A few months ago I noticed that my Theoben Sirocco was no longer holding pressure in the gas strut. I’d bought this gun from my friend Tom Ciemiega, who had purchased it directly from Theoben in the early 90s. It was one of the very first generation Siroccos, and had been converted by Tom to Theoben’s improved HE strut and improved breech seal. It was actually Tom who had suggested the improved breech seal to Theoben after experiencing some problems with his gun. (More about the gun here.)
I tried recharging the gas strut with my hand pump, but it wouldn’t hold pressure. The modified high-pressure Schrader valve that Theoben uses as a fill valve seemed okay. It looked like it needed a proper rebuild, with new internal seals, and maybe a new piston seal, given the age of the gun. Well, it’s a 21 year old gun, and I suppose it couldn’t last forever without some maintenance. All the dealers I talked to suggested Dave Slade at Airgunwerks as the only man for the job. Dave trained at Webley, Theoben, Air Arms, Daystate, and Falcon, and spent many years at Beeman as their senior airgunsmith after emigrating to the US. Dave said his turnaround was currently about ten weeks for the work I’d requested, and so I sent my gun off to Dave in Tennessee.
Six days ago I got a call from Dave describing what needed to be replaced, telling me the charge for the repair and return shipping ($196) and telling me he’d already ordered the parts he didn’t have on hand. Given the cost of a comparable replacement- around $1100- this seemed eminently reasonable. I headed over to the PO and mailed a USPS money order off to Dave.
My Sirocco arrived back home today, almost ten weeks to the day since I sent it. Even before I remounted the scope (a 6x Burris compact Rimfire/Airgun scope) I fired a few pellets into my steel pellet trap. It’s shooting like new, and I can’t wait to take it afield.
n.b.: If you’re looking for one of these Burris 6x compact scopes- they stopped making it. Who knows why? Maybe it wasn’t a big seller. A lot of airgunners want really big zoom scopes these days. And yet I’m constantly reading of airgunners looking for one of these compacts, and paying as much as I paid new for a used one.