Well ... you fixed it alright.

Just got a mail from a fella tracking down an issue with a rifle of mine he'd purchased from the net.

Well ... here's how things go. Previous owner proudly proclaimed that he didn't believe in lubricating pellets. Well. That's gonna be a problem for the O rings in the tower which were designed to be wet in order to seal properly. But ... no matter ... I'm sure you know better than me.

So; running these bone dry O rings ... a puff of air developed upon firing. Pc. of junk! I'll FIX that!!! So ... the barrel drift and alignment screw was cranked down tight ... to within an inch of it's life. THAT ought to FIX 'er.

You bet Dude. That should now have everything out of alignment.

Now the darned bolt won't retract correctly! Pc. of junk!!! I'll just yank on it harder ... sort of grind it in. Rats ... doesn't seem to be much better ....

So; that might be why the barrel throat now needed to be polished, and the bolt probe was galled. Pc. of junk!!!

Probably decided he should just sell this turkey .... ... Pc. of junk!!!

So; new customer gets it ... gets air in his eye upon firing ... and we've been tracking it down since. And now ... it's all corrected. And all by a customer who asked me what was needed ... how it worked ... and what to look for.

Why didn't the other guy do that? Well, most likely because he only ever fired it enough ... between his FIXES ... to determine that it was a pc. of junk and not worth the nickel to call the guy that couldn't design it right to start with.

Amazing. Thank God some of these things are re-sold.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2010 03:38AM by barnespneumatic.

Well that sounds exasperating. At least the gun is now back to spec as tested and with an owner who will shoot it and enjoy it. I expect the original owner just set the gun aside for a year before he ever tried it and then started with dry pellets and tightening every screw... It's a real shame as the gun was built to particular specs and exceeded all of them during the field test.

Well - the thing is this ...

I go the extra, extra mile to make the things and test them. Then, they are sent into a black hole. Everyone knows I want them to use the things. They don't want to ... so they either hide ... or tell me what they do with them is none of my derned business.

So - when they don't know something ... they don't want to be asked how the gun as been doing. They are NOT going to tell me that they have never shot the gun. Heck ... I've learned from people that they've had guns five years or more, and never shot them once.

So - when they decide one day to shoot them a time or two; they don't even know the fill pressure anymore. Never wrote it down. So - they decide that 3,000 psi is what God intended. Well, on the earlier guns ... I made many of them to shoot at 1,900 (when everybody was dragging around heavy aluminum 80 tanks with a 3,000 psi fill ... I thought I was doing them a favor. The guns would shoot forever on a tank fill ... where guns that needed 3,000 psi to fill ... actually only got ONE pure 3,000 psi fill off a 3,000 psi tank). Well, fast forward; you take a gun designed for 1,900 psi or 2,300 psi, and put 3,000 psi in it ... and it's partially valve locked. So - duh ... it doesn't shoot to spec. People can't hit things. The group shot to shot velocity spread isn't even. Pc. of Junk.

I knew of one man who ... knowing this had happened to the owner of the gun ... offered him far less for it than the man wanted. The man was disgusted - took it. Then, the guy wrote to me and asked the fill pressure on the gun. Filled it to that psi ... and the gun was golden. I learned the story later. NOT one of my friends. It was a cheap thing to do - and I wouldn't have been part of it had I known.

But ... that's the way things go. This is nothing like what I anticipated the business being. I thought by now, there would be group shoots scheduled everywhere. A hundred people shooting and sharing constantly. However; I was just talking to a buddy about the fact that ... when I arrived on the scene ... people thought ... halalluah ... somebody to fix all these broken old guns!!! And, when I told them that I had ideas out the ears that I wanted to make ... they thought it was such a waste. Clearly MY designs were worthless compared to this old mystery pc. of crap here. "We're not sure who made it ... but it's broken ... and you should fix it". Needless to say .... they found no desire to buddy up. So; instead ... I'm still trying to think of new discussions to have while waiting for the Friday night Barnes league shoots to start. Meanwhile; all the guns are locked up somewhere under glass ... or matresses.

I'm also glad this one made it to freedom.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2010 12:11AM by barnespneumatic.

That amazes me too.
How can you have a problem with a gun and not talk to the guy that built it.
How in the HECK can you hack up a GB airgun
And more importantly...how can you not shoot an air gun after you just sold your kids livers to get one.

Amazing.

Hopefully the new owner will take care of his prize

That thing about trafficing in body parts has been greatly exaggerated ...

And ... that guy was 23 anyway ...



you're a funny guy Cedric. Good thing you live on the other side of the country .... haha.

how on earth could you shoot the same gun day in day out and not notice things getting worse not better ,,, and not go seeking advice from someone who '' knows'' , and who better than the man who made it ,,, ahhhhh some people ,, well saved gary ,

Well Tom,

That was the thing. No shooting day in and day out. The gun was sold with the SAME 200 rounds that were shipped with the origonal crate.

A shame more than you'd ever dream go that way. Embarrassment that it's laid in a crate after asking me a hundred times if it were ready yet - and having me ship it overnight. Not wanting to answer when I write to ask how it's shooting. Then aggrivation when they realize they've forgotten all the needed numbers. What's the fill psi? How many shots do you take on a fill? What size diameter are the slugs? So; they make it up. It doesn't usually work that way. Then, toss in a bit of being pretty sure I didn't know squat anyway ... and they start to FIX things. When it's a real good mess ... it becomes "For Sale". All because it somehow steals their soul to grant me a small kudos for being the builder. Baffling. Why do they bother in the first place?

Gary