Hammerli 480 K2

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Brimfire
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Hammerli 480 K2

Post by Brimfire » Sat Jun 05, 2021 8:53 am

My last visit to GARC was a bit of a classic 10m pistol-fest.
6 10m pistols small.jpg
The third gun down is a Hammerli 480 K2, a lesser spotted PCP. I've got first refusal on it in a swap with a rifle I never use.

Thing is, there's precious little information out there about such a pistol. I've read a few bits about how the first 480 models were drastically unreliable and unrepairable and that the following K variant was a bit better. The K2 seems to have a better reputation but there's not really a wealth of different recommendations to give that view any great weight.

The pistol in question shoots well (It feels like 500fps or thereabouts,) looks in pretty good condition and fits me well. It'd come with the case/tools/adaptors/manual which is always good and two cylinders, one airtight, the other leaking and both out of date although I'm not too hung up on that.

Has anyone got any experience of these slightly obscure pistols and should I snap it up or avoid like the plague?
Stirred, not shaken.

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Brimfire
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Re: Hammerli 480 K2

Post by Brimfire » Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:18 pm

140 views and no replies? Guess that means no one has any experience of this slightly obscure pistol.

A similar request on the Target Talk forum (a much bigger membership pool to draw from) could only come up with three views on this gun, all of them generally positive but mindful of the age and total lack of spares/service. From what I can gather (and there's not a lot of info out there,) the original 480 was an unreliable and unrepairable thing, the following 480K was a good bit better and the final 480K2 was the best of the bunch by a distance. It's an inference on my part but I think reputational damage from the first two iterations hurt sales of the K2 model which would explain the absence of shared experiences of this pistol on the internet.

With that said, I went ahead with the swap and here it is -
480 K2 S.jpg
480 K2 S.jpg (10.54KiB)Viewed 17529 times
It needs a clean and some trigger adjustments to get it the way I like but it fits and feels pretty good although its accuracy is wasted in my hands.
Looking forward to shooting it.
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Hammer
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Re: Hammerli 480 K2

Post by Hammer » Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:59 pm

Hi there,
well, however unreliable the pistol may have been I don't know. I have two 480K2's and they work well. You must remember that Walther, Feinwerkbau, and Steyr-Mannlicher dominated in the days Hammerli came up with the 480. It was to be an up-hill battle. Had the Hammerli been around ten years earlier, the outcome might have been very different. If you are ever thinking of selling your 480K2, let me know. I find that mine fits me batter than any of the previous pistols I've used (Steyr LP1-CP, Steyr LP-10. Steyr LP10E, Matchguns MG-1). It does not have a recoil absorber, but so long as the hold is very consistent, so is the accuracy. If I could obtain a better-fitting trigger blade for my IZH-46, I'd be shooting that. Both the Steyr and the IZH can be disassembled and serviced at home. Hammerli tried to keep servicing information away from the buyers. They are gone! Otherwise, the 480K2 is a very fine air pistol. New air cylinders can be had from Prelutec.de.
Steve

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Brimfire
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Re: Hammerli 480 K2

Post by Brimfire » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:27 pm

Thanks Hammer - there's so little info about these pistols out there that anything is welcome. It strikes me too as a very fine pistol, there's definitely an air of quality about it and the K2 model probably deserved more widespread attention that it received.

I haven't had the chance to do much shooting with the 480K2 yet but all seems well with it. An added bonus is that the air cylinder that was reported as leaking is holding air perfectly. The previous owner also chucked in a 480 for spares. Pity it hoses out air as fast as I can get it in though but still very welcome.
2x480 small.jpg
I did have problems loading the 480K2 at first - the probe doesn't pull back that far to allow easy ammo insertion into the loading channel - but then I learned to angle the pistol downwards and drop the pellet down into the breech. Far less backward facing pellets that way. That aside, it's worked perfectly and I look forward to shooting it more when time allows.
Stirred, not shaken.

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