Shop Time With Zwak

by | Feb 2, 2023 | Guns, History, Military | 131 comments

One of my favorite air rifles is a pre-war Haenel III in .22. Beautiful wood, great metal work, and shoots just right. And for you who aren’t familiar with the mark, Haenel is one of the old Prussian gun makers, starting in 1840, and in 1879 were given the commision to build the new Reichsrevolver, this leading to a long, illustrius heritage of building German arms. In 1921, one of the leading lights of firearms design was hired, Hugo Schmeisser, after which they became one of the primer weapons groups in Europe, continuing to supply Germany until the end of WWII. The company then found themselves on the wrong side of the border, and although they were under communist control after that, they still managed to make fine weapons, and eventually, in the aftermath of 1989, kept their place in firearms innovation.

Well, sadly, my beloved rifle started losing power, and wouldn’t push a pellet out the barrel! So, a strip down was called for.

ignore the junk on my bench

She’s an old one, November of 1927

Stock and parts coming off

after striping her down, I mounted it to my largest sash clamp and secured with zip-ties. Also, I put rags down to protect the finish

not too much preload on the main spring, so I unscrewed the endcap after removing the trigger and trigger guard support plug

it’s hard to see, but there is a tear in the leather seal. I am guessing that this is the original seal, a good 95 years old!

In any case, I placed an order for parts this AM, and as soon as they arrive, I will give a breakdown on putting her back together.

To be continued…

About The Author

ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

131 Comments

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    I like guns, that looks fun,
    Cheers!

  2. The Other Kevin

    I had no idea air rifles were around that long. This one is cool, hope you’re able to get it working again.

    • Tundra

      Way longer than that.

      https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/lewis-and-clarks-girandoni-air-rifle/

      The earliest known example of the Girandoni air rifle is currently on display at Stockholm, Sweden’s Livrustkammeran Museum and dates to around 1580. Featured in fairly large calibers, these pneumatic weapons were employed by the very wealthy in hunting large game such as deer and wild boar. But around 1780 an enterprising Tyrolean gunsmith named Bartolomeo Girandoni developed a rugged new model air rifle that was soon adopted by the Austrian military. Produced in .46-caliber, the Girandoni was a quantum leap forward in weapons technology.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Thanks for the tidbit. Had no idea like TOK that they have been around for that long.

      • Tundra

        You’re welcome. I read about it in a Lewis and Clarke book. One of those factoids that stuck.

      • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

        Air guns have been around longer than almost any weapon. A blowgun? There you go! It uses compressed air to move a projectile.

  3. PieInTheSky

    Reparing things is for poor people. Top G alpha males just buy nee things.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Like keyboards?

      • PieInTheSky

        Phones dont have keyboards to buy

  4. Not Adahn

    This post did not teach me how to stop time at all!

    • Lackadaisical

      Or to shop it.

      • Nephilium

        It’s pretty simple to spot shopped time, just look for the pixels.

  5. Lackadaisical

    ‘ one of the primer weapons groups in Europe’

    Can an author get a narrowed gaze?

    • Ownbestenemy

      That is quite the explosive charge Lack…tread carefully

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m not saying Swiss should take aim at authors, it was an honest question, not taking a shot at Zwak.

      • SDF-7

        Huh… you think Swiss would be so easily triggered? I think we should take stock of his situation before going off half-cocked.

    • Swiss Servator

      I…I missed that, in editing.

      *scowls mightily*

      • SDF-7

        No problem, Swiss… we know you have a lot of submissions to rifle through, after all.

      • Sensei

        It was a cheap shot. Don’t worry about it.

  6. Tundra

    This is great, Zwak! I had a break-barrel rifle that I ended up scrapping after the stock, spring and seals simultaneously puked. Not worth fixing, but it was a ton of fun.

    • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

      Cheap stuff is cheap stuff, but the good air guns are very repairable.

  7. Sensei

    Sweet.

    I recently restored a Crosman 760 that I had as kid and took pictures. If work ever lightens up I was going to try to make a post.

    I was amazed that parts were available. It was also interesting to see how it changed over time. The 1970s and 1980s versions were mostly the same but the current model is a poor imitation of anything made past the 90s.

    • The Other Kevin

      In the 80’s I had a 66 Powermaster. I had a lot of fun with it. You could pump it several times and get some great velocity out of it.

      • WTF

        Hah! I had one of those too. Me and my idiot friends did a lot of damage with it.

