Airgun Hunter: Name That Tune?
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- Last updated: 09/02/2017
It is a tribute to the quality of engineering and reliability of the HW35 that it has endeared itself to so many in the early 70s and was the pivotal air gun (actually designed back in the 50s) that got a lot of would be hunters on their route to serious air gunning. I am probably right in saying that the HW35 actually kicked up the air gun industry a bit and got a lot of manufacturers considering new designs and better products that was sure to transcend if the sales figures were anything to go by!
If you pick up an HW35 today, you will not find it that different from those early models, with only a few cosmetic and minor alterations to the safety catch being evident externally. However, Weihrauch took the opportunity to upgrade and alter its spring piston power plant, so that the rifle could keep up with the times and the ever-growing competition.
You still have that unenviable German over engineered feel about the rifle, especially for an airgun, but that heft serves a double purpose, as it not only steadies the aim but also helps dampen any recoil generated by the internal spring/piston action. In essence, you have a plain Jane rifle with a John Wayne temperament, that is designed to last and last and take almost any abuse over eager hunters might care to throw at it through sheer ignorance or just being plain idle. Trouble is, like a trusty Land Rover, if maintenance is neglected then performance suffers. I had an old eighties HW35 that was a bit tired, like its owner, and could do with a spring clean, so I set about to re-vamp the old girl.
Truth is, technology moves on, and what we recall with perhaps great affection or admiration back when we were young looks very dated many years down the line. For example; today, gone is the archaic leather washer system that adorned early HW35 piston crowns that seemed to thrive on excess dieseling, to be replaced with a synthetic alternative to aid in consistent and smooth power delivery. The modern spring too has far less twang on firing than when I first owned my 35, and is designed to last longer, yet still provide full power; that could not be said for the older HW 35s. You also have a wealth of up-grade and tune kits available on the UK market that will bring a tired old springer back up to full power and enhanced accuracy and consistency. I bought several tune up kits from TW Chambers, 01349 832974, V-Mach, 07850 296360 and J Knibbs, 01675 481006.
I started with the TW Chambers kit, as they also supply an Aladdin’s cave of air gun spares as I needed several upgrades on other bits and pieces and they all came from their emporium. There are two kits available, as well as a conversion package to replace the old leather washer piston to the newer nylon type, which I thoroughly recommend!
The first is the TK034 kit, which is the standard, nylon seal, conversion kit. It includes the standard main spring, Ultra spring guide, top hat, piston seal, breech seal, washers, ultra grease and lube with instructions and plans, all for £67.71. The Premium version is the same but you have a choice of either a Titan or OX mainspring, it was this kit at £85.00 that I bought.
I also bought a piston/spring sleeve from J Knibbs to stop the grease from working its way past the piston crown and thus cause deseilling. Although every part in the kit and more that can be bought as individual items, so you can tune as much or as little as you want or can afford.
Comprehensive and well made, describes the HW35 nicely and stripping the old girl down is not that difficult, if not easy! First remove the stock and tap out the two trigger pins with a drift pin and hammer. The trigger slides out, but take care to remove safety and spring, or else it may pop out!
Now you have to un-screw the end plug of the cylinder, the spring will be under tension so a spring compressor is advisable but you can unscrew with pressure downwards until the spring guide and spring slides out. Drift the barrel cocking lever pin out so the piston can be removed from the cylinder body.
You now have the component parts to upgrade.
You should instantly notice the smoother cocking action and lack of noise, both from the spring under tension and the piston sliding in the cylinder. All the internals are now running on synthetic top hat and spring guides that allow the spring to release on firing or unwind without any stress so no horrible twang when it fires. The grease too reduces friction and noise and is kept from transferring to the piston seal and causing dieseling by the spring/piston sleeve.
I also fitted a new barrel to the HW35, a short carbine-length tube because it was screw cut for a sound moderator and I wanted to fit a V-Mach all steel blued moddy. Now the moment of truth, or to put it another way; was the outlay and effort worth it and more importantly has it increased performance?
Here are the before and after results. The latter are after one re-strip as I needed to add one more pre load washer to get the velocity I wanted. You also need to shoot plenty of pellets to run the new parts in as first results were a bit low but after a sight in and plinking session it all settled down and bedded in for an ultra smooth firing cycle, very unlike an HW35!
The old HW35, pre-tune up was actually quite smooth, so many pellets had been down its bore but that was a definite twang and lack of power although accuracy was still good with the FTT, A.A. Fields and Logun pellets. But 9.9 ft/lbs was a bit sedate although it still knocked over the rabbits. After the tune-up and then some fiddling with the pre-load washers yielded a velocity jump from all pellets in power. Now 11.2 ft/ lbs from the FTT and A.A.Fields was more like it and accuracy was now shrunk from 0.60 and 0.70 respectively to 0.45 and 0.50. With the V-Mach slim tech silencer added it not only looked the part but was super quiet, all I need now is a custom stock!
All told by today’s standards, sure the old HW35 is looking a bit long in the tooth but all the features that made it an enjoyable and hard working and reliable gun back when I was a lad are still there. Accuracy and power can be improved upon to gain a little more consistency from shot to shot with a good tune up. It may not be your first choice as a hunting tool but for me it was a nostalgia boost that I really enjoyed and it kind of put the skill back into hunting and with so many tune up kits available these days all those old, well made classics can be made to perform to near modern standards.
Hull Cartridge New Weihrauchs, 01482 342756
TW Chambers Air gun spares, 01349 832974
V-Mach Airgun tuners/customisers, 07850 296360
CH Westons Second hand HW35, 01273 326338