Beeman P-17 the right way?

[bodiej]

I bought my second one a few weeks ago with the determination that I could make it last - among the world of complaints about shoddy craftsmanship.  I'm not a good online buyer as I hate waiting to touch and see the thing I'm buying.  I now understand the "brown santa" lines here.  I just about offered him a beer..

Pyramid shipped it in decent packaging promptly - good company and good website (site speed counts for bonus).  Cut open the plastic hanging toy packaging (hey it's not a B3) and got my tools.  I opened the grip and cleaned out the trigger group.  It wasn't packed with vaseline like my marksman2004 (1st pistol returned, same gun), so I just cleaned and lubed just a bit.  Checked that the valve screw was tight (the most solved issue concerning this gun's airleaks).  Popped off the piston rod attachment to the "slide" and removed the piston from the chamber.  Seal looked good but did feel some burr at the air inlet hole (the second most common issue with airleaks).  Half moon file took care of that and polished the few scratches till the ridge was gone and smooth.  At this point I don't have whatever piston/chamber lube (any suggestions???), so I didn't clean the shipped stuff out.  Looks pretty nasty though.  I removed the barrel tonight and noticed that it's not crowned.  Went to the bedroom and saw that my s&w.38sp isn't crowned either.  I would imagine, given the knowledge of everyone here, that it would probably be a good idea to fix that (the air pistol at least).  I've read different thoughts on the matter but am looking for the best way to do this.  I've read about the drill and crowned bit trick - but keep in mind I don't have a vice of any sort, let alone a drill press, and I want to get it right..  

Now thinking I should have taken target pics for the "before" comparison, but it was shooting cphp and gamo match about the same with half an inch and a few flyers at maybe 20 feet.

[bodiej]

noone?

[DanoInTx]

I bought one from Cabelas here locally about two years ago.  Mine came in the same plastic hangy clambshell package as yours and was equipt with a completely worthless red dot sight.  The gun itself has never had any of the leaking issues, and my trigger was also clean when I removed the grip.  I lubed it up with a toothpic full of moly/30W mix and it shoots great.  Honestly the best part of these $40 guns is the trigger, it's great.  Accuracy wise mine seems to be pretty good, although my eyes as of late haven't been great with iron sights.  The only thing I don't care for is loading/cocking the thing.  The space provided to seat a pellet is a little small for my big hands, and when I'm cocking the thing I always feel like I'm going to pinch a bit of skin off a finger if I'm not careful.  Other than that they are a great value, at least as good if not better than any of the 9 pound triggered Gamo pistols costing way more, with the exception of the Compact, which is probably better than all of them by far.  I have a couple old Crosman .22 cal barrels here that I've considered turning in the lathe to fit the P17, might be fun to lob pellets at a screaming 250fps or so...haha!

[bodiej]

Yeah the trigger is mostly why I got another one.  This one seems like it's a bit louder than the marksman I had.  I've found (after bleeding a bit) that if I rest the front of the gun on my thigh (sitting), I can open palm the slide back down to cock it.  I had a heck of a time getting my grill apron unpinched, since it doesn't like to open again after cocked.  It is pretty accurate - just wondering how better it'd get if I figured out how to crown the muzzle end of the barrel.

[bnations]

Guys,

Does anyone know of a good guide to disassembling one of these?  I got one as a Christmas gift, and I'd love to do something about the creep in my trigger.

Thanks,

Bobby

[bodiej]

Here's what I found.
http://my.tbaytel.net/coopers/HW40Review

[rws_34]

Had one briefly... leaked after 50 shots. When I removed the grips, the spring broke. Good thing Cabela's takes anything back! Such a bad taste in my mouth from it, I forgot it was on OK shooter.