Well, I wont be doing that again....
I had (operative word) an old East-Block made air riffle. Best guess of manufacture ia late 50's/early 60's. The markings were so rusted it was impossible to read. I thought it would be a good idea to re-build so gave it a proper oil soak, clean-up, new o-rings, roll pins, polished the spring, made new leather seals (yes, its that old). I got it at a yard sale last fall and played with it over the winter.
(break-barrel design)....so I cocked and loaded. Put it on the rest and pulled the trigger.......and all hell broke loose. As soon as the spring let loose, so did the tube. split down the bottom, broke the wood, threw off the spring lever, broke a bolt and just generally self-destructed. Split from the end of the cocking lever slot to the trigger opening.
If I had been shooting in a standing stance instead of a rest, I would have lost a hand, it came apart that hard. There is a LOT of energy in those springs..
Best I can guess is the tube seam was originally welded badly (soviet-era manufacturing) THEN, they put the cut-outs along the weld, and in the 1st place used rolled steel instead of tube....and 50+ years of age and metal fatigue and gawd-knows-what before I got it.
If ya come across one of these things at a yard-sale, hang it on a wall......and if ya open an airgun and find leather inside....hang it on a wall.
YUP, I had a great start to my long weekend.
Aw, well....It WAS the oldest one I have, but not the only one. I just hate seeing an antique destruct.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 05-16-2014).]
