Idiots guide to classic airgun strips (pt 1)

[Jamie Norton]

Use a digital camera to take pics of the components (especially trigger assembly) BEFORE you dismantle them. Referring to the pics on reassembly could save you headaches

[Phil Russell]

Some notes on stripping and rebuilding the WEbley Victor and Vulcan Hopefully I have not forgotten anything. If so, just put me right or ask me.

WEBLEY VULCAN / VICTOR STRIP and REBUILD

The Webley Vulcan and Victor are basically the same rifle. The MK1 Vulcan had the same barrel length as the Victor (17.125”) but later Vulcan models had 19.25” barrels. The Vulcan has a safety catch and an adjustable trigger; the Victor does not. The Vulcan stock is longer than the Victor. Advertised power for the Victor was 720fps when new (pellet not specified).

These notes on striping and rebuilding the rifles do not include advice on tuning. Where they include reference to the safety catch or trigger adjustment, the notes apply to the Vulcan only; ignore them for the Victor.

Stripping:
Remove the stock: two screws in the forend and two screws in the trigger guard. I recommend removing both foresight and rear sight to prevent accidental damage. The rear sight can be removed as a complete assembly by undoing the two 4BA screws in the top.

To remove the spring and spring guide assembly: it is necessary to remove the trigger. This is not difficult but it pays to have a good look at the assembly before starting, or even take a photo to aid reassembly. It is only necessary to remove the actual trigger, not the complete trigger and sear assembly. To do this, remove the circlip and then the pin that acts as a pivot for the trigger and remove the trigger and a coiled trigger spring that fits into the end block.

To remove end block and spring assembly: Either hold the gun upright and press down on the end block while removing the pin that holds the end block to the action or use a spring compressor or vice to hold everything firm while the pin is removed. The preload is not excessive but is present nonetheless. With the end plug removed, the spring and spring guide can be removed.

To remove the piston assembly: it is necessary to remove the trigger sear and the cocking lever. To do this, remove the remaining two pins in the trigger assembly and remove the safety slide (for the Vulcan) and the sear and its spring (Vulcan and Victor). Be sure to note how the safety slide fits on the sear. Draw or photograph as appropriate.
To remove the cocking lever use a 5mm drift to remove the pin that holds the cocking lever to the breech. On some rifles it can be convenient to remove the complete barrel and cocking lever assembly by removing the pin or bolt that the breech pivots on. Unless you want to get at the barrel fixing / lock-up plunger, do not remove this pin on the Victor or Vulcan as if you do, the barrel plunger will be released. It is acted upon by a very firm spring and refitting it can be a bit awkward. By removing the pin from the cocking lever, the lever can be removed but leaves the barrel assembly in place. Once the lever is removed, the piston can be removed. The piston seal is in two parts, a seal and a cushion washer. Clean or replace as necessary. If the seal needs replacing, it is advised to cut the old seal away with a sharp knife, but the cushion washer simply lifts off.

Clean or replace parts as required.

Rebuilding:
Generally, rebuild is a reversal of the strip procedure.
A new cushion washer will slide on. To fit a new seal, place the seal against the retaining flange on the piston and press firmly with both thumbs until the seal clicks into place. A piston sleeve can be added if you wish. With the piston cleaned, lubricate as appropriate.

Lubricate the inner surface of the cylinder and refit the piston assembly, making sure the slot in the piston lines up with the slot in the cylinder. Refit the cocking lever into the cylinder/piston slot and refit the lever and its pivot pin in the breech.

The Webley Manual says to replace the trigger sear before replacing the spring and guide and end plug. In practice I have always replaced the spring, guide and end plug first.

Refit the spring and spring guide.
Refit the cylinder end plug and secure with its pin.

It is now time to refit the trigger.
Victor: I can do no better than give instructions from the Webley Manual: locate the sear spring onto the RH side of the sear with the cranked end through the small hole in the sear and its central hole aligned with the sear fulcrum pin hole. Feed this assembly into its correct position in the trigger housing, lining up the fulcrum hole in the sear with the relevant hole in the housing. Insert the fulcrum pin through the housing and sear from the left side and fit the circlip.
Vulcan: As above except that you need to position the safety slide on the sear as you feed it into position.
Fit the front fulcrum pin (nearest the barrel) making sure it passes through the forked end of the safety slide (Vulcan only).

Replace the trigger spring in the body end plug. Replace the trigger, holding the long leg of the sear spring out of the way towards the cylinder. Refit trigger pivot fulcrum pin and let the long leg of the sear spring rest against the fulcrum pin.

That should be job done. Refit the sights and reassemble into the stock. Test that the trigger sears engage and that the safety works. The safety can only be set (then unset) when the rifle is cocked. It is not set automatically on cocking.

Cheers, Phil

[david9d]

I have a copy of the handbook for the Osprey, which besides general advise has a good description of stripping and re-building. .
I have it available in PDF and in JPEG formats, but I don't know how to put it up on here.
Can anyone help please ?

David

[david9d]

Oh well, if it can't be put up on here directly I am willing to email a PDF copy to anyone who requests it through my email address - see my profile.
David

I have a copy of the handbook for the Osprey, which besides general advise has a good description of stripping and re-building. .
I have it available in PDF and in JPEG formats, but I don't know how to put it up on here.
Can anyone help please ?

