Idiots guide to classic airgun strips (pt 1)

[Phil Russell]

CROSMAN 2200 MAGNUM

Warning: taking this rifle apart is not difficult but putting the receiver components back together can be very fiddly, so if you are prepared to take the task on, give yourself plenty of time. Renewing the pump head seal is easy with no pitfalls.

Pump head seal: You need to remove the complete pump assembly, but there is no need to strip the receiver components. Remove the band that holds the barrel to the pump tube, one screw secures the two halves. Pull off the black cap underneath the band halves. There is a roll pin holding the pump rod link to the pump cylinder. Remove the pin. Remove a black plastic end cap from the pump cylinder tube and pull the pump assembly out of the cylinder. The pump head seal is a push fit on the end of the assembly ... part 760-140 (same part for the Crosman 2100, 760 and 766 and most likely other Crosman rifles). Reassembly is simply a reversal of these steps.

Parts inside receiver: To replace most receiver parts there is no need to remove the pump assembly. However, if you wish to service or replace the valve assembly or transfer port then you should remove the pump assembly as it makes handling so much easier.

To split the receiver halves, remove the three screws from the lh receiver side but keep the halves together. Place the rifle lh side down on a table and slowly begin to lift the rh receiver side up from the lh side. As you do this, watch out for the sear spring which will appear in the gap between the two halves just in front of the trigger housing. It is unlikely to ping away, but be prepared as it will almost certainly emerge through the gap as you separate the receiver halves. Continue lifting the rh receiver until it comes away over the cocking lever. You will be left with the trigger, sears, valve and hammer mechanisms in place on the lh receiver. All reassembly operations must be done with the lh receiver flat on the table, assembling the parts on this part before adding the rh receiver.

Lift away the little black plastic ring that holds the pump arm firm on the right side of the receiver. Do not forget it.

Lift away the sear spring mentioned earlier, noting that it locates on a peg on the underside of the sear bar. Lift away the steel right angled black part (trigger bar) sitting on top of the sear bar, then a washer, then the sear bar. There is no need to remove the trigger blade and the safety catch and catch spring. They will sit where they are quite happily.

Before continuing, look at how the pump tube and barrel assembly lies in the receiver; hopefully it will not have jolted free when you split the halves. Note the lh end hole in the pump tube and the black plastic part visible through the hole and the end of the tube. This is a spring guide for the hammer spring. The sides of this guide are flat and have a hole passing through them. One of the receiver securing screws passes through this hole. To access the valve mechanism, lift the barrel and pump tube away from the receiver. As you do this, the hammer and its spring will push the black plastic guide out of the tube, but they should not ‘ping away’. The hammer cocking lever and pellet probe assembly ... the black plastic bits that sit on top and rear of the barrel will lift away at the same time. The barrel and pump tube are not secured together and can be simply separated. No doubt the cocking lever parts will fall away as well but do not panic. Lift barrel off the pump tube. The transfer port should remain secure inside the valve housing that is in the pump tube. Remove the hammer, hammer spring and spring guide.

My valve housing, situated in the lh end of the pump tube, had a blow off valve fitted to the underside of the main valve housing; a brass cylinder about 12mm long x 8mm diameter dangling from the underside of the pump tube. It is a push fit in the valve housing so just pull it free. To access and service the valve mechanism you must push the valve (dowel will do it), towards the rh end of the pump tube; it simply pops out. Note the hammer pin at the lh end and a domed rh end with O ring seal. To access the inside of the valve, the rh end (domed) part unscrews but it may be tight. There is another O ring to seal this end part into the valve cylinder. Kits are available containing all the parts needed to service the valve, although if you suspect the valve itself is OK it may be worth trying just a new O ring on the valve body to give a better seal against the pump tube.
Look at the transfer port on the valve body; there should be a seal inside. Renew it if it looks worn.

Reassembly notes in Pt2, next.

Cheers, Phil

[Phil Russell]

Reassembly: When you are satisfied with the valve mechanism, replace it in the pump tube, apply a little Pelgun oil to the sealing O ring and push the valve back down the tube ... hammer pin to the left. Take care not to nick the O ring on the pump slot as you do so. Make sure the transfer port lines up with its hole in the tube. Now is a good time to replace the blow off valve, if fitted. Simply push it back into place under the valve assembly.

