Project smk xs19, well ive started doing it

[roadrunner]

Evening all, had this mad moment a while back and after i recovered i noticed i'd become the owner of a "peking duck" and its not a pretty one, i shot this smk 19 .22 thing and its dreadful for instence when i cock it sounds like iam inserting a vu vu zala into a donkey , the trigger or let off switch is equally horrid and the stock is well, nevermind it does have two redeeming features in i can hold it steady for standing shots and the shot cycle is actually quiet calm
ok joking over i got it as a project mainly for rats in autum at close ranges 10-15 yards and also i like to tinker a bit, so the brief on this gun is to eliminate the graunching, fit a welsh willy trigger and try to give the stock some apeal and fit a tactical dot sight fixed 4 mag type thing
i started it by checking its power and it was all over the place swaying from 9.7 to well i better not say, ok so i tore it down and by jolly what a mess inside, the spring had been cut for uk limits but not finished the piston looks dreadfull and the guide and top hat are no better theres burrs every where, honestly the thing shouldnt be on sale, i had allready got a "puntum guide and liner kit" so after an after noon of tinkering i was ready to rebuild it,with everything clean the spring finished the piston and reciever polished and deburred i reasembled it with new delrin guides a ptfe liner and fresh grease and the results are well you carnt polish a turd the best you can do is roll it in glitter
but seriously it cocks 90% quieter and smoother and after it cleared the excess grease its started to setttle around 11.3 fpe,iam going to redo the liner as its creeping out of the piston and iam going to use a small cylinder honer inside the reciever as i couldnt get it as smooth as i wanted

[wastrel]

thanks for this Roadrunner, been hopeing you`d start this as a project, I`d ideas for maybe tarting up a wee westlake I have, I think this is basicly the same gun, was gonna let you do all the legwork before I delude myself some more & pretend I`m gonna do mine up-never happen!
& that was before this bloody stupid ruling in our parliment, now I don`t know if I`ll have to get rid of all my guns?

[roadrunner]

Hi ya wastrel, iam not going to say it will ever match my prosport as we now that will never be, i really enjoyed tinkering and its the first break barrel ive stripped, a bit more work inside should see it as good as i can get it for a home tune, if i had a lathe i rekon i could machine a couple of grooves to take piston rings like the prosport, i havent shouldered it yet but it does appear loads smoother, after the guide kit and a trigger and perhaps a muzzle brake i will have around a 100 quid in it with buying the gun,is it worth it? If groups under a 10p at 25 yards then yes,the nice part though was when i looked at the parts i cleaned,polished and altered ready for assembley i was happy,i mean just look a the piston before i polished it, next is a WW trigger,its supposed lighten the pull,i will update after ive redone the liner and polished the reciever tube again and took it out for trial shoot before the trigger goes in, last job if it does shoot nicely will be the stock as its just plain fugly

[darran77]

Great job your doing on the gun, i had an XS19 .22 a couple of years ago and like yours it was pants, mine used to growl and groan when cocked
and made an awfull twang when fired. But like you i stripped it down and polished it up, removing all the burr's , some of them were that bad i recieved a few cuts
on the fingers and thumbs. I honed the original trigger as i didnt want to put much money into it and once it had settled down it was a sub 10mm grouper at 20 yards,
which was great for the rats.
Mine was full of crud when i first stripped it down, and the spring must have had 2 tubs of molycote on it , with the ends as rough as a bears roar.
Still if you get as much enjoyment out of yours as i did mine then all they hard work will be worth it.
daz

[roadrunner]

Cheers darren, the thing that really stands out is these are starter rifles, something a parent may get to teach there kids about shooting etc but its bordering on the rediculas,its power wasnt consistent with big mood swings into the wrong side of happy days,honestly if you carnt hit stuff then shooting is just another boring hobby, still its good to tinker and see improvements

[roadrunner]

Update time,the supplied piston liner just didnt work it wasnt long enough and crept back out and split,went on the interwebs and ordered a sheet of .25mm ptfe,stripped the rifle again and made a new one that is full piston length and folded under the slip washer to keep it in place,rebuilt the rifle and its ready for testing again,i carnt stress enough how much smoother this rifle is to cock after the fettling, i look at my prosport and theres nothing inside that needed polishing or deburring i may fit a piston liner at some point as i can see how insulating the spring can improve the guns behavior

[gary martin]

got to congratulate you. its good if you have the time to try and improve something that is basic and change its characteristics into something reasonable. please keep us updated.
Gary.

[roadrunner]

Finding time is easy and once its been apart one time they tend to come apart quickly after that, so shot it today with an old mount master 4-12 x 50 scope and some .22 hobbies which clover leafed at 15 yards but opened out a fraction at 20 yards, shot cycle is impressivley dead for a light weight springer, tried some rws super point which grouped tighter at 20 yards, will try some rws superfield domed nexted, got a feeling the spring has snagged the piston liner as it developed a click click noise on cocking though it did clear, it dieselled a fair bit but is clearing so little point checking over the chrono yet,trigger is poor and creepy but predictable, so i will tear it down again to check the piston liner but as far as iam concerned its all good so far and its shooting better than standard, so i will order a WW trigger and maybe strip and polish the sears

[roadrunner]

Update time,the dieselling is still present after a 100 or so shots but it does clear after the first five shots so iam not to worried if it diesels after its been stood a while,power is at 11.20 average with 14.5 rws super point and the spread is only 11fps which i think will settle a bit more,i didnt strip the action to check the piston liner as the click click noise stopped but 2 small pieces of liner have emerged from the trigger area, so it looks like it fixed itself, ordered a trigger from welsh willy after he convinced me they are much better than standard so will update when it arrives,Will also said the xs19 likes long skirt dome pellets like smk's black pellets so had a dig around and blimey at 4 quid a tin i'll try em

[colinE]

these are imo a very good accurate cheap springer once fettled I got a .177 carbine a few weeks ago for £86 new a drop in kit £15 and a WW trigger and put a no.5 titan spring cut down and ends mirrow polished the groups where out the box with just the barrel cleaned five shots at 25 yrds and standard trigger
the stock got rubbed down and then a walnut stain but I didnt like it so rubbed as much off as I could and put two coats of linseed oil on Iam going to get a benjamin trail stock for it