Tool organizer for my Hammerli tools

To organize my tools I used a home built tool tray for some time.
I wanted to store my tools properly and not leave them on my working space permanently so I looked online for a tool organizer that would fit my needs.
I could not find what I wanted until one day I was searching for an ear protection wrap and ran across www.skunkgear.com in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Until that moment I could only locate US tactical gear suppliers for ear protection wraps.
I contacted Jochem by mail and soon afterwards I picked one up.

At that time I also discussed making me a custom tool organizer.
No problem! 14 days later it was ready and today I picked it up
It is exactly the way I wanted it.
Jochem's friendly and professional way of handling my requests was a real joy.
During the production process he even send me some pictures of the unfinished product.
His pricing is very pleasant and if you live in Europe it will save you the high shipping costs and import tax from the US.
Basically it is a no brainer if you want tactical gear or custom built tactical gear, check out Skunkgear.com.
I'm in no way affiliated to Skunk Gear, but if somebody takes pride in what he is doing I think it is worth endorsing it.

(for the very safety concerned: The ammo on the tool tray are empty 22LR cases that I use as snap caps when checking trigger pull. No life ammo around my gun at home, NEVER!)

My home built tool tray

My new Skunkgear.com tool organizer

Sight post with 2 mm extra height

Today I received my Walther part no. 2743776 by mail from Krale Schietsport in Staphorst.
I first compared and measured it against one of the front posts I already have.
It is indeed 1 mm higher.
I then measured the hight of the old front post with shim . That's 5.8 mm. Without the shim it was 5.0 mm, I had to add 16 rear sight clicks to get on target with the 5.8 sight post (compared to the 5.0 mm without shim)  I added another 4 clicks.
After the above change I had some range time with it and I'm really pleased with the sharp sight picture I get now.

Rear sight angle vs front sight post hight.

Most of my shooting is 10/12 meter target shooting.
Some time ago I noticed that, to get my sights properly adjusted, I had to turn the rear sight all the way down. By doing so the rear sight slightly leans backward (see picture 1 for reference)
The bottom of the notch in the rear sight is now not defined by the underside of the rear notch but by the top of the sight which give it a slightly blured picture as you look at rear sight at a slight angle (see picture 2)

As my eye sight is not as good as when I was 18, I need a as sharp sight picture as possible and have sufficient light between the front post and the rear sight notch.

The limited rear sight kept annoying me so I ordered 2 new front sight posts with 1 mm extra  height.
By using a 1 mm higher front post I have to raise the rear sight to get back on target and get back the complete notch depth and don't look at the top of the sight (the red area) any more.

Picture 1:Rear sight is slightly lower in rear

Picture 2:Red area is  what I see as bottom of rear sight notch

I ordered part no. Walther 2743774 and 2743778. Both are front sights with 1 mm added height.
After receiving them I compared them to my original front post and I found out that I Already have a 1 mm extra height front sight. Back to square one.
This was my fault, I did not know I had a 1 mm extra height front post.

Picture 3: 3 front posts, same height

I tried to ordered  Walther front post part no.: 2743776 (this post has 2 mm extra height) from a gun shop in Germany (from which I ordered the other 2) but they told me Walther doesn't have them anymore.  I contacted Krale schietsport in the Netherlands and to my surprise they had it in stock and I'm now waiting to get it in the post.In the mean time I cut off the head of a small carpenters nail and used it  as a shim under the front post, giving me the desired extra 1 mm. The small allen lock nut that holds the front post in the barrel holder does not fully engage the slot in the post (see picture 3) but is tight enough for the moment.

Arrow shows post now portruding 1 mm from barrel holder

I took it to the range this afternoon and sighted it in. As you can see the rear sight sits a lot higher now and is no loger leaning to the rear. I get a better sight picture.
(compare picture 1 with this one)


The SP20 RRS is a 25 meter rapid fire pistol. With my 10 meter sight setting the round come off 2 inches low at 25 meter, so the problem with my sights is not in the gun but in the fact that I shoot it mainly at 10 meters.

