Haenel 303

[Leepelletb]

Afternoon all. New to me haenel 303 turned up today. These are very well made sturdy old guns in my opinion. Happy with this. Just needs a service. Power is a little low.had the 302 a little while ago too. Shouldn't have let that go. Something very nice about the old,well put together German guns I really like.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/0qcrnSt

[TonyL]

I have never had the opportunity of ownership but would certainly go for one if I had the chance (space allowing). It's one of those rifles that came more to our attention in 1977 with the launch of Airgun World and the enlightenment that the magazine brought along, also bringing to our attention many lovely, legendary airguns like the Weihrauch HW35, BSF B55, Original 35, Feinwerkbau Sport & 300 etc.
My impression of the Haenel would be of a slightly more austere but solidly made, well-engineered, dependable and accurate break barrel. Enjoy.

[Leepelletb]

I have never had the opportunity of ownership but would certainly go for one if I had the chance (space allowing). It's one of those rifles that came more to our attention in 1977 with the launch of Airgun World and the enlightenment that the magazine brought along, also bringing to our attention many lovely, legendary airguns like the Weihrauch HW35, BSF B55, Original 35, Feinwerkbau Sport & 300 etc.
My impression of the Haenel would be of a slightly more austere but solidly made, well-engineered, dependable and accurate break barrel. Enjoy.

They are nicely put together, sturdy well built guns. This new one of mine is a .177 too don't see many of them at all.

[VALE BOY]

The Haenel 302/303, manufactured in Suhl in former East Germany back in the 60’s and 70’s was the first air rifle i bought new when it was imported by JLS Arms Company in Wednesbury near Birmingham and advertised in Exchange and Mart back in the day for the princely sum of £8.19.6.

I purchased mine via my local gun/sports shop, in Dumbarton, Ian Tyrell Sports (a personal friend of mine) who obtained it on my behalf, from JLS at the advertised price. At that time a Webley Mk3 and a BSA Airsporter were about £19- £20, a BSA Meteor was about £11 and the ubiquitous Relum Tornado were being sold in the popular mail order catalogues like Kay and Co, Empire Stores, Grattan etc for around the £12 mark.

My 302 was a fantastic rifle in .177, more powerful than a Meteor or Webley Falcon and extremely accurate. I regularly hit the small ceramic insulators on the telephone pole 40 yards from outside my front door and that was standing, using open sights. (I lived on the perimeter road of a council estate with a farm directly across the road about 100 yards away and open countryside for about 20 miles behind that!)

No hassles about shooting in the street back then, although a degree of discretion was still necessary.
By way of extreme accuracy testing I used to shoot at a telephone pole, easlily 150 yards away across the farmers field and I could hit that more often than not providing there was little or no wind. Admittedly I had no idea whereabouts on the pole was the point of impact but it was testimonial to the Haenel’s windage accuracy and also my shooting ability (says me modestly).

After replacing my first air rifle, the big unwieldy 2nd hand .22 Relum Tornado which was a bit agricultural to say the least, the Haenel was a revelation, way ahead of the various new Milbro Dianas belonging to my pals. The only other gun amongst my friends that came close was a Spanish made A.S.I Commando, also in .177. Back then in the late 60’s, Weihrauchs were virtually unknown in Scotland and Webley Mk3’s and Airsporters were pretty rare…none of them were owned by any of my contemporaries.

A couple of years later I sold the Haenel to fund a new Canadian made Crosman .22 140 pumper which turned out to be a retrograde step despite its reputation for going through a galvanised bin lid after about a dozen pumps!
Unfortunately my Haenel had sustained damage to the stock ..cracks around the 2 front stock screws due to them having slackened off and being Beech which is more brittle than Walnut.
So anyone out there who has one nowadays, check the tightness of all the stock screws, but don’t over tighten them. These remarks of course pertain to all springers!

One last anecdote concerning my 302…. I was so impressed with it, I wrote a letter to David R.Hughes who owned an air gun business in Croydon and also advertised in the Exchange and Mart at the time who published a booklet/catalogue featuring Weihrauch 35’s amongst other German rifles that he imported and marketed, recommending the Haenel which considering it’s price and quality made it an excellent buy and he subsequently included it for sale in his shop and catalogue!

[TonyL]

Brilliant information as ever, Graeme. And a most entertaining story.

[Leepelletb]

Agreed interesting story, good info. Thanks.👏👏👏

[laverdabru]

My 302 was a fantastic rifle in .177, more powerful than a Meteor or Webley Falcon and extremely accurate. I regularly hit the small ceramic insulators on the telephone pole 40 yards from outside my front door and that was standing, using open sights. (I lived on the perimeter road of a council estate with a farm directly across the road about 100 yards away and open countryside for about 20 miles behind that!)

No hassles about shooting in the street back then, although a degree of discretion was still necessary.
By way of extreme accuracy testing I used to shoot at a telephone pole, easlily 150 yards away across the farmers field and I could hit that more often than not providing there was little or no wind. Admittedly I had no idea whereabouts on the pole was the point of impact but it was testimonial to the Haenel’s windage accuracy and also my shooting ability (says me modestly).
Back then in the late 60’s, Weihrauchs were virtually unknown in Scotland and Webley Mk3’s and Airsporters were pretty rare…none of them were owned by any of my contemporaries.

Slight o/t. The above takes me back. Somerset, early '70's. We used to shoot at the insulators on the poles on my friends farm - until his father got a visit from the electricity board! Our long range targets were the sides of galvanised cattle troughs. Don't think I had even heard of Haenel or Weihrauchs then. None of us owned an Airsporter or Mk 3. Meteors, Hawks, Dianas were what we had, & an ASI Paratrooper my mate 'borrowed' from his brother.

Bru

[wickerman]

a good read with fond memories of yesteryear ......good days happy times when airguns pocket knife and catapults is what young lads had and did no harm

[TonyL]

Absolutely.

[Modski66]

Back in 2016, inspired by an online renovation in the US by B.B. Pelletier, I bought a 303s target rifle and did a lot of work to it to smooth it out and give it some more finesse, then swapped it after two years for a P08 replica. This was something I almost immediately regretted, but was fortunate enough to have to opportunity to buy it back just over a year later.

They are just sturdy and reliable bits of kit, and with a bit of work can be made into very nice things to own and use.

[Leepelletb]

As nice as the gun is. Power is a little low,so it's out to my gunsmith pals for a service. Looking forward to getting it back.