Parker Hale dragon reseal
I bought a Dragon quite some time ago and only recently got around to attempting a reseal... It was a dud as all the air escaped from the trigger area and the valve seemed stuck. I knew this when I bought it but tried my luck. With lots of oil and AT stop which i tried to pump through the action it started to develop pressure and it suddely went POP upon the charging stroke and after that it started to work, sort of, but still leaked upon charging. I am still wondering what happened when that sudden pop occurred....

So, ordered a seal kit and read and re-read Phil's strip guide. To say that this guide somewhat baffled me and made me nervous is understating matters.

First of all a big thanks to Phil! He invited views so here I go hoping to encourage others and to perhaps glean some more info.

After an afternoon of fiddling it is back to life and shoots at ca 11 pfe so that's good. I did all the seals except the one(s ?) on the piston since the guide said that could be done later without removing the breech/barrel assembly from the pressure tube as the barrel would flex enough. To my taste that requires quite some flexing so I did not go through with that. Again removing the barrel etc makes me hesitate since it now works...

For anyone attempting this; just do it as even I managed. Sort of...

Removing the safety tube was the hard part because the trigger sear adjuster sticks into it. Mine didn't have the foremost grubscrew on the black trigger bar but that doesn't seem to matter. I simply screwded out the trigger sear rod adjuster and could get it far enough out of the way by depressing the rear of the black trigger bar. Of course I did not count exactly enough how many turns I had to unscrew the trigger sear rod adjuster to be able to remove the safety tube but Phil's tricks on that got me on the way. i fould that you can also find the correct setting after assembly. If it isn't far enough in, releasing the safety will immediately make the gun to discharge. By gradually screwing in and adjusting spring pressure by the grub screw gave me a satisfactory setting after a few attempt, largely working by feel, trial and error.

I haven't touched the power adjuster rod as per Phil's recommendations but apparently there is another O ring lurking on that? I wonder how this adjuster works. Does anyone know? Will srewing it further in increase or decrease power and will that only be a minor tweak? As I am in The Netherlands exceeding 12 fpe wouldn't bother me at all.

As said, I have postponed dismantling of the pump for now as close to 11 fpe is ok for now. But I see that the piston has holes in the sides and that reminds me of a Sheridan Silver Streak I have. That one came from Germany and it's piston had similar holes and a hole in the face of the piston, which worked as a valve to pop open to avoid reaching the German power limts. I replaced it with a original one. Does the Dragon also have such a valve in the piston? If so I am tempted to disable it.

Anyway, a big thanks to Phil again. and what a wonderful rifle it is to look at and handle; great look and feel. Now for testing how well I can shoot it!

I hope that someone around here can answer my curious questions...

cheers

Pieter