Air Gun Home :: View topic - On the detuned Quest, Phantom, and Classic...

Dukemeister · Member

I was so pleased with my Classic .22 detuned with the long piston that I got a detuned Quest .177. I was surprised that the cocking and firing cycle was so harsh with the latter, and got to thinking the harsh behaviour may be to do with the bleed hole method of detuning.
The Quest probably has as much recoil and harshness of a full power rifle (well, less the chopped spring), since the swept volume, and moving mass are the same. Has anyone compared the firing cycle of a long piston and bleed hole piston in the same detuned B18/19 platform... Eric perhaps you have tried both? The longer piston costs more to make, but I think its a way better method of detuning.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

I don't think anyone has ever made a direct comparison- no real point to it for the most part as the difference is fairly apparent to anyone who has handled both versions (as you have).

The longer piston detune method creates a smoother shot cycle and less cocking effort. But- Chinese are always looking for a way to save a nickel (which is probably about what they saved doing it with a vented piston- they also had to modify the forward spring guide to allow the vented piston to actually vent somewhere).

If anyone ever decides they want to keep their non-firearm Quest/Phantom/Whatever a non-firearm but get rid of the vented piston setup, the longer pistons can be obtained.

It would be great if Vortek ever made a kit for this platform- based on results with other guns, a kit from them coupled with a GTX II trigger would actually make for one really nice, smooth rifle. Of course, the newer NP rifles with the GTX trigger would also be the same thing (note: Vortek holds the patent on the NP technology and licenses it exclusively to Crosman).

Dukemeister · Member

Thanks Eric, as I suspected.
I may try the long piston from my Classic in my Quest and vice versa.
My Classic shoots so sweet, I haven't had any urge to open it up so I don't know what it has for a spring. My Quest has a 31 coil spring, chopped presumably, with closed ends crudely ground.
I noticed the soewhat elaborate tophat (forward spring guide) in the Quest 500 to alow venting. The front spring guide (part #B18‐00‐3) is the same for Quests of all stripes (500, 800 and 1000) whereas the pistons and springs are all different. I just noticed the Quest 500 has a B12 spring, so maybe it isn't chopped after all.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Dukemeister · Member

AirGunEric · Site Admin

I think they have merely been jumbled together as they are the same platform- but the factory concept originally was that B18's were .177 and B19's were .22- obviously this changed somewhere along the way (probably with the introduction of synthetic stocks on them a few years ago). Crosman has nothing to do with it- they are just using the Chinese factory part numbers, whereas in the past they would "map" the part numbers to something easier to remember and utilize.