Reanimating a HW80K, Part 6

With most of the problems sorted, I cleaned the parts.

All clean...

I decided to minimally lube it, so a very thin smear of heavy tar on the spring.

Some moly on the top hat & washers.

A thin smear of moly on the piston. I just wanted to test for function and make sure the repairs held. Plus I figured I'd see what it did with the original o-ring and breech seal before replacing them.

After cleaning the trigger unit in a friend's ultrasonic cleaner I used some Starret "mouse milk" instrument oil.

The trigger unit is easier to replace when cocked.

Someone had modified the sear.

They rounded over the top. Why? I have no idea.

Using a punch to wiggle the shims back into place.
Then I did some testing. The stock screw tab repair held like a champ. The barrel hasn't moved. 2 good things. Velocity was down though. Before working on it it was at about 760 fps w/ 14.3 gr. pellets. After cleaning and reassembly velocity dropped to about 720 fps w/14.3 gr pellets.
I assume that cleaning out all the caked up lube reduced the ability of the worn o-ring to seal.
Also the minimal lube likely increased drag on some parts.

The other issue was that it wouldn't always catch when cocking. Not an ideal situation.
What would happen is it would fire several times fine then fail to catch. If I then clicked on the safety and pulled the trigger it would click and then it would catch when cocking. I was a bit puzzled so I asked on the Yellow forum. The answer as to what was happening was indeed found here on the Straight Shooters forum. However the trigger parts I had did not look modified or polished as that posters did. Another guy emailed and suggested that I tighten up the trigger weight spring screw. That did indeed fix the problem. So too little tension on the spring allowed that condition to occur. I fired a number of shots after adjusting and it never once failed to cock.

I tore it all apart again.

Machining the new breech seal. They're $3.00 from Maccari and I wish I'd bought one last order. But I didn't.

I wanted to try something new for cutting off the urethane. Some mini boxcutter blades.

It worked like a champ.

Just a single screw holds the blade to a stem.

The new seal. I made it just a hair thicker than the old one.
I also replaced the o-ring on the piston with a #213 buna o-ring. I'm guessing that the old one was something harder though and I may get a polyurethane or viton o-ring in that size later on.
I also tried out Derrick's secret lube, Buzzy's Slick Honey . It's sold alternatively for bicycles and for paintball guns but is a good grease for many things. You can see some specifications here and here. Anyway I put some thin smears on the top hat, spring guide, inside of the piston and a little on the spring. Not too much, just enough to get everything slippery. None on the o-ring seal or head, obviously.
Put the rifle back together and fired about 50 shots through it (and no failures to cock). Velocity was about 773 fps. on average. So the new o-ring and breech seal as well as being a little slicker helped a bunch. I want to shoot a couple of hundred rounds through it before I pronounce it done though. Next I need to make some screw cups and repair the wallowed out screw hole in the stock. I could use a good scope mount as well as a cocking handle. The 80K has a short barrel and it's tiring to fire many shots as you don't have as much leverage.

Reanimating a HW80K, Part 5

On I go...

Turning down some mild steel to 5mm.

Threading 5mm x .8

Cutting off.

Threaded into the misaligned screw hole.

I soft soldered it in (with Tix Solder). Unfortunately my torch tank valve caught fire. Everything is ok. But I need a new tank before I use the acetylenne torch again. It was somewhat exciting.

Cut nearly flush.

Peened.

Filed flat.

Aligning the tube.

Picking up the screw hole centerline with the head of a 5mm screw.

Marking centerline.

Held vertically, same thing.

This is where the hole should be.

Setup on the drill press.

The hole drilled. Unfortunately my solder job let go (due no doubt to the fiery distraction while soldering) and it turned slightly in the threads. That is it's held in but could rotate.

So I added a few punch marks to keep it in place. It's not going anywhere. I hope. I tapped it 5mm x .8 and that I could tap it says to me that it's in there solidly.
I tightened up a screw and the plug seemed to be holding fine. I later found a rather large electric soldering iron in my collection of tools so I flowed the solder again, now it won't move, which is good.

Look at that! The screw head is where it's supposed to be.

The misaligned screw is the existing one, the straight one is my repair.

Again, the left screw is the repair.

Oh yes, there will be more to come. Next up is cleaning off all the asphalt/grease/oil/dirt from every part.

Reanimating a HW80K, Part 4

On I go...

I turned up a plug for the muzzle.

A slip fit.

And added a center in the end.

I mounted the barrel between centers on the lathe. The muzzle and breech end are in line.

The plug...

Running an indicator along the barrel shows that it's straight but...

Not concentric. If it were bent then there would be a deviation in the middle of the barrel but the change in indicator reading was linear.(and I repeated this test all the way around) At least that's my analysis and I'm sticking to it.

So I chucked up the barrel in the 4 jaw and turned down the breech end a bit so it would be a slip fit in the breech block.

