Weihrauch HW 97K Review

Overall Rating

German build quality
Very powerful,
Ultra reliable,
Short,
Deadly accurate,
Fitted silencer,
too many to list !

ERMMMM Well its a bit heavy

The weihrauch HW 97K is one of the finest guns you could be lucky enough to own. If you know anything about air guns you know weihrauch make the best. I have yet to use a bad weihrauch and i have used almost every single rifle they made from 1993-2002 but this is my favourite. Its carbine length comes with a fitted silencer which is very effective. The latest model of the hw97k has a better stock and an even shorter barrel. Its got a scope dedicated stock made from a very nice piece of beech wood, its got the famous reccord trigger unit (which is still one of the best even at almost 100yrs old), its got firearm standard blued metal work, a very solid underlever (which is fairly hard to cock) but with these guns that gives you a slight bit of satisfaction with the build quality. Its extremely powerful - this gun will produce a constant 11.8 ftlbs all day long on a chrono. It comes in .22 or .177 (you will find it hard to get a .22 of this gun don't ask me why). It uses a sliding breech loading mechanism for direct loading and its got the extra aid of being a fixed barrel gun (which makes it very very very accurate - i have picked crows off at 50+ yards with this gun). Its got a very efficient safety mechanism and the underlever is fitted with a mechanism which won't allow it to spring back. The only bad points i can think of are that it's quite heavy at 9lbs but it is a mans gun-not for kids really and its so nice looking every time you get a scratch on the stock you feel very bad.

Basically, if you appreciate a quality gun, you hunt or you target shoot, get this gun. It's only £222.95 from jsramsbottom http://www.jsramsbottom.co.uk. It's got a fitted silencer and it's simply wonderful.

Many thanks to Weihrauch for making this fine piece of airgunning history.
Thankyou
Danny.

Members' Comments onDanny.'s Review

• ollie. on 28th Jun 2002

  thats not a silencer its a muzzle wait to stop muzzle flip

• Danny. on 7th Jul 2002

  It is actually a silencer mate.It's fitted with baffles. If you give weihrauch a ring they will confirm what i am saying, you don't need to fit a muzzle weight to an underlever - they are only useful to break barrels especially considering that the hw97k weighs in at 9lb unscoped.
  
  thankyou.
  
  Danny.

• Jazbear. on 14th Jul 2002

  Danny, your review was excellent.
  
  My mate Pete has just bought one and he can certainly confirms everything you are saying. Just for the record for the last guys comments "it is a silencer on the barrel".

• Kirky. on 7th Aug 2002

  I think we should all jump on the "let's bash Ollie bandwagon"..... it`s an excellent gun and YES it is a silencer.

• Eric. on 30th Aug 2002

  Excuse me for joining this forum a bit late.
  I also confirm that the Weihrauch HK97K has a silencer and not a muzzle brake. Facts are that this rifle is a nice piece of work. It is heavy but balances well in the hands.
  
  I need to ask for some help re the telescope mounting on this rifle if anyone can help. The local agent advised me that preferably my 0.22 carbine should have a scope mounted on a 1 pc mount and not a 2 pc as the recoil would probably damage the scope. Is this correct ?
  
  I also have a (0.177) Diana 48B and a (0.177)Gamo Hunter 1250 where the latter gives the strongest recoil I ever experienced on an a/rifle. Notwithstanding a its recoil, this Hunter 1250, never damaged my scope at least up to now.
  
  In any case I would appreciate some advice re the HK97K scope support.
  
  Best Regards
  Eric
  MALTA

• Jazbear. on 31st Aug 2002

  With regards to mounts for this gun, my mate Pete uses a one piece mount that has adjusters on it for the main zeroing then use the adjusters on your scope. Its about £25. Its good though.

• Tonio. on 2nd Sep 2002

  I just bought my HW97K, still haven't tried it out yet as it's still at the gunshop till my license clears. Eric, if you're reading this, i'm also from Malta and i'm trying to establish how many HW97s are actually on the island, where did you buy yours from? I bought mine from pelican in b'kara, the guy said he only got two and i had purchased the last one. Since it's fitted with a silencer, it apparently means it falls foul of maltese gun law. In that respect i was really surprised to find ot on sale and as soon as my paycheck came in I had no problem with parting with what for a student is a considerable ammount of hard earned cash...

• Eric. on 3rd Sep 2002

  Hello Jazbear
  Thanks for the advise re the mounts.
  In fact I setup a 1 pc mount on the HK97K and I very happy with it. The system is very sturdy now and there is no risk of zero shift. As for damage to the scope, I shot about 200 pellets (0.22) and nothing has happened yet.
  I studied the possible recoil effect of the rifle in other peoples' hands and mine and I think its quite normal and not above a limit to damage a scope.
  In any case I have no regrets to have bought the 1 pc mount.
  The rifle also looks better.
  Bst Rgds
  Eric

• Eric. on 3rd Sep 2002

  Hello Tonio
  Its good to know about other Maltese interested in airguns.
  I can tell you that you have made a good buy with the HK97K. Its a smooth rifle, easy to handle, accurate and consistent. I have other rifles but I always pick it up from the rest to have a shoot out.
  
  I bought mine from Tal-Magru at Rabat. He says he is the local agent for Weihrauch. My 0.22 was one of the last two he had. However I was disappointed that he did not have any scopes and mounts when he was selling me a carbine which has no sights and thus can work only with a scope.
  
