Weihrauch HW100 KTS

It’s hard to believe that the ‘now’ hugely popular Weihrauch HW100K was the German gun manufacturing giants first production PCP, and as a design they got it right first time!

Now available in carbine and rifle variants, it offers several stock options; thumbhole carbine and rifle, laminate with height-adjustable cheekpiece and pad is available. Now the synthetic version on test.

The HW100KTS nomenclature indicates K for carbine, T for thumbhole with S for synthetic. This is an option I’ve felt/hoped might eventually be made available, however it’s not your average, run of the mill, non-organic clone, as it incorporates soft-touch, rubber insert panels for grip and comfort. These are positioned on the comb, and sides of the pistol grip and forend. They offer a secure surface, though the one on the pistol grip could do with being a bit more wraparound!

Field-friendly

This ambidextrous stock is coloured a sensible field-friendly olive green and has a medium to high generous cheekpiece with slight hogs back design, while the now familiar elongated thumbhole sits behind a steep drop-down pistol grip. It also boasts a height-adjustable, sliding rubber butt pad for personal shoulder fit. The relatively slim slab-sided forend has a well-rounded underside and retains the same contour for much of its length. This ends in a ‘scoop’ forward curved tip that almost covers the whole of the lower section of air reservoir. A superb design and one that gives the ‘air tank’ a high-level of protection from knocks and scrapes.

Finger channels run either side of the stock from the upper part of the rear of the grip to trigger guard, so your trigger finger has an unhindered passage and its pad is almost directed so that you can easily attain a full and proper angle of contact with the blade. The overall stock design has been slightly modified – specifically this is seen where certain areas have a different contour from the wooden furniture variants.

 

Hey good looking

These flats are most noticeable just below the rear of the action block and forward of the trigger guard on the lower part of the forend and first few inches on the underside. This flat, slab-sided appearance of the forend can be seen to run all the way to the rear of the rifle. The black gripping inserts gives a stylish look and ergonomic feel, so in use is a joy to handle and being a lightweight makes it effortless to hold on aim when sensibly scoped up. The forend also has an upper recess to allow the substantial barrel band to be installed and due to its design, the tube is still semi-free-floating in nature. Yet both barrel and reservoir have a greater level of in-line strength and security due to this configuration.

Obviously, the superb finish of the metalwork and operation of the side-lever action is as per other ‘100’ options. The air reservoir with large forward-facing pressure gauge is still detachable, so it can be filled on or off the rifle, but for the former a quick fill probe (supplied) ‘plugs’ into the fill point at the front of the reservoir. This is closed off as always by the signature, pull-out polymer plug. From a recommended 200-bar fill, you can expect approximately 50-shots in .177 and 75 in .22 calibre, as per rifle on test.

 

Sweet side-lever

The side-lever action that runs the 14-shot magazine is still in my opinion the best of its kind fitted to any production multi-shot PCP! It’s impressively engineered and as expected works faultlessly. To recap on operation, for cocking and loading the action is opened and left to the rear. Next, slide back the magazine retaining catch found on the right of the action block, just behind the housing. The metal magazine can now be lifted clear from the right of the action block. After thumbing a pellet into all the empty chambers, you simply place it back, slide the retaining catch forward and close the action. Now a pellet has been probed directly into the top quality 12.2” tube, plus everything is airtight and secure, ready for the first shot.

It’s well worth noting just how low the magazine sits in the action, so as not to interrupt (protrude above) the scope rails. Also, it’s still one of only a few multi-shot PCPs that can’t be double-loaded! Meaning if you’ve fully cycled the action and a pellet has been probed into the breech, a repeat action of the cocking lever doesn’t index the magazine around again until you have fired. A nice touch compared to some other multi-shot designs!

 

Top notch design

I’m not wanting to sound like an advertisement for German engineering, but certain factors need to be given credence! Be they as simple as the cocking lever having a slight outward curve on the inner front side so picking up for operation is a doddle. Or the clever and precise features found on the forward inner face of the magazine well. The latter are impressive, as although the magazine is held in place by the retaining catch, it’s also tensioned by a sprung ball bearing that works on its forward face. Plus, the machined lugs that ensure all operates precisely and faultlessly each time you cycle the action. The semi-free-floating tube is also held and secured at the front by a chunky barrel band. This has a synthetic O-ring that protects the barrel from knocks, adds extra strength but doesn’t affect the semi-floating nature therefore accuracy is kept to the highest possible level.

Like the cocking mechanism, the rifle’s 2-stage, adjustable, match-grade trigger mechanism with manual safety is a superb unit. The black anodised alloy blade is ideally sized and ergonomically curved affording a very comfortable finger fit. The manual, safety lever operates positively and is positioned on the right and at the rear of the action block. Push forward to FIRE which is indicated by a red dot clearly visible on the side of the block. Reversing it puts it back to SAFE where you can clearly see a white dot on the action. Incidentally, the safety can only be operated and indeed only functions when the rifle is cocked.

 

Testing, testing

For test, I fitted an MTC 3 – 12 x 44IR Mamba-lite scope, a low-profile design, which proves though the cheekpiece is a medium to high, generously proportioned one, it caters for using optics of all sizes. Then again, the sliding butt pad also enables the shooter to gain full eye-scope alignment! I set a 30yd zero and from experience I wasn’t surprised to achieve ragged clover leaf groups at this range shooting rested. Push this out and this is a rifle even in this calibre can produce ½” groups in perfect weather conditions.

Also, the top quality, self-regulating valve system ensured a high-level of shot-to-shot consistency. The firing cycle is best described as ‘dead’ and as expected the effective and time-tested and proven ‘HE’ (High Efficiency) Silencer almost totally negated any muzzle report.

 

Fantastic plastic?

To sum up - I reckon Weihrauch have come up trumps and as the action is pure ‘100’ you’ll have no problems in that department. In other words, accuracy is impressive, the gun runs like a Swiss watch and the silencer is still one to beat or even be on a par with! Also, to the many hunters who may or may not already own a model of HW100K in their armoury, I’d say consider this stock option if you like your all-weather synthetics. It’s a long overdue option, as the rifle is one of the finest hunters currently available.

Considering the stock, which is basically all that’s different from other models, I was pleased to see the addition of the insets, slight contour changes and the height-adjustable butt pad. I even think the colour choice is a bonus, as green blends into most general country terrain than a ‘bog standard’ black synthetic.