"it's a bit rusty"

[T 20]

Well folks Last week I did some work on a car for my Gypsy Mate Big Eddy's son (little Eddy).

As I wouldn't take any money off little Eddy for the work I'd done (well he is my God son), he said he'd keep his eyes open for any air rifles that showed up on his scrap metal round.

Anyway Little Eddy phoned me last night and said he'd got an underlever gun for me but it was a bit rusty.

I was a bit excited at the prospect of Little Eddy showing up with something exotic such as a Hungarian Swamp Donkey, or better still a Chinese Lion.

Imagine my dissapointment when he showed up with this.


http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...4012006226.jpg
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...4012006227.jpg
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...4012006228.jpg
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...4012006229.jpg


Another bloody 77k (I managed not to show my dissapointment )

Believe it or not it is really smooth to cock and fire even though it is only doing 400fps with Hobbies.

It's soaking in diesel now to soften the rust before I try to strip it.


Just to cap my day off, Big Eddy showed up tonight with a couple of Ferret kittens for me for helping Little Eddy out with his car.


Ah the joys of living in the country.



All the best Mick

[johnbaz]

Ha Ha Ha!!!


It'll polish out

I've actually seen worse a long time ago, it was a relum jelly that had been down a damp cellar

Seriously though, it looks like surface rust, a bit of emery cloth will probably do it the world of good


John

[T 20]

Ha Ha Ha!!!


It'll polish out

I've actually seen worse a long time ago, it was a relum jelly that had been down a damp cellar

Seriously though, it looks like surface rust, a bit of emery cloth will probably do it the world of good


John

It's quite deep rust John

I've not decided whether to shot blast it yet or just spin it up in the lathe and try to clean it off with emory cloth.

Obviously how it cleans up will dictate the final finish, I'm drawn to an all weather finish such as Black Chrome (don't see it much now) or have it parkerised.

I've still got to decide whether to chop the barrel down to HW97 length or not but again this will depend on the state of the rifling at the muzzle.

Believe it or not the stock is a nice piece of wood and will be easy to refinish but as I have a couple of spare HW77 stocks I'll probably use one of those instead.

Whatever I do I don't think I could make it look worse than it is now.



All the best Mick

[johnbaz]

It's quite deep rust John

I've not decided whether to shot blast it yet or just spin it up in the lathe and try to clean it off with emory cloth.

Obviously how it cleans up will dictate the final finish, I'm drawn to an all weather finish such as Black Chrome (don't see it much now) or have it parkerised.

I've still got to decide whether to chop the barrel down to HW97 length or not but again this will depend on the state of the rifling at the muzzle.

Believe it or not the stock is a nice piece of wood and will be easy to refinish but as I have a couple of spare HW77 stocks I'll probably use one of those instead.

Whatever I do I don't think I could make it look worse than it is now.



All the best Mick

The black chrome sounds good

Shall we see it when finished??



Cheers, John

[Vonnegut]

I had a HW35 in a similar condition

I sandblasted mine, and it ended up a nice satin finish that holds oil very well and is less prone to rust!!!

[nimrod177]

Obviously how it cleans up will dictate the final finish, I'm drawn to an all weather finish such as Black Chrome (don't see it much now) or have it parkerised.

looks as if its already got the all weather finish
if its of any use i have a nearly brand new hw77 stock going free to a good home. well plus postage. dont need it any more as mines fitted with gary cane stock. pm me if you want it.

[T 20]

Shall we see it when finished??



Cheers, John

Of course you will John.

It looks like the black chrome may be a problem as most chromers don't seem to do it anymore.

I'll have to have a word with my mates at the local Custom Harley Davidson shop and see who they use.



All the best Mick

[si7777777]

Ive just googled black chrome and it looks brilliant. http://www.challengeralloys.com/gallery/15.php

You got me thinking now

Si

[T 20]

I had a HW35 in a similar condition

I sandblasted mine, and it ended up a nice satin finish that holds oil very well and is less prone to rust!!!

Hi Vonnegut

I have a sandblasting pot but I'd rather use shot or eggshell as sand removes metel as well as the rust.

Like you say though a sandblasted finnish does hold oil well, it would also give a good key to a paint or powdercoat finnish.



All the best Mick

[T 20]

looks as if its already got the all weather finish

I know and like a divvy I was worried about it getting wet today when it rained.

if its of any use i have a nearly brand new hw77 stock going free to a good home. well plus postage. dont need it any more as mines fitted with gary cane stock. pm me if you want it.

Thank you for the offer nimrod but I already have two spare 77 stocks so I would rather your stock went to somebody more needy.



All the best Mick

[T 20]

Ive just googled black chrome and it looks brilliant. http://www.challengeralloys.com/gallery/15.php

You got me thinking now

Si

Nice aint it Si.

The only problem I have now is that I've just realised that this is a rare MK1 HW77k.

I thought the k was introduced at the same time as the anti-beartrapped MK2.



All the best Mick

[si7777777]

You lucky sod! You've got to breath life into the old girl

But agree that the black chrome lovelyness might be a bit sacrilegious on such a classic

Si

[frontend loader]

How much for the boots in the first photo? They look like they could do with a full on resto.

I had 2 just like this both from a scrap pile,they tested the polishing abilities to the limits
the 35 is finished and the 80 is ready.Would like to see the finished gun when your done,cheers,Pat.

[T 20]

How much for the boots in the first photo? They look like they could do with a full on resto.

Sorry Pat but they're not for sale as they've just about bedded in and running smoothly at size 10ftlbs.

I had 2 just like this both from a scrap pile,they tested the polishing abilities to the limits
the 35 is finished and the 80 is ready.Would like to see the finished gun when your done,cheers,Pat.

Ah I remember those and often wondered what happened to them.


Anyway I had a bit of time to kill this morning so I decided to start on the 77s action.
I hand scraped most of the loose rust off the action and barrel using a Stanley knife blade, this revealed the serial number as 1017296 (1985) and also showed that the gun was none Hull Cartridge.

While I was at it I thought I may as well strip the whole gun down and see what was what, unfortunately the trigger housing was rusted solid into the body tube.

So I had to use my secret gunsmithing weapon to free it off.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...5012006230.jpg


Believe it or not there is very little wrong with the guns internals and even the piston seal is still good to go again, the breach seal is used but good so why the big power loss.
On trying to poke a Hobby through the barrel using a brazing rod I found the answer --- the barrel is deformed about 2" from the muzzle to such an extent that I couldn't get a pellet past.

So thats it now, Barrel chop and recrown followed by rebuild, followed by black chrome if possible.

I'll stick some more photos up as and when there's anything to look at.



All the best Mick

[timmaaah]

Good luck - that'll polish out, I'm sure