Down one D34...up one HW80

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seven08

Member
Oct 14, 2018
366
7
CO, United States
Last week I talked myself...(wife)...into buying an HW80. I heard good things about Krale and placed the order for a .22 copy on Tuesday 18th about noon. UPS tracking say it will be at my door today.👍 It is too cold and windy today for outside shooting so I set up in my basement for some 60 ft. shooting with both my D34 .22's

After several dozen shots with my older Feb-2004 built gun it got very loud all of a sudden. I put a new spring and seal in it a week ago and all was well for the several sessions out in the yard. I had noticed some minor smoke emitting between the wood and front compression tube. Also there was a light greasy soot film developing on the wood and outer steel. Time for a look with yet another complete tear down. There was much more soot and film near the yoke. I wiped it away to discover a tube crack developing. My guess is the tube and fork-pivot block was a two piece welded assembly. The assembly is failing at that joint and leaking compressed air. See photo.

I have had numerous issues with these two 34's over time. In my opinion they were not meant to last a lifetime at my near daily use and tin a week habit. I will not attempt to purchase a new compression tube, instead I will have more spare parts to keep my other 34 going for as long as possible.

Tell me the HW 80 will last longer. Please?



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I have had my Beeman R1 .22 since 1985-86 and never had an issue. I replaced the spring and seal about 1 1/2 years ago only because it had lost power not because of any malfunctions. The 80 is basically the same gun and a descendant of the R1 and not the other way! Great rifles that can be tuned and made even a bit better as well as up or down tuned for power. I'm a big fan of the R1 and have just about every factory variant. 
 
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Yeah, I know. I have been drooling on my keyboard every time you post a collection picture.😁

Well, the gun just arrived minutes ago. You can see the box was opened, inspected and stamped by customs on each end. It has fingerprints on the metal. Somehow one of the sight inserts slipped out of the hang tag envelope and got pinned under the stock. It was loose in the plastic bag sleeve. The finish got scratched but not through to the wood. I can fix that OK. I will notify Krale and suggest they tape that envelope closed when shipping out these models with inserts. Looking forward to firing it soon after a good cleaning of all the surface oils.

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I sent Krale an email with the picture in their "complaint contact" at the page bottom. I did ask about stock replacement or compensation. I can live with the minor damage either way.

I bought that cracked 34 from a friend used with only a half tin through it two years ago. Cost me $100.00. I have no idea how many I put on it, but safe to say about 17-18K shots. I looked inside for the crack with my Teslong borescope but it is deeper inside the tube over the block joint out of view. I got a closer look out side and snapped a picture. Crack is about .500 long and through the tube.

I have to look at this 34 as a fun toy that I got my moneys worth from. On to better toys!😉

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All cleaned up, stock scratch fixed up, too. Got the Vortex 4-12x back on using the RWS mount I had on the 34. I had a 7/8"ths long 1/4-28 set screw so I modified the mount to take advantage of the same size center recoil pin hole. The rifle as shown is 10.6 lbs.... a full pound heavier than the D34 was. The scope was off only an inch high and 3/4" right at 60 feet. The trigger was perfect right out of the box. I have 20 shots on it now and was overlapping HN 5.54's standing offhand. I have a HW Universal ribbed muzzle break/handle coming from AoA this week to top off this package. I think I am really going to like this rifle.😎



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Nice rifle Bob ! I think I would go for a partial refund due to the poor packaging. I bought another M34 in .22cal on Ebay. The plastic hood on the front sight was broken in two pieces as a result of poor packaging. I got $40 back so my investment was only $185 for a new M34. You ought to try getting something back. I had a Beeman R1 back when they first moved to Santa Rosa California. It was in .177 cal and it was a heavy rifle. I believe they were rated at 980 fps back when I bought mine. I think the .22cal velocity was in the mid 700's

Do you think that cylinder crack was a result of weld contamination? Sounds like that M34 served you well !
 
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That's great shooting offhand with that '80. I also shoot mine standing offhand. Since it is a bit heavy with a scope I've nicknamed mine the "workout" gun!

Too bad about the scratches. I'd be a little bummed, but you have a good attitude. Mine have all sorts of "usage" tattoos. 

Don't worry about the durability of a HW80, they are built like tanks. Mine has already gone through 2 factory springs, one was broken into 4 parts. Then I put in a Vortek "power kit". It actually lost half a foot pound, but it is super easy to cock, and it's one of my most accurate AG's. Have fun with it!
 
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Golden State Air Gunner asked...."Do you think that cylinder crack was a result of weld contamination? "



Nope, the likely cause was my own fault. Too ugly out side for much of anything today. About blizzard conditions. So......I decided to do an autopsy of sorts on that cracked cylinder. 

With magnification I could see that crack was also starting on the opposite side of the yoke. I drilled out the yoke screw and drove out the yoke. The crack was visible across the inside dovetail slot. The thickness of the tempered tubing is .075. I sawed through the uncracked section and separated the the two pieces. Plenty of evidence from the dark area that the crack was leaking for some time. It became very obvious to me that the two tube side stakes I applied over the weld joint area most likely initiated the start of failure. I should have only staked the block side to tighten the loose yoke. I take full responsibility for the cause. In no way was the gun at fault. 

With that...I also did the same staking procedure on my other D34. Crap. 

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