Motivated to shoot the second most beautiful HW 55 in the world today

[Flintsack]

I love when I go and get a rifle out of the safe because someone else has done a post. Today the wind looks like this:

no long-range opportunities today. So of course after the post done by R1, I had to get the HW 55 M out and shoot it. 

so what do you do when its that Windy? Shoot offhand at short range... 34 yards to be exact, into the side of the old oven. 

10 shots offhand. What a rifle! wind was blowing left to right as you can see.


it’s not really the second most beautiful rifle in the world...But it’s very pretty.

And the most beautiful HW 55 in the world is below:

 

[thumper]

Fine looking gun! Looks like it shoots the part too...

Does yours have the 13mm wide scope dovetails? If so what rings are those? My HW55T has the wider grooves and the Sportsmatch seem to be what i may go with if I can find them in stock. I gave up finding a rear Diopter that wasn't $200 from a guy in Bulgaria....

 

[r1lover]

YIKES! That 55M stock has some nice color and grain, Mike. Gorgeous. A real keeper. Lotta pride of ownership there (in all three)! Nice shooting too. Thanks for sharing.

BTW, love your backyard target range. I live in a subdivision, blah!

 

[MDriskill]

I own several HW 55's and am not prepared to argue with your aesthetic ranking, LOL. Beautiful stuff!

I'd love to see more details of that vintage double-set-trigger HW 55 TF!

 

[Flintsack]

Not 100% sure. Looks pretty wide, But it was difficult to get my calipers too.

It looks to me like the rings are not a great fit, but there is a post in the front ring. So it is pretty secure.

 

[Flintsack]

Unfortunately Mike, I believe it is a bit of a Frankenstein. But it is beautiful and rare. With that stock, somewhat one-of-a-kind. The stock was really bad when I received it. As you can see it’s very rounded. I did my best, I couldn’t just leave it with that beautiful wood underneath.

Amazingly, the checkering is still gorgeous. I did clean it up a bit. I used a brass brush, It was very dirty and filled with grime. I re-cut the edges.

mike

 

[Flintsack]

Higher res:

 

[Bob-in-WV]

Very nice!

 

[MDriskill]

Thanks for the additional pics, that is really an extraordinary piece. The double-set triggers in the later long trigger block are very rare. I've never seen any DST action in better condition, and never seen a DST paired with the HW 55 "F" action (auto detent instead of locking lever) at all.

I would guess the stock is not the OEM one, since it's not cut for the lever. But maybe the "TF" setup was so rare they just didn't keep those stocks around!

 

[thumper]

Not 100% sure. Looks pretty wide, But it was difficult to get my calipers too.

It looks to me like the rings are not a great fit, but there is a post in the front ring. So it is pretty secure.

Yeah those fit terrible, lol

Those are 13mm grooves for sure, and 11mm rings. I can say that with a certain degree of confidence because I tried the same on mine and it looked identical. 

I have a 54R Blue Ribbon 4X I'm wanting to put on mine as well. I'll try the Sportsmatch rings. Thanks for the pics. Awesome guns there bud!

 

[Flintsack]

One more for the show!

this one is by far the funnest to shoot. It’s a really nice S. The stock is a Maccari DIY that I snagged off the yellow forum about 10 years ago.

take a look at the Maccari swirl. I’m not sure how many stocks I’ve finished in my life, but that was by far the most difficult portion of any stock to sand. I spent literally hours on it, and all my fingers and thumb on my right hand were raw. Obviously it was worth it.

I shot five shots offhand at the crows head from 15 yards, it was a 4+ one group. I pulled the fourth low. It shoots like a dream.

 

[MDriskill]

Another beauty! Weihrauch + Jim Maccari is a pretty top-notch team...

For what it's worth at this point in the discussion, I think the switch from 13 mm to 11 mm grooves was in the late 1970's, around serial 780000 IIRC?

 

[Guest]

Wow, just wow. There are some serious collectors on the forum these days. Beautiful stuff. I do enjoy the eye candy. There is something artificial about a black rifle. Not meaning to put them down because they usually shoot real good, but these beautiful old rifles are just easy on the eyes.

 

[crowski]

I totally agree, there’s nothing sweeter than a gorgeous wood stock. Ironically I have approximately 20 rifles, my LGU Varmint is most comfortable.

The rifles above are beyond outstanding. Love the pics. Thanks for sharing. Crow 

 

[MDriskill]

I am definitely NOT an expert in using scopes! But for what it's worth, for wide scope grooves I've had great luck with the simple vertically-split rings that Bushnell makes. Not the most versatile or adjustable, but they are cheap, very sturdy, look decent, and easily adapt to diff groove spacing.

Here's a set in action on a Webley, which has grooves spaced about the same as the old HW 55 pictured earlier in this thread.