Webley Hawk Mk II Accuracy

And General Handling.

4x32 Range Right scope fitted to the Webley Hawk and one unimpressed pooch

Now i'm happy with how the Webley Hawk is performing after a little tinkering, it's time to see just how accurate she can be with what ever .177 pellets i have. All pellets sit deep in the breech when loading, but there is no more than 10 FPS variation in velocity. I perfer pellets to sit firm and flush in the breech, but in this case i'm going to have to make a tool to seat them the same depth each time which should reduce some of the variation in velocity. I always felt that deep seating a pellet increases the transfer port size and effects a rifles power, though that is not always the case.

Making dinner while changing the main spring

With both inner and outer Relum main springs fitted the rifle takes a little more effort to cock than before, though i'm happy to note that it hasn't made the rifle any harsher to fire. 

Inner and outer Relum spring replacing the tired original with top hat, the inner spring bound up with the top hat.

To much preload to guide by hand

Blood on spring compressor to prove the point.

A block of wood helped guide the spring.

Fitted on 1st attempt.

The trigger has no first stage travel and breaks cleanly without pulling the shot, just like my other 1970's British springers. The off hand balances the rifle about four inches in front of the trigger guard, 

Point of balance shows the rifle is front heavy.

 this is at the end of the the cocking slot on the stock which is pretty long because of the one piece cocking link. 

Very long cocking slot.

The rifle is front heavy because it sits in a Mk III stock and not the Mk II it should have, 

Trigger catches on the Mk III trigger guard.

and because of this i turned the trigger guard around to give the trigger some clearence. 

Before.

After, trigger doesn't catch on the guard.

Though whether this gives the rifle a little more pull length i'm not sure, it's certainly comfortable for me to shoulder and my cheek rests on the combe without having to stoop my neck.

Because the rear sight is not adjustable for windage until i can repair it and probably fill a whole blog on it's own, 

Rear sight in need of repair.

i fitted the Range Right 4x32 scope which gives a clear and crisp view as it did to great effect when i used it for hunting with the Sharp Innova. 

4x32 scope will sight the rifle.

It's just unfortunate i only have barrel cleaning rods for .22 as the barrel could do with a good clean, though i do have a brass wire brush in .177 i will have to wait till i get some cleaning patches to clean it properly.

The brass brush alone will not clean the barrel thouroughly.

Using a left over cardboard box as a target and for sighting in the scope i went down the woods where it wasn't blowing a gale, 

Old boxes left over from Xmas are good for target practice.

five shots had it sighted in enough for me to test the grouping. I hadn't cleaned the barrel so whatever groups i achieved would improve when i got around to cleaning it, but for now it would give me a fair idea of how it would shoot even though my off hand wasn't in exactly the same place for all shots. Out of the AA Diabolo's, H&N Field Trophies and Geco Wadcutters i found the 

In the woods and ready for target practice.

Geco's to be the most accurate at 15 yards, giving me a two pence size group every time if i sat with my back to a tree holding the rifle gently and supporting my off hand on my knee. 

Pretty good for 15 yards with a dirty barrel.

There was very mild surge and recoil so following through was easy. however at 30 yards there was too much crosswind and the wadcutters loose it at that distance. What i did discover was that the scope had crept back 3 mm along the dovetails while testing the rifle, i suppose i will have to fit it more securely next time or invest in a scope stop.

Have to do something about that scope shift.

Happy with these results i headed back home where i cleaned the barrel by pushing a .177 brass wire brush through the barrel, using some Map Pro 7 gun cleaning oil on the end of 3 mm thick metal wire being careful not to touch the rifling. I repeated this about ten times then pushed through small squares of dried baby wipes, the first one came out filthy so i repeated this till they came out clean. 

Yep! that barrel was pretty dirty alright.

Looking down the barrel i could see a marked difference as it was now clean an very shiney, all i need to do now is put some pellets down it to coat the rifling before i test it again. I also need to take it out more often so i can find a hold that is constant from shot to shot, as with all my springers that would be supporting the stock in front of the trigger guard with my off hand.

