Views on SMK

[gra82]

Just wondered what everyone's views are on SMK rifles and pistols, the first gun I purchased was a B2 custom carbine, admittedly it's never going to win any miss world or strong man competitions, but my initial reason was for ratting, in all honestly it has served its purpose very well, since purchasing this I have acquired a HW97K and an Edgar Brothers 900x breaker. What are people's thoughts on these aswell

[Geezer]

Just wondered what everyone's views are on SMK rifles and pistols, the first gun I purchased was a B2 custom carbine, admittedly it's never going to win any miss world or strong man competitions, but my initial reason was for ratting, in all honestly it has served its purpose very well, since purchasing this I have acquired a HW97K and an Edgar Brothers 900x breaker. What are people's thoughts on these aswell

To pre-empt the replies:

97K: excellent.
Hatsan: average, but cheap.
B2: appalling trash.

[peddy]

Smk Pcp's offer great value for money, if you wait a while after release.. very well made and accurate. The snow peak factory that make them for smk go from strength to strength, many more models to come for instance the m30 with patent integral cylinder and barrel and cp2 pistol etc. Their springers arnt as refined and IMO are beaten by hatsan for budget springers.

[secretagentmole]

SMK are like British Leyland, only British Leyland were never as cheap as SMK.

SMK use many factories in China to produce their rifles. Some are good most of the time, some are good none of the time. But the main advantage is the price. You do not mind buying a £100 rifle and spending £60 to get some tuning parts, you expect it. You feel a right gullible mug when you have forked over a handful of high denomination notes for a Weihrauch springer to find you need to spend £60 plus on parts and tuning to get it to feel right (been there, done that, got the T shirt, three times in fact).

SMK quality is rising exponentially, same with Hatsan really, problem with Hatsan is the prices are rising exponentially too, some of the PCP prices that Edgar Brothers expect are not that far off of Weihrauch and let's face it, when you can get an HW100 for little more than the cost of a Hatsan bullpup what are you going to buy? Me as a Hatsan fan, I would buy the HW100! Sorry but Hatsan are not that good, The HW100 is a regulated rifle and the Hatsan Gladius is not regulated.

In fact the price of a 55 or 60 is now damned near that of a 99!

https://www.solware.co.uk/hatsan-mod60-22-air-rifle
https://www.solware.co.uk/weihrauch-...ower-air-rifle

So £40 more for a 99? What would you buy?

I have had several Hatsan 60S rifles, they are better known as the Webley Stingray Mk 2, but for only £40 more for an HW99?

Hatsan are no longer worth the money. They are no longer budget!

[Rob Edge]

SMK are like British Leyland, only British Leyland were never as cheap as SMK.

SMK use many factories in China to produce their rifles. Some are good most of the time, some are good none of the time. But the main advantage is the price. You do not mind buying a £100 rifle and spending £60 to get some tuning parts, you expect it. You feel a right gullible mug when you have forked over a handful of high denomination notes for a Weihrauch springer to find you need to spend £60 plus on parts and tuning to get it to feel right (been there, done that, got the T shirt, three times in fact).

SMK quality is rising exponentially, same with Hatsan really, problem with Hatsan is the prices are rising exponentially too, some of the PCP prices that Edgar Brothers expect are not that far off of Weihrauch and let's face it, when you can get an HW100 for little more than the cost of a Hatsan bullpup what are you going to buy? Me as a Hatsan fan, I would buy the HW100! Sorry but Hatsan are not that good, The HW100 is a regulated rifle and the Hatsan Gladius is not regulated.

In fact the price of a 55 or 60 is now damned near that of a 99!

https://www.solware.co.uk/hatsan-mod60-22-air-rifle
https://www.solware.co.uk/weihrauch-...ower-air-rifle

So £40 more for a 99? What would you buy?

I have had several Hatsan 60S rifles, they are better known as the Webley Stingray Mk 2, but for only £40 more for an HW99?

Hatsan are no longer worth the money. They are no longer budget!

