HB17 foolery

[Madkoifish]

what is really funny is this place is like less than 15min from my house. Less if I didnt have to deal with the 80 split.



http://www.mcarterbrown.com/forums/rare-old-guns/125687-sheridan-guns-parts-couple-pps-grip-grames-too.html

Bingo, if you look farther down that url there is a double finger grip that shows air release crap I assume for auto loads or something (dont know squat about paintball) However I have seen the bits that are external in a few of the sheridan guns already via google.

[tinker]

For a finish, have you looked into the "ceracoat" stuff some gunsmiths use?  Not too sure as to what colors are available but it's a very durable ceramic(?) type finish.   Not unlike powder coating but there is no large buildup of finish that would make re-assembly of tight fitting parts impossible.

[Madkoifish]

NO I have not looked too much at paints since I have yet to decide where or rather what I am going to do with the gun.

[eric]

so there was a purpose ---- sheridan paintball guns were the cats meow at one point is about all i know about that 

[Madkoifish]

Well I got rid of all that weaver/picatinny rubbish. Waste of $6 but I was unsure if I needed that adapter for the other gun. Much cleaner looking and saves some weight :dork You can really see that one intermounts ugly finish. UGH I think I might just respray those things. since stripping and polish might ruin the ability to clamp or if I paint the gun look silly. Sliver intermounts on a black gun ffff.

In the inset pic you can see the mess those crap weaver rings did to the scope and all the jolting from the trail NP rifle. I think the rifle is going ot be sold off. I might do some cosmetic tarting up like sanding the stock and doing a gray stain job and rubbed satin varnish. (originally wanted the gray laminate stock that Crosman filched on.)

One thing and thankfully I have not had it happen yet is the gun as is, is dangerous. The scope lends one to uh grip close to the end of the barrel. O_o Misplaced fingers and a 177 @ 400+fps into them. OUCH

So I think I will be knocking together the stock for this gun before I decide if I am going to refinish or plain strip it.  To quickly solve this and well it seems smarter to be fitting stuff on the gun prior to any restoration. I still have not found that powder coat splatter finish pain I am thinking of using. That image I linked earlier is close but too much going on texture wise. But in the end I might just leave Ugly, ugly

[Madkoifish]

HAHAHA as the title say I finally got that bloody pin out. Drilled it hammered it made a bubba press nothing. It ate 2 pin tools a hardened drill bit shaft 2 aircraft grade pin rods from boeing and the tip off of my reamer.
I ended up heating the f*$#@r up multiple times then taking the reamer to it. Ate it up no problem. Probably should have done that first. Once I was able to get the end cap out enough I used the "press" to push the chewed remains out of the end cap. UGH finally.
SO with all of this I was annoying the heck out of Mr. Mellon. Hopefully he is willing still to make me a pin or 2 for this thing.


As for this thing not shooting hard everything looks ok but the valve spring has some rust on one end so it could be that but I think it is the seal on the valve stem. Id love to flat top this but I have no tools to machine the part. SO I will be stuck doing valve tune or anything that is possible with a dremel. hah

Anyhow here it is apart and I have already started on some of the clean up. Since the finish got mangled in the process of DIE PIN DIE, Im going to strip the gun.
NOW the grip I thought all this time was brass is nickle. So I decided to sand down the end caps and polish those up. For now it is just a hand and drill polish since I have no idea where my high speed buffer is.  Final finish is still up in the air. A baked on pebble finish would be cool but I was toying with a polish and bluing of the brass. The only remaining issue would be the grip frame. I do not think nickle will take any sort of aging I can do without setting up all sorts of nutter things.  SO I might just leave it silver and blue the body or leave the body polished up. Opinions??
Below is a soso example of how the brass blues up. The side shown is the one the roll pin had chewed up as it spun about over 15+ years. These guns are a bit annoying to get the piston out. That band closing the tube means you have to hold it all in while you disconnect the linkage from the cap then pull it out to remove the piston pin before it pulls apart to get everything out.

Forgot I had previously faced and polished up the valve. They are really rough and mine was when assembled not aligned long it's length.So I filed it flat on a drill and buffed it up. Defiently shot better after I cleaned the muck out and pumped better but still weak.  Oh and I forgot to show the piston assembly.

[Madkoifish]

Also another stock pic and a close up of what remains of that pin.

[Madkoifish]

All stripped down. Interesting pebble finish on it, too bad there was so much exposed brass from earlier or id leave it like this. Now to sand and polish it down. Going to attempt to do this by hand to avoid rounding off detail. But it depends on my patience and the overall final finish.

