slick to my taste. HW’s Rekord triggers usually are easy to adjust. But when adjusting it from the outside through the hole in the guard, beware of marring the set screw behind the blade since the aluminum screwdriver slit is a bit soft. The base of the trigger guard is check- ered for shooting “from the thumb” in the standing position. Zeroing brought to light that the HW needed a droop- compensation scope mount and reticle adjustment upward and to the left, put- ting the scope out of optical center. This is the main problem I encountered with the 97 K, but it may be an exception, affecting only some guns (my 1987 HW 77 was perfect in this respect). Operation is “slick” and easy.


In fact, it seems to be almost as quick as a break barrel rifle. Although not completely run in yet, I’m still amazed about its firing noise (a real “crack” sound) and dieseling. Its kick makes it difficult to judge if the firing cycle is very quick. Spring torque is limited and in fact seems to be even less than on my fully tuned 77! Accuracy is all right, with one-hole


10-shot groups at 25 meters, but it still kicks considerably even after a few tins of pellets. It also stinks — almost like the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Even after shooting a number of heavy 10.5-grain pellets, there is considerable dieseling. It screams to be tuned, really. HW’s OEM stuff seems to carry too much lubricant and/or of the wrong type, or too much grease for storage, or all three of these. Loading is a jiffy because of its


larger and deeper port and because of the barrel being above the action cen- terline. I can load it in any position and without looking: it works at the touch only. This is a very important positive to me. In fact, the breech is where HW has visibly copied a trick of the tuners working on the old 77s: machining out both side walls of the loading port, right down to the top edge of the stock. Cock- ing does not require much force. The very positive cocking latch


works very well for me and probably will run in after some use. The lever could have some nice cocking aid, preferably of a non-metal, non-slip material, at the same time cushioning all metal-to-metal contact points. The cocking is a bit noisy with a high-pitch “click” on latching the lever — not a nice


comforting or solid sound. I wonder if some sound damping could be practised here. In its original form, the 97 has an anti-bear trap system underneath its ac- tion and hidden inside the stock. Unless this device is removed the gun cannot be de-cocked without releasing the shot, unfortunately. I find the synthetic rub- ber ring around the end of the cocking arm intended to silence the closing of the breech a bit skinny; I'm afraid it will not last very long. The push button lever latch is a bit complicated and takes some running-in, but it locks so positively that fitting a sling swivel to the cocking lever looks very safe for field carry. About stocks, I always have the


same gripe and it’s therefore a personal thing not to be taken too seriously by other users. I would like a somewhat deeper


and wider fore-end, possibly with finger grooves along the top edge (somewhat like the Venom design for Webley stocks of some years ago). I believe that a sort of beavertail fore-end would help hold- ing the rifle and sitting it in the bags from a rest. I discovered a nice “hidden” HW


feature: the cocking slot allows me to put the index finger tip of the leading hand into the rear end of its widest area. This may give you better support and more “steerage” (at the same time limit- ing canting) on standing and kneeling shots. This hand position also improves the rifle’s balance for me, especially on upward shots. I really do miss hex- or allen-head screws on this stock, though. Like I said, I would like HW to


return to their older model stock fitted on the Jubileum or Centennial models marketed around the year 1999 that had a green laminate stock, with a deeper pistol grip, rounded and thicker cheek piece, and longer butt. While at it, let them fit a thumb groove, please…. For FT and HFT use, I would like


an adjustable cheek piece and butt pad as on the HW 98 barrel cocker. HW fit- ted a sliding butt plate only to its most recent HW 97 K T, the fully ambidex- trous thumb hole stocked version. An adjustable cheek piece was too much asked, apparently. Overall impression: a good sturdy


quality rifle and a nice all-rounder for an under cocker.


www.varminthunter.org Page 149


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212