Ready for a retest.

Now all i have to do is wait for a less blustery day or find a more sheltered part of the woods, until then..

TTFN

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe

Trigger reassembly

This is how safety, sear, trigger, and two springs should sit inside the trigger housing.

Slide in safety, fit spring in sear pin hole then fit in housing,  with the aid of needle nose pliers line up spring loop over the sear hole and safety hole in trigger housing, then insert pin.. Sear pin first, followed by safety pin.

Fit circlips to secure pins.

Use pliers to get sear in correct position and fit trigger with return spring in place, then insert pin through housing hole, safety, and trigger.

Fit final circlip to the trigger and you should be ready to go, if not just try it again till you get it right eventually.

And that's how it's done

Webley and Scott Hawk Mk ll, part2

So here is part two, but not as soon as i would have liked. 

Sorry, but there is loads of stuff to do before Xmas.

Having already made a good piston head seal with two Rubber Orings There are a few things to fix still before she is any where near her former glory, also i would like to see if using one rubber O ring gives better compression through less friction. But for now lets do two O rings and different main springs and breech seals if needs be.

Two under sized O rings are stretched to make the perfect seal.

The main spring is pretty well worn but luckily it is the same one that is used in all the Relum models, and i have three of those sitting around so one would make a better replacement till i can afford a new one. There is no spring guide in the Mk ll's and lll's, and that is why the spring was so warped down by the end cap. The metal tab on the safety slide has snapped off, so the safety doesn't work, spot welding a new piece on and grinding to shape would work, but i'll maybe leave it as is for now.

Zoom in on this one to see the broken bit of metal that was the safety tab.

The stock is most definatly off a Mk lll because when i compared the Chamber's diagrams of all three Mk's, i could see the end cap was the shorter Mk ll, and the stock has the cut out for the longer Mk lll curved end cap with the safety to the side. 

Stone me, the stock has got the safety cut out for a Mk lll. ie. There fore i think, i'm bodged.

Some one had chiseled out the space for the safety tab at the rear of the Mk ll end cap, also the front sight is not a Mk lll and for all i know the barrel and front sight could even be off a Mk l.

Okay, it's not the rear sight. But is the front sight not a solid bit of kit. 70's Britain for you. And it also is a dead give away to the fact that it's a Mk II.

 Most annoying though is the fact that the rear sight doesn't adjust for windage, but with a bit of research i'm sure i'll get that sorted eventually.

The Hawk was sitting in the corner of the kitchen, so i had better get it together sooner than later

So it's time to get the Relum main springs out, shim the breech seal if necessary, and see what this little pup can do. Second hand spares should be pretty plentiful i reckon, because if you where a kid in the 70's you either had a Hawk or a Meteor. Unless your mum paid weekly for a Relum from a Kay's catalog, and there are bloody no end of Relums Knocking about.


I knocked up a small top hat out of delrin to give the old spring a little boost, i would have liked to have made a short spring guide but i was now out of delrin.

Oooh look, bendy spring. But it's got a top hat.

 I then took out all sharp edges in the compression tube with a small grinding bit in my Draper mini drill, then gave it another good clean out. 

Seriously now, if you don't want to damage your seals, just grind the hell out off every inside edge.

Smearing some Abbey SM50 between the two O ring seals the piston slipped into the chamber a lot easier now, and just before the piston finally went in i applied a decent swab of Abbey LT2 grease around the end. The piston moved down the tube with the slightest bit of assistance now, and stop dead when i put my finger over the transfer port. Now that is the sort of seal i want in a springer, one that seals air tight but creates as little friction as possible.

Abbey LT2 grease liberally smeared over the top hat and old spring and in that went, followed by the end cap which went on with a small amount of pressure by hand allowing the pin to slip in.

Preload with original spring and top hat.

