Removing a Front Sight

**Bull Grackle** · 12-03-2016, 09:13

I need to remove the front sight from my Crosman 'Shock Wave' air rifle. It is hard plastic and seems to be heat shrunk onto the barrel. Any ideas on how to do this without making a mess? I have checked YouTube and the only way I found was to hammer it off with a rubber maul and a block of wood. I would like to start with something less likely to damage the sight as I may want to reinstall it.

**Bull Grackle** · 14-04-2016, 18:07

Just used the low setting on my heat gun to soften it up and gently tapped it off with small block of wood and a hammer. Now for another problem. I just fitted a Gamo scope and can't seem to get it sighted in. Out of the box it shot 29 inches high and 22 inches right. After lots of pellets it shoots 81/2 inches high and 5 inches right at 35 meters with the elevation knob full down and the azimuth knob full left. I'm probably screwing up somehow but I can't figure it out. Any ideas other than a new scope.

**HJordaan** · 14-04-2016, 19:56

Is the scoped set up/mounted properly? If you dont want to spend the cash on a gunsmith to "bore sight" it then start off by making sure everything is level and straight. I have used a "waterpas" before...

**Ds J** · 14-04-2016, 23:32

Were the knobs dialled to "zero" before you mounted it?

**CZ Fan** · 22-04-2016, 20:48

Originally Posted by Bull Grackle

Just used the low setting on my heat gun to soften it up and gently tapped it off with small block of wood and a hammer. Now for another problem. I just fitted a Gamo scope and can't seem to get it sighted in. Out of the box it shot 29 inches high and 22 inches right. After lots of pellets it shoots 81/2 inches high and 5 inches right at 35 meters with the elevation knob full down and the azimuth knob full left. I'm probably screwing up somehow but I can't figure it out. Any ideas other than a new scope.

Couple of possibilities:
1. You might have over tightened the scope mounts on the scope and damaging the scope, I understand this can happen very easy.
2. Barrel Droop

You can resolve this with shimming, but be very careful, can also damage the scope very quickly. Best might be to buy adjustable scope mounts, then centre your scope optically, and then use the scope mount adjustments to get it on target as much as possible if not perfect, you can then do final adjustments with scope turrets

**CZ Fan** · 24-04-2016, 02:41

Sorry, ignore the barrel droop point, that will make it shoot low.

the other thing is gun might also have damaged scope, the shockwave shoots quite hard, also have one

is it still grouping ok?

**Bull Grackle** · 04-05-2016, 13:16

So after lots of adjusting the scope back and forth I finally take the Gamo scope off in preparation for returning it to the gun shop and what do I discover? The rifle barrel looks like a ski ramp. I was so focused on finding fault with the scope that I completely missed the bent barrel. Evidently one or two of the last few shots on the previous scope were made with the breech not completely closed and the resulting snap bent the barrel up. The shock of that might explain the failure of the previous Nikko Sterling scope. According to Pyramid, a USA air rifle website straightening an air rifle barrel is not uncommon. I guess this will be my next project unless I get lazy and find someone to do it for me. Thanks for the response to my initial post.