What do I do next - now I have stripped a Mk3?!

[andrewM]

Some advice, please, from the experts here (and Lakey, if you see this) - or, at least, those more knowledgeable, technical and wiser than me! Albeit a technophobe, I have stripped a rifle for the first time. I was surprised that this was remarkably simple and it has therefore provided a degree of satisfaction. It is a Webley Mk3.

I found a crushed pellet in the chamber; perhaps someone loaded the rifle and then cocked it, sucking the pellet through the transfer port. I have cleared this.

The spring appears uniform. I have cleaned it and the outside of the piston and, to the extent possible, the inside too. I have cleaned the inside of the chamber/cylinder. I used some Brasso for this exercise.

I have inspected the washers, manipulated the main washer, freeing it of a small degree of grease and have soaked it and the other washers in neatsfoot compound for the night. They appeared all quite normal, with a small indent where the flatted pellet was sited, seems to have come out with manipulation

Is there anything else I should do?

I presume I should lightly grease the inside and outside of the piston, plus the mainspring and perhaps also the chamber, to facilitate smooth interaction. I have LT2, a molybdenum grease.

I have not dismantled the trigger system. I could oil it with 3 in 1 but presumably not the mainspring, cylinder and piston.

I cannot tell if the spring requires renewal as I cannot tell how it compares with a new spring.

All advice gratefully received!

Rgds to all,
A

[johnbaz]

Some advice, please, from the experts here (and Lakey, if you see this) - or, at least, those more knowledgeable, technical and wiser than me! Albeit a technophobe, I have stripped a rifle for the first time. I was surprised that this was remarkably simple and it has therefore provided a degree of satisfaction. It is a Webley Mk3.

I found a crushed pellet in the chamber; perhaps someone loaded the rifle and then cocked it, sucking the pellet through the transfer port. I have cleared this.

The spring appears uniform. I have cleaned it and the outside of the piston and, to the extent possible, the inside too. I have cleaned the inside of the chamber/cylinder. I used some Brasso for this exercise.

I have inspected the washers, manipulated the main washer, freeing it of a small degree of grease and have soaked it and the other washers in neatsfoot compound for the night. They appeared all quite normal, with a small indent where the flatted pellet was sited, seems to have come out with manipulation

Is there anything else I should do?

I presume I should lightly grease the inside and outside of the piston, plus the mainspring and perhaps also the chamber, to facilitate smooth interaction. I have LT2, a molybdenum grease.

I have not dismantled the trigger system. I could oil it with 3 in 1 but presumably not the mainspring, cylinder and piston.

I cannot tell if the spring requires renewal as I cannot tell how it compares with a new spring.

All advice gratefully received!

Rgds to all,
A

Hi Andrew

Normally the skirt of the piston is polish to shine to allow the piston to travel freely (After a sparing amount of Lithium based grease is applied )

I bygone days, The cylinder would be crosshatched, That is- Purposely scratched to allow the scratches to hold a minute amount of grease that's thrown from the spring upon uncoiling, I don't know if this made a difference or not but I think it was only done to guns with leather piston seals, Can't remember what's in a mk3!!

It's done by acquiring a 16-18" length of 1/2" dowel, Cut a 2" long slot down one end of the dowel and place two pieces of 2" wide emery cloth back to back then bend them around the dowel so it can be fed in to the cylinder, It's then attached to a drill and run on slow speed whilst working it in and out to make the uniform scratches which should hold lubricant!

I don't know if crosshatching is still applied or if the consensus of opinion is to glaze the bore by polishing!

There's other stuff like using nylon or Delrin guide/tophat to make the cocking stroke super smooth, Oh, The spring would need greasing sparsely too..

There's most likely other stuff can be done but you'd be best waiting for someone that knows what they're talking about!!

EDIT- Forgot to say, If your rifle is a .22" cal then i'd say that someone inadvertantly loaded a .177" cal pellet in as the transfer port is normally smaller than the dia of the skirt of the pellet!!



Good luck, John

[andrewM]

Thank you for your valued advice, John.

"In bygone days, The cylinder would be crosshatched, That is- Purposely scratched to allow the scratches to hold a minute amount of grease that's thrown from the spring upon uncoiling."

The cylinder is smooth but, interestingly, the piston is carefully indented with parallel lines along the entire tube - what I think is described as crosshatching. This, presumably, carries out the same function you mention.

I made use of the most helpful information on this site, about stripping and also spring sizes. I have now discovered that this spring has 29 coils, as it should have, but is 12mm longer than the guide states. When cocked, of course, the difference will be much smaller. I don't suppose this makes much difference.

Best
A

[andrewM]

I have now had a long conversation with Lakey - a collector par excellence and also a very decent fellow. I discussed with him my observations. In an earlier post, I remarked that I was finding it necessary to lubricate, via the transfer port (via the tap loader), every 200 shots as, otherwise, the power dropped.

In dismantling the washers, I placed these in an eggcup, with neatsfoot compound. I was surprised by the extent to which they soaked up the oil, simultaneously expanding. It seems that the washers were so tight, with the fibres closed - in part because of the tightness of the locking screw (connecting into the top of the piston) that they found it difficult to absorb oil and were actually quite dry.

Lakey advised well greasing the ridged head and tail of the piston, where there is contact with the cylinder - done. Also the ends of the springs, as they have contact with the internal part of the piston and, at the other end, the spring guide - done. He also recommended generously greasing the spring - done.

Re-assembling was a little difficult without a clamp - as this site has warned. However, I then removed the spring again and discovered exactly where the trigger block engaged with the cylinder. At this point, it was simple to engage the two sections with pressure (placing the barrel on the floor, using a towel for protection) and rotate the threads.

Probably, there will now be some running in to be done, as the newly shaped washer adapts to its environment.

All in all, a very simple and satisfying rifle to work on - although I left the trigger well alone, other than applying some 3 in 1. It will now be interesting to see when next the rifle requires lubricating.