Quote Originally Posted by ggggr View Post
I dug the Merlin out of a box. I intended to strip, varnish and spray it with placticote when I move, but the Idiots guide got the better of me. I dont really know how to describe the strip and the Chambers page isnt much use but here goes.Take out loading tap and put in safe place!
Undo and remove front two stock screws and the one at the rear of the trigger guard (its like a woodscrew as it goes into plastic end cap). As you lift action out of stock, the sliding plate attached to the cocking lever will slide backwards until action can be lifted out. On mine the trigger guard came up and out with the gun, but it may well remain in place. The end cap slides out of the rear of cylinder with the trigger spring (note how the spring sits in recess in plastic). The trigger then slides out of cylinder. If you remove the cocking lever pivot pin (WATCH OUT FOR THE SPRING THAT SITS IN THE MIDDLE) then all the cocking lever stuff can be removed. There didnt seem any point in stripping that further so I just put a bit of GN paste and LT2 round it. To remove the mainspring and piston, you have to remove the funny spring clip at the rear of the cylinder that this gun has instead of a pin. GO TO NEXT POST.

Thanks to Ggggr for his useful posts on the Merlin. Being more stupid than the average idiot, there were a couple of points that weren't clear to me and I thought more detail would help.

As you lift the action away from the stock one thing to be aware of is that the lever axis pin may be loose enough to drop out if you turn the assembly sideways, causing the safety sear and spring to fall out and leaving you unsure of their orientation (this is what happened with mine). The other thing is that once the end cap screw going through the trigger guard is removed, and you lift the action away from the stock the plastic end cap may pop out, letting the trigger spring fall out, and again leaving you in doubt about the relative positions. My advice would be to slowly lift the action a couple of inches from the stock and examine the positioning of these parts before you try to get the lever and sliding plate out.

The safety sear sits with the closed side towards the action and the long thin spur towards the barrel. The end of the spring with twin prongs sits inside the closed part of the sear and the end with a loop is tensioned against the trigger guard, which you will have to position carefully on top of the spring when you re-assemble. Putting a small hook through the looped end of the spring may make re-assembly easier.

The long end of the trigger spring sits behind the trigger (facing down and parallel), while the short end with bend is positioned in the square hole on the front of the plastic end cap.

I have made pdf diagrams of both assemblies, and also have a very helpful collection of photos from member Isobar (whose help was crucial in letting me fix my gun). I'm happy to forward these via pm, or if a moderator wants to add them to the thread will supply on request. I do not appear to have posting rights for images. As Grrrr noted, the diagram on Chambers' website isn't very helpful and doesn't show the safety sear.