Idiots guide to classic airgun strips (pt 1)

[Ulverston]

Excellent...

[ggggr]

Remove rearsight. remove two front stock screws and the screw in front of trigger guard and remove action from stock. Undo cocking arm lock screw and pivot screw and remove cocking arm.Undo locking screw and barrel pivot screw and remove barrel. Small screw on left of breech block if you want to remove plunger and spring.Tap out trigger pivot pin and remove trigger and trigger spring (more in minute). Tap out sear pin and remove sear. The trigger bit you pull on goes into the bit that endgages on the sear and has a small pin securing it. These often wangle and I remove the pin and solder the two bits of the trigger together (making sure pin hole lines up)> you could try araldite but make sure pin holes line up ang you grease the pin or use paper clip till glue dries. On the left of the cylinder is a small 4ba grub screw. You need to remove this before trying to undo trigger block--The heads are often broken and you may have to try to tap it round with a small punch or grip it with long nose pliers. I had to drill one out and then retapped hole to 3ba. (screws and taps available from chronos etc and come in handy). Unscrew trigger block. There is not as much pressure as on a lot of guns. Keep pressure on until its undone and slowly release. GO TO PART 2

[ggggr]

Remove guide. spring and piston. Piston washer is leather and held on by a countersunk screw on a dished washer. The pistons on these can wear where the cocking arm pushes as the metal is quite thin. If you know someone handy they could probably mig weld where its worn and file it up. I have fitted a Diana 25 spring to one I did for my niece to give the gun an easier life and to make it easier for her to cock. Worth thinking about if you only plink. Every thing clean and lubed? Put piston, spring and guide back in cylinder. (sometimes you have to push edges of washer to ease it into front of cylinder where cocking arm slot finishes). Place piece of thick cardboard on a block of wood on floor and place breech jaws down. You should then be able to put pressure on and screw block into cylinder. The cardboard enables cylinder to turn so you can get a part turn with both hands! Replace small screw on side of the cylinder.Replace barrel and pivot and lock screws. Do same with cocking arm. Replace sear and pin then (as with mk 3 post above) replace trigger spring and push up and forward to line trigger and pin. Replace action in stock. Tighten the 3 screws and refit rearsight. WEBLEY HAWK MK 1 next

[ggggr]

The plastic rearsights on these are fragile so Id just be careful rather than remove it. Undo 2 front stock screws and one in front of trigger and remove action from stock. This rear screw can strip and Ive tapped them out to 1ba when they have, Ive heard of people putting a nut on the inside of the trigger housing but have not tried this. Sometimes this screw can push on the sear and stop the rifle from cocking. A washer under the head of the screw should cure this although Im sure you could grind away the underside of the sear. With action out of stock you can ondo cam and slide out barrel.(suggest you do this with breech open or you wont be able to get to barrel plunger later) You can take circlip off cam and remove cam to grease up. Remove roll pin in cocking arm and remove arm. Depress barrel plunger and remove pivot pin and then plunger and spring to grease up. Flick the two circlips off the trigger pins (noting how trigger goes) and remove pins and then trigger,trigger spring. safety catch and sear and sear spring. I find with hawks its easier to place encap on piece of wood and push down on the breech end and remove cylinder end pin. GO TO PT 2

[ggggr]

Its worth noting that this hole in the cylinder can stretch when big springs have been fitted. Im sure there are people on here who can weld them up and redrill but just dont fit a powerful spring. Meteor springs seem a better fit in hawks than hawk spring Ive tried recently and the Diana 25 spring remains a soft plinkers option. Release pressure on cylinder and end cap and mainspring should come out. Ease piston out. These had a ptfe washer rivetted on (Nibbs sells them ) But I prefer a leather one held by a screw and nut. SEE THREAD "hawk mk 1 info" post 13 by DCL DAVE. Thats the sort of thing I did. Lube up and put back together. Piston in and then mainspring and push down on cylinder the same as in stripdown to replace end cap and pin. Place sear and searspring on safety catch and slide into housing,locate,put pin in and circlip on. Fit trigger spring onto trigger with long leg behind trigger and locate,pin and circlip. (if your cylinder pin hole is worn and cap is a little off the cylinder, you may have to use a piece of shim steel to cover the gap to stop trigger spring going into it whilst you are replacing it. Replace cam in breech and replace circlip. Replace barrel and secure. GO TO NEXT POST

