American Air Arms Proper Lubrication

[woogie_man]

Hey guys I wanted to let you guys know what I stupidly did, and to check your lubricants and make sure you use the correct for the materials of your rifles.

I was working on doing a reseal on my American Air Arms Paradigm and I stupidly used the wrong lubricant on my seals. The cylinder of these rifle are titanium as well as the end cap where the foster fitting as well as the air gauge is located. There is an o-ring on the cap that I replaced and used Aquagel that I got from Best Fittings I believe. Well when I was screwing back on the cap to the cylinder things got tight. I attempted to remove the cap to try and clean things up and.... yup.... things seized up and stuck.

After using a hair dryer, heat gun, and hot water with no luck. So I was able to get in contact with Tom and he suggested only using Ulitmox as it is a teflon based grease.

With Tom's guidance I did get some penetrating oil and let the cap soak for a few hours. Nothing seems to have moved so I have to go with the next step. I am going to be sending the cylinder and parts back to Tom to make sure I didn't cross thread anything, and to repair the cylinder. I am hoping it wont be to much of a price tag, but things happen sometimes. Lets use this as a learning experience and not make a stupid mistake like this again.

 

[Ranchibi]

Oh man...so sorry! We as humans make mistakes.....don't be too tough on yourself!

 

[bobgm3]

Don't beat yourself up! I would have done the same thing if it wasn't for a thread I read on an other forum a week or 2 back where Tom recommended using Ulitmox. I immediately ordered it on Amazon. These EVOL's are exceptional and the materials and tolerances and thread pitch take us to where some of us have never been before. Take it as a learning experience and thank you for not being shy about helping out the rest of us by telling your story!

 

[madeintheuk]

We all make mistakes. Owning up to them is what makes us learn.

I would have done the same thing. It’s been drilled into our heads that silicone grease is the ONLY lubricant we should be using on our airguns. While I’m still skeptical about using Teflon based lubricants in my guns (low flash point), I will do what the manufacturer recommends.
This is also no the first time I’ve heard of silicone grease causing binding in threaded parts. Some FX guys had issues with their bottles to the point of damaging threads on both the bottle valve and adapter just from using silicone grease.

 

[MikeVV]

Many moons back, I had an AMT AutoMag (semi auto, .44 magnum pistol). Like the one "Dirty Harry" had in the presentation box in the second movie.

It's ALL...stainless steel, front to back. Everything but the springs, and they MAY have also been.
Anyway...yeah, trying to find a commercially available lubricant that worked on stainless steel, with high loads, was a pain. EVERY time that I shot it, I had to clean off all of the gall marks on the bolt and the frame section where the bolt rode.

After a couple of years, and MANY shots, I finally found a lube that worked fairly well. It turned out to be a GM (General Motors), posi (positraction) lube additive. Don't know if it the exact same stuff, I'd guess...yes.
This was in the beginning of the synthetic oil era (today!). There may well be other lubricants that work today, but I "know" this stuff works.
It saved me a LOT of cleaning time after a day out shooting my AutoMag.

Mike

 

[woogie_man]

Yeah Tom is a great guy and have been talking to him about this.

All my other guns I have been using that same silicone grease for years and haven't had an issue. I have some of the recommended oil on order and will use that for this rifle. I will learn from this, and like I told Tom.... feel free to let people know about my mistake and show them what happens. The more poeple know the better.

I know it will get fixed, just hoping before my next NRL22 match so I can get some slugs through the gun to put a hurting on the rimfire guys.

 

[BluegrassBill2020]

I once read a great racing mechanic say his knowledge came from a pile of broken parts. I've certainly done my share. Bill

 

[Ezana4CE]

@woogie_man I believe that this is the second time I’ve read of this happening. Have you posted about this before or did this occur to another member?

 

[woogie_man]

@woogie_man I believe that this is the second time I’ve read of this happening. Have you posted about this before or did this occur to another member?

Nope this is a first for me...... if this was the second time I wouldn't have posted about it!

 

[Ezana4CE]

Nope this is a first for me...... if this was the second time I wouldn't have posted about it!

@woogie_man I think it was one of your previous posts, #323 in the following thread:

American Air Arms - All Things EVOL

I buy my JTS pellets from Hajimoto https://hajimotoproductions.com/index.php/product/jts-dead-center-pellets/ Phil, Just checked Haji’s site. He must be out of the .22 cal 25.39 as I could not find them.

www.airgunnation.com

I got a bit concerned until I went back and found that post.

 

[woogie_man]

Yeah was me, but this is the same issue. Have been talking with Tom to try and get the issue resolved. I am not getting anywhere so I am going to send it back to him to look at. Even though I have a full machine shop, some things are just easier for the designer to fix and make right. I will report back how much damage was done, and how much it is going to cost. The cost is the one thing I am not looking forward to seeing.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Yeah was me, but this is the same issue. Have been talking with Tom to try and get the issue resolved. I am not getting anywhere so I am going to send it back to him to look at. Even though I have a full machine shop, some things are just easier for the designer to fix and make right. I will report back how much damage was done, and how much it is going to cost. The cost is the one thing I am not looking forward to seeing.

@woogie_man Understood. I was more concerned that this may indicate a broader issue (had another member had the same issue). Tom’s been pretty good at helping me troubleshoot issues. I hope it’s an easy fix. I hate having to ship guns out for service work. One of the first things I think of when I have to ship a gun out is how shipping costs start eating into any type of savings I was happy about when I came up on a bargain. Thanks for sharing about your experience. It’s good that you didn’t seem to hamfist it and try to force it. Please keep us posted on the remedy.

 

[nervoustrig]

It's shockingly easy to have galling seize up threaded connections in titanium and/or aluminum. The presence of silicone grease does not cause it, but it does nothing to prevent it because it provides no useful lubrication properties for a metal-on-metal interface. However, the typical anti-seize compounds aren't advisable for pressure vessels because they have combustible hydrocarbon bases. That's where one of the PFPE / PTFE greases like Krytox or Ultimox come in.

Tungsten disulfide is another effective lubricant, and it's what I use because it's both inexpensive and serves multiple purposes in the airgunner's toolbox. For this purpose I keep some in an eyedrop bottle, the powder mixed with alcohol 50/50 by volume. Super easy to apply to threads this way. The alcohol wicks rapidly to carry the powder into the threads and then quickly evaporates. And like molybdenum disulfide, it also makes a great dry lubricant for burnishing into hammers and bolts/cocking mechanisms and the surfaces they ride on. The advantage over wet lubricants being it doesn't attract and trap dust and blowing debris, and for the hammer specifically it won't affect the strike at varying temperatures the way a wet lube may do because of changing viscosity.

FWIW this is the stuff I bought. I think it was a little cheaper on ebay at the time, and there very well may be generic sources where you could get more of it for a similar price but an ounce of this stuff will probably lubricate 50 airguns. It goes a long way.

Amazon.com