Yet another crappy rainy afternoon here in New England has afforded my friend Mike and I a chance to do a little bit of testing of 2 timeless classics....his New Old Stock HW77 and a new to me FWB124D. Mike got his 77 from my dear friend Mike Abernathy. ...lucky him! According to Mr. Abernathy, the 77 had never been fired and it was manufactured circa 1983. It was with great apprehension that we test fired it.
Much to my chagrin, the HW77 fired without flaw!! I thought for sure that the piston seal would be toast. After a few site adjustments, Mike was zeroed and on the bullseye even with the open sites. I got my turn and found the rifle to be relatively tame in the shot cycle for a newly fired gun. It lived up to all the years of praise that has been heaped upon this award winning airgun. Mike definitely scored on this old girl.
The FWB 124 was one I recently won at auction and had yet to put any time into it. IMO, this one had to have been tuned....possibly by Mr. Slade. The trigger was the give away. Unlike some of this model I have tried, the trigger on this 124 has little 1st stage creep and sets nicely for a solid second stage release. No guessing needed.
Overall, the 124 was noticeably more powerful than the HW77. Also louder and a bit less refined., but just as accurate. The thing I felt most distinguished the two rifles was the ease of loading the 124 compared to the 77. I always have a hard time fitting those tiny pellets into the breech of an underlever. Then there's the fear factor of the possibility of the 77 slamming closed on your thumb or finger. I've experienced this first hand on a different 77.....OUCH followed by numerous obscenities was the prior result....plus a purple thumbnail for a month! However, this day proved incident free.
The other big difference between the two rifles was the trigger. The HW wins hands down in this department. Weirhauch has set the standard here. Even a tuned FWB can't compare IMO.
So, after an afternoon of testing and enjoying these classic rifles, I came away with a mixed bag of results. But if I had to chose one, I would lean towards the FWB simply because of the ease of operation. But if I had to be in a shooting competition, I would have to pick th HW77.
In any case, just being able to pass a few hours on a downpour filled Monday afternoon shooting these 2 classics with my friend was a fine time. I wish I could do it more often.
