Walther Force 1000 rework

[ezman604]

Steps below are for informational purposes only!!! I assume no responsibility for damages to person or equipment if you follow these steps. Now, that's the legal stuff. You can read on if you wish...

Since a few of us jumped on the opportunity to grab one of these from Sportsman's Guide for cheap, I thought I'd post some of the things I found while reworking mine. Hope this helps someone else out.
When I took mine from the box,the only thingsI did was look it over to make sure everything was there and functioning. I spent a few minutes cleaning the bore and took it outside for some testing.
Cocking the rifle felt gritty and had a lot of drag in the moving parts. I knew it would require some TLC maintenance and some moly. After 4 shots the piston seized or just hung after I cocked and attempted the 5th shot. I de-cocked the rifle and cycled it again. I continued shooting and the piston froze about 1 in every 4 shots. The numbers it chronied were impressive, in the 950fps range with CPHP rounds.
I started the disassembly and had two areas that gave me a little headache. First, the breach pivot bolt is peened. It was VERY difficult to remove. I tried using a large handled screwdriver, a 3/8" ratchet and driver socket, a 1/2" impact driver and hammer and finally, a 1/2" cordless hammer/drill. I applied a little penetrating oil on each end of the bolt before starting. Nothing budged it until the hammer/drill. Threads were fine after removal, which was my main concern with a peened or flared bolt.
The other area I had concerns with was in the main spring removal. The receiver/chamber tube has 3 pins holding everything in place. The rear most pin only holds the end cap, so it can be tapped out with no problem. The other two pins actually contain the spring and trigger group. I placed the receiver in my compressor and cranked it down to the back of the trigger group. After applying pressure there, you can tap the other two pins out. Now, this is where it gets interesting.
Seems the main spring rests against the trigger group. The housing of the trigger group is the actual backstop for the spring guide. I backed the compressor out just enough to to not feel any pressure from the spring. I then had to use a flat screwdriver, one that's stout enough yet small enough to fit into the cocking slide, lift it in as far as I could to snag the farthest coil of the spring. I then had to pry the spring back as far as I could to get the pressure off of the trigger group to be able to remove it. The dangerous part is here, maintaining a hold on the spring while cranking the compressor back in to put pressure back on the spring. I hope I explained that part okay. Be sure you are aware of this BEFORE starting. I'd hate for someone to get involved in removing the internals and find themselves in a jam or dodging flying parts. Just make sure when you are to the step of removing the trigger group that you keep the end of the compressor INSIDE the chamber, to keep the spring from flying out. Of course, putting it all back together requires the same steps in reverse. I found it easier to use a center punch to temporarily slide into the front hole of the receiver/trigger group when reassembling. The pins are shorter and harder to fumble with when you are concentrating on the screwdriver and the pressure you are putting on the spring.
There may be a better way (or safer) to get this apart. If so, PLEASE post it. This worked for me though, and had no flying parts.
The area I THINK was causing most of the piston seizure (or failure to release) was the trigger sear. The sear is made of two layers of stamped metal welded together and the catch portion of the sear was not even, like one catch was slightly ahead of the other. I used a file on the top to smooth that portion out. I then used a Dremel with a cutoff blade to square off the face of the catch area. I finished it all off by polishing it on my buffing wheel with jewelers rouge. I applied a thin coat of moly to all moving surfaces of the trigger group.
After reassembly, this gun has one sweet loading and firing cycle. I can't wait till the weekend when I will have time and enough daylight to really put it through it's paces. I cocked and de-cocked it several times and it's a whole different gun. I have loaded and fired once just to test and it's sweet. No twang and no noticeable twist.
I Hope this helps at least one person out that plans on doing their own maintenance and tuning of this piece. And of course, if you do not have the proper equipment or don't feel comfortable proceeding with disassembly, you can ALWAYS enlist the services of a great tuning service like Gene's.
Happy Shooting!!!!
Dave
:emoticon:

[HNT5]

Check out this post. Somewhere there is a picture of a dowel with the slots but I can't find it.

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=19016&posts=6&highlight=AR1000&highlightmode=1#M153340

Nathan

[ezman604]

Good deal. I knew someone must have a better mousetrap. LOL
Hope it's okay to repost the picture. Will set out to build one of these for the next time I tear into the Walther.
Thanks!!!!
Keep the suggestions and improvements coming.
Happy Shooting!!!!
Dave
:emoticon:


Listed as 1" hardwood dowel with 4 prongs 4-3/4" long and 2-1/4" deep.

[WVscott]

I got mine for $70 shipped and it's a dandy.  I shot mine for a few ten shot strings over the chrony and it's very impressive.  It shot kodiaks the best averaging 834, 828, and 830 on three different 10 shot strings.  The ES ranged from 20 to 12 on those three strings.  No dieseling, smoke or smoke smell what-so-ever.  A little gritty on the cocking stroke, but not bad.  Trigger has three adjustment screws:  one that controls the tension of the return/sear spring and two screws in the trigger that control the first and second stages. Trigger was a little gritty.  

I didn't have any of the problems with the peened barrel pivot screw like Dave did, but you do need to make a tool like shown in the pic out of a 1" dowel rod.  Once you do that it's very easy to take apart.  I smoothed everything up and deburred everything.  The cocking slot was fairly tight on the cocking shoe which is integral with the cocking arm.  Very little slop in this area.  I also did a light hone on the cylinder.  Put everything back together with OEM parts.  My seal was in great shape with no nicks or cuts.  I did put JM old school buttons on the piston skirt and put it back together with his moly and tar.  The spring ends were closed nicely and actually ground flat with a slight bevel on the O.D. to take off the burrs!  

I took the trigger completely apart and polished all the mating sear areas and the tips of the adjustment screws on the trigger.  I also cut one coil off the trigger return spring.  This trigger works extremely nicely after polishing the sears and adjusting.  Very, very smooth first stage with a definite second stage that lets off very crisply.  All the sears looked to be made out of hardened steel and the mating surfaces were cut very squarely to each other.  I can't get over how nice this trigger is for a $70 dollar gun.  And I have some hw's with very, very nice custom triggers, so even discarding the low price, I'd have to rate this trigger a 8 out of 10.  

Although I haven't had a chance to chrony the gun since putting it back together,  (lots of snow here), it shoots very nice and smoothly and cocks a lot smoother than before.  The stock on mine even has some very nice grain and sunburst figure in it under the dark thick coating on it.  I'll be refinishing it someday.
       regards, Scott