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.

[rabbitwrecker]

HW97k - Nice rifle if you use the gym regularly.
900x - Great value, poor trigger, (which can be improved with a fettle).
B2 - Nasty, not a patch on some of the other SMK offerings.

[secretagentmole]

HW97k - Nice rifle if you use the gym regularly.
900x - Great value, poor trigger, (which can be improved with a fettle).
B2 - Nasty, not a patch on some of the other SMK offerings.

The Breaker 900x is the only Hatsan I could recommend now.

[cozzamec]

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

I should have counted the shots Baz, but it was so many I thought why bother! From the fill of 200 bar I still had around 120 bar left and I must have shot another 6 mags after you went, maybe 8 actually. Very accurate, light and the shroud works well.

[aj]

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.

Countryway gunshop has the P10 on offer at the moment for £275, bargain me thinks.

[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.

[Rob Edge]

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.

I paid £450 for the Galdius Which is fully moderated so no moderator required. When you fit the reg it loses the twang. My Galatian is as quiet as a mouse fart now

[secretagentmole]

I paid £450 for the Galdius Which is fully moderated so no moderator required. When you fit the reg it loses the twang. My Galatian is as quiet as a mouse fart now

Rob I am going on today's prices and Solware are about as competitive as it gets in the market place! The problem is that Hatsan are now way too expensive in the UK market place. So if you allow £67 for a regulator the Gladius is nearly as much as you pay for an HW100!

[Rob Edge]

Rob I am going on today's prices and Solware are about as competitive as it gets in the market place! The problem is that Hatsan are now way too expensive in the UK market place. So if you allow £67 for a regulator the Gladius is nearly as much as you pay for an HW100!

Gladius is £540 and the HW100 is £790. Bit of a price difference.