Place the hammer, spring and spring guide into the pump tube. Add the cocking lever components onto the top of the barrel assembly. Reassemble the barrel to the pump tube, making sure transfer tube on the barrel sits inside the port on the tube and that the peg on the hammer locates in the slot in the cocking lever assembly and that when you move the cocking lever to the left it takes the hammer with it. Get the lh receiver part, complete with stock attached, ready in front of you on the table. Now, hold the tube and barrel assembly in your right hand and with your left hand push the spring guide into the tube, making sure the flat sides of the guide are facing up and down so that when you push the guide into the tube you can see the hole in the guide through the hole on top of the tube. While holding the barrel and tube in position with the spring guide, lower the assembly onto the lh receiver such that the hole in the underside of the lh end of the tube locates on the peg in the receiver. It should go neatly into place, retaining the spring guide as it does so. It will, hopefully, stay put while you continue:

Replace the pin for the trigger sear bar in its hole, followed by the sear bar, a washer, and the right angled black trigger bar on top. The rounded flat section points to the top of the action, the side with a bent end goes on bottom left. Locate the trigger sear bar ‘sears’ into the slot on the underside of the pump tube. Now ... before you forget, replace the pump lever holding bit on the right side of the receiver. So far, so good. Now for the fiddly bits.

Replace the sear spring... over the lower peg on the sear bar and tucked onto the underside (bottom edge) of the lh receiver. Now slowly add the rh receiver part, keeping it flat as you first pass it over the cocking arm and then locate the lh side where it goes into the stock. Lower it onto the lh receiver side. Keep pushing down until the bottom edge, closest to you is just touching the top of the sear spring. You now need to push this spring back into the receiver as you continue to lower the rh receiver onto the lh one. Push it correctly and the receiver will come down far enough to hold the spring in place. I can now guarantee that the left hand side has become stuck because the safety catch is not locating in its hole in the rh receiver part. You need to get a small screwdriver or needle and tease the safety catch into position to allow the rh receiver to fall/push onto the lh one. Hopefully, as the receiver halves come together, the sear spring will take up its correct position in the receiver. But be warned: it is very easy to trap a coil or part coil of this spring as you bring the receiver halves together. Attempts to correct this by holding the receivers apart while you try to fiddle the spring into position are doomed to failure; the spring may come adrift of the sear or flip over completely. Far better to admit defeat and start again.

But, hopefully, you have succeeded. Now, holding the receiver halves together, cock the trigger and check it works (Do not pump air in). Success? Now add the central screw that holds the stock halves together. Try cocking and firing again a few times. If this fails, it shows that the trigger bar and sear bar have not seated correctly. The only cure is to start again.

If you removed the pump assembly, replace it along with the end band.

Job done ...


Cheers, Phil.
Note: I have not yet opened up the blow off valve so cannot comment on it.

[ggggr]

been waiting to geta look at one of these for a while. It is very similar to the Slavia ZVP copy to strip.
Remove the sights if you want.
Undo the trigger guard screw and then unhook the guard from its pin and remove it. Remove the 4 grip screws. The action should now lift out of the grips. Watch out for the trigger spring, which will probably stay in the grips. Undo the cocking arm lock screw and pivot screw. Slide the cocking arm forwards until the pin lines up with the big hole in the trigger housing and then remove the pin. The arm should now slide out. Undo the barrel pivot lock screw and barrel pivot and remove the barrel and breech block. If you want to get to the plunger, Depress it a bit and unscrew the grub screw on the LHS of the breech block. The plunger and spring should now come out. Clean them, lube them and replace them and the grub screw.
Tap out the trigger pin and remove the trigger and then do the same with the sear.
Remove the small screw in the cylinder end cap. Unscrew the cap, keeping pressure on. When it is undone, the guide,mainspring and piston should come out. The piston has a leather washer set up held by a screw if you want to replace it.
Clean off your bits and go to part 2

[ggggr]

With your bits cleaned and lubed, replace the piston, mainspring and guide into the cylinder. Compress the spring and screw on the endcap and then replace the screw on the cap.
To compress the spring and get the cap on, I place the breech jaws of the cylinder onto a piece card on a piece of wood and then press down from above with the cap. You should be able to get enough of a bite if you turn both hands and then keep the weight on while you get another bite with one hand.
Replace the barrel, pivot screw and lock screw (You,ve already re fitted the plunger,spring and grub screw---Remember?). Locate the cocking arm into the trigger housing and line it up with the big hole and replace the pin. Locate the cocking arm in the breech block and replace the pivot and lock screws.
Replace the sear and it,s pin and then the trigger and it's pin. You should be able to cock and release the gun now to check you have it in the right place.
Put the trigger spring into the hole in the grips and lower the action into the grips, checking the spring is going into the hole in the sear.
Replace the 4 grip screws and then hook the trigger guard onto its pin and refit the screw into the grip.
only had a quick go with this gun and have been told by the previous owner he cut down the mainspring a little. He also built up the foresight with weld as these guns often shoot high (along with the Slavia ZVP and Chinese Copies). It seems a nice accurate pistol but kicks up a little, which putting down the the lug on the piston, adding weight.
I like this and the Slavia. Nice simple designs.

