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SteveM · Member

After many years of desire for an HW97 (and the HW77 before that) I finally bought one. It arrived a couple of weeks ago and I've had a chance to shoot it a little since, so I thought I'd share my first impressions.

In a separate post, I indicated that I had ordered it from one company just to have the order canceled due the recent sale of Beeman. I placed an order with another supplier (Straight Shooters) and got one of the last two that they had. I ordered the rifle in .20 Cal as I already have a .177 Feinwerkbau (FWB 300s).

Out of the box I was very impressed. Very solid, substantial feel and great finish. The wood is pretty nice for an out-of-the-box gun and the metal finish is just superb. Looking it over the only criticism that I would have is that the rubber butt plate is not very well fitted to the stock. The butt plate is slightly larger than the stock, but nothing to really complain about.

I mounted a Bushnell Elite 3200 scope (5-15X40) using a one-piece mount and a Beeman scope stop to prevent backwards shift of the mount. The scope has traditional hunting adjustments under dust caps; in retrospect I wish it had turrets. Shoulda sought out a tactical model I guess, but don't like the mil-dot reticles on them. I'm in dialog with Rick Lake to see if he can manufacture turret style adjustment knobs. We'll see.

I took the rifle out to my local range along with a sampler of pellets and two cans of Beeman FTS's. I had ordered the pellet sampler along with my rifle and glad that I did. Straight Shooters has a really nice sampler that comes with what looks like a sample of every pellet that they carry in .20 Cal.

As a competition high power and smallbore shooter, I'm accustomed to having a sling on my rifles for use in shooting accurately. I use my Anschuetz fore-end stop and match sling on the FWB, but obviously have no provision to do so on the HW97. I may look to mount a hunting sling on the side of the stock for use in carrying while hunting and in shooting. However, I suspect that the characteristics of vibration on the rifle may preclude the use of a sling in any fashion.

The first shot dieseled, but I managed to get the scope sighted in. After the first shot, I didn't notice any dieseling, but did notice some smoke wafting from the barrel when I opened the breech to reload. Not sure if that's a sign of continued dieseling or if it's just normal from the pressure change (from high to low) in the barrel during the firing process.

Overall impression: Despite the mechanical similarity of the HW97 to my FWB, the HW97 is a lot more crude in trigger and vibration. Obviously, the HW97 has a bit more power and lacks the anti-recoil mechanism that the FWB has. The rifle seems to be very accurate. I was shooting in the sitting position with no support and managed to shoot some one inch groups at 25 yds. Most of the spread was very likely due to my insubstantial position. I found the HW97 a lot harder to shoot accurately than my FWB 300s. The main reason was the recoil (or vibration). The FWB has almost no perceptible vibration due to the design of the rifle. Also the FWB trigger is very, very light compared to the HW97. The record trigger is better than the trigger on most .22's I've fired (except for my Anschuetz target rifle), but is still much harder and unpredictable than my FWB. However, the rifle performed flawlessly. After shooting a few groups on paper targets, I began plinking at some clay target shards and soda cans that someone had left on the berm. I found that I could pick off the shards of clay target at will, very rarely missing. I ended up shredding the soda can. All told, I guess I ran about 100 pellets through the gun with no mishaps. In short, a very high quality gun that I'm very pleased with.

creeper · New Member

I have two HW97Ks... one in beech and one in blue laminate, both .177 caliber, so I thought I'd comment.

First of all, congratulations on your purchase!

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Hey Steve, the HW97k shoots nice in FT position. The balance is perfect for shooting like that.

And believe me when I say that with the right tuning these will do their job great. Wink

I got a buddy who tuned the crap out of his and that might be the best springer I've ever shot.

SteveM · Member

Thanks B. I'm planning to shoot a few hundred through it then considering to send it to Paul Watts for tune. Then maybe an FT match or two. I shot an FT event some years ago with the FWB, but it was a little underpowered when it came to the 50 yd shots. I expect the HW97 to fare a bit better.

Thanks for the replies.

broommaster2000 · Moderator

The HW97(k) is a typical 12 Fpe (16.5 joule) rifle, where the standard FWB300 is a typical 5.5 Fpe (7.5 Joule) rifle. Neutral

Some other tips are to at least relube the whole thing, and add a spring guide. Standard Weihrauch lubing pretty much sucks. They're also often a bit to twangy for rifles that cost that much. RWS/Diana rifles for instance don't have that twang, but they're also more in the hunting segment as their "comparable" models typically do about 16-18 Fpe whereas the HW97k is around 12-14 Fpe.

A good compromise between power and accuracy and balance.

Diana rifles aren't that balanced. Mr. Green

SteveM · Member

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Woops, sorry, I ment with a "typical 12 Fpe rifle" that they're really good at that powersetting because they shine during FT matches. They're not sold in .20 a lot over here. (As a matter of fact, try finding someone who owns a .20 over here. 90% chance it's a Benjamin Sheridan pumper and those aren't really used for matches as far as I can tell... Would make for an interesting match though! Razz

)

The HW97's do shine regardless their powersetting. Mr. Green

Over here, the power regulations for match shooting are 7.5 joule, which is about 5,5 fpe. Therefore, all FWB's over here are at that powersetting. You can tune em up to 12 Fpe (16,5 joules) though!

Just so you know where I'm coming from. Wink

SteveM · Member

Roger that. Understand entirely. I'm planning to shoot a few hundred shots through mine, then see if Paul Watts will spend some time on it. Looking for a good, smooth shooter for rodents and small game; maybe even go back to shooting some FT.

Cheers.

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Something else that sprung to mind, that buddy of mine with the tuned one can do pretty good groups at about 50 yards. I recall numbers like 0.78.

I can post a link to the dutch forum so you can see what he had done to it, as a matter of fact, I think I will:

http://www.luchtbuks.net/index.php?showtopic=31178&st=0&p=256656&#entry256656

Using google translation you might find some good tips, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. Wink

Just went trough that thread. Scroll down and you can see what a well tuned rifle is capable of: 11mm = 0.43!

SteveM · Member

Thanks Broom. Very encouraging!