Weihrauch Hw77K Teardown & Upgrade

[JonMundo 6]

Hello all.

 

So a friend had noticed the rifle wasn't quite performing up to scratch compared to his HW95, despite a so called 'competition spring' which came with it. I had decided this needed upgrading but thought this would be a good opportunity to give her a clean and try out some methods of gun restoration. Now it's fair to say the rifle was in good condition and the although the surface had some imperfections in hindsight I may have gone a little too far by stripping and cold-bluing the original hot blue finish as the results are far from the same quality. You live and learn and this is why I gave it a go and why I'm posting this thread. There is enough information on the internet to avoid most of the issues I had, but you cannot beat speaking to someone who knows. Disclaimer of ignorance over, on with the thread.

 

Well before the teardown I had bought the Ballistol Gun Care set from Swillington Shooting Supplies. (*1) This comes with some useful products including Klever Quick Browning, degreaser, Robla Solomil barrel cleaner and Gunex 2000 oil. To dismantle the rifle to this stage I just watched a youtube video (*2) which covered all I needed to know including the need for a punch set. If you don't have a set and you want to take apart this or other rifles then get one before you start. I managed to get it apart with some tools I'd found but having done this and chipped a bit of the metal I ordered a set of punches off amazon. Don't be a tard like me and get them first.

 

I'd printed the exploded diagram over 2 sheets of A4 and used tape to hold the pieces in the right place so I wouldn't lose them or get confused. Now I know it intimately I wouldn't bother again but it really did help.

 

 

 

Now the gun was in pieces I could strip down the bluing. I started on the under lever as this was the most worn and small enough to qualify as a test piece. For this I would recommend bluing remover which, I didn't use. Instead I sanded away through various grades of sandpaper until finally polishing with wire wool. The smoother the surface the better and you're aiming for a mirror finish.

 

 

 

Far from a mirror finish but I have lit and edited these to be more revealing and hopefully more useful rather than hiding the shame behind shitty out of focus images.

 

Once sanded, dusted and degreased I applied the bluing - this time with a brush that was supplied with the BC set. Not the best idea because you can get streaks and I later used cotton buds to work the barrel.

 

 

The instructions say to apply and leave for about 3 minutes until a yellowish crust appears. Then rinse under cold water to stop the process. Pat dry with a lint-free cloth and spray with Gunex2000. To go all Larry David the results were pretty, pretty good so I used this as the go-ahead to strip the barrel down to bare metal.

 

 

Before that I used the Robla SoloMil barrel cleaner as per instructions to strip any unwanted particles from the barrel. I improvised a plug out of a rubber which I taped over the hole. I do not know if there are adverse effects from using a rubber with this stuff so if there are please let everyone know. I assume it's not a problem and the results were great.

 

 

Barrel stripping took ages and I blame that on the worst sandpaper in existence and no bluing remover. It's certainly worth seeking advice from those who know to save yourself a load of time and RSI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the same process as before except this time I'd watched a few more videos and become a bit more confused over the bluing techniques. Some people were saying you cannot let it dry, some were, and the application timing varied a lot. What I did was use cotton buds to work around the upper half and work down to the beginning of the loading chamber. I let it dry and rinsed with cold water. I then went over the second half, rinsed and patted dry. When it's at this stage it's hard to tell the end result because the crust and black gloss from the oil makes it look quite good. What still confuses me is the treatment after this point and whether you're meant to rub away the scum or leave it for X amount of time. Either way the result was far from the original quality and appears thin by comparison. As far as I can tell this is to be expected of this process, but certainly my methods weren't great. Not starting at the top so drips could form would be one change to make and as I now understand it you can do smaller areas with no fear of trying to rush the whole thing in one go (ie less than 3 minutes).

 

Onto the stock which was in good condition excluding some dinks and pits. I wanted to sand it down to bare wood and then apply a light oil over the top to enhance the natural grain etc.

 

 

When I got there, and I'll skip the rant about sanding, I found the original stain had seeped inconsistently into the wood and no matter how much I sanded I couldn't get it all to the same colour. This was worst at the indents and more horizontal surfaces where the grain was more porous. I called up a local gun restorer at GMK (*3) who suggested it would probably not sand out before going too deep so try using a stain which would effectively neutralise the surface to one colour. So I painted it black.