[ggggr]

I bought a dodgy one of these recently. On stripping it down, I found that not only had the windage screw on the rearsight been broken and the spring and bb gone missing, but the spring and bb were missing off the safety and the transfer port was also absent.

Anyhow--a basic strip. Undo the screw under the rearsight and remove it, looking out for the 2 springs under it. Undo the rear grip screw, near the rear sight and the 2 fore screws. The one near the trigger is an adjuster screw and can stay put.
The action will lift out of the grips now. Lift the cocking arm out of the cylinder slot. Put weight on the cylinder end plug and tap out the cylinder end pin. When the pin is out the endplug/guide (it is a one piece plastic set up) will come out and you can remove the mainspring and piston. The pin is narrower in the centre because the rear grip screw holds it in place.
There is a screw at the front LHS of the cylinder. If you undo this, the loading tap can be taken out. You can now get to the breech seals and transfer port. There is one seal on the barrel side and one on the transfer port side. They seem easy enough to change. http://gunspares.co.uk/shopdisplaypr...=Falcon+Pistol .If the transfer port needs changing or the O ring on the port (not the breech seal) then it pushes into the cylinder easily enough. When you remove it, you can replace the O ring on it into the narrow one of the 2 grooves. After cleaning up and lubing, they can be pushed back into the cylinder pointy end first. I thought I might have to make up a tool but it went in easily enough with just a piece of dowel.
The piston seal on mine was leather but the buffer was plastic and damaged. I made up a leather disc to replace it. Go to part 2

[ggggr]

With your bits cleaned and lubed, replace the piston, mainspring and guide/endplug. Put weight on the endplug and you should be able to locate the cylinder end pin. Replace the cocking arm in the cylinder slot. I did not try to remove the cocking arm or linkage because of the rivets. You should be able to replace the breech seals with a small screwdriver or similar. I fitted them with the flat edges to the cylinder and barrel and the stepped edges to face the loading tap. Replace the tap and locate and tighten up the pivot screw.
Refit the grips and then the rearsight. Gently push the rearsight down against the 2 springs until you can locate the elevation adjusting screw.
I did not really go into the trigger on this other than to sort out a bb and spring for the safety catch. There are 3 self tapping screws on the RHS of the grips. If you undo these, the grips should ease apart. The safety slides across to block the trigger. I improvised a cut down spring from a lighter and a bb to locate the safety.
I tried the gun afterwards. It was firing a little high for me at 7 yards, with the rearsight on the lowest setting. It was accurate but not very much fun to shoot. The pistol is light and has a pretty good sight picture. The grips are not very solid. The tap is a little fiddly to use but you will probably get used to it.
While this was an easy strip and there is nothing wrong with the gun as such, it is not my cup of tea. Between this and the Diana Modell 5 I did previously, I know which one my money would be on to last ANOTHER 70 years

[Phil Russell]

