Mk1 Airsporter..... Shes a bit sick :( and a quesy Meteor!

[Zenduri]

New to the forums but an avid lurker!

 

Anyway i've just decided to get back to shooting air rifles and my father is giving me his 2 old air rifles. The last time i saw/shot them was about 15 years ago as teen and at the time they were in fairly good condition kept in a cupboard in my grandmothers house.

 

Anyway fast forward 15 or so years and my father went to pick them up from my grandmothers and some dire news :(

 

The airsporter it turns out had been liberated by my braincell vacant cousin as well as the meteor. While the meteor doesnt look too bad the airsporter looks like its been kept in a damp cellar :( Needless to say they werent his to take and hes obviously mistreated them and as my fathers understandably angry. So here we are, I'll be picking them up in a fortnights time and taking them to my local range to run the chrono over them to see how bad they are.

 

They obviously need a service and damn good refurb. I'm willing to spend time and money on them as i consider them as part of my family history that i would like to pass on to my kids when i have them but obviously i don't want to end up spending a fortune.

 

Thoughts..... are these saveable without spending an absolute fortune? Also can anyone identify is this a Mk1 or Mk2 Meteor.... I suspect Mk1

 

Sick Airsporter Mk1 :(

 

 

 

Meteor Mk1?

[longspoon]

I believe the Mk.1 Meteor had a ribbed stock at the fore-end...might be wrong ....

[saddler]

Some of the pics not loading for me, but I know that the very early Meteor had a very unusual stock with lots of grooved lines in it

 

As to the rusty Airsporter, a squirt with WD40 & a rub down with very very fine steel wool will shift the rust.

 

Will wait to see if the other images load later on

[Jega]

Hi mate ,the good news is that both of these rifles are perfectly restoreable with a bit of effort and not too much money .The main part of the work will be the wood work and its preparation sanding with decreasing coarseness sand papers then oil followed by wire wool then more oil repeat until you get the desired finish ,time consuming but so worth the effort .

As for the mechanical side of things there are plenty of spares available from the suppliers i've listed below who by the way will be able to give you an accurate identification of both guns if you give them a call these guys are incredibly helpful ,the actual metal finish (blueing ) is best done by a professional .

http://www.gunspares.co.uk/categories/23960/Airgun+spares

This one has a "What is my B.S.A." facility in the top right hand corner of the home page .

http://www.airgunspares.com/store/category/64/360/BSA/

 

Bluing guys .

Colin Molloy .07565 582549

 

Shaun at ISP .http://www.isp-airrifles.com/index.htm

Edited July 16, 2014 by Jega

[Jega]

The G.B. prefix indicates a Mk1 meteor in .22 calibre made between 1956 -1958 .

[Zenduri]

The G.B. prefix indicates a Mk1 meteor in .22 calibre made between 1956 -1958 .

The Serial on the trigger is for the Airsporter which is a Mk1. The meteor will be a Mk1 or 2 but im not sure which.

 

The range I've just started attending has a BSA enthusiast/ collector and restorer as one of the chairmen who has offered to have a look and maybe restore. So i may be handing it over to him to do properly as these are of sentimental value for me.

 

I wouldn't mind finding something similar to buy cheap to have a go restoring myself though!

Edited July 16, 2014 by Zenduri

[Jega]

Yep Airsporter MK1 .22cal ,1956 -1958. Good Luck with your project .

[Zenduri]

Indeed.All going well i'm off back to the family roost next weekend to pick them up hopefully then take them to the range to be chrono'd to see how much they have bled. After that it's time to have a chat with the chap at the range about him possibly restoring them for me.

 

I really want to have a crack at it myself but not with these 2 as they have meaning for me but with something cheap that i can have a pop at so if i make a mistake I wont be too cut up

[loriusgarrulus]

Have an old Gammo Magnum .22 around 1970's we picked it up for around £45 a few bits surface rust and the stock varnish a bit rubbed off. I cleaned the metal up a bit with fine steel wool 000 grade and gun oil. Sent it for for service and repringing at our local shop. £75 including a new seal. now running at 11.25 lbs. Rubbed down the stock and walnut stained it with Rustins Walnut stain. Alcohol based so doesn't raise the grain on the wood. 5 or 6 coats of stock oil over 3 days. Popped it in the bottom of the airing cupboard in between coats to hasten drying.

