Look what the Springer Fairy brought this January: a 1981 HW35E .22 cal, with a 22” barrel.
I seek out old quality springers for many reasons, the most important being that desirable guns are no longer in production, or no longer produced with quality. But the pickings here are slim. A HW35, for instance, turns up roughly once per year, and I’ve never seen one this early, or in this caliber, until now.
Having been pretty much done with .177 cal spring guns, I was glad to score a .22 cal HW35.
With its lacquered, finger-grooved walnut stock, capped grip, and factory-installed sling mounts, this looks like an E model to me, but I’m not up on the myriad HW varieties, so this could be an L, as well?
“Mellrichstadt-Bay” stamped on the right side of the breech block, under ‘Weihrauch’ dated this gun to a degree, even pre-purchase. The serial number puts it at a production date of 1981. It’s the late leather seal era for the HW35’s. If this gun was just a couple of years younger, it would have had a synth seal and an increased stroke.
This small-engine gun is a whopping 120cm / ~48” long, or as long as my Hatsan 135! This is of course down to the 22.2” (measured) barrel, apparently the longest production springer barrel there is, or shall ever be. It is quite a reach to cock the gun, and it is a veritable pole to handle in tight quarters.
The HW35 weighs 3777g / 8.32lbs., which makes it a mid-weight gun in my book. I’m completely at ease with it, mass-wise. The length may be another matter, heh.
There are some minor scuffs in the stock finish, as well as a couple of surprisingly bad scratches on the barrel. Other than that, the blueing is mostly in great condition, there’s little rust, and the stock under the finish is perfect. Unlike many oldies, this gun obviously hasn’t spent years in cold storage, which makes life much easier, as far as corrosion control goes.
The seller was extremely curt on the gun history. I get the feel that this Weihrauch has been shot some over the decades, but not all that much, maybe a couple large tins or so in total. It also seems nothing has been done to the gun after it left the factory, which is a far better situation than some of the alternatives.
The barrel lock is sturdy and works perfectly (although in need of lubrication). There is no characteristic wear on the receiver face from the barrel lock “sear” rubbing on it on barrel returns.
The barrel breaks and travels silently and smoothly, like on a thoroughly broken in quality gun. I have heard complaints about the noisy cocking of HW35’s, but there’s none of that here.
There’s pretty heavy droop in the barrel, the biggest of any of my guns. We’ll see how the sighting in goes.
The short cocking slot the articulated cocking lever enables is an obvious boon to rigidity and stability, as is the two-screw stock attachment setup, with no rickety side screws in the thinnest part of the stock as on most guns.
The LOP of the 35 is a perfect, full 36cm. I wouldn’t be able to deal with the more modern, tiny Weihrauchs in the same power bracket.
Raising the new old gun for a shot, the stubby, almost bulbous front stock and the super-long barrel make the 35 feel much like my BSF54, but in a breakbarrel configuration. Barrel heavy it is. Likewise, the shot cycle is almost identical: a soft, elastic jolt at the end, which gives a leather-sealed gun away, all by itself.
The gun diesels pretty heavily, no surprise there. Pulling patches it seems the bore has never been cleaned, in its 44 years of life. Black-brown filth, reeking of classic burnt factory grease, covers the patches all over.
The first couple shots through the chrono tell me the gun is a tired old lady: FTT’s leave the barrel at 120m/s / 394fps, Hobbies at 141m/s / 463fps, for measly 7 joules / 5 fpe. You’d think this is a German limit gun, but there’s no Freimark anywhere on the gun.
My 1980’s D34 doubled its tiny ME from a simple clean / relube, no parts changed, so I’m not too worried. 80’s and older lubes have mostly turned into semi-dried glue by this time, and I guess the mainspring is fatigued, as well. I can already tell the breech seal is really flat and crumbly-looking.
I seek out old quality springers for many reasons, the most important being that desirable guns are no longer in production, or no longer produced with quality. But the pickings here are slim. A HW35, for instance, turns up roughly once per year, and I’ve never seen one this early, or in this caliber, until now.
Having been pretty much done with .177 cal spring guns, I was glad to score a .22 cal HW35.
With its lacquered, finger-grooved walnut stock, capped grip, and factory-installed sling mounts, this looks like an E model to me, but I’m not up on the myriad HW varieties, so this could be an L, as well?
“Mellrichstadt-Bay” stamped on the right side of the breech block, under ‘Weihrauch’ dated this gun to a degree, even pre-purchase. The serial number puts it at a production date of 1981. It’s the late leather seal era for the HW35’s. If this gun was just a couple of years younger, it would have had a synth seal and an increased stroke.
This small-engine gun is a whopping 120cm / ~48” long, or as long as my Hatsan 135! This is of course down to the 22.2” (measured) barrel, apparently the longest production springer barrel there is, or shall ever be. It is quite a reach to cock the gun, and it is a veritable pole to handle in tight quarters.
The HW35 weighs 3777g / 8.32lbs., which makes it a mid-weight gun in my book. I’m completely at ease with it, mass-wise. The length may be another matter, heh.
There are some minor scuffs in the stock finish, as well as a couple of surprisingly bad scratches on the barrel. Other than that, the blueing is mostly in great condition, there’s little rust, and the stock under the finish is perfect. Unlike many oldies, this gun obviously hasn’t spent years in cold storage, which makes life much easier, as far as corrosion control goes.
The seller was extremely curt on the gun history. I get the feel that this Weihrauch has been shot some over the decades, but not all that much, maybe a couple large tins or so in total. It also seems nothing has been done to the gun after it left the factory, which is a far better situation than some of the alternatives.
The barrel lock is sturdy and works perfectly (although in need of lubrication). There is no characteristic wear on the receiver face from the barrel lock “sear” rubbing on it on barrel returns.
The barrel breaks and travels silently and smoothly, like on a thoroughly broken in quality gun. I have heard complaints about the noisy cocking of HW35’s, but there’s none of that here.
There’s pretty heavy droop in the barrel, the biggest of any of my guns. We’ll see how the sighting in goes.
The short cocking slot the articulated cocking lever enables is an obvious boon to rigidity and stability, as is the two-screw stock attachment setup, with no rickety side screws in the thinnest part of the stock as on most guns.
The LOP of the 35 is a perfect, full 36cm. I wouldn’t be able to deal with the more modern, tiny Weihrauchs in the same power bracket.
Raising the new old gun for a shot, the stubby, almost bulbous front stock and the super-long barrel make the 35 feel much like my BSF54, but in a breakbarrel configuration. Barrel heavy it is. Likewise, the shot cycle is almost identical: a soft, elastic jolt at the end, which gives a leather-sealed gun away, all by itself.
The gun diesels pretty heavily, no surprise there. Pulling patches it seems the bore has never been cleaned, in its 44 years of life. Black-brown filth, reeking of classic burnt factory grease, covers the patches all over.
The first couple shots through the chrono tell me the gun is a tired old lady: FTT’s leave the barrel at 120m/s / 394fps, Hobbies at 141m/s / 463fps, for measly 7 joules / 5 fpe. You’d think this is a German limit gun, but there’s no Freimark anywhere on the gun.
My 1980’s D34 doubled its tiny ME from a simple clean / relube, no parts changed, so I’m not too worried. 80’s and older lubes have mostly turned into semi-dried glue by this time, and I guess the mainspring is fatigued, as well. I can already tell the breech seal is really flat and crumbly-looking.
