How long should an HW break barrel breech seal last

[Barryg]

It seems that every few years I have to change the breech seal on my 80 because it loses fps and when I change them, they crumble is that normal?

[MartynB]

It seems that every few years I have to change the breech seal on my 80 because it loses fps and when I change them, they crumble is that normal?

Not a springer expert but literally every couple of years doesn't sound right

[Barryg]

Not a springer expert but literally every couple of years doesn't sound right

That's what I thought, the seals look OK until you start to remove them.

[Shed tuner]

10 years min to crumble, probably more. They don't even harden for like 5 years. maybe it was left in the sun ?

[Barryg]

10 years min to crumble, probably more. They don't even harden for like 5 years. maybe it was left in the sun ?

That's two I have had now and not left in the sun

[Waddy]

Looks like the one I took out of my 97, like old cheese it was.

Replaced it with a Br1t Seal, did the piston seal too & saw a 2 ft/lb improvement. I wouldn't bother replacing seals with standard ones, after market ones are better.

Why is the common abbreviation for British not allowed ?



.

[Antoni]

Just lay a sheet of bog paper over the breech. If it moves attend to the reason.

I once had a piece blown to bits....

[TonyL]

Well, in my experience the genuine HW ones last a very long time......

One of my 95s.....bought new in 1995. Fitted V-Mach kit in 2014. It was still shooting brilliantly, and very consistently two years ago. So, breech seal about 27 years old!

Conversely, in 2019, a "supposedly genuine HW" one in a 35 lasted two months!

P.S...the 95.....although the seal looked flattened and to be well past its best, it was still quite pliable and, as said, still performed very well.

[Neil54]

What lubricant do you use?
Could it be deteriorated by lubricant?

[barrel]

Just lay a sheet of bog paper over the breech. If it moves attend to the reason.

I once had a piece blown to bits....

You need Izal.

Kindest regards

Barrel

[Barryg]

What lubricant do you use?
Could it be deteriorated by lubricant?

I did wonder that, but the breech only gets an occasional wipe with Parker-Hale Express Gun Oil.

Tony, 27 years that's amazing The broken seals in the pic did look OK and worked I only decided to change them because the fps was inconsistent, I wonder if you tried to remove your old ones they would crumble, I have now fitted a new standard seal and the fps are consistent, but I'm thinking of getting a heavy-duty seal from somewhere if they are easy to get, I have had almost indestructible Diana breech seals from Terry Robb but not HW.

[TonyL]

I did wonder that, but the breech only gets an occasional wipe with Parker-Hale Express Gun Oil.

Tony, 27 years that's amazing The broken seals in the pic did look OK and worked I only decided to change them because the fps was inconsistent, I wonder if you tried to remove your old ones they would crumble, I have now fitted a new standard seal and the fps are consistent, but I'm thinking of getting a heavy-duty seal from somewhere if they are easy to get, I have had almost indestructible Diana breech seals from Terry Robb but not HW.

Nope. When I removed that old seal from the 95, despite it looking well flattened, it was still soft and flexible, Barry. Although, outwardly, it looked to be past its best it was still working well and, I suspect, would have carried on doing so for a good while longer.

The aforementioned one that wasn't very old from the 35 was, I suspect, a seal made for the supplier as opposed to a genuine Weihrauch one.

I also wonder how some stockists might store seals.

The worst one I ever saw was one from a Webley Stingray a couple of years ago that I looked at for a friend. It had gone very dry and hard and little fragments had to be carefully removed using a cocktail stick.

[TonyL]

What lubricant do you use?
Could it be deteriorated by lubricant?

I would well imagine that some lubes wouldn't be a seal's best friend, Neil.

[angrybear]

I did wonder that, but the breech only gets an occasional wipe with Parker-Hale Express Gun Oil.

Obvious answer would be stop using it, or change to a different product, & see if it makes a difference, a good wipe of silicone grease, just to the rubber seal, before fitting might help a bit.

[evert]

My 2008 HW80 and my 2009 HW95 are still on their original breech seals.

Normal gun oils are made for metal lubrication and preservation, not lubrication of synthetics.
Wrong lube seems to be the obvious problem here.

Or do you want us to realise that Diana seals are better than HW seals???