HW55MM

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zooma
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HW55MM

Post by zooma » Sat Nov 02, 2013 8:57 am

I took my old HW55MM to RMTC on Thursday night and it still shoots absolutely "spot-on".

This is a remarkable air rifle that has no recoilless action but shoots with a negligible recoil so you get a nice lightweight rifle that has most of the benefits of a recoilless match rifle but delivers it without the complication or the weight of one.

The HW55MM is a very simple but highly desirable recoiling match air rifle that never fails to impress.

Cosmetically the blue on mine is past its best, and the stock has a little damage (about the size of a farthing) on the pistol grip checkering but John and I had replaced the piston head and seal a couple of years ago and mechanically it is just about perfect.

Grahams first shot with it rang the bell and he continued to enjoy playing with it most of the night - he seemed very impressed and his thoughts turned towards "letting-in" a small piece of walnut and re-establishing the small area of missing checkering and then letting me have the stock back for final re-finishing.

This rifle is far too good be left looking a little battle weary and with a "make-over" and careful target shooting use in the future it could easily last another 50 years and still look nice and fresh. These rifles were very well made but when they were freely available from new not all of them were treasured by their owners as they would be now that they are not so easy to find.

It was decided to get the metalwork across to Colin for a nice new coat of blue so if all goes well we should have some nice pictures to share on this thread very soon of a "mint" condition HW55MM that shoots as good as it looks.
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
http://www.bobsairguns .com - proud to host the RMTC site since April 2011.

RobinC

Re: HW55MM

Post by RobinC » Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:50 am

Hi Bob
That made me think of a special I made probably 40 years ago, a Weihrauch action not sure what it was but it was target system with a nice trigger so probably a 55, I put it in an Original 65 stock as the owner was a young lad and the Weihrauch stock was too long for him and the Original was a better shape. We had just changed my wive's 65 stock for a 66 so we had a shorty 65 stock just laying about! That was in the days when you could order stocks new! It was a nice combination and shot very well.
So some where there is a non standard 55 that's realy puzzling the curent collectors of what was just a cooking target rifle in those days, would be considered sacriledge now.
Happy days!
Robin

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Tank
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Re: HW55MM

Post by Tank » Sat Nov 02, 2013 5:39 pm

This is a very nice rifle. For a recoiling springer it is really very consistant. The trick here is to put it back together so that it shoots as well after the cosmetic improvements as it did before.
My FWB 300S which was "cosmetically challenged" went back together really well. I would hope this would do the same.
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
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zooma
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Re: HW55MM

Post by zooma » Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:27 pm

RobinC wrote:Hi Bob
That made me think of a special I made probably 40 years ago, a Weihrauch action not sure what it was but it was target system with a nice trigger so probably a 55, I put it in an Original 65 stock as the owner was a young lad and the Weihrauch stock was too long for him and the Original was a better shape. We had just changed my wive's 65 stock for a 66 so we had a shorty 65 stock just laying about! That was in the days when you could order stocks new! It was a nice combination and shot very well.
So some where there is a non standard 55 that's realy puzzling the curent collectors of what was just a cooking target rifle in those days, would be considered sacriledge now.
Happy days!
Robin

That should give the future historians something to think about !
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
http://www.bobsairguns .com - proud to host the RMTC site since April 2011.

zooma
Lifetime Contributor to Shooting
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Posts:646
Joined:Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:12 pm

Re: HW55MM

Post by zooma » Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:10 pm

The metalwork is back with its new coat of very dark and deep blue and Graham has resourced a couple of small parts that were past their best so when everything is reunited with the re-finished stock it should be a magnificent restoration. :clap:

We know it is going to look exceptionally good - but will it shoot as good as it did before the face-lift? :think:

My money is on it shooting every bit as good ! :dance:
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
http://www.bobsairguns .com - proud to host the RMTC site since April 2011.

zooma
Lifetime Contributor to Shooting
Lifetime Contributor to Shooting
Posts:646
Joined:Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:12 pm

Re: HW55MM

Post by zooma » Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:23 pm

My HW55MM is now back together again and we shot it at RMTC on Thursday this week.

The first thing you cannot fail to notice is the huge impact the restoration has had on the appearance of the rifle as it now looks absolutely magnificent and it is just a pleasure to look at it and admire the result of all of the care and work that has gone in to bring it back to the condition it is in now.

The rifle shoots nicely albeit with a little puff of smoke from the green oil that needs to blown out as it settles down again and the signs are that this superb rifle will continue to shoot as impressively as it did when it was beginning to show its age and its history that suggested it had not been cared for as well as it might have been

There are sometimes a couple of small things to do on the "snagging list" after a full restore and with this rifle we need to re-insert the nylon spacing block that had been inserted previously to remove the linkage "crack"as the barrel is broken, find and fit a new breach seal and locate and fit a small c/s M4 screw to retain the alloy bipod rail and a larger M8 c/s screw that passes through the alloy bipod rail to hold the mechanism to the stock as the original had a non-standard cap-head doing this job - functional maybe but not pretty.

I think I have found a suitable "O" ring to use as a breach seal ( the temporary ones we used during testing worked OK but need replacing) and I have found and cut to size and fitted the M4 c/s screw to hold the alloy bipod rail to the stock. I have found a temporary c/s M8 screw to hold the action to the stock and cut it to length and will turn the head down tonight so it can fit "flush" as it should until a better hardened one comes back from Graham who is grinding the head down on the permanent replacement.

I need to find a suitable size gunsmiths screwdriver to remove the restored dome head breach screws without marking them so the nylon block can be re-inserted and then the job is done........almost!

The final bit of refurb may include making a replacement alloy bipod rail by copying the original that had been butchered by the use of an incorrect cap head screw to hold the mechanism to the stock as the oversize head has chewed away at the side walls and this cannot be repaired. Having said that - when the rifle is the right way up, nobody will ever see this damage but since Graham and I will know it is not right this scar will no doubt be taken care of in due course.

This is now one very desirable HW55MM that will get plenty of care and regular use from now onwards and the only problem envisaged is that this rifle had huge appeal to Graham before it was restored and I loved shooting it too and nothing has changed to reduce this appeal so I think it is going to be a very busy HW55 on Thursday nights ! :dance:
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
http://www.bobsairguns .com - proud to host the RMTC site since April 2011.

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