hw55 valuation

[keithomas]

Hi. I have a hw55 i never use,shot one shot from it!! and am thinking it may be time to cull it. I brought it over from germany from a guy who had it from new and used it in the german target championships.
Its serial is 9839
according to weihrauch its pre 1950. they dont know when.
blueing is alright its faded and shows some silver through but theirs no rust.
It has a pre record trigger
i dont beleive its been opened as all the screws on it have dimples punched in to them to stop them turning.
the stock has diamond chequring on the fore arm and an aluminium shaped buttstop. Stocks good condition concidering. Its used and work bit not dented snagged and distroyed.
In all honesty it dosnt shoot nicley. Id have a guess its been left for a long time with out action and needs a service.
it has an old period scope on it

http://s422.photobucket.com/user/kei...igrauch%20hw55

What would you say its worth in its current state and if it was serviced re coloured and stock refinished?

[coburn]

Current state £150 to £200 perhaps. Without the correct diopter so that could be an issue.

[18 Wheeler]

I reckon coburn's valuation is about right, it may well be towards the middle/lower end of that range, which seems a bit low but that missing diopter (and frontsight?) is a bit of a fly in the ointment.
I wouldn't shoot it anymore. As it "doesn't shoot nicely" the seal may be damaged/dried out resulting in cylinder damage. Likewise the breech seal.

If you had it refinished (reblued, piston seal replaced, the stock looks fine to me) I doubt you'd get your costs back. Most buyers would expect a pristine example to have the correct diopter too.

You can see a number of variations of the pre-Rekord 55's in this excellent thread from the AVA Forum, including one which is only 9 away from your serial number in the thread's last post by Danny (Garvin) with a similar short block pre-Rekord example.

[aimless]

IMHO

pro: clean condition, early(?) good and shy stock version with cheek-piece, con: pre record trigger , sight(s)/diopter missing,

(as mentioned in posts before)

I have never seen this rear screw at the combustion-chamber? Is that original?

Stock itself at egun would be worth around 100 € ....

Jochen

[frakor]

@jochen,
The screw at the rear side of the combustion Chamber is the trigger adjustment screw.

Most important thing is the frontsight missing?
All other things van be made nicer, even a "correct" periode diopter could be found when patiënt.

These early HW55's are highly praised (andere priced!) on the other side of the oceaan.��

----------------------
Frank

[keithomas]

That interesting. I do have a tunnel sight that will fit the front of the gun and a diopter. Although id rather keet the diopter for an old 35 ive got.

So fit a tunnel site and try america with it?

[Garvin]

That interesting. I do have a tunnel sight that will fit the front of the gun and a diopter. Although id rather keet the diopter for an old 35 ive got.

So fit a tunnel site and try america with it?

I think Weihrauch don't have any records which tell them the dates of these first rifles, so the 'pre-1950' estimate is a shot in the dark. The available evidence suggests this model would have been more like 1952-3, IIRC.

At one time I owned this beautiful example, serial no. 9830.

Although the seagull is suggestive of the sea, 'Bay' means 'Bayern', or Bavaria, which is where Mellrichstadt is.

I think Jochen is right about the stock alone making 100 euros on eGun (especially since the 'side screw' is intact), but I don't think many of the other parts are interchangeable with more modern HW55s, so much better to keep it all together.

Originally this rifle would have had the diopter shown at the back and a ramp and element front sight, with or without a sight protector.

Without the sights, I agree that the overall value is greatly diminished and replacing them could take years of patience and scanning eGun regularly!

See here for other HW55 pics.

[TStray]

There is a fairly nice early HW55 Match on one of the auction sites here in the US to give you some idea of what they are worth on this side of the pond.


http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=479341657

Cheers,
Tom