"Embedding" Lubricants?

There are a variety of greases & oils that have microscopic particles of PTFE, Molydisulphide, etc. in them. The claim is that the particles embed themselves in the pores of the metal surfaces, and provide long term reduction in friction.

My pistol club bought a bunch of Crosman 2300T air pistols to teach kids how to shoot. The triggers are heavy & generally atrocious. Even with the trigger weight screws set to the minimum, most of them are over the maximum weight Crosman says to expect. Many of them started out over 4 pounds, which is ridiculous for 10 year old kids. Competition air pistol triggers should be just over 500 grams.

As soon as the current pistol class is over, I have volunteered to try to fix the triggers as best I can. There are YouTube videos on the process, and basically you just polish up the stamped steel sheet metal parts where they rub. There are aftermarket triggers with rollers, but the club isn't going to pour more money into these pistols.

I'm hoping the right lube will help maintain the trigger jobs for more than a few shots. I don't think the surfaces are hardened beyond whatever work hardening they get from stamping.

Any favorite lubes I shoudol consider? I have moly assembly grease with a very high moly content, but I don't know if the PTFE stuff might be better.

Thanks!

Doug White

Reply to
Doug White
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The surface finish is more critical than the lube you choose . And be damn careful to maintain squareness and angles of contact . A surface that's in full contact will have a lower per-unit pressure and feel lighter . Just about any good quality gun oil will work just fine . IMO the moly-based lubes are over-rated for most uses - they do have their place , and I like 'em in my wheel bearings .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

I agree with Snag. If the surfaces are in full contact the pressures will be lower and will not squeeze out the lube. I might differ from him on us ing gun oil. Gun oil is pretty thin stuff so guns will work in freezing we ather. You might try a thin grease in some guns and see what works best.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

it sounds like they're pieces of junk and should be treated as such.

grab a file, sandpaper and stone and work on the parts that should be sliding until they're smooth. At that point, the lubricant you pick won't even matter.

No joke about the file. I tossed one in the tool kit when I had to break in a russian shotgun, and had to use it.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

Gunner Asch wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Unless you've got a jig, using a Dremel is great way to wreck the angles & end up with an uneven surface. I've done a lot of trigger jobs (but on real hardened sears & such), and have a full set of Arkansas stones & slips, plus fixtures for 1911's & High Standards.

The rubbing parts on the Crosman are basically thick sheet metal. I don't know yet if the factory makes any attempt to smooth the surfaces, or just leaves them "as punched". Here's a photo of the mechanism:

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The pivots are in the pot metal frame, which doesn't help. I suspect they will wear fairly quickly with regular class use. There are all sorts of aftermarket triggers & sears for these pistols. You can buy the pistol for ~ $140, so it's pretty absurd to then spend $50 on an aftermarket trigger setup.

Doug White

Reply to
Doug White

Cydrome Leader wrote in news:lm5ivf$odd$ snipped-for-privacy@reader1.panix.com:

They were all the Club could afford, but if they'd applied for a grant before they dove into this, they probably could have gotten money for much better pistols. There's actually a fair amount of money available to start new shooting programs, especially for kids.

I may bring some rubberized abrasive points & my Dremel. That will polish things up quickly if the shape is OK.

I've worked on a number of Russian target pistols. At least on those, the critical surfaces ae usually in good shape. Very often the rest of them is a bit crude, especially if it won't show. Apparently they never heard of Eli Whitney either. There's frequently a lot of hand fitting involved, and parts are often far from interchangeable.

Doug White

Reply to
Doug White

I'm not saying throw them out and somebody made a stupid purchase, but there's no shame in getting a little rough with them if that's what it takes.

Ha, never heard of Eli Whitney.

Oddly, in the end, the russian shotgun has the smoothest pump action of anything I've ever handled. I'm not sure if it's because the parts are loose or what, but it does feel nice. The workmanship is quite crude otherwise, but it's a shotgun, so who cares.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

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