My Mercury Ratting Rig

[T 20]

Yes, there was some kind of glue, mine needed some heat before it could be unscrewed.

Cheers Evert.

I shall have a ponder on this lot now --- whilst looking in my spares this morning for BSA Meteor barrels I found a couple of Oldschool HW85k actions and a HW95 stock which would probably make a better gun than Merc ever will without any machining.



All the best Mick

[evert]

Cheers Evert.

I shall have a ponder on this lot now --- whilst looking in my spares this morning for BSA Meteor barrels I found a couple of Oldschool HW85k actions and a HW95 stock which would probably make a better gun than Merc ever will without any machining.



All the best Mick

But you have done a lot work, and gotten good results so far, why not just do the last finishing step on the Mercury?
Besides, the 95/85 has a too long stroke for sub FAC, so you'll need to make a new piston for that gun too....

[T 20]

Yes, there was some kind of glue, mine needed some heat before it could be unscrewed.

Hi Evert.

Out of interest was your cylinder end flat or did yours have a hemispherical recess in it ?

I'm thinking mine could be a machining cock up at the factory.

But you have done a lot work, and gotten good results so far, why not just do the last finishing step on the Mercury?
Besides, the 95/85 has a too long stroke for sub FAC, so you'll need to make a new piston for that gun too....

Go on then --- I'll get the gas axe out.

I originally bought this Mercury as bits as my other two break barrels (Webley Hawk 2 and HW35) weren't up to the job of dealing with my neighbour's rat problem.
My ownership of this Merc is also tied in with me joining the BBS to get a new cylinder for my HW35 so I suppose I should carry on with it.




All the best Mick

[TonyL]

It would be very useful if accuracy testing with the Marksman pellets was satisfactory, Mick, although I wouldn't be holding my breath on that one......Depending on range, though, they might just be viable? Remember Rod Linton's pellet test series back in the early days of AGW and the stand-out performance of the .177 Mercury with the Marksman pellets?. But one or two did later point out on here that we didn't get the truth, the whole truth...

Good luck with the cylinder end explorations.

Any joy on the quest for a later, tighter barrel?

I wonder how many people may have switched to a .177 barrel in recent years for pellet compatibility and availability reasons? Yes, there'd be a drop in efficiency, but might be worthy of a look? Although ratting might be the main time that I'd prefer that extra (perceived?) reassurance of the .22.. But I don't doubt that the .177 would prove just as effective and I'm sure many on here might use the smaller calibre on rats to good effect?

[crowbar]

I would like to see it in bits, perhaps the hemisphere is some home tuning and not factory and as I have never owned
a Mercury I know nothing I thought they would be brazed.If you were not playing with the Mercury you would have to
be doing some work so it's a win win situation for you Mick and us students.

Cheers Crowbar

[evert]

Hi Evert.

Out of interest was your cylinder end flat or did yours have a hemispherical recess in it ?

I'm thinking mine could be a machining cock up at the factory.

No recess, I've put up a picture here:
https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...s-wanted/page4

[Shed tuner]

No recess, I've put up a picture here:
https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...s-wanted/page4

that looks way too easy to remove for Mick to resist...

[T 20]

No recess, I've put up a picture here:
https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...s-wanted/page4

image.jpeg



Thankyou for that, Evert.

Mine isn't like that at all and unfortunately your photo has highlighted another problem, I'd been under the false impression that my cylinder was from a MK4 or even an S but with a single piece cocking arm added.
Looking at your picture and cross referencing the Mercury parts diagrams it would appear that my cylinder is off a MK1 or MK2 as it has one central bolt holding the fore end screw bracket not two a shown in your picture --- bugger.

that looks way too easy to remove for Mick to resist...

In view of the above it may not be that simple, Jon.

I'll have to get my magnifying glass out and inspect the cylinder joint for braze.

Something else that this has highlighted is the fact that folks having their later Mercuries reblued run the risk of creating a porous breech in their cylinder by the hot bluing breaking down the sealing compound on the breech plug threads.
Ideally, to have a Mercury reblued I'd be looking at getting the plug and cylinder blued separately and then assembling them with Loctite afterwards.





All the best Mick

[T 20]

The more I stare down this cylinder the more I think WTF. :-

image.jpg


It doesn't unscrew either, I reckon the plug was welded onto the cylinder on these earlier guns --- I've had this red hot and it won't budge.