MKV Meteor, it was a simple enough task

[Gamocfx]

Hi Chaps, its been a bit of a day.
Bored rigid at being off work and pretty much iced in I decided to change the breach seal on a MKV Meteor that I bought (I think off here) earlier this year. The original seal was crumbling and the gun was starting to shoot erratically. Easy enough job that would take 5 minutes....
The replacement seal from Chambers was of a different harder white material and stood proud of the breach.... shots were going 10" low and I could not adjust the scope any lower. The scope came with another rifle, a Gamo cheap 3-9X32.... it is surprisingly bright.
Anyway I decided to sand a bit off the seal and slowly the shots started to get a little higher. Success however was my downfall. Its about 20 yards across flags to my back stop and even though I was cautious and walking like Bambi my fat ass hit those flags pretty hard-realising no damage had been incurred I had a little laugh-I wasnt even cold in the -6 degrees on the floor as my wife had bought me a new coat... which somehow still had the security tag on! Not wanting to go back to Sainsburys I limped inside and used tin cutters to ease the offending thing off. I now have a ripped lining and blood covered coat, anyway its off now, putting the coat back on I realised my glasses were in the pocket and broken.
No problem cheapo spare glasses on and the finishing touches were put to zeroing the scope, excellent results and for an old Meteor powerful enough to hole a bean can base (with an empty soup can inside as well!) I sat down with a brew in triumph to hear a crunching noise from my trouser pocket-cheapo glasses dead, jeans ripped but family jewels intact.
I have a Mercury kit here but given todays performance I am going to wait unti I have adult supervision before I start that.
Sorry to go on but I almost can't believe it myself.

[Phil Russell]

I think it was Noel Coward who said that whenever he felt energetic he sat down until the feeling passed. I suggest you do the same ....
At least the Meteor survived unscathed so be thankful.
Get well soon.
Cheers, Phil

[Dornfelderliebe]

Strange that about the Mk5 breech seal. I did the same with a mk5 and it was so proud it began to rip a chunk out on closing the barrel, I put the now damaged seal into a newly acquired Mk 1, removed the damaged bit, where it fitted fine then put a spare used seal in the Mk5 this time the old seal fitted fine as well, without catching?

Yours Baffled of Nottingham

[Gamocfx]

I think it was Noel Coward who said that whenever he felt energetic he sat down until the feeling passed. I suggest you do the same ....
At least the Meteor survived unscathed so be thankful.
Get well soon.
Cheers, Phil

Thanks Phil, thats sage advice indeed-I think I bounced because my ass is sore now! Breach seals are trickier than I thought

[evert]

Use the seal from knibbs, it usually works great in BSAs (meteor, scorpion, supersport/lightning, mercury) without any fitting:
https://www.airgunspares.com/161050b...chsealjki.html

[Gamocfx]

Dornfeld... we must have bought the same type as this was proud by a bit and it took some sanding to remove, I will try Everts suggestion and maybe order from Knibbs next time. I have another breach seal to fit tomorrow to a Mercury and then a full service kit to another Mercury which I have never done before! I am sort of dreading opening a Mercury as it will be a first for me.

[TonyL]

Entertaining tale, Carl, and I hope you're okay.

I'm not a BSA expert but I found the first breech seal from Chambers for my Mercury S also stood too proud. Its replacement was massively oversized and put up a real struggle on insertion. I then decided to go through a smaller shop that doesn't have its own made up and got a genuine BSA one. Much easier and nice, snug breech closure. I've also heard that Weihrauch ones work very well and give better sealing but may need a slight reduction in depth on most BSA fitments.

[Gamocfx]

Thanks Tony, it does seem as though a few people have found the seals a tad too big and sitting too far out of the breach. I used fine grit wet and dry at first but it did not touch it... its tough stuff. I will try the HW ones next time. Will try the Mercury seal today but not if its still iced over!

[Dornfelderliebe]

Dornfeld... we must have bought the same type as this was proud by a bit and it took some sanding to remove, I will try Everts suggestion and maybe order from Knibbs next time. I have another breach seal to fit tomorrow to a Mercury and then a full service kit to another Mercury which I have never done before! I am sort of dreading opening a Mercury as it will be a first for me.

I should have said this earlier I got my seal from Knibbs they were really helpfull about it I cannot help but wonder whether some one at BSA was not cutting the grove deep enough because another one fitted my Mk4 perfectly.
I always go to John Knibbs 1st

[Gamocfx]

Im not sure if I have ever bought anything from Knibbs, I used Chambers as I wanted the service kit for the Mercury which was surprisingly cheap... when the post has calmed down a bit I will order a kit for a Meteor as I have a few candidates for improvement for that rifle.

[evert]

Im not sure if I have ever bought anything from Knibbs, I used Chambers as I wanted the service kit for the Mercury which was surprisingly cheap... when the post has calmed down a bit I will order a kit for a Meteor as I have a few candidates for improvement for that rifle.

My experience with the Chambers parts are that they dont give the expected performance.
Tried their spring made for the supersport etc, which gave very low power.
Tried their meteor buffer, which was way to thick and required a lot of trimming to go in.

[Gamocfx]

oh dear! I have their kit to put in a Mercury..... lets see how that turns out. I think I believe you as the seals were indeed too big for both BSA barrels that I fitted. If its too underpowered I have a Meteor it can go in.

[TonyL]

Protek can be a very useful source for parts, springs, seals, buffers etc., too.

[Gamocfx]

I never really thought about Protek for parts though they did have a nice Superstar on their website that I lusted after! Sadly postage and RFD charges.... still I will certainly give them a go for bits, and I always seem to need something.

[Heavy Roller]

I was informed a few years ago (a lot of years) that there were a batch of Mk5s where the breech seal recesses were slightly under size, never had confirmation of this but came from a respected source.