[QUOTE=andrewM;7167774]Thank you, Ed and Gingernut, for your helpful guidance.

I am most envious, Ed, of your 1911 Standard - and its power. I would love to see it and, indeed, fire it. What sort of accuracy does it deliver?

I visited the expert, suggested by the gunsmith today. He made some interesting comments:

1 Lubricant: He said there was no need to introduce Weboil or any equivalent these days, into the air chamber, as all oils create dieseling to some degree or another. He gave me a small tube of 100% pure silicone oil (core-rc.com), actually used for the car racing business (and expensive at £15 for 60mls). Some three to five drops were to be introduced after every tin of pellets.

2 Tap Loader solution if leaking: he said a new tap would be expensive to buy and fit. A better alternative, he said, which will work as well, is to dismantle the tap, place tissue in the centre hole, and spray on an aerosol external chain lube, then restore the tap to its position. This lube sticks to the surface - as it would to a chain saw, and will seal the gaps 100%. As an afterthought, however, it then occurred to me that it might also seal off a section of the air from the chamber if the tap-loader rubs against the exit hole from the air chamber. I might call him next week to seek further advice on that.

3 He also mentioned that it was good practice to fire the rifle with the tap loader in the upright position as it helped to mould the piston seal to the end of the chamber.

So, no doubt, a controversial approach and I thought it worth introducing this as a new thread on this site, so others can benefit and/or debate the merits of this advice.

Meanwhile, I would prefer to have my BSA Standard inspected by an expert but, like others, I still need to find one!

Regards
Andrew.[/QUOTE

Andrew

re. the above
1...Do not use silicon oil anywhere where it will leach onto parts and cause metal to metal contact, as it will if put into the chamber...just google silicon oil metal to metal, it is a plastic lubricant and exactly the WRONG stuff to use! (and I have been in F1 racing and aviation at the pointy end since the mid 90's so am well up on exotic lubes).

2...Total rubbish...and may even be uneeded if you follow my earlier advice you may not need to do this if you have checked the originality / fit as described.

3...I have heard of this back in the early days of ptfe washer replacements, but not for leather....You are not moulding the end of the washer, you are concerned with the sliding fit / air seal I would say not slamming the piston into the cylinder end (which is what will happen if you DO have a leaky tap...This will wreck the washer screw...believe me I have repaired enough over the years.

All the above IMHO, as I have said your gun may be fine and just need 1/2 and a fiddle to establish the problem...Have you tried various pellets to establish the 8 pound output as various types can make over 1 pound difference, happy to send you a few original Wasps and FTT's to get a benchmark as normally these are the ones that perform the best through the chrono.

ATB, ED