The trigger safety, sear, and tension spring were put in the housing and with the aid of a small screw driver were aligned so the pins went in, followed by the trigger and it's tension spring which just left the circlips. Greasing the breech, breech detent, and spring i pushed the breech into the forks and lined up the pivot pin holes, 

Breech, Breech detent, Spring, and forks.

I put the geased pivot pin in one side of the forks and pushed down on the compression tube and barrel till the pivot pin holes aligned so the pivot pin pushed all the way through.

Lots of pushing, shoving, jigging, and tapping and it's all back together. Someone said, 'measure twice, cut once'. I say, 'just tap gently'.

 Sweet, the rifle's back together and all i needed to do was put the stock on.

I really don't know what this picture is doing here but it looks the part.

I took her out to the shed and put her over the chronoscope, using H&N field trophies which sat deep in the barrel i got an average of 6 ft/lb. This was good, with a decent spring and a new or shimmed breech seal i hope to get 10.5 ft/lb which was what they did from factory.

Highest power i could get with the original spring and two new rubber O ring seals.

Life moves on and several days later i take the spring out and replace it with the spring from my old stockless Relum Telly, i had to take out the trigger and safty catch in order to take the spring out.

There you go, Relum without a mainspring and a hawk with a beefier mainspring. This was done while i cooked dinner for my wife.

 With the longer stiffer spring out of the Relum the Hawk is a lot firmer to cock, this is an addition of six coils taking it from 31 too 37 and two inches of preload. I used the repaired spring compressor with the thread directly on the bottom flat half of the end cap, i could of built a wooden block to support it but it was easy enough just supporting it with my hand. I forgot to get a picture of this as i was cooking dinner at the same time, so i hope i explained it well enough.

Well slap me with a kipper, the stronger spring boosted the muzzle velocity to 9 ft/lb with 7 grain wadcutters and 8ft/lb with H&N trophies, you can't say that is not a result.

Well you have heard my crap enough for now, lets just look at some pictures of a freshly semi tuned rifle barrel and a chronoscope.

Premier's never let you down, i should really get some magnum's as they are not so heavy as these mother's

Two ft/lb if not more of an improvement.

For some reason i can alway's  depend upon these bugger's  for never taking me over the legal limit. But if you put them in a PCP, watch out.

7 grain, just like hobbies and always the one to test by.

Not too bad for a heavy pellet out of a springer, but Crosman's will come up trumps every time.

Oh, the variation, oh the different pellets. Oh lets just put a new spring in her and see what that does, at 9 ft/lb she is shooting well sweet for a .177 with an old Relum spring.

Here you go, 10 FPS faster than the lower out put with thes wadcutters and neigh on 9 ft/lb.

Well now, here's a number if you can read it, one of many with Webley.

Lots of numbers make your air rifle one of a kind.

 All i know about air rifle serial numbers is that with my Air Arms PCP Shamal,  the first 65 were prototypes, making mine the 6th production model.

I just thought i had to mention that as it is one of the prime movers in my air rifle collection, and she is running as sweet as the day she first fired a shot in the hands of her new owner. I really hope i can get the Hawk Mk II back to it's former glory, along with the extra barrel, original stock, and it's original power output (If not more).

Oh Goat's Testicals, I've already said goodbye.

TTFN.

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe.  

Three old Breakbarrels

For Tinkering on the Cheap


Over a year ago before i started this blog i put an advert in the local shop, saying i would pay money for old, broken, and unwanted air rifles as a way to get cheap projects on the go. Initially some one phoned with a BSA Meteor Mk4 which was in pretty bad shape as this model usually ends up in, then after that there was nothing as the advert was only put up in a tiny local village shop.

So to my surprise i received a call on my mobile the other day from some chap who tells me that he has three air rifles for sale, he says they are old and some of the sight parts are missing. So i arrange for a time to come around and have a look at them. 


On arrival after a hand shake and greetings he shows me three rather rusty looking air rifles, though 0000 wire wool and gun oil can shift the rust it was a matter of whether the metal was pitted underneath.

