HW55 is the one

[kingfisher61]

• One of the few HW 55’s with double-set triggers in captivity. This one is built around the 55’s original short breech block.

Mike D

That DST 55 is the cats meow!!! It's on my bucket list of airguns. Your collection is mighty fine.

And....yes....you not posting on this thread would raise concerns about your well being! Lol. Glad to hear from you. 

JC

Also.....Shareef.....told you you would love that mint 55M! ; )

 

[Pneumatic-Addict]

I Wanted it but not that bad....lol.

Same here. For that kind of money you'd be better off to buy one on eGun and pay the additional 400 € to get it to the US.

 

[c801tfd]

I am very new new to the airgun sport/hobby, the bug bit me when I finally decided get new seals in order to to shoot the only air rifle I have ever used (Feinwerbau Model 124 Sport Deluxe edition, with Blue Ribbon Scope imported by Beeman). I have never owned or purchased and airgun before and this FWB my Dad purchased new in 1979 to deal with pests around the house.

After my Dad passed away in September 2017. In October 2017 my 4 other brothers and 2 sisters were helping to move my mother closer to my oldest sisters home. While packing my Mom came up to me with the FWB and said "I am sure your Dad wanted you to have this". I did not know how special it was until looking it up on the internet, I will not be letting it go ever as it will be passed down to one of my two boys. 

Figuring I would need to balance things out for my two sons and because the bug has hit me I decided to finally break down and look for another FWB air rifle or something similar, I started looking on the internet, wow the prices they want for these old FWB's and the new air rifles just blows me away. One day I hope to buy new but until then I started looking at our local sporting goods store (not chain type) and in pawn shops for a good used air rifle. This past weekend I stumbled upon the air rifle in a pawn shop in fact I stumbled upon 3 but only 2 caught my attention the Weihrauch HW55, a Beeman Import (see pictures) and a Beeman R1 (went bak and purchased on Monday).

The pawn shop owner where I found the tow rifles said these type of items don't really sell well and I would have to agree based on the amount of dust they both had on them. In addition they both were dirty and really need some TLC. The shop owner said if I was interested in either or both he would make me a really good deal. I told him I liked both and wanted to know what he would do for the HW55 since it had the lower of the two prices $40.00 as compared to the Beeman R1 price tag of $270.00. 

Well he did not disappoint on the his promise to make a deal, I got the HW55 for $20.00 cash on Saturday and passed on the R1 for the time being (he only wanted to come down $50.00). After researching the Beeman R1 I decided to go back and give it a better look and walked out of the shop on Monday only paying $100.00 for the R1, the shop owner told me he was giving me a "black Friday Blowout Special" but I had to take it today at that price.

Now back to the Weihrauch HW55 again I dont know much about it, other than it does shoot well, however, not sure on accuracy just yet and the cheap Gamo scope seen in attached pictures will be removed when I break it down to see the internals. I did find the Weirauch data base and input the S/N # and it is estimated to have been manufactured in 1987 (I also added it to the data base list) Other simple things I know now is it is a Beeman import (Made in West Germany), it also has an odd aluminum rail on the bottom of the stocks forearm. I do not know if the piston seal is leather just yet, but the breech seal sure looks like leather (brown and ugly looking). 

One day I hope to find the missing items such as the front and rear sights and parts or someone to give it a tune back to close to OEM specs. Unfortunatley locating parts looks like another hobby all to itself. 

Again I am not sure of what I have but based on what I have seen so far about this vintage air rifle it is a keeper and possibly will be the one my youngest son ends up with in the distant future. 

Regards,

 

[r1lover]

c801tfd,

You scored a very nice HW55M and one with a rather uniquely shaped stock IMO. I have the identical twin (also scoped for now) and compared to the majority of other HW55M's mine and yours have slightly more drop at the heal and toe which, for me, provides a more comfortable head and shoulder position. Here is a pic of my mate to yours and another HW55 for comparison. I installed an adjustable butt pad on the second gun to get more drop. It's actually more now than the top gun provides but the top gun is enough different from most other 55's that I did not feel an adjustable pad was warranted.

