airgun review site

[Paul]

A cautionary tale when buying new air weapons.
Pest controller buddy of mine had problems with his 2 year old PCP. We are both used to servicing our airguns and stripped the action out of the stock to discover tamperproof (TP) screws on everything important. So he went to his local gunshop who wouldn't touch the gun but offered to 'handle' the sending it back to the manufacturer. We contacted the manufacturer direct and asked for a set of replacement TP screws.
"Can't do that as those parts are listed under the VCR act so have to be fitted by us".
End result was we extracted the screws and replaced them with normal machine head types but had to use pretty extreme measures to 'pull' the TP screws out.
OK, all that was changed was a rubber seal and we chronographed the rifle afterwards to check it BUT the important thing to realise is that had we not been good engineers, his £650 rifle would have been useless to him all for the sake of £3 worth of screws and a 20p "O" ring washer.

My rambling point is this.
As potential survivalists we hopefully all buy equipment that we hope we can maintain after the world turns to pot using our own resources. So when buying air weapons it's going to be a good idea to check you can actually repair them yourself i.e. get trained, buy spares for them and the tools to fit them (if applicable). After all it's ultimately going to be down to you.

p.s. Buy a spare set of washers, main springs, spacers, and "c clips" if you can. It costed us round £16-£20 for each springer we own and £4-£16 for each of the PCP's. If you are going to buy a PCP, don't forget a set of replacement seals for your stirrup pump as well. (mine £2.50) AND a spare filling hose.