My SMK XS19 review

[bobwinter]

I've just bought one based on this review (mainly also read some pdfs online). Easy to zero and accurate,so far.

[pinguisgod]

Get on to the Chinese airgun forum Bob, alot of good advice about these guns on there.

[freddered]

I don't really understand why anyone would choose an SMK, that requires a Charlie Tuna trigger kit to make it shootable, over a decent second-hand Weihrauch with a Rekord trigger.

My Dad has an SMK 19 and the Weihrauch HW35 I just sold (for £135) knocks spots off it for quality, the Rekord trigger is a dream.

The SMK trigger is a lottery, it feels like the safety-catch is still on.

It's not too hard to pick up a decent HW with Rekord for £150 ish. Why bother with SMKs?

Is the answer that some people have never shot a Weihrauch?

Let me be clear, I can understand buying SMK...you can get them cheap and you may not be able to afford much else. But then to buy a CT trigger kit?? Why not just cut out the middle man and get something with a decent trigger in the first place?

It would be a HW80, second hand, for me every time. Spend £180 and you could sell it for £180 in 10 years time.

[steveiep]

The simple answer is cost.
You can pick up a brand new XS19 for around a hundred quid and a replacement trigger (Weslshwilly)for around Twentytwo quid.
Alternatively , you can pick up an XS20 for around a hundred & forty quid, then put on a Weihrauch trigger blade for around thirteen quid and you have a very good copy of a HW95K including a clone of the Rekord trigger.
No cobblers please about either quality or accuracy, my XS20 in .22 takes out tin chickens at 45yds, no problem . There's people bitching on the main forum at the moment about poor finish to the Weihrauch 95K, which the Chinese guns apparently suffer from to a much lesser extent.
I have 3 tuned Chinese springers & considering they all cost way less than the price of a basic UK gun, like say BSA Meteor, the knock the Meteor into a cocked hat... and yes, I also have a BSA Meteor as well.
QC with the higher end Chinese rifles is improving all the time. Don't kid yourself that it's anything else, it just happens that the XS19 has a Gamo Hunter /Theoben type trigger & there is a cheap fix / replacement.
Why buy a V-Mach kit or a Rowan setback trigger, surely those Weihrauchs must be crap if you need to those to make them shoot straight? Only kidding but trust you take my point?

[brian747]

I agree with you Steve i have the xs-20 deluxe ,the xs-36 underleaver both in .22 calibre and
both have had the Welsh Willy treatment,and i have the hw 77 and 95k in .22 calibre so have practical
experience of both makes, the chinese guns are imo as accurate as the hw guns and great value for the money
i used to run down chinese made guns but they are now on an almost level field with other springers.
i love using mine and often take along both the hw and chinese model of the same gun and ask other people
to try them and they are very supprised at the standard that the chinese guns are now capable of.
regds brian

[steveiep]

I also have a TH208 (AKA Ruger Airhawke Elite) and XS36-2.
Both the XS20 & TH208 have Titan Draig Goch tuning kits & Maccari main seals & shoot very nicely.
The surprise of the bunch is an XS36-2 that I bought (new) for £75 about 6 yrs ago. Now, I will accept the internals on that (mainly the piston) were on the rough side, but nothing that hand tools couldn't clean up.
Delrin tophat, piston liner in stainless shim, Welshwilly stainless spring, Weihrauch 77 (25mm) piston seal & a bespoke spring guide made by J KNibbs Int. A bit of a jigsaw of a tune kit, but altogether came in at under £45 & is a smooth as the other 2 but the quietest of all of them. It was originally bought as a project to see what was possible with the lower value end of the airgun market & pleased to say it will happily twat the 10mm spinner at 30 yds with regularity.
I've set the power on all 3 to around 11.5 fpe with their respective favoured pellet.
QC will have improved in leaps & bounds over that short period but IMHO people still need to look at the higher end of the SMK offerings, like the XS20, XS208 (in all it's stock variations) XS19 & XS38

[fat man]

I have the Crossman Quest in .22. Its had the Welsh Willi upgrades and easily dose 600fps with Accupels. After using mine in .22 a new club member has just had her .177 version tuned and upgraded. Most people who have shoot my tuned gun cant beleve its a Chinese gun . Can like the other guys recomend the Chinese Airgun Forum, Wills kits and Brutz,s reviews.