Quote Originally Posted by ken69 View Post
Very difficult to tell a block has been messed with from the outside, and as others have pointed out most things can be rectified. The biggest giveaway to me is a cut out in the stock at the back of the block but even then the internals may be perfectly ok
I genuinely don't see cutaway stocks as a problem as far as the action is concerned. It might mean that the power has regularly been turned up and/or down but so what? There are several reasons why a user should want to turn the power down (ratting in barns comes to mind) but I accept that some irresponsible shooters think it is an advantage to back off the hammer spring for carrying and storage and then turn it up over the limit when they are out shooting. It isn't but some think it is. As I've written before in my view 30-34 ft lb is the optimum for a .22 air rifle. Any more is a waste of air and much less probably not worth taking up a slot on a FAC.
Running a Rapid at excessive power levels (40 + ft lb in .22) over long periods might mean that the hammer preload is too high putting more wear on the trigger. Potential trigger failure (especially in the Anschutz unit which would be expensive to fix) would worry me most so for buying used rifles we all have to take a view on the sense or otherwise of the seller. Nothing can avoid that.