perhaps it was triggered off and the previous owner put on a different barrel? Or bent the barrel back. For what it’s worth, here is a video of Paul Watts fixing an R7 that was triggered off and bent the breach forks up slightly.
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HW/Weihrauch HW50 , the challenge continues
- Thread starter crowski
- Start date
First of all I have to say thanks for all the input. Fascinating
Most my guns are new with needs of cleaning deburring and new spring and perhaps piston seal. I think I can handle that.
I picked up a few older guns to gain some experience on other repairs. Kinda bummed out. Quickly realize without machinery I’m euchred. Thought about it, but I’m too old to buy machinery. Way beyond my capabilities. So, this is way over. I have 3 of these guns now. They shoot but don’t seem right. Crow
hit post by mistake.
Most my guns are new with needs of cleaning deburring and new spring and perhaps piston seal. I think I can handle that.
I picked up a few older guns to gain some experience on other repairs. Kinda bummed out. Quickly realize without machinery I’m euchred. Thought about it, but I’m too old to buy machinery. Way beyond my capabilities. So, this is way over. I have 3 of these guns now. They shoot but don’t seem right. Crow
hit post by mistake.
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The rear sight adjustment screw is wrong thread. It will only turn 1/4 turn. Crow
If I remember correctly some trigger assembly parts were crushed. I got the trigger from UK.
I can do that for you. Have to be in evening. Crow
If I remember correctly some trigger assembly parts were crushed. I got the trigger from UK.
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Remove the barrel!!! Everything will become clear at once. If the barrel is not original, then Gunsmith will fix everything for you, it is cheap. If traces of repair are visible (washers, bushing, welding, еtс.), then unfortunately the rifle has served its life.
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First impression is that the chisel detent in the breech appears to be clocked a few degrees off of the horizontal plane. This issue was mentioned earlier in the thread, and may bear some looking into.
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...replacement newer type breech seal sits proud?...nice old gun, whoever did "700 yrd ac" was a compulsive sort of fella?...if that's a Weihrauch accurate to 700 yards it belongs in a museum?...
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In order form that barrel to work well and be level. Your gonna need to remove some from the under side of the detent area
you can see where it’s hitting unevenly with gouging happening from not being aligned from the factory. Then , depending onnthe amount needed the last arrow showing the seal face may need some relief also. Thus you will need to size your new breech seal as it will stand to proud and not allow full lock up. This is air gun smithing. 201 And is not fornthe first year students. After wards it will be level and the seal will fully seat.
you can see where it’s hitting unevenly with gouging happening from not being aligned from the factory. Then , depending onnthe amount needed the last arrow showing the seal face may need some relief also. Thus you will need to size your new breech seal as it will stand to proud and not allow full lock up. This is air gun smithing. 201 And is not fornthe first year students. After wards it will be level and the seal will fully seat.
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...carefully remove the breech seal, you'll have a leak if you shoot the gun, but see if the lockup is OK?...incidentially, this was originally a "HW50", and not a "HW50S"?
Mike will tell us if any HW50 came with a Rekord trigger?
Mike will tell us if any HW50 came with a Rekord trigger?
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Roughly this is what I had in mind, advice to go to Gunsmith, they often deal with this with hunting firearms when changing barrels such as Harington and Richardson, Handy Rifle, Rossi and the like. This is a simple job for a professional gunsmith and costs cheap.
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The leade on the breech end of that barrel looks a tad rough as well.
I believe that barrel assembly needs a complete refurb and fitment program applied to it in order to align and register properly.
@A.G.R has rendered an analysis, and I would base my program on that input.
It would appear that you have a rebarreled 50S, or a base model 50 with an upgraded Rekord trigger cassette installed?
The serial comes up as 1972, but that particular rifle is not in the Weihrauch database to give us an idea what configuration it was issued in unfortunately.
I believe that barrel assembly needs a complete refurb and fitment program applied to it in order to align and register properly.
@A.G.R has rendered an analysis, and I would base my program on that input.
It would appear that you have a rebarreled 50S, or a base model 50 with an upgraded Rekord trigger cassette installed?
The serial comes up as 1972, but that particular rifle is not in the Weihrauch database to give us an idea what configuration it was issued in unfortunately.
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I put the trigger in. The original when received had crushed parts inside. I posted it. Got this one in the UK. Crow
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Yeah it was me. I've seen that before. It's the corner of the fixed detent is holding the gun open. You can see the witness mark from the high corner under the breech The witness mark should be even and the full chisel width because it's supposed to sit flat on top of the detent.
It's a difficult fix. I believe the fixed detent is brazed in place, as is the forks in the tube. If you heat the detent to melt the braze and rotate it there's a good chance you'll melt fork braze and probably ruin the comp tube. You could reduce the height of the offending corner of the fixed chisel. This is hard to do without machinery. The other option is remove some metal under the breech at the witness mark. You'd have to be sure there's enough space between the top of the comp tube and the breech to rotate the breech further.
In either case if you remove too much metal the gun won't lock up on metal parts. The breech seal will set the lock up, not good. Personally I'd skip all that mess and put the right rear sight on it and ignore the droop. Save the gun as a beater for visiting kids.
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This is definitely an older HW (pre saftey), but did anyone else notice that the barrel is marked "Made in German", and not "Made in West Germany". Like was mentioned earlier, I don't think this barrel is original to the rest of the rifle. And as stated previously the supposedly newer barrel would have to be fitted to the compression tube for proper fitment. All goes back to "is it worth it to make it work?" since it doesn't appear to be in its original state. These oddities are interesting to work on if you have the time, equipment, and knowledge. Otherwise they can make you pull your hair out
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Probably been mentioned before but in the first picture posted it’s clear that the barrel isn’t even closing tight to the receiver. This old model most likely had a flush mounted leather breech seal. The seal shown later is the new version far from flush. May not remove all the droop but certainly some. Just remove the seal and see if the droop improves. If mentioned before please forgive me. I miss things.
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You guys ever notice how every HW thread turns into a deep dive on the model being discussed?
The info shared by several members on diagnosing and sorting HW breech lock up is gold, thanks for sharing guys
The info shared by several members on diagnosing and sorting HW breech lock up is gold, thanks for sharing guys
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Amen. I replaced a HW55 breech seal decades ago from leather to a new synthetic one. It protruded out so much it caused barrel droop. Many of the factory synthetic breech seals of the 80’s were cut off flush with a razor knife because of to close tolerances. This is a closeup of crows closer. Clearly not tight. Start small then keep going when necessary.
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Having looked closely at this club rifle, I realized that there was no point in repairing it, it had outlived its usefulness and it was time for it to retire. When the shim washers are in the rifle, it's the end. Just my opinion.I would take it to a pawn shop.
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I didn't actually realize how far off this thing is at first. Sure is hung up by something but a bit like trying to diagnose car (or woman) troubles over the phone.
When I was a mechanic many years ago another guy's tool box had a sticker:
If it has teets
or wheels 
It'll give ya problems
Mike is too coolThe HW 55 always had a super close-fitting leather breech seal, with a unique touch: the bottom of its recess is slightly angled - a bit deeper at the top than the bottom. No idea why, or how they machined it! I have successfully put synthetic seals in a couple 55's but it took careful sanding on the inner end.
On the other vintage HW's originally with leather seals (HW 30, 35, 50), the recess is of uniform depth. The plastic seal was in theory a drop-in replacement, but as you note it still pays to check and tweak.
Trivia time: legend has it that HW's plastic breech seal was developed for the rare "Barakuda" ether-boosted rifles, which shredded the leather ones!
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