  In any case it was not a problem for me as I bought the scope from Phoenix. I set it up with a Gamo (BSA) 9 x 40WA scope and a 1 pc sturdy mount which I bought from Windhagen at Siggiewi.
  
  I am really surprised that you bought yours from B'Kara. I didn't know he sells airguns. Does he have other brands ?
  As for your license you might have to wait a bit but nowadays they process them in about 3 - 4 weeks time. I am from Mosta and as they say they are very fast. In fact I got mine in just two weeks. Consecutive licenses for my other rifles where made within 5 minutes.
  
  As for the silencer, I was myself surprised that the HK97K has one as I know its not in the norm here. However there it is.
  
  Keep in mind an airgun is not a toy and therefore use it maturely. Never be trigger happy and have a look behind what your scope focuses on before pulling the trigger.
  
  For your interest my email is quantum@keyworld.net
  Feel free to drop me a line.
  
  Best Regards
  Eric
  MALTA

• Eric. on 3rd Sep 2002

  This message is for Tonio from Malta.
  Earlier this morning I sent you a reply on this review, however I fear I might have mixed up something and so the reply might not have got through.
  Just in case can you please contact me on my email :
  quantum@keyworld.net
  Best Regards
  Eric
  MALTA

• MrGumby. on 11th Oct 2002

  OK, I'm going to buy one. Should i go for 177 or 22? I want it mainly to lose a few pigeons from 30-40 metres. Are the Hawke Sport High Definition 3-9x40 scope and Sportsmatch mounts as supplied by Ramsbottom likely to be up to the job?

• F4UCorsair. on 12th Oct 2002

  I do not understand the accuracy rating. It is rated as a 9 out of 10, but under the good points it is described as "deadly accurate". This could be a language difference, but when I see "deadly accurate" or tack driver, I would expect a 10/10 rating.

• Tonio. on 13th Oct 2002

  Well F4U The discrepancy could be due to the fact that no matter how accurate the gun is, it's all down to the guy pulling the trigger. Personally, with a rather awful (temporary...) 4 x 20 hubertus scope, decent pellets and a stable rest, my 97k will put pellet after pellet through the same hole (though admittedly the max range i've been able to fire over to date is circa 20 metres) and if I do miss I'm pretty confident it's myself rather than the gun that's at fault. One thing I really like about it is the integral suppressor, despite having over twice the power the rifle is quieter than my HW45 (i think it's marketed as the beeman p1 in the states)airpistol, certainly prevents neighbours from complaining during backyard shooting.

• Eric. on 14th Oct 2002

  Tonio
  
  Pleased you are back on this review but quite disappointed you didn't get back to my message.
  
  I need to get in touch with you as we are forming an FT Field Target Association and need to register as many members as possible, so that we make a presentation to local government to approve practice of this sport in ad-hoc ranges.
  
  Please contact me urgently.
  Email : quantum@keyworld.net
  
  Bst Rgds
  Eric Camilleri
  MALTA

• Tonio. on 14th Oct 2002

  Hey Eric I sent you an e-mail but you never replied! Anyway, if you wish to contact me my email is aardvark@di-ve.com ... the thought of having FT competitions here is intriguing, particularly now that i'm the proud owner of a rifle that can certainly do the job! I'm really happy with the gun, my only gripe till now is that the automatic safety has...well, ceased to be automatic! i'll have to see about that... meantime, I look forward to hearing from you.
  Tonio
  Malta

• Eric. on 15th Oct 2002

  Tonio
  Sent you an email a few minutes ago.
  When you can call me if you wish.
  
  As for the Safety catch I feel the same problem is coming up on mine.
  
  Best Regards
  Eric

• Danny. on 4th Jan 2003

  If your looking for accuracy guys get it in .177 as the barrel is made in a different place than the .22 for some reason and their have been reports that the although the .22 is quality the .177 has better rifleing. Also as for my 9/10 accuracy rating this is due to the fact that if your farily big and strong as I am it's quite easy to hold the rifle steady and get very clean shots ie: "deadly accurate" but if your not as big or strong the weight and size may hamper you with accuracy slightly hence the 9/10. thanks for all comments m8s. Danny.

• gaz gun man. on 15th Mar 2003

  it is indeed a silencer,
  
  you say its hard to get the gun in .22, well mine is .22 and it got it easily enough.
  
  I have 1pc mounts on mine and a Tasco Varmint 6-24x42 mil dot scope

• james123 on 5th Jan 2004

  back to the silencer thing, I dont think it makes much of a difference at all, an if it is a silencer its poor, comparable to other air rifles I have without "silencers" it sounds basically the same, an air rifle hardly makes any noise and untill I read all this I am assumed that it was a muzzle break.

• wjvisser on 26th Feb 2004

  I have just bought the HW97K after long consideration, I do own a Gamo Hunter 440 with which I am still very happy. After reading in a local magazine test the accuracy achieved with the HW9K I decided to buy one. And boy am I impressed. It seems to like heavy pellets, I am using H&N Baracuda Match ( 10.65 gr )and at 10m it produces one hole or at least touching groups. What are you guys getting with a chronograph? The heavy H&N only produced 663 fps, with Gamo Pro-Magnum (7.41gr) 750fps. This is not close to the advertised 930fps.