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Maintain your Air Gun
Air rifles and pistols are the most accurate guns that you can own. However, just like any mechanical equipment, air guns needs to be serviced to obtain the best of a long and useful life. All mechanical parts of an air rifle will wear with use and regular cleaning and servicing will considerably extend the life of the air rifle or pistol for years to come.
At some stage the Air gun will start to wear out if you do not look after it.
It will be in your best interest to find the best way of how to refurbish/repair your air rifle. Most air rifles come with a manual on ‘how to refurbish air rifle’. The very first consideration that you must make is basics for air rifle. The basics include break-in, barrel cleaning, stock screws, scopes, dry firing, lubrication, stock polishing, safety, and tuning. A good air rifle gun cleaning kit is an essential part of your kit
Basics for Refurbishing Your Air Rifle
- Barrel cleaning – It is advisable to always have your air rifle’s barrel cleaned and its stock screws checked for tightness. Use a pull-through bore cleaner made of cloth patches to clean the barrel. You should not under any circumstances use: steel rod, solvents, and a mild cleaner.
- Break in – break barrel usually need a break-in period before they can continue performing as expected. It is in this period that you may be able to observe inconsistency between accuracy and velocity. Observation of the following features calls for a full inspection along with refurbishing of your rifle: continued smoking, increasing noise, and worsening performance.
- Stock Screws – Have the forearm stock screws along with the trigger guard screws for tightness. The wisest move is to have the screws removed and cleaned with alcohol before reinstalling them carefully.
| Preview | Name | Star Rating | More Details |
|---|---|---|---|
  | Hoppe's Cleaning Kit for Air Rifle and Pistol with Steel Rod and Box | 4.2 |  |
  | RWS Rifle Shooter's Kit, .177 Caliber Rod, chamber lube, spring cylinder oil included Jag, swab, pellets and targets included All in one handy kit Contains spring cylinder oil | 4.2 | |
  | Daisy Air Gun Cleaning Kit .177 caliber cleaning kit For all BB and Pellet rifles and pistols | 4.5 | |
  | Gamo Deluxe Airgun Cleaning Kit | 4.0 | |
To know exactly how to refurbish air rifle, ideally you need to be aware of all the parts of your gun. You can check with the manufacturer’s website for a manual and/or parts list.
An air rifle is composed of the following basic parts: stock, trigger, forearm, barrel, muzzle, front sight, rear sight, breech, loading port, bolt, and safety.
Each of these parts plays a significant role for safe shooting.
To ascertain that your rifle is powerful than ever, you should start your refurbishing process with the following points.
Begin by releasing the latch on the side of your air rifle trigger guard and have the latch pulled out of the bottom. Carefully, pull out and then back on the cocking handle.
After a short while, fire on any target, such as a wall to make certain that there are no ammunition. Have the free end of your rifle oil tube placed into the air chamber hole; the air chamber hole is situated at the back end of your rifle’s firing chamber.
Gently, apply downward pressure and then discharge the oil can nozzle for a time span of ten seconds. Have the oil tube removed from your rifle’s air chamber. Once this is done, pull out and then back on the cocking handle. The above process should be repeated for at least five minutes.
Reasons Why Your Air Rifle Needs Refurbishing
The quality of air rifle parts per rifle is approximately the same or less than the count of parts found in cartridge rifles. The most noticeable fact is that most air rifle parts appear as well as function like other firearms you are already aware of in the market.
All air rifles are known to have a common problem of leaking air, whether it is an expensive piece or the cheapest one.
The commonest factor in air leaking is usually over lubrication by the user. In most cases, before lubrication the oil is filled with impurities from the surrounding, including grit and dust. The oil full of dust and grit becomes sticky as well as abrasive.
Therefore, when the oil is used for lubrication it slows down moving parts, and in the process it wears out the parts of the rifle that are most sensitive.
These parts in air rifles are normally the O-rings, valves and seals. The moment valves and seals are scratched or damaged in anyway, air escapes through open channels. Apart from over lubrication, regular air rifle oil has similar effects on valves and seals. For instance, petroleum products are known to damage seals, and in the process expanding them while making the seals extremely soft.
The softening and expansion of the seals make them useless and they would definitely need to be replaced or checked out. Another peculiar cause of wear and tear of your rifle’s parts is parts of the rifle sliding over each other during gaming or hunting. There are some specific parts that are vulnerable to wear, and they consist of over tightened end seals, and barrel seals. This is mainly due to the use of excessive force and minimal or no lubrication.
The key features that you must know as far as how to refurbish air rifle is concerned are reassemble and disassemble processes. The two processes are easy to master, and it does not matter whether one is new to air rifles or not. The steps are precise and easy to follow. Before engaging the assembly and disassembly processes, you need to take note of the following:
- It is best use eye protection to avoid any potential damage to the eyes.
- Ensure you conduct your work in a clean workspace to lessen the chance that small parts of your rifle are well-guarded from falling down or getting lost, since they can be hard to find.
Disassemble Process
The main tools required to make this process a success include a clean operations area, pliers, wood dowel, safety glasses, cleaning tank, screwdrivers, heat source, and vise. Any additional tools that will be needed depend on the model of your air rifle.
- Make sure that the pivot pin found in between the lever holes and the pump is properly checked, since they can easily be enlarged.
- Confirm that the chamber of your air rifle is empty; you may not want to shoot yourself.
- You can simply achieve this by pulling the trigger with the intention of releasing any pressure that may exist in the valve in addition to expelling any pellet present in the barrel at the time.
- You can trap the expelled pellet in a pellet trap, such as a thick telephone book. It is advisable that you run a cylindrical thin long object, such as a rod, through the barrel to make certain that there are no objects presents.
- Clamp rifle in vise on breech block.
- Remove stock and stock bolt.
- Have the hammer pulled out to cock as well as unscrew hammer plug.
- Unscrew hammer spring lock nut, use special wrench, remove hammer sleeve, and remove hammer spring.
- Remove breech bolt screw, and bolt stop.
- Remove body lock nut and use special wrench.
- Remove exhaust body, valve body gasket, and valve stem. Remove check valve spring and spring retainer.
- Reverse breech block in vise, drive out front sight pin.
- Have the front sight removed.
- Have the pump lever and pump assembly removed.
- Drive compression chamber out of tube. Drive towards the rear. Depress trigger to prevent damage to sear.
Reassemble Process
Some parts will be needed after cleaning; these are the parts that are vulnerable to wear and lubrication, including valves, valves stems, gaskets, O-rings, and hammer spring. Sometimes the hammer spring may require replacement it may have lost some pressure.
Reassembling the parts of your airgun is the most crucial stage of refurbishing; therefore, you must take caution that any parts you may have ordered are correct.
The order should include details such as the air rifle serial number along with parts number and name. It is of great importance to remember that any individual air rifle will need special oil when reassembling. The reassembling procedure of most air rifles depends on the model of the rifle. Most models come with a manual on how to reassemble the air rifle. The steps involved may differ great from one model to another.
Major Problems and Solutions
Rapid air loss, caused by oil and dirt on the valve; this problem is solved by disassembling, cleaning and replacing the pump parts and the valve. The valve experiences pressure while there is no pellet that comes off. You will have to push the obstruction out to solve the problem, or order a new barrel assembly if the problem persists.
When you you use your airgun in a dusty dirty or damp environment clean it soon as you have finished using it.
Regularly servicing and cleaning of your airgun, air pistol or air rifle will ensure that your will obtain a long life from your equipment.