bullseye

As I mentioned last week, I ordered in a good training rifle.
The Weihrauch HW77K arrived yesterday.

It is even better in-the-flesh than it was in theory. The heft is that of a real adult rifle, in fact more weight than a whole lot of hunting and defense rifles. I will call it just about right. Reading the specs of – Overall Length 39.7″, Barrel Length 14.6″, Weight 8.7 lbs – is not quite the same as hefting and shooting it. HW77K feels comfortably solid, well-built, and well balanced.

And shoot it does.

I was initially disappointed it did not have the standard 10-meter peep front and rear that makes 3 concentric circles out of the rear sight, front sight and aiming bull. BUT, I do have centerfire rifles with notch-and-post sights, so practicing this is really a good thing, even though it is a bit of a handicap on 10-meter targets.

THE most important thing to keep in mind is that I bought this rifle because I need the practice.

The aiming center (black area) is 1 1/4″ across. I was standing 10 meters (33.8 feet) from the target – shooting unsupported offhand. Since I have yet to find and set up my spotting scope, I fired one shot, set the rifle down, walked to the target to see what I did. I did that times ten shots.

With my spotting scope installed, I would retain my position, checking the score shot-by-shot through the scope. I also expect to improve enough that I won’t be able to find 10 discrete holes in a single bullseye. Serious 10-meter riflemen use one shot per bull and almost always hit the 10 with each and every one. I’ll be happy if I get back to the 8.8 average I once had.

The hole with the black ink was from a prior rifle (aimed at the bullseye above this one!), a scoped mass-market piece of junk that spread the pellets over a 10-inch zone at 10 meters. The other .177″ holes were the first 10 shots out of my new rifle.

I have yet to adjust the sights. Until the group tightens up, anything I do to the sight adjusters would be wild guessing, and possibly counter-productive. Though sighting in from a rest would be clever.

Weihrauch includes good documentation (plus several pages written by their legal department). In it they inform buyers that the rifle needs to shoot about 100 rounds before it settles down to good accuracy.

That’s nice as it gives me an excuse to not score my shooting for a little bit. Meanwhile, it seemed to put the holes wherever I shot them.

A very important training tool is “calling your shots”. After each shot, hold the position and review in your head where you think you shot it. With experience, you will know without seeing the target where you hit. This is how you really tighten your shooting up by simply not shooting those flyers; only shoot the good ones.

Every one of these 10 went where I called them. I own every miss.

I suspect this rifle is a good one.

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By the way, the Weihrauch HW77K requires adult strength to cock, too. The rod below the barrel is the cocking lever that in one single stroke to the rear puts enough pressure in the air chamber to send pellets downrange at over 900 feet-per-second. That is to say, it is a stiff pull.

It is also enough force that you really do want ear protection when you fire. This is not a quiet air rifle. It isn’t quite a .22, but is not very far below that. There is an optional sound suppressor available, in case you want to dispense with the ear protection for shooting.