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Thread: HW35, a few questions

  1. #1
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    HW35, a few questions

    Hi all,

    First post on the forum, this appears to be the correct section.

    Back story
    I've recently decided to pick up the old mans air rifle again and start plinking in the garden.

    To start with, the safety wouldn't set itself when cocked and the twang noise was horrific.

    I went to my local shop in Brighton and enquired about getting it serviced, I had also read and watched a lot on tuning. The local shop put me onto Sandwell field sports, if i wanted something extra as in tuning.

    I emailed SFS and ended up speaking to Tony on the phone. He said that due to the breech being scored by the barrel lock there's no point in spending any money on the rifle as it will be difficult to get it to seal correctly.

    With this disappointing news I decided i had nothing to loose having a fiddle myself. I picked out the old original leather breech seal and replaced with a new one from the internet (£4). This made the pellets penetrate the 22mm ply target holder rather than bounce off.

    Next up i decided to knock out the pins on the trigger and pull the spring/piston out. It was full of what looked like old axle grease, I broke out the citrus degreaser (used on MTB) and cleaned it all up. While it was all apart i bought 120 to 3000 Assorted Grit Sandpaper, 23 x 9 cm, 36-Sheet off amazon (£5.97) and polished the piston (leather seal got some connolly hide care cream), the ends of the slightly bent main spring and the bottom of the spring guide. The next morning I went to the local gun shop and bought some Moly Grease (£6.99) and painted it on and reassembled. The gun still twangs as the metal spring guide is loose in the spring, but the pellets are now in the ply to a point where you can't just brush them out.

    So far I've spent under £20 and it's working well and the safety click on when cocked now.

    Questions

    Is it worth getting a guide kit to tune the gun a little more, or will it not really make any difference in the grand scheme of things.

    I'd like to buy a new scope, but would like to retain the ability to use the iron sights which are true. Current 4x Kassnar original with rifle in 70's is bent we think, it shoots 10" high and i cant wind the adjustment down anymore.

    Which scope would people recommend for £100-120. should i be looking at 32 or a 40? will a 40 be too big and obscure the iron sights? should i go 4x or 2-7x ?

    Finally will the current scope mounts fit a modern scope or will i need to buy new mounts too?

    Sorry for the long post

  2. #2
    Micky Spillane is offline reports of my death have been greatly exagerated
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    Dave don't worry about the long post it gives people a lot to work on. As I recall the HW35 was not well suited to a telescopic sight. If you look at the guns profile you will notice a decided droop from the cylinder to the barrel. This was a design feature, God knows why, but unless you use a particular type of scope mount your '35 will always shoot low. The open sights are mounted on the barrel its self therefore are aligned with that rather than the cylinder and will shoot accurately. do not be tempted to over power the gun it was designed around the 7 joule power limitation in Germany and is not suited to go much higher, I had a certain affection for these but they are a Marmite gun.
    Drink good English Bitter beer and shoot safe,
    Micky Spillane

  3. #3
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    I know very little about the 35's but do know the early ones had wide scope rails compared to the more recent ones & if your piston seal is leather I'm guessing it's an early one, if it has scope mounts already fitted they should be for a 1" or larger 30mm scope tube & either will be fine as most modern scopes will fit depending on make / size etc. I've got 3 35's myself that need a refurb or more correctly worded I'm hoping to make one half decent one, a rougher one with what's left & have a few spares, sadly one stock is cracked beyond repair. Enjoy your plinking.
    Rabbit Stew, no artificial additives except lead.
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  4. #4
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    Hi Dave,

    Welcome to the forum.

    Lovely guns, the HW35.

    Personally, with the spring also being a little bent, I'd go for a new spring that comes with custom fitted rear guide and top hat, which should result in a much more refined firing cycle.

    I'd prefer to keep it on opens for that proper "classic" feel, but if going for a new scope would lean towards a nice 32mm scope in low mounts, due to the low comb of the 35.

    Enjoy and feel free to shout up with any further questions and to get stuck into all the fun on here.
    THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
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  5. #5
    look no hands's Avatar
    look no hands is offline Even better looking than a HW35
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    Quote Originally Posted by TonyL View Post
    Lovely guns, the HW35.
    Still having mental problems I see

    Don't worry Dave, just an on going "thing" me and Tony have

    The 35 will certainly be good for target practice, just buy yourself a decent rifle and the 35 will make an excellent target

    Pete
    Far too many rifles to list now, all mainly British but the odd pesky foreigner has snuck in

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by look no hands View Post
    Still having mental problems I see

    Don't worry Dave, just an on going "thing" me and Tony have

    The 35 will certainly be good for target practice, just buy yourself a decent rifle and the 35 will make an excellent target

    Pete
    Lovely guns, the HW35s.

    Oops; did I say that already?

    Lovely, classic rifles which can still compete favourably with many newer rifles.

    Enjoy, Dave; and discount the naysayers' comments.
    THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
    NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!

  7. #7
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    Great guns the 35 probably my favourite HW break barrel!There's a reason they've been in production for nearly seventy years!

