Funny, I just cleaned out an HW35 where the piston was also entombed in Moly and some sort of white lithium grease. The barrel is wrapped in black shrink tube, so possibly another one of Robert Law's accurized guns.
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HW/Weihrauch Your grandpa's HW 30
- Thread starter MDriskill
- Start date
Funny, I just cleaned out an HW35 where the piston was also entombed in Moly and some sort of white lithium grease. The barrel is wrapped in black shrink tube, so possibly another one of Robert Law's accurized guns.
That's what people call a "Lube tune". They try to smother the twang out of the gun with tar or heavy grease. It only works so long before it diesels enough to ruin the piston seal. I'm sure you're aware of this. I'm just pointing this out for the newer spring gunners.
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Wow! That's a lot of wear on the left side of the breech block.Well, here she is...guts all cleaned up and ready for Maccari-fication. Stay tuned...!
View attachment 512857
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Yeah. This gun does have a set of breech shims, but - unless ARH did 'em - they may not be original. Most older barrel-cockers, even beautiful pre-war ones, just have the breech block plopped in naked betwixt the jaws like this. I guess they figgered the wear wasn't visible when the barrel was closed? 
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That's remarkableYeah. This gun does have a set of breech shims, but - unless ARH did 'em - they may not be original. Most older barrel-cockers, even beautiful pre-war ones, just have the breech block plopped in naked betwixt the jaws like this. I guess they figgered the wear wasn't visible when the barrel was closed?
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Well here she is back together. The shot cycle after excavating all the goop, re-conditioning the leather seal, and installing the Maccari kit is GREAT. Haven't chrono'd it yet, but there's truly no comparison to the "before" behavior.
The blueing had been scraped thin, and turned brown, on much of the barrel. I used Brownell's "Oxpho Blue" on that and the improvement is amazing. First time I've played with this stuff but won't be the last.
The peep sight is an old "ARH 624" as discussed above. The fit to the gun's grooves was a bit indifferent, so had to slide it forward a bit, but seems good now.
Am having some weird issues with stock fit...maybe not this gun's original wood? It rocks back and forth a bit, making it hard to keep the attachment screws snug. Also the front sight wobbles a bit in the transverse dovetail...any comments on those issues is welcome!
The blueing had been scraped thin, and turned brown, on much of the barrel. I used Brownell's "Oxpho Blue" on that and the improvement is amazing. First time I've played with this stuff but won't be the last.
The peep sight is an old "ARH 624" as discussed above. The fit to the gun's grooves was a bit indifferent, so had to slide it forward a bit, but seems good now.
Am having some weird issues with stock fit...maybe not this gun's original wood? It rocks back and forth a bit, making it hard to keep the attachment screws snug. Also the front sight wobbles a bit in the transverse dovetail...any comments on those issues is welcome!
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Just for giggles, here are the two custom Air Rifle Headquarters custom Williams sights mentioned above, in action. The "ARH 624" above on the HW 30S, and the slightly taller "ARH 834T" with finger knobs below, on a contemporary HW 50S. (Also note the similar bad re-finish job on each stock, LOL...)
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Don't feel bad. It's hard to not to get a bad refinish on beech stocks. They're tough to get a nice finish on. Stains don't take well to them. The factory basically spray paints them with a tinted clear finish.
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I will note that the HW 30 (which current stock finish was there when I got it) looks quite a bit better than the HW 50 (which I did myself many years ago), LOL. Full credit to the previous owner.
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I noticed on one of my older HW’s the breech shims wear the inside of the jaws and cause the breech block sides to rub against the jaws. I added another shim to compensate for this. My theory is someone was using silicone chamber oil on the breech area causing it to wear faster.Yeah. This gun does have a set of breech shims, but - unless ARH did 'em - they may not be original. Most older barrel-cockers, even beautiful pre-war ones, just have the breech block plopped in naked betwixt the jaws like this. I guess they figgered the wear wasn't visible when the barrel was closed?
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Perhaps the “ rocking issue “ is due to a high spot in the stock channel.? Some blue chalk, lipstick, or any other medium that transfers easily co indentify , then scrape lightly until offending area is level. Had similar issue with dovetails…an automatic center punch in the bed created small raised areas that tightened the sight. Cool tools, thanks for sharing. John
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Thanks gents! I will give both the breech jaw and stock suggestions a try.
The front of the action sat a bit lower in the wood, so I put a thin pad of stiff cork under the flat bracket the front stock screw threads into. It feels like it helped, but I need to shoot it a bit and see how things hold up.