Webley Hawk That's sat in a shed for a while

Stock bolts needed tightening.

First one out was a Webley and Scott break barrel in .177, at first glance the forks on the action were slack, there was a split in the stock, it had front and rear sights and the rear one was not working completely, and at some point some one had fired the rifle with the rifle cocked without returning the barrel.

Heanel Mod 1with barrel release on the breech.

Other side of the Heanel

Second up was i discovered after a quick look about was a Heneal in .177, this too had plenty of surface rust so i could not see any markings to date it. The rear sight was incomplete and the leather seals were so in need of replacing, but these can be made myself.

Relum looking rusty.

 

Even rustier on this side.

Last but not least there was a .22 air rifle which was the rustiest of all of them, it just screamed Eastern European in make. This had no rear sights at all, was extremely pitted in places, and there was rust residue on the rifling. this one had also been fired with the barrel cocked open at some point in the past, but luckily didn't suffer any damage i could see on the outside.

I really would have liked to give the gentleman a little more money for them, but at that point it was looking like i could only fix up the Heanel with the other two being used for the spares pile. I mean, to buy the parts to fix them up would cost way more the the rifles would be worth when fixed, But that won't stop me as i can make most parts myself.

So once home i cleaned up as much metal as i could with gun oil and 0000 wire wool, and with the aid of Google i was able to find out what these air rifles are.

The webley and Scott is a Hawk Mk11 produced around 1975, these were sold with .177 and .22 with interchangable barrels. 

\\\\\removable barrel with breech seal on the transfer port.

Though the stock on this one looks like it comes off a Mk 111 and has a crack that runs from the long cocking slot to the side of the trigger guard,

Mk 111 stock on Mk 11 Hawk, the safety shows it well.

Long cocking slot with split.

 but has a deep rubber butt pad with the Webley logo molded in large letters on it. 

It's a Webley alright.

The hood is missing on the front sight which is not the end of the world, and though the rear sight is mostly complete the windage adjustment needs a bit of fixing. 

Rear sight needs repairing.

The forks are loose around the breech block and the barrel bends upwards slightly, so along with the damaged stock some one has been pulling the trigger with the rifle cocked open.

The Heneal is a Mod 1 GDR and were produced from the 1920's till the 1950', looking at the rear sight base (which is incomplete), 

Rear sight with slider and sight missing.

the safety catch (which doesn't work) and the Made in Germany stamp on the bottom of the barrel leads me to believe this must be a later model. 

The safety that doesn't work.

Out of the three it is the only one not to have a scope rail, and from the information i have gathered it's supposed to be a very accurate target rifle of it's time. 

No scope rail.

It has a simple stock with a finger rail grip and a lovely brass plaque on the butt, though it is of an age not to have a rubber butt plate. 

Nice brass plate.

There is a knurled knob that slides a plate that pushes the breech lock back allowing the barrel to drop, 

More Heanel markings

and the articulated cocking linkage gives a short cocking slot on the stock. This rifle also has tell tale signs of being fired with the barrel cocked open, but due to it's solid build quality it's done very little damage, thank fuck.

Finally it would appear that the .22 is yet another Relum, now cleaned a little i could see the Made in Hungary stamp and the LG527 stamp denoting its model which i think is the Zepher. 

One piece cocking arm made of pressed steel.

These later models are a lot different than the Telly and the Tornado, and time will tell if they are any better. 

Better, nicer stock than earlier models.

The stock is a lot better looking than the older models with a nice cheek piece, 

Trigger is pressed steel but nice and wide.

however the metal is just not as good a quality as you would find on a Telly for example The rifling looks rusty, there is no rear sight, and the metal work is badly pitted, but it does feel quite solid.
 

Rear sight completely missing.

Well these should keep me busy til i can decide if it's worth pouring some funds into any of them, which i wont be able to do till after Christmas at the earliest. I can only hope there is no pit marks inside the compression chamber as they have been sitting collecting rust for many years.

TTFN

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe.