TargetTalk

Hi all,

I took delivery yesterday of my new 46m after reading all the enthusiastic responses to my earlier post. Thank you, I get it now; yeah, it's a world apart from the Alecto I had. Anyway a few quick questions. Why have I never come across anything about the slanted trigger? I thought that was to be avoided; not sure if I like it. Is there a special technique to using a slanted trigger or should I try to ignore it and follow the triggering advise from my books? I thought for sure my gun was defective until I googled it. I can't believe I've not read a single remark about this before, given the typical fanatic attention to minute details that seems common in this sport (no offense of course, I aspire to become one of you).
Can I safely use Tri Flow oil for the compression chamber and if not Tri Flow, what is safe/good to use. BTW, where is the "air compression seal"? Any advice to a newbie AP owner, what to use where, would be appreciated. Thanks again, todd.

Almost everyone I've seen recommending a lube for the 46m has said that Crosman Pellgun Oil is the safest bet, and so far it's suited mine just fine. I put a drop into the compression chamber about every tin or so, working the piston a dozen or more times without cocking the trigger to spread it around the piston seal while tipping the pistol to various angles. This drip goes onto the piston seal directly through the slot on the bottom of the cylinder when the piston is pulled all the way forward. You can just see the O-ring when the cocking lever is all the way forward. I also drop one, or sometimes two drops if the valve is feeling sticky, down through the breech port, and similarly work the trigger a few times, cocking, pressing home, and pulling the trigger to move the oil through that mechanism. Sometimes the release valve gets a bit sluggish and that's when I add the second drop. Besides that I have a couple of times (in the past 6 months) put a drop into the bottom of the trigger assembly area. It's not eating up oil, so not a huge issue there, just want to keep it feeling silky smooth.

As for the slanted trigger, the idea I think is to place the trigger perpendicular to the bone of the finger for more efficient contact. Just guessing, but it works for me. My 46m's stock slanted trigger felt a bit weird to me, not because it was slanted, but because it wasn't slanted enough as my finger comes down from the grip I made into the trigger area. The slanting contact between my finger bone and the stock trigger made for a mushy feel. So I made a much more slanted trigger out of a 3/8" stainless steel rod. Here's a drawing illustrating a couple of basic trigger/finger interface angles, comparing a vertical trigger and matching finger approach which might happen for some hands and some grips to a very slanted (similar to mine) trigger and top-down finger approach:



And here's how the real trigger looks on my pistol:



For my large-ish hand and long finger and my grip which pushes my hand up as high as possible relative to the barrel, my finger drops down towards the trigger. This angle feels completely natural, almost a 'transparent' fit between finger and trigger. It's going to be a very individual thing of course as there is a lot of range between anatomies. I'd suggest you use yours as stock for a month or more before jumping to anything different. That's what I did anyway. If you're not comfortable making a new trigger, giving yours to a good machinist along with some solid idea of what angle you'd like should result in an improvement. Try taking a picture of your finger on the trigger from the front of the pistol with the cocking lever all the way forward to get it out of the way. This might help in figuring out a proper angle for you. [/img]