I am a bit of a shooters, shooter so to speak. IF it has a trigger and expels a projectile I probably enjoy it. Well except for the friggin Beretta Tomcat I would have more luck throwing that at a target to hit it vs. shooting but I digress.

Like I said I like to shoot damn near anything. I mean its not out of the realm of possibility that I would have a blast with a Nerf gun. But from airguns to machine guns, single shot to belt fed, I have been blessed to shoot darn near everything once or twice.

I tend to go through stages. I will get hooked on my handguns for a while, I will get hooked on revolvers for a while, I will go back to my tactical Tupperware for a bit then I will spend a few months with the various rifles, maybe a few trips with the milsurps etc. etc. etc. Right now I have been playing with my air pistols.

Today I thought I would give you my thoughts on my Weihrauch HW75 single stroke pneumatic pistol. It is a .177 caliber single shot air pistol. It is not a 10m pistol by any stretch but is very accurate and a pleasure to shoot.

As always any thoughts are my own and for this particular pistol. Just because I like or dislike a certain aspect doesn't necessarily mean it straight up sucks or will be a con for somebody else. Unless its a mechanical or safety issue chances are its all about personal preference.

Rates are out of 5 so lets rack another one into the chamber shall we.

Here is our subject in question. The HW75


VALUE - 2
So I gave my HW45 a 1 but I am giving the 75 a 2 in this category. Why you ask? Senility, lack of attention to detail maybe, maybe he just doesn't give a damn? All very possible answers but wrong.

The reason I give this particular $400 "BB Gun" a 2 is because of its single stroke pneumatic nature, wonderful trigger and incredible accuracy I think it has a bit more value. The intrinsic accuracy it achieves in GOOD shooters hands is incredible and its fit and finish is a hair better then the HW45 most likely due to less moving parts. So dammit I stand by my 2 and if you disagree take it up with my management.

TRIGGER - 5+
What can I say high quality airguns have phenomenal triggers. You think that VQ/KIDD trigger you have in your Mark II is good? Well it is, but the triggers in these HW pistols are easily in that league or better. They are adjustable and the break will surprise you. So very good trigger.

ERGOS - 5
So in another review somebody mentioned the HW45 looking a bit HI POINTish. Well you know what I have to say to them!!! You sir....are mostly kinda right. The fact that these guns contain all of their "actions" in the upper portion makes them appear a bit ungainly. But I am not talking about looks here but ergonomics.

The HW75 doesn't disappoint. Ambidextrous safeties(which on this gun I feel are kind of redundant, but I will discuss that later), wonderful grip and basically a pleasure to hold and shoot. If the ergos are let down by anything it is the fact the grip cannot easily be replaced. The grip frame is abbreviated unlike the HW45 which has a full grip frame that will take any 1911 grips.

COCKING STROKE - 4
Do I need to let the class snicker again for a bit. I probably should because my inner child always needs a minute as he is blurting out "HE SAID COCKING STROKE!!!"

The HW75 being a single stroke pneumatic is the complete opposite of the HW45 as far as charging the gun. The HW45 has all of its tension on the upswing of the stroke as it is compressing a spring. The HW75, conversely, is simply sucking in air on the upswing. The down swing portion is where you feel the tension as it is compressing that air. All in all fairly easy to cock, push little button, swing upper upwards, load pellet, push back down and lock into place.

The biggest quirk I have found is if you are not careful you can occasionally get your shirt caught in the "action" when doing this. Take it from me YOU DON"T want to go to work with a pistol hanging off your shirt. No sense of humor I tell you. Some really nice guys on the SWAT team though.

RELIABILITY - 4
Like most Weihrauch products these tend to rock solid and made to last. They are also simple machines. Really where they loose a point here is they are more reliant on the seals being in great shape. Honestly you don't hear about these breaking.

RECOIL - 5+
Here is the YUGE difference between the HW45 vs. the HW75. The HW45 is basically like firing a small medieval siege device in your hand, being it is a spring piston gun. The HW75, being single stroke pneumatic is just a tiny little fart of air, no moving parts. So basically 99% of the recoil comes from my coffee intake. If anything as far as recoil goes can be said is it tends to exhibit just a hint of muzzle rise, which I as a shooter, tend to exacerbate with my grip sometimes. All in all this thing is an absolute please to shoot.

ACCURACY- 5
Keep in mine when I give this a 5 I am thinking about guns roughly in its class. A $2000.00 pre charged pneumatic 10m gun is a whole paradigm shift in accuracy so I am not rating this with those in mind. They would be more like a 62 in this category. Well not with me shooting them but you get the point.

Honestly if I rest the gun it will stack pellets at 10m on top of each other. Just plinking off hand it is easy to just cut a hole and then keep them going through that hole all day.

Please keep in mind that accuracy with ANY gun is almost always 98% nut behind the trigger and 2% tool. You could give me the afore mentioned $2000 10m pistol and you know what........I'd shoot it about as well as I shoot this, maybe a hair better since some of them have telepathic triggers but I digress. At any rate the pictures I show are generally of me just offhand shooting for fun, not stressing out over eeeking out that .182 inch group of 10.

As I have said before in other reviews, like firearms, ammunition choice makes a huge difference here as well. Since the HW75 is a fairly low powered 400fps ish gun lighter or match ammo works better. I have found that for the money I really like RWS Meisterkugeln pellets in this gun.