Go on eBay and search for Weihrauch to find the proper diopter rear sight for your gun. I'm 99.99% certain your gun has 11mm dovetails so be sure the rear sight you buy does too. Older HW guns had 13mm dovetails and require the more difficult-to-find 13mm base.

You killed it on price so don't waste time looking for a proper rear sight any cheaper than about $135. Just buy it! The front hooded sight shouldn't be hard to find or swipe the one off the R1 and put the scope on that gun. For the purest combination you'll eventually want to slip a circular sight insert into the front hood to surround the bull on the 10m targets so your sight picture looks like this....also not hard to find.

WELCOME TO THE HW55 OWNER'S CLUB, LOL!

And BTW, break that barrel open (do not cock the gun, just open the barrel), smear a drop of oil around that leather breach seal and stand the gun on the muzzle in a gun case in a corner where it won't fall over and let the oil soak in and swell the leather for a day, then repeat once more.

If/when you get inside the gun you'll want to treat the leather piston seal with a silicon oil as well, or maybe someone with more experience with leather piston seals can advise you on treating it through the transfer port (I changed all my leather piston seals to synthetic so can't advise you on that) 

 

[c801tfd]

Wow, yours is very nice indeed, that stock on yours is awesome and like you said very different from the second picture you posted.

Thank you for all the tips on parts and how to take care of the leather seals, I will be going home to break it open, oil the breech seal and let it stand on the barrel as you described, for some reason I saw that somewhere and told myself to do this and for got last night. I will also be storing it in hard case with barrel broke open in the future. 

 

[MDriskill]

C801tfd: OK - you officially get the prize for bargain of the century! Beautiful classic target air rifle...basically for free! Wow.

As R1 lover mentioned, that is a late-model gun with improved stock geometry; earlier 55M's don't have as much drop at the heel of the stock. The later version like yours works better for most folks.

A few words about sights:

+ Your late gun definitely has the "11 mm" scope grooves. The old HW match rear sights were made in both 11mm and 13mm widths, so if you get one of these be sure to verify it's the right model. 

+ If you aren't fanatic about OEM accessories, Anschutz sights, both front and rear, fit just fine on the HW 55. They are somewhat easier to find and IMHO have certain functional advantages.

+ This shot shows an HW 55M with an HW sight on top, and one with an Anschutz sight on the bottom. The Anschutz uses an 18mm thread on the securing sleeve, while the older HW design is 17mm. There are still a full range of accessories made for 18 mm sights, such as the neat and inexpensive clear acrylic ring inserts seen in the photo. With the 17mm sight, you will be limited to the original Weihrauch metal inserts.





+ Here is an HW rear diopter sight. Nice sight for sure, but note how it drops down below the top line of the receiver, limiting where your thumb can go! Also, the sight is limited to one of three positions (the big flat thumbscrew on the top front of the sight, fits into one of the three holes on top of the receiver).





+ Here is an Anschutz rear sight on an HW 55. It's a bit more compact, adjusts very precisely, and leaves the space behind the receiver tube open. The mount is a simple and very strong clamping action that can be placed in any position you want. These were made in several models back in the day, which look different but work basically the same. The eyeshade on this one is an aftermarket accessory.





Both rear sights use the same standard thread (9.5 x 1.0mm) for the eyepiece. These will interchange between brands, and there is a whole universe of cool adjustable-opening irises and other accessories made for them (my avatar pic is this same sight, using an old Gehmann iris with magnifying lens).

 

[MDriskill]

WELL...now that you guys have me all frothed up over HW 55's, a few more responses to c801tfd's comments:

+ As r1lover mentioned, just oil the leather breech seal and it will probably out-live both of us. HW used leather on the 55, instead of plastic as on their other models, because the breech face fits physically closer to the standing breech. 

