How Good Is An 18 Year Old Weihrauch Hw80 .22???

[bigmac 97kt 13,732]

Aw Mark you've got to tell a story or few now mate.! Never met a builder yet who says he didn't believe in ghosts.

 

And for the sceptical rest who say There's no such thing? That's only because you ain't seen or experienced one......YET!

 

I had an old farmhouse in North Yorkshire fifteen years or so ago. It was haunted by a cloaked figure who wandered about outside as well as in. I never saw him but, our neighbours told us there were some strange sounds coming from the place while it was empty. A man sobbing was what they said. Their property joined this place

 

My partner at the time saw this spirit and just froze to the spot. It went past her and wandered off through a wall! We had a cat who wailed and hissed like Hell at an old stone wall at the time. I was later told that one of the builder's lads who was renovating the place before we bought it, was working in one of the lounges clearing the fireplace alone, when this figure of a very tall man in a hooded cloak appeared behind him! He refused to work there after that.

 

Back on shooting, I have a permission at a famous hotel near here, set in fantastic acres of grounds where the rabbits are chewing up the lawns and garden plants. That place has Dambuster Wg Cdr. Guy Gibson's ghost seen wandering the passageways and hallways into 617 Sqns bar when the place was their Officers mess during the war!

 

Spirits in search of spirits!

 

We'll go over there Mac if you like, when you come down! If you get down early for mid morning/lunchtime, you can relax, we'll fit the stock to the zero it up and out in the afternoon for bit of rabbit shooting till nightfall and a couple of pints of good beer afterwards. Home and supper. Not a bad day eh mate?!

 

Rabid

Thanks very much sir. It is an idylic spot. I have the Battle of Britain Memorial flight up the road who overfly the cottage when they are out training with the Lancaster and Spitfires and Hurricanes. The RAF Typhoon Force trains here. So you have a free air show most days of the week. And some of the best shooting and hunting anyone could want. I'm absolutely at peace here with life.

 

Honestly. Even if I won the Lottery. I don't think I would want to move.

Sounds good to me Simon

 

top class and im looking forward to seeing this place of yours

 

and most of all meeting you and your good lady

 

atvbmac :thumbs:

[pianoman 3,584]

No electricity and no batteries and it blares away? That would convince me enough! What a great story. Thanks Mark. Any more??

 

I've just been out to my hotel perm for a dawn rabbit session before the guests start waking. Took my HW80 out and laid out another seven rabbits and a Squirrel. The mist swirling from the dew makes this place look like a fairy tale palace.

 

It is the magic of this sport when the lighter mornings start to come that you can find yourself alone in another, world from another time long past, before the day begins for the rest of mankind. This place has a large parkland of mature gardens and trees that have been laid down from the Victorian era. The smell of the morning air and the wet flora is wonderful.

 

And it's an air rifle hunter's heaven.

 

There are wild deer about, some muntjac a few Roe I spotted (The police will not allow full-bore cartridge rifles to be used on this land. For sound and good reasons. So the deer are safe from hunting) and ornamental fishponds fountain pools and concrete tubs full of plants The rabbits are in them chewing stems or digging the lawns and doing real damage. Just gotta be careful of dog walkers about. Not that they are anti shooting. Never had a problem with anyone here touch wood. But this rifle would easily kill a small dog at least, if it popped round a corner and I let a stray shot go. You really have to be aware of your position and who else might be about.

 

There is a favourite ambush spot I have behind and low prone position from one of the ornamental shrubberies, that enables me to cover a long run of thick woodland hedgerow. The rabbits appear from it, at all ranges and start chewing the grass.

 

Nobody has shot these rabbits before and they just stay put when you hit one, then reload and hit another...then another till they get the message that all's not good and they scarper off back. Then it's time to wander along to the next hot spot and ambush the rabbits and anything else that fall within the rules of air rifle vermin.

 

My Regal multi-shot PCP really scores here for short to medium range bunnies but, I want to be certain of what I'm hitting at distances greater than it can take is killed humanely fast. For a feeding rabbit at 60-odd yards, this HW80 is the rifle to do the job. And it will take out anything on the general licence list with no sweat.

 

At 40 yards the pellet goes clean through a rabbit's head and it's dead before it hits the deck. No back-flip or any dramas. Bop -done! You just need an eye on backstop or where your shot might run on to.

 

I really can't sing it's praises enough.

 

It may be a plane'jane', unsophisticated looking thing, it won't win awards for flamboyant good looks. But my God, when all you need is a really powerful, simple, superbly accurate rifle that just gets on with the task of putting rabbits, mink, rats, crows, rooks, squirrels, woodpigeons out of business with no suffering....This rifle looks like a rifle and it will keep keeping you shooting when all those fancy-pants PCPs have run out of puff!

 

And don't be put off by the fact that it's a break-barrel rifle. And suffers barrel droop over time and all that rubbish I've seen some people seem to think plagues these rifles. Thhey never had one of these 80s and are tarring it with a brush for the rubbish out there.

 

In all the 18 years I've owned it, I have never found any hint of barrel droop or any form of misalignment from heavy use.. That's something a cheap bit of rubbish from China might suffer from, but not this German masterpiece. I've shot what must be thousands of rounds through it, plinked with it, hunted with it. Never a thing wrong. It locks up firm and solidly with a heavy, reassuring clunk and stays on the ball every time..Pure spring rifle shooting you'll not get better than Weihrauch at this price point.

 

 

Look. Why waste your good money on an SMK copy, when you can have the real thing? I really don't understand the reasoning for understandable budgetary constraints with these things. But why do some think a cheap copy fora couple of hundred quid or whatever, will perform like the real thing?

