The Legacy Of The Hw80

[Dr B 186]

The best, most smoothest killing machine that HW ever rolled out of their factory is the 77....without a shadow of a doubt....

 

A venom tuned 77 is about as good as it gets. There ain't no recoil, no noise, no nothing, 'Cept a whole lotta death at the other end. I've had a few 77's....They were all accurate right out to the 70 yard mark....

 

I don't think there's any other springer that can match them. And I've had most of them.

 

Hey man, so venom tuned were really that good? I never got to shoot one. Its a crying shame the venom shop is no more. I've only heard great things.

[Dr B 186]

 

You can't fault the tx200hc, the only downside I found with mine was fitting a sling as the under lever doesn't lock like the hw97 ! If air arms did the same type of thing to the tx as the hw it would make a great gun even better

 

Well put. I dont have too much of a problem throwing the slinged gun on my shoulder, but yes, if not carfeul the locking arm cracks open - but its small potatoes for me and i just click it back or take a little more care throwing it on. Its probably time for a version IV with all these improvements.

 

[Rez 4,961]

I'm sure an would be as accurate as any springer nowadays.

 

Mr pianoman will come across this post at some point and type a small essay about them (as he always does) even if the post wasn't about 80's.

 

His is on a ticket, but from what I hear, is the best thing since sliced bread none the less.

 

They are great and one day I might think, I want one. The older rifles have somewhat 'immortal charm' about them, hence me spending nearly a grand on a rifle that's 22 years old, my 7. I've always wanted a 7, since the day I got into shooting, but the old man could never afford to buy me one, so out of my dead cold hands will anyone take this one.

 

The 8tehhh is fab. But only for those that were around when they we're bringing food to the table. Like a bow and arrow...

[Dr B 186]

hahahaha yeah man, "you had to be there"......A 7 eh? Hmmmmmm. Lovely stuff. Never heard a bad word about them.

[Murphydog 30]

I never had one but it was my mates HW80 that got me into air rifles. It was a superb bit of kit compared with what else was about at the time. I did intend to buy one but when I got to the shop I fell for the HW77 and bought that instead.

 

We stuck new springs and ptfe washers in the both and thought we were the bees knees until it came to shooting them. They both kicked like a mule and were so unaccurate after our messing. We took them back to the shop where we had bought the springs and washers and he put them through the chrony for us. The HW80 was just over 18ft lb and the HW77 was 23ft lb. No wonder we couldn't hit anything with them.

[jocky 198]

got a hw80 to sell, its the older model 80s only shot about 200 pellets. in VERY good condition.

[ponte 222]

I have an very old one here

 

Lovely period gun, very heavy to be honest

[Rez 4,961]

I have an very old one here

Lovely period gun, very heavy to be honest

This is a point I've thought about... Yes. Agreed man. It's heavyweight, but is it heavy?! My own springers are best left heavy, my PS is perhaps 10 pounds with optics, the 97 10.5 ish with the 1.5 kilo menace included.

 

This is not a dig, at all, the heavy glass makes um sweeter

[vizlauk 1,568]

Get it on the sales section mate with a few pics and details, be good to see something different up for sale from someone that's not just on the forum to sell stuff !

got a hw80 to sell, its the older model 80s only shot about 200 pellets. in VERY good condition.

 

[toby63 1,236]

ive had 2 std 80s and 1 std 77 also had a venom 77 with mod like on the 97s now. was a superb gun to shoot .

[pianoman 3,587]

Mac you are a kind man! Thank you for your endorsements about my shooting. Aye, I've found this thread so, here goes all expectations...Ahem!

 

AN ESSAY, NAY, LOVE LETTER TO MY DEAR BELOVED HW80

 

I have owned my HW80 .22 for almost two decades. It is a rifle so close to my heart that, no amount of money, under any circumstances, would ever get me to part with it. Built on a good day when Weihrauch really were unassailable in the standards of their workmanship, this HW80 has been called a one-in-a-million rifle by those who know their spring air rifles and have shot with it.

 

It's an old school break barrel, now in an era of PCps that have improved incredibly over the last twenty years. And the TX200 and Prosport from Air Arms has given Weihrauch genuine competition.

 

There is a generation of shooters who are spoiled with what is on offer today and really, the HW80 is an anachronism of another time before theirs. Its plain, simple looks are not going to excite them. But to those of us of a certain age, the dear old HW80 is still. the finest break barrel air rifle ever made. It absolutely outshot every Webley and BSA air rifle going when these names were the very best of British and the guns were lovely! And though there are some very fine spring rifles out there nowadays I have not yet found any other break-barrel sporting air rifle to match it.

 

It was designed to be tuned for FAC shooting and I have mine tuned to 21.4 ft/lbs o0n my licence. I needed it as a fast, effective killer against a hoard of Mink on one of my permissions. It hits very hard and with one hole accuracy from a base-zero of 25 metres. In sub-12 it is as sweet as a nut and ever ready reliable.

 

I own an HW77 .22 which I think is the finest spring air rifle of any you can buy, It really is an incredibly accurate air rifle tuned to recoiless perfection by a good pal who really knows his spring rifle tuning.

