Micky you are so right, I was thinking that as I was making it. Had all kinds of ideas how to mark it. Eventually I used an allen key that fitted the .177 bore exactly and had a very small right angle section.I put it down the transporter slot and hooked it in the bore. Then I scribed a line on it level with the top of the rifle and took measurement. The position I drilled worked spot on, I checked it by firing wadcutters into a soft pack of material and examined the front of the pellet to see if they had any marks from hitting the edge of the barrel breach.
Baz
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
Was going to use some rod I have but it was not a tight fit in the bore. Delrin also is terrible to cut with a hacksaw or drill as it is fairly soft and blades and the drill wanders. Used 3 drills in increasing sizes up to 4.5mm to keep the hole centralised to where it had to be. Worked great, the rifle groups well. Found that wood files are best for filing Delrin, give a better finish.
Baz
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
Inspired that - well done!
ASM
I am a Man of La Northumberlandia, a true Knight and spend my days on my Quest (my duty nay privilege!) and fighting dragons and unbeatable foe, to right the unrightable wrongs, to bear with unbearable sorrow and dreaming my impossible dreams.
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
I remember having one of these in .22 new in around 1963. Although I thought it was a grand little rifle at the time it didn't last long. After a few months the fore-end split, I was heart broken but my old scout master fixed it by inletting a couple of brass plates and screwing and gluing it together.
The loading port was also the rear sight, it was made of something like black nylon, it got progressively harder the push down once the pellet was inserted, so much so that I resorted to using something hard to press it down.
This flattened the top of the sight, the stock split again and the game was up. I've not seen one since but only recently I came across a bit of the underlever mechanism when I was cleaning out my old Dads shed, no idea what happened to the rest of it.
Sounds like you have improved on the original design. Would be interesting to see what one would be like if you made a similar design up from bits of a BSA Cadet and some mild steel. Heavier, but 5 ft/lbs would be nice.
I've often thought that about them. An underlever based on the Cadet would have made a brilliant kids gun. The Merlin is more in size and weight to a Webley Junior.
Anyhow--I had a look at one for somebody yesterday and it was different to the others I've seen. This had a double hook coil spring for the trigger. One end hooks on the safety sear spring and the other on the front of the trigger. The others I've seen have had a hairpin type (flat or round) that goes behind the trigger. I've only seen Mk2 versions with the separate rear sight, rather than on the transporter/loading tap, but I have seen 3 trigger spring types and both trigger guard types, which shows again that BSA used up old spares on new models if they could.
On the one I looked at yesterday the transporter base/ O ring and spring (bent washer) were out of the gun and the transporter/loading tap would not go into it's housing due to the gun having been repainted. I cleared the paint before trying the transporter/ loading tap. Then the little washer goes into the hole in the end of the cylinder with the pointy bit facing outwards and the transporter base and O ring go on top of that with the O ring facing the transporter/ loading tap. It does a pretty good job of stopping the tap coming up too far and falling out. I'd guess people have either forced the taps out over the years or that little spring/washer loses some tension.
On the one I did yesterday, it had had a new mainspring fitted, which if it had been my gun, I would have collapsed a couple of coils. However the face of the cocking arm and the piston were good so it should be ok.
DO NOT TRY TO TUNE THESE GUNS! They are fragile and the cocking arm can slip off the piston and due to the design the action wants to lift itself out of the stock resulting in a broken fore end. If you have a slightly tired mainspring, I would use it and enjoy the gun for a low powered fun plinker. The one I did yesterday was hitting bottle caps at 7 1/2 yards so that is not bad for a child's gun.
Cooler than Mace Windu with a FRO, walking into Members Only and saying "Bitches, be cool"
Yes, that was my Merlin Guy (grrr) fixed for me, it's a little gift to my grandson who is not quite three yet, something to help get him interested in shooting, sadly my time is arriving soon due to the big c.
I would like to take this opportunity to praise and thank Guy for his help to me, he was always there for me with sent diagrams, phone calls and finally not only accepting me sending him the Merlin to check and finish for me but refusing to accept the payment for return postage.
What a truly genuine and generous man,
I thank him with all my heart.
atb,
martintheveg
Bit of a long shot but having found a 1968 bsa merlin that be longed to my dad when going through some of his bit when he passed it is missing the transporter i cant find any were that sells them did you still have the dimensions if so could you please send them to me
Hi i have recently inherited my dad's bsa merlin mk2 as he passed and unfortunately the transporter is missing is there any one on here who still have the dimensions if so could you please send them to me would love to get this back to working order.