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Weirauch HW97kt ‘black line’ sporter

Weirauch HW97kt ‘black line’ sporter

The first incarnation of the Weihrauch HW97KT was launched in a very stylish and practical thumbhole beech wood stock. Such was its popularity, the company now offer two synthetic stock variants – one having an all-black action, while the other features a stainless steel finish on the barrel and underlever. On test is the former all black version or as it’s often now referred to the Black Line model.

Now established as a stock material due to the benefits it offers, particularly if you’re a hunter who ventures out in all weathers, then the Black Line is a very tempting option.

Like its wood stock counterpart, the Black Line is fully ambidextrous and features a semi-hogs-back design for the relatively high, thickset cheekpiece. However, it differs from its relative by forgoing the organic’s fully adjustable buttpad in favour of a full-black rubber pad with outer ridging.

The large, elongated thumbhole and steep, drop down pistol grip are undoubtedly taken from the stock design the company use on their superb multi-shot HW100KT (carbine) PCP range. This thumbhole/grip configuration, coupled with the well-defined finger ‘channels’ that run directly above the metal trigger guard, offer a rock steady hold and give a high level of trigger control for both righthanded users or southpaws.

The pistol grip has ‘moulded’ opposing stippled panels, while the relatively slim, yet lengthy forend has two panels of stippling along either side – these being configured as a small panel, set forward from a much longer and larger one. As a matter of interest, this is a reversal of the layout on the beech stock version. This change, though minor, affords an assured leading handhold anywhere along its length.

Overall the quality of the eye-catching stock material is obviously very high, strong and in use proves to be equally as practical.

Lower Leverage

The under-lever sits neatly below the barrel, held very securely in the closed position by a large sprung stainless steel ball bearing end-catch in the under-lever retaining housing, that’s found directly below the muzzle. The design is such that cocking the rifle is a very easy affair, as once you depress the under-lever’s generously sized release button with the thumb of your leading hand it’s already ideally placed to grip the ‘lever’ between the fingers and palm of the same hand to draw it back. Lock back in the ‘open’ position is secure, as any in the HW97 family of air rifles and the automatic cross-bolt trigger safety ‘snicks’ out to the left, clearly showing the rifle’s status.

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Weihrauch also incorporate an anti-bear trap mechanism, but as always, good shooting practice should be adhered to; which means always keeping hold of any under-lever action cocking mechanism while loading. During the cocking operation, the sliding breech ‘slides back’ to reveal a wide and roomy loading bay, making direct pellet loading into the 11.75 inch quality, German-manufactured ‘fixed’ tube, even in .177 calibre (as per rifle on test) an easy task. On returning the lever to its original position, the sliding breech simultaneously moves forward to seat the pellet and seal the breech. The articulated arm that links the under-lever to the spring/piston power plant has a surprisingly short cocking stroke, but such is the design, operating this cocking mechanism isn’t overly strenuous.

Also, a well-sized rubber o-ring, seen around the front of the under-lever, ensures it doesn’t ‘move’ around when returned to the original position, held by the sprung ball bearing mechanism in the retaining catch ‘housing.’

Short Comings

Forgoing the adjustable buttpad means the synthetic is now the shortest variant measuring 39.75 inches from butt to muzzle. The top of the compression chamber is amply grooved with three stud arrestor holes for secure scope mounting. For test I used an MTC Mamba Lite 3-12x44 scope with (SBC) reticle, the optic’s specifications being well-suited for hunting and HFT. The scope needed setting in high mounts, as the cheekpiece almost demands it for optimum eye to scope alignment.

The highly acclaimed Rekord 2-stage, adjustable trigger unit with auto safety is a mainstay on virtually all of the company’s mechanical action rifles and the trigger blade and adjustment screw being gold anodised certainly give it a touch of class.

The Black Line is slightly lighter than the original wood stock variant – I mention this as the downside of a lighter stock on a springer with a relatively heavy mechanical action can often be that it can tend to be front-heavy. Thankfully this isn’t the case here and as recoil is felt as only a controllable nudge on firing, ‘muzzle flip’ isn’t a problem either.

The upgraded, efficient ‘primary’ integral silencer tames muzzle report to a highly acceptable level and personally I’d not hesitate using this without the optional extra silencer for hunting. If you want more sound suppression, the muzzle has a very slim, screw-in end cover cap. This is removed by a 7mm Allen key to reveal the internal thread that accepts the dedicated HW97KT silencer. When fitted, it adds an extra 7 5/8 inches to the overall length, but to its credit, it reduces muzzle report further and it doesn’t affect handling. Accuracy is also amongst the best you’ll find of any production springer in this price bracket. Using the MTC Optics recommended 35 yard set zero for the (SBC) reticle in .177 calibre my best groupings created a ½ inch ragged hole using quality ammo shooting from a rested position.

Conclusion

In my opinion the HW97KT Black Line is up there with the best production fixed barrel mechanical action rifles on the market. The stock design certainly helps give better shot control, handling and the all-weather stock I reckon is an option airgun hunters will certainly appreciate. As touched upon at the start of this test, if production class springer HFT is primarily your ‘thing’ and you want a bit of ‘bling’, the Stainless Steel designated rifle version is perfect. This entails the cylinder, barrel and under-lever having a Nickel-plated finish, while the ‘integrated’ primary can and under-lever housing are blued, making that option quite a cosmetically contrasted customer. I feel Weihrauch have made a long overdue, yet wise move, offering a synthetic stock option to one of their flagship springer air rifles and I’d wager that there’ll eventually be more models in the ‘HW’ range available in synthetic stocks.


PRICE: SRP £385 in blued action (as tested); £416 with Stainless action Optional: Dedicated Weihrauch Silencer £60
CONTACT: Hull Cartridge Co 01482 342 571, www.hullcartridge.co.uk

 

  • Weirauch HW97kt ‘black line’ sporter - image {image:count}

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  • Weirauch HW97kt ‘black line’ sporter - image {image:count}

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  • Weirauch HW97kt ‘black line’ sporter - image {image:count}

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  • Weirauch HW97kt ‘black line’ sporter - image {image:count}

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gun
features

  • Model: Weihrauch HW97KT ‘Black Line’ Synthetic
  • Type: Under-lever, spring & piston, single-shot
  • Calibre: .177 and.22 available, (.20 and .25 to special order – cost £60 extra)
  • Stock: Synthetic thumbhole sporter
  • Sights: N
  • Barrel: 11.75 inches
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