 

A second hand HW80 or any senior Weihrauch rifle must make an amazing bargain. When you consider what you get for your money compared to a brand new piece of Chinese junk. Even the wrecks of Weihrauch spring rifles I've seen have been restored and refurbished easliy and reasonably back into smooth shooting, hard hitting accurate rifles again. Really, all you need to know is.....

 

You'd have to be a bloody maniac to actually destroy one before it becomes totally useless.

 

I'm off for me breakfast! See you later!

 

Simon

[targa 5]

Mine is from 1992, it had a new Venom seal and standard spring last november and its shooting so smooth and accurate as always. Its in the truck as my favorite "back up" gun. Load and loads of vermin it killed.

[Turumti 0]

On 02/04/2016 at 05:18, pianoman said:

Good evening Gentlemen.

 

Well, I went out on a farm permission tonight and decided on taking my ' old girl ' 18 years old HW80 .22. I haven't been out with her for almost a year now but, after a chat here with Rez about HW80s and why he should have one (Oh yes, you do need one jamie!) the other day, I decided to take mine out of the cabinet and see how sh'e been without a shot fired from her for quite a while.

 

After a lengthy zero-up produced a quite amazing group of about 25 shots going through the same 5p-sized hole at my preferred 30 metres range I was out with her into the fields of a beautiful farm permission I have here in sprawling Lincolnshire.

 

This is my one and only on-ticket, FAC rifle. I really should get a rimfire .22 but, I keep putting it off when I have this beautiful German masterpiece to do the job it does. It tips the chrono at bs 23.4 ft llbs. recoils with a sharp small and small, but noticeable jolt. The scope is an equally elderly Simmons Whitetail Classic 3.5-14x40mm Supernightview with a graphite coat. It take the recoil with ease and keeps sharp in zero on 7 Xmag. A 30-metre zero gives a reach of a clear 40-45 metres of superaltive accuracy with a little holdover for 50 metres.Way more than enough accuracy for rabbit shooting.

 

Within 16-20 minutes of arriving, a 35 metre large buck rabbit was hit clean through the head with a kneeling shot. Immediatlely followed by a spooked 2nd rabbit that fled out of the hedgrow. It stood still while I reloaded, never moved a muscle ...THWACK the shot hit it as soon as the trigger was released. Two in the bag inside 16 minutes.

 

I made my way to a particular favourite spot of mine here, close to the edge of a woodland spread. I set up low on the brow of rising ground and waited for the sport to come out to feed. A close rabbit was out, about 15 metres away in about 40 minutes ....And I missed! My fault! Too keyed up and snatched the shot off . Pulled it left close behind the ears. It's always the close range rabbits I miss most. I've hit rabbits out to some insane ranges with this rifle, but then, really get it wrong on the shrt range stuff.

 

As old school as this rifle and scope are, it is still a formidable rifle and scope combo. From a prone shooting position, I can hit pretty well anything that comes within 50-60 yards of my position.

 

The net result for tonight's foray was 23 rabbits and two crows cleanly shot and instantly killed for a total of four rabbits missed. All my fault. More meat than I could want or carry on my own. At least my farmer friend has plenty for himself and his mum and dad who live nearby, and there is a fabulous old 18th century pub to reflect on the night's shooting over a couple of pints of Bateman's.

 

I seriously wonder why I should bother with any more air rifles when I have this level of high power accuracy at my disposal. The stock of my rifle is the original beech sporter and, after tonight's performance, it deserves a makeover and a decent refurbishment. But it's a cherished gun and 18 years of solid hunting work in all weatheres takes its toll on the woodwork.

 

But that aside, what an incredible magnum of an air rifle this HW80 is!! For one that's a full 18 years old. It cost me all of about £230-odd quid new and about the same again for the Simmons scope. Given the thousands of rabbits, rats, mink and squirrel this rifle has accounted for in her time, not to mention some priceless memories that has resulted in hunting them, that has to be one Hell of an air rifle bargain here!

 

Once again it was made clear to me just how utterly fine and reliable this venerable break-barrel spring rifle truly is. And once again, I'm back to ""if I had to have only one air rifle for hunting? ...""

 

Errrr...that's not fair. There is this marvellous rifle and still my incredible pair of sub-12 ft/lbs HW77 .22 and HW97K .177 to fall back on. Then I have a British duo of an Air Arms TX200 HC .177 and Daystate Regal PCP to add....No, I cannot possibly honestly claim the Regal can hit as hard and as decisively accurately as these magnificent three Germans can....

 

Nah! I'll be keeping the lot thank you!

 

All the best for your shooting Gentlemen.

 

Simon AKA Pianoman.

Hi Simon, 

I just read your post while looking for some online data on the HW80. I am from Karachi, Pakistan. and I have had an HW80 (Export model, not the UK one), since the past 22 years. My eyes are no longer what they used to be two decades back, so I was thinking of putting a scope on this old girl. Mot of my shooting is pest control inside barns and warehouses, and mostly in the evening hours when light is fading. So what scope would you advise me to get?

Regards, 

Salman Ali

 

 

[pianoman 3,584]

Hi Salman.

I would go with a Hawke Sidewinder 4-12X50 or similar spec Sidewinder. Really good scopes with 30mm bodytubes. I can't fault the one l have on my AirArms Prosport and HW80 .22 rifles. 

All the best.

Simon 

[philpot 4,927]

As an extra note Simon, if the Endurance is available in Pakistan, that scope will work in very low light levels and a superb cristal clear image to boot, certainly the best scope I have used, only wish I had not sold it with my rimfire.............................big mistake.

Phil