Tracker v Osprey

[T 20]

Just in case it's of interest the Osprey barrel unscrews in seconds. If they are that good may be a useful mod.
Like the chat so far but clarky can you clarify, for me, the buffer bit in front of the piston.
I've got one in bits given to play at bluing with. When I stripped it the first land on the piston had bent and pinched the plastic ring. Looking down the chamber something is embedded into the end around the port.

I have another complete one to play with

The Osprey used the same Copper impregnated PTFE piston rings as the Hawk --- this is probably the worst sealing system ever used on an airgun.

If you don't want to modify your piston try putting an O ring in the front groove and using an old PTFE piston ring in the rear groove to act as a bearing.

If you have access to a lathe you could machine the front of the piston to look like this :-

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9260f2ca.jpg


Then you can use a 25mm Weihrauch or Walther LGV 2012 piston seal instead of the piston rings :-

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...psce13d0d8.jpg


The machining also lightens the piston a bit which also improves the shot cycle a little.







All the best Mick

[evert]

Just in case it's of interest the Osprey barrel unscrews in seconds. If they are that good may be a useful mod.

Tell me more! got a nice .177" osprey, and the barrel seems to be bent. How does one unscrew it?

[LeeN]

Tracker and Viscount are exactly the same inside.

The Osprey was an odd fish (or fish-eating bird, whatever).

It had to take over from the venerated Webley Mk III underlever which filled the roles of target gun and sporting rifle.

So perhaps they designed it with 10m and 6 yard comps first - hence the massive barrel which is not that out of place on the Osprey Supertarget, but then fitted a slim shotgun-style stock to the sporting version. The Supertarget got a lighter spring as well.

Webley ended up with a rifle that could not compete either against other recoilling rifles for match shooting like the Walther 55 and Weihrauch 55, other than on price OR against the sporting competition like the Airsporter or HW35.

But the standard one handled like no other rifle, with a heavy barrel keeping you on aim and the very slight pistol grip giving a feeling of grace like a nice shotgun. It is a rifle designed for shooting rats in barns, in .22 calibre of course. And quite a looker. The Tracker was never quite as cool, the thin barrel and Vulcan stock style were a bit dull.

A standard Osprey, with an improved trigger and a Tracker powerplant would be a lovely tool. The Swedes are great fans of the Tracker, or maybe Webley dumped alot of them up there cheap. They know how to get the best from them so they say.

Also, it was a BIG mistake to name it after a breakfast cereal bar. Would have been so much better to call it the Viscount (named after the nuclear bomber of the 60s?) from the beginning.

I've always fancied a Viscount Delux, the one with the walnut stock. Oh no, another thing to collect... and I thought I was done.

But surely a Viscount is a nasty mint biscuit thing as well

[deejayuu]

Tell me more! got a nice .177" osprey, and the barrel seems to be bent. How does one unscrew it?

I clamp the barrel in a vice with soft jaws or split plastic/copper tube as a sleeve. Then twist the main body with a wrench using similar surface protection as the barrel.


T20 Many thanks for full and informative reply!

[evert]

I'm taking this thread up again, as my new to me rescue project of an Osprey is making me scratch my head over some details.

Was there a change in loading taps somewhere in the production of the osprey? The "new" one seems to have parallell instead of tapered loading tap!