I admit to really enjoying bringing a non-working rifle back to life. But every now and then one throws me a googly that gets me wondering what's wrong ... me or the rifle. Such was the case yesterday and today for a Walther LGR. I knew it was not in working order, no compression at all. So new seals were ordered ... the piston seal and the valve seal. The piston seal apparently comes in two sizes according to the Knibbs site. I selected the size which matched the current (blue) seal on the piston and figured it would be OK. Parts were soon with me and what I thought would take at most a couple of hours began. No problems with the basic strip down but one of those two screws that have curved slots for the driver played up and I had to resort to much heat before it shifted. And yes, the curved slot suffered even though I had a good fitting driver. Never mind, I sorted it. The rest went swimmingly and I noticed with relief that the piston would slide much too freely in the cylinder and that the firing valve seal was the nature of cork. But then the piston seal bit ... jeepers that was difficult both to remove and replace. At one point I was thinking that the piston may have been an old one that had the bonded seal but I persevered to cut the old one away and was relieved to discover the slot for the new head to fit into. Fitting the head was an horrendous job but using hot water treatment, a vice and some timber and brute force and it finally clicked into place. Homeward run? Nope, another bite coming.
Re-assembly of the parts was pretty easy and it was with some trepidation I cocked the action and too the first shot. OK, good. Then tried a second shot but oh dear, trigger failed to engage a couple of times then did engage then did not. In the end I had the rifle out of the stock watching the bits as I cocked the action and fired. I could see nothing untoward but stripped parts down to make sure I had not gone wrong. Nope. Then I realised that the shot before the failed attempt to cock would somehow displace the end of the hammer mechanism from the two small prongs that fit around the trigger frame support, not a lot but enough to prevent cocking. Twiddling the hammer prong frame back into its correct position on the trigger frame resulted in perfect cocking. Why? I spent a long time looking and puzzling. In the end I looked at a parts diagram and noted a 'puffer seal' (Walther part 2184711, part 71 on their diagram) was missing on my LGR. It sits on the actual sliding hammer rod and must act as a buffer between the hammer spring assembly and the sliding hammer. I can only guess it had perished and disintegrated never to be seen again. I found a suitable O ring to fit and tried again. So far with many shots there has not been a failure to cock. Relief. Such a small thing to cause so much trouble.
But it seems as if I am back in business. Now all I need is a dioptre sight ....
I accept that my description of the parts involved could be a bit hazy. This is mainly because the mechanics are not like any other rifle I know .. I had not looked at an LGR before except to replace the two breech seals. But a look at the parts diagram will show all. What a pity I did not do that to start with ....
Cheers, Phil