Walther Century - Detune/tuning for accuracy and good manners

[evert]

As mentioned in another thread, my new second hand .177 Walther LGV, turned out to be a Century....
All airguns are delivered pushed to the max over here, as we dont have power restrictions, and power sells, so to sell a gun here it needs to be the full power version.

The gun shoots quite good groups, but having shot the LGV some years back, I'm quite sure it is possible to get a more pleasant and better shooting gun out of this beast.

The first step I'll try is to remove the massive piston weight and turn up a shorter tophat and a tighter and longer rear guide to remove some vibrations and possibly reduce recoil.

[les allam]

How much preload have you got as standard?,and what sort of power level are you aiming for?.
I had the opportunity to buy one a few years ago,I regret not getting it
Now.
Les..

[mrto]

A friend of mine short stroked his .22 Century with an HW80 short stroke kit and had it shooting sweetly at around 11 ft lbs. I'm considering doing the same thing to mine in due course as it's a bit of a thumper with standard, (UK) internals.

[evert]

How much preload have you got as standard?,and what sort of power level are you aiming for?.
I had the opportunity to buy one a few years ago,I regret not getting it
Now.
Les..

Forgot to measure the preload when I took it apart. But it wasnt extreme, and I'm not changing preload at the moment, just guide fit and piston weight.
Not really looking for a specific power level, just trying to get good firing behaviour first.

[evert]

A friend of mine short stroked his .22 Century with an HW80 short stroke kit and had it shooting sweetly at around 11 ft lbs. I'm considering doing the same thing to mine in due course as it's a bit of a thumper with standard, (UK) internals.

Could end up being the best solution, but I dont like nose extensions...

How does the spring in your guns measure? Does it have a tophat/piston weight?

[mrto]

Could end up being the best solution, but I dont like nose extensions...

How does the spring in your guns measure? Does it have a tophat/piston weight?

It's a long time since I stripped mine down, but I don't remember it having a piston weight which at UK power levels would not usually be necessary considering the large 30mm cylinder ID.

[les allam]

Forgot to measure the preload when I took it apart. But it wasnt extreme, and I'm not changing preload at the moment, just guide fit and piston weight.
Not really looking for a specific power level, just trying to get good firing behaviour first.

You are not hampered by power limits, so a nice shooting (less recoil) gun is your main objective.
Jon (shed tuner) and a few of the more knowledgeable chaps will probably chip in with some useful advice. Good luck with your gun.
Atb
Les..

[Shed tuner]

Just convert it to an LGV with the reduced diameter tube and the smaller piston, job done

[evert]

New and old spring guide+tophat, as you can see the original guide was very short to make room for the long piston weight.
Had to make the guide out of brass as that was the only material I had on hand of suitable diameter.

[evert]

Just convert it to an LGV with the reduced diameter tube and the smaller piston, job done

It may come to that.
But are the original parts available?
I have an extra TX piston and some rods left over from my TX tinkering, might be a solution.

[TonyL]

As we said on the other thread, sleeving it to 25mm and using the LGV piston would provide the sweetest shooting solution, at the cost of a much more involved procedure. However, simply junking that piston weight and employing a softer spring mated to better fitting and suitable guides would, I guess, result in a very sweet shooting rifle. Especially if you could then be convinced to also short stroking a little.....

[TonyL]

New and old spring guide+tophat, as you can see the original guide was very short to make room for the long piston weight.
Had to make the guide out of brass as that was the only material I had on hand of suitable diameter.

Will check out the image on my phone later as my ageing Mini I-Pad won't allow.

[TonyL]

Incidentally, what is the piston weight, evert?

[HW777]

It may come to that.
But are the original parts available?
I have an extra TX piston and some rods left over from my TX tinkering, might be a solution.

I think you will be hard pushed to find any spares for the century, although you might be luck with German mail order companies.

But just with the new guides fitted you've made, has this improved the firing cycle ?

[evert]

Incidentally, what is the piston weight, evert?

The steel tophat at the top center of the picture.