Biffo1262

Caveat emptor is Latin for "let the buyer beware" Caveat venditor is Latin for "let the seller beware" Both are applicable in any sale. Would those who shout about the 'high' price of a gun actually say to someone selling; 'er, mate your price is far too low, I think I should pay you more.' In 99% of cases I don't think so. I was talking to a guy the other day who proudly stated that he had only paid £70 for a scope worth over £270 because the seller had no idea of what it was actually worth. Well to be frank, good luck to him as long as when he was asked, he told no lies and the seller set the price. The seller, before he went into the transaction, should have researched the second hand price. Similarly anyone paying over the odds when the internet is at their fingertips deserves to get burned. Having said that I have no time for unscrupulous sellers who misrepresent what they are selling or deliberately lie about the value of something when asked a genuine question. I think we should ler things lie and leave those involved in a sale to get on with it, for who are any of us NOT involved to set a price for someone else. Advice can be freely given IF ASKED for but not until, as I consider that unwarranted interference in someone elses business is definately not on.

You just cannot compare the RSPCA and the RSPB in the same breath. The RSPB are an organisation without equal as regards the preservation of bird species and rely on prosecutions via the Wildlife and Countryside Act enforced by the Police. The RSPB do massive amount of development and preservation work both here and abroad whilst the RSPCA seem to just rely on domestic cases and like to project themsleves as the guardians of all animals. The RSPB quietly get on with raising money for their charity via their own fund raising efforts whilst the RSPB (a very rich organisation) like to use the moral blackmail route. I don't like the way they dress themselves and act as a pseudo Police Force to intimdate as that is simply the aim of the uniform. The RSPCA collections officers and veterinary servies do stirling work and are the backbone of the service. The majority of uniformed 'Inspectors' are a bunch of self-important individuals who border on abuse of peoples civil rights. I have been present (as the Senior Fire Officer) at an incident when they virtually bullied a young Police officer with obviously very little experience into believing they had power of entry and got him to break in. My powers of entry are far greater but I wouldn't play their game as that particular premise was not affected by the neighbouring fire. I tried to tell him that they were leading him up the garden path and will blame him if the owners complained, which they duly did. The young officer then had a black mark on his record as the RSPCA Inspector promptly washed his hands of the affair, as they always do. This particular PC won't be fooled again mind you and he is certainly very wary of 'jumped up pretend animal Police Officers' (his words).

Mine's a Webley and it's a superb pump. The price is very good considering a second hand one went for £86 a couple of days ago on Ebay (silly price). Steve

£86.50!!!! Good grief I paid £45 for mine in superb condition and I certainly wouldn't pay more than £70 delivered for a used item. Perhaps I should put mine on ebay and then pick up another one. I've seen Combros go for more than the new price too. Some of these bidders must just get carried away and not research the prices either.

You are actually talking about splitting the gun into it's two halves??? If you can get it back together again that easily I'll send you mine and you can fit the new trigger return spring as I can't get any professional to touch it again. The number of people who've been in touch with me about putting it back together (I did a review on the gun for Ciao) is astronomical and I'm afraid I couldn't help them. Even with a home made jig and two pairs of hands working on it (for nearly a month on and off) we failed miserabley so I'm afraid I'm still sticking to my advice not to do it.

I think banning airguns is a none starter and certainly a vote killer. In a recent survey on this very subject the overwhelming response (78%) was for NO ban. However I believe some form of stricter control is inevitable given recent tragic history. How many of us would or could argue against that if it saves just one more child's life. Alright it would be inconvenient but that's all; inconvenient. I'll trade inconvenience for a child's life any day. Steve

JSR supply a single one separately for use with their bipods £1.95. I can't remember how long it is though. JSR

Manchester Airguns charged me £5 a couple of years ago to reassemble mine I already had the new trigger return spring. It wouldn't work on double action (no sad loss as it's inaccurate fired that way and cools far too quickly when shooting rapidly) but he swore he wasn't going to take it apart again and I can't say I blame him. I was told that these guns had a lifetime service warranty on them and I sent mine back via JD Sports at Farnworth. Many months later I still hadn't had it returned until Dave at the shop collared the BSA rep and he gave me a brand new boxed one. Normally I believe thet are replaced on a swap out for another gun so I really don't know what went wrong with mine. It has another broken trigger return spring but I'll cope as I don't want it to disappear for months again

I really wouldn't recommend stripping one of these guns as they have reduced grown gunsmiths to tears trying to reassemble them. I believe they use a jig and special tools in assembly. It is possible to change the seal at the top without too much bother. There is a small brass collar that pries out. It has two cutout at opposing sides into which I insrted a hooked steel dental pick. You may well be also able to seal it using silicone grease (not oil) liberally smeared around the neck of the 12g cartridge. This method works well for me when my remote leads leak. It's worth a try. Steve

Replacing seals is no problem at all. Check your breech seal (better ordering a spare anyway) at the same time as you order the other one as it does have a habit of blowing them out. You can alter the clearance between the magazine and the breech seal by removing the barrel and top cover off the gun (simple job) and moving the barrel itself to the optimim position. I left it a pinch fit and reassembled it, then pushed back on the muzzle for the best seal. Open the the top up and tighten the barrel and that's it. My 'strip warning' only applies to splitting the two halves of the gun. They must have a special jig and some wafer thin tools for the job (plus three pairs of hands!) as I and the gunsmith found it impossible to fit the two halves together and hold all the sprung parts in place whilst fitting the other half of the gun. The guy came out with words I'd never heard before and I spent a full career in the fire service!

