Cock ups and abuse---Whats the worse you have come across?

[ggggr]

Following on from Hsing-ee's thread in the general section about oversprung guns, whats the worse/best you have seen/done or heard of?
seen a fair few guns with jubilee clips round them when the front stock screws have stripped. seen plenty of self tapping screws as well. Lots of panel pins and small ball bearings in piston washers. A few cut down barrels that have been cut at an angle and left like that without even filing (I hate to cut barrels and have only done it to clean up previous cuts. Luckily the guns have shot ok each time ) seen nails and wood screws used as pivot pins.
I asked a shop what was the worse one that they had seen. The answer was a cut down Relum Tornado---with the cocking arm shortened as well .
Over to you.

[air-tech]

Can't say worse than the examples you gave - but hey, a bodge is a bodge and it is done in all honesty, no pretensions.

However what really gets to me are certain (or possibly most) "customisations" where the "customiser" must be convinced that what he has done (to irreparably ruin a perfectly good gun) has improved it no end. And it's now worth more, like...

[18 Wheeler]

Meteor. Action fitted to stock with epoxy.

They walk amongst us.

[basa]

Can't say worse than the examples you gave - but hey, a bodge is a bodge and it is done in all honesty, no pretensions.

However what really gets to me are certain (or possibly most) "customisations" where the "customiser" must be convinced that what he has done (to irreparably ruin a perfectly good gun) has improved it no end. And it's now worth more, like...

what if its in screaming pink,or dayglo orange,does that help the price?.

[le frelon]

I bought a Lane's pattern Gem 'Jewel' that had a spring in it from what looked like an A4 writing pad binder thingy, the tear off page type.
It was suitably underwhelmed. The only thing coming out of the barrel was air......very sloooooooowly.

[DCL_dave]

I bought a Lane's pattern Gem 'Jewel' that had a spring in it from what looked like an A4 writing pad binder thingy, the tear off page type.
It was suitably underwhelmed. The only thing coming out of the barrel was air......very sloooooooowly.

Aha!...but what's it like with that nos spring in it? (have you got it in there yet?)

I sold one of my Jewel Gems a little while back (I kind of miss it though...) and I'll probably sell the other one on too when I get around to it..(no doubt I'll regret selling that one aswell!...)...but it was getting silly, I had over 40 Gems at one stage!...tripping over the damn things! ...now I have a more managable 20 or so

[air-tech]

I bought a Lane's pattern Gem 'Jewel' that had a spring in it from what looked like an A4 writing pad binder thingy, the tear off page type.
It was suitably underwhelmed. The only thing coming out of the barrel was air......very sloooooooowly.

Pen mightier than the sword, and all that... a combination and variation thereof!!!

[Minuteman]

Meteor. Action fitted to stock with epoxy.

They walk amongst us.

2/3's of all mentally ill people are undiagnosed and at large in the community...

...except of course the agoraphobic ones

[le frelon]

Dave, the springs in and it's a good 'un thanks. just need to sort out the sear which is currently undergoing a reshape ( and then I'll case harden it ). In fact this must count as well since it had a lump welded on it and basically just left unshaped. The only issue is when. Too many priorities at the moment. Perhaps this is how these things come about in the first place!

[Fronteria]

A friend turned up with a BSA standard air rifle which had lost all of it's power after he had fitted a scope onto it! What he had done was drill the air chamber and tried to thread the four holes and failed because the wall was too thin so he used self tapping screws to fit the mounts
A similar thing I encountered at an antiques fair when a stale holder tried to convince my that the Lincoln Jefferies that was for sale for £140-00 on his stale was a very powerful air rifle and he had tested it himself, he got most annoyed with me when I said it was more or less scrap as the air cylinder had four holes in it and I doubted that it was capable of getting a pellet to travel to the end of the barrel, another attempt to fit a scope!

[harry mac]

Meteor. Action fitted to stock with epoxy.

They walk amongst us.

I have a BSA Mod E stalking rifle that has been permanently "bedded" in the same manner. It still shoots very accurately for now, but if I ever have to rebarrel it it'll mean destroying the stock to get the action out of it

[edbear2]

Improved model D......had a loose stock, and on removal of the butt plate, the entire bolt channel had been filled with lead.......now I have seen this before, normally it is lead shot, and have even seen a light model with both cocking arms AND the stock full of lead (obviously in an attempt to get the weight up to suit the shooter's preference)......The light model shot really well actually, despite weighing about 10 pounds

But this guy had poured the lead in whilst molten......so it was impossible to remove the stock bolt, or tighten it!......I did try to melt it out, but it went up in smoke

Apart from that, just normal stuff like improvised screws and pivots, all sorts in the washer area....oh and a strap of metal with 3 pozidrive screws in it "holding" the stock to the trigger block once on a MK 1 Airsporter as it had the rear stock stud snapped off......really annoying that one, as the stock was a really nice one pre bodge. (At least he had taken the trouble to paint the strap.....which looked like a slice of oil can, black to match the trigger block and had carefully replaced the bakelite bung!)

[Gwylan]

A friend turned up with a BSA standard air rifle which had lost all of it's power after he had fitted a scope onto it! What he had done was drill the air chamber and tried to thread the four holes and failed because the wall was too thin so he used self tapping screws to fit the mounts
A similar thing I encountered at an antiques fair when a stale holder tried to convince my that the Lincoln Jefferies that was for sale for £140-00 on his stale was a very powerful air rifle and he had tested it himself, he got most annoyed with me when I said it was more or less scrap as the air cylinder had four holes in it and I doubted that it was capable of getting a pellet to travel to the end of the barrel, another attempt to fit a scope!

That is terrible...!

Gus

[ggggr]

I forgot about the "hawk mk 2" I goy off here. The barrel slid into the breech block and was just held by a grub screw. I assume it was a barrel and block off a later gun that had been modified. The safety catch was brilliant , it had a block brazed in as the tang had broken off. The problem was that it worked the wrong way round-----you could fire the gun when the safety catch was in the "safe" position and not when it was in the "fire" position!!!

[junglie]

Was given a sharp ace with a chunk out of the pump tube slot, filed in to clear the home made rivet on the pump linkage!