Sharp Innova Air Rifle

Sharp Innova Mk2 Air Rifle.

With thanks to Mick of http://www.micksguns.com for these pics:

Sharp Innova Air Rifle (boxed) 

With thanks to Louis.

Sharp Innova Air Rifle valve technical drawing 

With thanks to Louis.

Sharp Innova collection 

With thanks to Louis. He said:

"Second from the top is a MkII .177; the one below is a MkII .22 with an ally end piece/silencer adapter. Not original, but I think it looks quite good. 
Interestingly, the .177 has a shorter stock and no butt pad."

Sharp Victory at the top.

Custom Sharp Innova Air Rifle 

Sharp Innova stripdown 

With thanks to Louis. He says: "A droopy pump arm is probably due to a wrong pump rod length setting.
You will be able to adjust this.
The pump arm should over toggle / cam to keep itself shut.
Here's a detail of an "exploded diagram photo" I took a few weeks ago whilst servicing one of my Innova's.
It's still in pieces as I'm soon receiving an o-ring pump head to test with.

"Ped on [the Airgunbbs.com] is your man for seals.
Innova's are easy to take apart, just make sure you are careful and gentle with tapping the pins out at the front.
Use the correct roll punch pins. Lubricate the pins first with WD40, some advise to leave soak overnight

"The thing is that the arms of the plastic front piece can snap off if you aren't careful.
The two brass pieces of the valve housing may be Loctited in some guns (this one was).
It is very difficult to replace the pump cup. Not only because if does not come off without quite a bit of work, but also because there aren't any replacements."

Sharp Innova Air Rifle restoration 

With thanks to Louis. He says:

A very nice gentleman gave this Innova to me. It needed some work. I thought it would be nice to do a post with photos of the restoration.

My aim was to preserve the character of the gun; no full re-blue or stock strip (I am allergic to this, tbh, unless unavoidable).To get a nice honest, well working Innova, with open sights (luckily I have a few spare original ones).

Before photos

A "well used" specimen. An early Innova, with only "PAT. JAPAN & U.S.A" on the breech (later a few other countries were added).

Part of the breech is missing. Early Innova's had a transfer port tensioning screw here, which could crack the breech if overtightened. That's why this feature was removed from later versions of the Innova.

A bit of rust, not too bad.

Long live JB Weld. It's probably more of a cosmetic repair than functional, but it just doesn't feel right to have part of the breech missing.
I painted the JB Weld black once it had hardened.

I used 0000 grade steel wool and Ballistol gun oil to remove the rust spots, but I used a copper coin for the worst rust areas.

Touching up a few areas with cold blue. I used Perma Blue from Birchwood Casey in the past, but I find the German product Schnellbrüniering much better; it seems to be stronger and more durable. Stronger as in it turns to black almost instantly, whereas Perma Blue often doesn't seem to do much.
First I degrease with washing up liquid and hot water, then I degrease further with surgical spirits (easy to obtain from my vet clinic lol). Then I use cotton buds with cold blue, for retouching the relevant areas.

I cleaned the stock well, with surgical spirits. There was some foam padding on the inside of the pump handle, which was falling apart.
Under it appeared an original yellow Sharp sticker, which is a big bonus for me, being a bit of a purist.
The sticker was covered with black stuff (glue and dirt), but it came off nicely.
After cleaning the stock, I applied 3 layers of my favourite stock oil, CCL oil.
With one day between each layer.
I have left the original finish; the 3 layers of CCL oil will simply give it protection for the future, and they cover up some parts where the original finish was absent due to wear & tear of the last 40 years.

Original yellow sticker 

Luckily the valve came apart quite easy on this one. (The gun didn't hold air)
I used a mole grip on the valve body (with thick leather padding!) and a well fitting punch pin in the transfer port hole.

Luckily this front end piece is in very good shape.
It's the early type with three 2,5 mm grub screws, to align/stabilise the barrel.
One on each side, and one at the top.
I think this lead to cracks, like the transfer port tensioning screw in the breech. It was replaced in later Innova's with an o-ring around the end of the barrel, if I'm not mistaken?

I am not sure where to put the o-ring (or if I should simply use the grub screws). Probably the o-ring should go around the barrel with the end piece in place:
squeeze the o-ring between barrel and end piece, to keep everyting in place?

I resealed the valve. I had some good quality polyurethane seals in my Sharp spares bag.
Made by Lawrie Amatruda. For the ball bearing.
I decided to leave the o-ring that seals the two brass valve parts, as it still felt good (not hardened, not flattened).
I put some pellgunoil on it.

This Innova didn't have a rubber ring to dampen the impact of the stem.
I put one in.

Instead, there used to be some rubber in this trigger part, but it degraded over time.
It's one of the things that was changed in later versions of the Innova.

End product:

I tested the gun this morning, when my ladyfriend had left the house.

We don't have power limits over here;
12.9 ft/lbs at 5 quite easy pumps, using 15.89 gr JSB.

I haven't tested with more pumps yet, but I think I might actually not do that, as I use my pumpers with 4 or 5 pumps, almost never more (for ease).

Last things to do:
- find a suitable o-ring for the end of the barrel (to stabilise inside the end piece, instead of the three grubscrews).
- enjoy outdoors

Sharp Innova Air Rifle stripdown (video, Indonesian) 

First posted on Youtube by Alfin Motors.

Venom Viper Innova Air Rifle 

With thanks to Dom.