Longbow to the R9.  They are totally different guns.  When the longbow doesn't produce the same power with the same recoil characteristics as a tuned R9 they think something is wrong with the gun.  Jacking up Longbows to R9 levels will one day be regarded in the same light as when people were jacking up HW35's back in the seventies and eighties (dating myself here).
    Guns with slightly large bores that have had the barrels chopped to unreasonable lengths is another issue.  No matter how much someone brags on the forums that his was OK, they generally increase the recoil by as much as a third if not more.  Your basically making a gun that is semi-dry firing.  Throwing a baffled brake on it only hides the fact and doesn't fix anything.  Seals wont last as long and spring life is reduced buy as much as 50%.  Why do I say that?  I often get these basket cases, with the owners hope that rechoking the barrel or other tricks are going to pull a rabbit out of the hat.  I've seen too many over the years to count.   While choking helps, it's often a band aid on a wound that needs stitches.

#8  Can you lighten the trigger on  my Kodiak/Patriot?

There are only two springs in a Kodiak trigger.  One holds the main sear that locks into the piston .  The other rocks the sear catch away in the rear to release the main sear mentioned above.  The second one is also what determines the pull weight.  If you lighten it, you will have a gun that is unsafe.  I've run across several that have been modified this way.  It's just not safe and I don't want the added liability.  I hope you understand.

#9  I'm in Canada and want to buy parts for my CZ 630/631.  I would be nice if I could get the power up on it some.

Folks, I'm getting three to four of these requests a week.  First, it is illegal to boost the power of your CZ's in Canada.  Second, the power mods done to my stroker guns are not drop in parts.  The piston and receiver have to be modified and the seal going in the gun is made to fit on a per gun basis.  I can make a ADV seal that will fit your gun's factory piston but big gains in power aren't going to happen.  They will priced just like other ADV seals.  $25 for the seal and $8 shipping to Canada.  Every time I give this price out, there are no takers.  Matter of fact, I never hear from them again ;-)  Most people bought the CZ because it was under $100, and they don't want to spend much on it.  The other way of looking at it is, if you don't have much invested in the gun, you can afford to spend a little on it.  That said, very few take that stance with this or any other inexpensive gun.

#10  I want to buy a high performance seal for my gun.  How much?

All seals are made in house on a per gun basis.  Gun tolerances vary so much from gun to gun that a one size fits all approach on a high performance seal won't work.  ADV seals are only available on in house tunes unless you see something on my site under deals.  On occasion I'll sell something that is a fairly common size if I think it will work across the board on a current production run.

#11  My Guns accuracy is off.  I want to send it in to get a tune.

There are many many variables that can make a guns accuracy suffer.  Doing a tune is the least likely way of fixing accuracy issues.  Generally something else is wrong.  Often it's something as simple as a dirty barrel or bad pellets.  Most of the time a gun is sent in for inaccuracy, I can go out and shoot one hole groups with pellets I have on hand.  If the gun chronographs fairly consistent with good pellets and the barrel is clean.  The most likely culprit is shooter error or stock securement.

#12  When I shoot my gun every now and then it throws a shot low.  Sometimes as much as a inch at twenty yards.

Chronograph your gun.  If it's fairly stable, the spring and seals are OK.  You've got another problem.  A inch drop at 20 yards can only happen with a 200 + fps drop in velocity if the powerplant were at fault.  Most likely bad pellets or flinching is the problem.

#13  I'm sending my gun in for a tune and want the trigger tuned.  I don't like the long first stage, I want you to convert it to a single stage.

Most of the better European spring guns are built with a two stage trigger.  The fist stage you pull up until it firms up and that should be the point that it's about to break.  Slightly more pressure and the trigger will break and the gun will fire.  Guns like the FWB124, Webley Patriot  and a few others have no sear engagement adjustment, only a second stage let off point.  It is impossible to adjust these triggers  for a single stage action.  A new trigger would have to be built from the ground up to do it.  On others like Beeman R series guns or Air Arms, while it's possible to do so, you wind up with a gun that is unsafe.  The slightest wear in the trigger or hard bump when the gun is cocked and it could go off when you least expect it.  It's a liability issue.  I'd be sticking a gun to my head to do it (Pun Intended) ;-)

#14  I'm tired of breaking springs in my gun.  I want to send it in to get it tuned and eliminate the problem.
 

All things mechanical will eventually wear out.   I've been using Jim Maccari's springs for over ten years and know Jim on a personal level.  You won't find longer lasting springs or a person more persistent at looking to improve upon what he has.  All things mechanical will eventually  need "maintenance" though.  As a general rule of thumb I rebuild my personal guns every seven thousand rounds. Although I have customers that have over ten thousand rounds on their guns with no loss of performance.  Most often it's more making sure the gun is sealing properly rather than the spring.  I attribute these people to good sealing guns.  A tune that fixes any sealing issues and replaces the spring with one of higher quality will not only last lots longer than the factory set-up but will be more enjoyable to shoot.

#15  I want to send in a gun for a tune but I don't know if I should get the ADV or basic?

The basic will have the same firing characteristics of a ADV.  The ADV will have additional work that will make the gun cock smoother, have less recoil and on some has the trigger reworked.  Basically, you ask yourself if you want very nice or all the bells and whistles.  Most of the ADV tunes have the triggers reworked for extra light pull so if you want a very light trigger and piston buttoning your better off with the ADV.

#16  Why would/should I cut my barrel to a shorter length?

Many people cut their barrel to a shorter length to allow for more empty room when installing a carbine length barrel sleeve.  The reason being the gun will be quieter with the extra dead air space.  When using a muzzle brake instead of a shroud it can make for a very very short carbine barrel if that's what the customer wants.  If the work is done properly accuracy will not suffer and some cases be slightly improved.  In a good many cases velocity falls off slightly when barrels are cut back.  It's rare that you get a increase in velocity.  Some that I've done have lost 20-50fps with a six inch cut.  Some didn't loose any.  Adding the choke will also cut 15-20fps in some cases.  Suffice to say, if your a chronograph jockey, you might loose power with a choke and going with a shorter barrel.  

#17  Do you tune or work on other guns such as Gamo, Chinese, Russian etc. etc...

Yes, I can work on whatever you have, even if it's old and parts are scarce.  Parts such as seal and springs can often be fitted on most guns and don't affect the final price of the tune.  Some guns can not.  It's best to call to find out. Other parts that need hardening or parts that are intricate to machine are priced at the time the gun is here.  Suffice to say, if the gun is in good working order but just needs a rebuild or tune, then the price of the tune will not vary much from what's listed for other similar guns on my pricing page.

#18  Can you sell me a kit or parts for my TX200?  Can you sell me parts or kits for any of my guns?

Unless you see the parts listed on my page as a separate item, usually in my deal section chances are slim I'm going to sell you what I have on hand.  I don't supply parts or kits for guns.  Try Jim Maccari.  If he doesn't have them listed, they are either in short supply or none existent.  Either way, I'm not going to sell off my inventory if either is the case. I need them for tuning.