So a week or two back a guy calls with a FWB that looks like a mini but with a walnut stock . Ask if I'm still buying rifles and after a short conversation we settle on a price . As I am getting off the phone I just ask how it shot ? His answer caught m off guard ....He Said he didn't think it had ever been fired. It was his Dad's and his dad collected guns and displayed them in glass cases but mainly just kept them in his ManCave to show buddies when they came over ..OK whatever dude ..
So I get the gun in and it's oddly clean but dusty on the muzzle tip and end of stock . All the original sights are there , and I notice something odd . There are no scratches on the loading breech or piston . Hmm well it was taken care of but unfired my ass . So I take I out of the stock , screws are still all black and not a Nick on them . When I pull the stock off I notice the pistol grip black cap is shiny and not a scratch ...FWB owners can verify how soft these are and how quickly they show wear . I go to disassemble it and one screw Is seized up so tight it breaks off . Piston is stuck in compression chamber , and breech seal is literally like candle wax . I stop there and call the guy who sold it .
He told me his Dad had passed away and he had dozens of guns in same condition . He hated hunting , almost never shot , but loved the art of wood and metal and cigars so he surrounded himself with them . I told him I truly don't think gun has ever been used and he said most all of them hadn't . He said he sold all the Powder guns in one large lot but the buyer didn't want the lone airgun .
I stopped where I was at and decided to slow my roll so to speak and kinda think on a gun that a man thought enough to buy and display and show off but never fired . The simple idea of just enjoying a gun as a piece of " art " never really occurred to me in this way . I sincerely wish I could have met the man and seen his collection intact .
Guns gonna take some parts and time to restore , but I'm determined to use only FWB parts to get it back like it originally was . Oh and one other tip it was new , the barrel had an odd yellow/orange grease inside it , it was a film not a heavy deposit . Where I work we used a similar grease when I was young to prevent rust and as a lube on boring tools . It's a grease that hasn't been made in over 20 years . It was kinda like a thick whale oil .....Only the REAL old timers will get that one . Most times I lay gun parts around with as little thought as I do a pile of rocks . This one's different . I set the pieces in a box and I'll get the piston taken apart and see what all I need to restore it and Take my time . Hell he had it 30 years and never fired it , I can take my time and get it back like it was when he put it in the case for safe keeping .
So I get the gun in and it's oddly clean but dusty on the muzzle tip and end of stock . All the original sights are there , and I notice something odd . There are no scratches on the loading breech or piston . Hmm well it was taken care of but unfired my ass . So I take I out of the stock , screws are still all black and not a Nick on them . When I pull the stock off I notice the pistol grip black cap is shiny and not a scratch ...FWB owners can verify how soft these are and how quickly they show wear . I go to disassemble it and one screw Is seized up so tight it breaks off . Piston is stuck in compression chamber , and breech seal is literally like candle wax . I stop there and call the guy who sold it .
He told me his Dad had passed away and he had dozens of guns in same condition . He hated hunting , almost never shot , but loved the art of wood and metal and cigars so he surrounded himself with them . I told him I truly don't think gun has ever been used and he said most all of them hadn't . He said he sold all the Powder guns in one large lot but the buyer didn't want the lone airgun .
I stopped where I was at and decided to slow my roll so to speak and kinda think on a gun that a man thought enough to buy and display and show off but never fired . The simple idea of just enjoying a gun as a piece of " art " never really occurred to me in this way . I sincerely wish I could have met the man and seen his collection intact .
Guns gonna take some parts and time to restore , but I'm determined to use only FWB parts to get it back like it originally was . Oh and one other tip it was new , the barrel had an odd yellow/orange grease inside it , it was a film not a heavy deposit . Where I work we used a similar grease when I was young to prevent rust and as a lube on boring tools . It's a grease that hasn't been made in over 20 years . It was kinda like a thick whale oil .....Only the REAL old timers will get that one . Most times I lay gun parts around with as little thought as I do a pile of rocks . This one's different . I set the pieces in a box and I'll get the piston taken apart and see what all I need to restore it and Take my time . Hell he had it 30 years and never fired it , I can take my time and get it back like it was when he put it in the case for safe keeping .
You're one lucky bastard Joe! Care to share some pictures?