Several Hammerli SP20 videos

Videos collected on Youtube, videos are not made by me

Fully adjustable Pardini trigger mounted on SP20 RRS

With Pardini trigger in middle position

Stock trigger in most forward position

The standard SP20 trigger shoe is limited in its adjustability.
You can only slide it forward and backwards for about 1 cm.

Due to its rather big curvature it is impossible to move it forward enough if you have medium or long fingers.

The trigger slides in a U-shaped rail and is held in place by a 2.5 mm allen head bolt which screws into an square nut under the U-rail.

There is a flat Walther/Hammerli (part no.1301860 or 861, 862)  trigger available but I was unable to locate one.I also found an aftermarket trigger online that would suit my purpose, ordered it and received a stock trigger instead.

I looked at the Pardini trigger online and thought that this might be adaptable.

At first I considered making a small adaptor block which would sit in the original trigger rail and bolt the Pardini trigger to that block.

When I visited the gun shop and had a look at it and after some discussion I found out that it would basically be a drop in swap.

The distance between the rails (width of original trigger) was 6.2 mm, The Pardini mounting lug was 6.8. I filed  away some material on both sides and the job was done. (It took me less then 30 minutes)

The trigger is now adjustable in 3 axis. (forward/rearward, Up/down, left/right)

The up/down movement is limited but the adjustment range allows enough movement to centre my finger properly on the trigger.
If you look at the 2 pictures above and compare the red line you can see the improvement.

I made a  peculiar observation: After switching to the Pardini trigger the trigger pull dropped from 1200 to 1090 grams.  When I noticed this I switched back to the stock Hammerli trigger and it was back to 1200. Probably due to the fact that the Pardini trigger mounting bolt is now closer to the trigger pivot point. I did not measure it with the stock trigger in the most rearward position.

Pardini left, Stock Hammerli on the right

Hammerli underside, grip removed.
Shows trigger U-shaped sliding channel and square 2,5 mm mounting nut visible.

Hammerli part no.1301860  (I could not locate one)

Aftermarket Hammerli trigger

Barrel housing SP20 RRS

To remove the barrel and barrel housing start by removing the magazine and grip assembly.
This is done by  unscrewing 1 screw in the grip and pulling it downwards.
Cock the gun, unscrew the 3 bolts in the front of the barrel, pull forward and remove. Pull the slide back, let it gently come forward until 6-8 mm before full close, pull trigger and set aside.
Never dry fire with slide fully closed.

The barrel housing serves several purposes.

1) Serves as an attachment for the barrel. The barrel is hold in the barrel housing by 2 clamping bolts on the side and 1 tapered allen head screw that holds the barrel in alignment.
2) Houses the 4 recoil weights and their springs

3) Attatch the front sight post.

4) Offer an attachment point (2 tapped holes) for additional counter weights

5) 2 recessed holes in which the return spring guide rods sit

4 different size allen head tools are needed to completely remove and disassemble the housing

From left to right:

Allen head size 3 mm (this one comes with the gun)

Allen head sizes 2,5 mm, 2 mm, 1,5 mm

Tools shown in there respective locations.

Barrel housing as seen from behind.
Top 2 holes and bottom hole are for housing mounting bolts.
4 holes around barrel retain the recoil weights and springs.
2 holes in the middle (approximately 4 mm deep) are for the recoil spring rods.
On top you can just see a few threads of the tapered screw that centers the barrel in the housing.
Behind it the front sight post is visible.






















Barrel housing front.
3 bolt holes for the housing mounting bolts.
hole in top middle is for removing or turning the front sight.
The front sight has 3 sides of different width. (4 mm, 3,7 mm, 3,2 mm)

Front of  barrel is up in picture.
Shows collar with tapered hole to center barrel in barrel housing.
Collar also holds recoil weights in barrel housing.

