{"id":1814,"date":"2012-02-20T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T08:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2012-02-16T09:27:01","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T16:27:01","slug":"the-hw70a-pistol-what-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/the-hw70a-pistol-what-fun.html","title":{"rendered":"The HW70A Pistol \u2013 What fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A very simple pistol that is very pleasant to shoot.<\/p><\/div>\n

Okay, I\u2019ll admit it; I was prejudiced. Before I explain why, let\u2019s back up for just a moment. At the heart of the word \u201cprejudiced\u201d is the notion of \u201cpre-judging,\u201d and that carries with it the underlying concept of forming an opinion without sufficient facts to back it up.<\/p>\n

We certainly see prejudice at work sometimes in interpersonal relationships, but we also observe it in airgunning. Some years ago, I got into a conflict with a fellow on one of the forums because had formed the opinion that a particular air rifle that I had reviewed highly had to be a certified piece of dung because he had once owned an air rifle made by the same manufacturer, and he thought not very highly of it. Now, in point of fact, he had never seen, handled, or shot the particular model that I had praised, so he had no basis on which to form that opinion. He was prejudiced. It would be as if I condemned all modern Chevrolets because I once had a nasty experience with a Chevette. That\u2019s prejudice.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I was just recently guilty of pre-judging an airgun . . . in this case, the Weihrauch HW70A. I remember that the first time that I saw a picture of the HW70A. It was in the 1999 Beeman Precision Airgun Guide. On Page 27 the HW70A appeared, along with its brother the HW70S. My very first impression of the wooden-stocked HW70A was that it looked crude, like someone\u2019s first attempt at building an airgun: \u201cHey, look, I made it myself!\u201d<\/p>\n

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So I continued on my merry way, thinking those kind of thoughts about the HW70A, never having handled one or shot one, until a sample of the HW70A actually arrived at El Rancho Elliott just the other day. When I pulled the it from its box, it didn\u2019t look so crude after all. In fact, it looked pretty nice.<\/p>\n

It is a breakbarrel spring-piston air pistol. The receiver, breech block, barrel, front sight, and trigger are all metal, finished in a black satin finish that is really very nice, and the rest of the pistol \u2013 the \u201cstock,\u201d pistol grip and trigger guard \u2013 are all molded out of black polymer. The pistol grip is ambidextrous and has molded-in checkering on either side. Above the pistol grip on the left side is the safety. It activates automatically when the HW70A is cocked, and you slide it toward the muzzle to click it OFF.<\/p>\n

The polymer \u201cstock\u201d which embraces the lower half of the receiver has molded-in wood grain on either side. I find that a little silly, but it doesn\u2019t detract from the appearance of the pistol. Ahead of the pistol grip is the trigger guard, which is molded from the same polymer. Inside the trigger guard is a black metal trigger which apparently can be adjusted for weight. The manual, however, says \u201cThe trigger pull setting as it comes from the factory is usually best for the airgun in question and should not be lightened.\u201d So I didn\u2019t mess with it.<\/p>\n

At the far end of the \u201cstock,\u201d you\u2019ll find the breech block. Attached to that is the barrel, at the end of which is the blade type front sight which is surrounded by a nice smooth metal hood. More about that in just a moment. At the extreme aft end of the receiver is the rear notch sight which is click adjustable for elevation and windage.<\/p>\n

To ready the HW70A for shooting, grab the pistol grip in one hand and the front sight hood in the other, and pull the barrel down and back toward the pistol grip until it clicks. This takes around 30 lb. of effort and cocks the action and opens the breech for loading. What\u2019s make this particularly nice is the smoothly finished hooded front sight. As you break the barrel, the sight doesn\u2019t dig into your palm or cause any discomfort; instead it functions as a \u201ccocking assist handle\u201d and makes the process easier. Slide a .177 pellet into the breech and return the barrel to its original position.<\/p>\n

Take aim, slide the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. At just over 3 lbs., the first stage comes out of the trigger; at 4 lbs. 15 oz. (on the sample I tested), the shot goes down range. There is a bit of recoil, but not much, and the muzzle report is very subdued. While the HW70A doesn\u2019t buck like a bronco when it goes off, neither does launch pellets with blinding speed. JSB Express 7.87 gr. pellets averages 399 fps, which works out to 2.8 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.<\/p>\n

The recoil, however, makes a difference. That means you\u2019ll have to work to master this air pistol. From a Creedmoor position, I found I could put four pellets in a group you could cover with a dime at 10 meters, but then the fifth shot would get away from me. The Beeman catalog claims accuracy of 0.32 inch CTC. I believe it, but I wasn\u2019t able to achieve it.<\/p>\n

In all, I found the HW70A was incredible fun to shoot . . . easy to cock, mild recoil, pleasantly quiet, and well built. I think it would be the perfect pistol for a pleasant afternoon with a friend, plinking at targets and spinning yarns.<\/p>\n

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jock Elliott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, I\u2019ll admit it; I was prejudiced. Before I explain why, let\u2019s back up for just a moment. At the heart of the word \u201cprejudiced\u201d is the notion of \u201cpre-judging,\u201d and that carries with it the underlying concept of forming an opinion without sufficient facts to back it up. We certainly see prejudice at work…»<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,113,32],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1819,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions\/1819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}