Weihrauch 55M rebuild and repair

[Tank]

As inevitable as the sun rises in the East - I ended up with the 55M to rebuild. "Challenged" is the best descriptive. One of the main issues was the filler in the stock. It wasn't immediately obvious as to why there was wood filler in the grip but after my usual Paint Thinner treatment the filler dissolved and the reason revealed.
Naturally, as is always the case with these vintage guns, the other little surprises revealed themselves as the strip down progressed. Nothing I haven't seen before but it never ceases to amaze me how well they shoot despite the issues they have. A testament to the quality of these guns.



This is the damage, obviously a chip has lifted from the grip of the stock and someone thought a little plastic wood was the fix.



Oh dear Bob, what now!



A plug! Not the bathtub variety



The other issues are minor really, easily repaired:



and the pivot shims, a usual suspect:



Well that's all for today, look out for further updates.

[pmh]

Good progress to date.

I'd have just left the hole, not bothering with the plug, he would have never spotted it, you could have called very coarse stippling!

Kind regards,



Phil

[zooma]

Good progress to date.

I'd have just left the hole, not bothering with the plug, he would have never spotted it!

Kind regards,
Phil

.......I might have done

I think that lump of dowel could become uncomfortable after a while though

[zooma]

I have now sanded the stock and applied Danish oil with fine grade wire wool and when it is fully dried I will give it the Briwax treatment.

Looking good so far!

[zooma]

The Briwax treatment is now completed and the stock is smoother than a smooth thing ( apart from the checkered area) and looks really nice.

I have not removed all of the small little "nicks" that the wood has picked up over the last fifty plus years as it is part of the rifles character, and to my eyes at least the rifle looks all the better for it.

Soon the metalwork will be back from Colin Malloy and when it is reunited with the stock I will take some pictures and put them on bobsairguns.

[Tank]

Soon the metalwork will be back from Colin Malloy and when it is reunited with the stock I will take some pictures and put them on bobsairguns.

I have news for you, the metalwork is back! The spring is proving challenging thoiugh. No, not the main spring, that itty bitty thing from the catch. I am going over to a supplier shortly and with luck I will source one locally.

[zooma]

Soon the metalwork will be back from Colin Malloy and when it is reunited with the stock I will take some pictures and put them on bobsairguns.

I have news for you, the metalwork is back! The spring is proving challenging thoiugh. No, not the main spring, that itty bitty thing from the catch. I am going over to a supplier shortly and with luck I will source one locally.

Great news- it may be back in action sooner than I thought!

Thanks Graham - good job! (again)

[Tank]

Well, the barrel and action is back together. This was not without drama.
Unlike any other Break Barrel I have ever seen this has a positive locking lever, when you operate the lever it pulls the barrel up and back into the breech locking it solid, without releasing this lever the barrel and breech are locked together as one unit. Not in the same way as, say the Weihrauch 35 where the release catch is just that, a release catch which prevents the barrel from dropping, this mechanism actually positively brings the barrel back into lock with the action, very clever.

I will be taking some photographs tomorrow and you can see the superb job Colin has done of the blueing.

My latest challenge is a Mk1/Mk2 Airsporter. For that saga I think we are going to need a bigger Website!

[zooma]

Well, the barrel and action is back together. This was not without drama.
Unlike any other Break Barrel I have ever seen this has a positive locking lever, when you operate the lever it pulls the barrel up and back into the breech locking it solid, without releasing this lever the barrel and breech are locked together as one unit. Not in the same way as, say the Weihrauch 35 where the release catch is just that, a release catch which prevents the barrel from dropping, this mechanism actually positively brings the barrel back into lock with the action, very clever.

I will be taking some photographs tomorrow and you can see the superb job Colin has done of the blueing.

My latest challenge is a Mk1/Mk2 Airsporter. For that saga I think we are going to need a bigger Website!

The last Airsporter you took to Colin for blueing was Johns Mk 2. The one you have on the bench for me at the moment is a very rare Mk1 that has factory cut scope grooves on the cylinder - possibly unique - but it has suffered the fate of many classic air rifles by having an Ox spring forced into it that has totally ruined it and put this classic air rifle under more strain than it should be subjected to.

The HW55MM you have just got back together was the sweetest shooting '55 we have seen and I know you enjoyed shooting it no end - but it was a bit tatty cosmetically and it had a hard life from unappreciative previous bodging owners.

When I first bought it the pellet would barely fall out of the barrel as it has so little compression, but a new piston head and leather washer assembly from Chambers and a genuine new HW55 spring and a couple of hours on a Saturday with John Gould transformed the rifle into a very impressive performer - but the battle scars and damage from its previous hard life remained clear for all to see.

Doctor Tank showed me the action last week after it had come back from Colin's blueing process, and Grahams attention to detail demanded that even the screw heads and other small parts had been fully restored to such a high standard that I doubt it left the factory looking so good when it was new.

With such good looks and being an established performer this rifle could be something very special as Graham has also changed any minor parts that were not fully up to scratch. Next Thursday could be a really good night at RMTC as this ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan !

[zooma]

The HW55MM swan is back together again and it looks very good and shoots well too.

I am looking forward to getting a few more pellets through it so everything settles down again but already it feels nice and crisp and easy to shoot but the main difference is the way it looks - absolutely beautiful!

The rifle is now so nice it has exposed the short alloy bipod insert as being the only part of the rifle that is less than perfect due to a previous owner fitting an oversized cap head bolt where a countersunk screw should be and this has chewed into the side walls of the insert.

This large cap head bolt also renders the bipod insert as being in-operative as the head blocks the channel and so a bipod cannot be used. A countersunk screw that fits has been found by Graham and he is reducing its length and the diameter of the screw head so it will fit flush like the original part.

A new breach seal would be nice and so I am digging into my collection of "O" rings to find something that fits so we can put some milage on it next Thursday at the club...........and I am pretty sure that Graham will assist with this part of the process too

Major thanks to Graham for his help and skills as he has transformed a very good shooting but tired looking rifle back to one that still shoots good but now looks good too. This is now a very desirable rifle that I hope to enjoy shooting for many years to come.