Close up of front sight post and tapered barrel centering screw.
Sight post dimensions are 4 mm, 3,6 mm, 3,2 mm
Several different posts with different heights and blade sizes are available.

Recoil weights and spring. (ruler in mm)
Recoil weight is 4,7 grams per weight.
I doubt if they are really effective, due to their light weight.
I know of one SP20 RSS user who replaced them by tungsten weights and used stiffer spring.

Clean the weight bores (in the barrel housing) with a cotton tip and keep the weights lightly lubricated (I use Ballistol)

One SP20 RRS specialist designed a new barrel housing which can house 2 big weights
with a weight of 33 grams per weight instead of 4,7 grams. 
(but as far as I know he is no longer making them)

Picture shows barrel collar holding recoil weights in barrel housing.

Underside of barrel housing with two drilled and tapped holes for weight holder.
The two barrel clamping bolts are also clearly visible.

Complete barrel housing and barrel.

Additional info and pictures:

It seems that for non RRS versions a light weight barrel housing is (has been) available.

Two extra weights are available.
A 20 gram weight thats mounted in a recess in the frame and a 50 gram weight that is
bolted to the underside of the barrel holder
 

External 50 gram weight

20 gram weight

Not all barrel housings are factory drilled and tapped for external barrel weight.
(this is a non RRS version) 2 screws are added by user

Torque settings barrel housing Hammerli SP20 RRS

As I was reading about 22lr rifles I found some articles on Anschutz torque setting and there effect on accuracy.
One article stated that by torquing the action to the stock from 4.5 to 4.6 Nm showed a significant improvement in accuracy. Going above 4.7 accuracy dropped off.
That made me wonder if there are specified setting for the Hammerli SP20.
I contacted several sources over a period of 2 month. Most of them would not reply.
Fortunately 2 reliable sources did reply. One of them was the Walther/Hammerli factory.
the values they gave me were as follows.


Answer 1  (out of privacy considaration I will not mention his name)

The two screws clamping the barrel have no specific torque, do just normal tighten.(2-3 Nm)

Tightening the three front screws is just bit more tricky, because of the distribution of forces.

When mounting, first tighten the bottom screw with a torque of approx. 3 Nm.
Then the two upper screws with approx 2 Nm

Answer 2 (Walther/ Hammerli)

Not more than 1,9 Nm (just "hand-proper").



As both values are  quite close I feel that using any of the two answers/settings  would be safe.

I use a Wiha I-torque torque screwdriver  1,0 to 6 Nm 36888
When using this torque wrench I do the initial setting on the wrench  and then "test" it 2 or 3 times on an allen head screw that I fastened to a piece of pipe. Just to make sure that the initial setting repeats itself and the the setting "feels"right.
Remember: 2-3 Nm feels like just around hand tight. 

It takes a 3 mm allen head bit to fasten the 3 barrel holder bolts.
To prevent damage to the barrel holder coating I turned down the neck of the bit slightly.

Right is bit with turnded down neck

Bit fits barrel housing without interference

Wiha I-torque torque screwdriver  1,0 to 6 Nm part no. 36888

Improvised "Test"tool"

 As additional information I include 2 exerpts from this forum discussion:

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?t=9787



Member XXXXX
the torque setting for the three front screws of the SP20 is vital for consistency and overall frame rigidity; I do not recall this setting value as I only have the adjustment position marked on my own ratchet driver I keep with the pistol (sorry).

Reaction Member YYYYY

" Hmm. I find the comments from XXXXX vaguely disturbing. The manual with the gun makes no mention of any specific torque setting for the three screws that hold the barrel to the frame, whether .22 or .32, only cautioning to "Absolutely use all 3 screws!". No kidding. Given that I swap barrels for the centrefire portion of each practice/match, having to use a torque wrench to do so would be a major pain in the a$$........"