Would they like to comment? Washers and springs

[ggggr]

A chap posted this up on the other forum



"I striped my granddaughters diana 36, gave it a good internal clean and Polish, fitted a new spring and purchased a new leather piston seal, I left it to soak in neatsfoot oil for 24 hours, I proceeded to fit all the new bits and got the gun back together firing off a dozen shots it was smooth and hit the target, then power dropped off so I changed breach seal to no effect so striped the gun thinking a broken spring but on inspection I found the piston seal had crumbled like powder I'm not sure but it looked like a synthetic material? so beware if buying this so called leather seal, I am in process of now making my own , £18.50 for a rubbish seal I don't think so. Rant over."

He also said
"I don't want to name names, but it was located in Warwickshire." so we have a fair idea where it came from.

I have heard of other leather seals not being very leather like but not sure where they were purchased from.


Also, someone else has mentioned that the Webley pistol main springs that Protek sell are not very good. The W25p ones

I've not tried either product but if the parties concerned read this, (or maybe anyone else) would they like to comment?

[junglie]

I bought a new leather seal for my original mod 50 from knibbs years ago, it was made of a grey artificial "leather" like that pressed cardboard type stuff they used to make cheap belts from when I was a lad in the 70's. Wouldn't soften after days of soaking & dropped the power so got scrapped & returned to the old seal.

[ccdjg]

It sounds to me as they have been using what the leather trade call "bonded leather", made from real leather shreddings which have been pulped and mixed with bonding agents and compressed. In my opinion, to sell airgun seals made from it is absolutely diabolical, just to save a few pennies. I would certainly ask for my money back, as this is misrepresentation.
As we all know, a real leather airgun seal can last for more than 50 years, so why use this reconstituted rubbish? A cheap plastic seal would last longer.

[Sir rocco]

I was feeling a bit flush and rather than make a seal for my Relum telly i included a replacement seal in my order from a south coast dealer with a good reputation,
Never again, i thought it was a practical joke at first,
The seal was not even leather,
It was made from the material that fake leather car seat covers or cheap sofas are made from, they even, shamelessly left the webbing like backing on, i presumed that the owners of the shop have an aged pal or grandson that is employed to make the seals to keep them busy and out of trouble but this one must have slipped by quality control, it was not more than 1-2mm thick, i thought that perhaps senility may be the reason and didnt bother to complain as it was likely just an aberration, it was truly surreal when it came out of the envelope!. It wasnt even close to being uniformly round.

[isobar]

I put one of the protek springs in a MK1 pistol some time ago and it seems fine to me,I can't comment on how durable they are because it's not had a lot of use since.I will check what power that pistol is putting out and report back.

[isobar]

Here you go,a well sealed pre war straight grip with a protek spring .
340-345fps with caledonians.
360-365fps with econs.
not sure if that's good or not but fine enough for my plinking.

[airgunwerks]

Well, the 36 was always made with the blue synthetic seal, never with the leather, maybe he has a 35?

[junglie]

It sounds to me as they have been using what the leather trade call "bonded leather", made from real leather shreddings which have been pulped and mixed with bonding agents and compressed. In my opinion, to sell airgun seals made from it is absolutely diabolical, just to save a few pennies. I would certainly ask for my money back, as this is misrepresentation.
As we all know, a real leather airgun seal can last for more than 50 years, so why use this reconstituted rubbish? A cheap plastic seal would last longer.

I binned it mate, should have known better than to waste my time fitting it as it was so hard & a looser fit than the old original one then I could've got my nearly £20 back it cost
, got it up to full power eventually with the old seal after a good soak in my trusty hempseed oil with a HW 97 spring in it, which incidentally i just found out fits the fwb sports a treat too.

[junglie]

Well, the 36 was always made with the blue synthetic seal, never with the leather, maybe he has a 35?

Yep both my 35's have leather seals, same internals as the mod 50.

[ggggr]

I would have thought that someone from the shops would have commented about the washers and the springs by now???

[Sir rocco]

Its a bit third hand and, tbh really from another forum so somebody from the suspected company may not feel obligated to reply,
But perhaps they did respond on the forum that the o.p referred to.