Weihrauch HW110 Soft Touch

Although the hot news from Weihrauch is the nifty little uber, Karbine-sized HW110K, I thought it would be beneficial to revisit the original standard-length rifle that started it all. I mention this because I was fortunate enough to test a pre-launch model of this first incarnation, just prior to it hitting the gunracks.

Established

Today, it’s become an established hunter PCP in its own right and, as the rifle has now been slightly modified, here are my views since our first meeting. Incidentally, I remember mentioning at the time, as I was so impressed with the gun, that I intended to return to it once I’d used it in as many different hunting scenarios as I could. Well, now I have, so consider this a concluding article on what is Weihrauch’s second only multi-shot, pre-charged pneumatic in their history. The first being the equally, if not more popular HW100 and 101 series.

Despite appearances, the ambidextrous stock is made out of beech and treated to a rubberised over mould. This ‘compound’ makes the rifle feel very sticky and grippy in the hold and certainly deserves its official and descriptive Soft Touch designation. It features a welldefined, high cheekpiece with a full rubber butt pad. The steep, drop-down pistol grip has a slim neck and thumb shelf, while the trim, yet nicely proportioned forend tapers gently upwards to end in a practical, yet stark rounded edged angular tip. Although certainly not needed, but always nice to have, are the twin panels of impregnated multi-directional chequering seen along both sides of the forend and grip.

Modern

The large, colour-enhanced numerical air gauge (manometer) is very easy to read and sits at the front of the air reservoir. Just behind this is the rifle fill point, which when not in use, is protected by a solid and well-sized friction fit plug. Using the supplied fill probe, from a recommended charge of 200bar the rifle gives approximately 110-shots in .177 calibre and approximately 130 in .22 as per rifle on test.

The term modern is one that the HW110 deserves in bucket loads, due in part to its overall styling, but more so because the action, chassis, upper Weaver style scope rail (seen running uninterrupted along the top of the action) and barrel band are manufactured from a hi-tech ballistic polymer. Although this is new to the airgun scene, it’s a material that’s widely used in the manufacture of firearms. In other words, it’s strong, tough and more than capable of coping with the knocks, scrapes and operational stresses that an air rifle is subjected to in the field.

Sweet side-lever

The side-lever is similar in design to the HW100’s, but this time runs a large, rotary, 10-shot removable magazine. That might be four less from the flagship HW100 rifle, but I’m sure that many will agree that 10’s enough to have once you’ve just filled up with lead. The magazine (as per the HW100) doesn’t protrude above the action but sits snugly in its well-machined housing. A noteworthy build characteristic is that the action block not only sits quite high from the paired down and contoured sides of the stock, but the magazine retaining catch and safety lever have now been given a black anodised finish, as opposed to the shiny nickel finish seen on rifles from the first full production run.

The magazine retaining lever is set at the rear right of the action, while the safety catch is positioned in front of the magazine well and is ambidextrous, which is really useful, as some shooters prefer either right or left sides for operation and Weihrauch offers the solution. However, it’s a great pity that they did not do the same with the mag catch, as that would have been the icing on the cake!

In and out

As expected, the side-lever flicks effortlessly to the rear position on demand (pulling back), then to remove the magazine you need to lift the front of the retaining catch upwards. However, as it’s under spring tension, you need to manually keep it in this position, or it will return thus preventing it from being removed. I still found it best to use the back, or outer side, of the thumb of my right hand to hold it up and use the thumb of my left to push the magazine out of its housing until it protrudes far enough out of the action block to be fully removed.

After filling all 10-chambers, you need to again lift the retaining catch, then slip it back into the right-hand side of the action, release the catch and a slight ‘wiggle’ of the wheel will see it flick downwards indicating that it’s taken hold. Finally, returning the side-lever to its original position probes a pellet out of the magazine and directly into the breech. At this point, it’s wise to engage the safety lever by pushing one of them to the forward position, pulling either lever to the rearward position puts the rifle into FIRE mode; a red dot can then be clearly seen on the action block, to visually indicate status.

Absolute zero

I scoped up with a low-slung, MTC 3-12 X 44 Mamba-lite in a set of suitable, twopiece Sportsmatch mounts and the optic soon showed that it suited the rifle down to the ground. With a 25 yard zero, I soon began making ragged, pellet-sized groups that even when taking shots right out to 45 yards only slightly widened into sub-¾” clusters. The 2-stage, adjustable, matchgrade trigger is a precise unit that trips the sears crisply and cleanly. Accuracy is certainly aided by the predictability of the unit and the top-quality, self-regulating valve system ensures 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 Silencer reduces muzzle report to absolute zero!

Considering the Weihrauch HW110 is lightweight, comes ready fitted with the company’s HE silencer, is accurate as any PCP on the market, handles and balances amazingly well, then and unsurprisingly you have a recipe for success! Add to this the modern styling, hi-tech and polymer action results in a user-friendly, practical, all-weather and tough hunter PCP that can and always will go the distance.