RWS 34 Rebuild / Barrel chop and New stock with pics.

Well after running over 2000 or so shots through her I decided I was going to take her for a quick tune and lube. Well I stumbled across another fellow here that has redone his factory stock (Its beech, I would like to think German beech but who knows) What he did was make it BLONDE or natural. Any ways with these guns its a crap shoot as to what you get for a stock when buying unless you get to look it over. Luckily 2 years ago I did. I chose this stock because it was quarter sawn. ( Its a way of cutting wood that produces a tiger stripe effect when finished) I liked the Blondie look so much that I said I will not only go that route but add a few details. I have done wood working and wood floor finishing for 20 years so wood working is a breeze to me. I added a rosewood tip with maple accents and a rosewood pistol endt with maple accents along with the butt pad. I left the but pad flat in case I want to add a shoulder pad later.

This was done with a few tools. I first wanted a real cheek piece that most true Monte Carlo stocks have. I also wanted a true pistol grip with a nice roll, and finally a but pad to add detail. First was to cut and laminate all the wood pieces together. I then cut the butt pad and the tip area flat. The blue tape was put on the side for shaping and creating a relief area for the cheek pad. The bottom of the stock was also relieved of some wood to create a pistol grip. This was done with a round rasp and a flat rasp. Once final shape was achieved The new parts were added. The tips were not only Epoxied on but pinned for extra strength. (pics) The final shaping was then done by hand with a block sander taken to 400 grit. All of this is time and labor intensive.

The finish is Tru Oil Its done with hand application. There are several ways to do True Oil but What I find best is when ready for first coat I sand it in with 220 paper working it real well, it will create a slurry of wood and oil. That is good. That is whats filling the grain with good oil and wood. When it gets tacky wipe it down with a dry cloth, and let dry . Use 3-m Scotch bright pad to remove any left over product and smooth out the stock. Then sand the stock with 400 grit Wet paper and another coat of Tru Oil. This time it will be more oil than wood. (These coats are not finish coats but rather build coats). Continue to do this until the stock starts to get tacky. Let dry. Repeat the inter coat abrasion with the pad. Now you should start to have a smooth feel to the stock. This is where you start to just use pure Tru Oil. Its applied with fingertips and a deft touch. Apply and let sit. It will start to get some build and shine. You can stop and let dry any time your happy with the look. Having been a wood worker I knew I could always buff it back down to satin with Rotten stone or Pumice. Actually the whole stock Kit from Birchwood Casey that sells for $14.00 or so has it already with the True Oil and walnut stain if needed. I ended up with about 12 coats and let it sit for 2 days then hit it good with the conditioner and then waxed it well with a carnuba wax.

As for the internals of the gun I did some mods to the trigger and added a small spacer in the top hat area. The cylinder was polished and the seal was in great shape. The factory spring was good too so I just polished the ends and it went right back in.After that it was lubed and re assembled. The trigger on the RWS have 2 springs and 2 sear areas. I would be very careful with this as messing with the springs and such can cause premature firing. I will not post all details as its a bit of a trick to know what to do.If done wrong it can be dangerous. If interested PM me. Anyways when done I have about a 1.5 lb pull and its has almost none of that sloppy first stage that most RWS have. Well after assembling the rifle to the new stock I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I was hooked on the carbine look and feel. Although the 34 has a LONG barrel its very accurate. I was concerned about accuracy with a chopped barrel. I talked to Rich in MICH as he is close to me and he concurred with my thoughts. I took of 5 inches off the tip leaving me a 14.5 inch barrel. What I used to cut it was a Brake flare tool to hold it square and a fine hack saw. Then it was faced square with a file and sanded with 400. The re crowning was done with a hand chamfer tool and 1000 grit paper. This is real important to get dead on as a tiny bit off on the crown and it will throw flyers. After several shots to verify the re crown was good I re blued it with Birchwood Casey Super Blue liquid gun Blue. It works great.

The rifle was fitted with a Beeman 5039 Adjustable one piece scope mount and a Centerpoint 4x16x40 Mil dot scope. The Beeman works well with the RWS guns . It helps you eliminate the droop that RWS is famous for. I did try the new RWS one piece mount that has the .25 droop built in but was very unsatisfied with the build quality. It was all nicked up and beaten looking under the anodizing . The fit on the rifle was great after you tapped the stop pins a tad. Iit still was not enough droop compensation to get you optical center. I got it to work but had only 1/4 turn left on my scope. I called Umarex and asked about the quality issues and the lack of droop. He said I had an early production run as they raised it up a tad more and the scope stops are now screws that can be adjusted . I told them I may look into it again but have chosen another mount.

Overall this project has really enlightened me on how these rifles work and what can be done to them The hold sensitivity is far less with a chopped barrel. Its a tad more effort to cock it but its not that bad. The recoil is less with the new tune and the trigger is smooth and quick. As for those who think accuracy is lost look at my 5 shot group at 15 yards, JSB Exacts . NO BENCH REST ! I hunt with these guns and there is no bench in the woods. These were standing up and aiming.

I will get To Precision Airguns this week to Chrony it and see what she is running. I am lucky I have a few GREAT guys here in MI that are into or have great shops.

Thanks to Rich in MICH and Tim at Precision Airguns.