NOW that grip frame. It looked nickle early on but now I look at it I suspect it is a hb17S part that they just painted up. IE nickle chrome plated whatever underneath. Advantage, no polishing. Disadvantage, it isnt the best of finish and I was hoping to get at some of the mold lines in the trigger and base. Not ot mention it being plated means it can go to hell later on. For now itll stay like this.


This image shows the possible chip in the plating but if you look at the rear screw hole you can see how chewed up it is but no chipping.

So 

[NorthStaR]

Cool, I do like the all brass upper this range carries. To keep the brass from tarnishing I keep a thin coat of oil on it and rap the whole gun after use in an oily rag.
I also wipe down the gun after with the same rags to remove all possible oils from my skin that may dull the finish. 3 months on and it's still shiny. 

[Madkoifish]

Yeah I ran across the whole oils thing today, buffed her out did the whole soap and warm water thing to get the buffing compound and brass cleaner/polish off. The soap and warm water started reacting to the brass. (this was in a tub and not contact stream off the pipes) So I ended up buffing it all off.
I considered bluing the gun too but found the finish wasn't hard enough and was too easily removed when wax and some solvents got near it. Even hand oils would buff it off. In the past raw brass I just carnuba waxed it. I might do that with this gin since once set up I wont be touching the brass much. Itll be scoped so a baggy of oil wont work. Then again, I might just let the brass go natural and allow it to darken up etc.

Who knows.
Images are some various stages. I had a lot of nicks to get out and some eh areas, it isnt 100% and I will likely when I get my buffing table set up go at it with a REAL buffer. But for now it beats scratched up paint.

In the images the end caps have 2 finishes. One is buffed up and left with a oil coat other has bluing on it. I cannot decide which I like atm. 
I would love to just get the tube chromed but eh chances the shop would botch it would be too painful that and making sure the crown and barrel internals were kept clear. I think the intermounts will get oven off in the next week as well. That inconsistent anno on them really irks me. Might buff them to a satin finish though. Only ehh is the dovetail portion. I dont want to round it up too much.

Anyhow, now all I gotta do is order the replacement pump arm and wait for the order from Charlie to come in. Probably order a new pump cup for the hell of it as well.


Early sanding stage. 600 really had it looking polished up. Other images are early polishing stage and after dremeling the tight spots. Still areas I could not get into and had to use a putty knife to get in.



semi assembled.

funny how flash makes every flaw stand out. This is the reason it is only temp. I dunno how much smoother I can get though. Can see some of the ehhhh finish on the chrome bits.

[Madkoifish]

Cool, I do like the all brass upper this range carries. To keep the brass from tarnishing I keep a thin coat of oil on it and rap the whole gun after use in an oily rag.
I also wipe down the gun after with the same rags to remove all possible oils from my skin that may dull the finish. 3 months on and it's still shiny. 

What Id love is if that barrel and breech were more 13xx like. Id love to flat top this and get a longer barrel on it. Given how abused this gun was for 15+ years it being able to shoot dime groups at 15yards is saying something. I mean I have dropped it numerous times, had a friend drop it nose down in dirt from a roof, and it rolled about in the back of my hatch for a number of years as well.  :O What really is lol is I got it from some sports store for like 49$ they want a lot now for what I hear isn't that good of a gun anymore.

I am itching to get a eb22 and a co2 crosman. For the prior I guess I might be shopping used. Do wonder if they ever did a eb17/22 in a S version. I love the S-versions of the benji guns.
Booger limited run in the 90s


oh man want one. Even if it is a .20

[Madkoifish]

Here the gun is for now. I have to order a new pump arm, valve seal and likely some other bits, in that just in case. I had a mess of issues with "blowby" when pumping. Valve wasnt sealing. I had to take it apart multiple times before I got the seal just right not to mention loaded up with oil. Then I had issues with the hardened up pump cup. Had to put some shim behind it to spread the cup. I think when I removed the overspray and polished the tube innards it loosened up tolerances enough the old cup just let stuff slip. Overtime though it stopped letting air past and looking at images of the ductseal impacts is hitting a lot harder than prior to drilling out the pin and stripping the gun. SO cleaning it out seems to have helped some.

I would like to just get rid of the cup and move to a flat top with oring but I have not seen anyone making these items. Least for sale. So for now I live with the stock internals.

So for now it sits waiting for me to get the shop set up and locate some lumber to build up a mini carbine stock. Plan is for a very short pull stock so the gun stays small.
It also sports a pin from Mellon Air.

[NorthStaR]

Cool. And that limited Booger is fantastic! 

I do like these EB & HB's. Also not so common which makes them more special IMHO. 

[Madkoifish]

hahah yeah wish that booger was mine. heh missed out on those but will keep eyes peeled. Any of the nickle finish benjis are on my target, I see it it will not matter that I have a use for it it will be I NEED THAT.