What do people think of the hw99s

[Lightning1981]

Hi there was in my local rfd the other day sorting scope mounts out and ended up looking at the hw99s, now what do people think of this little rifle. Also what is it like in .177? I was thinking of trading my raider 10 in against it as I have the bug to get a springer and it was only £230 which I didn't think was a bad price.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

[bozzer]

Where have you been?

I hate to sound an arrogant tw@t ...

... but many many years ago ... must be way over 10 ... my mate bought one in 0.22.

Cocked awful ... galling issue on the articulated cocking lever. I polished that up and added some grease and that was easily sorted. I squared off the spring and added a top hat and a decent rear guide. Dead easy, kitchen table tune up.

That little gun shot superbly. I did some investigations and it seemed like the 99s, in 0.22 anyway, were basically perfect for the UK 12fp market. The swept volume of the rifle etc is running at it's design efficiency at about this power level.

I was ranting about this little gun all those years ago but no one really seemed interested. Everyone was raving about the 95 as a light weight break barrel springer.

The 95 tuned up and running at it's best is more like a 15fp+ rifle. The 99 doesn't have to be crippled to run at 12fp. It is running at it's best at 12fp.

It has the same quality Rekord trigger as the rest of the top end HW's.

All these years later Sandwell Field Sports tidy up the insides of a 0.22 99, shorten the barrel and put a silencer on the front and they have created the new Messiah.

Since then this little HW has been the talk of the town with everyone raving about the SFS gun ( The Imp ) with others commenting on how easy it is to tune and shoot well.

The galling issue with the cocking has been sorted by the manufacturers now.

In 0.22 it's a dead easy gun to get shooting sweet as a nut and it will shoot very accurately with a great trigger.

In 0.177 it is probably best at a lower level of about 10 - 10.5fp but that's typical of lighter weight break barrel springers. Bigtoe, Wonky and the other pro tuners will have more knowledge of how to get the 0.177 shooting very sweet.

Loads and loads of threads on here in the last couple of years raving about how good they are. So a search will tell you all you will ever need to know.

Plenty will come on and tell you how good this little rifle is.

[Trumpetier]

I have one in .22......excellent rifle. Very accurate and a pleasure to shoot. I was hitting empty shotgun cartridges at 50 yards nearly everytime last time out with it once i got my eye in......buy one, you wont be disapointed. IMO opinion better in .22.

[slinger69]

Due to muscular problems I need a very light gun & bought mine on advice from the guys here. I plumped for .177 & its running at 10.1 or 10.2. ft/lbs and hitting 50mm target discs at 60 yards.

It does this virtually on it's own, and I only hold it for the sake of appearances.

An Air Arms S200 silencer makes cocking easy & keeps the neighbours happy. The wine rack people fitted delrin parts to cure the galling. A kit from Tinbum and an internal deburr & polish from me minimise recoil shock and give a steady 'follow-through' sight picture.

Negotiate with your RFD - I got the brand new gun & a Hawke 4-12x40 AO IR EV panorama scope for £280 from mine.

[Biker_Bob]

Don't get one in 177 - that's certainly been my experience anyway.
In 177 they're too harsh and twangy and difficult to shoot accurately, I didn't keep mine long.

[audiguypaul]

Cracking lightweight full power gun. paid £205 for mine new then let wonkey Donkey do his bit and its superb, much more accurate than i am, dont think you would be dissapointed.

atb Paul

[Whistler]

Plenty will come on and tell you how good this little rifle is.[/QUOTE]

Ad me to that list,dont know why i bothered with all these more exspensive pcp,s over the years,dont get me wrong ,not knocking the pcp,but this little rifle meets all my needs.Lighter than the previous hw97,s i have owned,and just as accurate as my hw100 was.Out the box it will twang a little,but a little basic tlc,and you will love it...

[CaineIsCarter]

The best springer I have ever had. Mine is a .22 to which I have fitted a barrel sleeve beautifully made by Bigtoe for not much money, a diminutive Simmons Whitetail scope whose dimensions complement the lines of the rifle, a good quality leather sling, and this weekend a Vortek SG2 tuning kit, which has made it unutterably brilliant. My 99 will take the Pepsi Challenge with the SFS Imp any old day of the week.

