TargetTalk

I have the opportunity to buy one, what are the general opinions of these pistols?

This would be my first free pistol

Neil

Neil;

Yah, that neat little duck bill under the barrel.

I have heard good things about that series of Hammerli's

Almost bought one during my transition between my fist pistol the TOZ and purchased my now Hammerli FP60(Swiss made).

When I was looking for one the 152's were around $1300 or so for a used one and upwards to $1800 for a pretty much unused one.

I desided to go a little more and buy a new one so parts are available and also the total adjustments to the rear sight compared to the TOZ(adjustment of the width and depth of rear sight blade).

Depending on the price and condition I would seriously think about it.

I believe I heard about the front sight on the 152's could come off(something about that they were bonded on ?)

Hope this helps and do all of your research.

Clarence

I had a 152 years ago and it never gave me any trouble. I would recommend disconnecting the battery when not using it, but otherwise, I never had even an inkling of an issue.

HTH

Joel

Don't buy it without holding it first. The 152 has a lot of rake and if you are used to shooting bullseye guns, it will feel uncomfortable. If you are getting along in age, it may take some training to get your wrist to flex enough to get the front sight out of the rafters.
It will be a very accurate pistol.
Ben

The Hammerli 150/152 series is MUCH more popular than the "plastic paddle" 160/162 series.

I used one for years. It was beautifully made and very accurate. It was one of the few pistols that just made me marvel at the quality of it's construction, especially when disassembling for cleaning and maintenance.
There are a few things to know about it. The chamber is very tight, so you'll need to choose ammo carefully. Forget about stuff like CCI standard, etc. You may be able to jam one in there, but you'd never get a loaded round out. You'd have to fire it first.
Either the geometry of the cocking lever or the design of the breachblock with it's striker and spring arrangement is not quite as good as the 160/162. It takes a good bit more effort to cock. You'll also want to be sure to not store it cocked, as the striker spring will start giving you misfires.
In cold weather or an unheated range, the battery may behave unreliably. You can take it out and warm it up in your pocket to get it working again properly. It is nice that it takes good old standard 9 volt batteries and not some weird battery that may prove difficult and expensive to find.
The grip angle didn't bother me, even having shot a lot of 1911s, but it did seem a bit chunky. That might be due to the electronics in there. Speaking of that, I never had any trouble at all besides the cold weather issue I mentioned above. Some people have mentioned that the solenoid can get gummed up, but I think that's more indicative of inadvisable cleaning practice. Rudy Marent told me to always clean one (or any Hammerli free pistol) upside down so no solvent or dirt can get into the trigger works, etc. The trigger is super reliable, even when set to extreme light weight.

Best Regards,
Jim

Does the electric 152 have a coil that releases a mainspring like the CM84E, or a coil that propels a firimg pin into the round like the Walther FP?

The Hammerli 152 uses a falling breech block action. Upon opening the action fully, the striker in the breech block is cocked and held captive under spring tension by a sear. When fired, an electromagnet (located in the grip area) receives a charge stored in the circuit's capacitor. The magnetic force drives a plunger upwards to trip the sear in the breech block, thus releasing the striker.
The locktime is incredibly fast. Hammerli's specs are 0.03 milliseconds. Each 152 was assembled in batches of ten pistols. Before final assembly and live test fire, all ten pistols in each batch was hooked up to a rig that would test the electronic circuit and trigger, discharging each pistol every 6 seconds for 20 hours (a total of 12,000 discharges).
The trigger weight can be reliably set from 5 grams up to 100 grams.

The only problems I've heard from the electronics all involved letting dirt or oil fall into the electromagnet, thus gumming up the plunger's ability to freely move up upon discharge. This can be cleaned out, however, restoring function.

Best Regards,
Jim