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Offline ken s

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airgun smith
« on: December 31, 2005, 03:35:33 PM »
need a good air gun smith anyone put me on to one. already know about charilethetuna. but looks to me like he does only complete tune ups.only need trigger work.thanks.
                    ken s :?
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Offline PeterF.

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airgun smith
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2006, 02:07:11 PM »
Depends a bit on the gun.  Russ Best (BestTunes) specializes in BSAs; MAC-1 specializes in Crosman/Benjamin; Jim Maccari (The Springman) has worked on various stuff (I don't know if he still does smithing or limits himself just to selling springs now); Tim Johnston (in Colorado) works on the high-end Olympic-grade stuff.  Alan Zazadny. Some of these guys don't/won't work on certain/cheaper brands.  See www.airguns.net; you may get some ideas there (see their Classifieds: folks often say "this gun worked on by xxx").
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Offline dave

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airgun smith
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2006, 02:41:17 PM »
I don't think as of late that Russ is taking in a lot of tuning work. JM has closed his website and is no longer accepting orders until further notice, and he hasn't done much actual tuning or hands-on repairs for a while now. Tim Johnston got out of the airgun business a while back, he may or may not still do airgun tuning/repairs. Alan Z does mostly high end stuff, Anschutz, Steyr, Rapid, etc. MAC-1 is notoiously hard to deal with, and turn-around time is horrendously long. What is the make and model of the gun? Theres plenty of do-it-yourself stuff available and its not hard to do.
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Offline ken s

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airgun smith
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2006, 05:46:06 PM »
Its a crosman RM377 el cheapo but it sure could be made to shoot better.has a very heavy trriger. if could find some info on how to maybe do it myself would be fun to try. thanks
                          ken s :lol:
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Offline dave

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« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2006, 06:24:24 PM »
Not a lot you can do with the Crosman-Mendoza trigger without a major rework. Possibly some polishing of the contact surfaces would help, but replacing the trigger spring or tampering with the sear could have dangerous results with this unit. Its one of those lawyer-proof triggers that Crosman specified when they were importing the guns from Mexico, designed to prevent lawsuits by making the pull so hard theres no way it could fire accidentally. Problem is you can hardly get it to fire either accidentally or on purpose with that 7 or so pound pull weight. Non-Crosman Mendoza guns have much better triggers, with a pull of about 3 pounds.
Russ Best has done one or two of these Mendoza guns, altering the trigger to give make it lighter and smoother but I don't think he'll be doing any more of these.
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Offline Swamp Yankee

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« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2006, 07:37:14 AM »
Who would be a good smith to contact to have a complete tune done on a mid 80's FWB 124?  The seals are the originals and the gun has never been taken apart before.   Thank you,  Jim
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Offline dave

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try here
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2006, 08:30:39 AM »
http://paulwatts.netfirms.com/ for a tune, it'll cost you about $200 for the full boat option.
Or, you could order the same parts from here-
http://www.airguns.citymax.com/page/page/251327.htm for between $50 - 80 depending on which kits. Its pretty easy to install if you have a couple hours and some small mechanical ability. You will need to fabricate a spring compressor of some sort to open the gun, but thats easy too. If you feel strong and do it carefully the 124 is fairly easy to open without a compressor, but you may need one to install the new spring.
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Offline Swamp Yankee

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« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2006, 09:16:33 AM »
Thanks Dave for the info..........Jim
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Offline PeterF.

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airgun smith
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2006, 10:26:01 AM »
Yes, Dave: Thanks for the update as to who's in and who's out of the business these days.  Obviously, my info was dated.  I think most airgun smiths were owner/enthusiasts themselves, with some engineering knowledge and machining skill and equipment.  They'd show up at the club with some neat improvemt and their friends would say, "Gee, you ought to go into the business".  But I think it's a tough business to make a living at ... especially with the not-TOO-bad Chinese stuff on the market. People just aren't willing to spend the money on tweaking an airgun that they might on a firearm.  It's interesting that Paul Watts is back in the business; I know he was out for a while.  And I remember when Russ Best wasn't YET in the business (although he was consistently the most generous source of good info on the old Airgun Forum).   I had Tim Johnston rehab a Walther air pistol for me, but that was a few years ago.  And McMurry/Durham and Maccari ... who knows what makes them tick?  Personally, I miss "Mr. Bulk".  Thanks, again.
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Offline dave

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« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2006, 10:36:20 AM »
Update on the list-

Jim Mccari is now open for business as of today, albeit in a new location and apparently with further changes to come.
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Offline Airsporter

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airgun smith
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2006, 12:43:59 PM »
A "RM377 el cheapo" is probably a do-it-yourself proposition.  You don't usually ask a Mercedes or BMW mechanic to work on your Ford Escort.
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Offline Haywire Haywood

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airgun smith
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2006, 01:26:40 PM »
Paul Watts did a full blown tune for me last year on a Beeman HW97 and I am very satisfied with his work.

Ian
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Offline Bad Bob

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Airgun Tuner
« Reply #12 on: May 04, 2006, 06:07:42 PM »
My recommendation is Ed Kryznowek in Houston Texas.  He has done three for me and does it all.  Has my RWS 34 and it will return impeccable and I can guarantee it.  For your info.  Goes by Ekmeister and is on some of the forums like the yellow one.   Think his phone is 281-988-8602.
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Offline Ed Krzynowek

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Re: Airgun Tuner
« Reply #13 on: May 05, 2006, 08:13:30 PM »
Quote from: Bad Bob
My recommendation is Ed Kryznowek in Houston Texas.  He has done three for me and does it all.  Has my RWS 34 and it will return impeccable and I can guarantee it.  For your info.  Goes by Ekmeister and is on some of the forums like the yellow one.   Think his phone is 281-988-8602.


Thank you, Bob.    :D

To hopefully answer those questions:

Small projects are no problem, like just a trigger, or a minor tune.  Anything that can help someone is fine by me.  I specialize in springers, not CO2 or pneumatic pump-up guns.

I've been working of a Longbow and some other fun models lately.  I do keep some parts for the FWB 124 in stock, and others too.

It's funny about the 'lesser tunes'.  I offer them, but very few are interested.  They either want the whole works, or nothing at all for some reason.  But even a minor or medium tune can help a lot.  The DIY guys know that.

My email address is edward73@sbcglobal.net

Regards All,

Ed
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