Resealing Old Pellet Pistols

[paulleve]

It was a rainy weekend here in New England so I finally got around to resealing two pellet pistols I've had on the workbench for a while.


The one on the left is a Smith & Wesson 78g .22 pistol that was built in the first year of the model's production, 1971. In 1980 Smith sold the rights, machinery, and leftover parts to Daisy, and the pistols were sold as the Powerline 780 (.22) and Powerline 790 (.177). This is a 790, and it's a later one made in 1982 that has a trigger modified to be drop safe. The original Smith pistols are high quality pellet guns that have the heft and feel of a real .22. The Daisy models progressively added more plastic parts, which takes a lot from the feel of the original design. After getting them both sealed up, it was nice to insert C02 and not hear any hissing sounds. Shooting them revealed just how much better the Smith handled than the Daisy!



The heart of both pistols is the same brass valve assembly. There were three seals to replace here along with the exhaust valve that lets CO2 into the barrel.



The only special tool needed for these pistols is a screwdriver bit that can be created with a Dremel and a few minutes worth of time. There are two additional seals in this assembly, and another that seals the breach when a pellet is inserted. Rebuild kits for these pistols from from about $10 for the basic ones up to $40 for the best quality.

 

[McNally M.]

Nice job resealing! The 78 and 79G are truly quality guns, S&W employed some real quality to their air guns before they were spun off to Daisy.

 

[PaulR]

I've got a couple three/four older pellet rifles that may need this if you're looking for more work!

 

[paulleve]

I've got a couple three/four older pellet rifles that may need this if you're looking for more work!

Ha! I've got far more pellet pistols awaiting reseal than time to do them! Luckily, kits are available for most vintage rifles and pistols, and there are a lot of resources available online, including videos on Youtube. I've resealed 7 or 8 of them at this point, and have been mostly successful. The exception is a Crosman 38T revolver that I optimistically hoped I could just partially reseal due to a leak where the CO2 cartridge is pressed into the valve. That seal held up well, but after one cartridge through the pistol, an internal seals blew and all the CO2 went poof! From here on out I plan to replace them all at once and be done with it!

Something I learned along the way - separate the halves of these things carefully, and take a few pics before diving in. In the case of this Crosman 454, I found a very small ball bearing sitting on the bench after reassembly, and this pic helped me figure out where it went!