Dollar Store Reading Glasses Are Not Safety Glasses

[I copied this from my main blog as proof that I still find a little time to play with airguns.]

I’m of an age that I need reading glasses for close up work. Unfortunately I also need safety glasses in many of the same situations. I know that you can buy magnifying safety glasses, but they are never as inexpensive as the $1.00 reading glasses from the local Dollar Tree.
I am a cautious person (milquetoast) so I thought it would be wise to do a simple test of the shatter resistance of the dollar store reading glasses. On with the science! The dollar store glasses. Poor sap. My RWS Diana Model 45 air rifle. I chose it because I thought I had it sighted in at 10 yards, which I didn’t. With 7.9 grain Crosman pellets at 715 fps, it should hit the glasses with about 9 ft/lbs of energy. 10 yards down the length of my deck. After shooting low a couple of times I finally hit the glasses. First lens. The other lens. Both lenses shattered and I couldn’t even find some of the pieces. As a control I gave my dummy some safety glasses. First shot dented the lens. Second shot knocked the lens out of the frame. I wonder if that’s by design? I remounted the lens and took a third shot. Which eyewear would you rather be sporting when a projectile is coming towards your eye?Imagine that small shard penetrating your eyeball. As you can see the safety glasses deform rather than shattering. 

So I guess I’ll spring for a pair of safety reading glasses, or wear the safety glasses over reading glasses. I won’t be using the readers as safety glasses.

RWS (Diana) Model 45 Notes.

Just a few notes about putting the rifle back together.

I polished that rusty washer. Reassembly was largely the same as disassembly in reverse except as shown below. I lightly lubed everything and smeared a little silicone oil into the leather piston seal to get it to swell a little.


First try at reassembly. Ok, this was maybe the fifth time as I had longer pins, had a pin in the other slot, etc. in various permutations.


A slave pin is inserted in the springy part of the safety. This keeps it spread open so I can push the retaining pins through.


Back together with one pin in place.


But the slave pin was impossible to align with the hole. So I looked at the exploded view some more and figured that maybe I had the spring clip upside down – so I put it together as shown. At some point before this I did manage to get it together but the safety was stuck and wouldn’t move.


I also put the slave pin in the forward detent position (which would be “fire” rather than the rear detent position (“safe”).

Punching out the slave pin with the retention pin. Yay. I probably re- and dis-assembled it 20 times figuring this out.


A short slave pin for the trigger – the pin that holds it to the stock has to pass through and this helps.


The pin in place.


Note that the plastic caps for the pins are different on the Original 45 I showed earlier on the blog. These are countersunk with the flange outside. The caps on the RWS have the flange side in. I have no idea why.


The rifle together I turned my attention to the scope mount.


Pushing off the dovetail clamp.


A broken screw, a spring and lots of dried lacquer.


The pieces.


I was able to unscrew the screw holding it with pliers. Finally something easy.


Some new clamp screws fitted.


I punched the location of the scope stop screws. The setscrews are pointy (dog point). So I figured I’d replace them with cup point screws.


Made the punch mark slightly larger.


Spot drilled.


I then drilled shallow holes the diameter of the setscrews. They should sit in the holes and not move. The dog point screws did nothing to keep the scope mount from shifting. You can see evidence of screw marks on the rear of the scope rail.



All done. I shot a little and the velocity is the same (about 730fps) as it was before. So no improvement. I could probably soup it up by replacing the spring or fitting a synthetic seal but why bother? It’s peppy enough. I am wondering if I should have replaced the breech seal though. Maybe soon.

RWS (Diana) Model 45 Disassembly, Part 3

On I go…If you like being bored by too many pictures of a trigger group, read on.


The trigger assembly.


Other side.


The safety pulls out. It is loose once the two dowel pins that retain the trigger assembly are removed.

A blurry look inside.


Yawn…


You’ll thank me if you ever have to put one back together.


This spring has been wanting to fly away since I took the action out of the stock.


I removed the circlip for the pin.


And pushed it out. Note that I store the circlip on the pin…


This is what you end up with.


Another pin..


And the sear comes loose.


Looks to be in pretty good shape .


Another view. Could use some polishing?


One last circlip held pin.


It’s a headed pin.


Another piece comes out. Notice the dimple for that spring end.


Now the trigger pivot pin.


The trigger is laminated steel and plastic.


It’s hard to tell but the piece the adjustment screws are in is plastic.

So that’s everything taken apart except the piston. I’ll clean everything up and lube as needed. See if it shoots better. The rifle wasn’t that dirty but seems dry – the only lube was some moly inside the piston sleeve.