Idiots guide to classic airgun strips (pt 1)

[ggggr]

I used a foot pump with a bit of wet rag to seal the adapter and put it in the transfer post and managed to blow the head back far enough to wangle it with a dowel. (same trick worked on scorpion). Piston washer is an "o" ring. I replaced a buffer washer with two bits of leather (not worth the hassle but I was curious) and have used a tap washer in the past.Clean and lube. Slide piston buffre and its washer onto piston head and insert into keyhole of piston and it should snap into place although you may have to file small chamfer on one side of washer. With circlip set up a piece of tube to push clip on would help but Ive done it wirh two small screwdrivers. Place piston, spring and guide in cylinder and push down with your piece of tube and refit pin. It is worthwhile changing breech washer as it is made of same stuuf as piston buffer. I make leather ones. Place brech in jaws and fit plunger and spring,depress and fit barrel pivot pin. Fit trigger stop pin (tape on left side of trigger housing stops them falling out) then offer trigger,spring and sear into housing. Locate sear and fit pin and then trigger should push up to enable trigger pin to be fitted. Replace plastic cap and refit in stock and fasten screws. ( if you adjust trigger at all, 1/2 turn of the little screw in plastic in the trigger can stop the sear from engaging).

[Garvin]

Some parts diagrams:

BSA Airsporter Mk6
BSA Mercury Mk3
BSA Airsporter S
BSA Meteor MK5
BSA Meteor Super Mk5
Diana G79-G80
Webley Hawk Mk3
Webley Osprey
Webley Vulcan
Webley Hurricane
Webley Tempest
Webley Typhoon

[red bob]

probably one of the most imformative posts in years ,did a little job for guy; make up a couple of end caps for his zenit pistol ,the sort of thing i enjoy doing for the pleasure of helping a mate get a classic back to life in return he sends me the best part of a pistol for myself after admiring his example plus he gives me all the drawings and instructions to make up my own!
what he knocks up in his flat in manchester puts my efforts in a fully equiped state of the art factory in the shade,tapped my paratrooper trigger block back square over a block with a bar on his kitchen floor!.but his advise on knocking out the old pins and replacing the sear etc revived the above to full working order.ironic thing was our contact started with me advising guy on the pitfalls of refurbing the para[lol very loudly]cheers guy keep it up .

[ggggr]

This was an early Mercury but probably applies to others apart from the "s" which has a different breech set up and maybe more. Later ones have the articulated cocking arm similar to mk5 Meteors. Im hoping someone will put up the Bsa sheets that came with the guns to aid the thread.
Remove sights. Remove two front stock screws and large bolt that goes through pistol grip into trigger block. Remove action from stock. Remove cocking arm pin and cocking arm. Break barrel and depress barrel plunger and remove barrel pivot pin. Remove barrel,plunger and plunger spring (as always, looking outfor flying plunger!). Now you have to unscrew the trigger block. The one I did came out easily but you have a choice of oil filter straps, carefully gripping cylinder in vice and sliding a bar through that big hole in the trigger block and hitting it with a mallet. Some people have used heat and pipe freezing sprays. As alloy would contract more when cold I suppose you could always put the cylinder in the freezer for a few hours (I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS YET!). Once the block is loose unscrew it and carefully remove. Then remove guide, mainspring and piston. GO TO NEXT POST.

[ggggr]

The piston head is held onto the rod sticking out of the top of the piston by a small pin. Remove this pin and the head and buffer washer (or its remains) should come off. The seal is an "o" ring. Im not sure if some of the Mercury,s had a plastic head like some Airsporters, which spreads and goes tight in the cylinder and requires sanding down. T20 (Mick) told me he has omitted the buffer washer and cut its thickness off the rod at the top of the piston and then redrilled the pin hole BUT ADVISES the increse in swept volume could push the gun over the limit. The old washer will be knackered and need replacing if you dont do this mod. Clean and lube. Place buffer on piston head and head on piston rod and replace the pin that holds it.See if trigger block screw up ok and if not, adjust the big nut in the trigger housing till it lines up just right and then remove again.Replace mainspring and guide and screw home trigger block (I put breech down on piece of cardboard on a piece of wood to enable both hands to be used in turning). Change breech seal. Place barrel in breech jaws, replace plunger and spring and push barrel pivot pin through. Replace cocking arm and pin. Fit action in stock. tighten screws and then replace the sights.


I recently put one together that would not cock. It turned out that someone had fitted a bigger washer on the guide so it sat on the thread bit of the trigger block and not in it. I've been told the correct OD is 23.8mm

[ggggr]

This is only a rough guide as it covers so many. The mk2 had the automatic opening loading tap activated by a pin on the sliding cocking plate pushing on a plate screwed to the RHS of the tap. The mk2 and 3 also had a conical piston head and a leather piston washer. Some of these heads are fixed and some unscrew by using a special long tool that goes down the inside of the piston. Chambers will do the job for you if you buy the washer. The option I went for was the "retro fit" conical adapter that takes the later "o" ring. You fit this (after removing old leather washer) by throwing in cup of hot water and pushing over head of piston. As mentioned in the Mercury thread above, some heads were plastic and go tight and need sanding to fit. The trigger set ups changed and fitting the trigger spring on the mk 2/3 which uses a spring similar(but larger) to the meteor is a bit of a chinese puzzle.
Once you get all the cocking linkage off the gun, the strip is the same as the Mercury above.
Remove sights and then stock screws. The mk2/3 has one at the front that goes right through, later ones have two small ones. All have the large stock bolt through the pistol grip. GO TO NEXT POST.

[ggggr]

With action removed from stock remove cocking arm pivot pin from trigger block and lift arm clear of block. You can remove block and change mainspring but if the spring needs changing then the piston buffer washer will need doing on the later guns---SO. Remove pins from the small cocking arm link and the sliding plate. On some of the guns you will also have to remove the nut from the bolt (or the bolt) that holds the little support bracket and goes through the sliding plate. Remove the sliding plate and follow the Mercury guide for the strip down and replacing of the internals. Once you have done that it is just a matter of refitting the cocking arm set up, sliding plate,bracket and nut/bolt, cocking arm link and cocking lever.
Loading taps are different. The early ones had the lever as a part of them and the little spring and ball under the plate on the RHS (I think)---Later ones had a metal lever screwed on and the ball and spring in the tap at a right angle. It also had shims under the metal lever. Just watch and take care. If the gun does not fire a pellet out after you have done the strip the tap may be out of line and need a shim (on later ones) or the lever touching with a file on the inside face if catching on cylinder with earlier ones. Replace action in stock, tighten screws and refit sights.