Marksman revived!!!!!

[tjk]

Hey folks. Just had one of the most gratifying shop experiences of my life! Went over to "Charlies" place to pick up my TT'd Sierra Pro. After exchanging pleasentries, the first think he asked my was " did you bring that Marksman with you"? A little back-ground info: A few weeks ago, I sent Bob an EM asking if he would work on my Norica (Marksman). He said no, because it was a pain to get parts for it, etc., etc. A totally understandable reason. Flash forward to the fun-shoot at Gene's. I met Bob, and after looking at the rifle, he said something wasn't right with it. I guess this sparked a challenge to him, and told me to bring it when I picked up the Sierra. Together, we broke it down, and Bob started working his magic,.....and with a little "dumb" luck to boot. Thought we ran into a road block, but he had a special tool he was going to throw out sometime back, but luckily for my he didn't!!!!! Must be fate I suppose. Anyways, he dropped a new spring in it, did all the refinities, new Beeman seal he had laying around, and a custom made spring guide. At Gene's place, it chronied out at about 428 to the 440's. Bob thought we would be lucky to pull 600 after the breakin period, but the first time we tested it, it was in the high 500's and low 600's,...625 I believe. I can't wait till I get a few hundred through it and get her broken in good. This afternoon I worked on the scope, and later when it cools off, I plan to put it to work. But let me say this,...both of them feel like different guns!!! Quieter, no buzzing or slapping, smoother cocking, and way less recoil than ever. I can not put into words how pleased I am with both rifles. And the experience of watching Bob do the work was priceless. He'd ask me "so what do you think so far?" during the rebuild proccess, and I didn't know what to say,...but I knew it would turn out great regardless. Now I'm not sure which I enjoy shooting more. The Norica has always been the gun to turn to when the others fell off target, and I have a feeling this will remain the same!!! The Sierra is so much better after the Turbo-Tune, but both are a pure joy to shoot now. Thanks so much for the help Bob. I'm as content as pigs in $#it now. I'll post some "after-break in" comments later on. I can't wait to see the rest of the folks at the next Fun shoot so I can out shoot those $500 German Diana's and the Super-sport Webley's,.......well maybe that's pushing it a little!!! LOL's Might even impress the "Sniper Brothers" with their awesome AA's!!!! Best Wishes to all, and a Special Thanks to Bob Werner. Thomas

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

Hey Thomas,, You LUCKY dog you!! From the moment I met Mr "Bob" I knew he was a special person for shure. During the "Fun Shoot" I watched him spend a good part of the day in Genes shop doing all types of repairs & mods. for many in attendance. Every time I turned around either Mr. Bob or Gene were in the shop working on something for someone!! And oh by the way,, the "Sniper Brothers" were "Kirby", (David) & Jon with the  Air Arms "One Holers". After you left,, they MADE me shoot them!!LOL!! I shure did hate that, LOL!! Tim. P.S. I am looking forward to the next get together, maybee we could have it somewhere else, & destroy someone elses back yard?? LOL!! (Hint, Hint)

[3n00n]

I'll take that challenge Tom . . .

[tjk]

Rules are, No Bench's,  Pods, nor Bags, along with no other slings of any kind and no seats with straps etc, etc. Straight-up-standing- shootin' with no BS!!!!!! 25 yards and out. Scopes or Irons. You're on Pal!! LOL's, Thomas

[3n00n]

This isthe most current10m card at 10m a couple days ago with opens offhand . . .

[CharlieDaTuna]

Yeah… we had a little fun with this one and it turned out a little better than I expected. The gun uses a small short stroke power plant and isn’t designed as an Elephant gun for sure. It was a rough and harsh shooter with a pretty bad trigger, pretty rough grinding cocking, harsh shooting, considerable torque and pretty anemic.

Anyhow, after finally getting it apart and doing all of the deburring and refitting and refinishing the innards we did some hatch work in the compression chamber. After giving it some thought, we elected to go with a Beeman seal, replaced the one piece hollow plastic tube spring guide with a two piece guide. The new guide itself is a machine fitted solid Delrin guide with a .200 steel spring seat fitted to a Webley Patriot spring with the spring seat fitted to the action OD. We also added a Stainless Steel thrust washer under the spring. Not enough room to add in a Tophat.