Slathered it up with Loctite 620. The technical sheet (.pdf) says that it will fill a gap of up to .25mm (.009") if left to cure for 72 hours at full strength. Sounds good to me! Full strength as far as I can tell is 2400 psi. It should stay put.

The excess squeezed out. I twisted the barrel around as I pushed it in to smear it evenly (I hope). I replaced the pin to keep it all aligned properly.

I left the barrel upright in hopes it would stay relatively concentric to the bore of the breech block and not sag. After only a few hours it felt rock solid.

Yes, still more to come...

Toys That Shoot Airgun Show Findlay, Ohio

The fifth annual Flag City Toys that Shoot Show was Saturday April 10th 2010. Again, it was held at the Lighthouse Banquet Facility on OH SR 224. I picked up my buddy Joe and his nephew Joseph and we made the 140 mile drive from Akron to Findlay, OH.

The show is a mix of airguns, bb guns, cap guns, sling shots...but absolutely no firearms.

The show started at 9 Am and was in full swing by 10AM. It was tough just walking down some of the aisles at times.



This is a pic from around noon. The crowd is starting to thin out a bit.

The tables held amazing things ranging from left handed 10 meter match guns to rubber band repeaters.



The dealers were buying as well as selling. Here's Steve Joseph with his new Feinwerkbau 124 with a sport aperture sight. It appeared to be almost NIB.

The variety was fantastic.

If you've never made it to an airgun show, you'll see tables full of things you previously only found in the Blue Book.

Many, if not most, of the guns were in exceptional condition.

A ball flask pistol. Seriously.

There was no shortage of vintage American guns. Crosmans and Benjamins were on almost every table and rack.

Dennis Quackenbush was in attendance and brought several of his big bore rifles and pistols. He was reluctant to be photographed as he wanted the focus to be on his work and not himself. Dennis is truly a kind and humble guy.

Nephew Joseph and buddy Joe. I kept slipping Joseph money all day so he could afford to buy something. Can you imagine being a kid and coming home from a show like this empty handed? All of the vendors really went out of their way to talk to Joseph and the other kids who made the trip. Joseph struck a deal with one of the sellers for a nice, used Crosman 1077 for less than half what he could have gotten for it. Theodore Summers sold us 6 spare magazines for the price of five. Thanks Theodore! Joseph did the math in his head and can't believe he can shoot 84 times now before he's got to reload pellets. He's hooked.

I just wanted to pack up this whole table into my car.



Le's see, up top looks like a Benjamin EB, a left-handed Gamo Compact, and a BSF. Below is an FEG CO2 match pistol probably branded as a Daisy.

Pyramyd Air was in attendance selling dented tins of pellets at $5 a tin. They were pouring through them at that price. They also brought several rifles to show and take orders.

Buddy Joe near the end of the show.

Did I mention cap guns? These belong to...

...longtime cap gun collector Bob Bailey.

I think I counted 7 or 8 Daisy CO2 200's. If you ever find one, it's a safe bet that it won't work.

Roman Vitale.



A semi-auto five shot Hammerli match gun.









Mike Sawmiller has some exceptional taste in guns.







There was a Brown pneumatic pistol. Really--a Brown pneumatic. Unbelievably rare.



This was a show for the southpaws.

LH tyrolean.

I bought a few things. I've been semi-hunting for a S&W 78G. Seems like every time I find one, it's a 79 and I didn't want the .177 caliber. The price was right and it was holding gas at the show. It had just been gassed up a couple days before. As I took this picture, one of the valve seals failed. I don't blame the vendor at all. It was just one of those crazy things and I would have bought it for the same price regardless. I didn't haggle on it either as he'd driven at least 6 hours and had to cover the cost of a hotel room. I'm just really glad he was there and brought it. I had the gun fixed with new o-ring seals later that same night. No problem.

Got these from airgun tuner Ken Reeves. They're not complete, but considering how many I had before, this is a goldmine of information.

Pyramyd Air was giving away the pellet pen loader with each purchase. The .20 cal JSB's were hard to pass up at $5 per tin. The Vortek Lampreys are .22 cal--I've never known they were available in that caliber before. I need pellets like a hole in the head. I must have 60K pellets right now.

Took a chance on this. It's a Daisy 790--yeah that .177 cal version of the S&W I've been reluctant to buy. Box is marked as "complete". It's not. The trigger blade is missing. The top slide is also damaged where the rear sight mounts. At least I've got parts for my 78G, or Nick can have it.

Shoot. It's in good condition otherwise. Anybody got a trigger for a S&W or the Daisy? Maybe a broken gun we can scavenge?

Addendum: The seller just contacted me about the box of Daisy 790 parts above. He was horrified to learn that it wasn't complete as he had sold it to me. He offered immediately to refund all the money and let me keep the gun. I don't believe for a second that the seller knew it was missing a piece, and I didn't intend to imply that either. I looked at the box and didn't notice it, nor did he. I have absolutely no intention of taking him up on that offer and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy something from him in the future. That's the kind of people this show attracts.

Great time at the show. Put it on your calendar for next year.