[ggggr]

Place breech in jaws and locate pivot pin in right jaw and line up with pivot hole. Push it in just enough to locate and then put plunger spring and plunger into their hole and depress and then push pin right through. Replace cocking arm and roll pin. Fit action in stock and tighten screws.
The safety catch on Webleys are not great. The mk 1 and some mk2,s are automatic but if you cut the bit of the safety catch off at the front (the bit the cocking arm pushes) then they become manual. On the mk 1 there is a shelf on the side of the safety catch that stops the sear from moving. On the mk 2 its at the back an stops the trigger from moving but these (mk2) aseem more likely to break off. The Hawk mk3 has the "wrap around" catch where the rear of the trigger cant move upwards because it hits the wrap around. NEXT THE HAWK MK 2 AND HAWK MK 3.

[ggggr]

This strip also applies to the vulan except it has a different piston head set up, "a ptfe set up and a rubber buffer" according to Phil Bulmer, which may be changed for a stingray set up on some vulcans,again according to Phil Bulmer.
Read previous post about problems with fitting big mainsprings and the gun not cocking. A quick strip guide can be found on thread "Webley hawk disassembley" 7/o7/08, post 3.
Remove sights. Remove front two stock screws and one in front of trigger guard. Remove action from stock. Remove cocking arm pivot roll pin and then remove cocking arm. Break barrel and depress barrel plunger and remove pivot pin. Release pressure and remove plunger and spring. Remove breech block and barrel. IF YOU ARE GOING TO CHANGE BREECH SEAL WASHER ON CYLINDER IT IS ALWAYS EASIER TO DO IT WITH BARREL OFF---ALSO APPLIES TO PISTOLS. BREECH SEAL SHOULD HAVE ROUNDED SIDE FACING OUT. Undo trigger adjusting allen screw on top of cylinder end block to take pressure off trigger spring. GO TO NEXT POST

[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

[Phil Russell]

I forgot I had written these notes: they may help. All is pretty straightforward except getting the trigger / safety back together which is a bit of a fiddle until you get the knack. All is explained here:

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.

Cheers, Phil

[ggggr]

I got this the other day and thought I would do a strip down. Remove rearsight if you want. Remove the front and rear stock screws ,the trigger guard screw and the trigger guard and lift the action from the stock. To be able to remove the barrel and cocking arm, you will have to drift out the small pin in the housing the cocking arm passes through. Undo the barrel pivot lock nut and undo the pivot bolt and remove the barrel. If the breech seal needs changing then do it now. Remove the endcap from the cylinder. Unhook the trigger spring off the tang on the cylinder/trigger sleeve. Knock out the trigger pivot pin (front one of the two pins) and remove the trigger. Using the bit of forked tube tool ( mentioned early on in the guides) or similar keep pressure on the sleeve and knock out the 2nd pin. (I managed to hold the pressure with just my bare hands but use the tool just in case). Release pressure and the tube should come out,followed by a washer and the spring guide. Remove the spring and the piston. Clean everything up and lube. The example I got had no piston seal. It think it should be a synthetic seal held on by a metric screw (3mm I think). I made up a leather one to replace it. Replace the piston,mainspring,guide,washer and sleeve and compress with the tool to enable you to get the rear pin through the cylinder. Go to pt 2

[ggggr]

