I have several great spring rifles, and have felt that a break barrel could never duplicate the accuracy of my under levers, just because of the general concept of the lock-up. Recently, I acquired an FWB Sport, and posted an on-line review after Motorhead tuned it. Then, my friend Pat (PMG) got the hots for a HW 98 in .20, and after helping him set his up, I couldn't resist , so ordered one in .177 for myself. It came in earlier this week.
While contemplating the acquisition, I looked on line and found several great videos about the aesthetics and general performance characteristics, but nothing that really depicted the true accuracy and performance statistics one could expect. So for those of you interested in the same, right-out-of-the-box, here you go.....
My rifle arrived from AOA in the normal, excellently packed tradition. While there was a chrono tag, it really didn't tell much. The print-out provided didn't share the pellet used or show any group.
The first thing I did was cleaned the barrel, and it was really oily/greasy (as was Pat's). I used some JB bore paste, followed by two patches soaked with Ballistol, then clean patches until they came out perfectly white.
Next, I checked the stock screws, and they were all very loose (learned this while setting Pat's rifle up - they were that way, too). I tightened all of the screws down securely, choosing not to use Loctite yet, until I determined if I was going to tear the rifle down and install the special Vortek kit Tom engineered for me and I ordered at the same time I ordered the rifle, targeted to produce +/- 13 FPE with the AA 8.4 pellet.
The next step was to secure the muzzle barrel weight with Loctite, as this was constantly coming loose while we tested Pat's rifle, and is an on-line complaint I had read on several different posts.
As a final step preparing to sight the rifle in and shoot test groups, I mounted a new Helix Element 6-24x50 SFP scope on top of an RWS Lockdown mount with droop compensation. The RWS Mount with droop compensation is not necessary on this rifle. It actually shot about 3 inches high, and I had to shim the front ring set as the scope did not have enough down elevation adjustment. This was not a big deal, but if I had to do it over, I would have used a set of Sports Optics vertically adjustable mounts.
Before going on to the rifle, all of my other rifles have Hawke Sidewinders, Hawke Airmax, or Vortex Tactical FFP scopes on them. I must tell you that I really like everything about this Helix Element scope, and it will probably become my "go to" scope in the future. The reticle and clarity are phenomenal, and the turret adjustments appear to be perfectly precise and solid in every regard.
As the weather is really nasty in Indiana right now, I utilized my indoor 18 yard range for the set-up. The rifle was easy to sight in. The Rekord trigger had too much drag and was not breaking cleanly - not a worry, because I know how to fully disassemble, polish, and adjust to where it will perform perfectly. Pat's rifle's trigger was the same. The rifle also has a pronounced "buzz" and is somewhat harsh in the shot cycle - not unexpected for the more powerful Weihrauch's out-of-the-box and pre-custom tuned.
I started in with the JSB 7.33 pellets, and worked my way up in weight. I shot two 10 shot groups of each pellet over the chrono. The results can be seen, both chrono and groups, in the accompanying table and test target scans. This rifle is very pellet selective. It was fascinating to me that the JSB 10.3s shot so well, and yet the chrono stats were so poor. Equally interesting is how the AA 8.4s are in a class all of their own, both in terms of chrono statistics (SD of 1 over a 20 shot string), and the average10 shot group size of only .36" for two groups.
While I had every intention of putting the Vortek kit in that I had ordered specifically for this rifle, I am probably going to wait for a while, because even though the rifle is a little harsh in the report for me, I don't think I can improve on the current accuracy or chrono statistics. Undoubtedly, it will "settle down" some once I get a few tins of pellets through it, too.
Since shooting these groups, I have disassembled the rifle, and replaced the trigger group with one I had prepared, polished, and tuned, and it now is perfectly smooth and breaks like glass nearly immediately after coming off of the 1st stage. I have also utilized Loctite on all of the stock screws.
I believe I am really going to enjoy having this rifle in my collection, as after reassembly, it was shooting pellet on pellet, with the 8.4s. It does appear that I may have been wrong in my thoughts, as I believe this rifle may perform as well as my underlevers do. The one thing I am interested in ascertaining and will be checking very regularly, is if the POI holds constant from day-to-day. My 97's are the most consistent of all of my spring rifles in this regard, very rarely requiring a POI adjustment.
