hw 35 vixen

[T 20]

Yes Mick I badly wanted one and had done as many odd jobs as a kid to get one, then Eddies shop was destroyed by fire. My own G80 is a 1978 series 1 in .177, its doing all of 8 ftlbs but with Crossman Domes it is easily one of the most consistent springer I have ever used, we are talking less than 5 fps variation over 30 shots thats better than some pcp,s out there. I paid all of £25.00 a few years ago from Jeans Military Memories ( remember a great shop). I have allso searched for the SP5 for what seems years, the only person who seems to have one is Gareth WB and I dont think He will ever part with one of His 2:eek The Vixen took me near 30 years to find, but it was worth the wait, I did have 2 of them but had to sell one a few years back to help pay for a big job on my old car and regret it. So if another Vixen comes up then She will find a warm /safe home in my gun room in one of my racks. atb Dave

I wouldn't worry too much Dave

The Vixen and the SP5 would probably be the two easiest collectable guns to reproduce if you set your mind to it.

The HW35E is still in production and the internal modifications are well enough documented that building one would be a very simple job.

A few good secondhand G80s are still out there and .20" barrels are still being made so with a bit of machining, hey presto.



Making a batch of new Vixens up could probably make a lot of sense if there was enough interest ?






All the best Mick

[fat man]

Now you have me thinking Mick, but as to HW35E I like my 1979 .22 Optima Leisure Products supplied just as She is at 11.2 ftlbs, but I am going to my HW 35 Lux Welsh Willi tunded in the near future, atb Dave.

[davymole]

Like everyone else we watch out for any hw35 especially in .177 and when asked for valuation its a sharp intake of breathand say not worth much hoping for a steal which never comes ,nice to see them coming out of the wardrobes and back into the world again,seem to go for between £150 and what ever one is willing to pay . I would like one for my collection

[fat man]

Like everyone else we watch out for any hw35 especially in .177 and when asked for valuation its a sharp intake of breathand say not worth much hoping for a steal which never comes ,nice to see them coming out of the wardrobes and back into the world again,seem to go for between £150 and what ever one is willing to pay . I would like one for my collection

Davey, I put the delux up for sale here last year after good advice from IJ on price as the delux is much rarer than the 35E. There were no takers so She now has a permanent place in my gun racks in my gun room.

[T 20]

Now you have me thinking Mick, but as to HW35E I like my 1979 .22 Optima Leisure Products supplied just as She is at 11.2 ftlbs, but I am going to my HW 35 Lux Welsh Willi tuned in the near future, atb Dave.

Hi Dave

Unfortunately this post has started me thinking as well, as good and groundbreaking as the Vixen was, things have moved on a bit since they were built.

It would now be possible to build a slightly better Vixen --- blasphemy I know, but true.

The piston could be built as a bobbin shape as used by Wonky Donky on his Hw80 with radial bearings front and rear and a delrin or nylon spring guide could be used.
If the piston weight was set the same as used on the original Vixen the gun could have the same firing cycle but be even smoother to cock.

It's probably been done already but If not it could make for an interesting little project.




All the best Mick

[fat man]

now that would be something special mick.

[bigtoe01]

When you think about it all the vixen had over a normal 35 was a breech that did not leak....all 35's will do 12 easy if there is no wasted air.

The ultimate 35 needs a new cocking arm with trigger shoe, rotating piston with short transfer port...all doable

[fat man]

When you think about it all the vixen had over a normal 35 was a breech that did not leak....all 35's will do 12 easy if there is no wasted air.

The ultimate 35 needs a new cocking arm with trigger shoe, rotating piston with short transfer port...all doable

Ok how much would it cost to do Pm me please.

[MattyBoy]

Well Mick did a great job on his 35 shortening the TP to 6(?) mm

Lots of work though...

My question is is it really "worth" spending hours and hours making the 35 into a good gun when there are so many other good guns out there?

My .177 35E is a nice gun for sure but it's still got that massively long TP which is super inefficient.

Matty

[maximus]

My .22 35e obtained from Mr Benchstop may well be "super ineffcient" but it is lovely to shoot. If its in effcient this only shows itself in a higher cocking effort. It is extremely accurate with Bisley LRG too. It has a leather washer and a big TP, 4mm I assume. Lovely gun.

[kram245]

I did have a Vixen, bought second hand about 15 years ago. Shot really well, very quick action, not a lot of recoil, and no spring reverb. In fact it shot too well, and was to high, about 14 fp.( .22). I opened it up and saw that the action was sleeved, a-la-venom's HW80 ( but pre-dating this) with a smaller custom piston. The spring was a very shiny, quality spring ( round wire) that was Swedish I believe. I replaced it with an Airsporter spring, from memory, and brought the power to 11.5 or so.

[MattyBoy]

My .22 35e obtained from Mr Benchstop may well be "super ineffcient" but it is lovely to shoot. If its in effcient this only shows itself in a higher cocking effort. It is extremely accurate with Bisley LRG too. It has a leather washer and a big TP, 4mm I assume. Lovely gun.

My .177 "E" is very accurate and is a lovely gun to shoot (it's been tuned to quite an extent - Rear bearing on piston and O-ring piston head conversion) but it's just not as good a design as the other HWs I own

The fact that I would never sell it should tell you something though

Happy Shooting

Matty

[T 20]

The ultimate 35 needs a new cocking arm with trigger shoe, rotating piston with short transfer port...all doable

Hi Tony

Folks with rose tinted glasses wouldn't want that, they want the Vixen they couldn't afford back in the 1980s complete with it's firing cycle.

The Vixen had a mixture of platings inside the gun to cut down on friction and used a TX/77/LGV/Airsporter sized spring in a sleeved/weighted piston.

What I'm saying is that we could now recreate the anti friction properties by fitting piston bearings, PTFE liner and Delrin guide, and with a 25mm main piston body we would be able to run the same TX/77 spring.

If we make the piston the same weight as the original Vixen and set the power the same then we should have about the same firing cycle --- the only thing we will have done is remove any torque twist through using a rotary piston.

If I built it I'd use a 30mm Weihrauch seal, TX rear piston bearings front and rear and a TX piston rod, in doing so the wearing parts could be easily sourced for a home service.


Not that I've given this much thought mind.




All the best Mick

[TonyL]

Well, T20 mentioning the Vixen on a current '35 thread prompted me to do a search........

Very interesting thread.

[Mach 1.5]

HW35E Vixen 177 cal on GS for £850 if you have that sort of money to throw at a 35. Mach 1.5