It's a simple enough job and it is possible the seal has deteriorated since it was last shot (it's happened to me) so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. It's actually better to leave the CO2 cylinder in when stored; even an empty one. Don't overtighten when inserting a new CO2 cartridge. The part number you require is 13810 on the actual Gamo schematic but Chambers number it PW098 and is in stock at £2.81. PW098 Smear a little silicone grease on it during fitting. Keep an eye on the trigger return spring as it's subject to metal fatigue if you constantly fire on double action, I've had two replaced by Webley and I lost the gun for a total of 18 months due to these repairs. Under no circumstances strip the gun yourself - it's an absolute nightmare to reassemble. My gunsmith was almost in tears and still couldn't get it back on double action (no loss there). Don't let any silicone oil anywhere near it. If you have to lubricate the seals use silicone gease. I found the gun had better balance and feel with some strips of lead stuck to the inside of the plastic handle covers but it's all about personal preference. All the above is from personal experiences (bad ones).

Old Lancashire saying -'If in doubt, keep thee gob shut laddie!' I've got no room to talk though! :look:

dead easy mate, honest. hell, just send me the stock, an ill do it for nowt That's a very generous offer mate that I may well take you up on when I've sorted these two projects for the grandsons and got hold of another gun - (on the quiet) shhh!

If you already have a decent gun, be wise and persuade her to let you invest it mate. Interest rates are pretty good for savers at the moment and it's not every day that something like that drops in your lap. Besides Granny may be testing you to see how wise you are 'grasshopper'!

Further to my other post I should be down in Peterborough over the weekend beginning the 12th Sept. The problem is I'm going down to help my daughter move house on the Fri & Sat and Sat is usually the day Hereward FTC club shoot. They are sometimes open on a Sunday if there are members available but I cannot guarantee that and as I shoot there as an occassional guest from another club I cannot shoot without another member being present. If you have the land to try it I can call in on my way home and let you have a play on the Sunday. It's up to you. If that's what you want to do let me know. Steve

HMR = Hornady Magnum Rimfire cartridge. It is a .17 cal and should never be fired in a gun chambered for a .22. It is faster and more accurate than the standard .22. and is good for VERY small game. In other words a 'Powder Burner' for which you will require an FAC.

I wish I had the guts to do that with mine as it looks pretty cool. I was tempted with the two QB's I have for my grandsons but they seem to like the Satin Black Tactical look. You never know, one evening when I've had a bit too much Stella......but there again I might just pick up ANOTHER one to play with....hell, the wife's just hit me...they just don't understand do they?

Martin, You can still get .177 darts on Fleabay. I got some for my old Webley Junior a while back for the grandsons to shoot in my cellar (cheapskate me as it saves on HUNDREDS of pellets - you know what kids are like).

Have a look at the JSR scopes Ramsbottoms sell. I got a 6-24x50 PA iii ret as part of a S400 combo last year and it's a scope that really impresses for the money. Of course there are better scopes out there BUT not for the money in my opinion. Don't dismiss Chinese optics, they are producing some VERY good stuff these days.

Thread I live in Manchester but my daughter lives in Newborough. I have three of these guns (amongst others) and I take my grandsons to Hereward FTC on odd occassions. I'm not due down for a while but if you aren't sorted out in the next couple of weeks I'll PM you when I go down with the guns and you play to your hearts content. The only problem with them if you read through all the forums is their lack of fine finish (internally) when taken out of the box and the fact that they need tuning to bring the power up. You can get round this by buying a Kasu AR18 I think it is. They offer a factory tuned model above the basic spec which will save you a bit of grief. It costs a little more but sending a gun off to a 3rd party tuner will cost you a lot more (if you go down that route try Ian Lamb at QBtune). Also, they don't shoot well in cold weather though it is possible to overcome that with a bit of ingenuity and a re-usable hand warmer held in the hand adjacent to the breech; it works really well. Warm hand too ! Cost of cO2 can also be a limiting factor and in the quest to get costs down in the long-term you will be tempted to lash out on bulk fill kits, manifolds and Pubgas bottles. Think carefully before you do as you just won't recover the costs in the short term. It's worth it to me with three of these guns on the go simultaneously. For the money they offer an nice introduction to the sport but it is very possible to get carried away and overspend on these guns just for the fun of it but you will never realise it's true worth when you come to sell it on I'm afraid. With that in mind all mine are keepers.