Got a Birchwood Casey re-blueing kit and followed the instructions. Main thing is to really get the metal back to silver and clean it well. Wear the gloves to keep the chemicals off your skin and the grease on your skin off the metal. Lots of coats of blueing. How well it takes depends on the metal.

Don't do what I did first coat of blueing and misread the instruction that said rinse after 30 to 60 seconds. I left it on for 30 mins and wondered why it was going brown rusty before my eyes.

Re-did the steel wool and clean then re-blue for the 60 seconds and rinsed. Did this about 7 times and them dried down and wiped over with the Casey wipes and into the airing cupboard for the colour to really develope and to make sure any water had gone.

Next day lovely blue/black finish. Very pleased as I had not tried this before.

This re-blueing is not as robust as the hot tank re-blueing that a restorer would do, but nice to do as a have a go project on a gun with no sentimental value. Casey kit was about £16 of the bey. Have Fun.

[mark@mbb]

Mk1airsporter does the catch open when you cock the rifle

A mk 1 air spotter has BSA on the stock

The meteor is a mk 2 I have both in the workshop

[Zenduri]

Mk1airsporter does the catch open when you cock the rifle

A mk 1 air spotter has BSA on the stock

The meteor is a mk 2 I have both in the workshop

 

Cheers for that Mark, The airsporter is a Mk1 due to the serial, just wasn't sure on the meteor,

[johnbaz]

Hi

 

You can always tell a mk1 Airsporter by the tapered barrel, your type of rearsight, They are all auto opening tap too but so are the Mk2 Airsporters!!

 

The first three of these are Mk1 Airsporters, second three are mk2s

 

 

 

Good luck with the resto :thumbs:

 

 

John

[Zenduri]

@johnbaz and falconFN

 

I've seen some of your work on here with Airsporters what would you recommend to use for cold bluing and oiling the stock as im picking these up on Wednesday so the project will soon begin. More photos to come once i've picked them up

[mark@mbb]

Mk 2 metoer and a mk1 airsporter i will buy them off you if you don't want to restore them

[Zenduri]

Mk 2 metoer and a mk1 airsporter i will buy them off you if you don't want to restore them

 

Keeping in the family as they are my fathers so they will be restored and i will pass them on to my kids. Sentimental value and all

[Zenduri]

Well picked up my fathers old air rifles on Wednesday so need to get them down the range this weekend and then time for the restoration. They are in better condition than they look.

[johnbaz]

@johnbaz and falconFN

 

I've seen some of your work on here with Airsporters what would you recommend to use for cold bluing and oiling the stock as im picking these up on Wednesday so the project will soon begin. More photos to come once i've picked them up

 

 

Hello

 

The best results with cold blueing that I had was with Ballistol Klever Blue, it came out fantastic but over a few months it seemed to fade even though the parts had not been handled

 

I'm afraid there's not really any substitute for a hot chemical blue..

 

For stocks I use the Welsh Willie kit from Woodfield Gun Care Products

 

The Ballistol product can be found here on ebay

 

 

Good luck with the resto, the guns don't look too bad

 

 

 

John

[Zenduri]

Cheers for the reply johnbaz.

 

I'm currently pondering about sending the metal work to Colin Malloy as i hear and read nothing but good for his hot bluing and Sanding and oiling the stock and polishing and lubing the internals myself.

[Zenduri]

Mini update:

 

Had the Airsporter and the Meteor down the range this morning and ran them over the Chrono.

Meteor Mk2 is pumping out about 4.2 ft lbs on average from its original 8 ft lbs so it's basically dumped half its power for 52 years without and love

Airsporter Mk1 is pumping out about 7.2 ft lbs on average from its original 10.5 ft lbs so not as bad as the meteor and held up fairly well for being 56 years old and hasn't had any love.

 

Restoration on the Airsporter starts next week!

[loriusgarrulus]

Our 1970's gammmo was only doing 4.5 ft lbs before full service and re-spring which cost £75 now doing 11.25 ft lbs.

[FalconFN]

 

 

Hello

 

The best results with cold blueing that I had was with Ballistol Klever Blue, it came out fantastic but over a few months it seemed to fade even though the parts had not been handled

 

I'm afraid there's not really any substitute for a hot chemical blue..

 

For stocks I use the Welsh Willie kit from Woodfield Gun Care Products

 

The Ballistol product can be found here on ebay

 

 

Good luck with the resto, the guns don't look too bad

 

 

 

John

That is the same one I used and it did look pretty good but as you say no cold bluing lasts very long.