Enter the trigger into the housing and line up the holes with a punch and replace the trigger pivot pin. Refit the trigger spring onto the pip at the rear of the trigger and the tang on the housing. Replace cylinder end cap. Slide cocking arm through its housing an locate it. I would screw the barel pivot home now to hold everything in place while you refit the pin in the cocking arm housing. Replace the barrel pivot bolt lock nut. Replace action in stock and refit the stock bolts and trigger guard. Replace your rear sight.
I was surprised that this gun is the same size as the Diana/Milbro 22/23/76 and Webley junior/jaguar/ranger. Apart from the sights being better than the other guns mentioned, I did not think it was much better made. The weak point on the other (non tinplate) guns is the piston can wear at the point the cocking arm pushes on. The Hw25 piston did not seem much better made. Obviously the hw has decent scope grooves but unless you are intent on paying £140 + for a new gun, I dont think the hw justifies the extra money as a starter gun over the other guns mentioned. It seems to plink ok but then so do the others. It,s a pity some of our engineers on here have not made up a better piston to fit the Diana/webley range of small rifles.

[Phil Russell]

It is a long time since I serviced a Challenger.... it was in .177 and I later sold it, a decision I now regret. An opportunity arose to look at a .22 version and, as they are a little different to the standard Mercury, I thought a separate entry was justified:

This is basically as for the Mercury but with a few differences. The Challenger has the Maxigrip scope rail ... a raised rubber rail fitting to the top of the cylinder by lugs. It also has an articulated cocking link.
To strip, remove stock bolts at front of action and the large bolt through the pistol grip, just as for the Mercury. Remove front and rear sights for safety. Remove trigger block by unscrewing the unit as normal. I secured the action in a rubber faced vice to start the thread moving then put the trigger block in the vice and unscrewed the action as it gave better control. Spring and spring guide will lift out. My rifle had a thin washer on the spring guide. My breech seal was OK so I left it alone. Otherwise now is a good time to renew it.
With trigger block removed, get a piece of wood and place it against the edge of the scope rail ... tap it to drive the rail backwards about 1cm when it will lift off. Note that it is not possible to remove the piston until the scope rail is removed.
To remove the piston you need to release the cocking link. You could release the connecting pins or the barrel from the breech but I found it easier to remove the two bolts holding the cocking slide and lift it away, noting that there is a thin steel sheet floor to it next to the cylinder. This leaves the linkage attached to the barrel breech but I found this perfectly OK.
It is now possible to release the cocking link and pull the piston out. It has the standard O ring plus buffer washer system on an aluminium piston head. My buffer washer had disintegrated. To put a new one on, find the thin (about 1mm diameter) pin that holds the head to the piston body and push it out enough to release the head. At this point I took the opportunity to clean up the head (with O ring removed) as it was a little rough in places and also smoothed any rough edges off the piston body. Renew the buffer washer on the piston spigot. Replace thin pin and add or renew the O ring ... mine was OK so I refitted it.
Clean the cylinder, lube the piston and O ring and push back into the cylinder. I checked compression with my thumb over the transfer port. All was OK.
Replace the scope rail now. Press the rail into position using the imprint left by the rail after removal as a guide ... again use a wooden block to help tap the rail into position. Make sure all the scope rail lugs engage and that the end of the rail is flush with the end of the cylinder or you may have difficulty refitting the trigger block.
You can now replace the cocking link in its slot followed by the slide, not forgetting the thin sheet base ... note the lugs that fit in cut outs on the slide. Tighten the two bolts.
Replace spring (thin smear of moly grease) and spring guide and washer.
To refit the trigger block, I held the block in a padded vice and offered up the action. I have a small block of wood with an indentation in it that takes the muzzle. With the block over the muzzle and holding the cylinder in position with my left hand, I push the wooden block with my right hand until the cylinder engages the threads on the trigger block then turn the cylinder with my left hand .. it moves easily due to the muzzle being in the wooden block. Continue to screw the action to the trigger block making sure the block ends up in line with the cocking slot.
Replace stock and sights. Test.