However, none of this tinkering and embellishment is absolutely necessary. The 99 shoots fantastically well straight out of the box.

[davymole]

have one in .22 nice little rifle bought it for the granddaughter to use but I use it most,had a problem last weekend it had gone over 12ft/lbs so a degrease and a litttle pinch on the spring soon cured that just on 11.50ft/lbs so nneds to be watched,have the use of one in .177 prefer the .22

[bigtoe01]

They are awesome in .22, i swapped thr barrel on mine from .177 to .22 by ordering a 50S barrel from SWS in Germany...way less spring, way better firing cycle also.

I just need to make a barrel sleeve for it now and stop spending money on my Rapid and order one of those stocks from Guntuning in Poland and it will be complete.

Im actually thinking of trying another .22 barrel I have here, one i know likes falcons (modified 80 barrel) ....maybe in the spring.

Mine likes Crosman prems, LRG, Siperdomes, Hobby etc, anything JSB made shoots terrible LOL

[PCPShooter]

Hi there was in my local rfd the other day sorting scope mounts out and ended up looking at the hw99s, now what do people think of this little rifle. Also what is it like in .177? I was thinking of trading my raider 10 in against it as I have the bug to get a springer and it was only £230 which I didn't think was a bad price.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

Buy a 95, the 99 has loads of issues, but is going through a stage of popularity.

Sandwell V Mach etc used to refuse to work on 99s, though probably do now due to customer demand

An HW95 Diana 31 / 34 much better bets or maybe Walther Terrus ??

[Zachariah]

Well just sold mine for £99! Only a few weeks old and fired maybe 20 pellets. Reason being I found it heavy and hard work to cock. I only use mine for target practise not hunting, so after 20 shots I was knackerd. Bear in mind though I have a dodgy shoulder and I am 67. I beautiful rifle well made and very accurate in .22

[CaineIsCarter]

Buy a 95, the 99 has loads of issues

I wonder how many issues have been raised on this board versus the total number of HW99s sold?

I think your claim that it has "loads of issues" is a little far-fetched, unless you have access to privileged information.

[PCPShooter]

I wonder how many issues have been raised on this board versus the total number of HW99s sold?

I think your claim that it has "loads of issues" is a little far-fetched, unless you have access to privileged information.

They self destruct with the two piece cocking link, and used to never hit over 10.5 in 177, they were enough issues for me

The sweep is a too small for uk market, and really it appears to be a 'cheaper' made rifle than the 95 so HW could offer stepped prices like Diana.

The 'original version' of this rifle - the leather piston sealed 50, which made 8ftlbs was very pleasant. I'd always assumed the re badging of the hw50s to the 99 in the UK was because the rest of the world knew they weren't designed at a 16 joule rifle, whereas Brits are likely daft enough to swallow the marketing jargon. My opinion is mine, and if people want to buy a rifle that needs loads of work doing to get them to shoot OK, the decision is up to them of course. A 99 will always be a 'cheap' rifle, and whatever work people have done, as is seen time and time again on various forums - a bog standard HW95 is worth more, this speaks volumes cause it's a better rifle that has no major flaws (i.e. - they don't self destruct)

[PCPShooter]

Lots less 'real men shoot with hw 80s or hw77/97' type posts currently on here .

Is that because 'real men' now shoot with junior rifles like HW99s ?? LOL !


If so that's because big heavy springers are big and heavy, and shooting well with them for a club day, or extended plink is physically demanding.

The fact that guys frequently used to buy rifles too heavy for them is pretty funny and has gone on for years ...A local shop to me used to always have second hand TXs when Uttings were big on male order. People bought them who were not experienced shooters, couldn't hold em up for long, p 'ex'd them for something lighter or PCP (lighter)

The shop owner used to piss himself with the reasons folk came out with for :

'it's too heavy I shouldn't have bought mail order' - ah the good old days ...

Most people who buy, and shoot air guns are not on forums either, this is the thin end of the wedge - something frequently forgotten on here imo