 

 

Obviously this was a first coat but I really didn't like the idea of a black rifle so fall back to the idea I'd had in my mind for a while where I'd strip back the neutralising coat but only in places where there was surface area, not an indent. This is like faux ageing and although it's not authentic or traditional I have to say I really like the result.

 

 

 

To get this effect I sanded as much of the black as possible on the surface without touching the grain. In areas where there was a build up (once again on verticals against the grain) I used white spirit to thin the coat and spread it out and into the cracks. By doing this all over and combined with fine sanding and wire wool I got the black down to areas where a natural build up of stain could occur. Once this was done and cleaned for particles I used Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil in multiple coats to seal the wood and lessen the contrast between the black and light beech wood. (*4)

 

Finally I could put in the spring upgrade which was custom made at Sandwell Field Sports. Call them up and speak to them because they're incredibly helpful and very knowledgeable. (*5)

 

 

Old on the top, new on the bottom. Supplied with both greases and washers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there she is. Not a usual HW77k but then she's not for sale so I'm hardly considering the value. I know it might seem a bit sacrilegious, feel free to debate it, but I'm happy with the outcome. Definitely jumped in at the deep end with this one but if I can save someone 5 days of sanding and anxiety it'll be worth it.

 

Jon

 

 

Links:

1. http://www.swillingtonshootingsupplies.co.uk/store/product/4477/Ballistol-Gun-Care-Set/

2.

3. http://www.gmk.co.uk/

4. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birchwood-Casey-Tru-Stock-Finish/dp/B0000C5398/ref=sr_1_2?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1401214562&sr=1-2&keywords=birchwood+casey+tru+oil

5. http://www.sandwellfieldsports.co.uk/

[Rez 4,961]

This is flammin lovely mate. Stock finish is very different and works. Awesome write up too. Keep us informed on its shoot.

[risingfriend 1,042]

Nice write up and pics mate if im honest not sure on the stock but if you like it then all is good hope she shoots as good as the effort put in and you wont go wrong with a SFS kit

[Gaz 177 263]

Nice one, always good to see these kind of post's put on the forum

[JonMundo 6]

Thanks guys, yea it's marmite alright. Did have a couple of test shots to make sure the I'd put it back together properly (you can't really put it together wrong cos things don't align). Had to adjust the trigger with a right turn cos it had become very light. Just need some ballistics gel or some vermin!

[bobcullen79 1,495]

Nice write up Jon... I still dont like it though...

Have to get out with them when the kids go back..

[moxy 617]

Brilliant post Jon and some top photos Nice one

[Daz39 962]

i love the look of it, well done mate.

[moxy 617]

I have now added it to the pinned topic.

[Darkie69 76]

I like the stock, looks like a sort of burnt wood finish to me but all in all a damn fine job,

[JonMundo 6]

Thanks for your feedback guys. Managed to get a few shots off and she's working like a charm. Happily goes through 10mm ply but that's not really useful info. I tried tapping the stock whilst cocked (not loaded and pointed into the ground) to ensure the trigger was sufficiently adjusted so there's no chance of it going off randomly. There's always the safety. Worth mentioning dry firing isn't a good idea so I only did it once but I'm sure we all know that

[tomburras 2,730]

Nice job! Iv not seen a stock with that effect before. Very satisfying when you do it all yourself, does it shoot nice with that a and we'll spring kit in? Have you put it through a chrono yet?

 

Well done and happy shooting!

Edited June 4, 2014 by tomburras

[mattybugeye 884]

Brilliant post mate and cracking result

Very organised on start aswell with diagram and clean tidy work area think I should take a leaf out of your book on my next project as my workbench looks like Luftwaffe bombed it :-)

Big well done on that , atb

[Kabbychris 7]

Looks great I stripped my hw85 stock down and waxed it to bring grain out I would put up a picture but just joined forum and haven't got to that yet

[JonMundo 6]

Nice job! Iv not seen a stock with that effect before. Very satisfying when you do it all yourself, does it shoot nice with that a and we'll spring kit in? Have you put it through a chrono yet?

 

Well done and happy shooting!

Thank you. Yea she shoots really nice with the new spring - I think I'd be lying if I said I could notice a difference between now and before simply on recoil alone but all the signs are good so far