BloBack
Super member
I haven,t owned a springer for a while now. Last one was a TX200 which , at my age , proved to be too heavy and hard to cock . I am thinking about buying an HW57 as they,re much lighter . What are your thoughts on this rifle ?
-
the Daily hi thread
HW57
- Thread starter BloBack
- Start date
JohnnySweden
Busy member
I would go for the HW30S instead, lighter and with a proven track record.
I purchased a 2002 HW57 a few months ago basicaly with the sole aim of finding out just how bad they could be, the fact it was in nice clean condition and the fact it had a scope i wanted for another gun and a one piece four screw sportsmatch mount , i have about £100 in it £130 if i value in the 2-7x32 simmons i now have on it.
Gun is used a .22 and was straight away shooting half inch at 25 yards with FTTs and RWS superfields, it has a briliant trigger it was noticably better than my stock hw97s or other hws i had had before.
The shot cycle was horrible , was harsh and this made it a handful to shoot .
I stripped it down it looked stock i cleaned it polished the inards and relubed it with molybdynum grease and went back to shooting it.
Tried lots of different pellets and discovered that the pellets i initialy felt were not worth persuing were acctualy not half as bad as i first thought , it was down to me learning the 57s likes and dislikes in hold and shooting techneques .
It needs a softer shot cycle but its full power in the mid 11s and equaly as accurate as any spring air rifle i have ever owned .
Its handling lightness are second to none and its a real full uk limit hunter you can cary all day if need be, it needs range time learn its quirks its fine. I would not be without it now, all the fuss about the breach block is feasable if you get a bad one like anything else, but my .22 bought to find out what all the negativity was about proved to me its irelivant, based on my findings here is my advice buy one they are awesome. atb whatever you decide.
Gun is used a .22 and was straight away shooting half inch at 25 yards with FTTs and RWS superfields, it has a briliant trigger it was noticably better than my stock hw97s or other hws i had had before.
The shot cycle was horrible , was harsh and this made it a handful to shoot .
I stripped it down it looked stock i cleaned it polished the inards and relubed it with molybdynum grease and went back to shooting it.
Tried lots of different pellets and discovered that the pellets i initialy felt were not worth persuing were acctualy not half as bad as i first thought , it was down to me learning the 57s likes and dislikes in hold and shooting techneques .
It needs a softer shot cycle but its full power in the mid 11s and equaly as accurate as any spring air rifle i have ever owned .
Its handling lightness are second to none and its a real full uk limit hunter you can cary all day if need be, it needs range time learn its quirks its fine. I would not be without it now, all the fuss about the breach block is feasable if you get a bad one like anything else, but my .22 bought to find out what all the negativity was about proved to me its irelivant, based on my findings here is my advice buy one they are awesome. atb whatever you decide.
2506sendero
Member Extraordinaire
If you decide to purchase a 57, just make sure that it is one of the later models with the all metal breech block, as the earlier ones were manufactured with plastic, and very prone to wear/accuracy issues.
bflat7
Super member
Stuck a TBT guide set with a Vortex piston seal in mine and it shoots as accurately as my 97 now at 10.5 ftlbs, lovely little gun.
Read this countles times i would guess its got an eliment of truth but mine is a 2002 so earlyish think they started 2000, mine has metal breach AFAICT it was bone stock not even a burr on a single screw pins were unmolested and nice tight. Must have been very early unless .177s had plastic not sure.
jkingrph
Proactive member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2022
- Messages
- 166
- Reaction score
- 294
I'm from the US. I bought two a couple of years ago, one in .177, the other .22. The dealer that had them listed state that they had been tuned, forgot who did the work, but probably meaningless on your side of the pond. Shot cycle on these is smooth. Neither came with a rear sight, so I put an Anschutz match diopter sight on each. I have not weighed or compared weight with my HW30, but if seems to e lighter, and is one of the easiest cocking springers I have. Accuracy, probably not as good as some bigger heavier guns, but at ten meters off a bench it will deliver ragged one shot holes, size depends upon how I am feeling that day and winds.
Mine is a later model but prior to when HW started with that ugly cut out on the bottom of the buttstock. They do have a metal breechblock and are a little finicky about the pellets that seat best. Wadcutters not so good, most domed pellets work fine.
All in all, I like them and would buy again.
Mine is a later model but prior to when HW started with that ugly cut out on the bottom of the buttstock. They do have a metal breechblock and are a little finicky about the pellets that seat best. Wadcutters not so good, most domed pellets work fine.
All in all, I like them and would buy again.