I hope this review was helpful to those of you with interest in this rifle.
DZ
While contemplating the acquisition, I looked on line and found several great videos about the aesthetics and general performance characteristics, but nothing that really depicted the true accuracy and performance statistics one could expect. So for those of you interested in the same, right-out-of-the-box, here you go.....
My rifle arrived from AOA in the normal, excellently packed tradition. While there was a chrono tag, it really didn't tell much. The print-out provided didn't share the pellet used or show any group.
The first thing I did was cleaned the barrel, and it was really oily/greasy (as was Pat's). I used some JB bore paste, followed by two patches soaked with Ballistol, then clean patches until they came out perfectly white.
Next, I checked the stock screws, and they were all very loose (learned this while setting Pat's rifle up - they were that way, too). I tightened all of the screws down securely, choosing not to use Loctite yet, until I determined if I was going to tear the rifle down and install the special Vortek kit Tom engineered for me and I ordered at the same time I ordered the rifle, targeted to produce +/- 13 FPE with the AA 8.4 pellet.
The next step was to secure the muzzle barrel weight with Loctite, as this was constantly coming loose while we tested Pat's rifle, and is an on-line complaint I had read on several different posts.
As a final step preparing to sight the rifle in and shoot test groups, I mounted a new Helix Element 6-24x50 SFP scope on top of an RWS Lockdown mount with droop compensation. The RWS Mount with droop compensation is not necessary on this rifle. It actually shot about 3 inches high, and I had to shim the front ring set as the scope did not have enough down elevation adjustment. This was not a big deal, but if I had to do it over, I would have used a set of Sports Optics vertically adjustable mounts.
Before going on to the rifle, all of my other rifles have Hawke Sidewinders, Hawke Airmax, or Vortex Tactical FFP scopes on them. I must tell you that I really like everything about this Helix Element scope, and it will probably become my "go to" scope in the future. The reticle and clarity are phenomenal, and the turret adjustments appear to be perfectly precise and solid in every regard.
As the weather is really nasty in Indiana right now, I utilized my indoor 18 yard range for the set-up. The rifle was easy to sight in. The Rekord trigger had too much drag and was not breaking cleanly - not a worry, because I know how to fully disassemble, polish, and adjust to where it will perform perfectly. Pat's rifle's trigger was the same. The rifle also has a pronounced "buzz" and is somewhat harsh in the shot cycle - not unexpected for the more powerful Weihrauch's out-of-the-box and pre-custom tuned.
I started in with the JSB 7.33 pellets, and worked my way up in weight. I shot two 10 shot groups of each pellet over the chrono. The results can be seen, both chrono and groups, in the accompanying table and test target scans. This rifle is very pellet selective. It was fascinating to me that the JSB 10.3s shot so well, and yet the chrono stats were so poor. Equally interesting is how the AA 8.4s are in a class all of their own, both in terms of chrono statistics (SD of 1 over a 20 shot string), and the average10 shot group size of only .36" for two groups.
While I had every intention of putting the Vortek kit in that I had ordered specifically for this rifle, I am probably going to wait for a while, because even though the rifle is a little harsh in the report for me, I don't think I can improve on the current accuracy or chrono statistics. Undoubtedly, it will "settle down" some once I get a few tins of pellets through it, too.
Since shooting these groups, I have disassembled the rifle, and replaced the trigger group with one I had prepared, polished, and tuned, and it now is perfectly smooth and breaks like glass nearly immediately after coming off of the 1st stage. I have also utilized Loctite on all of the stock screws.
I believe I am really going to enjoy having this rifle in my collection, as after reassembly, it was shooting pellet on pellet, with the 8.4s. It does appear that I may have been wrong in my thoughts, as I believe this rifle may perform as well as my underlevers do. The one thing I am interested in ascertaining and will be checking very regularly, is if the POI holds constant from day-to-day. My 97's are the most consistent of all of my spring rifles in this regard, very rarely requiring a POI adjustment.
I hope this review was helpful to those of you with interest in this rifle.
DZ
