My Mercury Ratting Rig

[johnbaz]

Hi Mick

Hope you're well

I've an old Merc that a gent from darn sarf modded at the axis pin too!, He laso made a few more improvements too, I can't remember his name but I think he was in Oxford..









Cheers, John

[TonyL]

Not the most elegant solution but it'll certainly work.

Hope you're keeping well, John.

[Shed tuner]

Not the most elegant solution but it'll certainly work.

looks like a HW80 bolt, but as you say...

[johnbaz]

Not the most elegant solution but it'll certainly work.

Hope you're keeping well, John.

Hi Tony, Had a few months of illness along with Covid again but starting to perk up a bit now!

Went to the Vintage airgun fayre last autumn and felt really rough, Was only there 15 or 20 mins and had to leave!

I forgot most of what I was told about the Merc but I thought the axis bolt was from a BSF or Haenel (Although it does look like HW breakbarrel bolt) and the fella that modded it may have been called Bishop (Bloody galloping senility!)..

The Challenger bolt/nut that sits flush with the cylinder is much prettier!!




Cheers, John

[TonyL]

Hi Tony, Had a few months of illness along with Covid again but starting to perk up a bit now!

Went to the Vintage airgun fayre last autumn and felt really rough, Was only there 15 or 20 mins and had to leave!

I forgot most of what I was told about the Merc but I thought the axis bolt was from a BSF or Haenel (Although it does look like HW breakbarrel bolt) and the fella that modded it may have been called Bishop (Bloody galloping senility!)..

The Challenger bolt/nut that sits flush with the cylinder is much prettier!!


Cheers, John

Sorry to hear you've not been so well, John, but good to hear you are getting better.

Although the breech bolt arrangement on the later Mercury models may look prettier, I don't feel they're as effective, John. Much prefer your set-up.

[T 20]

So I'm back on the case now I've about recovered from Covid.

Today I managed to finish machining the HW80 breech plug to stuff into the unsuspecting Mercury tube :-

image.jpg

image.jpg

The three different diameters are 27.84mm to fit inside the cylinder, 30mm which was the size of the original plug to fit the HW cylinder and the jaws are just rough cut at 32.5mm.

After lining the cylinder up to the breech I welded the two parts together, lathed the weld down and then hand finished the joint and action --- it didn't turn out perfect but I'll be fume bluing it which will hide any imperfections.

image.jpg

I still have some weld to file from the breech face top and bottom but that will have to wait until last thing.

image.jpg

While I still have the metal welded inside the jaws my next job will be to remount the cylinder in the lathe and polish the rear of the cylinder.
After polishing I'll turn the cylinder round and machine the welds from the front face of the jaws to release the lump of steel I welded in there for support on the revolving centre.
Once the steel's out of the jaws I can then hand finish the jaws ready for bluing or build the gun up first for a test flight.



All the best Mick

[TonyL]

Wow! Seriously impressive, Mick.. This is going to be the best engineered BSA ever.

Great to hear you're feeling better.

[Shed tuner]

great progress...

Yes, this'll be the gun that BSA should have made (well, kinda did with the Mk3, then went backwards)

[T 20]

great progress...

Yes, this'll be the gun that BSA should have made (well, kinda did with the Mk3, then went backwards)

It's a shame BSA went with an upgraded Meteor rather than the Mercury when they built the Supersport, Jon.
I suppose they were trying to copy Webley's success of upgrading the Hawk MK3 into the Vulcan ?



Anyway I digress, we now have the happy marriage between an English lad and his Germany fiancé. :-

image.jpg


You never know they could be banging away this evening if I get the cocking link narrowed.





All the best Mick

PS:- yes the 85 barrel is bent upwards.

[TonyL]

Oooo-er, missus! Looking good! Angela Merkel meets Spike Milligan!

[Shed tuner]

I love it.. it's just so wrong it's perfect

How's the alignment (dovetails to bore) looking Mick ?

[T 20]

How's the alignment (dovetails to bore) looking Mick ?

The short answer is, it's looking cock on Jon --- I've had a straight edge on either side of the breech block and it measures up to be perfectly parallel to the dovetails.

The long answer is, I realised from past experience that the easiest way to get this lot back together square was to cut it apart square.
To this end the HW80 cylinder was set up in the lathe with a DTI to run perfectly true, hence the lump of steel I welded in the jaws for the revolving centre.
Once the HW80 cylinder was running true I machined the ledge for the Mercury cylinder to but up to at the front of the 27.84mm section and the front 3mm of that diameter. :-

image.jpg

In doing it this way, if the Mercury tube is cut square when the two parts are pressed together and welded everything should be perfectly aligned.
The Mercury tube was machined back by mounting the back of the tube in a three jaw chuck and holding the front in a fixed steady so the tube cut was perfectly square.
Once I'd welded the HW80 jaws into the Mercury cylinder I checked them again with the DTI and the needle hardly flickered so I'd definitely do it all this way again.



All the best Mick

[Shed tuner]

excellent, and great info Mick.. thanks for sharing.. not that I ever plan on doing anything like this myself but good to know the principles you applied so sucessfully.

[Dornfelderliebe]

I am genuinely in awe of your skill set T20. It puts my attempts at engineering such as turning a swollen Scorpion piston head down with my cordless drill and a hand file firmly into context.
Good job I kept it quiet.
...Oops

[TonyL]

Anyway I digress, we now have the happy marriage between an English lad and his Germany fiancé. :-

image.jpg

You never know they could be banging away this evening if I get the cocking link narrowed.

All the best Mick

.

Did you get any sleep last night, Mick, or did the noise keep you awake?