Nails in the piston seal?

[RedFeather]

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???)

[lizzie]

Aliens- has to be aliens, lol.
Interesting Red- I've not read or heard about this before.

[RatRacer]

 Maybe they were trying to push the needle thru leather and it hurt their fingers? Or turn their gun into a multi-tasker by using it as a inexpensive pneumatic framing nailer?

[RedFeather]

Not as old school as the Soviet Bloc'ers who had used this method, fer sure!    Anyway, this is the consensus from the real experts over on the American vintage Airgun forum.

[Muppit]

next we will see tuct tape as a seal fix, nails come on

[RedFeather]

No, duct tape is a New World phenomenon.  The nails are absolutely for real.

[bobbyjim]

I have found steel shavings imbedded in the seals of cheap Chinese guns. Maybe the Chinese learned some thing from those Russkies.

[HCAirgunner]

Like white paint spots on used rifles.  (Aliens, do you think???)

Funny you should mention that. The Pre-war Diana 27 I just acquired has some tiny little spots of yellow paint on the underside of the cocking arm (at the "elbow" where the barrel pivots for cocking) as if the gun were on its butt, leaning against a garage wall, too near to some spray painting project of the previous owner.

One of the mysteries of the universe

But I am hoping that a wee bit of WD40 on the tip of a shammy will relieve me of this problem [I don't want to resort to paint thinner if I don't have to!]

[warwolfmk2]

That would be me.    I'll try to get pic of the pins up tomorrow. Was a surprise to me when I pulled her apart.

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???)

[RedFeather]

HC, you sure that's not some old white paint that has yellowed with age?  For the life of me, I cannot figure why so many old guns have white paint speckles.  I have had more than one, myself.  It has been suggested that they were in closets being painted, etc.  Then, again, could be gremlins.

[rezarf]

I found this topic interesting - picked up a Mark III Meteor at a gun show for $25, and when I tore it down found a nail in the chamber. Turned the piston head to clean it up, put in new seals and polished the pump bore, and got a decent shooter out of the deal. I always thought it was kids trying to shoot nails. But there were no paint specs on the gun...

[SteveD]

I bought a 3fer special of non working Russian IJ-22's, and upon teardown found the nails in the leather seals of 2 guns. I mean nails, not pins. They were folded over from firing, bent, smashed into pieces, etc. They must have started out being 2" finishing style nails. Got two guns operable, but the 3rd has a plugged barrel from broken steel. When hearing the vintage tales, I though of smaller brad sized nails. The legends are true.

[RedFeather]

It is certainly no legend, as you can see.  The best guess is these are dropped in to expand an old, tired leather seal.

Now, here's the question - and I bring this from the muzzle loader side where authenticity is a big concern - when restoring one of these old springers, where do you get period-correct nails to put into the new seal? 

[uncle paulie]

Renovators Supply!LOL

pv

[airnutz]

Now, here's the question -when restoring one of these old springers, where do you get period-correct nails to put into the new seal? 

Sorry, you guys are not translating correctly.  the Russians wanted a (R)ail gun, and what you see is a Nail gun....