HW/Weihrauch HW 97 Barrel Cleaning

[Motorman]

For decades of spring piston airgun ownership I’ve made a habit of pushing a felt pellet down into the bore (from the breech) about 1/8”, filling it up with Ballistol, and gently pushing it thru the bore with either a wood dowel or a brass rod. Two or three of those followed by one dry one removes ugly black stuff and leaves the rifling with a nice thin layer of corrosion protection. I am somewhat stymied about how to do that with my recently-acquired HW97. The muzzle has a (?) muzzle brake of some sort attached to it that seems to preclude pushing a pellet in from that end and the breech just isn’t accessible to push a pellet thru from that end as I’ve done in the past. So, what’s the drill here?

Motorman
Eastern MO

 

[Sqwirl57]

A Patch Worm kit works well. Stick a straw through the muzzle weight and then feed the line through the breech end and pull one of the felt buttons through

 

[cjtamu]

Well, you can do it the way you described. You just have to take the entire gun apart LOL. I just ran a barrel jag through HW77 that I had apart to fix severe dieseling issue, so I know it works. But most times I use a Patchworm. Just keep your fingers out of the loading port.

 

[fusion]

That front cap on the muzzle weight has a hex form on the central hole. Use a metric hex wrench to remove it, then you will be able to have access to the felt pellet you push through. I use a patch worm brand cleaning tool on mine.

 

[Sqwirl57]

That front cap on the muzzle weight has a hex form on the central hole. Use a metric hex wrench to remove it, then you will be able to have access to the felt pellet you push through. I use a patch worm brand cleaning tool on mine.

7mm if I remember correctly

 

[Snapshot46]

If you happen to have a string grass trimmer around your garage, take a piece of your trimmer line a little longer than your barrel. Tie a string to one end and then tie a cleaning patch to the string. Feed the trimmer line from the muzzle end down to the breech. I like the trimmer line with the twist to it as it is a little stiffer and easier to feed down my barrel. Once you are ready to pull the trimmer line with string and the patch thru the barrel, squirt it with some Ballistol and pull it through with the attached patch. Do this 2-3 times and then pull a dry patch thru and then you are all set. I hope I'm describing this clearly enough. Its pretty simple and Works about the same as a patch worm kit and its somewhat cheaper if you have the material lying around.

 

[bustachip]

I have a otis kit and a patch worm, the otis works way better. It you’re worried about it closing on your fingers just cut a small block of wood or delrin about a 1/4 or a little bigger thick, just long enough to fit in the breach opening. Now cock the rifle and put the block in then slide the compression tube up against it, now it’s safe.
I use a rifle vise, but you could just lay it on it’s side while cleaning. Now cut a section of plastic straw to go in the muzzle up against the crown and sticking out of the muzzle 1/2” or so. Now feed the otis or patch worm in and out of the breach, attach a 2” patch (is what I use) and put a little ballistol on it and pull thru several times, changing patches and adding ballistol until clean, then pull a few dry patches and done. Been doing this way for years never had a problem and takes maybe 15mins. I only clean if the groups open up that doesn’t look normal to me.