Archive for August 2011

The HW97K Synthetic – big, black, and accurate

Monday, August 29, 2011

Lately it seems I’ve testing a lot of airguns with synthetic stocks, and, by and large, I like them. The HW97K Synthetic is no exception.

An aside: there have, however, been synthetic-stocked airguns that I didn’t like. One in particular had a hollow stock that rang like the wood block from the percussion section of the orchestra – WOCK! I fired three shots, waited for my head to clear, called the fellow who sent it to me for review and said, “I think I’ll pass on this one.”

The HW97K Synthetic is a handsome and solidly built air rifle.

The HW97K Synthetic (hereinafter known as the HKS) stretches 40.35 inches from end to end and weighs 9.1 lbs, compared to 8.8 lbs for the HW97K. My first impression pulling out of the box is that this is a big, heavy, solid air rifle.

The butt pad of the HW97K Synthetic is not adjustable, but I found it comfortable.

Starting at the aft end of the HKS, you’ll find a black hard rubber butt pad. Forward of that is the ambidextrous synthetic thumbhole stock. The entire stock is finished in matte black, and there are textured panels for improved grip at the pistol grip and on the forestock. Surprisingly, the trigger guard on the HKS is not molded of the same engineering polymer as the rest of the stock, but is instead the usual black metal trigger guard found on HW97s. Inside the trigger guard, the metal Rekord trigger and trigger adjustment screw sport a gold-colored finish.

The HKS sports a gold colored trigger and trigger adjustment screw.

Underneath the forestock is a long solid to that provides clearance for the underlever  linkage when cocking the action. The far end of the cocking lever clips into a fitting that is part of the muzzle brake at the end of the barrel. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll encounter the receiver, which is black, except for the silver metal breech block. The aft end of the receiver has dovetails for mounting a scope, and there are three holes for accepting anti-recoil pins at the tail end of the receiver. At the extreme back edge of the receiver, you’ll find the typical Weihrauch pushbutton, non-resettable safety.

You have to push the button at the very end of the retaining clip under the muzzle brake to release the underlever for cocking.

To ready the HKS for shooting, push the release button at the end of the underlever latch just below the muzzle brake and pull the underlever downward. This releases it from the retaining clip. Next, pull the underlever down and back until it latches. The cocking stroke on the sample I tested was unbelievably smooth and quiet for an unturned air rifle. This also slides the breech block back, exposing the breech end of the barrel. Insert a pellet into the aft end of the barrel and return the underlever to its original position.

Take aim at your target, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger. On the sample I tested, the first stage came out at 1 lb. 4.6 oz., and the second stage tripped at 3 lb. 13.5 oz.  The Rekord trigger is one of the very best on a spring-piston sporting air rifle and can be readily adjusted for pull weight simply by turning a screw.

A typical HW97 will launch Crosman Premier 7.9 grain .177 pellets at around 850 fps. When the shot goes off, there is just a hint of vibration that is heard but not felt, and the report is very muted, very neighbor friendly.

 

The HKS produced this very satisfactory group shooting off a casual rest.

 

I was very pleased with the accuracy of the HKS. From a rest, I put five shots into a group at 30 yards that measured just 5/8 inch edge to edge. That works out to just under half an inch center to center.

In the end, I found a lot to smile about regarding the HW97K Synthetic: I like its accuracy, its quiet ways, its looks, and its very solid feel. I wouldn’t hesitate to campaign one in field target competition.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

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The New Webley Tempest

Monday, August 22, 2011

 

This is the pre-production version of the new Webley Tempest that I got to play with.

There are plans afoot to reintroduce the Webley Tempest. Airguns of Arizona sent me a pre-production sample and asked me to check it out. The experience was as unique as getting a ride in a Morgan three-wheeler.

There is something about the Tempest that reeks of espionage. Weighing just 2 lbs. 4.1 oz., and only about 9 inches long, it could be slipped in an overcoat pocket. The first time that I handled it, a thought sprang unbidden to mind: “This looks like the kind of thing the lads in the OSS would have carried for popping Nazi collaborators.” Of course, I have no information whatsoever that the OSS did any such thing with a Webley Tempest, but still the suspicion lurks.

