R9 issues/Advice?

[SlowBykr]

The rivet that holds the cocking arm into the barrel on my R9 is cutting into the inside of the stock during the cocking cycle.  It's not helping the smoothness of the cocking cycle any, and I'm concerned about the long tem effects.

This is my second R9.  You may have seen an earlier post regarding my first one that had a frozen barrel pivot bolt and arrived with scratches on the barrel.  As with my first R9, I wasn't pleased with the twangy shot cycle so I installed the Vortek kit with great results.  This one also arrived with similar scratches, but I didn't want to give PA a hard time about it after them being so gracious to accept a return on my first one after an attempted disassembly.

Between the scratched barrels, frozen pivot bolt and now the stock issue, I'm feeling pretty disappointed with my purchase decision so far. 

A couple questions for you...

Is the contact on the inside of the stock that I'm experiencing normal?
Is there an easy fix?  I've thought about shimming it with a thin washer.
Are R9s typically delivered without blemishes or am I just expecting too much?

[DanD]

The rivet that holds the cocking arm into the barrel on my R9 is cutting into the inside of the stock during the cocking cycle.  It's not helping the smoothness of the cocking cycle any, and I'm concerned about the long tem effects.

This is my second R9.  You may have seen an earlier post regarding my first one that had a frozen barrel pivot bolt and arrived with scratches on the barrel.  As with my first R9, I wasn't pleased with the twangy shot cycle so I installed the Vortek kit with great results.  This one also arrived with similar scratches, but I didn't want to give PA a hard time about it after them being so gracious to accept a return on my first one after an attempted disassembly.

Between the scratched barrels, frozen pivot bolt and now the stock issue, I'm feeling pretty disappointed with my purchase decision so far. 

A couple questions for you...

Is the contact on the inside of the stock that I'm experiencing normal?
Is there an easy fix?  I've thought about shimming it with a thin washer.
Are R9s typically delivered without blemishes or am I just expecting too much?

The new rifle should be pristine. If you received two in a row with scratches and fit and finish issues, Pyramyd, who happens to be the Beeman distributor, needs to know about it and figure out what's going on.

[anuthabubba]

Have had a few HW barrel cockers over the years that would rub the stock cutout after a while, due to the wood warping a bit. I fixed it by shaving a bit of the wood off from inside the cutout and darkened the spot with a Sharpie or some stain. Never had scratches on new airguns.

[SlowBykr]

I spoke with tech support at PA today.  They suggested I add a washer to push out the stock a bit.  I'm thinking of trying that before shaving down the wood.  I don't have much trust in my woodworking skills.

I told them about the scratched barrels on both guns.  They said I should have sent the latest one back immediately.  Installing that PG2 kit was a bonehead move on my part.  I was thinking I could just live with the scratches and that I'd probably just get more of the same if I returned it.  That was the wrong choice. 

The tech support person I spoke with at PA was most concerend about the fact I received two scratched guns in a row.  If there are two, there are probably more wating to be shipped to dissapointed customers.

Anyway, I don't feel right trying to return the gun to them at this point, given they'd take quite a loss due to my poor decision.

So I'm leaning toward shimming the stock and taking the barrel to get a fresh hot blue.  A shop within driving distance will do the barrel for $75.
 

[SlowBykr]

Some good news...

It occurred to me that I might be able to get a subtle shift with how the action sets in the stock if I tightened the screws in different orders.  After some trial and error, I found that if start with the stock screw on the side that was scraping against the barrel, then tighten the trigger guard screws and finish with the screw on the opposite the side of the stock, the action sits evenly in the stock and the scraping is gone.  Can't say why this works, but glad it did.

[Calmark]

You may want to go a step further and check the inside inletting of your stock.  Look to see if there are any areas that are rough or possibly a bit raised and sand them down.  Sometimes I've found little runs of the stock finish I've had to sand down to get a better fit too. 

[SlowBykr]

I think your're on to something, Calmark.  I'll check that out.  Thanks.