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Thread: A 35 for £35

  1. #1
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    A 35 for £35

    So I go the my local RFD to pick up pellets and happen to mention that I'm after a winter project. Behold, he pulls out an hw35 for 35 quid! It had belonged to a guy who had his firearms confiscated and the police took this with them. Judging by the state of the breech seal and from what I've read I don't think over 12ftlb was possible, hence the stickers saying this 'firearm' is safe!

    I've had many 80s over the years but never a 35. So the question is what do I do with it?

    Selling off the parts is a no go, I'm too nostalgic for that, but I don't think its worth the investment of a full re blue.

    Perhaps a TBT kit and piston seal mod? But then what spring to deal with the reduction in volume?

    I am thinking of open sights perhaps and some cheaper re blue solution perhaps?

    It's either that or it will turn into a labour of love and I'll spend a fortune on not much gun.

    Any advice would be much appreciated.

    Cheers
    Rob


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  2. #2
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    Question

    As you said Rob, It's too good to strip for parts, Just leaves a quandry as to what to actually do with it!

    John
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  3. #3
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    I'd just card the rust off, long stroke it to 70-71mm, bung in a tuning kit, slap a scope on and shoot it.





    All the best Mick

  4. #4
    micky2 is offline The collector formerly known as micky
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    Quote Originally Posted by T 20 View Post
    I'd just card the rust off, long stroke it to 70-71mm, bung in a tuning kit, slap a scope on and shoot it.

    all the best Mick
    l would just do what the man above as said,

  5. #5
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    Looks better than the Vulcan I did, wire wool and oil, if you want to get carried away, wire wool dry, then G96 cold blue and flush with boiling water will give a decent finish.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by T 20 View Post
    I'd just card the rust off, long stroke it to 70-71mm, bung in a tuning kit, slap a scope on and shoot it.





    All the best Mick
    Thanks Mick, sounds like a plan. How would I go about long stroking it? Shorten the cylinder?

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by T 20 View Post
    I'd just card the rust off, long stroke it to 70-71mm, bung in a tuning kit, slap a scope on and shoot it.





    All the best Mick
    Shoot it to where and out of what kind of cannon?!
    "corners should be round" Theo Evo .22/.177 - Meopta 6x42, DS huntsman classic .20 vortex razor LH 3-15x42 under supervised boingrati tuning by Tony L & Tinbum, HW77 forest green - Nikon prostaff 2-7x32 plex.

  8. #8
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    The stroke is lengthened to 70mm from standard 55mm .

  9. #9
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    £35 ?

    I will give you £37.50 (all heart me ) I aint got one like that in my '35 collection.

    ATB
    Ian
    Founder & ex secretary of Rivington Riflemen.
    www.rivington-riflemen.uk

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by I. J. View Post
    £35 ?

    I will give you £37.50 (all heart me ) I aint got one like that in my '35 collection.

    ATB
    Ian
    I go for £39
    "corners should be round" Theo Evo .22/.177 - Meopta 6x42, DS huntsman classic .20 vortex razor LH 3-15x42 under supervised boingrati tuning by Tony L & Tinbum, HW77 forest green - Nikon prostaff 2-7x32 plex.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by T 20 View Post
    I'd just card the rust off, long stroke it to 70-71mm, bung in a tuning kit, slap a scope on and shoot it.


    All the best Mick
    Along similar lines for me, I think.

    I'd be stripping it firstly to assess the state of the internals and see what parts would be required.

    If you were going to lengthen the stroke (from the standard 65mm), Mick would usually advise obtaining a piston from a later synthetic sealed gun. The piston is slightly different, giving the longer stroke. However, you may then need to sleeve the transfer port down to get things singing in harmony. We're talking using this later piston complete with the synthetic seal here.

    If the original leather seal was there and in good condition, I'd be reconditioning that with neatsfoot oil. Clean everything up. Get a spring with matching top hat and guide from Tinbum. Wire wool, oil, cloths and judicious elbow grease to just clean the externals. And leave be. Nice to have it original and with patina and bestows that nostalgic feeling. Leather seals available now from Protek if it were goosed, or you might at that point decide to go for the newer piston & seal.

    Now, if you have other scoped guns, I'd be going along the lines of trying to obtain some open sights and shooting it thus, reinforcing those classic feelings. Protek (and others) often have used sights for sale, or you could try posting here.
    Last edited by TonyL; 01-08-2018 at 11:48 AM.
    THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
    NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ragle Jnr View Post
    Looks better than the Vulcan I did, wire wool and oil, if you want to get carried away, wire wool dry, then G96 cold blue and flush with boiling water will give a decent finish.
    That's great, thanks for that. I'll look it up.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by I. J. View Post
    £35 ?

    I will give you £37.50 (all heart me ) I aint got one like that in my '35 collection.

    ATB
    Ian
    I have but its got more rust than that.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by TonyL View Post
    Along similar lines for me, I think.

    I'd be stripping it firstly to assess the state of the internals and see what parts would be required.

    If you were going to lengthen the stroke (from the standard 65mm), Mick would usually advise obtaining a piston from a later synthetic sealed gun. The piston is slightly different, giving the longer stroke. However, you may then need to sleeve the transfer port down to get things singing in harmony. We're talking using this later piston complete with the synthetic seal here.

    If the original leather seal was there and in good condition, I'd be reconditioning that with neatsfoot oil. Clean everything up. Get a spring with matching top hat and guide from Tinbum. Wire wool, oil, cloths and judicious elbow grease to just clean the externals. And leave be. Nice to have it original and with patina and bestows that nostalgic feeling. Leather seals available now from Protek if it were goosed, or you might at that point decide to go for the newer piston & seal.

    Now, if you have other scoped guns, I'd be going along the lines of trying to obtain some open sights and shooting it thus, reinforcing those classic feelings. Protek (and others) often have used sights for sale, or you could try posting here.
    Many thanks Tony, all good advice. I hunt with an LGV so I was thinking the open sights route (obviously just for targets!). I didn't realise you can get the leather seals again, might be interesting. I'd love to long stroke it with a new piston, but sleeving the TP is well beyond my tinkering I'm afraid, I'm guessing that would be essential if getting the new piston.

    Is there a workable solution to the shortstroke option? I.e. new piston head to take a new seal and get the power up with preload? Or will that make it buck like a mule?

  15. #15
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    If using on open sights for targets, Rob, the pursuit of higher power may not be so important maybe?

    But many of the older leather seal guns can make "full power" anyway.

    You could go in small, cheaper, steps, and see how you go......For example, the old seal may well still be good.....just freshen it up with some neatsfoot oil. If that seal is shot, you could make a seal cheaply or, as before, obtain one from Protek. If you found that it's not making power, there's a chance that you could have the "leaky breech" issue, where voids in the braze holding the end plug into the cylinder create excess loss volume. There have been threads on how to remedy this. If you then wanted to chase power, the later piston will give extra swept volume. Power might be okay but sleeving that transfer port down will help both the power and the firing cycle feel with the synthetic seal.

    I have a cosmetically challenged pre-safety 35 amongst my collection. A right old sorry state it looks in. I've kept the externals as they were and I asked Steve Pope (V-Mach) for a weak spring and his guide set. Shoots absolutely lovely and is just the ticket for shorter range open aight target use. Lovely firing cycle. It's only doing about 7.5ft.lbs and I really don't know if that's down to the spring or if I have a leaky breech, but I care not as I have lots of other "full power" rifles, including a further four 35s.

    Have fun tinkering with this beautiful classic.
    THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
    NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!

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