Kinda Turkish

[NitroGary0]

I have recently purchased a Walther LGV. I know its technically not turkish but there are enough connections between Walther and Hatsan to be "akin" to our favourite manufacturing base

[NitroGary0]

OK guys, I have been to see my friends at Solware of Tamworth. Tye and Carl are a couiple of comedians at the best of times and always rib me about my passion for Turkish and Chinese guns, however they are also keen and good shooters. Tye is particularly turned on by this gun.Being the kinda guys that will tell you what they think about the guns they sell (and believe me I have heard some stuff) anyway I have got one of these. A Walther LGV Master

The Walther LGV range comes in three guises, there is this version The Master, There is the synthetic stocked one with "Tru Glo" fibre optic front sight. That probably sounds familiar Hmmm isnt that whats on a Hatsan? and the Walther LGV Competition Ultra Air Rifle – Field Target Version, this has a cheek riser. This si fitted with the same Tru Glo" Fibre optic sights but the front sight is mounted on a barrel weight.
I was impressed with the box, right away.

The packaging is first class, well it would want to be considering this has to be on of the more expensive break barrel air rifles you can buy

All the packaging certainly protects the gun
Here she is..... wow!!!!  what a pretty looking gun.

The front tunnel sight has changeable inserts, though the one in it out of the box is probably the one I would use.

A good length 11mm dovetail rail will manage any length of scope.

A very unctional micrometer type rear sight is adjustable for elevation and wind

A very neat safety lever is discreet and functional.

The trigger feels  really nice and solid, but with a super smooth feel.

The woodwork is absolutely first class and has that solid functional Teutonic feel, (anyone who owns a HW will know what I mean)

Checkering around the pistol grip is clean and sharp.

The threadind of the end of the barrel is a nice touch and the thread protector is well made. I am a little confused though, why?

Engineeringly its a very nice piece of kit, even if you nothing about aurguns you wiould probably guess this was made in Germany or at least of German design.

Everything is covered in a film of... something, but that will have to go.
all the relevent stuff is there

plus a few bits for trigger adjustment etc

The owners manual is thicker than the ones you get with a new Motorbike. I'm sure I'll get round to reading that at some point.
OK the important bits. The rifle is not a lightweight Break Barrel. It feels robust and functional. This rifle is not for playing with, it just doesnt feel like that. When you pick it up and shoulder the gun, all the apparent weight melts away. You are left with a almost neutral feeling rifle.
Too cock the rifle, the locking wedge needs to be released. You just gently press it up towards the barrel and the wedge releases, the pull on the barrel is firm, but unbelievable smmoth, almost like pulling a stick through treacle. The full cock seems to be further than you think, but a good solid "cock" is felt. A nice clean, well engineered breach, takes the pellet easily, no protruding pellet, no need to seat the pellet... and the return is a lot free'r than the cocking stroke but not a "free" return, this will probably losen with use. Not having touched the trigger for adjustment yet, but after sliding the safety off a gentle but firm sqeeze and the pellet has gone. I wont say there is "no" recoil, but what there is, is as close to a PCP as I have ever found. I would say about the same as my Gunpower Stealth.
For a rifle costing £450 you would want an unbelievably, bloody good rifle, that is exactly what you get, unbelievable. You know you dont have to pre charge it but you cant help thinking you have picked up a pcp by mistake.
Next step is to fit the scope, but in fairness I might just use this with open sights.
I'll keep you informed as to how it goes.
Gary

These are the Models
This is the Walther LGV Competition Ultra Air Rifle – Field Target Version this retails around the £470-£495 mark

Then there is my one. The Walther LGV Master. As I say this one is around the £450 mark

Then the last one is the synthetic stock one. The Walther LGV Challenger

[supertech77]

that threaded barrel,looks like it will take the muzzle break off my hatsan model 25 supercharged 22 cal pistol.it too has the threaded barrel.looks like a sweet rifle you got there,hows the power?

[Powder burner]

kinda looks like a Hatsan and a Weihrauch got together and made a baby. 

[Johnny Z]

Looks great, Please post some accuracy numbers when you have a chance.  Are you going to tear it down and tune it right away or wait a bit?

Cheers,
John

[Bullit]

The threaded adapter is a cover only.  It was used on the carbine models.  They were using the same barrel at the time.  I inquired about it too.  450.00 better get us some pretty tasty pictures of it in action!      Mike

[NitroGary0]

Well so far "I" have resisted stripping it down. I did have to return it initially as it was over the prescribed UK limit of 12fpe. It is now nicely down to a managable 11.4fpe, (please bear in mind that any air rifle found in your possession that has a muzzle velocity of over 12fpe WILL result in a custodial sentence) However I understand that these guns in their "full power" state are around the 20fpe mark. Accuracy is extremely good, due to the low recoil, and 55 yards targets are easy(ish) certainly better than I am. I have only done groups at 35 yards and am happy with 0.75" 5 shot groups. I did a test at 10 yards and had one ragged hole. Having said that I would expect that from a gun costing this much.
I dont get the threaded end of the barrel, why develop and advertise the Walther as the "Sound of Silence" and then provide a mount for an additional silencer? It really is quiet so I wont be extending the length of the rifle.

[SpringerMan]

Well so far "I" have resisted stripping it down. I did have to return it initially as it was over the prescribed UK limit of 12fpe. It is now nicely down to a manageable 11.4fpe, (please bear in mind that any air rifle found in your possession that has a muzzle velocity of over 12fpe WILL result in a custodial sentence)

I have never understood how the UK's laws have come to be so restrictive. Can you provide any info on this ?

Shades of the USA's future ?

[NitroGary0]

I think its because our seat of government are so blinkered and naive that they believe that any guns are only owned by homocidal maniacs that only look for an opportunity to go on the rampage gunning down women and children any chance they get.
Seriously though, once upon a time, in a galaxy far fa..... sorry wrong intro. Once all pcp's and Co2's were governed by the firearms act and only spring powered air guns were allowed, but they had no upper power limits. Then we had the Dunblane and Hungerford incidents and all hand guns were outlawed. The trade off was that rim and centre fire rifles were the only alternative for powder shooters. However that would mean that only Firearms license holders could buy them. But that also included pcp's and Co2. So a compromise was found and hence the 12fpe limit.
In fairness the 12fpe aint so bad as 800fps .177 600fps .22 and 530fps .25 gives us decent range and lets face it we aint got that much space to shoot anyway.
165 feet is a fair distance to shoot over and still rquires as much skill as shooting 1000 yards with a Lee Enfield.
One other thing to consider is the flight of the pellet, once you start propelling a pellet at near the speed of sound they get inherantly unstable and therefore in accurate.
Whilst I am not an advocate of limits in anything, I dont think we are as bad off as some, like the Germans, French and Canadians.