HFT 500 unregulated anxiety

Blackmax said:
A lot worse Matt, there are regulators out there that are hard to adjust to the exactly correct setting and also go out of adjustment very easily.

The original Ben Taylor reg used in the Rapid MK2 and derivatives and later the early FX’s are a great design and have stood the test of time.
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Ive heard nothing but good things about the old rapid regs. The new rapid reg looks to be the same so someone didn't feel it needed updating.

R.e. the FX regs; is that pre Amp reg era I presume?

I would have just gone with a Lane reg, because, well, it's a Lane reg and he seems to love his Air Arms 🙂.
 
My Mrs has an S510 US - an unregged one and its perfectly accurate from 190 down to 110ish.
The HFT 500 is on my list - im far more concerned with how Im going to silence it a bit and whether I really need to spend £1300 compared to the £800 of a S500
 
AgentOrange76 said:
My Mrs has an S510 US - an unregged one and its perfectly accurate from 190 down to 110ish.
The HFT 500 is on my list - im far more concerned with how Im going to silence it a bit and whether I really need to spend £1300 compared to the £800 of a S500
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Depends what your using it for, I had the s510 and my hft500 is far more accurate, I tried the air arms mod kit for it.and it destroyed the accuracy,.I think it's too much weight on the end of the barrell personally as it's a floating barell
 
Carlklu5 said:
Depends what your using it for, I had the s510 and my hft500 is far more accurate, I tried the air arms mod kit for it.and it destroyed the accuracy,.I think it's too much weight on the end of the barrell personally as it's a floating barell
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Hmm. I'm going to start a thread on this and see what others have found..could be a major spanner in the works
 
Matt@Nearfield said:
Hmm. I'm going to start a thread on this and see what others have found..could be a major spanner in the works
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Some people have silenced shrouds that seem.to work I haven't tried one so can't comment on that, I was planning to try a hug get atom silencer on my hft at some point but havent got round to it
 
Carlklu5 said:
Depends what your using it for, I had the s510 and my hft500 is far more accurate, I tried the air arms mod kit for it.and it destroyed the accuracy,.I think it's too much weight on the end of the barrell personally as it's a floating barell
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Not disputing that the HFT500 may be more accurate, my point was her unregulated s510 US is consistently accurate which was the concern of the the OP
 
Here’s a storey to add to this post and perhaps allay any doubts about buying an unregulated Air Arms rifle.

I’ve had a guy round this morning to get his HFT500 serviced as the power was low and it was inconsistent. No AT which isn’t unusual, So I’ve taken the stock off and lo and behold there’s a very roughly drilled hole in the cylinder for a regulator. So after a few questions he’s told me it’s had a Huma fitted, but he didn’t know by whom. Knowing the work involved in settling it up and dealing with any other issues and experience I’ve previously found with Huma regulators going out of adjustment, creeping and being inconsistent I said I wouldn’t be able to work on it.

Anyway, I was happy to check the gun over my chronograph for him and found it had creep - first shot very low, around 30fps, then all over the place, well over 20fps spread. Filled it to 190 bar. Two types of pellets used, Barracuda 8’s and Heavy’s. Regulator was settling about 100bar, but difficult to really tell any differences as it was a small gauge, so it was cycling.

I don’t know what else was done, whether the valve set up was changed, the hammer spring replaced, or the transfer port altered.

I won’t fit aftermarket regulators to Air Arms guns, I know others feel the same. This is due to the work involved in getting it right, even then the results are often only as good as a standard unregulated gun and often not as good. If people want to work on their own Air Arms guns and fit aftermarket regulators, that’s fine if they have the knowledge, tools and above all time, you can get good results.

Ironically, if he’d bought a standard HFT500 new and ran it over the most consistent charging pressure, it would have been much more consistent than this regulated one.
 
Matt@Nearfield said:
Ive heard nothing but good things about the old rapid regs. The new rapid reg looks to be the same so someone didn't feel it needed updating.

R.e. the FX regs; is that pre Amp reg era I presume?

I would have just gone with a Lane reg, because, well, it's a Lane reg and he seems to love his Air Arms 🙂.
Click to expand...

Prior to the AMP reg, Ben Taylor I believe was involved with FX and earlier guns had his intube regulator fitted.
 
Blackmax said:
Here’s a storey to add to this post and perhaps allay any doubts about buying an unregulated Air Arms rifle.

I’ve had a guy round this morning to get his HFT500 serviced as the power was low and it was inconsistent. No AT which isn’t unusual, So I’ve taken the stock off and lo and behold there’s a very roughly drilled hole in the cylinder for a regulator. So after a few questions he’s told me it’s had a Huma fitted, but he didn’t know by whom. Knowing the work involved in settling it up and dealing with any other issues and experience I’ve previously found with Huma regulators going out of adjustment, creeping and being inconsistent I said I wouldn’t be able to work on it.

