I liked the HW98 a whole lot.
I tested the HW98 with a Nikon 3-9 EFR (that’s stands for Extended Focal Range) scope, and I’ll be doing a separate blog on that.
To ready the HW98 for shooting, grab the end of the barrel and pull it down and back until it latches. This requires around 32 or 33 pounds of effort and automatically actuates the safety on the HW98. I don’t know if this is true of all HW98s, but on the sample that I tested, I noticed that the cocking stroke was incredibly smooth and quiet. There wasn’t any spring noise or creaking, just a smooth sliding sound until the mechanism latched.
Slide a pellet into the aft end of the barrel and return the barrel to its original position. Take aim, push the safety OFF, and squeeze the trigger. At XX.X, the first stage comes out of the trigger. At XX.X, the shot goes down range. The Rekord trigger is predictable and crisp. The shot goes off with a tiny bit of twang, but this is a twang that is more heard than felt and is not – to me, at least – in any way annoying. In fact, while I was testing the HW98, my wife stuck her head out the door and said, “You must really like this gun.”
“Why’s that?” I said.
Came the reply: “Because you’re really taking your time with it.” And it was true – I was really enjoying my time with the HW98.
I thing the fit and finish of the HW98 are excellent and so are the firing characteristics.
The HW98 launches JSB 7.97 grain .177 pellets at an average of 849 fps. That works out to 12.59 footpounds of energy at the muzzle. I got excellent accuracy with the JSB pellets, shooting a ragged one-hole five-shoot group at 13 yards. At 32 yards, I shot a one-inch edge-to-edge five shoot group off a casual rest. With Crosman Premier 7.9 grain pellets, I shot an even tighter group at 13 yards. At 32 yards, again I put five pellets into a one-inch group, but this time, three of the pellets went through the same hole . . . clearly more testing is in order!
Did I like the HW98? You bet. Is it “ . . . built for the competitor, small game hunter, or backyard shooter . . . with features that everyone will appreciate?”
Here’s a clue: I voted with my wallet and bought the test sample.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
Liked the down to earth report. Still trying to choose an air rifle that is best for my needs. So far I like the HW’s and RWS. I’ve been comparing the 48 RWS to the HW95. Would like to hear any thoughts, thanks and keep it in the bullseye
Randy,
Both RWS and HW make good guns. If you use the search function on the blog, I believe you’ll find a report on the HW95. I will be testing an RWS48 sometime this summer.
Thanks for responding to my comment. Nice to be able to get feed back from someone who is knowledgable. I have always loved air rifles. I’m from Oregon. Firearms still rule here and I’ve found it difficult to find information, let alone actually handle any of these guns. I started with an 880 daisy. What a great gun it was. Since that gun I’ve had a terrible time finding one that would shoot straight, including many Gamo’s. Our sporting stores here seem to stock those for some reason. My question this time has to do with caliber selection. I do like to hunt starlings with an air rifle. Although most shooting is for practice. I had a 22cal daisy and was impressed how it seemed to knock the hell out of sparrows and starlings but seemed to really drop off fast. That gun had very modest power, so I would think in a more powerful rifle that the trajectory would greatly improve. If a 50 yard distance was to be considered a max range, what velocity range in 22cal should I be looking at. Perhaps sticking to the 177cal would be best all round. The HW rifles seem to have less velocity, how important should this be in determining between the RWS. I appreciate all feedback