Making one good slavia 618 out of two

[bantam5s]

A few years ago I bought a Slavia 618 that just didn't have enough power to reliably push a pellet out the barrel.
Then a couple months ago I bought an earlier 618 in pretty good condition that had plenty of power but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

Yesterday I decided it was time to remedy the situation, but I had to decide how to go about it.
I could simply do a barrel swap since my 1st grouped well when it worked, or identify and resolve the issues with #1 using parts from #2.
It was pretty obvious when #2 arrived that #1 had a worn out mainspring so I could just do a simple spring swap, but #1 was missing it's screw pin front sight and #2 happens to be an earlier gun with that little dovetail rail on the receiver.

I decided that my best option would be to do a barrel swap, but that would mean needing to cut a dovetail into barrel #1 for the front sight off of barrel #2 and that's something I had never done before.

After a 1st failed attempt I cut that 5/8" off and attempt #2 was a relative success.


Here's a before grouping


And after


I was not done though, because the gun still shot fairly high.
I had the rear sight all the way down which was too low for the stock and I was still having to hold low, plus I really wanted to take advantage of that dovetail rail.to mount an aperture sight.

I wasn't sure how it would go because it was yet another thing I had never done before, but this morning I decided I would try my hand at making a taller front sight.

With nothing more than a hacksaw and a file my 1st attempt was actually a success,  an ugly one but I came out with a functional front sight none the less.



Here's the grouping shot with the William's 5dAG and new front sight.

I also used the original rear sight of gun #1 ( was no good, and got replaced) to make a dovetail filler for gun #2.

[lefteyeshot]

Nice job.

[happymecanic]

You installed your front sight backward.

[bantam5s]

You installed your front sight backward.

Why is it backwards ?

[bantam5s]

Nice job.

Thanks.

[lillysdad621]

Hey David, he is right... the ramping of the front sight is descending toward the muzzle, and i believe they do that so there is no glare in case the blueing wears off the sight (it will eventually get shinier as you cock it thousands of times. My 624 is the same... in fact they are the same action, but the 624 has about 45 mm more of barrel and 20mm more of stock. I was wondering how did you mounted the william Peep sight? I dont have a dovetail. did you cut one?

[bantam5s]

I made the front sight that way on purpose.

As for mounting the Williams peep, the early 618's had a short rail at the back for some kind of scope mount.
CZ had their own little 4×20 type scope with a built in mount, they looked similar to the old Crosman scopes.

[bantam5s]

I'm still really loving this Slavia 618 of mine.

For awhile now I've been in the market for the equivalent model from Diana ( I can't remember the # ) to compare because I'm curious about whether they are nicer in any way, but it's been difficult to get ahold of one and I am kind of doubting that it could really be any nicer than my slavia 618.

[lillysdad621]

Dang it David, i sold mine (both a diana 25 and a 20 i think... the 20 was a .22 and labelled daisy...). I would have reached out to you if i knew you wanted them
As far as niceness, i think they are fantastic and feel more solid than the CZs...  but that being said, i still have my Slavia 624 and both the dianas are gone...