Weihrauch's first ever air rifle

[Garvin]

Here are some pics of the first Weihrauch-branded air rifle, the HW50V. This one dates from sometime between about 1951-53. It has a rifled barrel but the very first ones, from 1950, were smoothbore because for several years after the War the Allies banned German gunmakers from using rifled barrels. The workmanship and materials are of the highest quality.

The first Weihrauch rifles had a "seagull" motif stamped on the breech and a short trigger block. This series included early examples of the HW50V, HW35 and HW55. After some thousands of these short trigger block rifles were made, HW started to experiment with a longer trigger block and after a while adopted it as the standard.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6
Pic 7
Pic 8
Pic 9
Pic 10
Pic 11
Pic 12

[ogilkes]

Nice looking gun. Many of the post war German priducts seem to have this strange impressed double bandon the reciver, its occurs on Bsf's, Haenels, Anschutz and now here, fashion or functional?

[slug-gun]

Superb example of a rare gun.

[yoshiwolves]

thanks for posting those pics,, they are really interesting, , i have never seen one before,
in the early days was there a connection between weihrauch and bsf ? the two rings round the front of the cylinder look very bsf,ish,
it looks in fantastic condition to,
atb
paul

[I. J.]

Nice looking gun. Many of the post war German priducts seem to have this strange impressed double bandon the reciver, its occurs on Bsf's, Haenels, Anschutz and now here, fashion or functional?

I often wonder if this is where the cylinder end plug was crimped on as well as brazed (?).

Thanks GARVIN for that information.

ATB
Ian

[yoshiwolves]

I often wonder if this is where the cylinder end plug was crimped on as well as brazed (?).

Thanks GARVIN for that information.

ATB
Ian

hmm, interesting , it could well be

[BTDT]

I often wonder if this is where the cylinder end plug was crimped on as well as brazed (?).

In pic 12, you can see how far the back of the breech block extends, and the bands appear to be over the breech plug. I seem to recall that on some HW breech plugs there were two channels to act as reservoirs for the braze, which could be under those bands - though I'm by no means sure about that.

Nice one, GaRvin.

[Garvin]

Interesting question about those grooves. I'm not sure what they were for. I thought the cylinder and breech were machined from a single piece of steel, which shows how little I know.

In case it makes anything clearer, here's a pic of the bands on an even earlier HW50, a smoothbore from around 1950.

[bobby1]

Hi , I have a what looks like a export mod 35 , it has the teardrop cheekpiece
but no safety catch , any one know the year of manufacture , could this have been made shortly after the Baracuda was discontinued as these were virtualy identical , apart from the ether injector , I believe, cheers Dave.

[I. J.]

Hi , I have a what looks like a export mod 35 , it has the teardrop cheekpiece
but no safety catch , any one know the year of manufacture , could this have been made shortly after the Baracuda was discontinued as these were virtualy identical , apart from the ether injector , I believe, cheers Dave.

If you contact Weihrauch by e-mail and give them the serial number they will date it exactly for you.

The Barracuda was a 35 fitted with an ether injection facility and were manufactured between 1954 - 81.

ATB
Ian

[red bob]

its very close in looks to my latest refurb job a 1931 diana25 the fluting inthe fore end of thr stock and elegant drop on the stock infact they could be of the same range even the action is close.
regards bob.

[bobby1]

thanks Ian, I will Email and find out .

[Garvin]

its very close in looks to my latest refurb job a 1931 diana25 the fluting inthe fore end of thr stock and elegant drop on the stock infact they could be of the same range even the action is close.
regards bob.

I agree the prewar Diana 25 and the HW50V have some similarities Bob but the HW is a very different animal in engineering terms; bigger, heavier, more powerful, finished to a much higher standard, and with a threaded trigger block. I have both models and the Diana feels like a youth rifle whereas the HW is unmistakably an adult gun. Both excellent in their own ways but quite different.

[The armourer]

Hi mate, a very interesting article, I have never seen one of these, like many others, what do you think it is worth? Also when you get the answer back via Email from HW they may give you an idea as to how many were made or the time span over which they were made.

[Garvin]

Hi mate, a very interesting article, I have never seen one of these, like many others, what do you think it is worth? Also when you get the answer back via Email from HW they may give you an idea as to how many were made or the time span over which they were made.

Hi Armourer. Don't know what this gun is worth. Beeman's blue book puts it at about £400.

It wasn't me asking about dates because I'm pretty sure HW don't have records for these first models.

At least 10,000 or so of the short trigger block 'seagull' series of HW rifles were made, unless they missed out some of the numbers.

Current theory among collectors who specialise in these guns is that HW probably reset the serial numbering to zero at some point after this series and began the sequence that is still in operation today (1.5 million+).

There's some evidence that HW was making (smoothbore) air rifles for the Heym and Burgo companies around 1950 even before it launched its own HW50 'seagull' series. By around 1951 the HW50V was rifled and by 1953 an HW50S (sporter) version with milled dovetails on the trigger block for a diopter sight had been introduced. Also by 1953 the first HW35 and two HW55s ('Sport' and 'Match') models were on sale.

BBS member Frakor has probably the most comprehensive collection of early HWs. (See HERE also).

What feature on each model came in and exactly when is quite murky. The first (seagull) HW55 Match models had aluminium buttplates and beautiful all-steel rear diopter sights. Later HW models had longer trigger blocks and a single forend stock screw instead of the short blocks and two side screws on the first versons.

Later pattern all-steel diopter sights with bottom locking wheels were on sale in 1959 at the same time as ones that look very like the final pattern 'modern' alloy diopters. These bottom wheel diopters must have come in around the mid-1950s. Dennis Hiller's Air Rifles 4th edition shows an advert for early "seagull" series HW55s fitted with them.

On the HW55 and HW35, Rekord triggers came in some time after sn. 30,000 but pre-Rekord guns may have been sold simultaneously for a while. Before sn.93,000 the knurling at the rear of the HW55 trigger block had been dropped for a plain groove, which was later dropped altogether.

Thanks to various American Vintage Airguns members for the 'loan' of their pics.