The Tempest has a distinctly utilitarian look about it. It makes no attempt to emulate a firearm. Its appearance says purely: “air pistol.” It seems to be constructed mostly of matte black metal, although the pistol grips appear to be plastic. The left grip has a pronounced thumb shelf, at the end of which is a lever safety. Below that, a matte black trigger guard surrounds a matte black trigger.

Forward of that, “Webley Tempest” is emblazoned on the forward end of the receiver in white letters. Above that is the barrel, the muzzle end of which is fitted with a blade-type front sight. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find a knurled section (for gripping, I’ll explain in a moment), and a metal strap that wraps over the breech end of the barrel. On the left side of the metal strap is a pad for pushing with your thumb, and the whole thing is attached to a spring-loaded assembly. That’s all there is to the Webley Tempest.

Here the barrel is released from the receiver, ready to begin the cocking stroke.

To ready the Tempest for shooting, with your right hand press the thumb pad on the metal strap forward, toward the muzzle end of the pistol. This rotates the metal strap backwards, toward the rear sight, releasing the aft end of the barrel. Keeping the strap pushed toward the rear of the pistol, with your left hand grasp the knurled portion of the barrel and pull upward. This releases the breech end of the barrel from the receiver.

The Tempest is now fully cocked and ready to be loaded.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Still gripping the knurled portion of the barrel, pull the breech end of the barrel up and forward until it latches. This requires an estimated 30 lbs of effort and seems very awkward to me. I found it helpful to brace the pistol against my thigh during cocking, but be careful: the end of the barrel rotates toward the trigger guard as the pistol is cocked, and it can pinch a bunch of skin.

Next, insert a pellet into the breech end of the barrel and return it to its original position. Take aim at your target, flick off the safety, and squeeeeeze the trigger. The Tempest appears to have a single-stage trigger. The manual says it can be adjusted from approximately 3 to 5 lbs. At 5 lbs. 1 oz. sample I tested sent the pellet down range. I tested the .22 caliber version, and 14.35 gr JSB Express pellets whistled through the chronograph at a leisurely 300 fps, which works out to 2.86 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle, but that’s enough to puncture one side of a soup can at 7 yards.

From a sitting position, I was able to put 3 out of 5 shots inside an inch-and-a-half circle. The sights have no micro-adjustment. To change elevation, loosen a screw and slide the sight up or down. To change windage, loosen a different screw and slide the sight left or right. It’s a crude system, but it works, although making small adjustments is a delicate art.

In the end, I found the Tempest a mixed bag. I would have preferred lower cocking effort and easier-to-adjust sights, but I loved the old-fashioned looks and the gentle recoil.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

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Shooting household objects – a test of the Predator Polymag pellet

Monday, August 15, 2011

 

I did a head-to-head comparison between these two pellets and was surprised by the results.

 

Not long ago, Greg at Airguns of Arizona asked me if I would like to have a look at the Predator Polymag pellet.

For me, testing pellets always seems a problematic business. The reason is simple: in my view, the number one rule of pellet selection for airguns is: let the gun choose the ammunition. It doesn’t matter what your buddy’s gun shoots or what all the fellows are saying on the internet. What matters is what pellet delivers the greatest accuracy with your airgun at the range at which you intend to shoot. Everything else is secondary to accuracy, because if you can’t hit what you’re aiming at, all other considerations – such as power, penetration, expansion – are moot.

As a result, every airgunner who wants to get the most out of his or her airgun will have to test several different types of pellets, shooting groups with them at the same distances, to see which pellets produce the smallest groups. If it turns out that those tests reveal several pellets that produce very similar (and desirable) results, then you can start thinking about those other considerations such as power, penetration, expansion and so forth as you narrow down your pellet selection. So what’s the best pellet? The one that works best in your airgun. End of story.

