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Gun modifications
Trimmed frameThe most frequently encountered Brocock pistols are the Orion 6 and the Target Trophy. Unfortunately the the design of these guns is such that it is easy for one of the cartridges to jam during ejection. The solution is to remove a small amount of metal from part of the blast deflector. This one modification will save you the most time during a competition.
Frame modification notes:
- Open the cylinder, inspect the area of the frame you want
to remove. Mark with pen.
- Tape up all slots, grooves etc . This is vital to prevent metal swarf from entering the mechanism.
- Remove the cylinder if you can (undo screw where cylinder hinges from frame), this may not be possible on some guns - it's normally on very tight. Otherwise, tape the cylinder so it cannot move.
- Cut away the minimum amount of metal necessary. I've had best results with a router bit on one of those mini drills ('Dremmel' or similar).
The trigger blade on all the Brocock's I've seen is quite narrow, thus after a hundred and fifty or so rounds your finger can get quite sore. A trigger shoe reduces the apparent trigger pull and makes the gun much more comfortable to fire. It is easily fitted and just needs to be screwed into place.
Hammer shoe
If you are actively engaged in Practical Pistol you should not be using the hammer at all - but if you need to it much easier if your pistol is fitted with hammer shoe. Unfortunately this is not one you can do yourself, as that hammer is hardened you have no way to fix the shoe (which needs to be screwed into hammer) without breaking something. The only practical solution is to ask Brocock to fit a new hammer from the target trophy line-up (this come comes with a fitted hammer shoe).
Grips
Many of the pistols come with wooden grips that are unsuitable for Practical Pistol. The problem is that, although the grips are very comfortable it is almost impossible to use a speed loader with them. With the Orion 6 the best solution is to buy some rubber grips for it (Brocock supplied). These are quite bit smaller and are made of a sticky rubber that is much easier to grip than wood. The grips supplied with the target trophy are better (just need a little modification to prevent cartridges catching during ejection). Unfortunately Orion 6 rubber grips do not fit the Target Trophy, and I have yet to ask Brocock if they do suitable rubber grips.
Maintenance
Guns
The guns are quite robust, being made from a higher quality alloy (might even be steel!) than the typical air pistol. The only thing that is likely to cause problems is the firing pin. Expected life is approx. 6500 rounds (according to Brocock - I'm not sure if this would include snap cap firings, but I guess it would). Another thing to check is the tightness of the firing pin collar. The collar screws into the gun frame, butting against a hardened steel washer. Obviously you don't want the collar to become unscrewed from the washer even slightly - all the impact of the hammer would then be taken on the thread. Unfortunatly the collar is hardened steel while the frame is only alloy . . . thus the threads in the frame will be sheared off, requiring a completely new frame.Cartridges
TACs have a bit of a reputation for being tempremental, however it is possible to fire several hundred in a day with no failures (technically knowns as 'clicks' or 'phuts'). There are two classes of failure:1: loss of pressure
Generally caused by worn or dirty seals, failure rate also goes up when charging pressure is less than 200bar. Frequently this can be heard after charging, but sometimes they can take hours to 'go flat'. Check all cartridges prior to firing - when in the cartridge box press down on the spool, if it gives the pressure is low. The trick is not to apply too much force, about a kilo or two. This process should be safe even with a pellet in the forcing cone - it's surprisingly difficult to fire by hand (normally requires a centerpunch and a sharp impact - try it, unloaded of course!).
This should weed out most failures, with the exception of those that only loose half their pressure (rare). Either clean or replace the seals.
2: refusal to fire
Normally a result of a worn firing pin, also more common when cartridge pressure exceeds 250bar. These 'light strike' cartridges are a slight safety risk - they have been known to go off a few minutes or hours later. Such cartridges should be de-capped and stored in closed boxes.
So how should you maintain your cartridges? Every ten firings I oil the front seal and put a drop in the end of the spool (should oil the internal seals on the next charging). 99% of the time the only seal you ever need to replace is the one at the front.
Special equipment
Cartridge boxesNothing special about this? Ah, but a well designed ammunition box can greatly reduce the reloading effort. Start with a standard 38 special/ 357 magnum 100 cartridge box:
Get some 10mm soft wall fixings and shorten them so they fit in the box and still have room for a TAC forcing cone on top:
This allows you to 'decap and pellet' your TACs at any time, while holding the TAC bodies ready for charging. All credit goes to 'Forester' for this most ingenious invention.
Forceps
The most frequent repair any Brocock shooter has to perform is replacing the front end seal on a TAC. The most irritating part of the operation is the removal of the old seal...this little gadget makes that simple. First, get yourself a pair of forceps:
Then grind away the tip a little (just enough so you can grab the front end seal directly).
20021208 added ammo box and forcep images