God gave me a choice. Good looks or height.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Airs...0.jpg.html?o=0
Founder & ex secretary of Rivington Riflemen.
www.rivington-riflemen.uk
Picked my copy up earlier of the April edition. Not had chance to read yet, only a very quick flick through, but there's an article on our beloved HW35E in there.
Cue Trumpetier and Tinbum rushing down to Smith's...
THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!
Will have a better look later matey.
I see Jim's been busy with the drill, too!
THE BOINGER BASH AT QUIGLEY HOLLOW. MAKING GREAT MEMORIES SINCE 15th JUNE, 2013.
NEXT EVENT :- May 4/5, 2024.........BOING!!
Hw35 e long barrel .)
My very first air gun.. Happy days
Do they get jumpy in .177? I fancy one but most of my rifles are .22, so it would be nice to have a .177 for a change.
Pre Airgun World 1978 then te HW35 was jogging along and competing well with all the other farm yard rifles like the Webley MKIII. Open sights and short range, many had good wood and did what was expected. Its trigger beat some of the competition like BSF's and such. Power ok but then nothing was that great.
But it was when cheap Jap scopes arrived in number in the late 70's when most of the competition were found wanting. The heavyweight HW35 with its trigger could hold it together at the new range 40m that these scopes sight pictures gave. Tuning also helped get that consistency for the longer ranges and then FT got off the ground. Tuning was necessary to get the power up too against rifles like the Webley Vulcan and Original 45. Hw35's walnut, weighty, great trigger and more forgiving, then its not surprising it was the rifle to beat. And Airgun World and the advertisers told us how great it was.
But as a 12 year old it was too heavy, thugly, and expensive. So we looked to BSA, Webley, and FWB. British manufacturing was in cloud cookoo land and then got expensive for what they offered. FWB Sports had the elegance though not the trigger nor walnut. Early HW35 and especially the 35E are, if they have the top bluing and better walnut, fine rifles; though probably better as a .22 for max power. As time has gone by they are getting dubbed down wood and finish and to be honest there are just better rifles to be had. Late 70's and early 80's they were the one to beat.
And then the HW77 blew them all away. The rest is history.
Thanks for the history, very interesting. So I'm taking that it's better to find an old one that buy one new today? Have they really dropped off noticeably?
Buy one because you really want one, like I did, not because you need one; if I could have only one rifle, it would not be a HW35E.
I bought a new one from Germany, delivered to my door and saved a fortune on UK prices. I absolutely love it. The walnut is certainly not as good as that found on older models, but it still looks the business.
They seem to be a Marmite thing. Lots of people don't seem to like them at all, but those of us who do, really really like them
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