This is my first thread ever. Kindly forgive me for mistakes or omissions.
Before going to the topic, let me write about the series of events leading to the purchase of the air pistol. My uncle happens to be an amateur shooter in his days and that’s the inspiration for me. Practicing with his pistol made a solid impression about shooting sports. Even though I registered with IFG quite recently, I had been visiting this forum for a year now and used this as the reference for selecting my own pistol. I wanted to start small (a.k.a. CASH STRAPPED), so picked up IHP National 0.177 Air Pistol from Cochin Armory, Ernakulum, Kerala for Rs. 1600. (Authorized IHP Dealer) last October. Even with the local make, I had hoped that availability of spares and ease of serviceability will work to my advantage. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case...
The gun performs as expected from the local make. The problem started after I had started tweaking up the stock screw (I actually didn’t notice it until it was too late). About two weeks ago (FEB, 2009), while cleaning the stock, I noticed a fine crack developing at the butt end of the pistol stock. Within the next few days the crack widened and before you know it, the stock breaks in to three pieces (no pictures taken). You can imagine the horror and panic I went through. I immediately contacted Cochin Armory. They told me to get a new stock made, since they don’t think it is repairable. I contacted IHP via email and I am yet to receive a reply till now.
This picture is for illustration on how the cracks were formed, This is not my Air Pistol.
My primary concern was to fix the broken stock. After receiving near zero support from the local dealers in Thiruvananthapurm, I decided to do it myself.
I started searching the IFG threads. It was interesting observation that almost all emphasis in the Air gun section of IFG was related to Air Rifles and not Air Pistols. I had made up my mind to apply my fellow members valuable knowledge in Air Rifles to mend my pistol. Most of the suggestion in IFG Gun smiting section was to fix the stock using some sort of nail (I really did not understand it) and I asked for advice with a local carpenter. He suggested me to use Industrial Glue to fix my stock. I had to search a lot of shops to get my hands on it.
Cleaning the stock for removal of particles and OIL was done before the gluing process. My stock had very little content of oil in it.I DID NOT WASH THE STOCK WITH WATER OR SOAP. I had read in this forum that some of the members suggested to use powder to remove the oil content. I used this method . Then, i applied a small amount of turpentine to a piece of cloth and gently wiped the entire stock. i kept it in the mid noon sun (I.e. before i went out for buying the glue).
I got 20 grams of CYANOACRYLATE based glue for Rs. 35. Please note that it is not SUPERGLUE or Fewiquick. All I had to do was to smear some of the glue on to the wood and hold it together for five minutes and I had the wooden stock back in one piece.
The following Pictures show MY AIR PISTOL STOCK after it was repaired. I have added some arrows and signs for easy understanding as the crack lines are not clearly visible. Taken with my N3230 - I regret the poor quality of the pics.
On the bad side, this severely affects the paint (Polish) applied on the stock. I had to scrape off all the paint off the stock and repaint it. Plus, i had to do some sanding work not only to remove the paint coating, but also to get a proper finish at the crack line joints. I have posted my experiences on the paint job as a new brand new thread with appropriate pictures.The link is given below.
PAINTING IHP NATIONAL 0.177 AIR PISTOL STOCK : http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... 234#p68234
I also happened to estimate the reason for the crack. I think due to the over tightening of the stock screw, the wooden stock started to compress and this led to the crack and ultimately the breaking. This can be compensated by providing an additional washer in between the stock and the screw.
If you can’t find a metal washer, you can always use the washer used for plumbing purposes. Only thing is you have to sand it down to the right thickness and diameter. Shooting with this system is back to the way it always was and I have not yet seen any problems with the stock.
Any questions, comments or suggestions are at most welcome.