Little could be done to the laminated direct sear except to clean up the surface a little. Changing out the springs in the trigger would not have accomplished much and I didn’t have anything that I could have made work anyhow although I did consider bending them for some relief.

After several hours and when all was ready, we started reassembling it using the proper lubes in the correct places. When done, the gun was a totally different gun. Now I’m one of those guys that just love the FWB-124/127. A tuned FWB is one of the smoothest cocking guns with one of the best firing cycles that a springer owner could ask for. With the exception of the trigger, this Chinese reject turned out to feel and shoot just like the FWB but with a little less power. It was one of those fun endeavors/projects that I expected to turn out reasonably well but you just never know until it come to shooting it the first time. Well it was one of those winners.

Thomas and I had some fun with this one and were well rewarded for our efforts…. and thanks for the help Thomas….

[Splash]

No problem, this is off hand, sorry I could only find a few of them, but you get the idea, This is a B-3 that has had just a bit more work done, since then.

Mike

[3n00n]

Got one of them also . . .

[Splash]

It can bee, but I can't shoot,hehe.

Mike

[3n00n]

Me neither . . .

[tjk]

CDT, Thanks for filling in the technical specs on my rifle!! Just one correction though,...it WAS a Spanish Reject!!!! LOL's But she's no ugly-duckling anymore!!!!! She's a Beauty. I'm very proud of it, and the 'tune' was just what she needed!!! Super job Bob. I'm tickled to death!!!!!!
Jay and Mike,....quit shooting bee's. We need them for pollenation,....want to impress me, shoot some mosquito's!!!!!!!!!LOL's Happy Shootin', Thomas
PS, Jay, what type of stripper would you recomend for removing the polyeurathane on my Sierra stock? I'd prefer a matte finish instead of the high gloss. Or would it be safer to sand it off with a fine grit paperand a damp rag?  tjk

[Splash]

Thomas, those are carpenter bee's and do about as much damage, as termites so they gotta go,hehe. On your Sierra stock you can probably, just buff it out, with some 4/0 steel wool, that will dull the gloss.

Mike

[tjk]

Yeah I know, we've got them here too!!! If they were as big as cats and rats, the little B@#$%rd's would take over the world!!!LOL's I thought those were bumble bee's.Not a bug expert. We've got those  bee's here that look like B-52's. Almost like a souped-up yella-jacket. When they buzz by you, the first reaction is to DUCK!!!! I'll try the steel wool and roughen the finish like you said. Bet if I wipe it down with mineral spirits or denatured alchohol that may hide any scratch marks from the wool and blend evrything nicely. Any recommendations on an adjustable scope rail. The crosman scope is pretty desent, but the barrel droop is so severe it's pathetic, and shimming it works, but doesn't spread the tention on the scope tube very well.. Unfortunately there isn't alot of available movement (forward/backward) with the mount they sent with it, and I can only slide it back so much?!?!?! Here's where it really gets tough. The scope has a 52/54 mm AO so it's got to be a high mount. Thanks for the tip Mike, Thomas
PS The best results I've had with the Marksman, is a set of High rings from Wally-world. I know this sounds nuts, but they're four piece rings (uncle bucks/Joe's brand???) that pinced into the dove-tails, with four separate ring caps. No scope stop, they just absorbed the re-coil instead of trying to "stop" it. But it always stayed on or close to Zero,.... Make any sense, or am I out in left field on this?!?!?!? tjk

[3n00n]

Typically I just wet sand the old finish withthe solvent designed for the old finish. Normally polyurethane will cut with MEK, but MEK is nasty explosive stuff, so I'll only use it outdoors with a fan running to push the fumes away. Indoor use of MEK isn't recommended because of explosion hazard, but with proper ventilation and a full SCBA with toxicity meter, MEK can be slightlysafer to work with.

`

For an oil finish, {RLO, tung, linseed} wet sanding with turpentine or mineral spirits {stoddard solvent} thins the oilin the grain and if you go back with a rubbedoil finish, thefinal result can be satin even when rubbed to 2000 grit. The oil on Doc TCups old Daisy club rifle was rubbed to 1000 grit and the final finish can be as smooth as the Daisy 120 with a1500-2000 gritrub ofStock mud after the necessary2 weeks of cure time.

`

I personally like the results.

[DanoInTx]

...I heard "strippers" and immediately started searching my wallet for dollar bills:)