  8. #8
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    35's will shoot nicely with some work and at reasonable power levels to. A spring guide set would be recommended, but be careful as due to the change from leather piston seal to synthetic, there is a change in stroke (the distance the piston can travel as the spring is compressed and then released). Leather seals have shorter strokes, so standard guide sets might need some trimming off. The older 35's (yours) also have wider scope rails, though they are catered for - look for Sportsmatch 13mm mounts, they will help. Personally, I prefer a gloss finish 3-9x40 scope on my 35 - it fits in with the classic look and gives you all the magnification you need.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by CapitalBee View Post
    look for Sportsmatch 13mm mounts, they will help. Personally, I prefer a gloss finish 3-9x40 scope on my 35 - it fits in with the classic look and gives you all the magnification you need.
    Thanks for the reply.

    Does the 3-9x40 still allow you to use the iron sights ?

  10. #10
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    Hi pigeondave,

    HW35 are nice airguns.
    Here my findings.


    Introduced in 1950 there then was NO 7,5J power limit for airguns in Germany (as wrongly stated above by Micky Spillane, sorry lad) and the gun does not run best at 7 J but at about 10 to 10,5 Joule.

    With abt. ser. no. 613000 in 1976 single sided safety was introduced.

    The change from 13 mm rail to 11 mm happened around ser. no. 755000 abt. 1977/1978.

    The switch from leather to nylon seals, increase of stroke from 65 to 69 mm and introduction of double sided safety happened with ser. no. 843636 in 1980.


    A TbT kit should be a proper investment.
    I'd go for the maxi-kit as this includes an original spring with properly fitting guides. Talk to the owner/seller to have the spring shortened to the a/m power range. Or shorten yourself.

    Piston seal is also available there.

    Keeping a leather piston seal piston and switching to a todays seal needs an adapter availabe as far as I know from Chambers or Knibbs.

    Disassembly, proper clean and degrease, debur and polish and a final regrease with TbT's grease included in the kit shouldn't take too long and would most certainly result in a very nice shooting gun.

    Top cream would be a trigger tune (sears polish and proper regrease).

    Facing barrel droop a scope could be slightly shimmed or even better get a droop compensating one piece mount.


    This is mine wearing a HAWKE Airmax EV 4 - 12 x 40 AO on KONUS one-block).
    It was my first airgun tune five years back. I did the stock too and spent a barrel weight. Initially the internals were a V-MACH kit but after several thousand shots and two broken springs I switched out of interest to a VORTEK HPO kit but had to shorten the spring as running too hot with accuracy down. It's better now but still not as nice as with the first V-Mach kit.

    https://picload.org/view/dcdilgrw/p8162166.jpg.html


    Hope this helps.
    Happy shooting.

    Andy from Austria

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by pelletcaster View Post
    A TbT kit should be a proper investment.
    I'd go for the maxi-kit as this includes an original spring with properly fitting guides. Talk to the owner/seller to have the spring shortened to the a/m power range. Or shorten yourself.

    Piston seal is also available there.

    Keeping a leather piston seal piston and switching to a todays seal needs an adapter availabe as far as I know from Chambers or Knibbs.

    Disassembly, proper clean and degrease, debur and polish and a final regrease with TbT's grease included in the kit shouldn't take too long and would most certainly result in a very nice shooting gun.

    Top cream would be a trigger tune (sears polish and proper regrease).


    Hope this helps.
    Happy shooting.

    Andy from Austria
    Hi Andy,

    Thanks for all the info. The Chambers site looks very interesting for spares and upgrades.

    From memory the ser. no. starts 66XXXX and the rifle has a single sided safety. Interestingly the piston sear lever on our rifle is made of 3 plates. As I get more confident I may look to polish the trigger. It looks like a 3000 wheatstone might be on order.

    I was looking at the TbT kit but was a little hesitant as I noted that the spring would need adjusting.

    Is it a case of cut and heat the spring to bend it back to a flat bottom and a grind and polish to finish if i were doing the work myself?

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    Founder & ex secretary of Rivington Riflemen.
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  13. #13
    tinbum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by look no hands View Post
    Still having mental problems I see

    Don't worry Dave, just an on going "thing" me and Tony have

    The 35 will certainly be good for target practice, just buy yourself a decent rifle and the 35 will make an excellent target

    Pete
    The main problem with a 35 and sub 12 is that it's not enough power to kill it humanely. I carry a battery angle grinder to supply the coup de gras where necessary.
    God rest ye jelly mental men

  14. #14
    look no hands's Avatar
    look no hands is offline Even better looking than a HW35
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    Quote Originally Posted by tinbum View Post
    The main problem with a 35 and sub 12 is that it's not enough power to kill it humanely. I carry a battery angle grinder to supply the coup de gras where necessary.
    TOP MAN!

    Pete
    Far too many rifles to list now, all mainly British but the odd pesky foreigner has snuck in

  15. #15
    look no hands's Avatar
    look no hands is offline Even better looking than a HW35
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    Quote Originally Posted by mrto View Post
    There's a reason they've been in production for nearly seventy years!
    Yep they've still not sold all of the first batch they made, apparently they're now doing a buy one get the rest free offer

    Pete
    Far too many rifles to list now, all mainly British but the odd pesky foreigner has snuck in

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