HW97K getting a good going through.....

Can't wait to see the end results Rooster? Do you hone the walls of the receiver tube ?

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No, I'm not gonna do that. I will leave the compression cylinder alone on this one. Hopefully I will be sighting it in on Wednesday. 

Thanks

Is your piston seal OK? I’ve replaced some HW seals that showed the small circle that appears at 5 O’clock in your picture. Uj

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It would probably do fine. But....I don't like they way it looks and I'm all the way in it already, so I'm gonna just replace it with a new one. That way I know.

I just checked my Diana 430L, my HW97 Black Line, and my HW77. The 3 of them looked nothing like your 97. Mine were all purchased in the past month, and have been shooting them for almost 1 week. I Can honestly say I purchased the Tune kit with the 97, and now having seen the innards of your's I will most likely be diving into the tune earlier than had previously planned. Just how bad was unthreading that end cap? I know you have to hold onto it firmly as to not damage the threads. I also will look into getting a few more kit's. Jim

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Unthreading the trigger block was easy. Breaking it loose took some force as it was kinda seized. The next time we take it apart I think it will break loose much easier. Now, there is a fair amount of tension on the factory spring. So, be careful. And it would probably be best with some sort of spring compressor. Having said that, I didn't use a compressor and it was fine for me. But, I was very intentional and careful in the way that I released the spring tension.

I have a spring compressor that mounts to the dove tails. But, its not very practical for the HW97 with the way the trigger block has to rotate out. Now....I think it can be used to compress upon reassembly just long enough to get the threads started. I will find out and let you know how that goes. I didn't count the revolutions before the spring decompresses. But, what I did was turn the block off until I had only 5-6 threads left. Then I placed the end on a board on the floor, with the barrel facing upward. I then slowly rotated the rifle while applying downward force. I had the "end cap" trigger block, between my feet. I used the inside of my feet (while standing) to hold the trigger block from rotating while I rotated the rifle. This of course allowed me to slowly unscrew the remaining few threads to release the spring. If you do this slowly enough applying downward weight on the end, you can slowly, carefully, and I say safely allow the spring to decompress. I had zero issues doing it this way. Maybe you can understand my explanation of how I did it....??? They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Anyway...hope that helps you Jim.

Little update on the progress made with my HW97. I have this annoying but necessary thing called work that takes up most of my time. Anyway, the piston seal that I ordered arrived and is a "no go". Very puny looking seal and I don't like the way it looks so I ordered another from ARH. I should have gone that route in the first place. I have still been cleaning this rifle......it was sooo very nasty. But the cleaning now is pretty well complete. Today I was able to get most of the de-burring and polishing completed. I'm actually to the point now that when my piston seal gets here I will be ready for lube and reassembly. I've attached quite a few pics again. There are so many things that I don't have a picture of that I wish I did, or I have a pic but I don't think that I took the "right" pic. Video would be better probably.







In the above pics I am pointing to a very small nut that is inside the Rekord trigger housing. This nut just fell out on me and I didn't know where the heck it came from for a while. I finally figured it out. It is a small nut that is supposed to rest within an indent at the bottom of the housing. The small rear trigger guard screw, screws into this. It is loose and WILL fall out on you. I fixed this problem by getting it positioned just right with the trig. guard screw holding it in place. Then I applied a very small dab of gel glue to one corner to hold it in place. 







These two above pics are the ends of the main spring. The were very rough from the factory. So, I polished both ends of the spring to a very slick and smooth finish. This cuts down on any friction/resistance where the spring ends contact the guide washer and inside of piston head while under torque when the spring is being compressed. A little textured marks are visible, but the finish is now very slick.











Above are pictures of the spring guide and base washer. The washer has a very dull finish and is a bit rough from the factory as well. So I gave it a good polishing also. Would be a waste of time polishing the main spring ends and not get this as well. After all, the spring end is in contact with and is compressed against this part. So after a bit of wet and dry sanding it came out to a nice mirror finish. Look at the bottom pic and you can see the reflection of the spring in it!





Can't really see....this was more of a feel type of thing. This is the piston cocking arm slot. It had a rather rough edge to it and a few rough burr areas that could be felt very well when I ran my finger down the length of the slot. After a bit of sanding/polishing I was able to remove all the roughness completely. Now I can run my finger down it and the slot feels smooth and slick.





Last but not least. This pic is the compression cylinder. It didn't look bad in its factory condition. It was fairly shiny already. But...because the upper 1/3-1/2 of the this tube is visible in the loading port of the receiver, I went ahead and put a good polish on it as well. Looks better.....I think.

I decided not to do any polishing of the sears in the trigger assembly. Not yet anyway. I did completely de-grease the trigger. It had the same old thick Kosmolene type grease in it as well. I then oiled the inside of the housing itself with a thin coat of oil and before reassembly I will lightly paint the contact surfaces of the sears with quality moly paste most likely. As soon as my new piston seal arrives I'll get it all lubed and assembled. I am very past ready to finally get to shooting this rifle. 

I know that a lot of this is old hat to many here. But, I also know that it is new and educational to a lot more most likely. That is why is I have broken it down the way that I have in my explanation of things. I don't consider myself to be any kind of spring gun tuner or expert. I am always learning and love digging into these type of things. What I am able to do and know how to do......I love to share with others. Thats how we learn and enjoy this even more.

Thanks for looking and stay tuned...........this rifle might actually shoot when we're done 

TR

The video I watched on youtube showed precautions taken when installing the new piston cylinder into the chamber. He showed using thin plastic stock to keep from tearing the new seal. So it would be a good idea to debur the inside of any slots the surface between the slot and the inside of the chamber that it rides in. This way there are no sharp edges when the new piston seal. One other thing I saw was the guy relieved the piston cylinder in the middle of the thickness, my guess was he was giving the seal less surface for drag. Not sure I agree with that thought. But less drag is good.

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I appreciate it James. Yes, the video you watched is correct as far as the install of a piston into the compression tube. Care always has to be taken as to not damage the piston seal. Often times the seal is damaged from the install by the manufacturer as well. I have run into that before on a new springer. I always smooth out the sharp edges and de-burr the cut outs on the compression tube. I did it on this HW too, but this HW really didn't need much done in that way like say a D34 does. The 34's are fine rifles but they require far more work on the cut outs than this HW. This will be the fourth rifle that I have "home tuned" this way. It's a lot of fun.....I really enjoy it. I learn a bit more (and get better at it) every time I do it. Thanks for the reply and take care.

Have you thought about wet polishing the inside and outside of the mainspring itself ? Completely clean and dry the mainspring. Then rub the outside of the spring with cotton gauze or balls. If there is rough spots, burs, etc. the cotton will catch on them. Then take a long wooden dowel and run the gauze through the inside of the spring. To polish the inside (if needed) you could figure out a way to secure the spring in a straight line where it won't spin. Then turn one end of the dowel down (depending what diameter of dowel) to use in a cordless drill. You'll then have to figure out a way to secure your polishing head to the end of the dowel. Just a thought.

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Wayne........sounds like something I might would think about trying. I'm not sure if the benefit would justify the amount of time and effort it would take to do it right though. I've spent quite enough time on this already. It's time to get it together and shoot!!!

BTW......I had a package on the front porch when I got home tonight .