Like i said i have found the HW57 a marvelous rifle, much lighter than my hw97s yet offering the same level of quality and great accuracy in a well balanced handleable hunter stocked carbine.
The Hunter stock lighter weight and full power do not make perfect bedfellows if one is searching for the ultimate accuracy , but if you learn to shoot the hw57 its a very easy rifle to grow fond of .
The breach block and the longish lead in to the rifling are all potential areas for misbehaviour LOL! But research your pellets get the right sizes and learn its likes and dislikes and they are a joy to shoot.
The harsh nature of the shot cycle even in .22 is overcome with adapting to it in shooting techneque, and i feel the rifle has the potential with an apropriate tune to be a less brutal shot cycle yet retain the accuracy and power and perhaps softening the harshness as a aside. I have a few ideas but as yet i am just learning to live with it and the gun in fainess is doing just fine.
I have had three hw30s two .22s and my last .22 i gave my son and only recently bought a .177 a 2019/ 21 plastic pig its no way as sweet to shoot or eficient as the .22 you know you are shooting it and its about a 1/4lb lighter which i xpect is not helping the sittuation either.
The HW57 is compact but is more gun than the hw30 which given its a full uk power level gun it needs that little extra Mass IMO. YOMV.
The Hunter stock lighter weight and full power do not make perfect bedfellows if one is searching for the ultimate accuracy , but if you learn to shoot the hw57 its a very easy rifle to grow fond of .
The breach block and the longish lead in to the rifling are all potential areas for misbehaviour LOL! But research your pellets get the right sizes and learn its likes and dislikes and they are a joy to shoot.
The harsh nature of the shot cycle even in .22 is overcome with adapting to it in shooting techneque, and i feel the rifle has the potential with an apropriate tune to be a less brutal shot cycle yet retain the accuracy and power and perhaps softening the harshness as a aside. I have a few ideas but as yet i am just learning to live with it and the gun in fainess is doing just fine.
I have had three hw30s two .22s and my last .22 i gave my son and only recently bought a .177 a 2019/ 21 plastic pig its no way as sweet to shoot or eficient as the .22 you know you are shooting it and its about a 1/4lb lighter which i xpect is not helping the sittuation either.
The HW57 is compact but is more gun than the hw30 which given its a full uk power level gun it needs that little extra Mass IMO. YOMV.
weepete
Member Extraordinaire
Save yourself the bother and choose literally any other gun from the Weihrauch stable.
They are nice guns if you get a decent copy, but a bad one can be very poor. Just not worth the chance.
At one point I had our "probem" 57 shooting sub 5p groups and thought it was sorted, but then it randomly got upset again.
Here's the last group I shot with it. 25 yards, indoors with JSB Exacts, and RS.
They are nice guns if you get a decent copy, but a bad one can be very poor. Just not worth the chance.
At one point I had our "probem" 57 shooting sub 5p groups and thought it was sorted, but then it randomly got upset again.
Here's the last group I shot with it. 25 yards, indoors with JSB Exacts, and RS.
Just noticed that the Weihrauch website claims that the latest version of the HW57 has 'Enhanced Tuning for 2025 improving reliability and accuracy' and is available only in .177
Sounds interesting especially for those who like the previous iteration (@om606)
Does anyone have one of these 'new' versions?
Sounds interesting especially for those who like the previous iteration (@om606)
Does anyone have one of these 'new' versions?
Michaelmilneminster
Proactive member
I had a newer one and was a lovely rifle , just as accurate as my 77. Only thing I wasn't a massive fan of was the push down breach was a tad hard to push down due to the seals but would buy another, this time in .22 if one came about .
Plinky Dave
Member Extraordinaire
Look for a BSA Superstar. Trigger not as good as the Rekord unit but a 77 all day long with much lighter attributes.
Hoping to have a go with one at the club tonite, in fact the one i bought secondhand for the club about 18 years ago as a safe (no bear trap risk) light, accurate (rekord trigger) springer as a club gun for all but especially juniors. Saw it again on Sunday a few marks on the underside from being shot when rested and other battle wounds, but not to bad, apparently has had a 'full reseal' so ....will find out - oh and think it is .177. Superstars btw are bigger and heavier imho (I have two) and trigger is fine but not as good as a Rekord but I also love these.
My mate just bought a 2005 hw57.22 from a wildfowling mate of ours from Frodsham. £230 with a Hawke scope its split mint and he bought it new fitted a 4x rhino scope which he included in the sale with just over 3000 H&N FTTs in a like new stoger padded gun bag, he guarantees it accurate and any gripes he will "stand by it for a month or so" and refund fully.
