Weihrauch HW97K .22

There are two main reasons to buy a Weihrauch springer: The barrel and the Rekord trigger which is the best of it's type. Sadly these days the rest of Weihrauch's build quality often leaves something to be desired but that can mostly be sorted. And so I decided to treat myself to an HW97K, Weihrauch's flagship springer.

I'd pretty much decided that I was going to buy the Blackline model with the synthetic thumb-hole stock (very sexy) but it turned out that the standard sporter model was a better fit for me. Not that I'm complaining, wood appeals to my inner traditionalist.

The HW97, like all of my springers, was stripped before being fired. There was no need for a spring compressor and almost no preload on the spring. Inside, the piston and compression tube were very nicely made, the piston seal was good. There wasn't too much grease and the spring was properly finished although the spring guide was the usual sloppy fit.

However, the stock lug threads were left unfinished with sharp swarf sticking out, OK it's not on the visible parts but it still smacks of obsessive cost cutting. And the stock screws themselves are surprisingly roughly finished. I don't mean to be overly critical but I just hate Weihrauch's petty penny pinching.

I cleaned everything up and put it back together as it was. And... Boing! 10.5 ft lbs and twanging like a banjo. Not that I was surprised and I already had the TinBum kit on order. My piston contained a 3mm thick weight retained by an O-ring on the piston rod and, per the kit instructions, I removed this and replaced it with the Tinbum slip washer. The top hat and slip washer combined give about the same preload as the original piston weight, although the main TinBum spring guide has a step on it which gives a little more preload than the original. I also removed the anti bear trap (a horrible contraption) while I was at it, so this rifle can now be decocked if required.

And, with both power washers fitted, I'm getting 11 fpe with no twang and the firing cycle is now a quick “Thock”. Just from a decent set of guides which would have cost pennies at the manufacturing stage. So why on Earth don't Weihrauch fit them as standard? Still, a big up to TinBum whose excellent kits neatly address HW's shortfalls and now come with a really nice two piece main guide. Incidentally, the old style HW95 mainspring with its smaller 13.7mm ID is a much better fit on the standard HW97 guide. And fitting a HW95 spring and top hat gives very similar results to the TinBum kit, worth considering if you've got an old 95 mainspring lying around.

Reams have been written about the HW97 and the pros and cons are well known so I won't go into all that. I'll just say that closing the under-lever is accompanied by a sexy, muted “Swooosh” as the compression chamber draws in a charge of air and a positive click as the under-lever latches into place. Now the 97 feels like a premium product. Off a bench it's easy to get 5 shots touching at 25 yards, there's no muzzle flip, the big solid rifle stays where it's put and my 97 gives its best groups with Crosman Premier and H&N FTT.

In summary, the HW97K is short, compact & solid with a superb trigger, superb barrel and superb accuracy. It looks the part too. Buy one and fettle it. You know you want to.

Update June 2022: It's been several years since I wrote the above and I've come to the conclusion that this is my favourite springer of all time, hence it's been blinged up with brass stock screws and trigger guard. My enthusiasm for shooting comes and goes, but I can pick this rifle up after months of not shooting and put round after round straight into the bullseye. It's a recoiling springer with character, yet it's laser accurate and easy to use. A definite keeper.