Besides being the continent's premier
Hämmerli dealer, Larry Carter is also one of our best shooters,
a man who has broken scores of records over the years. His tips
for care of the Hammerli 208s are excellent and are recommended
for any fine .22 target pistol. Many thanks to Larry for
contributing this article.
CLEANING
Chamber
In my opinion, while over-cleaning can do more damage than good,
proper cleaning and maintenance can give your 208 a long and
trouble-free life. The most important area to keep clean is the
chamber. These guns obtain phenomenal accuracy, in part, because
of their tight chamber dimensions. If the chamber is allowed to
build up an accumulation of carbon or lead, feeding, extraction,
ejection and worse problems can occur. The method of cleaning
that I prefer is to bend a bore brush into an "L" shape
with the short leg being only as long as a spent case. This will
allow you to clean the chamber without getting the brush into the
rifling. Insert it into the chamber and rotate back and forth to
loosen any carbon or lead that may be stuck to the walls. Follow
this with a "Q-Tip" to get this debris out of the gun
before putting a patch through the bore.
Bore
I never use a metal brush in the bore. The bore should come clean
with, at most, a nylon brush and some cleaner. NEVER clean from
the muzzle. The crown of the barrel is immensely important to
accuracy. A small nick or scrape that cannot be seen with the
naked eye can open groups threefold or more. Take the time to
disassemble the slide from the frame and do it from the breech.
You'll be glad you did. A pull-through device made with nylon
"weedwacker" string works good for a quick patch
through the bore, but a thorough cleaning requires a jag from the
breech end.
Frame
A toothbrush and "Q-Tips" work well to clean the area
of the feed ramp, ejector and slide face between matches. (Be
careful in the area of the slide stop, not to snag the small hair
spring with a brush.) DO NOT IMMERSE THE FRAME OR WASH IT WITH
SOLVENT SPRAYS. The sear and hammer are specially lubed at the
factory for extended life of these parts. If you wash the lube
off, you may feel no difference, but these parts will wear very
quickly and they are not cheap. The frame should only be immersed
during a complete teardown of the pistol by a qualified gunsmith.
Relubing of the sear and hammer is not possible without removing
them from the frame. Regarding oiling, do not drop oil on the gun
from the bottle. Instead put a drop on a "Q-Tip" and
wipe onto the areas of contact between the frame and slide. Too
much lube attracts more contaminants and holds them there to wear
your pistol. The lube is not intended to augment function, but to
prevent wear. MORE IS NOT BETTER!
Magazines
Often forgotten in the cleaning regimen, magazines play an
important role in the functioning of your Hammerli. Some of the
by-products of combustion in a blowback action wind up in the
magazines. This debris, added to the bullet lube that comes off
inside the mags, can make them sluggish or cause them to stick in
the process of feeding the next cartridge. After disassembly, use
a nylon bore brush in 44-45 cal. to free up the crud. Finish with
a good rinse in solvent followed by some light oil (again using a
"Q-Tip) finishes the job. If you have an older gun or many
rounds fired, check the track where the follower button rides for
chatter marks. These will give problems sooner or later and
should be replaced. (The metal housing is available separately).
NOTES
If you drop a round on the ground, no matter how clean you think
it is, throw it away. A microscopic piece of dirt passing through
the bore at 1000 feet per second can do serious damage
The spring for the trigger bar is supposed to have a slight
twist. Don't straighten it.
Be careful with magazine bases. They are designed to blow off in
the event of a cartridge rupture and are more fragile than you
might think.
If you change ammo, clean the chamber. Ammo with a shorter bullet
may leave lead in the front of the chamber, creating an
obstruction to ammo with a longer bullet. In some guns this can
cause the gun to fire out of battery resulting in a case
separation.
Watch for wear on the recoil spring. With time, the sides of the
spring will wear flat, weakening the spring. This is usually
visible to the naked eye.
Don't try to remove all slack when adjusting the trigger. Some
slack is required for the trigger bar to reset between shots.
Likewise, do not take all of the over-travel out of the trigger.
This will allow the sear to drag the hammer as it falls,
shortening it's life.
Dry fire only with a plastic plug in the chamber.
Be careful of the rear sight mounting screw. It has a large head,
but the screw is very small and can be twisted off if tightened
too aggressively.
LARRY'S GUNS
HAMMERLI SALES & SERVICE
49 HAWTHORNE ST.
PORTLAND, ME 04103
PHONE: (207) 772-0998
FAX (207) 772-0628
WEBSITE: www.larrysguns.com