 

The airsporter has a nice walnut stock so it will look good no matter what oil you use, I used Tru Oil which many people don't like but it worked for me. An alternative but probably more traditional method is to rub in boiled linseed oil, let it dry fully, knock back with very fine wire wool and repeat several times. There are lots of stock refinishing threads on here by very experienced people but my only advice is to do as little sanding as possible, steam out any dents and take your time.

 

Good luck, I'll be interested to see the results.

[Zenduri]

UPDATE 27/08/14

 

Well with the help of a chap from the range we took the Airsporter apart this evening and to be honest it was going very well and everything is surprisingly well lubed with the factory grease still and minimal wear until we got to the piston head.

The leather piston ring was mashed to pieces and embedded within the leather were in total 4 metal .22 darts from something like a Gat with plastic rears mashed into the leather. it would seem my braincell devoid cousin when he had his hands on this has tried feeding darts into it and has somehow managed to get them to go backwards into the piston head which had then forced them and compressed them into the leather. Luckily there is no damage to the metal part of the head or the piston casing, but needless to say i've already sent the warning via my father than my cousin is under no circumstances to come anywhere near me unless he wants to lose a few teeth,

The Airsporter was never his to mess about with and on top of him knackering the bluing we then find this I'm not a happy camper.

Aside from that all it appears to need is a new spring as the current one is buckled (replacing for a comparable spring not upscaling) a new leather piston washer and an overall clean, re-greasing, stock tidying up and re bluing and all is good. So not as bad as thought.

Gave part of the stock a 5 minute work over with Meths and 0000 wire wool to see how it would come up and you can see it below.

HUGE photo dumpclick the link to IMGUR
http://imgur.com/a/WhrQN/all









After 5 mins with some meths and 0000 wool as a tester


Need to find a plug for this too, anyone know where i can find one as TWChambers don't have them, I also need a replacement front site as this ones a bit manky and a foresight hood too, again out of stock at Chambers

Edited August 27, 2014 by Zenduri

[FalconFN]

The old bakelite plugs for the pistol grip are hard to come by as they are easily lost or damaged but as it isn't a vital part you could, with luck and time, find one on eBay. Alternatively you could make one from black delrin - or ask someone with a milling machine to do it for you. That stock will look great when finished though.

 

It's just my opinion but I'd be inclined to straighten and refit the original spring after you replace the piston seal as it can be tricky to get new springs to shoot right. If it is still giving poor performance then replace the spring with a new one.

 

Keep us updated.

[Zenduri]

The old bakelite plugs for the pistol grip are hard to come by as they are easily lost or damaged but as it isn't a vital part you could, with luck and time, find one on eBay. Alternatively you could make one from black delrin - or ask someone with a milling machine to do it for you. That stock will look great when finished though.

 

It's just my opinion but I'd be inclined to straighten and refit the original spring after you replace the piston seal as it can be tricky to get new springs to shoot right. If it is still giving poor performance then replace the spring with a new one.

 

Keep us updated.

Will do.

 

The spring is a bit bulged and squashed so might see what happens with a new spring (factory spec) first before I make the decision on which one to use first. The biggest quesiton i have at the moment though is to use a leather piston seal or a delrin one with an 0 ring as the leather one will need treating in neatsfoot oil and if ever it needed servicing again it would be alot more hassle than replacing an ) ring on a Delrin head

[Zenduri]

Attacked the stock with 0000 Wool and Methylated spirits for about 4 hours and gave it a light dust over with some 600 grit sandpaper. Next stop is to see if i can lift some of the dents in the stock. Also gave the barrel a quick once over to get the worst of the rust off.
Spoke with Colin Molloy as well regarding hot bluing so I'm going to send the barrel, under lever and the oddments to Colin to be blued and he doesn't need it stripped down as he'll submerge the bits in a cleaning solution and prep it himself.



Also with some more 600 grit sandpaper got the worst of the marks out the trigger block and buffed it up with the 0000 wire wool to prep it for painting. Need to disassemble the trigger and do inside the trigger guard then I should be good for repainting it. I am wondering how I'm going to get the serial number to show up when i respray it.



A chap at the range/club i attend has also made me a customer tool to get at this damn nut inside the piston head so i can properly reassemble the piston head.

This is the offending Nut