Some 99S & silencer/mod questions...

[luckymjr]

I've recently bought a HW99s that's been tuned by Tony at SFS. All I can say Is, wow, what a great piece of kit

[Iggypot]

I recently bought one as well, brand new in .177 as it’s my preferred calibre anyway.

I’m very impressed, weighs nothing, well put together and running at 11.4 out of the box. Bit of a twang, but for the money and size etc it’s a very good piece of kit, glad I bought it and it wasn’t all hype!

Hope you enjoy it.

[Hellequin]

So, just a little update on this one...

I got my 99S today after ordering it through my local RFD/Gunsmith. I decided on a .22 calibre version and had intended (initially) putting a muzzle weight on and a set of guides inside from Tinbum. I changed my mind on using the muzzle weight for this rifle and instead got the gunsmith to shorten, re-crown & screw cut the barrel. I wanted something short & handy in .22 for short range work and this rifle now certainly fits that bill; barrel is 8.5" from breech to muzzle, same as my previously owned favourite 95k.

I bought a SAK mod as I figured the slight extra weight (metal instead of plastic) would tame any muzzle flip, and I have to say it really suits the stubby look of the rifle. I haven't messed with the internals yet, I couldn't wait to shoot it so had a quick zero session in the garden just for curiosity to see how it shot as standard and... Wow! It's bloody lovely. There aren't many bog-standard brand new rifles I've tried at this price point which are as smooth & twang free as this little 99, and now I get what the fuss is about!

I'm going to put it over the chrono tomorrow to see what it's doing before I strip it to fit the Tinbum guides and make sure it's lubed properly and things like the spring ends are finished nicely. Minor fettling will be done as required but I can't see it being more than a strip/clean/polish and re-assemble with decent moly/bumslide.

As for the now 'spare' muzzle weight, I'm going to save that for when I buy another 99S in .177 calibre in a month or three; I'll be leaving that one with a full length barrel & just removing the open sights.

All in all, I'm a very happy lad with my new rifle and for not much over 200 quid brand new, there's not much to dislike. Why didn't I buy one years ago??

[TonyL]

"Why didn't I buy one years ago?" - exactly how I felt when I took the plunge and bought my first one.

Absolutely superb little rifles. And the main thing that stood out, even thinking about it now, was that most sublime, almost '77 like, firing cycle from this lightweight heavy puncher.

Enjoy.

[Telephonepete]

So, I've finally decided to get on the HW99S bandwagon and see what all the fuss is about. I've still not decided on calibre; I usually prefer .177 for general purpose & bunny shooting but I do like a .22 for short range ferals & rats, plus I hear that the 99S is particularly sweet in the 'proper blokes' calibre when fettled...

So, bearing in mind that for a while at least this little rifle will be a 'do all' for me, would the 99S experts recommend it in .177 or .22? I suppose I could always buy one of each at some point, but I'd prefer summat like a 97k in .177 if I'm honest.



On to the next part. Eventually I'd like to pimp it up a bit with a decent tune, possibly a shortened barrel and a nice 'slimtech' style blued silencer. I had one of these on a HW95 and they really suit the HW break-barrels but I can't seem to find one anywhere online. I have seen threads for 'Konceptus' but can't find the website & it seems he may have ceased trading.

Does anyone do these slimline blued steel or alloy silencers now? If so, a link would be much appreciated!

I have two 99s both in .177 running at 10.5 and very smooth. Last night at the club there were only three sitting at tables. As we do we had a shoot off at the end of the evening. I was shooting my 97 v glide and they were shooting .177 99s. home tuned. I shot well enough but they both beat me. as to my 99s, nothing would persuade me to shorten the barrels.

[Telephonepete]

I recently bought one as well, brand new in .177 as it’s my preferred calibre anyway.

I’m very impressed, weighs nothing, well put together and running at 11.4 out of the box. Bit of a twang, but for the money and size etc it’s a very good piece of kit, glad I bought it and it wasn’t all hype!

Hope you enjoy it.

It will be better if you drop it to 10.5 ft lbs as .177.

[Hellequin]

I have two 99s both in .177 running at 10.5 and very smooth. Last night at the club there were only three sitting at tables. As we do we had a shoot off at the end of the evening. I was shooting my 97 v glide and they were shooting .177 99s. home tuned. I shot well enough but they both beat me. as to my 99s, nothing would persuade me to shorten the barrels.

That's fair enough Pete. I saw your (and others) previous comments regarding shortening the barrel on a 99 but I really wanted a proper carbine in .22 and, so far, it's looking good with nothing to make me regret it.

As said earlier I did a very short zero session yesterday using my favourite 'test' pellet of Superdomes. My garden only gives me 22yds but it grouped well and that zero will suit what I want it for, as it should give me a decent PBR 'aim on' of around 10-25yds. I've followed it up with a chrono session today. Nothing lengthy and all pellets un-weighed straight from the tin. Over ten shot strings with Superdome & Falcon Accuracy Plus it gave:

Superdome - High FPS 561.1, Low FPS 557.7, Average 559.8. This gives an energy of 10.09 ft.lb based on Superdome claimed weight of 14.5gr.

Falcon AP - High FPS 556.7, Low FPS 544.9, Average 551.38. This gives an energy of 9.05 ft.lb based on Falcon claimed weight of 13.4gr.

Obviously this short test wasn't scientific but it gives me an idea what the absolutely standard from factory (aside from shortened barrel) rifle is doing. It's clear the Falcon were down on power and consistency but to be honest I'm quite happy with the way it shoots with the Superdome; 10ft.lb and 4.5fps spread from a standard internally, brand new rifle and with a stubby 8.5" barrel is pretty good.

Next step will be to strip the internals just to de-grease, check for any poorly finished parts & smooth/polish if required then reassemble with decent lube and the Tinbum guide & TH. I'm hoping for around 10.5ft.lb and for the shot-to-shot consistency to get even better once run in, and will also do some more pellet and range testing so I know my drop out to 30yds and (for interest) how it groups further out. I've no need for more power on this rifle as it's a short range gun for plinking and some rats/ferals; consistency and smoothness is more important for me.

That should keep me occupied for a bit and then I'll be looking for one in .177 calibre, which I'll keep standard length and just fit a muzzle weight.

You could say I'm a convert; I was always a bit of a 'top of range' snob with spring powered rifles like the TX, HW97K, 77K, 80K & 95K and I still love all of those, but you really don't need to spend that much to have a sweet shooting rifle. Weihrauch have really nailed it with the 99S but then, you all knew that anyway...

All the best