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garththomas · Veteran Member

I have been restoring a friends Archer 87, the first time I have ever done such a task. It was a little rusty and worn, I never even tried taking a shot before taking it apart.

The main seal was full of nails in bits and pieces and crumbling apart

some nails were stuck in the end of the cylinder, embedded and had to be scraped loose. The screw was bent and beyond repair, luckily the cylinder wasn't scratched.
I was going to replace the spring and try to find a synthetic seal but it was taking longer than we thought it would to source so I made a new leather seal and kept the spring. I also wanted to try buttoning the piston but I'm in the process of aquiring tools and equipment and decided to wait for my next project.

I recrowned and reblued as well as refinished the stock

I put it back together tonight and put about 100 pellets through, it took a while to get the windage set since I had to drift the front sight for adjustment , which at first I didn't feel comfortable doing, but I got er and I think my friend will be happy.

GrizzlyMan · Member

Nothing cooler than restoring a rifle from going to the scrap yard.

I love it when I buy stuff that people tell me it does not shoot well and has been sitting on the attic for years, and then give them a quick restore and as good as new.

IMO, way better than just going to wallymark and buy one new. If I were you would check the southsummit kits (no spam intended), and/or archerairguns for a spring.

The spring may not fit right off the bat, but some cutting and torching will do, and may get a better "twang" sound with trial and error once you get it dialed.

Good job by the way!

Thank you for the pictures.

radar · Silver Status Member

Way cool!
I wonder how nails got in there?

garththomas · Veteran Member

Here is another picture of the piston seal when I first took it apart, I think kids might have been trying to shoot them at one time. I also seem to recall reading that dropping a few nails into the cylinder would encourage the leather seal to expand for better power but I could be mistaken.

I used a rubber packing from a hot water heating valve for the breech seal, I hope it lasts, I shaved it down to 3mm so it wouldn't protrude

broommaster2000 · Moderator

garththomas · Veteran Member

Nails in the piston seal?
« on: December 07, 2011, 10:08:27 AM »A post on the Air Gun gate talked about finding sewing needles in the seal of a cheap little IMC Pioneer Polish or East German air rifle. If you ever get one of these or a similar, inexpensive European air rifle such as the Slavia, Relum or Telly, you might find small nails embedded in your piston seal. There are two possible explanations for this. First is people may have tried to shoot them out as darts but they fell in through the transfer port. Second is they were intentionally put into the gun to bring the power back up. Such older guns usually have leather piston seals and the nails are thought to expand the seals out for a tighter fit. Call it a really poor man's tune. So don't be surprised if you tear that old gun down and see one or two or five little twisted up nails. It's not at all uncommon. Like white paint spots on used rifles. (Aliens, do you think???)

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Interesting, I didn't hear about that before. I do like to think that it was ignorance that put those nails there, regardless of the reasons. There are a whole bunch of airguns that shoot steel darts in stead of pellets.

garththomas · Veteran Member

Yes, I seem to remember putting all sorts of interesting objects in my first pellet rifle when I'd used up my ammo. I recall never knowing what became of a few projectiles.

garththomas · Veteran Member

Regarding the spring replacement, I found the right size that could be cut by Vortek but the owner was so excited he wouldn't wait any longer Laughing