Weihrauch HW 80 .177 Caliber Rifle

[mindsweeper333]

Weihrauch HW 80 .177 Caliber Rifle

Hello to all;

It was not too long after obtaining the HW 35 Deluxe, (around 1992 I think), that I was at a Gun show in Corpus Christi Texas and came across a table that had several Air Guns displayed; one being an Weihrauch HW 80 in .177 caliber with a very nice wood stock, checkering in the grip area, raised cheek piece, rubber butt pad, globe front site adjustable rear sight; safety activated on cocking, Rekord Match trigger etc. much the same as the HW 35 I have previously covered a review on.  I was quite surprised to see this unit at a Gun Show!!

I spoke with the gentleman at the table for a good while, he was an avid Air Gun aficionado, I asked if he would consider selling the HW 80, he said he might but not at the moment, still wanted to spend a little more time with it. He said the size of the rifle was a bit concerning for him, but he wanted to try it for a little while longer. We exchanged phone numbers, and I continued my trip around the show.

My youngest son who was in the US Army and stationed overseas at the time, called afterwards and I told him about the HW 80 I came across, and said I might have a chance at purchasing it, and he immediately said, if I heard from him he would like to purchase it and of course I said ok, I had already consigned him the HW 35, so it would be a perfect addition!! As I recall it was about two months later that I received a call from the gentleman at the Show and he said he had found the HW 80 a bit too large for comfort; a deal was immediately struck and a week and a half later the HW 80 was delivered to my shop.

The HW 80 is a big Air Rifle, 45 inches long, 8.75 lbs. (10 .0 lbs. with scope) cocking effort 40 lbs. The internal compression tube is about 7/8” longer than the HW 35, providing a larger swept volume than the HW 35 contributing to the higher velocities in the HW 80 Rifles. The HW 80 also had a one-piece cocking lever as opposed to the articulated two-piece unit in the HW35, providing a stronger and a bit smoother cocking motion. This HW 80 serial number indicated a 1981-1982 production!

 I put around 75 shots thru the rifle using Crosman .177 pellets as an initial check for function and preliminary sight in. I then checked and Blue loctited all stock screws and tightened, set trigger at 2.75 lbs installed a Bushnell Scopechief 4x12x32 AO Scope with a one-piece mount and Beeman muzzle cover for the front sight, then set up Chronograph and began velocity testing again using the Crosman .177 pellets. Ten shots gave a high of 904 fps and a low of 883 fps for an average of 894 fps 14.0 ft. lbs. I believe this to be the normal velocity range for the .177 HW80, I have of course seen velocities quoted as high as 1000 FPS+ on the more well known R1 Beeman rifles, but close inspection of these figures usually reveals light pellets i.e. 6.5 grain. Beeman Laser .177 or lighter pellets, as an example, were utilized, other than bragging rights, velocity wise; these light-weight pellets offer little or no practical use! My opinion of course; others may disagree.

While there are subtle differences; stocks, nomenclature, barrel lengths, Carbine etc. between the Beeman R1 and HW 80 Rifles, they both however shared the same power plant!! Well enough of that, let’s have a look at the accuracy of the HW 80 .177 Caliber!! I had done some accuracy testing many moons ago and determined the best pellet, but decided to do a fresh update; I used the following 5 pellets:

Beeman FTS, RWS Match, Predator Polymag, JSB Exacts and Crosman PMHP, shot from benchrest @ 25 YDS.- 5 shots per target, scope set @ 7x, groups were as follows:

RWS Match -- .940” Center to center.
Crosman PMHP --.680” Center to center.
JSB Exacts --.760” Center to center.
Beeman FTS --.420” Center to center.
Predator Polymag --.565” Center to center.

Well, the two winners were the Beeman FTS and the Predator Polymags; I was not surprised that the Beeman FTS came out on top; 5 shot .420 Center to center @ 25 yards as this was the same pellet that was determined to be the best in previous testing which at the time delivered 5 shot .395” Center to center performance!! The Predator Polymags were a new test and delivered .565” Center to center groups; I have found that the Predator Polymag pellets have delivered stellar performance in most of my .177 caliber air rifles; this is the pellet I would use for hunting with the HW80. I did something I don’t normally do I decided to take an average of all the 5 groups just out of curiosity; this came out to 673” Center to center average over all for the five groups! This doesn’t mean a lot, except that the HW 80 will shoot a wide range of pellets very well, at least that’s my interpretation!! Others of course may disagree!

The HW 80 Rifle in .177 caliber is capable of, .395”-.420” 5 shot groups with the Beeman FTS pellets with 850- 900 FPS and 13-14 ft. lbs. this is really stellar performance from a 38/39-year-old spring piston Air Rifle and speaks volumes on the craftsmanship of the HW 80 Air Rifles, in my opinion! I have rebuilt this rifle internally once in the intervening years.

As a matter of note, I have never had one minute of problems with the Bushnell Scopechief 4x12x32 AO scope or the one-piece mount!

This is one of the finest Air Rifles in our collection and can hold its own with most if not all non-Magnum Spring break/barrel air rifles of today, in my view; course others may disagree!!

Garey

[Frank in Fairfield]

Mine is the R1, made in West Germany.
Your HW80 was made in Germany in or after 1989 when the wall came down and east/west Germany were no more.
(You can check the Weihrauch website for actual production year.)
(Note: HW80 rifles were not imported to the USA as long as Dr. Beeman owned his company. When he sold out to S/R Industries, that changed.)
The original.
Very rare.
It has only two anti-drift holes on the breech.
Bought from the good doctor himself in 1984:
I raised two combat veterans with this rifle.
It shoots everything very well.
When it had shot 275,000 pellets (around 2011) I had the rifle rebuilt with original spares also bought in 1984.
Now it is well over 300,000 rounds:

[mindsweeper333]

Frank in Fairfield;

Thanks for looking in and your comments,

Regards ,
Garey

[Mark 611]

That's a nice-looking rifle, I like the older rifles, 

[north country gal]

Very nice write up. Thank-you. That's too big and heavy a HW for this old granny, now, but nice info to know.

By the way, those old Bushnell Sportviews were considered pretty good air rifle scopes in their day. I still have one on a vintage Benjamin pump.

[mindsweeper333]

Mark 611

Mark;

Thanks for looking in and your comments.

Regards;
Garey

[mindsweeper333]

North Country Gal;

Thanks for looking in , ladies are always welcome !!!!! Yep this Rifle rifle may be a little cumbersome for you, but I am sure you have found a suitable unit   for you to handle and shoot.
Thanks again for looking in and your comments !

Regards ,

Garey

[landymick]

Great to see the HW80 still getting the recognition it deserves.

The model pictured does appear to be the early MK1 and a UK version at that . It has the older HW80 stamping at a slight angle and the GB stamp with the standard 80 stock .

The piston on early 80’s has a longer cocking slot in it going towards the front which is helps identify its age .

[Extreme]

    Love the R1-HW80 I would like one in .22 someday but would prefer the older model.