Were fun!
Enlisted some extra helping hands, courtesy of the Mrs!
Barrel went straight on, no worries, although if I were to have to work on them on a regular basis, I'd be tempted to use a shorter "dummy" barrel hinge pin to hold the detent in place. Lock up is now lovely, courtesy of polished detent and the lovely little detent spring that Pete, look no hands, sent me.
I knew the trigger may be a bit of a fiddly beast. I know you're meant to be able to hold the sear down to remove the piston, but it wasn't having any of it when I stripped it, so removed the trigger. Yes, a little fiddly, but it was in place pretty soon.
Then the easy bit.......fitting the spring (which again, Pete had kindly donated
).....well, when I stripped it it was very easy peasy.....but it had the broken square section spring in (OX?). Bloody hell, trying to do it by hand and it was having none of it. I then wasted loads of time locating the spring compressor, as I had not needed it for years. When I finally found it, the flat disc that goes onto the threaded section was nowhere to be seen. So I tried to improvise with various ideas but nothing seemed to be working. Then I remembered that there was an insert for working on the FWB sport in the box, with locating hole that goes onto the threaded section. Removed the insert for the FWB and then, with some packing metal washers, ie about five 2p coins, thus allowed enough clearance for the metal dowel you need to clear the mainspring retaining pin. And, eventually, it went in, complete with the top hat and guide, again courtesy of Pete and the Tinsterbelle. Plenty of preload here, methinks.
Then fit the cocking slide that Uncle Mick sent me....lovely.
Then fit the stock......oh dear.....it has a home made / aftermarket (?) set back blade. Once fitted the gun cocked and then de-cocked. Tried again....no chance. Then I noticed that the bottom of the blade was contacting against the trigger guard. Backed the rear screw off and it's fine. Eventually, by juggling the Mickey Mouse trigger guard around and making sure that the front end is pulled down whilst tightening the rear screw, we can have it tight and retain sufficient clearance for correct trigger operation.
Shot it into a box of rags a few times and it seems twang free. Seems a little lively, as I remember from years ago. When I had a few shots a few weeks ago it did seem quite docile, but then the broken spring that revealed itself and the 9ft.lbs output would explain this.
It was dark by the time I'd built it, so no time to chrono.....that will have to happen tomorrow if the weather allows. If the power is sensible, I'll just let it bed in and see how it goes. If it's too close for comfort, I'll shorten the spring which will also improve the manners. All depends what the chrono says.......
And thank you again, Mick, Pete and Nick for all the lovely bits enabling the recommissioning on a shoestring! You are all stars.
And, Mick, I'll bring that broken cocking slide with me to The Hollow.
Boingy boingy Beeza Boing!
Originally Posted by TonyL
Were fun!
. The bleeders know me and go mental when I turn up but I’ve found a nice little gap from inside a barn that just might do the trick
