Maintenance Man

In this issue Richard Nash concludes the strip-down guide for the Air Arms S410.

Personally, I love the Air Arms range of rifles for reliability, ease of use and simplistic maintenance. They are British made, parts are easily and readily available from many outlets, including Air Arms themselves.

Although I have owned and used many rifles over my career, I currently only own one rifle, an early model AA S410 carbine 2005. This is my only rifle because it has never failed or faulted, no matter the conditions I shoot in or the quarry I shoot. It is quick and simple to maintain the rifle in tip-top condition. As you will have seen, my rifle sits in a Craftsman Vit bullpup stock, which gives me the lightweight versatility that I need to undertake closerange ratting. The full range of these bullpup stocks can be seen from www. craftsmanvit.com or Blackpool Air rifles at www.airgunbuyer.com.

MASSIVE IMPACT

We all use our rifles in different capacities, from hunting to HFT, and therefore usage rates vary from person to person and rifle to rifle. This has an impact on how often your rifle will need servicing. Whilst there is no hard or fast rule to service duration, I find when it starts to feel ‘graunchy’ or different, then generally it is a good indication that it needs some TLC. Whilst this rifle is simplistic in its make up, I always recommend that you only undertake maintenance work on your rifle, if you are confident enough to complete it. Sometimes, the most minor mistake can have a massive impact on the safety or effectiveness of the rifle. I hope you find this guide helpful as a tool to get to know your Air Arms, as well as looking after it.

1 You can now remove the cylinder from the valve body to get to the other cylinder seal on the back of the valve body.