Getting Warmer!

I have been motivated to work on the R9 stock recenly. 

All of the shaping is done.  All of the sanding is done.  Now I have started to apply the finish.

I started with boiled linseed oil (BLO) and it muddled the grain and made it really dark.  Fortunately this stuff takes forever to cure so I was able to wash the stock down with some mineral spirits and blow the open pores out with compressed air.  Not all of it was taken out but the majority was and it lightened up quite a bit.

After some more internet research, I decided to try Waterlox, a tung oil and resin finish.  I sealed the stock and filled the grain some with multiple coats of shellac sanding sealer (dewaxed shellac/2 lb cut).  I wiped and sanded the shellac down and then started with handrubbing a coat of the Waterlox.

This is the first time I have used a Waterlox product and I am really impressed.  It went on so evenly and easily.  It has a glossy sheen to it but the info on the product says that the sheen goes down to a semi-gloss after 3-6 months.  One of the nice features of this product is that there in no profiling or sanding necessary between coats.  Just apply the next coat over the previous and it chemically bonds to the previous coat.  Very nice! 

I have one coat on the stock so far and I am really pleased.

We did almost have a major setback in the porject today. 

I had the stock hanging in the house off of a light fixture.  One of the kids stood up into the stock and knocked it off on to the floor!  Fortunately it fell and hit on the edge of the butt end and only dented it with a few marks on the finish on three other spots. 

I was able to tape the stock around the butt end and cut about 1/16" off of the butt to remove the damaged area.  That was an easy fix.  I will have to do a bit of sanding on the recoil pad to get a perfect fit again but it was pretty minor considering what could have been. 

Here are some pics of the progress.

New Toy!

I wouldn't exactly call it a toy since it could actually cause injury or death but it is for fun, not for causing destruction.

I have actually had this new airgun for 2 months now. It is an HW77K. Weihrauch, out of Germany is the manufacturer of this .177 caliber airgun. It is considered to be one of the greatest spring piston powered air rifles of all time. I am thinking that it is pretty neat too!

I didn't think so by my first impressions with this gun once I got it. I think that I had read so many reviews about how good the gun was that I had expected a bit more than what it was when I pulled it out of the box and shot it for the first time.

I will spare the details of what didn't impress me but since then, I have changed my mind about this rifle and now I am really enjoying it.

Out of the box it was pretty twangy! Twangy?

That is a word that is used by many to describe the sound that the gun makes when it has been fired. This particuar gun has a large main spring that is compressed when the gun is cocked. After a pellet is loaded into the breech and the lever is in the closed position, the large main spring is held in the compressed state waiting for the trigger to be pulled by the shooter and releasing the spring to drive a piston with a seal on the front end of forward, compressing the air that is in the compression tube, forcing the pellet down and out of the barrel. When the spring, springs, it vibrates. That vibration is transmitted into the surrounding parts of the gun and makes the TWAAAAaaang that is heard to the shooter.

One of the best ways to remedy this twang is to have a snug fit between the guide that the spring compresses onto and the spring itself. That was one of the first issues that I addressed after shooting this gun. It makes a huge difference how the gun sounds when fired and gives a sense of a much better quality product.

There were other issues that I addressed while working on this particular air rifle that add to the overall positive experience of shooting a gun like this. I will spare those details and I will just share what the rifle looks like. Here are a couple of videos that I did when I first got the HW77. You may be able to hear the difference in the sound before and after I worked on it.

I have changed a few things since these videos were taken.  One of the main things was changing the stock out for the "old style" sporter stock that is what makes the rifle look better, in my opinion.  The "new style" is on the rifle in the videos.

Here are some images with the original (new profile) stock.

 

Here is a picture of the rifle with the classic stock on it.

 

 

Much nicer I think.

 



 

I have also de-tuned the rifle some.  It is now shooting about 850 fps.  I cut the spring down and I also addeed some weight to the piston.

 

It is shooting really nicely now!