I would now get it on a chrono as I know a few who have fitted that kit and gone way over limit and struggled to get down again and you certainly don't want to get caught out for the sake of a chrono reading. It's not surprising really when you think that you can get the gun to 11+ft/lbs WITHOUT any major mods. A thorough polish of all internals, a bit of nifty work on the trigger, some judicious, very careful drilling and an efficient re-seal are generally all that's needed to make these guns pretty respectable. Those that follow the info available on the websites as regards tuning these guns, please be aware that the vast majority are USA based tunes and designed for higher power, certainly way over 12ft/lbs so ask around before you start the heavy work; it's a lot simpler than you would think.

All us finely tuned sportsmen and women can go off-song now and again and not just with shooting. It's all part of human nature I'm afraid but think of it this way; one shot one kill would eventually become extremely boring the same as getting centre bull EVERY shot. It may seem a strange thing to say but there is no fun in that and it's the somewhat unpredictable results due to prevailing circumstances that makes this sport so interesting. It will all slot back into to place, that's a certainty

Actually you can load seven pellets by either loading one into the breech before refitting the full magazine or by half indexing it with seven pellets in before refitting the mag. As amateur has found, if you find you get more than the occassional jam you will certainly need to change the brand of pellet. Individually these guns are not the best engineered in the world and do suffer from certain faults that are usually easily ironed out. Unfortunately one of the faults is the height variation of the loading tray in relation to the top of the action. This means that in some guns shorter pellets like Wasps do sometimes hang by the tail of the pellet and sit vertically in the loading tray. Then when you close the cocking bolt you jam the pellet. The only way to get it out is to force it into the barrel and shoot (less powerful guns will struggle here) or you have to dismantle the magazine as a whole as the rotary section cannot be removed due to the pellet obstructing it. I don't have any trouble with AA Fields due to their longer length (they can't hang vertically in the space) but Wasps cause me no end of headaches and when I've finished this last lot I won't buy any more. To ensure you don't have any jams I just angle the gun up slightly and give it a light tap with my finger adjacent to the breech, close the bolt slowly and then the pellet usually settles OK. This becomes a pain in the backside eventually so to be sure to use a longer pellet if you do get a gun that causes problems. My mate has one and he has no trouble at all. If you do want to use Prometheus and I admit to trying them, I found that by loosening the centre screw of the magazine off slightly they fit far more easily. Just ensure you don't loosen it too much or the indexing ball will drop out and keep an eye on it in use so that it doesn't work too loose. It does work OK with Prometheus but I agree they aren't worth the extra effort as they are notoriously inaccurate and don't half foul the barrel with yellow gunge if used too much. As others have found, Rowan's service is second to none. BTW if anyone uses the Chinese Network 54 forum a certain American dealer is showing off his 'New' QB78 magazine. It bears rather more than a passing resemblance to Rowans rotary mag, only differing in the way that it is mounted on the gun. It must be nice to let someone else spend all the money on R&D eh? :o This is something we have come to expect from the Chinese copy factories. Mind you that too may still be on the cards yet. There are more photos here too Magazine. This is the gun that all the trials were done on and also featured on the Rowan website. Rowan Engineering When ordering, whether you are right handed or left handed, my advice it to always order the unit that loads from the right as if you don't you will have trouble with sidewheel scopes. If you are nifty with a craft knife and a fine file the magazine itself can easily be made ambidextrous as far as indexing goes by replicating the cutaway on the opposite side of the rotary magazine. It's easy enough to do and gives you the best of all worlds.

For a starter gun the advice you have been given here is about right. The S400 is popular with newbies and experienced shooters alike. There seems to quite a few about at the moment with the pre-antiamper guns fetching the better prices relatively speaking (I wonder why that could be?) :rolleyes The S400 is fairly light and well balanced and more importantly, accurate and very popular. If you can pick up a pre-antitamper - 2007 model second hand you are unlikely to lose much, if any, money on it should it not suit you and you want to sell it on. The .177 Classic seems to be about the most popular choice but if you shop around you may well pick up an S410 within your budget if you're lucky. If you are plinking and target shooting go for the .177 (cheaper on pellets too) but for game you could use either. You are likely to get a better s/h deal for a .22 though. Good luck and good shooting. Steve

Absolutely right and if you are filling from a foot pump good luck. The pressure just dumped as it is designed to do at 50 bar. The fact that the gauge doesn't read empty means nothing as the gauges are only a rough guide and are notoriously inaccurate. Having said that mine has been spot on up to now but I have never let it go below 90 bar and usually get the pump out at about 110 bar. Filling with a foot pump is then very easy over two quick sessions allowing it to cool in between. Your gun will be perfectly OK.