Very informative
Hi All,
Well after having it for a while now, I thought I would attempt a quick review of my HW100KT.
Out of the box I noticed it had a lovely looking ambidextrous stock (light grained walnut) and as soon as I picked it up it felt at home in my hands. The quality of the wood is superb for a factory spec stock. The metalwork is sound and has a nice deep blueing. Exactly what I have come to expect from Weihrauch
The left hand side of the action has painted in white the manufacturers name and model, whilst on the right is the pellet type and the usual ‘read your instruction booklet’. Also on the right hand side is the cocking lever and magazine mechanism, more detail to follow.
The air cylinder has various information stamped including date of manufacture, swp’s etc and at the top end has the pressure gauge. I personally think this is not the best place for the gauge as to look at it, the rifle is pointing directly at your face. Accidents do happen! The air cylinder is 100cc and manufactured from stainless steel, so very strong and it won’t corrode. It has the easy quick fill system fitted, that is plugged when not in use by a thick plastic pin that is sealed with o rings. This is easy to remove and does a good job of protecting the filling assembly from dust and grit.
I fitted the supplied silencer and it finishes off the look of the rifle nicely. I did fire the rifle off without the silencer fitted and trust me it is the loudest crack I have heard from any PCP. The excellent Weihrauch silencer however does the job and I feel it is one of the best on the market. Reducing the crack down to nothing more than a slight silent gust of air.
Even with the silencer fitted the rifle has superb ‘point ability’ and feel that I have not come across that in any other rifle. The balance of the rifle is so good you could almost use it one handed (not that it would be safe to do so). I am left handed and normally struggle along with so called ambidextrous stocks that are really right handed ones with slightly less right handed chamfer. This is not the case here, the thumbhole stock is perfectly symmetrical. People criticise the stock as looking like a plank of wood. Personally I like the simplicity of it, when you pick it up it feels just right and I for one would not change it in anyway. The fore stock has grooved finger rails and feels solid and square to aide grip and stance. The trigger area is stippled for added grip and the angle suites my large hands. The butt pad is standard fair and an adjustable one would have been a nice touch.
The trigger unit is fully adjustable from 1st and 2nd stages (grub screws accessible easily enough), along with the tension of the trigger. You have to remove the action from the stock to adjust the overall tension, but as this is just two screws, very quickly achieved. Finally the trigger blade can be adjusted backwards and forwards by loosening an Allen bolt. This again is a nice touch. The feel of the trigger is a definite two stage, without any creep visible. It is a very smooth action and inspires confidence when taking that hard shot we all get.
The cocking mechanism is second to none, being light, quick and it won’t allow you to cock the rifle twice. The magazines (3 supplied as standard, 2 x 14 shot and 1 x single shot) are held in by a small side lever. Once the rifle is cocked you can apply the safety switch that lies just below the cocking lever. There is no automatic safety, however the multi shot magazines would prohibit the effectiveness if one was fitted.
With the single shot fitted, when you draw the cocking lever back, the spring loaded mag comes out to the right hand side. Pop in the pellet and push the mag back, push the cocking lever forward and that’s it job done. The gun will not allow you to cock again until the shot has been fired, so you can never accidentally double load the gun with two pellets.
With the 14 shot mag loaded with pellets, you can fire off all 14 shots in less than 30 seconds (not very accuratley though!!). The action is smooth and quick. The cocking lever is held in place by spring loaded ball bearings that give a nice click. The 14 shot mags have a marker on the edge so you can see when you are coming to the last few shots in the mag. This is without doubt the best multi shot / single shot magazine system I have ever used. The quality feel is wonderful, along with the fact you get 2 x 14 shots and the single shot as standard.
I fitted a 3 – 12 x 50 AGS Swat scope, no problems apparent with mounting and zeroing (5 shots and it was spot on). I think I will be investing in a single mount system for this rifle though as it will bridge the two distinctive parts of the action, possibly giving more stability.
I sat with the rifle resting just it the crook of my arm and started firing away. It feels very clinical, especially compared to a springer. However the noise is no more than the twang of a large elastic band, followed by the pellet striking the target. The trigger is smooth and very squeezable, but can be adjusted to just about any combination to suit anyone’s style. The first 10 shots after zero were almost pellet on pellet at 40 yards. The rifle instils more confidence in my shooting as I know the pellet will land where I want it too. I’m using JSB Exacts and they seem well suited to the rifle. I use the Weihrauch F&T’s for chronographing the gun. The only thing to let the rifle down is my breathing technique and the odd gust of wind!
The 14 shot magazines were both emptied in no time, then I switch to the single shot system. This again is the best I have used, cycling the rifle within 5 seconds is easy. The rifle was charged to 200 bar prior to use and shots didn’t tail off until the built in gauge was registering 70 bar. The tail off started at the 50 yard target after 61 shots. However the 35 yard zero was still true for another 5 shots after that. Weihrauch quote the working pressure for full power shots to be between 90 and 200 bar.
I used the rifle for a few weeks quite heavily (shooting about 1500 pellets) and chrono’d it again, as some 100’s have been known for power creep. It was still doing 11.4 ft/lbs with Weihrauch F&T’s, exactly what the factory cert said. So no power creep although it is still early days.
Filling the air cylinder was an unspectacularly easy job, out with the protective pin, in with the adaptor (included along with various others for filling the cylinder if it is off the rifle), turn on the air and watch the air fill and push the gauge up. The HW100’s gauge is more accurate than the one fitted to my bottle rig!.