Having said that, the Predator Polymag makes some specific claims that are testable. Right on the top of the tin, besides saying “Proven the best hunting pellet made!” and “Superior accuracy and take-down punch,” it also says “The hollow head design with sharp polymer tip offers match grade accuracy with incomparable penetration and expansion.”

Now, whether you get match grade accuracy is going to depend upon which airgun you use to launch the Predator Polymag, but “incomparable penetration and expansion???” I began to think about how I could test that those claims.

I remembered seeing a report on the internet how a fellow had shot bars of soap to test relative penetration, so I decided to do that. I bought some large bars of Ivory soap and shot them at point blank range with my FWB150: two shots with .177 Predator Polymag pellets and two shots with .177 JSB Exacts. Both pellets penetrated the full length of the bar of soap, producing entrance holes, through-tunnels, and exit holes that appeared to be identical. So far, there is no discernible difference in performance between the two pellets, both of which are made by JSB.

It occurred to me that perhaps the Predator Polymag wanted to hit a harder surface to promote expansion, so I then shot a soup can at 13 yards: one shot with each pellet with my FWB150. Both shot penetrated both side of the soup can, and again I could see no discernible difference between the performance of the two pellets.

Okay, I thought, maybe I’m not launching the Predator Polymag shooting fast enough (the FWB generally launches 8 gr. pellets around 640 fps) to really get the best performance out of them and maybe the Predator Polymag pellets need a difference medium to penetrate. So I grabbed a stack of paperback books, taped them together, and took one shot with each pellet at a distance of 13 yards, but this time I was using my Benjamin Marauder, which usually generates close to 20 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

I carefully examined the stack of books and found that only one pellet had penetrated sufficiently to “disrupt” the back cover of the first book, a 440-page paperback. That pellet was the JSB Exact. Paging backward through the book, I found the nose of the JSB Exact pellet poking through page 425. Continuing to page backward through the book, I found that the Polymag Predator disrupted page 385, and I found the pellet poking through page 219.

Both pellets were pretty well mangled when extracted from the book, but both appeared to be expanded about the same.

Taking care, I extracted each pellet from the pages of the book. I found the Predator Polymag had lost its polymer point even earlier in the book, but that there was no discernible difference in the expansion of the two pellets.

The bottom line: if the Predator Polymag shoots accurately in your airgun, by all means use it if it meets your needs (and on the internet, I have read many hunters raving about the performance of the pellet), but I was not able to prove – at least with the .177 version of this pellet – the manufacturer’s claims of “incomparable penetration and expansion.”

Til Next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

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The RWS Model 34 P

Monday, August 8, 2011

Every once in a while, you’ll see on the Yellow Forum a topic centering around the topic: “What would be the best survival air rifle?”

I always read these forum threads with great interest because the topic of survival in the wilds has always fascinated me. I remember reading the tale of a group of young men who made an exceptional canoe passage on a Canadian river in high northern latitudes. The passage of the full length of this particular river had never been done before; they had a limited time window in the arctic summer, and they would be beyond communication and beyond outside help, completely on their own. As I recall, they had some accidents, lost some of their supplies, and scarcity of food became an issue.

As I read the account, I began to wonder: if I had to select an airgun to take with me on such a trip – one that would be suitable for collecting food – what would it be?

A while back in this blog, I came up with a list of characteristics that I would like to see in a survival airgun. Looking back at it, I have decided to modify some of my thinking, and I have noted the changes in italics.

1. Portability. That means either a pistol or a rifle than can be readily broken down or at least a rifle that is not overly heavy.
2. Self-contained.

3. Sufficient power for taking small game.

4. Stealthy report to minimize scaring game.

5. Easy to shoot well. Spring-piston powerplants are the hardest to shoot well because of their whiplash forward and back recoil. Multi-stroke pneumatics are easy to shoot well.