I would have to disagree with you about Hatsan. I have a Gladius in 177, sub 12 and an FAC Galatian in 25. The Galatian cost me £67 to reg and the Gladius will get the same when out of warranty. SMK quality did vary but recently they are a vast improvement on the previous offerings with the PCP range extremely good VFM.

[Benelli B76]

We were shooting at our range yesterday with an assortment of rifles including an Artemis P15 in .22 calibre. We were impressed with its performance and accuracy, shooter was hitting small bells repeatedly that we have hanging at 70 metres. The rifle also looks like it is capable of a lot of shots from the long air cylinder. Very tempted to buy one for £340.

Baz

[secretagentmole]

I would have to disagree with you about Hatsan. I have a Gladius in 177, sub 12 and an FAC Galatian in 25. The Galatian cost me £67 to reg and the Gladius will get the same when out of warranty. SMK quality did vary but recently they are a vast improvement on the previous offerings with the PCP range extremely good VFM.

So for £710 (cost of reg and cost of silencer) you get a gun which is still not as good as an HW100 KT! The Hatsan Gladius and Galatian are damned noisy as far as hammers go, listen to and HW100 and it is a click, the Hatsan a damned loud thwack. I know, I have owned 2 Galatians and 2 HW100s. The price of the Gladius is too high, the SMK Shorty is as good a Bullpup.

https://www.solware.co.uk/p10-shorty-smk-pcp-air-rifle £430!

Sorry but the Gladius is overpriced.

[gra82]

Was thinking of getting o PR900w, never had a pcp before thought this may be a good entry level, heard and read quite a few good reviews

[Logunner]

Was thinking of getting o PR900w, never had a pcp before thought this may be a good entry level, heard and read quite a few good reviews

Buy it, not a bad rifle and easy enough to work on when you get the urge to. or the P10

[peddy]

P10 for £275 is an absolute bargain. Owned one for a few months very accurate and well made, easy to strip, built like a tank. So tempted to buy another in .177 at that price. I've enjoyed all the smk rifles I've owned and would recommend them. I also own a few hw's and Tx that arnt without their problems for much more money. The 100 has bad leak record, keeps my rfd busy with repairs.

[venoman]

Was thinking of getting o PR900w, never had a pcp before thought this may be a good entry level, heard and read quite a few good reviews

Very good rifle if i was you i would go for the .22cal due to the diameter of the cylinder you need to charge after 30 shoots with the power set around 11.5ft lbs. The .177 should be less i have tested a few of these and after 30 shoot you get a big power drop after each shoot, but they can be filled easy with a pump. I filled one then fired 30 shoots fitted a pump and it took 25 pump to fully recharge it.

[gra82]

Been quoted high variance in prices for the PR900w, around £198 including delivery charge to rfd, and another at £250 without the delivery, any suggestions on where I can get a reasonable price ?

[gingernut]

I think I paid £200 for mine when they first came out.

The new P-15 is a bargain at the moment and shoots well.
Friend had one at our range last Tuesday.

[TonyL]

Just wondered what everyone's views are on SMK rifles and pistols, the first gun I purchased was a B2 custom carbine, admittedly it's never going to win any miss world or strong man competitions, but my initial reason was for ratting, in all honestly it has served its purpose very well, since purchasing this I have acquired a HW97K and an Edgar Brothers 900x breaker. What are people's thoughts on these aswell

And a very warm welcome to the forum, gra82.

I have only a tiny amount of experience of the B2. Although it isn't going to be a rifle that is lusted over by more experienced shooters, my view would be that it's a solidly made, fairly crude "workhorse". Some have tuned it to perform way above its station. It's a very important little rifle in the overall scheme of things as, for many, it is their first air rifle, so a cheap introduction to our sport.

Hatsan Breaker; no experience of this rifle.

HW97K....one of the all time greats. Solidly constructed, heavyweight, superb trigger, very accurate and forgiving. Sometimes matched in terms of performance, rarely, if ever, bettered. No problem with availability of spares and tuning / customising goodies. And a wealth of information out there.