+ Your gun could have a plastic piston seal, but more likely leather (HW kept leather in the 55 for years after their sporter models had changed, as they believed it to be smoother shooting). I like to clean these up, soak in silicone oil overnight, and then blot off any excess silicone (which is a great leather-to-metal lube; but a TERRIBLE metal-to-metal lube. You do NOT want any excess stuff sloshing around inside). Then give the seal a light coat of moly grease around its sides, and re-install.

+ You can convert to a plastic piston seal if you want, via a metal adapter. It uses the same 25mm seal as the HW 30/R7 family. I personally prefer to keep the leather one if they are in good shape.

+ Jim Maccari makes GREAT spring and guide sets for the HW 55, which come with all the lubes you need. I've done several and they are great. Vortek also makes kits for it but I've never tried one. https://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/page/page/251327.htm

+ The accessory rail is a standard size used by Anschutz and many other makes. I like to keep a little target bipod on mine; looks good, adds a touch of weight to the front, and lets you set the gun down without banging the wood. But you can fit all kinds of fun stuff there - hand stops, target sling anchors, etc. - or even engage your Olympic "free rifle" fantasies with a big old Anschutz palm rest like this one, LOL.

 

[drw909]

Great information on the HW55. I have a HW55T that dates to 1970 and is shooting just fine. Every time I get it out I can't help but marvel at its accuracy. I count myself as very lucky to own it.

I have no idea if it has a leather piston seal or not and I really do not want to dissemble it. Is a drop of silicon chamber oil every once in a while as preventative maintenance advisable?

 

[Moog]

A couple of drops of silicon oil down the compression chamber every 500 shots would be a good idea. Leather seals require more lubrication than synthetic seals.

 

[MDriskill]

The OEM piston seal in a 1970-vintage HW 55 would absolutely be leather. They didn't switch to plastic until late in the HW 55 game - the late '90's.

My favorite lube for leather-sealed guns is actually the old Beeman "Ultra Lube," if you can find it. It's pretty stiff and may have some neatsfoot in it...not sure.

If you use straight silicone oil, use 30 or 35 weight (which may be noted as "350 CST" or "425 CST," respectively, on the container; silicone oil uses a different viscosity classification system). I get mine at a hobby shop that sells radio-control model cars - they use it in the shock absorbers. And apply it VERY sparingly - as I noted above, you absolutely do NOT want this stuff getting into the metal parts inside the action.

https://www.rccaraction.com/silicone-oil-explained-weight-w-wt-versus-cst/#visitor_pref_pop

 

[KWK]

I think ultra lube is silicone with moly added. 

 

[c801tfd]

Mr. Driskill, thank you for the additional information on the HW55, you and R1lover have been a great help to someone who just got started out in the airgun sport/hobby. I feel very lucky to have walked into that shop last weekend, all I knew was it was sitting there in the middle of a bunch of cheap plastic stock bb and pellet guns that were piled on the floor of his shop. I knew of Weihrauch from reading about them while looking for another FWB 124 so that each of my sons could have one. In reading about the Weihrauch brand I knew the HW35(E) was a very reliable rifle but I knew nothing of the HW55. I also knew of the HW50 from reading about it on Airguns of Arizona, I remember someone commenting that they needed to bring the 55 back. Well imagine my surprise to find a 55 last weekend, I wasn’t sure I wanted it but glad I own it now. One day I hope to find an original HW50 not the newer one in current production.I just happened on the 55 as it was 1 of 3 rifles with wood stocks this shop had (like wood on rifles).

This HW55 is very special to because it is the first air rifle I have ever purchased making it number 1 in my heart but number 2 overall to the Feinwerkbau 124 Sport Deluxe I inherited from my father in 2017 and until this year the FWB was the only air rifle I ever shot or owned. 

I have not been able to sit down with it the rifle for a few days so I have yet to understand what it looks like inside but will soon. I have a hunch it has a leather piston seal because it appears the breech seal is made of leather (looks very mashed dark and somewhat dry). 

My hope is the piston seal is leather and I have no designs on changing to a synthetic seal as long as it (leather seal is good). I have also opened the breach as suggested by R1lover, to save the breech seal if possible.

