I got a telephone call on a Sunday “ Do you think I have ruined my Theoben Rapid.” The caller then went on to explain that on Friday while returning from a night out shooting rabbits, he had taken a fall going head first into a lake, taking his gun with him. He climbed out but left his gun stuck in the mud somewhere in the bottom. In that it was dark he decided to leave it there while he went one to dry off and get the lights and everything else needed to retrieve it. Anyway some hours later he managed to fish it out.
His question to me was “will It be ok and will have a look at it for him” I said that so long as he had removed the stock, dried it off and given it a wipe over with an oily cloth it should be fine. He said he had done none of those things and had left it to dry out in his shed.
I arranged for him to come an see me first thin Monday morning, he arrived carrying a black bin liner wrapped around the gun. As I open the bag I assaulted by the rancid smell of stagnation . My first job was to hose the gun off to remove as much as the muck as I could before I started work on it. Just prior to falling in, he had loaded the gun, when it arrived at mine it was still loaded.
I drain off as much of the water as I could and decided the safest option was to aim the gun at the ground and fire it. Pellet, water, mud, and stinking foulness splattered my lawn. A few dry shots later only air was exiting the mod.
With the gun now safe I was able to take the gun into my workshop to start work on it. Within 15mins minutes it was in bits on my bench, 1/2 hour later t was all cleaned, oiled, new seals, barrel polished , changed full of air and reassembled. Now to check it over the chrono and test it for accuracy, to see what damage had been done? The first 10 shots went on the chrono within 5fps of each other
Over to my 25yard range.. I loaded the 12 shot .22 mag with pellets, took aim and all pellets went through the same hole about 1/2 off poa
Considering the rapid had taken a heavy fall, been sunk at the bottom of a lake for a few hours then left to fester in a bin liner for two day, it was amazing it was working at all but it shoot like a new gun, no rust, no issues just a slight aroma of fish s**t coming from the moderator.
You have to give it to Theoben, Not many other makes could have withstood that abuse without any issues. Credit to the hawke scope too, I am not a fan of the optics normally as they don’t suit my eyes but in his case, they didn’t have the slightest bit of water or fogging in the tube and zero was only off by a few clicks even though there was a hefty dent above the ocular lens and not forgetting the gun had a complete rebuild.
A big thumbs up from me to HAWKE and two thumbs up to Theoben
I love rapids
Bb
His question to me was “will It be ok and will have a look at it for him” I said that so long as he had removed the stock, dried it off and given it a wipe over with an oily cloth it should be fine. He said he had done none of those things and had left it to dry out in his shed.
I arranged for him to come an see me first thin Monday morning, he arrived carrying a black bin liner wrapped around the gun. As I open the bag I assaulted by the rancid smell of stagnation . My first job was to hose the gun off to remove as much as the muck as I could before I started work on it. Just prior to falling in, he had loaded the gun, when it arrived at mine it was still loaded.
I drain off as much of the water as I could and decided the safest option was to aim the gun at the ground and fire it. Pellet, water, mud, and stinking foulness splattered my lawn. A few dry shots later only air was exiting the mod.With the gun now safe I was able to take the gun into my workshop to start work on it. Within 15mins minutes it was in bits on my bench, 1/2 hour later t was all cleaned, oiled, new seals, barrel polished , changed full of air and reassembled. Now to check it over the chrono and test it for accuracy, to see what damage had been done? The first 10 shots went on the chrono within 5fps of each other
Over to my 25yard range.. I loaded the 12 shot .22 mag with pellets, took aim and all pellets went through the same hole about 1/2 off poaConsidering the rapid had taken a heavy fall, been sunk at the bottom of a lake for a few hours then left to fester in a bin liner for two day, it was amazing it was working at all but it shoot like a new gun, no rust, no issues just a slight aroma of fish s**t coming from the moderator.
You have to give it to Theoben, Not many other makes could have withstood that abuse without any issues. Credit to the hawke scope too, I am not a fan of the optics normally as they don’t suit my eyes but in his case, they didn’t have the slightest bit of water or fogging in the tube and zero was only off by a few clicks even though there was a hefty dent above the ocular lens and not forgetting the gun had a complete rebuild.
A big thumbs up from me to HAWKE
and two thumbs up to Theoben I love rapids
Bb
I always have to restrain myself from buying more of them when they come up for sale.
.