David

[ggggr]

I got a dog rough one to play with so where Ive had to modify and improvise a bit. I stripped this right down because the stock was cracked and loose.
Undo and remove 2 screws on metal butt plate. Use a socket to undo the nut in the stock (a 9/16 AF fitted the one in mine) and the stock should slide off.Undo the cocking arm pivot screw and remove cocking arm. (on mine the thread was gone in the breech block so I tapped it to 5mm and made up a locknut out of round bar,which I cut a slot in and blued). Undo the locknut on the trigger adjusting screw and remove the screw. Remove the 2 trigger guard screws. You should be able to unhook the trigger spring now but mine was a bugger because of gunge. Unscrew the trigger pivot screw and remove trigger.Unscrew barrel pivot and remove barrel. You can remove small screw on side of breech if you need to get to plunger and its spring. On mine the cylinder end cap was tight so I had to get it into a vice to start to unscrew it from cylinder.Once unscrewed you should be able to remove mainspring and piston. (mine was so gunged the piston washer was stuck to the end of the cylinder. If the piston washer needs removing you will have to drill out the locking pin that holds the piston washer screw (look closely and you should see it).

[ggggr]

I made up a piston washer for this (and cursed sending one I had to someone a few months back). Everything is cleaned and lubed ready to go back together and assuming you have sorted the barrel plunger and spring and replaced it in breech. The breech washer was made up of very thin leather and soaked in almond oil and replaced. Fit piston washer to piston and replace in cylinder (someone on here suggested doing it dry and lubing after---I can see the point because of the difficulty getting past the threaded bit of the cylinder). Replace mainspring and cylinder end cap. Refit barrel and replace barrel pivot (I made up a locknut for this as well). Replace cocking arm and its pivot. Replace stock and nip up nut. Replace butt plate and 2 screws. Locate trigger spring and push trigger into housing and locate pivot screw. Replace trigger guard and then the trigger adjusting screw and locknut. If the gun wont cock becuase it feels as though the piston is hitting the trigger, you need to wind the screw in more. If it wont hold the piston then wind it out.
stripped another of these and had a problem with the barrel plunger/barrel lock up. The barrel was drooping a bit. If you take the barrel plunger out of the breech block and file the rear of the cut out, this usually lets the plunger come out a bit more and lifts the barrel up. On this one I noticed some movement on the cylinder and investigated. There is a non sprung plunger in the end of the cylinder. I removed this and put a filed down shake proof washer behind it as a shim. This cured the barrel droop.

[Phil Russell]

Here are some notes I made when curing a 766 that would not pump up. As far as I could see the pump seal was OK so I needed to delve a little deeper. My problem was the O ring on the valve body. I did not strip the valve itself.

CROSMAN 766 STRIP

Taking apart.
Remove barrel band (2 halves, single small screw goes though band)

Remove barrel band ends: plastic, lifts away.

Knock out the pin holding the pump lever to the pump tube.

Remove pump lever with pump attached.

Remove barrel: hex key on top of action.

With the breech block on its side, screws uppermost, stock to the right, remove the 4 screws. Keep top plate in position while doing this.

Gently prise the top plate off the bottom plate. Take care the pump handle plastic grip holder, black plastic sprung laden bit on left, does not ping out as you release the top plate. Top plate may come away with the trigger and safety catch or may leave trigger and safety in the bottom plate. Either way the trigger safety spring may become detached from its location on the safety. Do not worry. Remove trigger, spring and trigger pin.

Note position of trigger sear components.

Lift sear away, taking care not to lose the large spring that acts on the sear bar. Lift off the long spring and plastic peg that acts as the BB follower from its channel.

The valve housing is held by a screw to the left of the valve housing. Before releasing this, note the brass component at the top of the valve body towards the left. This has a small spring over it. Release and remove the screw holding the valve housing but hold the housing in position. Now gently lift the housing away to the right, catching the small spring on the brass piece and also noting that the striker piece and a black plastic end body will be released under spring pressure on the right hand side. Just go slowly and this component will not be forcibly ejected. The brass valve body will slide out of the air cylinder. If it is an easy, loose slide then inspect the O ring as it will most likely be worn.

If needed, replace O ring.

Clean all parts, especially the air cylinder.

I have not dismantled the valve.

Rebuilding
Reversal of above but these tricks may help.

Assemble valve body and housing into place in the air cylinder. Have the brass component in place but do not fit spring yet. Take care that the striker and its spring and the black plastic end cap are located correctly. Replace the screw to hold the valve housing.

Carefully replace the small spring over the brass component. There is just enough room to wiggle this over the component; it stays in place against the bottom plate.

Refit trigger sears in place and slip the sear spring into place.

Refit the pump handle retaining spring and catch ... take care it has a habit of falling out.

Refit the trigger and its rod with the safety spring under the trigger and the hooked end pointing up. At this stage I found it best to hook a small bit of thin wire over the long arm of the spring and feed it towards the trigger such that when the top plate is replaced it protrudes out of the trigger guard.

Replace top plate: a bit fiddly to do this and keep pump handle spring in place but persevere.

When located, pull on the bit of wire to pull the safety spring long leg downwards ... look through the hole for the safety catch to see if it has cleared the hole. When it has, feed the safety catch back into place and release the spring. Pull the bit of wire out.

Replace 4 plate screws.

Refit barrel, and pump etc.

Job done.