Osprey Supertarget - problems with the loading taper.

[zooma]

I have now got my Osprey Supertarget looking a lot better with a set of sights that fit well, look good and work well.

My pal JG found a genuine new Osprey Supertarget spring in stock at MAG (!) and so it is now working as it should and I am a lot happier with it - BUT - the pellet loading taper sits a little towards the left so it is not exactly central, and so I am guessing this means that the pellet is not entering the end of the barrel as centrally as it should and if not sorted it will not be as accurate as it should be, but could also damage this end of the barrel?

It looks like the taper has worn, but I am not sure how to fix it as I have no way of knowing if the taper is worn on the loading tap or inside the rifle cylinder itself.

One idea to fix it is to get the taper that I already have plated or blued to effectively make it bigger and push it back outwards a little to centralise the pellet position better.

The other idea is just to buy a new .177 taper from John Knibbs and hope it is the taper that has worn and not the cylinder part of the taper.

Does anybody who knows more about Webley Ospreys then me ( easily done) have any similar experience to share and let me know how to fix it please?

[air-tech]

Plating would increase it's size, blueing not.

Not so much of a worry which is worn, in any case not all that much to do with the cylinder taper.

Is the gun accurate? If so, perhaps much ado about very little. I assume that there is some throat to the barrel to compensate for imperfect alignment of the tap, something (perfect alignment) that would be close to impossible to achieve using the production methods undoubtedly utilised. Only boring the tap through the barrel would achieve this and I seriously doubt that this was the way it was done.

It's only done on very few revolvers (same principle - boring cylinder through barrel) and the 95% that aren't still shoot straight.

Try a rod down the bore and try to feel for a step or lip of sorts at the tap, perhaps?

[zooma]

I assume you mean you think the actual tap is worn rather than just where the pellet sits? Ospreys have a parallel tap, not a tapered one. It could be a case of the plastic bit of the tap is too tight or that the spring is not located properly under it?
If it is to the left as you look from the cylinder, then it needs to go further into the housing. Look here http://gunspares.co.uk/shopdisplaypr...539&cat=Osprey The tap does not actually rest up against anything on the other side. I reckon maybe CS133 is trapped under the tap.
sorry if I have misread your post.

I need to look carefully at this as it is not making any sense to me at the moment as I cannot see what stops the loading tap pulling straight through if it has no taper to retain it.

The pellet position in the loading tap is not central, but pulled across to the left ( the loading tap lever side), but it is easy to push it back across against the spring pressure to the central position - but it will not stay there as the spring pulls it back across towards the loading lever immediately - against the taper - or so I thought.

[zooma]

Is the gun accurate? If so, perhaps much ado about very little. I assume that there is some throat to the barrel to compensate for imperfect alignment of the tap, something (perfect alignment) that would be close to impossible to achieve using the production methods undoubtedly utilised.

The rifle is not consistently accurate, and the pellet loading hole is quite a long way across to the left (loading lever side) and so I was thinking if the pellet was striking against the side of the barrel throat it would give some inconsistency.

This is also why I thought the loading tap was a taper fit and that due to wear the spring was able to pull it too far across towards itself.

[zooma]

Have you got the O ring on the tap? Is the tap lever on correctly? ( they sometimes dont like going on the flats of the tap). Is the tap lever touching anything when you open/close it? I had an Airsporter that would not always fire and would distort pellets. I finally notices that it was rubbing the blue off the cylinder, which made me look closer and realised it was not closing properly. At some point the gun must have been dropped onto the tap lever. I filed a little off the inside of the tap lever and that cured it.

There is no O ring shown on the drawing link you gave to me, but I will take the loading tap out of the Supertarget and check it carefully again (already done this dozens of times - but just in case.....).

I can see nothing rubbing anywhere - but I will also check this again as well.

I am keen to solve this last little problem as then my Osprey will be a nice rifle to own and shoot, but with the one sided pellet hole the loading tap it can chop off part of the pellet if it is not carefully persuaded to enter fully down into the tap (pushing the tap against its spring to centralise it sees the pellet drop down into it nicely), and the accuracy is not consistent - and I am hoping when I fix the one sided loading tap this will also improve the accuracy as well.

[gedfinn 2]

There is no O ring shown on the drawing link you gave to me, but I will take the loading tap out of the Supertarget and check it carefully again (already done this dozens of times - but just in case.....).

I can see nothing rubbing anywhere - but I will also check this again as well.

I am keen to solve this last little problem as then my Osprey will be a nice rifle to own and shoot, but with the one sided pellet hole the loading tap it can chop off part of the pellet if it is not carefully persuaded to enter fully down into the tap (pushing the tap against its spring to centralise it sees the pellet drop down into it nicely), and the accuracy is not consistent - and I am hoping when I fix the one sided loading tap this will also improve the accuracy as well.

I know about this particular gun ! However for guns with a tapered tap, The only real way is to plate it , It can then be re-ground until the hole is perfectly in line,
This will also give as near a 100% seal as you will ever get.

I believe some gun/spares shops sell them oversize + 5 Thou Etc,
There are probably none left now !

Ged.

[ggggr]

Whoops The taps are tapered. deleted my previous posts to avoid confusion.

[GuizeAyose]

Someone put a fix on here I think, it works for me, take out the tap, clean it then coat the tapered surface in superglue, let it dry then rub down with 1000 grit emery until you get the desired fit, then a slight smear of grease and reassemble.

I was a bit dubious, but I tried it and it works at very little cost, £1 for glue from pound shop, 50p for emery paper from auto shop.

