An unusually quick and successful tinker today.

[averageplinker]

Well I picked up a few basket cases yesterday and have had a tinker with the Milbro G36 in .22" that was one of them. It's not pretty, with lightly chimped screw heads, loose varnish in places on the stock, the metal work has rust spots with a few heavy and large patches of raised flaky rust on the barrel. However it appeared complete, including the fragile plastic safety catch and plastic rear sight, and had a little bit of shabby charm to it.

The main problem apart from cosmetics was that it would not engage the sear at the end of the cocking stroke. So I dived in this morning, expecting to have to strip it to find a worn trigger component or two and this is what I found....

It was born in December '76 according to the light stamp marks on the belly of the stock. There were no washers under the front stock bolts, no biggy. The trigger adjustment screw did not touch or bear on anything which seemed odd. Also the main trigger blade piece was made out of a chunk of alloy rather than the pressed steel I thought was the norm with these. So immediately I start thinking it has had a homemade replacement trigger which isn't working properly which means a full strip and potentially breaking it for parts if I can’t get any cheap spares myself.

Hmmm, time to have a cup of tea whilst looking at the parts diagram on the net methinks. I am glad I did this rather than tear into a full strip down fearing the worst. The parts diagram indicates that on the trigger adjustment screw should be a circlip, which bears on a spring, with the other end of the spring bearing on a part of the trigger assembly below it (apologies for the terrible non-technical description). Surely it can’t be as simple as replacing the spring to put tension on the trigger to allow the sear to engage? Life just isn't that straight forward!

Well apparently sometimes it is! I found a spring I had saved from an empty soap dispenser (my gratitude goes out to the poster on here who noted they did this a few years ago) and clipped off 2 coils to get it to a suitable length. I now have a functioning rifle, which after a barrel clean was tested out in the garage range. It sure does twangs but fires with what seems like reasonable power for a small rifle. There is a little dieseling so I think there may have been some inappropriate oil dribbled onto the leather piston seal at some point. So I still think it will give it a full strip and clean at some point, I may even treat it to a cheap dioptre rear sight.

Every day is a school day and today I learned that I must not always assume a complex fix is needed when it may just be a simple fix is all that is required.

Happy tinkering all.

[Gareth W-B]

What a fantastically interesting thread to read. Made my late lunch break even more enjoyable than usual: Many thanks. More please.

[averageplinker]

Thank you for the kind words GWB, maybe one day soon I will have a tinker with the crosman pumper pistol I picked up at the same time and let you know what I find.

I am starting to think the G36 was meant to have the alloy trigger blade rather than the folded/pressed steel I was expecting. If it is not it is a bloomin' good replacement part. Are there any other G36 owners on here that can advise what material their trigger blade is made of? From the images I can find on the net it is hard to tell??

Cheers all