A tale of two HW35s

[Nikkormat]

Photo link here.

Since its introduction in the early 1950s, the HW35 has gone through many changes, including the introduction of the Rekord trigger, the addition of a safety catch, a change in scope rails, updated open sights and changes to the standard stock. It has also been made in several distinct models, the most well known aside from the standard being the Export with its longer barrel and walnut stock. For a fuller history of the HW35, I recommend scouring the American Vintage Airguns site.

Here I will give my general impressions on two variants of this rifle. The top rifle is a HW35E made in 1980, and the bottom rifle is a HW35K made in 2005. Both are in .177 calibre, and I am currently shooting RWS Superdomes. I know nothing of the history of this particular Export, having only recently bought it from DM80. I don’t know if it has been restored, but some of the lettering on the breech block is very shallow so I suspect it may have been reblued at some stage. As far as I know, it is a standard, untuned Export. The Karbine was bough second hand three years ago, and had apparently seen little use before then. I have since fitted a Rowan straight set-back trigger, an Armex Trueflight Multifit suppressor, sling swivels, a Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40 scope and a comb raiser. Internally, it is standard.

The beech stock on the Karbine has a finger groove along each side of the forend, with narrow lines cut into it. The finish is very bland, and the wood has little in the way of figuring. While it is well suited to use with open sights, I found the comb to be too low for comfortable scope use, so I have fitted a rubber comb raiser. This is held on with Shoe Goo, which I hope will rub off without damaging the finish if I choose to remove it. Although it looks out of place on the rifle, the comb raiser definitely aids aiming with a scope. The length of pull is about 14”. With the standard trigger blade, I found this slightly uncomfortable, and so fitted the Rowan set-back trigger. Now it feels great.

The stock on the Export is walnut. It’s not the best I’ve ever seen, but it looks far nicer than beech. It has the same finger groove along the forend, but lacks the narrow cut lines. The pistol grip is chequered, and fitted with a plastic grip cap and white spacer. Earlier Exports had a small panel of chequering on the underside of the forend, too. There is also a white spacer between the stock and the butt pad. The pistol grip feels more slender than that of the Karbine, and although the length of pull is the same I do not feel the need to swap the trigger blade; it is comfortable as it is. The forend also feels slimmer. The cheekpiece is perfect for open sighted shooting, but I have not tried it with a scope. I certainly would not ruin the beautiful lines of the Export by fitting a raiser.

The Export is fitted with a Wegu butt pad, while that on the Karbine is unnamed.

The Karbine bears a safety warning cut into the cylinder block. I don’t know when Weihrauch added this, but it seems that people in 1980 survived without such nannying. While both rifles are of very high quality, it seems that the Export is more nicely finished in some respects. Note the more polished, rounded edges on the safety catch.

The scope rails on these two rifles are of the same (modern standard) width. Earlier rifles (made before the late 1970s) had wider rails. The Export has two arrestor stud holes, while the more modern Karbine has three.

Both rifles feature the distinctive manual barrel latch, on the left side of the breech block. Lubricated with moly grease, this works very well. To prevent wear to the face of the cylinder, I operate the latch on both opening and closing the barrel. Note the importer’s stamp on the barrel of the Karbine, and the serial number on the cylinder. There is no importer’s name on the Export, and the serial number on this example is on the underside of the barrel.

The open sights on the Export are excellent, easily and precisely adjustable and giving a good sight picture. The long barrel results in a long sight radius, theoretically ensuring better accuracy. The front sight appears unchanged on the more modern Karbine, but the rear sight has been updated with a base block and a clever adjustable rear notch. Several different front sight inserts are provided, but I have stuck to the standard blade. I have filled the holes left by the rear sight on the Karbine with two brass screws, made for me by BBS member Keithomas.

The rifles handle very differently. Neither is what I would call fast handling, but nor are they unwieldy. I had always found the Karbine to be too barrel-light, but adding a silencer has cured this and it locks onto aim very well now. I would describe the HW35 as a medium weight sporter, but with a scope and silencer I really would not want any more weight. It will shoot 10mm groups with RWS Superdomes on my 20 metre garden range. The Export is perfectly balanced for deliberate standing shots with open sights. I have not tried a scope on it, but with open sights I can consistently hit Polo mints (with very few shots going through the hole in the middle and failing to smash them) at the same distance.

When I acquired it, the Karbine dieseled badly. I put this down to it being relatively new and incorrectly lubricated. A couple of thousand pellets later, it has settled down. The firing cycle seems quick and snappy, maybe a little harsh but acceptable for the moment. I plan to have a tuning kit fitted soon. The Export shoots perfectly, with minimal recoil and no dieseling. I don’t know if it has ever been tuned; I think it is probably just that it is correctly lubricated.

Both are great rifles, but with different characters. The Karbine is functional and would be my hunting rifle, if I hunted. The Export is elegant and is the perfect open sighted rifle for the range. It is often said that Weihrauch quality has deteriorated over recent years. Judging by these two rifles, the Export definitely has the better finish, with less in the way of machining marks, but the Karbine is still very well made. If I could only keep one it would be the Export, but I would certainly miss the Karbine.

Matt

[Arthur John Smithsplease]

A very interesting and informative post.

Thanks for that.

Has Tinbum seen it yet?

[Nikkormat]

A very interesting and informative post.

Thanks for that.

Has Tinbum seen it yet?

I suspect he is a frequent visitor to this thread, gazing daily upon the vision of beauty that is not one HW35, but two.

To update, I have since sold the HW35K. I didn't really have the range space to fully exploit a full power scoped rifle, and I have moved on to older rifles (Feinwerkbaus, but the HW35E is staying for now as it is a classic and it's beautiful).

Something that always niggled me was the safety warning on the side of the HW35K, to the extent that it would put me off buying a modern Weihrauch again.

Matt

[fat man]

Nice review, at last count I had the following Hw35,s 1979- Optima supplied HW35E in .22, HW35Deluxe in .177 unknown supplier, 1978/79 Norman May Vixen Standard .22, Hw35 Jubilee .22 _Hull supplied, HW35 Standard .22 Hull circa 1990 love them to bits a real quality German classic.