I had trouble with accuracy with my .177, but after much frustration and fettling it seems to be ok, they are lovely, but can have issues, and the front stock screws are prone to coming loose,and also cracking the wood they bear onto as it is very thin, I drilled my stock a fitted brass inserts and longer screws, with neoprene tape between the stock and main tube.
Would I recommend one....personally, no.
Would I recommend one....personally, no.
I like them, they handle so well are so easy to operate the trigger is subline on my one, so good in fact i had to go through my little collection of record fitted Hws and get them duplicated as close as i could by polishing and seting them all up.
Get what you say on the stock, but again had mine in bits a few times now and never had an issue and never given it much thought until you pointed it out. ill keep an eye on it locktite maybe.
I have got attached to mine with use its into about 3000 pellets with me now i only got it in i think may. I walk about buildings on the farm a lot its my go to gun now for that, i have used my Feinwerkbau 127 sport since the early 70s i more or less used for this exclusively with a brief period in the late 90s early 2000s i used my webley vulcan .177 but went back to the FWb, This 57 just feels so right for active air gunning its light barrel diminuitive nature balance is awesome i am sorry i have to tell it like it is.
Get what you say on the stock, but again had mine in bits a few times now and never had an issue and never given it much thought until you pointed it out. ill keep an eye on it locktite maybe.
I have got attached to mine with use its into about 3000 pellets with me now i only got it in i think may. I walk about buildings on the farm a lot its my go to gun now for that, i have used my Feinwerkbau 127 sport since the early 70s i more or less used for this exclusively with a brief period in the late 90s early 2000s i used my webley vulcan .177 but went back to the FWb, This 57 just feels so right for active air gunning its light barrel diminuitive nature balance is awesome i am sorry i have to tell it like it is.
Andy Tucker
Active member
I love my .177 that I got new at the start of 2024. Had it apart to smooth out the pop up breach. Put a WW kit in. Did all the normal deburring/galling stuff. It's running low 10ft lbs with Barracuda 8s. Been shooting it withe the open sights again for a few weeks now. Think I will leave it as is.
One more job
Member Extraordinaire
Have to say I agree with the above post, have found the HW57 a very difficult rifle to get shooting well consistently!
I have stuck with mine but in truth there are far better options out there that shoot better without all the work the 57 seems to require. Maybe it’s a better rifle for an owner who only has a couple of guns or just one! Regular use may solve the issue. For me to much like hard work
My 2002 HW57 .22 weighs 6lb 9oz, My my 2001 HW97K .22 weighs 9lb 2oz. both are 11+FTLBS. They both perform accuracy lethality vertualy identical. From the moment you lay a hand on either and simply lift one of them up, you know there and then they are very diferent the heft of the 97 it feels almost like its magnatised LOL!. The hw57 totaly the oposite that extra few lbs one way or the other splits these two up considerably.
Both made same firm same machines probably same machinists in Germany, same pellets from same tin H&N FTTs ....Nothing in it thousands of shots no suprises. Are they the same to shoot ? Absolutly not, Is either one easier to shoot well than the other? No! i do not see that.
Is either one of them technicaly superior or inferior to the other? NO! They are diferent thats all the loading port vs the pop up breach both work great if clean and mechanicaly sound if either one is say full of sand or in some way damaged neither will function obviously.
Do they feel the same to shoot? Absolutly not they are the same in all but MASS and shooting technique and you acomadate both these difering factors both are exellent quality german products.
To sum up lets do a car analogy shall we. 1.6TDI golf 2015 1.6TDI Passat Estate 2015. german same manufacturer same hp same in so many ways but Diferent they drive diferent ones not better or worse than the other ones lighter ones heavier bigger and they handle diferent. YOMV
Both made same firm same machines probably same machinists in Germany, same pellets from same tin H&N FTTs ....Nothing in it thousands of shots no suprises. Are they the same to shoot ? Absolutly not, Is either one easier to shoot well than the other? No! i do not see that.
Is either one of them technicaly superior or inferior to the other? NO! They are diferent thats all the loading port vs the pop up breach both work great if clean and mechanicaly sound if either one is say full of sand or in some way damaged neither will function obviously.
Do they feel the same to shoot? Absolutly not they are the same in all but MASS and shooting technique and you acomadate both these difering factors both are exellent quality german products.
To sum up lets do a car analogy shall we. 1.6TDI golf 2015 1.6TDI Passat Estate 2015. german same manufacturer same hp same in so many ways but Diferent they drive diferent ones not better or worse than the other ones lighter ones heavier bigger and they handle diferent. YOMV