6. Reliability. Airguns dealers tell me that springers are the most reliable powerplant. You can usually put at least a couple of thousand rounds through one before a rebuild is needed, and some are far more reliable. Further, springers tend to be “fail soft,” that is, you can break a mainspring, burn a piston seal, and many springers will continue to launch pellets, albeit much less efficiently. By contrast, some multi-stroke pneumatics can fail in storage simply because the seals dry out or lose flexibility.

7. Ease of maintenance. Spring piston powerplants typically require a spring compressor for assembly and disassembly. MSPs usually can be taken apart with hand tools. Also, a high level of weather resistance.

You’ll notice that some of these characteristics are at odds with each other, so you have to make your gun selection based on what’s most important to you.

A couple of weeks ago, the folks at UmarexUSA sent me an air rifle that would make my short list for a survival airgun – the RWS Model 34 P.

The 34 P, a variant of the classic Model 34 breakbarrel air rifle, stretches 46 inches from end to end and weighs just 7.7 lbs with its fiber-optic iron sights. At the aft end of the buttstock is a black plastic butt pad with “Diana” (the name of the German manufacturer) and some horizontal ridges molded into it. Moving forward, the entire stock – buttstock, forestock, and trigger guard – is molded of an all-weather engineering polymer that has a very fine-grain pebble finish. At the pistol grip and foregrip, there are high-profile ridges molded into the polymer that do an admirable job of providing grip.

The red fiber optic front sight.The green fiber optic rear sight.

The molded trigger guard houses the new metal TO6 trigger which is adjustable only for length of first-stage travel. Underneath the forestock is a long slot that provides clearance for the linkage when cocking the 34 P. At the end of the barrel, a molded polymer muzzlebrake serves as a mount for a globe-type front sight which houses a red fiber optic rod. The sight “hood” has slots in it that allow sunlight to reach and illuminate the optic fiber. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find the notch-type rear sight which has green fiber optics on either side of the notch. The result is that the correct sight picture will show one green dot on either side of a red dot. Moving further back, you’ll find a dovetail for mounting a scope and, at the extreme aft end of the receiver, a push-pull resettable safety.

To ready the 34 P at the muzzle break and crank the barrel down and back until it latches. This will take about 30 lbs. of effort. Stuff a pellet into the breech and return the barrel to its original position. Take aim at your target, take aim at your target, and squeeze the trigger. On the sample that I tested, the first stage came out at about 1 lb. 9 oz. At 2 lb. 4.6 oz., the shot went down range with alacrity – the 34 P was launching .177 caliber 7.9 gr. Crosman Premier Light pellets at 905 fps. With a scope mounted, I was able to put 5 JSB Exact pellets into a group at 30 yards that you could easily cover with a dime.

In the end, I find the RWS Model 34 P to be a worthy candidate for a survival air rifle. It is highly weather resistant, the fiber optics sights are easy to see and provide an excellent sight picture, and the accuracy is commendable.

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

 

 

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Posted in Airguns | 15 Comments »

The Desert Eagle – an action pistol worthy of the name

Monday, August 1, 2011

The Desert Eagle is a CO2 repeater pistol that just begs to be shot fast.

As a fulltime freelance writer, I occasionally get some really neat assignments. Recently I interviewed a dozen NRA national champions about how they prepare for and handle pressure in competition.

Among them, I got to interview several action pistol shooters. And that got me to thinking: man, I would love to have a good game that I could play with rapid-fire air pistols – a game where I could shoot turning targets, falling plates, and the like, all against the clock. If you would like to get an idea of what might be possible shooting action air pistols, check out these videos of airsoft IPSC shooters here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PB7BNo0zWM and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABhkFTO4cp4

Recently, the good folks at UmarexUSA sent me an air pistol that I think would be a prime candidate for shooting an action air pistol game: the Desert Eagle. The Desert Eagle is a big, beefy pistol constructed primarily of matte black engineering polymer. It stretches about 10.5 inches from end to end and weighs 2 lb. 10.9 oz. Like most of Umarex’s action pistols that look like a semi-automatic, the Desert Eagle is actually a single-action/double-action revolver. .177 caliber pellets are loaded into an eight-shot rotary magazine that, when in use, is hidden by the receiver of the “automatic.” What sets the Desert Eagle apart from the others is that this is a blow-back pistol. We’ll find out why that is important in just a little while, but first let’s take a tour of the Desert Eagle (DE).

