Recommissioning an old airgun

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Triffid

Well-Known Member
I have two elderly (1980's) Feinwekbau Sport break-barrel springers that I want to start shooting again.
They've been put away in the cabinet for maybe 10 years without being shot at all. Before that they were shooting fine and they had just been serviced - new breech and piston seals and lubed with tar on the spring and moly on the piston.
Has anyone any advice on what I should do before shooting them again - I'm concerned that the lube will have gummed-up and not be effective, so leading to damage. I've thought of putting a few drops of moly solvent into the transfer port and working the action to get everything moving again. Then leaving it a couple of days for the solvent to disperse before shooting. At the end of the day I could strip, clean and re-lube, but don't really want the hassle!

Thanks for any advice.

Triffid
 
Triffid said:
I have two elderly (1980's) Feinwekbau Sport break-barrel springers that I want to start shooting again.
They've been put away in the cabinet for maybe 10 years without being shot at all. Before that they were shooting fine and they had just been serviced - new breech and piston seals and lubed with tar on the spring and moly on the piston.
Has anyone any advice on what I should do before shooting them again - I'm concerned that the lube will have gummed-up and not be effective, so leading to damage. I've thought of putting a few drops of moly solvent into the transfer port and working the action to get everything moving again. Then leaving it a couple of days for the solvent to disperse before shooting. At the end of the day I could strip, clean and re-lube, but don't really want the hassle!

Thanks for any advice.

Triffid
Click to expand...
Depends on the material of the seals, as seals etc do degrade with time. You will really only know if all is in order by stripping it down.
 
Heym SR20 said:
Depends on the material of the seals, as seals etc do degrade with time. You will really only know if all is in order by stripping it down.
Click to expand...
Saying that my old BSA Airsporter was last stripped 30 odd years ago. Only used once every six months or so and runs fine.
 
I’d take it apart and fit new spring and guides and seals and put some lube on spring only. Just did a FWB sport 124 and it shoots beautifully with no spring twang at all at 11.5 ft/lbs. I got a kit from Welsh Willy and piston seal off eBay I think. There is quite a lot of preload in the spring so be careful when you remove. I used a sash cramp to help. Also be careful of the trigger as it’s quite vulnerable to damage when removing spring. Definitely worth the effort. There’s some YouTube videos that are helpful. Also, don’t put lube on seal or down port, spring only (appropriate grease and instruction comes with kit)
 
If they've been laid up a long time, then I'd certainly strip them down, clean and relube them. It's not such an onerous job really and would give you peace of mind.
 
Hello, Squirt of gun oil in the breach hole and get using before you do any repairs, you may find it shoots ok, but if you find low on power or a mechanical fail then do a strip down and replace parts
 
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