Care & feeding of multi-pump airguns | SouthernPaddler.com

Care & feeding of multi-pump airguns

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
196
0
Ozarks of N. Central Arkansas
I just sent the following as part of a private post to a member. It dawned on me after editing that it might well serve to educate someone who visits this board on the proper care of the classic American multi-pump pnuematic airgun that many of us have hiding in closet or shop. So here it is---warts and all.
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Just in from the shop. Finally got the old Sheridan airgun I've been working on so long back together. I've never seen one so dirty on the INSIDE! I've scrubbed, brushed, polished and cussed the invisible to old eyes innards until I simply ran out of ideas. I decided just to put the SOB back together and see if it'll work. I sorta enjoy playing detective with old airguns, using their condition and specific illnesses to backtrack their history---sorta a pnuematic Sheerluck Holmes if you will. And this'un has had volumes to tell. A careful analysis of what I found leads me to believe that this one was bought to relieve a pest problem in barnyard or garden and, while it saw little actual use, it spent its' entire life in barn, shed or garage. Perhaps through a feeling of guilt the owner oiled it very regularly however. The outside was so grubby that it was immediately obvious that it had enjoyed little time spent in areas devoid of dirt. The almost total lack of any remaining vestiges of original stock finish backed up the exposure to weather, humidity and temperature extremes it has suffered over the past 39 years since August of 1969 when it was completed. But the extreme case of oil-soaked wood in the stock evidenced an owner who oiled it regularly---waaaaaaay TOO regularly! Disassembly and cleaning brought to light that a combination of very little use and lots of lubrication had at the very least preserved it internally except for a few high wear areas in the pump linkage. That one area is the Achilles heel of domestic multi-pump pnuematics. Through some combination of circumstances American airgun manufacturers failed to get across the point to the end user that lubing the pump pivot points was the ONLY critical factor in preserving their products. In truth if the 3 pivots in the pump system are kept well lubed that is the ONLY oiling needed since the rest of the gun will be more than adequately lubricated by oil migrating from the pivots to the rest of the gun. Yet owners of domestically built pnuematic arms almost to a man put what oil they used in the places where it would produce maximum harm while totally ignoring the 3 places it was absolutely critical. In short they oiled the guts, often with oils that destroy rubber seals, while ignoring the mechanical hinge points that must have lubrication. I've witnessed far more airguns ruined by too much oil than not enough. Or from the use of gun oils or household lubricants such as 3-in-1 or WD-40 (which is NOT a lubricant!). Just why people think oils other than those recommended by the manufacturers will work I'm mystified to understand. It seems relatively simple to me. They aren't firearms so why would anyone think firearms lubricants are better than the makers' specified lubes? A single drop of Crosman or Daisy oil or 30wt. NON-DETERGENT motor oil, if you can still find it, on each of the 3 pivot points in the pump linkage every 500-1000 shots is sufficient to keep them working well without significant wear into a graceful old age barring an accumulation of dirt to act as an abrasive.
OK---rant out of my system---does it pump and hold? You betcha! So far anyway. Only an overnight test will prove how well, but it was holding well enough that I just had to try it for accuracy since the cleaning process had revealed one of the best looking barrels it's ever been my good fortune to see. It still wears the inadequate set of open sights that it was cursed with from its' inception. Sights that even young eyes can only do so much with, and 68 year old eyes even less. After shooting and adjusting to get it hitting in the black of a regulation 10 meter Olympic target set at 15 yards I shot a 3 pellet group that was a classic cloverleaf. I quit then because all the things I'd done earlier in cleaning the shop plus the pumping (only 4 times at the distance I was shooting) had my old back grouching at me. With further testing it may get better or that group may have been an anomoly but I have a good Williams peepsight for Sheridans waiting in the wings. Just wish I'd thought to drill and tap the reciever before I reassembled the gun.
FWIW, I just checked and it was still holding after 3 hours. Tom
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Tom,

Interesting reading. An oil that solved a whole set of problems on chains for motorcycles and bikes is a mixture. Goes like this.

I needed an oil that was pretty viscous, 90 wt gear oil was about tight. that would cushion the pins and rollers under strain. BUT - it also need to be thin, about 5wt - 10 wt, to penetrate and get inside the roller and pins. And, it needed to have a capability to continue lubricating even after aid ridden through rivers and streams to wash out the oil.

Here's how I solved the situation. I used a small plastic bottle, about 2-4 oz capacity. It had an elongated tip for squirting mist up into your nostrils. But, I removed the little pipe that stuck down inside the bottle. I added a small ball bearing or clean stone first inside the bottle.

Then, I filled the bottle 1/2 full of 90 wt gear oil, squirted in about 1/2 teaspoon of powdered graphite, and filled it up with gasoline. In use, ti goes like this.

Shake the bottle to stir up the graphite - the ball bearing is the internal agitator that does that job. It will also mix the oil and gasoline. Place a drop of the mix onto the strategic spot you want lubed. The thinned down oil will easily run into cracks, nooks, and crannies. Then, the gasoline will evaporate, leaving behind 90 wt oil to do the fob of lubrication. If the oil gets washed out, graphite continues to lube for a while.

CAUTION: Gasoline is flammable. Be careful. Also, graphite will stain anything it gets on.
 

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
196
0
Ozarks of N. Central Arkansas
Good stuff Jack!

Chain lubes are an entire subject to themselves but yours' sounds good. The only thing I'd add to improve it would be powdered Molybdenum Disulphide (sp!)
The lubricity of Moly embarrasses petroleum based lubricants.
I use Moly on the internals of airguns where I can't tolerate the drag between sliding surfaces that oil or grease would cause. I actually burnish it onto the surface of the metal with a felt buffing tool in a Dremel. Don't breathe the stuff! It prevents 'sticktion' and galling almost permanently.
I've often wondered what might result from adding a couple of tablespoons of dry Moly to a new car engine at the 1st oil change might do. :wink:
 

Wannabe

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2007
2,645
2
on the bank of Trinity Bay
Back when I was young I used to mix molybedum disulfide with trichrol elthelene as a lubercant to brush onto the fuse screw (so it would not chatter going on) of a 155mm necular round. Am I supposed to tell that? Scuse me while I kill myself.
Bob