TargetTalk

Hey guys,

I am in the process of selecting a new rimfire pistol for Bullseye competitions. Recently, I stumbled upon a deal on Hammerli 208 International with safety for $900. Based on the pictures and description the gun is in excellent condition, tight fit and very clean bore. However, there are some minor rust spots under the trigger guard, on the front strap, and on beavertail. Every place where gun comes into contact with hands has rust spots.
What do you guys think about it? Is it a good deal or not? What are the options for fixing these rust spots? Re-bluing hot or cold, parkerization, maybe modern coating? Do you have any experience with rusting Hammerli 208? Looking forward hearing from you! Thank you!

P.S. Some shooters praise this gun to be almost ideal for bullseye, is it really true? How does Hammerli 208 stacks up against modern Walther SSP?

Reblue the right way, is it a 2 stage trigger ?

SixtyLion wrote:Hey guys,

I am in the process of selecting a new rimfire pistol for Bullseye competitions. Recently, I stumbled upon a deal on Hammerli 208 International with safety for $900. Based on the pictures and description the gun is in excellent condition, tight fit and very clean bore. However, there are some minor rust spots under the trigger guard, on the front strap, and on beavertail. Every place where gun comes into contact with hands has rust spots.
What do you guys think about it? Is it a good deal or not? What are the options for fixing these rust spots? Re-bluing hot or cold, parkerization, maybe modern coating? Do you have any experience with rusting Hammerli 208? Looking forward hearing from you! Thank you!

P.S. Some shooters praise this gun to be almost ideal for bullseye, is it really true? How does Hammerli 208 stacks up against modern Walther SSP?

I have a Hammerli 208 International and love it. Great trigger, very adjustable, very reliable, very accurate. No rust on mine, so I can't comment on that. BlackCote in Pennsylvania (blackcote.com) does great work at a reasonable price.

I don't know about the trigger. What do you guys think is it a good deal for $900?

too expensive in my opinion

SixtyLion wrote:I don't know about the trigger. What do you guys think is it a good deal for $900?

If it has two or more magazines it's a fair price, IMHO.

Thank you very much for your help guys!

Well, I got so distracted by the price and rust on this and missed the fact that the gun has a left-handed grip, which is a issue since I am right handed. Also, this gun comes with only one magazine. Even though price looks ok, if I would buy that gun I will have to pay extra for new grip, magazines, and some surface treatment, therefore I think I'll pass this one!

I just want to thank you guys again for all your help!!!

The only 208 with a two stage trigger was a 208S. The 280 had one as well, but totally different gun. You can quickly tell because it has a fairly straight trigger compared to other models. I believe the trigger guard also has a fairly square front. Great pistols, great accuracy. I had a 215S which was a near copy of the 208 sans high polishing.

As far as price? $900 seems cheap. I would guess its an older gun, therefore single stage trigger. Newer S models usually go for over $2000. A big difference.

tenx9 wrote:The only 208 with a two stage trigger was a 208S. The 280 had one as well, but totally different gun. You can quickly tell because it has a fairly straight trigger compared to other models. I believe the trigger guard also has a fairly square front. Great pistols, great accuracy. I had a 215S which was a near copy of the 208 sans high polishing.

Im not sure the S designation necessarily indicates a two stage trigger, although the 208s models almost always have one. I thought it meant that the gun was imported to the US with a safety added. In Europe the 208 was sold essentially as a free pistol.

The 208 international is an earlier model and less valuable than the later models of Hammerli. However their are plenty of nice 22's out there.
If budget is an issue, and you want the gun for bullseye, I think a Nelson or a Marvel 1911 conversion unit would be a good choice.

Magazines are pricy on the Hammerlis, and you want to get the metal magazine bases from Larry's. The platic ones are awful. Dont drop one in a match. You will be sorry.