I have been wondering what other options were out there for sights and it is nice to see there are a few if OEM parts can’t be found, also I now know what will work in the rail slot. 

I do know after my reading on kits I will be using ARH/Jim Macarri’s product as they appear to be the standard for quality and reliability.

On a final note since I had scoured the other locations in town, I went back to this shop this same shop on Veterans Day since I was off to see what the other 2 wood stock rifles were. One was a made in China Beeman something, the made in China shut me down. The other was a Beeman Model 250 in .177 with the updated safety. The date of manufacture was 03/80 (see photos).

Information about the 250 is limited or non existent, but I have come to understand it is the Beeman version of the Diana RWS Model 45. On this one he wanted $160.00, but after we talked about our military service he came down to $120.00 for me, this time I did not push for a better deal as I feel the shop owner have established a good relationship and he needed to have a win to keep things equal. Well I guess I will be busy refurbishing the items in my new favorite hobby, air rifles and my boys ages 17 and 15 will enjoy them as well.

Regards

Elroy

 

[MDriskill]

Elroy: we are grateful for your service - happy Veteran's Day (a bit late) - and congrats on another bargain purchase!

The Diana 45 is another very fine rifle, but one I know much less about than the HW 55. It might be worth starting a new thread to take advantage of the experts on the forum. I can tell you it's a quite powerful, reliable, and well-regarded design though. i don't know that airgun collectors value different markings to the extent firearm collectors do, but FWIW the 45 is rather rare with the "Beeman 250" logo.

I forgot to mention earlier, that the serial on your HW 55 indicates 1987 production.

 

[wijib]

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to the HW55. Some of you already know that I acquired an HW55M and subsequently restored it. The stock was pretty beat and there was some pitting on the breech block and compression tube so I had that fixed and re-blued everything. The only flaw (if you want to call it that is that the seam between the end block and the receiver is no longer "invisible". This was due to the bluing company working on the compression tube separately from the end block and not assembled. The result was an infinitesimal rounding of the edges during buffing. This is something that everyone who gets their guns re-blued should take note of. As for me, I'm not in the least concerned about it as the resultant gun turned out great and is IMHO beautiful the way it is. I also refinished the stock - steaming out the million or so dents (some of which were massive), sanding, staining, and applying a hand rubbed oil finish (Napier's London Oil). More than a month's work just on the stock. I used a leather piston seal, synthetic breech seal (very tricky to install as the breech is milled at an angle), and Maccari spring. Please note that the Macarri spring guide was too wide at the base and when installed did not allow the gun to cock. I used the original steel spring guide and it works very nicely. I will work on the plastic spring guide later and have it turned down in thickness then install it at a later date. Some photos of the finished product:

 

[r1lover]

Bill,

You work magic with wood, my friend. VERY nice job. Your guns is beautiful!

And yes, the point you make about instructing a gunsmith to keep the tub and end cap assembled before polishing is very important AND INTUITIVE! It is amazing the gunsmith didn't figure that out himself before beginning the project.

 

[mj102]

Hey Bill awesome job on the stock. Your 55 looks amazing. Thanks for sharing the pictures ! Love those vintage 55’s. Mike

 

[kingfisher61]

Bill

Awesome job! Love the 55!!

JC

 

[wijib]

Bill,

You work magic with wood, my friend. VERY nice job. Your guns is beautiful!

And yes, the point you make about instructing a gunsmith to keep the tub and end cap assembled before polishing is very important AND INTUITIVE! It is amazing the gunsmith didn't figure that out himself before beginning the project.

Thank you very much for your kind words.

Bill

 

[wijib]

Hey Bill awesome job on the stock. Your 55 looks amazing. Thanks for sharing the pictures ! Love those vintage 55’s. Mike

Hey Mike, many thanks for your comments. I'm lucky that I know how to finish wood. But smart enough not to make a living doing it. LOL It's hard work!

Bill

 

[wijib]

Bill

Awesome job! Love the 55!!

JC

Appreciate your kind words John. I respect your knowledge of the venerable HW55.

Bill