Haenel 303 strip and rebuild.
An auction buy in .22, this rifle falls into the medium springer class. Outwardly it looked good with no obvious damage. It shot fairly well but was only producing c. 400fps on the chrono so a strip was in order. This guide explains the basics of the strip plus a few tips but does not cover replacing the piston and breech seals as mine were in excellent condition. You will need a spring compressor to keep control of the action. You will also need a ‘pronged tool’ to insert into the compression tube and around the trigger unit in order to take the strain off the system when removing the mainspring.
I am aware that the design of the 303 changed slightly during its lifetime so this guide may not cover all variants; it will however, cover most issues.
Remove the stock: two screws at the forend and two in the trigger guard. There is a trigger adjusting screw in the guard but you do not need to remove this. When removing the stock, note the disc sitting in the underside of the stock in the forend. This is to prevent the cocking arm rubbing on the wood. Do not lose it. Some variants have a spring under this disc. Mine did not. Note the spring fitted to the end of the safety bar; the cocking link nudges this spring to automatically set the safety on cocking.
With the action on the bench on its side, barrel to the left, note a plastic endcap housing the safety catch. Remove the pin through the end cap then turn the safety catch through 90 degrees and pull the end cap and safety away from the action. Turning the catch like this allows it to free from the safety setting bar that sits on top of the trigger housing.
In front of the trigger is a large disc with a bolt head on top. Remove the disc and lift the safety setting bar over the trigger. Do not lose the spacing washer. You will note a small flat plate in front of the trigger and under the safety bar. This plate forms part of the mainspring retention system. On my rifle this plate came away with the safety bar, leaving the mainspring retained only by the trigger pivot pin. So if it appears firmly fixed, do not remove it before placing the action in the compressor.
Place the action in the compressor and insert the pronged tool into the end of the cylinder. Tighten the compressor to just take the strain of the mainspring. Now remove the small plate and the pin that goes through the action and the trigger unit. Juggle the compressor setting until this pin can be removed easily and let your drift pass through the action to keep the trigger in place. With the pin removed, grip the trigger and its spring so as to prevent the spring pinging away and pull your drift out. The trigger plus spring will come free. Note that one end of the spring has a long leg that fits into a groove within the trigger sear. Release pressure on the compressor and the mainspring and guide can be removed.
The articulated cocking link will slip away from the slot in the piston without having to split the action at the breech. The piston can now be removed, examined and repaired as required.
This is a good time to examine the plastic pad held in the cocking arm; it prevents the arm rubbing on the underside of the action. It had worn down on my rifle and some rubbing was evident. The pad can be removed by simply levering it out. I made a new one but it would be possible to shim the old one so that the plastic surface was just above the cocking arm edge if needed.
The mainspring fitted was a replacement (22 cm long) and as the piston and breech seals looked fine, I assumed it had gone soft so prepared a replacement from a standard Meteor spring. Initially I cut it with two extra coils but this was a mistake as it became coil bound. I found that the 22cm length was the critical length ... any longer became coil bound.
Reassembly is a reversal of the process: add piston, spring and guide. With action in the compressor and using the pronged tool, compress the spring and guide until the slot in the guide that the small plate under the safety bar fits into lines up with the cut out in the action. Replace the small plate. The holes in the action cylinder that take the trigger pin will now be lined up with those in the guide sides. You can now refit the trigger. Initially I did this before fitting the trigger spring as it was easier to align the holes in the trigger mechanism with those in the action. Tip: use a small screwdriver to hold the sear in position in the trigger unit as you replace the unit in the action. I used a drift to fit the trigger first then tapped the pin through, knocking the drift out on the way. You then need to fit the trigger spring. Locate the leg on the spring in the groove on the sear and the spring on the peg on the trigger unit. Then compress the spring to fit the end over the small peg on the action. A bit fiddly.
Alternatively you can fit the spring into the trigger unit and then locate the end of the spring over the peg in the action as you lower the trigger into the action. You need to compress the spring as you do so, keeping a firm grip of it between thumb and finger. By looking through the holes in the action you can easily see when the trigger unit is correctly positioned to allow a drift to be inserted to secure the trigger in place. Then add the pin, knocking the drift out in the process. With the pin and plate securely holding the mainspring, you can remove the action from the compressor.
Add the safety bar over the trigger. Make sure the spacing washer is in place within the safety bar slot and add the disc/bolt. The safety bar should slide back and forth quite nicely. Take the safety catch and end plug and replace into the action, making sure the safety catch is at 90 degrees to allow the catch to enter into the cut out in the safety bar. Secure the end cap with the pin. You may need to rotate the end cap in order to align the holes to allow the pin to be inserted.
Replace action in the stock. I found it wise to keep the trigger pulled as the trigger guard and trigger adjuster was replaced; this keeps the trigger out of the way of the adjuster until the guard is fitted.
And now a tale about the mainspring. Having replaced the mainspring with one of identical length and specification I found no change in performance. Remember that my spring was c. 22 cm long and verging on coil bound. I began to cut the original spring back just to see what effect it would have. Having removed about three coils to give a length of c. 19cm I was delighted to see that performance increased by about 70fps to give me an output hovering on 8 ftlbs. I can only suppose that a previous owner had tried to increase performance by adding a longer mainspring; an action that backfired somewhat.
Cheers, Phil