Here are the beavertail, the hammer (cocked), and the safety.

At the back end of the DE, you’ll find a pronounced “Beaver tail” that curls back over the shooters thumb. Above that is the hammer, which can be pulled back to put the DE into single-action mode. Just forward of that is the portion of the upper receiver that blows back when the DE shoots. On either side of the receiver are safety levers – pull either one down to safe the action, push either one up to allow the DE to fire. On top of the receiver is the notch-type rear sight which can be adjusted for windage only by loosening a screw, manually moving the sight, and re-tightening the screw.

Underneath this big brass screw is where the CO2 cartridge goes. The Desert Eagle comes with a wide flat screwdriver that fits the screw.

Forward of the beaver tail is the pistol grip which is lightly textured for better adhesion in the hand. On the bottom of the pistol grip is a large brass screw which is removed for loading a single 12-gram CO2 cartridge. Forward of the pistol grip, a molded polymer trigger guard surrounds a molded polymer trigger. Just above the trigger on the left side of the DE is a lever. Pull it downward, and the barrel sleeve, which houses the 5.7-inch .177 caliber barrel, is released to move forward so that the rotary magazine can be inserted into the breech.

Forward of the trigger guard, underneath the receiver, is a flat spot. The DE comes with an optional Picatinny rail for accessories that can be attached to the flat spot with a couple of screws. Moving ahead again, you’ll find the muzzle of the DE and above that, the blade-type front sight. To the rear of the front sight is another Picatinny rail on top of the DE.  That’s all there is to the Desert Eagle.

To ready the DE for shooting, take the wide, flat screwdriver provided with the pistol and remove the large brass screw at the bottom of the pistol grip. Drop in a 12-gram CO2 cartridge nose first and replace the brass screw snugly. Load eight flatnose or roundnose pellets into the magazine from the rear (the front of the magazine has a flat face). Do not use pointed pellets.

The barrel sleeve is in the forward position, showing the gap where the 8-shot rotary magazine is inserted.

Release the barrel sleeve, place the magazine in the breech, and push the barrel sleeve back into position until it latches. Take aim at your target, flick off the safety and . . . now, at this point, you have two choices: you can shoot the DE in double-action mode or single-action mode. In double-action mode (in which you do not pre-cock the hammer), the trigger pull is 8 lb., 1 oz., but in single-action mode (with the hammer pre-cocked), the effort to pull the trigger drops to 4 lb. 9 oz. 

Now, here’s the really cool part. The DE is a blowback pistol, so as soon as you trigger the first shot, the slide blows back and automatically cocks the hammer for the next shot. With the hammer pre-cocked, that makes it much easier to fire each following shot and to shoot a magazine-load of pellets quite rapidly.

The specifications for the Desert Eagle claim 425 fps, but I found it would launch 7 grain RWS Hobby pellets at 469 fps (average) in 80 degree weather. UmarexUSA tells me you can expect about 50 shots from a fresh CO2 cartridge.

Here's the Desert Eagle, tricked out with the Walther Top Point II on the top rail and the Walther FLR650 flashlight/laser combo on the lower rail.

I mounted a Walther Top Point II red dot on the top rail of the DE, and it really helped me to aim and shoot at targets very quickly. I also tried mounting a Walther FLR650 combination flashlight and laser on the lower rail, but I found I couldn’t see the laser in full bright sunshine, although it works quite well in dimmer conditions.

The bottom line: I give my hearty personal recommendation to the Desert Eagle, with an extra hearty recommendation to the Desert Eagle with the Walther Top Point II red dot sight. Now, if somebody would just invent a really good action shooting game for air pistols . . .

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

-          Jock Elliott

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Posted in Airguns | 5 Comments »