  8. R.J.

    I like it.
    But if you are going to tell me to ignore junk on your bench, at least throw a dildo or a copy of Time magazine on there for entertainment value.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Are the fasteners a standard thread pitch? Don’t lose them.

    • R.J.

      That is a good point. Keep those in the magnetic parts tray to avoid a tragedy.

    • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

      They are in standard metric pitches, but finding exact replacements is not very easy. Some stuff is still around (barely) but other than that you have to make your own.

  10. R.J.

    Since the seal was leather, would it have been possible to reproduce? I will be curious to see how close the replacement is to the original.

    • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

      Stay tuned for part 2!

  11. EvilSheldon

    I love me some luftgewhers. A few years back, my dad refurbished an old Sheridan .22 that was hella fun to shoot in the backyard…

    • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

      What got me back into air guns was resealing a Benjamin .22 I found in a junk shop.

    • Fourscore

      I gave my Diana 35 and Ruger 10/22 to my middle grand daughter, to introduce her to shooting but I think she’s not been practicing

  12. R C Dean

    TPTB, I just dropped a GlibFit post. Tryna keep my end up, here.

    • anti pro state

      There’s a pill for that.

    • Drake

      There has been several articles lately about the poor state of their military. Sounds like they would have real trouble putting a single division in the field. That didn’t stop Boris Johnson from doing his best to start a war with Russia.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Brits are that little dog in the Looney Tunes cartoons encouraging his bulldog friend to go fight a black panther.
        “I’ll hold your coat for you Spike!”

    • Gustave Lytton

      “Russian invasion and Taliban takeover are examples Britain was not prepared”

      Prepared for what exactly?

  13. Rebel Scum

    *Cringe*

    Ron Klain literally breaks down crying while claiming Biden is “the best father”

    Does he know how Hunter turned out?

    I really loathe the cuntes in charge.

    • WTF

      “But Hunter would have been even worse if not for JOE!!!”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Yes, whoring out your drug addicted kid in service of political graft is fatherhood’s most holy calling, it is known. A good father would have disassociated Hunter from the family business which only fed his predilections but he was useful and was therefore used.

    • Rat on a train

      If you ever want to get father of the year you better start showering with your daughter.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    claiming Biden is “the best father”

    The best friend a boy could have.

    • The Other Kevin

      Think of all the fun, exciting scams and grifts they’ve done together over the years. Do you know any other father and son who still spend that kind of quality time together?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Not since Paul Castellano Jr. and Paul Castellano Sr.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Asleep at the wheel?

    The European Union is working against the clock to create a program to rival President Joe Biden’s unprecedented climate subsidies. But it’ll face two key issues in the process.

    The EU had, for a long time, asked the United States to be more active on climate policy. Biden delivered on that with the Inflation Reduction Act. But it has raised competition issues for European businesses — which has upset politicians in the region. Brussels has been left considering how best to respond.

    “U.S. legislation doesn’t pass overnight,” Emre Peker, director at the consultancy group Eurasia, told CNBC, adding that the EU could have acted faster.

    “The EU was asleep at the wheel … with 28 representations in Washington, Europeans could’ve done more to counteract the IRA before its adoption.”

    The idiots who voted on it din’t even know what was in it.

    • Sensei

      I can tell you in my industry the lobbying firms for it darn well know what’s in a bill.

      Whoever the EU was using was a asleep.

    • The Other Kevin

      I see we’re no longer pretending the Inflation Reduction Act had nothing to do with reducing inflation.

      • Rat on a train

        They only need to maintain the fiction until they can’t be stopped.

    • The Other Kevin

      The problem with the EU is they haven’t yet figured out how to name a bill after something everyone wants, and then stuff the bill full of crap that nobody wants.

    • SDF-7

      Green New Deal ^W^W^W Inflation Reduction Act

      seems to be a good guesstimate….

    • kinnath

      Note, that I was going to go with the classic line, then self-edited so as not to be a racist.

    • Rat on a train

      “It was different when we did it.”

    • The Other Kevin

      It’s funny how someone could label everyone in the opposing party insurrectionists and traitors, and not expect any of that to come back to haunt them. Good riddance.

    • Gender Traitor

      The vote on the resolution to remove Omar from the panel was 218 to 211 and fell strictly along party lines, with one GOP member voting “present.”

      Seriously? What RINO was too lily-livered to commit to a position on that?

      • Rat on a train

        Joyce (R-OH)

      • creech

        Hey of the Democrats who are Jews don’t mind her anti-Semitism, then why should we?

