Weihrauch HW100 PCP Air Rifle Test Review .177 Caliber

VALUE FOR MONEY

The Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is not a particularly new design. Nor is it particularly high-profile in the current market. In fact, it’s somewhat overshadowed by its newer HW110 sibling. But two HAM specialist air rifle testers – Doug Rogers and Pete Shooter – have both invested their own money in guns of this type. This tells us that the HW100 is something special…

So, we asked Doug Rogers to test his own Weihrauch HW100. In fact it’s an HW100T-FSB model. This review shows the results. It’s obvious that the Weihrauch HW100 is an outstanding PCP air rifle and easily achieves a HAM Gold Award!

The good news is that the Street Price of the HW100 has fallen over recent months, largely due to currency exchange rate changes. The current price is $1,099, which is a significant fall from the near-$1500 that it used to be. That makes the Weihrauch HW100 even better value as a high quality PCP air rifle.

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Weihrauch HW100T FSB .177 Cal

HAM Test Rating	94%
Value For Money	Great value for a high end PCP.
Best For	Field target competition.
Best Pellet Tested	JSB Exact Diabolo
Street Price at Time of Test	$1,099 plus scope.
Caliber Tested	.177
RateAGun Score	Easy to Shoot Well

SPEED AND ACCURACY

First of all, we need to say that Doug Rogers had tuned the gun DOWN to match his requirements. As Doug says: “When I bought it, heavy pellets were shooting at around 1,100 FPS! That’s not what I wanted, so I adjusted the hammer spring tension to lower the muzzle velocity”.

In spite of being de-tuned, the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle tested by HAM still exceeded 1,100 FPS with alloy pellets. The maximum recorded was 1,137 FPS average for the Gamo Raptor Platinum PBA pellets.

Maximum muzzle velocity with lead was 1,025 FPS with 7.0 Grain RWS Hobby pellets. Heavy (around 10 .5 Grain) pellets shoot in the 900 FPS range, ideal for Field Target shooting.

Accuracy was excellent with 5 out of 7 of the standard HAM test pellet suite. Even the poorer-performing Raptor and Hobby pellets still shot quite well, so it’s clear that this Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is certainly not pellet-picky.

In fact, when tuning the gun, Doug’s aim was to achieve 50+ good shots with a muzzle velocity of around 900 FPS with his favorite JSB Exact Heavy Dibolo 10.3 Grain pellets. Although this is not a standard HAM test pellet, the target below shows the results. About as close to a one-hole, 10-shot group as anyone would like and the FPS is extremely consistent!

Doug commented in his testing notes: “This is the easiest gun that I have ever had for shooting 50 – 55 yard Field Targets. This gun easily outshoots me!”

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JSB Exact Heavy Pellets 10.34 Grain .177 Cal.

TRIGGER AND COCKING EFFORT

Operating the sidelever cocking mechanism of the Weihrauch HW100 is an absolute joy! The sidelever is released from its closed position by sneaking a finger under its end. Then the lever swings back under spring pressure. A final pull back with the finger makes the final “click” and the lever is ready to be pushed back forward, loading the next pellet.

Pushing the lever forward requires overcoming pressure as the hammer spring is compressed. However, it’s not a high force and the action is very smooth.

The trigger is light and predictable. The first stage take-up needs virtually no pressure and there’s a distinct “step” where it’s obvious that the second stage is about to engage. Again, close to perfection!

The manual safety is located on the right side of the breech under the cocking lever. It’s clear and easy to use.

I asked Doug how the trigger and cocking action compared to the silky smoothness of his Air Arms HT500 air rifle. He said that he’s often asked this question and that, actually, he really can’t favor one over the other. They’re both outstanding. That’s high praise indeed for the HW100…

COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS

As is normal with high end air rifles, the manufacturer makes almost no “hard” marketing claims for the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle.

There is a muzzle velocity claim of “up to 1,050 FPS”. And Weihrauch says that up to 40 shots are obtainable from one fill of the HW100’s tank.

Given that Doug did de-tune this Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle, it’s easy to see that this muzzle velocity claim would be equaled, or exceeded by the HAM test gun in original factory condition. With a muzzle velocity of 1,137 FPS with Gamo Platinum alloy pellets, the claim is easily exceeded, of course.

More significant is that Doug’s gun is still shooting 7.87 Grain JSB Exact Express Diabolo pellets at 992 FPS. That’s very close to the claim, even with mid-weight pellets and after de-tuning!

As for the 40 shots per fill, please check out the shot count curve below. It far exceeds the manufacturer’s claims, although Doug’s tuning will need to take some of the credit.

Below. The single load adapter in place in the breech. This is unusual, but easy to use.

CONSISTENCY

Doug’s Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle shoots very consistently. The Standard Deviation – the measure of shot-to-shot difference in muzzle velocity – was just 3.32 FPS across all the HAM test pellets. This is an outstanding result and probably the best overall Standard Deviation that’s been measured in HAM testing to date.

Trigger pull weight varied by less than one Ounce either side of the 11.1 Ounce average. Again, this is outstanding performance and it’s impossible for the shooter to detect any variation in pull weight whatsoever. Doug confirms that he has not adjusted the trigger of his Weihrauch HW100. This is stock, factory performance!

Of course, the lack of “pellet pickiness” already highlighted is another example of consistency for this air rifle.

