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…