Don't know exactly why and I know that I tend to lean towards pessimism, but I somehow had the feeling that perhaps, one of the simplest jobs I had to tackle with that rusty Premier : removing the spring guide, might not prove that simple....
Unfortunately, that doubt wasn't unfounded and try as I might, that bl**dy thing just wasn't going to unscrew. Despite several techniques and effort, I was getting nowhere except frustrated. So in true 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?' or to be more relevent, Who wants to remove a Webley spring guide fashion, I decided to phone a friend, well actually, message a couple.....
Steve @Troy.T. told me that his go-to and always successful method, was to stick a piece of snug-fitting steel in his heavyweight quality Record vise, align the steel piece with the slot in the spring guide and turn the entire pistol, to effect removal. Hmmm......well, I don't have anything approaching a decent bench vise (only a Workmate) nor have an appropriately snug-fitting piece of steel to act as removal tool to hand......although I realise that I really should be so prepared.
Pete @flatrajectory that veteran (!) airgun fettler and wearer of esoteric headgear, also reckoned that my main problem was probably not having anything sturdy enough vise-wise, to clamp the pistol in, but did offer some other advice, that just might do the trick. He suggested applying a goodly amount of heat from a hot air gun, sourcing a suitably spring-guide-slot-sized open spanner and giving said spanner a purposeful whack, when thus inserted.
Well, I dutifully set about assembling the components for this adventure, dug out my old B&D Workmate, rummaged around in a tool bag and luckily came up with a spanner that wasn't at all a bad fit within the guide slot, said pistol was clamped as securely as the Workmate would allow and I finally laid my hands on a hot air gun....
That Made in England, Black & Decker H991, was one of three items that I 'inherited' from the garage at my father's house, when he died in 1994. The other two items were his 1986 (rather rusty!) Rover 216 SE, which didn't last for much longer and his Flymo, which I was actually still using until 3 years ago. Anyway, that hitherto untried-by-me heat gun, thankfully still functioned and heated up the guide end of the pistol a treat, the business end of that spanner fitted snugly in the guide slot and my aim was true with the hammer. Glory of glories and as Victor Meldrew might have eloquently put it, "I don't believe it!" I thought, when that damn spring guide actually turned! Amazing......I was so happy and relieved that I danced a little jig around the Workmate. Doesn't take much to lift my spirits these days, does it???
Anyway, that offending part is now out and so are all the remaining bits, so I'm now good-to-go on the restoration. As I type this, the Amazon delivery chap has just knocked to indicate that the paint stripper I ordered yesterday has just arrived (wasn't able to locate some that I thought I had).
Unfortunately, that doubt wasn't unfounded and try as I might, that bl**dy thing just wasn't going to unscrew. Despite several techniques and effort, I was getting nowhere except frustrated. So in true 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?' or to be more relevent, Who wants to remove a Webley spring guide fashion, I decided to phone a friend, well actually, message a couple.....
Steve @Troy.T. told me that his go-to and always successful method, was to stick a piece of snug-fitting steel in his heavyweight quality Record vise, align the steel piece with the slot in the spring guide and turn the entire pistol, to effect removal. Hmmm......well, I don't have anything approaching a decent bench vise (only a Workmate) nor have an appropriately snug-fitting piece of steel to act as removal tool to hand......although I realise that I really should be so prepared.
Pete @flatrajectory that veteran (!) airgun fettler and wearer of esoteric headgear, also reckoned that my main problem was probably not having anything sturdy enough vise-wise, to clamp the pistol in, but did offer some other advice, that just might do the trick. He suggested applying a goodly amount of heat from a hot air gun, sourcing a suitably spring-guide-slot-sized open spanner and giving said spanner a purposeful whack, when thus inserted.
Well, I dutifully set about assembling the components for this adventure, dug out my old B&D Workmate, rummaged around in a tool bag and luckily came up with a spanner that wasn't at all a bad fit within the guide slot, said pistol was clamped as securely as the Workmate would allow and I finally laid my hands on a hot air gun....
That Made in England, Black & Decker H991, was one of three items that I 'inherited' from the garage at my father's house, when he died in 1994. The other two items were his 1986 (rather rusty!) Rover 216 SE, which didn't last for much longer and his Flymo, which I was actually still using until 3 years ago. Anyway, that hitherto untried-by-me heat gun, thankfully still functioned and heated up the guide end of the pistol a treat, the business end of that spanner fitted snugly in the guide slot and my aim was true with the hammer. Glory of glories and as Victor Meldrew might have eloquently put it, "I don't believe it!" I thought, when that damn spring guide actually turned! Amazing......I was so happy and relieved that I danced a little jig around the Workmate. Doesn't take much to lift my spirits these days, does it???
Anyway, that offending part is now out and so are all the remaining bits, so I'm now good-to-go on the restoration. As I type this, the Amazon delivery chap has just knocked to indicate that the paint stripper I ordered yesterday has just arrived (wasn't able to locate some that I thought I had).