Overall, I am pleased as punch with this rifle. I could not want more out of a PCP rifle. I am taking it hunting in the next few days and I will report back to let you know how I get on in the field with it. I will also post some pictures in the near future too.
Please feel free to comment on the review and if you have any questions just drop me a pm and I will do my best to answer them.
Thanks for reading and don't be too hard on me please!
Chris.
Photo's as promised http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/n...ic666/HW100KT/
Last edited by Neomagic; 04-07-2008 at 08:19 AM.
Check out my Photography Web Site here
Very informative
excellent write up mate, had mine about 3 weeks now and I agreee with you it is sooooooooo easy to use. MIne has a nv set up on.
_________________________
hw100kt, nvrs-f tactical, doubler & 100mw ir unit & harris bipod
Last edited by jfkenpoman; 04-07-2008 at 08:28 AM. Reason: gun details added
Great report!
I've had mine a week, and I love it.
It is actually possible to double load with 2 pellets, though. If you remove the mag and then re-insert, or turn it manually, then push the lever forward it will push another one into the barrel (not that you'd want to do that, of course!).
Bob.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Good review mate and I agree with you, they are superb guns. I wish I'd been able to keep mine but had to sell to fund other things. If I was in the market for another 12fpe pcp, this would definitely be it though.
Wyrd bið ful aræd
Thanks for the good comments guys, much appreciated. What I like most about this rifle, is I expected it to be good for the six hundred odd quid I paid for it, but I never expected it to be this good!
I have tried much more expensive rifles and similarly priced ones including Daystates, but I still think out of the box this rifles beats everything else into the ground, especially on pure functionality. I know this is subjective and I appreciate other peoples opinions will differ to mine. Remember guys, this is just my thoughts.
My biggest criticism is only a small gripe, that the rifle is almost too clinical and easy to shoot. I have noticed however the amount of 100's that have faults seem's to be going up, but I believe this could be down to the fact it is probably the most popular selling pcp rifle and the market is flooded with them. On average at my club there is almost one new 100 arriving amongst us every week. I have to say my review would be very different if there had been any problems with it, but so far it has not missed a beat.
ATB,
Chris.
Check out my Photography Web Site here
Great review. Had mine for 18 months & its the best PCP I've ever owned bar none. Never had a fault excepting a little damage caused by me when removing the quickfill, soon remedied with a file though. Makes me wonder why I've just decided to sell it!!!!
I've had my HW100 S K version for a week now and love it. Very hard to fault it at all. A small gripe might be that it can't be de-cocked. You have to fire it to do that.
I have yet to go hunting with it and am looking forward to that.
Day: Weihrauch HW100SK, Richter 3-9x50AOE
BSA Supersport, Hawke Sport HD 3-9x50
Night: BSA SuperTEN BB Carbine, ATN Aries MK440.
I agree - an excellent review and a superb rifle, especially in SK configuration. I liked mine so much, I bought another HW100, a full-length sporter this time. Both rifles were supplied with loose barrels but this was soon remedied. Not sure why they don't secure them properly before despatching the guns. Quality of stock woodwork varies greatly: the first rifle had a very light-coloured stock with minimal graining whilst the second had darker wood, well figured. I've seen another on display at a third gunshop with near exhibition grade walnut on it. Despite this, even the woodwork on the first one was significantly better than the stuff they're putting on Theobens these days.
Essex Air Ambulance saved my life on 20/08/2010 www.essexairambulance.uk.com
just wondering whether these guns are regulated?
Mine goes down to just above 70bar before the power curve starts to drop off (noticed on the 55yard target on the zero range) . Its good for plinking short range down to 65 bar easy.
Fluffybuck, how hard is it to get past the anti tamper and reduce the power by about 1/2 to 1 ftlb? I know a chap at my club did this (pre AT) and he gets 70+ shots at full power. Would the hammer need to be adjusted as well to achieve this (if possible). Is it possible for any adjustment with the AT in place?
ATB,
Chris,
Check out my Photography Web Site here
I am a great believer in what you pay for is what you get. And even though the big price hike for the HW due to the Euro gathering strength it's still worth every penny.
Theoban and Daystates are again in the same league. But for a sub 12ft hunting Air rifle there is nothing better out there.
The only time i thought you got alot of gun for your money was the S200 MK 1. But then that was built in the czech republic. The s200's have never been as good since
ATVB
Dave
Sorry for the late reply. I've been busy recently and didn't read the review section. If I don't respond some other time, drop me a PM as a reminder.
The HW100 AT is very difficult to deal with unless you have access to a workshop and are prepared to risk causing some damage to the gun.
To reduce the power by 0.5-1.0ftlb is not usually a problem on the AT guns. Rasing power might cause a steep power curve.
On the AT guns, dropping the power won't improve the shot count.
As you rightly said, you need full access to the internals (removal of AT) to set the hammer and reg properly and optimise the performance. With mine, after much experimenting, tweaking, a little poishing - and of course the removal of AT, I have managed to get around 95-100 per fill (11.4ftlb) from my two .177cal HW100K's.
As you have found, some HW100's can run below 90bar. There is quite a lot of variation in the way they are set up. Although I have not tried other regulated guns, I presume that other reg'd guns also have some variation in optimum fill pressure. If I remember right, Daystate guns have an individual data sheet for each gun's fill pressure.
I have one HW100 that fills to 180 and runs down to 70. My modified one's can work from 210/220 down to 70/80 and would give well over 100 good shots per fill if run between 220-70 (I'd guess 120 per fill?), but I try to stay within normal pressure ranges.
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