Lots of people will chime in on caliber. Everyone has personal choices. This is just my opinion.In this particular power plant I prefer 177 (or 20 caliber) to 22 for target shooting and smaller pest. 22 has a loopier trajectory than I like. IMO 22 is fine for target shooting and hunting at known distances because you can use a mildot reticle for accurate hold overs. At unknown distances you'll need to have very good range estimation skills. 177 is flatter and is a little more forgiving of ranging errors. On the flip side a Hw98 in 22 will likely produce a little more energy than 177. Also 22 pellets typically have better ballistic coefficients and will deliver more energy at the target than the 177. This is not important when shooting paper targets. However it's more gratifying when shooting reactive targets and better for hunting. Bottom line is its a personal choice. Some people here love even lower power 22 caliber air rifles and others like me prefer flatter shooting rifles.
That s what i thought bit a quick look here Weihrauch HW98 Price$669.99I thought about the iron site thing, but, I like the heavier barrel(shrouded) the adjustable cheekpiece and buttplate. I have read that it is "tuned" to be smoother than a standard 95, cannot remember where I read that or know if it is true. I decided that the lack of irons is not an issue as I have a nice old FWB 124d with a good iron sight setup, a Williams rear with Gehmann adjustable iris apeature and a globe front(not stock) with interchangeable inserts. Caliber .22" (5.5mm)Max Velocity 820 fpsStock BeechGrip AmbiColor BrownBut hw home page does claim the 738fps in .22So your correct.Looks like P.A is kinda streaching it a tad.My bad for not looked straight in the horses mouth...I guess for that fos the plain jane 95 or r9 is still the value.. And no iron sight? Naaa cant be stranded to scope only. If a scope buster i still like to shoot it...
I already have an Airmax and a set of Sportsmatch rings on order. I hope they et here about the time the rifle does. I have an Airmax compact 6-24 on a Diana 54 right now in a set of Sportsmatch adjustable rings. I had to use those because for some reason there was not enough adjustment in the scope to zero. I am thinking of putting that combo on the HW98, and the lighter more basic Airmax on the Diana, I did go ahead and get the adjustable rings just in case. Those things are fantastic, you can literally zero a gun with just the rings, it may take a bit of work but it can be done.