That might be true as every S model I ever saw whether 215 or 208 had a 2 stage trigger. The triggers were also adjustable for length of pull. A friend of mine had a newer 208S that had a big knurly red safety on the back of the slide, while my 215S which was purchased from Osburns ( long defunct importer) had a smaller almost like switch on the back of the slide. Either way fabulous guns

The 'S' (208 or 215) was for the squared trigger guard and trigger adjustable for length of pull. Some of the non 'S' models did have 2 stage triggers.

http://www.australiancynic.com/208.htm#_208

208 is hard to beat. I shot one for several years back in my prime shooting years. 895 personal best with it. Superior to any conversion. Don't let single stage trigger scare you; you have to squeeze trigger no matter how many stages! I don't shoot my S model any better.
Jon

Magazines are EXPENSIVE. $131.95 + shipping from Larry's That's just for one magazine. Wouldn't feed reliably. Sent them back once at my expense to get them adjusted. No Bueno. Fortunately I was able get Jon E to adjust them so they would feed.

Great gun though.

Gregbenner wrote:Magazines are EXPENSIVE. $131.95 + shipping from Larry's That's just for one magazine. Wouldn't feed reliably. Sent them back once at my expense to get them adjusted. No Bueno. Fortunately I was able get Jon E to adjust them so they would feed.

Great gun though.

I had the same issue with Larry's mags. Bought a new one and it would not lock back reliably on my (1978) 208. Ended up sending it to Larry's for adjustment since eventually the slide release spring broke when I was trying to troubleshoot the issue. Larry did manage to fix it for me so now it will lock back on all three of my metal mags. They said they had to re-cut the slide to do it (I don't know what that means?). I've put at least a thousand rounds through it since its been back and had only one or two hiccups.

I don't have an SSP to compare it to. It certainly holds its own against my GSP and Model 41 (Clark barrel). It's simply a matter of what is most comfortable, reliable and accurate in your hands - everyone's different. Whatever gets you the most 10's on a regular basis. Certainly you won't have the accuracy of the pistol to blame with the 208. Mine's an older one and the trigger is a single stage which is fine, but I prefer the triggers on both of my other guns (two stage on the GSP and single stage with work on the 41). Larry's opinion was that my trigger was fine and not worth working on (only marginal improvements could be made). I don't know if that's true, as it currently pulls at just over 3 lbs which I don't particularly like in a BE gun - not just the weight but the very prominent 'walll' you reach to fire a shot...the release becomes a very deliberate thing...not sure if I'm describing that well since of course it should be deliberate. On my other pistols it is deliberate as well, yet the actual release point comes as a surprise. Long way around saying that on my version, I'm feeling that that's the one area it could be improved. Otherwise its an excellent BE pistol and certainly not bested by either of the others except for that trigger action. I've quickly learned to work with it and I think I shoot very well with it, but I still wish it were a better trigger, and that it were in the mid to low twos rather than low threes.

You should be able to get down to 2# with no issues. When adjusted properly the 208 trigger has no equal when comparing single stage triggers. Always feels the same!
I broke 890 many times with my 208. I use a 208s now and really don't shoot any better.
Jon

Re: cost of magazine for 208s. You can modify a S&W mod 41 magazine to function perfectly in a Hammerli 208s. In addition, you get 10 round capacity for slow fire.

machinist mike wrote:Re: cost of magazine for 208s. You can modify a S&W mod 41 magazine to function perfectly in a Hammerli 208s. In addition, you get 10 round capacity for slow fire.

Here is one description for modification of S&W M41 magazines for use with the 208s (and I bet it works with the 208/215 as well): http://www.bullseyeforum.net/t1200-modi ... r-208s-use

Apparently, Ed Hall pioneered this modification and has other 208s helpful tips scattered about on the internet.

As an aside, I've become a bit fascinated with rust bluing. This is typically done with higher grade shotguns since the barrels are often soldered together and hot bluing can damage the solder adhesion. Cold bluing is (from what I've read) one of the most durable blue processes - but it takes considerable time and hence is expensive.