Bowkett Meteor (stripped, pics and questions)

[lightning22]

At last the secrets of the 12 megaton Meteor! Thanks for posting this always wanted to know how it was done.

There were also some Airsporters that he did which had very short springs and almost no recoil.

You'll be glad to know it has a threaded breech bolt..

[Garvin]

Fascinating. Thanks.

[lightning22]

The spring spec on this is as follows......

Overall length = 240mm

Inner diameter = 12.8mm - 0.5"

Outer diameter = 19mm - 0.748"

Wire diameter = 3mm - 0.118"

I'm guessing that the nearest thing to this off the shelf would be a Titan XS.

Rich

[Hsing-ee]

The spring spec on this is as follows......

Overall length = 240mm

Inner diameter = 12.8mm - 0.5"

Outer diameter = 19mm - 0.748"

Wire diameter = 3mm - 0.118"

I'm guessing that the nearest thing to this off the shelf would be a Titan XS.

Rich

POK! could wind one up from those specs I guess.

[lightning22]

POK! could wind one up from those specs I guess.

I'm sure he could! I thought putting it here would be safer than writing it down somewhere and losing the paper.

Rich

[lightning22]

POK! could wind one up from those specs I guess.

POK! isn't doing springs again at the moment..

[Tenuc]

Thanks Rich for revealing the mysteries of the JB Meteor tune, it's an excellent guide.

My first new gun, some 50 years or so ago, was a MkI Meteor in .22 calibre. I used it as my main hunting gun for about 10 years, before moving on to a HW35. I re-furbed it 10 years later, and both my boys learned to shoot with it, until they moved on to bigger and better things.

I retired 18 months ago, and with nothing much to do, got the old meteor out of the wardrobe. It was in a sorry state, with erratic cocking and little power, so I fitted a new mainspring, washer and seal.

When I chrono'd the gun after it had settled in, I found it was pushing out 11.4FPE with Daystate FT pellets!!! I think it's amazing that a gun of that age, with such a small swept volume can deliver this result???

I hope you have fun with yours, when its back together again.

[lightning22]

That's excellent power for a Meteor!

I spoke to John the other day, the seals were made specially to his spec and are no longer available

The good news is that you can always use the std seal.

Rich

[Hsing-ee]

When I chrono'd the gun after it had settled in, I found it was pushing out 11.4FPE with Daystate FT pellets!!! I think it's amazing that a gun of that age, with such a small swept volume can deliver this result???

That is very high power for a Meteor, mine does about 9.5 ft/lbs and seems to be happy with the standard spring. The sear arrangement doesnt look like one that would respond well to increased mainspring pressure.

One thing about the Meteor is that its transfer port is very short and has a very small volume. Perhaps this is the secret to its efficiency?