New air arms break barrel rifle

[bighit]

maybe AirmArms need to do a kickstarter campaign. all the people that want one then fund the project or a good portion of it .

put your money where your mouth is so to speak

[robhw97k]

My hw99s is a cracking rifle wouldnt part with it

[rabbitwrecker]

Ooh look, another 99s (slagging) thread. Although I'm rather partial to the 'badly flawed' - really? - 99s and 30s, I'd love to see an Air Arms breaker that could match the dimensions and performance of a 99s. In your dreams, Rob - never going to happen. If it did, it would be more expensive and I prefer the Rekord trigger to the CD unit anyway...

[robhw97k]

Ya miles of the mark slagging 99s,mine is a cracking gun,cant say nowt bad about it,put it this way you show me a better rifle for £200 ;-)

[Muskett]

Three flawed rifles that impress me are the FWB Sport, Webley Omega and HW95. Right weight, right proportions, point beautifully, but all a bit hold sensitive.
A better built Omega with walnut and record trigger as smooth as silk. Still not sure with spring hold sensitivity its going to compete with the heavy less hold sensitive rifles as most shooters want the rifle to do the marksmanship for them; or despite lack of marksmanship still put the pellet on the bull. Don't think any springer will do that without the added weight.

My highly tuned HW95 is close, but still too light in 12ft/lbs. All my light weight rifle work within farmyard ranges but the break barrels struggle beyond 25m.

With the American market demanding more than 12 ft/lbs can't see AA doing one.

[maximus]

The point about Air Arms is that it is a company that likes to make a profit on what it does. After all this is the company that doesn't offer their most expensive springer (the Pro Sport) in left hand because they are of the view that demand wouldn't justify the effort.. Bear in mind the number of British airgun makers that have gone bust and you should be able to see their point. The air rifle market is already pretty crowded especially at the 'lower' price levels and honestly I don't think that there is room for another break barrel. After all what would AA offer that Walther and Weihrauch haven't already offered?

One with a walnut stock, ideally without the fancy pants curly wurly patterns on it!

[Mark A]

I was hoping AirArms would have filled the void that Webley left by now, by producing quality break barrels that also look great.

[averageplinker]

I was hoping AirArms would have filled the void that Webley left by now, by producing quality break barrels that also look great.

......and help them go bust too??

I used to work for a company obsessed with having a full product range. We apparently needed to "complete the shop window" in order to compete/ be taken seriously. Myself and other colleagues spent huge amounts of time and money developing the additional products knowing they would not sell well enough to justify the costs. I would not encourage or expect Air Arms to behave the same way.

[look no hands]

Well I think everyone knows my thoughts about the 99 and HW in general but I'm not going down that route today, now I'm the first person to want to see AA bring out a decent break barrel that will whoop the competitions arse's but alass I think it will ever happen (unless HW went to the wall and a massive gap opened up in the market but we all know that ain't ever going to happen either), I for one would rather not see a AA break barrel and see the company continue what they do so well than they bring out said rifle we are all longing for and have them either go the same way as Theoben or Webley or even worse see them go down the BSA road and get bought up by a crappy company who restrains their efforts and the quality of the materials etc.

Unfortunately there's lots of things I'd like to see certain companies make, a break barrel by AA would be nice, yes I don't deny that and an Airsporter/Mercury replacement by BSA would be another but unfortunately this country is too Germanyfied now and people would rather buy their products from them than from a British company, even if the British item as far better, it's how we all think now, so I don't blame AA for not pandering to our needs.

Pete

[Telephonepete]

Three flawed rifles that impress me are the FWB Sport, Webley Omega and HW95. Right weight, right proportions, point beautifully, but all a bit hold sensitive.
A better built Omega with walnut and record trigger as smooth as silk. Still not sure with spring hold sensitivity its going to compete with the heavy less hold sensitive rifles as most shooters want the rifle to do the marksmanship for them; or despite lack of marksmanship still put the pellet on the bull. Don't think any springer will do that without the added weight.

My highly tuned HW95 is close, but still too light in 12ft/lbs. All my light weight rifle work within farmyard ranges but the break barrels struggle beyond 25m.

With the American market demanding more than 12 ft/lbs can't see AA doing one.

well the 99 in .177 does it easily. thats why problems or not it has this large following.

[Muskett]

HW99S for £200! Plinking and farmyard a plenty, then how is anyone going to compete with that? The next level up is over £300.
AA TX or Sport all walnutted up is three times that price. We know why. We know at these weights the spring system can deliver and compete with a PCP within certain limits. A break barrel brings their own particular problems and few would pay the premium for a rifle that wasn't able to print pellets as fine as underlevers.

Basically, break barrels are fast and fun, but keep them within farmyard ranges to deliver. I love them and if I want to go further grab something else... usually a .22LR or .17 HMR. For Air Rifle target disciplines then no one would choose a break barrel. For plinking great fun they few can beat them, but would the market pay £500?? Don't think so.

[Trumpetier]

After all what would AA offer that Walther and Weihrauch haven't already offered?

I agree, to bloody late to the party a real shame

[Geezer]

Three flawed rifles that impress me are the FWB Sport, Webley Omega and HW95. Right weight, right proportions, point beautifully, but all a bit hold sensitive.
A better built Omega with walnut and record trigger as smooth as silk. Still not sure with spring hold sensitivity its going to compete with the heavy less hold sensitive rifles as most shooters want the rifle to do the marksmanship for them; or despite lack of marksmanship still put the pellet on the bull. Don't think any springer will do that without the added weight.

My highly tuned HW95 is close, but still too light in 12ft/lbs. All my light weight rifle work within farmyard ranges but the break barrels struggle beyond 25m.

With the American market demanding more than 12 ft/lbs can't see AA doing one.

Agree on all of that, including the last. TXs and 77/97s haven't done as well as you might think in the US, because of the power thing. You wouldn't know that from reading the US forums, because they are mostly populated by the real enthusiasts, not the average punters. A bit like here.

I'd add the Webley Longbow and even the Tomahawk to that little list. The Tommie is, conceptually, a slightly lighter HW80 (7.5 lbs in walnut, eight and a bit in beech), though, rather than a 11-16 ft/lb gun.

And an honourable mention for the Diana 34 and all its many variants. Despite its - until recently - rather "retro" stock design (except for the 38). I also think the old BSF S70 is probably pretty good (never had one myself).

[averageplinker]

Here's a poser for those who desperately want an AA break barrel.....would you still want and buy one if it were made to AAs specification but somewhere like China or Turkey to keep production costs down and ensure it was a profitable venture?

[Drew451]

I would rate the Diana 34 over an HW95, especially in .177 calibre. I have never owned an HW99 but I think the Diana 280 rifle is a great little gun and I opted for one over the 99 in fact.
There are other options out there if you are prepared to search them out.