It's been a while since I finished a rifle, but right now I'm very close. (that's the mechanical part, haven't started on the stock yet, boring..)
Here are a few pictures:
And now the part I'm having trouble with:
A tubes slides in the barrel, blocking the hole which you see in the picture. When slid back, a BB can enter through the hole and my plan was to have a tube with BB's under spring pressure connected to the hole, so that to reload, you'd only have to pull back the tube and push it forward again, moving the BB into the barrel. Note: I use steel BB's
The problems;
1. When done as described, upon pulling back the tube all the BB's enter the barrel because either the spring pressure is too high or too low.
My solution: Have a much longer spring so that the pressure remains more constant. Con: It would take up a lot more space and I can't bend the brass tube very well ( to fold it alongside the barrel for example ) without it deforming.
I also tried to knock a dent in the barrel so that the first BB would stay in place, but this didn't work.
2. Should one BB successfully enter the barrel, it can still roll out. I've tried using magnets, but since the barrel is also steel, the magnetic field gets too dispersed/weakened for it to hold the BB in place.
My solution: I can't say that I have a good one.
I can think of a few more complex solutions that would work for the reloading, but I thought maybe one of you has a better (simpler) fix for this issue?
