This page preserves a member-submitted review from the original KermitAirgunClub.com, a Kermit, Texas airgun club site active until it went offline. It's republished here for reference. If you're the original author and would like something removed or credited differently, contact info@airgunguide.com.
I've had the HW97LK for a while now and out of the box, I considered the gun to be a bit smoother in operation than the famous TX200. Still, I wanted a bit more so I ordered a Maccari tune kit for it. The tune kit sat for a couple weeks while I gathered up the courage to tear down my HW. Yesterday, I finally did the deed. I fired out a few shots over the chrony to get some pre-tune numbers and almost talked myself out of tuning it. The gun shoots great with minimal twang and is right at 14fpe in .22.
Alas, I decided to go ahead with the tune. After an uneventful disassembly, I lubed the gun properly and installed the new spring, guides, and seal. I didn't polish the compression chamber nor any other polishing. I did clean out the trigger housing and added a touch of moly, as well as to the pivot points on the gun. Other mods to this gun include a fitted Morgan Adjustable butt pad and a custom cocking handle.
Putting the gun back together was quite the job as the spring has a fair amount of preload to it, but with some (safe) diligence, I managed to get her back together. I fired out a couple shots to ensure all was well and was rewarded with a very nice firing cycle. Less recoil than before and a nice thunk upon firing. Easily as good or better than either of my tuned TX200's. I had hoped that the decrease in recoil didn't mean that I had lost too much velocity. I was very sparing with the tar on the spring as I didn't want to lose too much. When I fired a few shots over the chrony, I was really surprised.... my 14fpe gun is now a 17fpe hammer. There was no smoking or dieseling to speak of.
Today, I decided to try out some groups. Of course, POI had changed after the tune, and my first few shots were a bit erratic. I fired out about 10 shots using Kodiaks to ensure all dieseling was gone and then fired out about 20 shots with RWS HP's, the HW's favorite pellet. I then re-chronied it to make sure yesterdays shots weren't affected by dieseling and thankfully, they were not. Just a touch over 17fpe using a variety of mid weight pellets.
On to the groups. After sighting in, I ended up with this nice group. I had all 5 in a one hole group and should have left it at that, but did one more shot and of course, opened up my group with a called flyer.
Regards.. Rob