Vintage “Groovy Stringers”

[cjtamu]

Jaydee and KWK thanks for the info. Two 2240 XL carbine builds, 1968 Winnie 435, HW97 long, HW35E, and Hatsan from BoG within the last month have me not hunting in particular right now. Told BoG last night I need to get what I have now sorted. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t buy one if the right gun came along though LOL. As far as the Barakuda yeah, just for the cool factor. What a crazy idea. I’d shoot it on special occasions. New Year’s etc. Sans ether obviously ha!

 

[jkingrph]

They make the rifle go, BOOM! The gun is designed to be INTENTIONALLY dieseled by igniting the ether fumes. No, I have not and will not do it... It can be fired without using that effect but needless to say when ether is used it's a dramatic difference in fps. Very rare air rifle especially with the viles and round shot.

I suspect those vials are somewhat of a collectors item. I read about the diesel gun many years ago but have never seen one or heard of one for sale.

 

[beerthief]

This one's groovy. Sitting in the box since the 80's.
I have a couple others
View attachment 322380

YIKES! imagine what the USPS / UPS would do to that boxed gun today .

 

[MDriskill]

I love the classic German fore arm finger groove! Having small hands, I enjoy the secure feeling of "sinking into" the wood a bit. Also, you will usually find that the fore-aft center of the groove is the balance point of the gun (with iron sights). Makes it easy to carry, and sliding your fingers to the back of the groove when shooting gives the ideal slight muzzle-heavy "hang."

Another ARH HW 55S. The Williams sight is a special model and the correct OEM one for this example.

An early HW 55T.

A pair of classic HW 35's.

Pre-war Diana model 27.

DIana model 50/b.

 

[DualMagMike]

I suspect those vials are somewhat of a collectors item. I read about the diesel gun many years ago but have never seen one or heard of one for sale.

Not sure I have seen any other viles TBH and certainly not the box which is nearly full. Some would even enjoy having the round shot. The round shot was advocated by some as because occasionally the detonation while using the ether would blow the head of a pellet clean off leaving the skirt in the barrel.

 

[Bear-of-Grayling]

I love the classic German fore arm finger groove! Having small hands, I enjoy the secure feeling of "sinking into" the wood a bit. Also, you will usually find that the fore-aft center of the groove is the balance point of the gun (with iron sights). Makes it easy to carry, and sliding your fingers to the back of the groove when shooting gives the ideal slight muzzle-heavy "hang."

Another ARH HW 55S. The Williams sight is a special model and the correct OEM one for this example.
View attachment 322497

An early HW 55T.
View attachment 322504

A pair of classic HW 35's.
View attachment 322499

Pre-war Diana model 27.
View attachment 322501

DIana model 50/b.
View attachment 322500

I never new the HW55 standard was offered with a Williams rear peep sight. Good information.

 

[MDriskill]

The HW 55 with Williams sight was an "Air RIfle Headquarters" thing only. Robert Law at ARH had some special models made that were sized to fit the groove spacing of the air rifles he sold.

He loved creating exclusive models - and making up names for them! - by adding peep sights, scopes, factory upgrade stocks, etc. to standard guns. In their 1980 catalog you had this many choices for your HW 30:

+ HW 30 M/II, basic stock and sights, Perfekt trigger
+ HW 30 S, basic stock and sights, Rekord trigger
+ HW 30 S-X, basic stock, aperture sight, Rekord
+ HW 30 D, factory Monte Carlo stock, basic sights, Rekord
+ HW 30 D-X, Monte Carlo, aperture sight, Rekord
+ HW 30 C-X, Monte Carlo, Weaver scope and mounts, Rekord

In those days HW rifles had the old "13mm" rail spacing, and ARH had sport and target versions of the special Williams for them. My 55S has the "834T" sight. The "754 type foresight" mentioned in these catalog cuts for the HW 30 and 50 was a similarly customized version of the classic Lyman model 17A interchangeable-insert tunnel, with mounting dovetail and height tweaked for HW rifles (not required for the HW 55 which had its own tunnel sight of course).

 

[MDriskill]

(ACCIDENTAL DOUBLE POST)