I recently put my HW98 in a CS700, non-skeleton. I was advised against the skeleton stock by a few people. I love the stock but will only be benching it.
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HW 97 regular stock or thumb hole pros and cons
- Thread starter Vrock49
- Start date
Thanks jcams - bench because the kit is too heavy for offhand? Or just mainly doing bench these days? Wondering how heavy the CS700 is compared to the original HW98 stock. So difficult to get a feel for weight and "heft" (forearm thickness, grip thickness, etc.) from just website pics.
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Thank you for confirming this!! This a question I have had a suspected about the TH stock but couldn’t find info to confirm it.
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I set this gun up strictly for bench shooting, weight wasn’t a concern. I have a 95, two 30’s, 50 and two 35’s if I want to shoot offhand or pest. The stock is very comfortable and shoulders nice.
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She arrived! From Mundilar. Ordered Sunday, here in California on Friday. Outstanding shipping, gun was traveling through Denmark yesterday afternoon and was here by mid-day today. Included some pics below for anyone curious how a Mundilar gun arrives. The extra air pillows/etc are removed from the pic for clarity, but trust me, it was very well done. Arrived with a Gamo gun bag (big one, with scope bump), and Hawke Sidewinder 30 6-24x56 scope. I forgot to request the SR II reticle so ended up with 20x half mil.
This gun arrived with a light oil on the barrels, unlike the FWB Sport. Quick wipe with a microfiber cloth and the bluing really shines through.
HEAVY!!! Shot one in the store but did not recall it being this weighty. Comes in at 4.22kg or 9.3 lbs. , without anything on it but a trigger tag.
First 10 shots out of the box went through a crhrono. First 8 pellets had a spread of 5fps but I was a little cockeyed on the last two pellets and skewed the data. Still, she's right at 14.0FPE, exactly where I expected it.
Shot cycle OOB: gun is so heavy, recoil is quite muted of course. There's definitely some buzz/twang but it's clearly less than the FWB Sport OOB. Of course this easily outweighs the Sport so no doubt that helps mute some of the mechanical noise. Trigger pull is crisp and nicely adjusted from the factory, pull is 1 lb 6 oz. Will tweak it down slightly later on.
As Scott noted earlier, the thumbhole stock grip isn't too thick, and fits my hands well. I wear size L nitrile gloves. The thumbhole groove is a disaster though. See pic of my right hand. My thumb wants to ride down, I couldn't use that groove if I wanted to. And no straight-up thumb option either, at least not for my hand size. The forearm is beefy, but pretty much any HW97 forearm will be in order to shroud that massive receiver. It's comfortable, but fat. Overall, ergonomically I would give this stock 3.5 stars - fit and finish are first-rate, adjustable buttplate is nice, and checkering feels very solid. But the thumbhole design is goofy, and I do wonder how well that thin bottom bridge-piece of wood will hold up over time.
Other ergonomics: push the cocking lever button, nothing... Have to pull the lever downward. I expect this to loosen up with time, and think I read somewhere the detent can be adjusted (?). Cocking force is not bad at all. Breech - fantastic! Easy to load from either side, barrel breech extends into the well to make it very easy to locate, and tons of room around the breech for your fingers. Safety - you all know it, kind of a PITA. Yes I'll get used to it, but it's not the safety feature that's objectionable - rather, it's just friggin' awkward to reach over to the upper left side to disengage it. Can't reach it with my grip hand, so have to either use left hand or pull my grip hand away to push the button. Not a fan - although it functions smoothly. Overall mechanics ergonomic rating - 4 stars.
Overall fit and finish, and packaging rating - 5 stars. Not a mark on it, and once the shipping oil is removed the bluing is nearly perfect. Definitely better than the FWB Sport. I won't hesitate to purchase from Mundilar in the future. By the way, for USA customers they will refund the VAT. I added a note to the order with that request, and received an email the day after the order confirming the refund. Easy peasy.
Already pulled the trigger on a few tweaks from Rowan - cocking lever handle, setback and extra setback triggers, and trigger guard. All in silver color.
Next up is more research on a custom stock. Currently thinking about the CS500 or CS700. And although folks seem to advise against it, considering a skeleton stock to lighten the load a little. Need to find out the delta weight to see if it's even worth it. With a 27 oz scope this thing will outweigh all my 10m match rifles.
Happy to be a new member of the HW club!
This gun arrived with a light oil on the barrels, unlike the FWB Sport. Quick wipe with a microfiber cloth and the bluing really shines through.
HEAVY!!! Shot one in the store but did not recall it being this weighty. Comes in at 4.22kg or 9.3 lbs. , without anything on it but a trigger tag.
First 10 shots out of the box went through a crhrono. First 8 pellets had a spread of 5fps but I was a little cockeyed on the last two pellets and skewed the data. Still, she's right at 14.0FPE, exactly where I expected it.