      • Ted S.

        Five members didn’t vote?

      • Rat on a train

        No more proxy voting.

      • kinnath

        As it should be, and so it shall be.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      But AIPAC is in a good mood.

      Over/under on a war with Iran in the next two years?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Generals want China, not Iran

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        300 H-Bombs may temper their desires.

        And good luck getting an aircraft carrier anywhere near them.

      • UnCivilServant

        “This is what Boomers were made for! Right, Navy?”

        “That’s right, Army, we’ll have whatever’s left glowing so bright, you can shoot them in the dark.”

      • Rat on a train

        All that night fire training for nothing.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Keep one eye closed when staring at the mushroom cloud!

      • Rat on a train

        1. React to a nuclear attack with no warning (a brilliant flash of light).
        a. At the flash of intense light, immediately close your eyes and drop to the ground in a prone, head-on position. If in the hatch of an armored vehicle, immediately drop down inside the track.
        b. Keep your head and face down and your helmet on.
        c. Stay down until the blast wave passes and debris stops falling.
        d. Check for casualties and damaged equipment.

      • Ownbestenemy

        That is what our Star Wars, Missile Defense…oh well, I never liked the desert anway.

    • Grummun

      Boo hoo ::wipes away single tear::

    • Gustave Lytton

      At some point it will escalate beyond just committee seats. How about expelling a couple dozen members of the opposition from Congress entirely and pass whatever in the meantime? I can see that happening.

      • Ted S.

        Don’t you need two-thirds to expel a member?

    • pistoffnick

      Bub-byeeee!

  16. Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

    Thank you Everyone! It is nice to see people enjoying this. The sequel is in the works right now, as I had forgotten it was being posted today, and it slipped my mind. More information will be provided, as I have more time to think about the whole thing.

    So, enjoy!

  17. Sensei

    It’s good to be the king! Also “toujours” for king, but not for Katherine.

    Weighing 300 grams (10.6 ounces), the pendant itself is heart-shaped. One side is decorated with a Tudor rose entwined with a pomegranate bush growing from the same branch. The reverse shows the letters H and K — for Henry and Katherine — linked together. Both sides are inscribed with writing TOVS + IORS underneath, a pun on the French word “toujours” meaning “always.”

    https://www.cnn.com/style/article/amateur-detectorist-tudor-pendant-scli-intl-scn/index.html

    It appears the finder got some money from the British government for its (likely) forced return. But this is CNN so don’t expect an answer.

    • Gender Traitor

      Well, three of Hank’s wives were named Katherine (possibly with spelling variations – I haven’t checked) so “always” was arguably half right.

  18. DrOtto

    *inserts Trey Cools ‘looks like you blew a seal’ YouTube clip*

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Do you know any other father and son who still spend that kind of quality time together?

    The time they spent together, taking turns comforting Beau’s widow, for example?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Hunter was comforting the widow, the niece (allegedly), and probably some of the people on the housekeeping staff as well. The man just cares too much.

      • SDF-7

        Maybe China should forget the powdered rhino horn and start smoking Parmesan cheese….

    • SDF-7

      Joe does love running trains, I suppose.

  20. Aloysious

    1241 Mountain time 69 comments.

    Nice.

    • UnCivilServant

      Said 70 when I looked at it.

  21. Rat on a train

    Democrats voted 109-86-14-3 on a resolution condemning socialism. I was actually surprised the yeas were that high.

    • UnCivilServant

      So, 109 “Nays”, 86 “Presents”, 14 “Abstains”, and 3 “yeas”?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Actually, no.

    • SDF-7

      Well, if Maxine Waters can disavow Maxine Waters on the topic and all….

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, you know Maxine Waters doesn’t always agree with what Maxine Waters says, and has little control over it.

      • Rebel Scum

        That really Waters down the significance of the event.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Then immediately turned around and voted to add new laws, regulations, crony handouts and entire departments that increase the size, scope and spending of what is already the largest government in human history all financed by either threating you with jail for not paying up or by creating money out of thin air to be “borrowed” from a central bank that must be repaid by holding you up for more money.

      What a meaningful and sincere gesture. Shit like this almost makes me hate them more than the Ds. Then I remember that they really are the same thing and that any choice you have in the matter is an elaborate illusion.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      I’m going to laugh if it’s gas stoves that pushes a loner over the edge towards taking out a bunch of useless assholes in DC.