Extra notes on the barrel / breech jaws: If you split the barrel from the breech jaws by removing the cross bolt, note that this bolt also secures the barrel lock plunger. When re-assembling the assembly you need to place the breech block between the jaws with the through bolt hole lined up, then press the plunger in about 3mm in order to allow the bolt to pass through. I press the plunger against a wooden block while holding the action and feeding the bolt through.
The breech seal: This is 12mm od and 8mm id x 4mm. New ones can be cut from urethane tubing 12mm x 8mm at a fraction of the cost of buying new.

Cheers, Phil

[Phil Russell]

DIANA Mod 27

Note: this is the Diana 27 not the Diana G27.
This rifle has a variant on the ‘3 ball trigger’ as used on larger Diana/Original models. It should not, however, give any problems during the strip and rebuild but I recommend use of a spring compressor in order to keep control of everything.
To strip: Remove the two bolts at the forend. Remove front trigger guard bolt and remove action from stock. Remove sights. Remove action end cap (just pull off).
Look at the action ... note the smallish cylinder coming out of the back and the small spring on the underside top of the action that fits into this cylinder.
Secure action in spring compressor, barrel to left and trigger uppermost. Using the compressor, just take the strain on the protruding cylinder. There are two cross pins; remove them both with suitable sized drifts. Slowly release tension on the spring compressor... the inner cylinder will begin to be pushed out by the mainspring.
As the inner cylinder comes out, keep the trigger pulled. There is no need to remove the trigger blade or its pivot or spring. The inner cylinder will come out along with a surrounding metal sleeve onto which the front end of the small spring rests. Once the mainspring tension has been released, lift away the small cylinder and sleeve ... the small spring may well come loose at this point and the spring guide may remain attached to the front of the small cylinder. Try to keep the small cylinder within the sleeve until you have the parts safely in hand.
Separate sleeve from small cylinder and note the 3 ball bearings in recesses in the small cylinder. Note which way round the parts fit and clean them. Note that the outer sleeve has a cut out for the rear cross pin not distinct holes.
Remove mainspring.
Release the cocking link from the breech by removing the lock screw and the pivot bolt. Remove link and detach from piston.
To remove the piston, simply slide it out but pull the trigger to allow it to pass freely.
Inspect piston washer and replace if necessary. The breech seal on this rifle needed replacing. I made one from leather 3mm thick, 13mm o/d, 8mm i/d. You may be lucky and be able to remove the old seal in one piece and add a shim to take up wear. This rifle already had a thin sheet steel shim but the seal fell apart during removal.
Once everything is cleaned and rough edges removed, rebuild is a reversal of the strip.
Replace piston in cylinder, correctly lubed. Remember to keep trigger pulled during replacement. Replace cocking link. Add mainspring and guide.
Replace action in the compressor as before.
I now added the balls to the inner cylinder after placing grease in their location holes. Then insert the cylinder into the sleeve. The small spring will fit into the long slot on the inner cylinder with the forend (nearest barrel) of the spring fitting against a depressed tang cut out in the sleeve and the rear end of the spring fitting against the end of the cut out slot. You will soon see which way is correct as the trigger slots must face the trigger sears and this tang goes against the top of the action. Do not add the small spring yet unless you are confident of keeping it all together.
Hold the small cylinder and sleeve in position on the spring guide and start to wind them into the action a little. This is the time I refitted the small spring. I turned the action through 90 degrees in the spring compressor so that the trigger was pointing at me. Locate the small spring against the cut out in the sleeve and compress the spring to locate the rear end in the slot in the inner cylinder. Compression is not great and once fitted it should remain steady. Continue to wind in the mainspring. Make sure the spring guide fits over the piston rod ... if you meet sudden resistance while starting to wind the spring in, then you need to back off and jiggle the guide over the piston rod.
As you wind the unit in, the sleeve will also move in but keep checking that it is moving in fully by pushing it in with a screwdriver blade and keep checking the trigger is not impeding movement by pulling it. If the trigger feels stiff, back off and pull trigger. Wind the small cylinder in until you can see the locating holes for both cross pins. Replace cross pins and end cap.
Replace action in stock and add sights.
Cheers, Phil