I shoot mine most weeks at our club, the fix lasted all last year, about 100 shots a week.

[flatrajectory]

I have now got my Osprey Supertarget looking a lot better with a set of sights that fit well, look good and work well.

My pal JG found a genuine new Osprey Supertarget spring in stock at MAG (!) and so it is now working as it should and I am a lot happier with it - BUT - the pellet loading taper sits a little towards the left so it is not exactly central, and so I am guessing this means that the pellet is not entering the end of the barrel as centrally as it should and if not sorted it will not be as accurate as it should be, but could also damage this end of the barrel?

It looks like the taper has worn, but I am not sure how to fix it as I have no way of knowing if the taper is worn on the loading tap or inside the rifle cylinder itself.

One idea to fix it is to get the taper that I already have plated or blued to effectively make it bigger and push it back outwards a little to centralise the pellet position better.

The other idea is just to buy a new .177 taper from John Knibbs and hope it is the taper that has worn and not the cylinder part of the taper.

Does anybody who knows more about Webley Ospreys then me ( easily done) have any similar experience to share and let me know how to fix it please?

Zooma,
The pellet in the tap may be in line with the bore....it may be that the loading hole in the cylinder is drilled offset to one side giving the 'impression' that the tap is offset when it may be fine.
The only way to check this is by inserting a close fitting rod down the barrel and into the tap, or by stripping the mainspring and piston out and looking straight through.
Also, from memory, I seem to remember the Osprey loading taps had shims fitted to centralize them.?
Pete.

[zooma]

I know about this particular gun ! However for guns with a tapered tap, The only real way is to plate it , It can then be re-ground until the hole is perfectly in line,
This will also give as near a 100% seal as you will ever get.

I believe some gun/spares shops sell them oversize + 5 Thou Etc,
There are probably none left now !

Ged.

Hi Ged,

I also thought about plating it to increase the diametre, but I am not sure how to grind a new surface onto the taper.

John Knibbs still has some oversize plugs in stock, but they also need "fitting" to size so I guess that is a similar problem - but the steel will probably be softer to work with than a hard chromed surface.

[zooma]

Zooma,
The pellet in the tap may be in line with the bore....it may be that the loading hole in the cylinder is drilled offset to one side giving the 'impression' that the tap is offset when it may be fine.
The only way to check this is by inserting a close fitting rod down the barrel and into the tap, or by stripping the mainspring and piston out and looking straight through.
Also, from memory, I seem to remember the Osprey loading taps had shims fitted to centralize them.?
Pete.

Hi Pete,

The loading tap pellet hole is a long way over towards the opening lever on my Supertarget - I doubt Webley could have fitted the barrel that far across to one side - even on a bad day!......but I will still check it

The pellet also fails to drop down into the receiver fully until the tap is pushed against the spring to centralise it a bit better.

I am not sure how the shims would work - if they pushed the tap further out to centralise it then a lot of air would be lost down the increased gap around the taper, but like every other suggestion offered here, I do appreciate it and will take a look to see.

Bob.

[zooma]

Someone put a fix on here I think, it works for me, take out the tap, clean it then coat the tapered surface in superglue, let it dry then rub down with 1000 grit emery until you get the desired fit, then a slight smear of grease and reassemble.

I was a bit dubious, but I tried it and it works at very little cost, £1 for glue from pound shop, 50p for emery paper from auto shop.

I shoot mine most weeks at our club, the fix lasted all last year, about 100 shots a week.

I might just give that a go!

Thanks for the idea.

[gedfinn 2]

Hi Ged,

I also thought about plating it to increase the diametre, but I am not sure how to grind a new surface onto the taper.

John Knibbs still has some oversize plugs in stock, but they also need "fitting" to size so I guess that is a similar problem - but the steel will probably be softer to work with than a hard chromed surface.

Hiya mate, I used hard Zinc ! ( I have never had one back )
As you can imagine, The areas not to be plated are taped off, The area to be plated is then exposed,
Trying at various times to ensure just enough is added ( With a slight excess )

Fine valve grinding paste & Even lesser abrasives are used to ensure a good fit & Surface , The taper is installed & carefully lapped as required ,
This info & The Pics were all in the archives ?

Cheers, Ged.

[zooma]

Hiya mate, I used hard Zinc ! ( I have never had one back )
As you can imagine, The areas not to be plated are taped off, The area to be plated is then exposed,
Trying at various times to ensure just enough is added ( With a slight excess )

Fine valve grinding paste & Even lesser abrasives are used to ensure a good fit & Surface , The taper is installed & carefully lapped as required ,
This info & The Pics were all in the archives ?

Cheers, Ged.

Ah - not grinding - just lapping it into the cylinder untill it makes a pefect match with the pellet hole central - that I can do!

So I need to find a plater that can work with hard zinc rather than Chrome and then get lapping!

Thanks for that - everything is clear now.

Any idea where I can find this in the BBS archives?.....thread name.....anything to help me find it?

Reagrds - Bob.

[gedfinn 2]

Ah - not grinding - just lapping it into the cylinder untill it makes a pefect match with the pellet hole central - that I can do!

So I need to find a plater that can work with hard zinc rather than Chrome and then get lapping!

Thanks for that - everything is clear now.

Any idea where I can find this in the BBS archives?.....thread name.....anything to help me find it?

Reagrds - Bob.

Use the " Search " facility !

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....oading+plating

I bought one chrome Innova, & I did the other ! Thats 6 years ago , Before I made the Silencer adapters ? Ged.