SAFETY - 5/2
The reason for the split score is I just wanted to throw a fraction in there to screw with people. Ok, not really. The real reason is this. The 5 is for the inherent safety of this gun, the 2 is because I feel there is a redundancy at play that bugs me.

The HW75 has a regular ambi thumb safety, yet in order to fire the HW75 you must cock the hammer back. So in effect you have two safeties at play the buttons and the hammer. Now I hear all you cocked and locked guys out there mumbling.....I don't see the problem its meant to be carried cocked and locked then like God and John Browning intended. I am just going to say I am pretty sure God and or John Browning didn't intend it for an AIR PISTOL!!! hence I feel its a bit redundant and I could do without the thumb safeties.

I feel the need to awaus point out here that airguns are NOT TOYS. They should be handled exactly like firearms for all intents and purpose, with the same rules applying. Obviously you can use much simpler backstops and can shoot them where you generally cannot shoot a firearm safely but at the end of the day TREAT THEM WITH THE SAME RESPECT YOU DO A FIREARM The eye you don't shoot out might be your own.


SIGHTS - 4
Good solid, steel, adjustable sights. Not high vis or fiber optic on this one. I put a dab of bright green Testors model paint on the front sight of mine.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I love all my airguns but none of them are cheap. Most cost as much or more then nice firearms, but if you have never handled an airgun beyond what you find at the local large mart then you may want to do yourself a favor one day and give a good one a shot.

The HW75 is a pure joy to shoot. No recoil, very very little noise, feels great in the hand, is as accurate as the day is long, looks a bit funky but with the target grips has a nice look to my eye. Its just a great gun to shoot that's made well and has fantastic trigger. I could do with an either or safety method as I said above but I am just quibbling really.

Is $400 bucks too much for a air pistol? You know not to me. There is heritage, build quality, attention to detail, accuracy, pride of ownership and joy of shooting something not everybody does. Frankly I look at my Ruger 22/45 as a hunk of disposable plastic more or less. I mean its fun, shoots ok and can rattle off shots all day long but it doesn't exactly light the soul afire if you know what I mean. My HW75 does, just going through the motions of charging, loading, sighting and firing each time is a pleasure and slows down the world a bit, and frankly anything that slows down my modern world a little bit gets two big thumbs up from me.


As always take care and shoot safe.
Chris

Nice review

Yes, a nice review. I've shot one, but I wouldn't buy one because of these other two choices I like better.

At roughly half the price, the Beeman P3 looks more like a modern poly pistol, without the ungainly top-end. Single side safety, cocks upon closing, and has an equally delicious trigger. At that same price point, the FAS6004 is also less ungainly, looks more like a 10m gun, and has NO safety to bother with.

I have both. The P3 feels a lot like a walther p99 and basically shoots like the HW75.

I LOVE my FAS 6004. It is really and old school 10m pistol. The 6004 is in a bit of a class above at least as far as raw accuracy potential. Build quality also feels top notch but I worry a little because of the chiappa influence. All in all though the FAS is probably my favorite of my air pistols.

The reviw is good, I was checking the HW 75 but chose the FAS 6004 because I could not find a purpose for the Weihrauch except for plinking. It would be a better pistol if thy would get away from the 1911 grip and offer a similar grip modularity and a wider adjustabiliy range for the trigger, like Chiappa does. It would make it an entry pistol for 10m ISSF that could be used in sanctioned AP matches.

The Chiappa FAS 6004 is better then some strong internet voices suggest. People get to hung up over Domino vs Chiappa provenances and unimportant details, like we do over German vs W.German make, without even knowing about the technical details of the guns they never owned nor shot.

Should I get my Walther LP2 overhauled (Again!) or just buy something more modern?
The FAS looks good and is not terribly expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
Should I get my Walther LP2 overhauled (Again!) or just buy something more modern?
The FAS looks good and is not terribly expensive.

Thr LP2 became an anachronism, nowadays expensive to maintain due to the lack of seals and its trigger makes it difficult to shoot compared to to a FAS.
The FAS is IMO the best of the entry type AP because of it´'s weight and the use of industrial standard size seals. There IZH-46 is another popular, entry type AP, but way too heavy, without the trigger ajustability range of the FAS and difficult and expensive to purchase seals.
Either way if you can choos bewtween grips, get the Euro type match grip. It makes the pistol much easier to shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
Should I get my Walther LP2 overhauled (Again!) or just buy something more modern?
The FAS looks good and is not terribly expensive.

Thr LP2 became an anachronism, nowadays expensive to maintain due to the lack of seals and its trigger makes it difficult to shoot compared to to a FAS.
The FAS is IMO the best of the entry type AP because of it´'s weight and the use of industrial standard size seals. There IZH-46 is another popular, entry type AP, but way too heavy, without the trigger ajustability range of the FAS and difficult and expensive to purchase seals.
Either way if you can choose between grip styles, get the Euro type match grip. It makes the pistol much easier to shoot.

Thank you.

I had had my LP2 overhauled, which meant it had to go from the US to Canada for the only shop in North America. US Postal Service and Canadian Customs requirements made that a challenge.
It shot normally for a while but when recovered after the house fire, even though it has no visible damage, it doesn't have any compression, either.

I will look for space to shoot in the new house and consider the FAS.
Interesting about "industrial standard size seals." Are the sizes published somewhere?

Yes. The info is in the parts list of the manual. It can be found on the internet. I am getting my seals online, from an industrial supplier specialized in seals.