The front of the action sat a bit lower in the wood, so I put a thin pad of stiff cork under the flat bracket the front stock screw threads into. It feels like it helped, but I need to shoot it a bit and see how things hold up.
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Nice job Mike! Really enjoyed this thread. Here are my three.
1977 Beeman stamped HW30S
1986 R7
1983 R7 scoped
1977 Beeman stamped HW30S
1986 R7
1983 R7 scoped
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This is a good tip, thank you. This might help diagnose an 86 R7 I'm working on. I'm experiencing unusual accuracy issues with it. I noticed the action rocks in the stock before tightening. This is about all I left that I can change. I've never had this issue before but its something I'll look into. Thanks for the tranfer idea. I was considering bedding it, but that's a lot of work and it's not my rifle.
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To be honest, I don't remember! It's a box of stuff I've had forever, that I use to adjust saxophone keys and such. The sheet I used is about 1/16" thick, and I used a bit of low-tack double-sided tape (made for photo mounting, etc.) to secure it. Based on a quick google, cork sheet is easy to find in many thicknesses.
But the main problem was exactly what JohnTaylor noted - a high spot in the inletting- which was self-inflicted! When I first dropped the action out of the stock, a bit of wood which had cracked through over the years (circled) fell out. I didn't get it quite flush when I epoxied it back - immediately noticeable when eyeing the stock from the front. Some judicious sanding has improved things quite a bit.
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It's amazing the amount of stuff we accumulate over the years. I might try a strip of old leather belt if there's too much wood to relieve.
Unfortunately it's been too windy and gonna be too windy for conclusive testing in the next few days. I miss my basement range.
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So anyway, THIS grandpa had fun working on this and learned a lot! Here's some of the stuff I did...
1. Snugged up the loose front sight, with the help of a thin brass shim (and KWK's tips).
2. Touched up the barrel's scraped-up blueing with Brownell's Oxpho-Blue. This stuff is a revelation - easy to use, looks GREAT.
3. New breech seal courtesy of the previous owner, still working great.
4. The thin wood and shallow steel cup at the front attachment screw are IMHO a weak point of this old design - the deeper fore end on newer guns is much better. I repaired a hairline crack, fortified the inletting around the cup with thin superglue, and used a cork shim under the screw bracket to (theoretically) distribute the load equally.
5. Reconditioned the leather piston seal with an overnight soak in Motorhead's silicone/neatsfoot mix. The leather sprung back nicely and is sealing well so far.
6. Cleaned out the gobs of ancient moly grease mucking up the action.
7. Installed a Maccari spring and guide and buttoned the rear of the piston. Sparingly lubed with moly on the seal sides and piston rear, and a VERY thin coat of tar on the center 2/3 of the spring.
8. Removed open rear sight and added a period-correct "ARH 624" WIlliams peep. Fit was loose and slightly canted, but a sliver of .003 brass shim in one dovetail fixed it, and let me move it rearward to a better location.
9. Took off the ugly sling swivels, cleaned and waxed the stock (rear swivel stud still looks better than a hole in the wood though!).
Done fooling with it for now! Will post some numbers after I've shot it in a bit, but between the holidays and the weather that might be a while.
1. Snugged up the loose front sight, with the help of a thin brass shim (and KWK's tips).
2. Touched up the barrel's scraped-up blueing with Brownell's Oxpho-Blue. This stuff is a revelation - easy to use, looks GREAT.
3. New breech seal courtesy of the previous owner, still working great.
4. The thin wood and shallow steel cup at the front attachment screw are IMHO a weak point of this old design - the deeper fore end on newer guns is much better. I repaired a hairline crack, fortified the inletting around the cup with thin superglue, and used a cork shim under the screw bracket to (theoretically) distribute the load equally.
5. Reconditioned the leather piston seal with an overnight soak in Motorhead's silicone/neatsfoot mix. The leather sprung back nicely and is sealing well so far.
6. Cleaned out the gobs of ancient moly grease mucking up the action.
7. Installed a Maccari spring and guide and buttoned the rear of the piston. Sparingly lubed with moly on the seal sides and piston rear, and a VERY thin coat of tar on the center 2/3 of the spring.
8. Removed open rear sight and added a period-correct "ARH 624" WIlliams peep. Fit was loose and slightly canted, but a sliver of .003 brass shim in one dovetail fixed it, and let me move it rearward to a better location.
9. Took off the ugly sling swivels, cleaned and waxed the stock (rear swivel stud still looks better than a hole in the wood though!).
Done fooling with it for now! Will post some numbers after I've shot it in a bit, but between the holidays and the weather that might be a while.
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