leather washers-how to lube

[bruno22rf]

As above-i,ve been given an oldish Airgun that has spent many years out of use and the leather washer is dry and not creating a very good seal-also ,upon firing there is a smell of oil and a puff of smoke so im guessing that the gun was last lubed with mineral oil.Whats the best way to rejuvinate the washer (and breach seal)?-should i try and remove the mineral oil with white spirit first?-any help would be gratefully recieved.p.s. What grease for the spring/piton.?

[kent]

Neets foot oil is commonly used to lubricate leather mecanical parts, as far as how to rejuvinate try replacing with a modern alternative like PTFE on the piston head. The puff of smoke and smell is the oil in the washer burning in the compression chamber, generally this is bad but most oldies rely on a bit of dieseling for thier power. In time it will damage parts through the very fact that it is combustion

[Dekers]

Coming to this late in the day but in simple terms strip, clean and lubricate.

 

Diesling is common and soon passes unless someone has poured in a bucket of oil.

 

Parts may well need replacing, but a good clean and sensible lube is the fisrt step, unless you find any obvious issues!

[bruno22rf]

Stripped it down and greased the piston/spring with moly grease and soaked the washer overnight in silicone oil.New breach seal and she works a treat-from not puncturing a yoghurt pot to going clean thru both sides of a bean tin.The gun ,a Diana G80,was given to me free by a member of this forum and is now in almost mint condition.