He re-tuned my HW80 with a replacement spring and rang me up saying. "I've just been testing your HW80...20-odd-shots clean through a penny-sized hole in MDF board an inch thick at my maximum 35-metres...What the bloody hell have you got here"!

 

He now loves it as much as me.

 

I suppose to the younger lads nowadays, it is a bygone antique musket compared to a modern PCP. But, in my hands and those of us older buggers who knew nothing but springers when we started air rifle hunting, the dear old HW80 was the wet-dream rifle to own and it still has the power and accuracy to hold its own against anything the world has to offer.

 

All I can say is, if you haven't owned one, you are missing out on a rifle that is an air rifle legend for very good reasons.

 

Simon/Pianoman.

 

Edited to add;

I have read the thread in greater detail and the remarks made are really spot on. I have owned a TX200 MkIII .22 rifle and didn't really get on with it, though my .177 TX200HC is a genuine supergun. But for the dear old HW80 I will re-enforce my undying love for this amazing old powerhouse of an air rifle over pretty much anything else.

 

Except my HW77 .22 and HW97K .177. They too hold a special place with me

Edited February 11, 2015 by pianoman

[tomburras 2,730]

Got to admire your passion Simon!

[bigmac 97kt 13,811]

Got to admire your passion Simon!

Credit where credit is due

 

the mans a legend when it comes to springers

 

but iv heard he cant shoot for sh*t when it comes to pcp,s :whistling:

 

but i would not want to find out especially in a comp lol

 

Some they say he can out shoot any one with his hands tied behind his back

 

and that he tunes his rifles with his feet

 

but all we no is he is called the pianoman

 

 

atvbmac :thumbs:

[Dr B 186]

Hey Simon / Pianoman

 

Thanks for the interesing post, I reckon for you, the HW80 has an important legacy in the world of airgunning. I have owned one, and loved it straight out of the box. It is simplicity itself. No bells, no whistles - killing machine.

 

For me, the AAs have the edge in the springer world now, but the HW80 and the 77 are like the Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton of airguns. Huge influence on the modern stuff!

 

Great posts here guys.

[pianoman 3,587]

Dear Rez, Tomburras, Mac and Dr B. Thank you for your kind responses Gentlemen.

 

True, I can more than hold my own with a well-sorted spring rifle (I've been shooting them for 50 of my 57 years and I've learned a bit!) and honestly Mac, I haven't yet found a pcp that I can honestly say is more accurate than my HW80, HW77 or 97K or TX200HC come to that.. In fact I've possibly spent more time and money getting my Daystate Regal to perform just as well as my spring rifle collection has cost put together!

 

FACT. A one-hole penny size group at 30-40 metres range is as accurate as it possibly gets. No matter what your rifle's action-type is, how old your rifle is or how much you've spent on it.

 

The only true difference is that you have to put more work in understanding your felt-recoil and how to control it by simply letting the rifle "talk" as it fires from your shoulder, with this HW80 than you would with a recoilless PCP. As long as the spring rifle is absolutely bang-on consistent, from shot to shot, you have no problems shooting well with it. Because you learn to predict how it's going to behave.

 

The HW80 is easy to tune to an amazingly consistent rifle. That's one of the secrets why it is superior to any other break-barrel.

 

To the poor old rabbit in the scope there's no difference between my £230 HW80 .22 and a £2,000 Daystate Pulsar at all.

 

It's dead! End of.

 

The HW80 can, still, well-hold its own in this modern world of high-tech PCP air rifles. It is an incredibly tough, "Tiger Tank" of an air rifle and I bloody love it to bits. I really do.

 

I'd buy another '80 any day!

 

It amazes me why lads spend good money on Chinese Hatstand copies of HW rifles when, for the same cash, they can buy a looked-after, genuine Weihrauch masterpiece like an HW80 on second hand values, a genuine Mercedes of a rifle and get shooting brilliantly with it from the get-go!

 

Best of all it, it is an amazing feeling of satisfaction to compose, control and hit a difficult shot on a rabbit's head at long range with a classic springer like this. Memories of those shots are priceless.

 

Thanks again fellas and the best of shooting wherever you are.

 

Simon

 

 

 

Edit to add. Further thoughts

I think Air Arms make a fabulous spring rifle with the TX200. But the one I had, I found the underlever arm has a bit of sideplay on the cocking stroke as I returned it under the barrel and ball detent and it didn't always lock up cleanly and firmly, but, had to be fiddled a little with to seat it home properly.. This imparted a little additional vibration on firing which has to counted for. Also, I found it made carrying the rifle on a sling a precarious affair as the weight on it would pull the underlever out of the lock. If the rifle was carried cocked, it swung open a bit alarmingly!

 

If AA made an underlever lock-up for the TX200 as good as HW make for their underlevers, it would make the TX200 an even greater air rifle.

 

As it is, I might yet buy another TX200 .22 and maybe, this time, I'll get on better with it. I think it's a beauty in its own right; no mistake. And I really want to get along with it for its smoothness in the shot.

Edited February 12, 2015 by pianoman