Here’s the shot count for Doug’s Weihrauch HW100. As you can see, the gun gave 60 consistent shots at an average of 967.5 FPS when using 8.44 Grain JSB Exact Diabolo pellets. Again, very satisfactory consistency…

NOISE LEVEL

The Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle tested for this review is fitted with a shrouded barrel. It is not “Marauder-silent”, but it is considerably quieter than an un-shrouded gun.

Noise level is low mid-range, as you would expect from a shrouded air rifle of this power level. The HAM Team agree that the report is very acceptable for backyard shooting under most circumstances.

SIGHTS AND SCOPE

Like most high-end air rifles, the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is supplied without a scope or iron sights. This gives the owner his/her choice of optics, of course.

Doug chose an MTC Optisan Viper 6-24 x 56i scope for his gun, combined with a big side wheel – for this is designated as a Field Target gun, at least when Doug is not shooting his Air Arms FT500. (It’s tough to have choices like this! – Stephen Archer).

The MTC scope certainly works well on Doug’s Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle. It balances well, gives excellent sharpness and contrast and makes rangefinding clear and unambiguous. As you can see, Doug has added ranging marks on the big wheel and added a marker that makes it easier to identify the exact range. He’s very happy about the scope’s performance and its overall balance on the gun.

SHOOTABILITY

Although the thumbhole stock is not fitted with an adjustable cheekpiece or adjustable buttpad, it feels “natural” to each member of the HAM Team. We all found the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle comfortable to shoot. It shoulders well, is nicely balanced and just feels, well, natural.

Although this is a fairly heavy air rifle – Doug’s complete FT rig comes in at 10 Lbs 14 Oz – it feels lighter than it is.

It goes without saying that the sublime trigger and cocking action obviously aid shootability of the HW100, too.

Another significant benefit of the HW100 is that it has a double feed prevention system. Unlike many magazine-fed PCP air rifles – even some expensive ones – it’s not possible to double-feed this gun.

And we’ll include a note about the probe filling system here. The HAM Team are not fans of probe filling systems. We feel that a simple “Foster” quick disconnect fitting is a far better method of filling a PCP air rifle with High Pressure Air. However, the probe filling system of the Weihrauch HW100 seems to be clearly better than many others. It’s foolproof to use and doesn’t leak air.

The one downside is that the probe port is protected by a plug that must be removed for filling. As this is a separate part, it’s necessary to be very sure that this plug is not inadvertently misplaced during the filling process. The plug is removed in the photo above.

The 14-shot rotary clip has an above-average capacity. It’s simple, robust and easy to load. The clip locates quickly into place before the securing slide is pushed forward. This engages the clip feed mechanism to enable the clip to be indexed for every shot by operating the cocking lever.

While this high, 14-shot capacity may come in handy in some circumstances, there’s also an unusual, but effective, single-shot loader also available. Photo below. Single-loading is popular with many Field Target shooters and the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle accommodates this requirement very nicely.

APPEARANCE AND FINISH

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!

Of course, looks are a subjective thing. But the HAM Team feels that the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is a great-looking air rifle. Unusually for a rotary magazine, repeating PCP air rifle, the magazine does not protrude above the top of the breech. This makes for very clean lines and also means that magazine location does not impact scope positioning to the same extent that it does with many other PCP repeaters.

Fit and finish of all parts is extremely high, as you would expect from this German manufacturer.

All external metal parts look to be perfectly finished. They’re treated with a deep black surface that’s glossy on the breech and has a very slightly matte effect on the shroud and air tube.

The stock is both comfortable to shoot and beautiful to look at. It’s carefully sculptured for fit and the matte oil finish is pleasing, particularly with the stippling on the pistol grip. The figuring in the hardwood stock of this Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is very attractive, too.

Overall appearance of the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is that of a sophisticated, quality product. There’s nothing fancy, flashy or unnecessary, just the beauty that comes from great design engineering and huge attention to detail in manufacturing.

BUYING AND OWNING

The Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is not widely available. You’re most unlikely to find one in your local “Big Box” shooting goods store. However, it is easily available online from specialist dealers such as Airguns of Arizona and Precision Airgun Distribution dealers including Straight Shooters and Precision Airguns and Supplies.

The instruction manual is very comprehensive, although you REALLY need to read it thoroughly to appreciate all the points it makes. It’s in German and English, with the diagrams and photographs in a fold-out section at the rear of the book.

The relatively low maximum fill pressure of 2,900 PSI is another attraction of the Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle. This makes filling by hand pump a practical proposition or, alternatively, allows for more fills from a large capacity tank that is possible with PCPs that use a higher fill pressure.

Warranty of the HW100 is of the “limited lifetime” variety. However the removable HPA tank has a requirement to be re-tested every 10 years.

Additional rotary clips and single shot adapters are available from Airguns of Arizona.

The Weihrauch HW100 PCP air rifle is supplied with two rotary clips. Other accessories supplied with the gun include an enormously-substantial brass degassing device that allows pressure to be removed from the HPA tube once removed from the gun. And there’s an equally-substantial brass tube adapter included too.

Below, the de-gassing tool is at left, tube adapter at right. Center is the fill probe, with a male quick disconnect (not included) attached.

TEST TARGETS

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Weihrauch HW100T FSB .177 Cal

This entire article including scoring, test targets etc is Copyright Hard Air Magazine and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the publisher.