Anyway, I was happy to check the gun over my chronograph for him and found it had creep - first shot very low, around 30fps, then all over the place, well over 20fps spread. Filled it to 190 bar. Two types of pellets used, Barracuda 8’s and Heavy’s. Regulator was settling about 100bar, but difficult to really tell any differences as it was a small gauge, so it was cycling.

I don’t know what else was done, whether the valve set up was changed, the hammer spring replaced, or the transfer port altered.

I won’t fit aftermarket regulators to Air Arms guns, I know others feel the same. This is due to the work involved in getting it right, even then the results are often only as good as a standard unregulated gun and often not as good. If people want to work on their own Air Arms guns and fit aftermarket regulators, that’s fine if they have the knowledge, tools and above all time, you can get good results.

Ironically, if he’d bought a standard HFT500 new and ran it over the most consistent charging pressure, it would have been much more consistent than this regulated one.
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Many seem to be happy buying used rifles. You have no idea who has been fiddling with them and what may or may not have been bodged.
There are several AGF members I would consider buying from with a fair certainty that it would be a good rifle. Save 25% off retail would quickly be eaten up getting it fixed.

In your example above could you and would you have removed the Huma and returned it to a non-regulated if asked? I assume it would need a new cylinder to do that.
 
Blackmax said:
Here’s a storey to add to this post and perhaps allay any doubts about buying an unregulated Air Arms rifle.

I’ve had a guy round this morning to get his HFT500 serviced as the power was low and it was inconsistent. No AT which isn’t unusual, So I’ve taken the stock off and lo and behold there’s a very roughly drilled hole in the cylinder for a regulator. So after a few questions he’s told me it’s had a Huma fitted, but he didn’t know by whom. Knowing the work involved in settling it up and dealing with any other issues and experience I’ve previously found with Huma regulators going out of adjustment, creeping and being inconsistent I said I wouldn’t be able to work on it.

Anyway, I was happy to check the gun over my chronograph for him and found it had creep - first shot very low, around 30fps, then all over the place, well over 20fps spread. Filled it to 190 bar. Two types of pellets used, Barracuda 8’s and Heavy’s. Regulator was settling about 100bar, but difficult to really tell any differences as it was a small gauge, so it was cycling.

I don’t know what else was done, whether the valve set up was changed, the hammer spring replaced, or the transfer port altered.

I won’t fit aftermarket regulators to Air Arms guns, I know others feel the same. This is due to the work involved in getting it right, even then the results are often only as good as a standard unregulated gun and often not as good. If people want to work on their own Air Arms guns and fit aftermarket regulators, that’s fine if they have the knowledge, tools and above all time, you can get good results.

Ironically, if he’d bought a standard HFT500 new and ran it over the most consistent charging pressure, it would have been much more consistent than this regulated one.
Click to expand...
Well that is saying something. If someone of your experience isn't happy doing it then a wise man would take heed 🤔
 
I regged one of my HFT500's myself.
Used a Lane reg.
Lightened hammer, ports opened up to 3.6mm.
The hardest part is the balance between Hammer and EV Springs.
I spent many, many hours to eventually get the balance right.
It takes a long time to run a full chrono string every time you make an adjustment.
Did it about 18 months ago, and it's been faultless ever since.

A mate of mine is now using it for NSRA benchrest competitions, as he was having trouble with his Walther, and he's more than happy with it.

Here's some chrono figures he did a few weeks ago.
If you take out the one high shot, the spread is just over 6.

20260414_202358.webp
 
Had the same anxiety, even got myself a S400 with the intention of putting a reg and quick fill adapter on that before doing the same with the HFT500, turns out that both the S400 and HFT500 (XTi barrel) remain unregulated, I shoot mainly NSRA benchrest and the gun is doing just fine.
 
zx6fighter said:
I regged one of my HFT500's myself.
Used a Lane reg.
Lightened hammer, ports opened up to 3.6mm.
The hardest part is the balance between Hammer and EV Springs.
I spent many, many hours to eventually get the balance right.
It takes a long time to run a full chrono string every time you make an adjustment.
Did it about 18 months ago, and it's been faultless ever since.

A mate of mine is now using it for NSRA benchrest competitions, as he was having trouble with his Walther, and he's more than happy with it.

Here's some chrono figures he did a few weeks ago.
If you take out the one high shot, the spread is just over 6.

View attachment 957350
Click to expand...
Wonder what that was? Lovely string otherwise.
 
colda said:
Had the same anxiety, even got myself a S400 with the intention of putting a reg and quick fill adapter on that before doing the same with the HFT500, turns out that both the S400 and HFT500 (XTi barrel) remain unregulated, I shoot mainly NSRA benchrest and the gun is doing just fine.
Click to expand...
 
putange said:
My S510 ultimate spotter is unreged, and from 170 to 110 bar is as good as any of my regulated rifles, I have also found that some regulated rifles have a sweet spot, the HFT 500 has a larger capacity air cylinder than my Ultimate Sporter, so would have more than enough shots for a HFT/FT competition.
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im with this guy, my ultimate sporters unregged too, finger nail groups at 45 yards on a still day.
 
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