    • Nephilium

      Look, it’s just right wing talking points. No one is coming for your guns smoking sections nicotine inefficient vehicles gas stoves!

    • Rebel Scum

      Products that can’t be made safe can be banned

      Go fuck yourself.

      o be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves

      Yet. Won’t do any good with your stated goals if you don’t. It’ll be grills next.

    • Ownbestenemy

      See above; maybe China’s 300 H-Bombs aren’t a bad thing

    • Rat on a train

      Can I get some gang tattoos? I feel so excluded without them.

      • R.J.

        I want to be covered with unnecessary surgery scars!

      • Rat on a train

        I also want an accurate depiction of how messy my house is, how bad traffic with routing collisions, and the full experience of working in an open office environment. I play these games to experience my real life.

      • R.J.

        Need the guy who craps on the sidewalk like a dog too. No simulation is complete without it.

      • Rat on a train

        Also, have they added Antifa as an occupation yet?

    • Compelled Speechless

      Maybe this would be a good opportunity to teach people that looking for personal affirmation of worth from creating a perfectly accurate videogame avatar means that you need to get the fuck outside.

      • Rat on a train

        Bob, you are Gunth a orc fighter.
        Joe, you are Thalmar an elf wizard.
        Carl, you are Carl a human front end developer.

  22. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Skynet, err ChatGPT, is woke apparently:
    https://youtu.be/DWzprRWPI68

    Garbage in garbage out, alternatively we’re screwed.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Yeah I posted a few of its responses a few days ago when I was playing around having it write songs about different political systems. You can tweak your questions to maybe get it to play, but they definitely put some artificial roadblocks in it based on certain lines of questions.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Hmm. So I asked the same questions and got different answers, specifically, it would not answer “Why is Biden/Trump not racist” in the same light. One highlighted Biden’s policies while the other stated Trump’s accusations against him.

    • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

      Do they want a Butlerian Jihad? ‘Cause this is how you get a Butlerian Jihad!

      • Compelled Speechless

        What’s worse, Biden will be declared Kefitzat Ha’derech. His son will be spliced with an omniscient space worm and the universe will be ruled by God-Emperor Hunter for centuries to come.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Crack must flow!

  23. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Your phone call expected wait time is 18 minutes

    It’s now 4 minutes…

    It’s now 2 minutes…

    It’s now 17 minutes…

    Wait, what?

    • Sensei

      Your call is very important to us…

      Funny how if you call the sales line you’ll get a human in seconds and not minutes.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Unfortunately it’s a bank.

      • Rat on a train

        Speaking of, I noticed the interest on my deposits have gone from insignificant to meager.

      • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

        Oh, the gov’t is pay lots of interest in them, don’t you worry!

      • Nephilium

        Cost center versus profit center, if they’re really good, there will be different hold music on the two different styles as well.

    • Nephilium

      Blame the call center managers who don’t know their average handle times for the queues, and think that putting a time on there (that’s inaccurate) will not piss callers off. If you’re going to be inaccurate, error on the side of longer hold times rather then shorter ones. No one ever gets angry when their call gets answered earlier than expected, but if they hold longer than the original estimated wait time, they’ll get more and more irritated each time they get told something obviously wrong.

    • The Other Kevin

      Sounds like they modeled that after the “loading” progress bar on a PC.

      • SDF-7

        Dammit… should have refreshed. 😉

    • SDF-7

      They’re copying a file in Windows and using that terribly inaccurate “estimated time remaining for copy” before they take your call….

    • invisible finger

      “Your call is somewhat important to us.”

    • Tundra

      I think I still hold the record. When the UK was about to shut down, I spent 9 hours on the phone with Delta trying to get my son out of Scotland.

      That was a long day.

      • Rat on a train

        Muzak versions of Australia’s greatest hits?

      • Tundra

        Whoa.

      • kinnath

        Back in the day when I travelled a lot, I earned Platinum level on my NWA frequent flyer program. You called the number on the back of the card, and real live people answered within a couple of rings.

      • Tundra

        Yeah, I had that too. It didn’t help the week of 9/11 and I suspect it wouldn’t have helped when the shtf in 2020.

      • kinnath

        Nothing helped the week of 9/11.

        Can’t say about 2020.

        When 9/11 happened, we had engineers on business travel who were stuck in Seattle (I think it was). After a day or two, the company sent the company jet to pick them up and bring them home.

      • Michael Malaise

        But at least they’ve never crashed.