Benjamin Question about Marauder Bolt lubrication for smoother cocking

[PCPBarry]

I like my .22 Cal. Marauder Gen 2 Synthetic Stock air rifle and I am trying to keep it as stock as possible. Recently my bolt just tougher to cock. I did search around and look into it. I took it apart, polished the bolt, polished the tube the hammer slides in, took all the edges off the groves the allen head cap screw slides in for cocking but I did not polish the allen head cap screw heads. Well it worked much better but 2 or 300 shots later it is getting worse again. I'm going to work on it again and finish the polishing job but I am wondering about lubrication.

I have read where you can burnish some dry moly into the area very sparingly and recommendations to not use any grease. I am wondering if spray lubes like WD-40 or Tri-flon would be suitable in that area. Seems like they dry and leave a very light coating of lubricant. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Barry

 

[davee1]

i believe that the allen screw is loosening. Use some vibratite or threadlocker to tighten it down. I use moly grease to lube all bearing surfaces of the bolt and orings.

 

[rcarlisle]

Bingo. Every time mine gets hard to pull, it's been the allen screw loosening. I also use moly on the bolt and the receiver (tiny bit is all you need) where they make contact. Even with a pretty stiff spring, the bolt pulls easily when everything is lined up right.

 

[rong1966]

You might want to polish or lubricate the hammer. I use a small amount of moly paste.

 

[PCPBarry]

The allen head cap screws in the hammer and bolt are not loose. I clean and use blue locktite during assembly. Seems to be dragging. Moly paste is grease right? I've only tried moly powder dry lube.

 

[Gerry52]

WHEN I had an Mrod I used PTFE lube to keep it sliding smoothly. Seemed to work well enough but only had it a year or so before selling.

 

[rong1966]

I use a very small amount of moly paste on the hammer--a thin coating which is almost dry. Note the shiny areas on the hammer where it is contacting the tube and lube there.

 

[pnwairgunner]

When the marauder is hard to cock it is usually the Allen head bolt in the bolt itself or there is some gunk in the cylinder that the hammer is galling on, or the hammer spring tension is too tight/has a spring that’s kinked or too strong.
Just take it apart and clean and lube the hammer, bolt and the cylinder the hammer rides in etc, and make sure you dont have too much tension on the hammer spring.

 

[Ta-Ta Toothie]

Also check the ball detent at the rear of the block.

 

[Ta-Ta Toothie]

Adjustment screw loves to move.

 

[MikeVV]

ALWAYS, oil...sliding, rubbing, rotating parts !!
How do you think the engine in your car/truck would work with no oil ?

Repolish everything, then lightly oil...everything. I use Lucas Gun Oil (red) or their Fishing Reel oil (blue). The gun oil is a little lighter than the reel oil. So things that see more load, get the Fishing Reel oil. Pivots get the gun oil.

On ALL of my air powered (and firearms) guns. This oil does NO harm to Viton, Neoprene, Nitrile rubbers. These I know, as tested. I'd imagine that most other rubbers also are good with these oils.
I've used these oil since getting into PCP guns about 4 years ago. I've seen zero damage of any kind.

Believe me, you'll see a greatly improved action with a little lubricant.

Mike

 

[PCPBarry]

Thanks for the replies. For some reason or other I was under the impression to leave the hammer and tube dry. I have deburred/polished out all the sharp edges of the slots and polished the tube and hammer but I didn't add lubricant. I will take it apart again plus polish the allen head capscrews and apply lubricant sparingly. I did observe the shiny spots on the hammer and polished that area. I also checked the ball detent but didn't see any trouble there. This time I will take the detent out and see how it cocks before continuing disassembly.
My tune is 2-1/2 turns CW from fully CCW on the Spring. 5-1/2 CW from full CCW on the stroke, 2-1/4 on restrictor screw. That should not be too bad on the spring for cocking. Factory spring. Bell curve upper 700's to low 800's back to upper700's for 30 shots with extreme spread of about 25 with JSB 18.13's.
Thanks again,
Barry

 

[dizzums]

the design doesnt lend itself to easy cocking, i do believe there are replacement end cap assemblies that use a 'knob' at the rear you can pull straight back vs the side-loading effect the offset bolt handle imparts to the mechanism ... but anyway, yeah, dont get anything 'wet' around the hammer and spring, use ptfe or tungsten disulfide powder, a small modeling paintbrush to apply and do it outside or over a disposable rag, stuff is gnarly nasty .. never tried it on a dry bolt, might work fine, i always just use lithium grease and live with it being a bit stiff, and thats with an aftermarket stiff spring hiflo valve and ligjtweight hammer, so its kinda a bear to pull ..

 

[PCPBarry]

I disassembled and finished polishing everything I could that makes contact or slides, etc. I used Moly EP grease on the bolt and very small amounts there the allen head cocking bolts slide in their slots. I tried minute amount of Moly EP in the hammer tube but at lease with my finger it felt like it would drag so I cleaned it out and lubed with Tri-Flon spray. It says it dries and leaves micron size teflon on surface. Cocking effort much easier now. I'll just have to see how long it lasts.
Barry

 

[3Crows]

Two of my Marauder rifles have Delrin/composite type hammers in aluminum tubes and therefore require no lube. My other two use the steel hammer converted to free flight SSG configuration. I burnish the inside of the tube and the hammer with Mobil 1 (red grease). Right or wrong, my rifles cock smoothly thusly lubricated. I also lubricate the bolt bearing surfaces with M1 grease as well.

What is happening is that the steel hammer and steel tube are galling. When the hammer is cocked force is applied to the hammer cocking screw. This is an asymmetric force which cause the forward end of the hammer adjacent to the screw to tilt up and for the opposite end of the hammer to tilt downward. The hammer being tilted has a smaller bearing surface exaggerating the contact forces and this causes the galling/digging in. IMO, over polishing does not improved the situation at all. Like a cylinder wall has hone marks to retain lubricant, so should the reservoir tube.

Some people use a dry powdered graphite/moly on these components, hammer and inside of tube, as lubricant. I use Mobil 1 grease.

 

[Ta-Ta Toothie]

I'm using a Hill hammer so i use dry moly on the hammer and tube. Moly grease for the bolt. That ball detent on mine worked lose, had a flat spot and caused rough cocking. New one was replaced using some Vibra-TITE 213 VC-3.

​

 

[glr59]

I like my .22 Cal. Marauder Gen 2 Synthetic Stock air rifle and I am trying to keep it as stock as possible. Recently my bolt just tougher to cock. I did search around and look into it. I took it apart, polished the bolt, polished the tube the hammer slides in, took all the edges off the groves the allen head cap screw slides in for cocking but I did not polish the allen head cap screw heads. Well it worked much better but 2 or 300 shots later it is getting worse again. I'm going to work on it again and finish the polishing job but I am wondering about lubrication.

I have read where you can burnish some dry moly into the area very sparingly and recommendations to not use any grease. I am wondering if spray lubes like WD-40 or Tri-flon would be suitable in that area. Seems like they dry and leave a very light coating of lubricant. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Barry

Don't let WD-40 anywhere near your gun. VERY, VERY light moly paste. Also tune your gun so you aren't using a lot of preload on your hammer spring


Jerry L.

 

[Ta-Ta Toothie]

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