The HW99-HW85-HW95 & The HW98 ?

I must have told this old blokes tale a half dozen times at least in here.
Reason i bought my 2002 .22 HW57 was down to this.
Probably early 90s my mate sold me a car in the boot i found a small pop up breach GAMO U/L rifle in .177 a CF15 a sort of junior type gun, i rang my mate he said keep it its yours or bang a grinding disk through it , his teen son was being a pratt with it and he had stuck it in the boot to hide it from him..
Well GAMO or nay that thing shot very well it was about 5 or 6ftlbs at a guess never cronoed it .
Not sure who i gave it too think another mates son but....
Anyway Read a few threads on here and every single thread doom gloom disaster barn doors are safe HW do make a bad rifle and the HW57 is the manifestation of that very thing.
This Negative talk always quoted the pop up breach the early ones were plastic made from melted down food packaging HW were ripping folk off Buy a TX200 you know they are the ultimate routine.
So knowing the little GAMO with its pop up breach worked fine, i just had to find a HW57 i mean just how bad can they be, and if they are bad that kind of failure has wriggle room for amusement anyway so i started looking.
Gunstar gun trader all seemed a bit pricey for a failed HW freak to me, then out the blue buying cartridges i saw one looked tidy had a Hawke airmax on it had to be worth £100 maybe more a one piece 4 bolt sportsmach mount another £10- £12, and only £200, i bought it.
It was working but think it had been smothered in WD40 which had done that WD40 party trick of seizing anything what had tight clearance solid.
Stripped cleaned it and it was working perfect .
It had and still has a horrible shot cycle it was and still is a raggy hole at 25M on FTTs and it loves RWS superfield 15.92s and even shoots some cheap pellets very well indeed .
I Loved the Trigger so much i stripped polished and adjusted all my rekords to how that 57s one is set.
i think its near perfect for what i do walk about hunter pester.
I know its a brute to shoot but i get on fine with it its 11.3ftlbs 4fps max deviation and its accurate . others have tried these HW57s they have safe barn doors and move them on .
Me ill keep this thing until i croak my last. Love the little thing.
Sorry if you read this afore . In advance Just sayin Go the HW57 the HW The haters love to hate.
 
Having owned every HW springer and rammer bar an 85 , my well set up 98 is the best I’ve owned and is now my only quality springer in my collection
 
The 99 and 57 use the same piston but the 57 gets a longer stroke .
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om606 said:
Fair point on the 57s breach block. They are the same weight AFAICT, which given the 57 has underlever and still handles beautifully is credit to HW. After 45 years of running my Feinwerkbau 127 sport as my go to walk about hunter, the HW57 in .22 has stolen the show now for me, the FWB is still as good as it ever was but the HW57 is something else its perfect in every way imaginable in my opinion, in fact the only cloud on the HW57 horizon in the walk about hunter springer camp is from an unlikely contender .. My BSA superstar in .22 of course its not the HW57s lightweight but its realy very good and i like using it dispite the little extra heft it brings to bear.
Fair enough you can walk about with prety much anything HW97 HW80 whatever but the no 1 for me is the HW57.22 in second place the FWB 127(.22) sport and a close 3rd place the BSA Superstar .22.. YOMV.
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You've just started my brain ticking over. Would it be worth short stroking an HW57 to bring it in line with The HW99's stroke?
 
Interesting thread, I've fancied a 99 for sometime and have been resisting the temptation to buy a 95 but, I'm on the verge of caving in and will be calling in at my local RFD tomorrow :)
Just got to keep focussed and purge any thoughts of a 57 between now & then !
 
Andy Tucker said:
You've just started my brain ticking over. Would it be worth short stroking an HW57 to bring it in line with The HW99's stroke?
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I know zero about short stroking anything , dont know or see a need. I just clean up polish what's there and persevere with it until i start learning how to hit stuff with whats there. Trigger Yes ill mend stuff when it fails but the tuning malarky is not for this mongrel .
Diesels now they are for tuning springers are for shooting YOMV
 
every thing about the 95 / 98 is stronger and heaver built better cocking mechanism bit heaver ,longer cylinder suited to 14-16 ftlb
the new 85 is the same but the old 85 had a screw in rear block like the hw80 . all can have a bit of muzzel flip in 177 & .20 and benefit from short stroke and lighter piston for uk sub 12 you have 4 cal to choose from and hw80 barrels also fit i think 410mm is best
the 99 is lighter built not as strong cocking mechanism skinnier barrel shorter cylinder thinner walls to piston but better suited to 12ftlb shoots nice in both 177 and 22
all are nicer in a cs500 stock
 
I don’t think the cylinder wall is thinner they share the same trigger plug with four tiles and all 26mm piston .

The 99 does have a slimmer barrel .
 
landymick said:
I don’t think the cylinder wall is thinner they share the same trigger plug with four tiles and all 26mm piston .

The 99 does have a slimmer barrel .
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the piston has thinner wall
 
oddbob22 said:
Can so.....the 80 and 90 are available in all 4 calibres, carbine and rifle length.
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Sello77 said:
Advantages of owning an 85/95/98... the barrel variety. It can never be just one rifle.

That is to say, if you own an 85/95/98, you have three or five in one. You can, as I do, change the barrel every year. You buy a short one with a silencer in .177 caliber, a long one of 50 cm, another long one, though less than 41 cm, a 20-gauge barrel, etc.
In short, if you have one, you can have more than one rifle.

I already posted that my 98/95 has several barrels of different calibers and sizes. This is something we can't do with the 90, 80, and 99.
For me, this is a huge advantage.
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Just to add, the 80 and 90 barrels are also interchangeable with the 85 / 95 / 98 platform👍
 
You cant really go wrong with either 99 or 95.
Personally i would have the 95 every time as it suits me.. one thing i noticed over the years on the forum is the 95 always got a bashing, this seems to have stopped in recent months ..
Which ever you choose , see if you can get along to a club.. see if any members have both ... if you can shoot both side by side you wll soon discover which suits you..
 
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Just my 10p worth, but of what is currently available today and for general purpose ownership within the UK market, the 95 / 98 platform is the best break barrel available.

Not too heavy, generally well put together, less likelihood of galling, easy to work on, as discussed above very modular, aesthetically very good and brilliantly accurate if you can gel with them.
Had a few 99’s / imps over the years and would take a 95 everytime.
 
Hw95 said:
You cant really go wrong with either 99 or 95.
Personally i would have the 95 every time as it suits me.. one thing i noticed over the years on the forum is the 95 always got a bashing, this seems to have stopped in recent months ..
Which ever you choose , see if you can get along to a club.. see if any members have both ... if you can shoot both side by side you wll soon discover which suits you..for me now the my 98 is the only springer I need
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I’m with you, for me the 95 is a better rifle than the 99 simply because of the galling drama that everyone I’ve owned has suffered with and the silly rear cylinder. even better is the 98 which eliminates muzzle flip that the 95 suffers with.
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Never really took much notice of the 57 before, wasn't that keen on the looks and I believe the early one's had issues with the loading port and accuracy. It would be nice if they made one with a silencer and a stock dedicated for scope use only.
 
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