I received what appeared to be an absolutely pristine Giss action match rifle for repair, that has sadly, turned out to be a very attractive wall hanger. The truly frustrating part of the whole thing is that it was wholly the result of negligence, coupled with some very bad advice, that resulted in the gun being destroyed. The damage to the gun truly has to be seen to be believed, but the owner has refused permission to post any pictures of his gun, so I will do my best to describe what I found. (I will not post pictures of any gun sent to me for repair without the owner's permission).
When the current owner purchased the gun, about three years ago, the gun still had it's original seals in it - decayed and crumbling. The gun was sent to a "professional" (Canadian) tuner for a complete rebuild. After approximately a full year, the gentleman received his gun back, with a few marks on the stock and some tiny scratches in the bluing that it did not have prior, but the gun seemed to be functioning fine. Within less than two months, the gun began losing power, and when the "professional" tuner was contacted, the owner of the gun was instructed to "apply a few drops of silicone chamber oil into the transfer port". The gun continued to lose power, despite numerous applications of silicone chamber oil. Several hundred shots were taken in hopes that the chamber oil would revitalize the piston seal. It did not - instead, the gun now began feeling "gritty" when cocking, and the shot cycle was becoming noisier. The airgunsmith now advised that the gun owner get some spray-in moly, and blow it in through the openings in the bottom of the action. Again, this did nothing to eliminate the coarseness.
At this point, the gun's owner now demanded that the airgunsmith take the gun back and make it right, because in the owner's opinion, it was never repaired correctly from the outset. The airgunsmith became offensive, laid the blame on the owner, and threatened legal action if the gun owner ever contacted him again.
After making numerous inquiries, the gun owner was eventually directed to me. As the owner described his experience, I pretty much knew exactly what had happened, and operation of the action confirmed what I suspected to be a worst case scenario. I explained to the owner that the gun could very well be damaged beyond practical repair, but he insisted that I proceed to open the gun up to be sure.
What I found inside was not pretty, but was what I had expected. The "professional" airgunsmith had not properly cleaned out the end of the compression chamber from the petrified remains of the forward portion of the original piston seal which had become fused to the chamber walls. This material takes a bit of work to remove, and clean up properly - a step which some 'smiths don't bother with. The end result is that in some cases, the new piston seal will slowly scrape the old debris off the chamber walls and the gun will shoot half decent - but - in many cases, the new piston seal becomes damaged and deformed as it repetitively rides up over that hard, fused on debris at the end of the compression chamber, and the seal eventually loses it's ability to seal altogether - as was the case with this gun. The piston seal in this gun was so badly deformed, that it is almost oval, rather than round.
The side pinions, and the racks on both of the pistons were badly chipped - rendering them so much scrap metal. I attribute this to the constant, and unbalanced hammering of the pistons for hundreds of cycles, of what was for all practical purposes, dry firing of the gun - done on the advice of a "professional" airgunsmith !!!
A quick tally of the costs involved to now repair this fine old gun resulted in a sum far beyond the actual value of the gun, and even if used parts could be sourced, the repair cost would still be prohibitive.
Chalk up another destroyed classic to a lazy, incompetent, self proclaimed "professional" airgunsmith.
When the current owner purchased the gun, about three years ago, the gun still had it's original seals in it - decayed and crumbling. The gun was sent to a "professional" (Canadian) tuner for a complete rebuild. After approximately a full year, the gentleman received his gun back, with a few marks on the stock and some tiny scratches in the bluing that it did not have prior, but the gun seemed to be functioning fine. Within less than two months, the gun began losing power, and when the "professional" tuner was contacted, the owner of the gun was instructed to "apply a few drops of silicone chamber oil into the transfer port". The gun continued to lose power, despite numerous applications of silicone chamber oil. Several hundred shots were taken in hopes that the chamber oil would revitalize the piston seal. It did not - instead, the gun now began feeling "gritty" when cocking, and the shot cycle was becoming noisier. The airgunsmith now advised that the gun owner get some spray-in moly, and blow it in through the openings in the bottom of the action. Again, this did nothing to eliminate the coarseness.
At this point, the gun's owner now demanded that the airgunsmith take the gun back and make it right, because in the owner's opinion, it was never repaired correctly from the outset. The airgunsmith became offensive, laid the blame on the owner, and threatened legal action if the gun owner ever contacted him again.
After making numerous inquiries, the gun owner was eventually directed to me. As the owner described his experience, I pretty much knew exactly what had happened, and operation of the action confirmed what I suspected to be a worst case scenario. I explained to the owner that the gun could very well be damaged beyond practical repair, but he insisted that I proceed to open the gun up to be sure.
What I found inside was not pretty, but was what I had expected. The "professional" airgunsmith had not properly cleaned out the end of the compression chamber from the petrified remains of the forward portion of the original piston seal which had become fused to the chamber walls. This material takes a bit of work to remove, and clean up properly - a step which some 'smiths don't bother with. The end result is that in some cases, the new piston seal will slowly scrape the old debris off the chamber walls and the gun will shoot half decent - but - in many cases, the new piston seal becomes damaged and deformed as it repetitively rides up over that hard, fused on debris at the end of the compression chamber, and the seal eventually loses it's ability to seal altogether - as was the case with this gun. The piston seal in this gun was so badly deformed, that it is almost oval, rather than round.
The side pinions, and the racks on both of the pistons were badly chipped - rendering them so much scrap metal. I attribute this to the constant, and unbalanced hammering of the pistons for hundreds of cycles, of what was for all practical purposes, dry firing of the gun - done on the advice of a "professional" airgunsmith !!!
A quick tally of the costs involved to now repair this fine old gun resulted in a sum far beyond the actual value of the gun, and even if used parts could be sourced, the repair cost would still be prohibitive.
Chalk up another destroyed classic to a lazy, incompetent, self proclaimed "professional" airgunsmith.