Shot cycle OOB: gun is so heavy, recoil is quite muted of course. There's definitely some buzz/twang but it's clearly less than the FWB Sport OOB. Of course this easily outweighs the Sport so no doubt that helps mute some of the mechanical noise. Trigger pull is crisp and nicely adjusted from the factory, pull is 1 lb 6 oz. Will tweak it down slightly later on.
As Scott noted earlier, the thumbhole stock grip isn't too thick, and fits my hands well. I wear size L nitrile gloves. The thumbhole groove is a disaster though. See pic of my right hand. My thumb wants to ride down, I couldn't use that groove if I wanted to. And no straight-up thumb option either, at least not for my hand size. The forearm is beefy, but pretty much any HW97 forearm will be in order to shroud that massive receiver. It's comfortable, but fat. Overall, ergonomically I would give this stock 3.5 stars - fit and finish are first-rate, adjustable buttplate is nice, and checkering feels very solid. But the thumbhole design is goofy, and I do wonder how well that thin bottom bridge-piece of wood will hold up over time.
Other ergonomics: push the cocking lever button, nothing... Have to pull the lever downward. I expect this to loosen up with time, and think I read somewhere the detent can be adjusted (?). Cocking force is not bad at all. Breech - fantastic! Easy to load from either side, barrel breech extends into the well to make it very easy to locate, and tons of room around the breech for your fingers. Safety - you all know it, kind of a PITA. Yes I'll get used to it, but it's not the safety feature that's objectionable - rather, it's just friggin' awkward to reach over to the upper left side to disengage it. Can't reach it with my grip hand, so have to either use left hand or pull my grip hand away to push the button. Not a fan - although it functions smoothly. Overall mechanics ergonomic rating - 4 stars.
Overall fit and finish, and packaging rating - 5 stars. Not a mark on it, and once the shipping oil is removed the bluing is nearly perfect. Definitely better than the FWB Sport. I won't hesitate to purchase from Mundilar in the future. By the way, for USA customers they will refund the VAT. I added a note to the order with that request, and received an email the day after the order confirming the refund. Easy peasy.
Already pulled the trigger on a few tweaks from Rowan - cocking lever handle, setback and extra setback triggers, and trigger guard. All in silver color.
Next up is more research on a custom stock. Currently thinking about the CS500 or CS700. And although folks seem to advise against it, considering a skeleton stock to lighten the load a little. Need to find out the delta weight to see if it's even worth it. With a 27 oz scope this thing will outweigh all my 10m match rifles.
Happy to be a new member of the HW club!
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Hobby Lobby has clay like products that are easy to form and you can add a thumb rest, exactly the shape you want , and it dry's in the air or oven, If oven cured then use saran wrap on the stock and bake the thumb piece in oven , use double sided tape to install and find just how it feels , then permanently glue in place .
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I have the CS 1000 lefty , wonderful worth the $$$ , didn't really notice any weight change , maybe because the rifle fits like a glove now . P.S. lefty @ $12.00 extra
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There was a study trial done by Ivan Hancock Steve Pope on Thumb hole stocks which concluded they added a 4th holding point….sort of….more of an additional support point.
This is where the the upper part of the hole allows the gun to rest down on the top of the hand just behind the thumb, in addition to the usual 3 holding points of conventional stocks.
However, they concluded if you moved to a thumb hole, you should stick to it as this additional support point slightly alters the characteristic of the recoil, but once mastered added a tiny benefit.
For me however…..I dont like the look.
This is where the the upper part of the hole allows the gun to rest down on the top of the hand just behind the thumb, in addition to the usual 3 holding points of conventional stocks.
However, they concluded if you moved to a thumb hole, you should stick to it as this additional support point slightly alters the characteristic of the recoil, but once mastered added a tiny benefit.
For me however…..I dont like the look.
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I discovered with my R34 clone with a thumb-hole stock that dis-engaging the safety meant releasing the grip of my right hand and reaching up and over the stock. If a rifle is to have a t-h stock then the safety should be on or inside the trigger guard or on the right side of the action.
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I really like my 97KT but also have a number of other springers to shoot. The TX 200 both old & new versions are great also.
As my HW 97 is only used for targets the weight is not an issue.
Re the safety, I push it to fire with my right hand thumb before putting my hand thru tge thumb hole. Based upon the record trigger I find the HW safety to be very good.
As my HW 97 is only used for targets the weight is not an issue.
Re the safety, I push it to fire with my right hand thumb before putting my hand thru tge thumb hole. Based upon the record trigger I find the HW safety to be very good.
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Still not liking the aesthetics of of my KT thumbhole stock, so ordered a CS600 Tyrolean from Custom Stock Ltd. I will transfer the stock beech stock on my 77 to the 97 and put the new Tyrolean on my 77 when it arrives.
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