HW/Weihrauch Early 80's HW35E .22 cal

My first gun was a Lucznik Predom which had a lever. Must grow on you. This is my other Barakuda. I think they were all .22 cal.
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Few dings and in need of a breach seal.
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Have to open up and order some parts. Crow
 
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So, got the first shots in after the cleanup, deburr, relube and reassembly. All original parts apart from the new breech seal.

Hobbies shoot at:

165.5m/s / 543fps, for 10.6J / 7.8fpe

FTT's
shoot at:

143.5m/s / 471fps, for 9.8J / 7.2fpe

new entry, Superdomes, shoot at:

146.9m/s / 482fps, for 10.1J / 7.4fpe

So, both Hobbies and FTT's gained around 50fps / 11 % from the gun getting cleaned and lubed properly, while muzzle energies increased by about 25%. Not massive, but solid nonetheless.

Spreads are really small with Hobbies, FTT 5.54's and Superdomes, but larger with FTT 5.55's - I guess the biggest-head pellets suffer the most from the tight breech block.

Superdomes chamber beautifully, while FTT's are impossible to fully seat by thumb.

The 35 smokes, as a leather-sealed, neatsfoot oiled gun should. Still, spreads are in the 2- 3 fps range, as they should.

So, my 35 is now a 10 joule gun. Well under what a .22 cal HW35 should put out, but complications are many.

When the weather co-operates etc., I'll take a stab at 10 M shooting with the pellets tested so far.
 
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So, got the first shots in after the cleanup, deburr, relube and reassembly. All original parts apart from the new breech seal.

Hobbies shoot at:

165.5m/s / 543fps, for 10.6J / 7.8fpe

FTT's
shoot at:

143.5m/s / 471fps, for 9.8J / 7.2fpe

new entry, Superdomes, shoot at:

146.9m/s / 482fps, for 10.1J / 7.4fpe

So, both Hobbies and FTT's gained around 50fps / 11 % from the gun getting cleaned and lubed properly, while muzzle energies increased by about 25%. Not massive, but solid nonetheless.

Spreads are really small with Hobbies, FTT 5.54's and Superdomes, but larger with FTT 5.55's - I guess the biggest-head pellets suffer the most from the tight breech block.

Superdomes chamber beautifully, while FTT's are impossible to fully seat by thumb.

The 35 smokes, as a leather-sealed, neatsfoot oiled gun should. Still, spreads are in the 2- 3 fps range, as they should.

So, my 35 is now a 10 joule gun. Well under what a .22 cal HW35 should put out, but complications are many.

When the weather co-operates etc., I'll take a stab at 10 M shooting with the pellets tested so far.
🤞 for you on the accuracy. The power might be improved with a fresh spring and or piston seal. I'm sorry if it's already been stated, but what size transfer port is on that rifle?
 
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🤞 for you on the accuracy. The power might be improved with a fresh spring and or piston seal. I'm sorry if it's already been stated, but what size transfer port is on that rifle?
3.0 x 26mm. Perfect for synthetic seals, but not so good for leather seals.

Every source I've seen states that 3mm is the synth era and 4mm is the leather era TP diameter. So, it's weird why Weihrauch did this to this rifle.

But Mike upthread noted that he has several old, leather-seal era Weihrauchs with the small TP, so things are just about always more complex than meets the common knowledge eye.

It is fully expected that a correct-size, healthy synthetic piston seal plus a fresh mainspring would increase the power, but honestly: after the smack after smack after smack of surprises this gun has delivered, I'm not betting on anything. :)
 
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Thank you for those numbers - helpful benchmarks for the near-identical .177 gun that I'm monkeying with.

On the TP's...over 20 vintage HW 30's, 35's, 50's and 55's that had OEM leather piston seals live at my house. Every one of them has a 4mm port, EXCEPT the two HW 35's made after the 1970 German 7.5-joule power-restriction law, which are at 3mm.
 
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Thank you for those numbers - helpful benchmarks for the near-identical .177 gun that I'm monkeying with.

On the TP's...over 20 vintage HW 30's, 35's, 50's and 55's that had OEM leather piston seals live at my house. Every one of them has a 4mm port, EXCEPT the two HW 35's made after the 1970 German power-restriction law, which are at 3mm.
Well that explains the disparity in TPs we discovered working with that gun you're "Monkeying" with. I was wondering why your collection was different than what I was told and you figured it out. Thank you
 
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Those tooling marks boggle me & the grind/wire out of the "made in...Ive looked at a ton of these things to purchase & own 2 at present. Never seen 1 like that. Wonder if it was a factory reject that got into a workers hands , then the public. I have an early Tokai reborn LP guitar like that from Japan. It was not serial numbered & only a factory worker could have them in the Japan factory. He is my earliest 35 I have
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Well, the serial number is sharply and clearly pressed into the base of the barrel, so AFAIK, this gun got through the proper channels alright.
 
Been accuracy testing the leakiest HW barrel around, shooting from inside the back of my house out to the back patio, for discreet midwinter fun.

At 10 meters, seated offhand, using factory-provided iron sights, I am unable to keep either Hobbies or Superdomes inside an inch with five pellets; the better groups hover at around 30mm, which is unacceptable. A ragged hole would be something to work with. Offhand, with iron sights, the inch+ would be passable at 20 meters, or double the distance.

On some shot strings I start to get a cloverleaf but it never lasts for all five shots.

Shooting offhand with factory sights is obviously way harder than how most people assess their guns, but it works for me. Differences between guns, barrels, tunes, pellets and shooting techniques become apparent, and it's fun and directly applicable to the real world.

I think I'll don a peep sight on the HW35 yet to see if it makes a difference.
 
On some shot strings I start to get a cloverleaf but it never lasts for all five shots.
That's exactly what happened with the 177 R7 I just did. Little glimmers of hope here and there but then hope was dashed on the rocks of reality when it threw number 4 and or 5 and >1" away at 25 yards scoped. Also changing pellet types often moved the POI 4-6" from the last type. Not sure if yours does the same.

I'm sorry yours performed as you suspected. I was hoping to hear differently.

Best of luck to you