Gasfish:
Installation of a sling to a break-barrel spring-piston air rifle is easy. Here's a trade secret.... There is one company that has the market for this sort of thing pretty much to themselves. The company is Michael's of Oregon.
You can buy a kit that comes with a barrel band stud, rear stud, and swivels for the carry strap. They make the kits with barrel band studs that come in various sizes. The barrel band stud is made of two halves that clamp on the barrel. If you install it per directions, it is VERY secure and professional-looking.
If you have a Weirauch HW-80 / Beeman R-1 or Weirauch HW-95K / Beeman R-9, you need the kit that will work with a 16mm diameter barrel.
The Michael's of Orgeon part number is #1391-2 and the primary application is Winchester '94 and Marlin 336 lever-action firearms. It'll fit guns with .630" to .675" diameter barrels -or about 16mm.
There is a kit with a smaller band that fits the 15mm barrels of Gamo Shadow / 220 / 440 series. But I don't have the part number commited to memory and don't have access to it now.
In addition to the kit you will need:
1 small flat-blade screwdriver
Drill motor
Drill bits
Degreaser
Lock-Tite Brand 242 Blue Thread Lock Adhesive
Masking Tape.
Carpenter's square with spirit level.
You begin by making sure that the rifle is unloaded and not cocked. Then, set the rifle upside-down in a gun vise. Use a carpenter's square with a spirit level to make sure that the rifle is seated in the vise properly. Place a piece of masking tape on the stock where you are going to drill the hole for the rear stud. This will prevent surface chipping of the wood. Measure 5 cm /2" from the toe of the stock and mark the location of the hole, making sure that it is centered in relationship to the centerline of the butt stock. Use the appropriate size bit, chuck it in your drill motor, and drill the hole. The rear stud is like a wood screw.
OPTION: mix up some 2 part epoxy and lightly coat the degreased threads of the rear stud before you screw it in. If you do this, it'll NEVER budge.
Remove the tape and screw in the rear stud.
That was the hard part, and I wrote it assuming that you don't have a drill press. It is better if you do.
Now for the easy part...
Degrease the barrel about 4.5 cm forward of the breech block. Degrease the two haves of the barrel band clamp. Place a drop of Lock Tite on each half of the band, and place the halves on the barrel, holding them together with one hand while you screw them together with the other. You need to refer to the instructions in the kit for the rest because there are two screws that need to be tightened in a correct sequence that leaves the gap between the halves either even or slightly bigger at the top (toward barrel) than the bottom (toward stud). You'll figure out why when you've got the parts in front of you.
The kit comes with instructions that are pretty straightforward, and I am relating the above from memory, not so much to replace them, but so that you and others can see how easy the kit is to install. If you work slow and methodical, it'll take you about a half of an hour to do this carefully and right.
You need to allow 24 hours for the threadlock to cure before you use your new sling swivel stud system.
If you have trouble finding these kits locally, you can check out the kits on the Michael's of Oregon website, and have an outfit like Cabela's ship a kit to you. Cabela's does international shipping on small stuff like this, if you happen to live in South America or on some other continent.
You can also see pics of what is in the kit in the "Misc" section of my website, with the URL below.....
You'll also probably stumble across a pic with the kit installed on my wife's Shadow or my .177 R-9.
Blessings and Tight Groups,
-JP
http://www.uplandhunter.net
