Sunday, November 6, 2011

Healthways Plainsman BB Pistol Disassembly, Part 1

I picked this up awhile back and forgot I had it! It’s an early Healthways Plainsman BB pistol. The CO2Airguns site has a great write-up about it with links to a few other articles on the pistol.

11041101
Sort of like a Colt Woodsman, somewhat like a Nambu… It’s not ugly, just oddly proportioned.

11041102
”Plainsman .175”, “PAT. PEND.”, “Healthways L.A. CALIF”.

11041103

The other side.

11041104
The rear sight doubles as the BB filling gate.

11041105
Well it’ll be hard to spill BBs, unlike other guns.

11041106
The lever actuated piercing cap. The screw head is for power adjustment.

11041107
Unscrewed.

11041108
The CO2 cartridge is inserted neck down and the lever actuates that piercing pin.

11041109
It uses 8g. CO2 cartridges. 

11041110
The left grip removed. 

11041111
Removing the right grip.

11041112
Right grip removed.

11041113
More valve elements down in the tube. 

11041114
Removing the left frame screws.

11041115
Five screws of two different lengths.

11041116
Nothing flew apart when I removed the left frame side although the loading gate spring did come out.

11041117
A fairly simple mechanism. Which is good. 

11041118
The spring should be under the post extending from the loading gate.

11041119
I find it interesting that they used a straight piece of spring wire both here and as shown below with the safety. I haven’t seen this type of spring in any other airgun.

11041120
The safety is captured by a piece of straight spring wire that passes through a hole in the post. Notice the semicircular slot.
More to come…

5 comments:

njlou said...

I have one of these guns that I had since I was a kid.

I always wanted to refurb it but I never could find anything on it. SO.. thanks for the spectacular write up.
I am about to start my journey and I would like to ask what "o" rings are used. size and material???
They can be tricky to eyeball. I think there are 3. The really little one in the stabber almost looks oval cross section , but thats because of ~50 years of confinement.
I have a tube of teflon grease that I will lube the internals, and seals.

Also I dont think I will remove the "L" gasket unless its messed.

Any further help would be appreciated . Thanks again

LOU

Nick Carter said...

I rarely measure o-rings as I'm never sure I'm right...They are usually always round originally. It's a good idea to build up an assortment over time. Use Polyurethane (Mac-1 has them) or Viton rings.

Ross B said...

I've completely restored 2 of these now and they're pretty simple. One I purchased new in the early 70's. I purchase a parts gun and it turns out that the wire spring on the safety is identical to the one on the loading gate and are interchangeable. There's a small o-ring between the valve assembly and the CO2 tube and it's an odd size. The little rubber "L" gasket that seals the valve/loading assembly to the frame was still in tact so I didn't try to replace it. Even though both of mine are over 35 years old they both still hold pressure and shoot great.

Anonymous said...

Trigger does not cock gun to fire.Does anyone know the solution?

Nick Carter said...

Open it up and double check that everything is aligned correctly as per the teardown. Look for missing parts, broken parts, etc.