Ok, I know I've only had the rifle since Monday, but I'm just so impressed by this gun I just had to boast it's qualities.
Since Monday morning I've put about 250rnds through it and the rifle is breaking in very nicely. There was no smoke or combustion at all from the first shot I took at Illingworth's, and the velocity as of this mornings ten shot string is 758(low)-764(high)with JSB Exacts 4.52. The powerplant is good and strong, and even when I shot a few heavy pellets through it it did surprizingly well; H&N Baracuda 10.64gr averaged 660fps for 10.35fpe. This surprized me since the 50s makes about 11fpe with the Exacts and I expected the energy to be more reduced by the heavy Baracuda's. It also does well with Copperhead wads at 780fps, Gamo match at 797fps, and H&N FTT's at 770fps.
I put the original rear sight back on my Diana 34 and robbed the Anschutz peep from it to try on the 50s. My basement range is only about 9yds, so accuracy testing is by no means complete but after sighting in the rifle with the peep I made some "pea" sized targets on white paper with a marker. With the rifle in my hand rested on my make shift bench I carefully shot Exacts at the targets and further dialed in the zero. After the 3rd black dot I was putting a hole through the middle of each one. On the 8th target dot I shot 5 pellets through the same hole. With the peep sight I used the tapered post insurt in the front tunnel and used an "i" type point of aim. The rifle comes with 5 different insurts for the front sight which is nice for different ranges and target types. If it's nice enough outside today I might try 20yds, but if it's still cold I may go to the indoor range to check out longer range accuracy.
The 50s is designed and built very well, and the cocking linkage allows for very clean lines in the stock with all the mounting of stock to action on the bottom of the rifle. Upon inspection of the action with the stock off, it is apperant that the linkages and internals are well lubed but not over lubed. Cocking and firing the rifle is very smooth, with surprizingly little recoil for the power it makes, any recoil felt is linear and very managable. This is my 3rd Weihrauch airgun and the second that boasts the incredible Rekord trigger mech. The one that differs is the HW90 that has the Elite trigger which is great but IMO not as good as the Rekord(Ramjet will disagree here,lol). With a simple CCW turn of the adjusment screw the Rekord is amazing, light first stage, very noticable stop at the second stage, and breaks clean with no creep with no more than 1lb of effort from my index finger.
Out of all of my guns the closest comparison I have to the HW50s is the Diana 24. The rifles are very similar in size and weight and other than power level they have very similar shooting characteristics. While the actions are very close to being the same length, the difference in power most likely comes from a longer stroke in the 50s. The Diana is just a bit longer overall and is even a bit heavier. I love my Dianas and I'll never part with them, but the 50s is quickly becoming my "go to gun" and has taken that spot in my cabinet for easy access.
My bottom line is this; If you are considering the purchase of a Diana 24 or HW30s, consider spending another approx $100 and look into the 50s aswell. I think I said it in a post earlier, but if I could have only one breakbarrel type springer it would likely be the 50s. I love this rifle and Illingworth Imports for carrying Weihrauch products!
Mulby
P.S. I took a bunch of pics with a one time use Kodak, and I'm having it developed on CD so I may have pics to post in the very near future.
RAVE: HW50s
Re: RAVE: HW50s
Hi Mulby,Mulby wrote:My bottom line is this; If you are considering the purchase of a Diana 24 or HW30s, consider spending another approx $100 and look into the 50s aswell. I think I said it in a post earlier, but if I could have only one breakbarrel type springer it would likely be the 50s. I love this rifle and Illingworth Imports for carrying Weihrauch products!
Mulby
You're absolutely right, I would say those are the top springers HW and D.
It would be very hard to compare which to get one or the other, I would
put them all on my list and get them one by one as the funds available.
Thx for the write up....
Well the temp here hit +4c today so I couldn't help but head out to my buddies acreage and try out the new toy. I set up beer cans and started plinking from 40yds, not much challenge, so I stepped out to 50 and still hit consistently without difficulty. All I had to do was look through the peep and put the front post on the can, pull the trigger, and Tink! Even when there was only a little piece of the can sticking up from the snow I could nail it easily. I got bored shooting the cans so I wandered around the yard plinking at leaves and twigs(and the odd sparrow fell to the 50s aswell). It's just so darn consistent, and fun to shoot that I had a hard time packing up and heading home. After I got home I let it warm up to room temp and put 10 more Exacts over the chrony. Ten shots averaged 764fps, after 400 rounds I expected a bit of a drop but a gain is just fine with me! Still very pleased,
Mulby
Mulby
Well, it's been a month and around 750rnds since I got the HW50s in .177. I've been enjoying this rifle very much. Accuracy is astounding, fit and finish is perfect, and power still seems to be slowly climbing. Velocity from the first few rounds was just under 760fps, now that the rifle is settling in and smoothing out it is averaging a very consistent 770fps with 4.52 Exacts that are from the same lot as the pellets producing 760fps.
I still maintain that if I could have only one breakbarrel air rifle the 50s would be it.
Mulby
I still maintain that if I could have only one breakbarrel air rifle the 50s would be it.
Mulby