About Jock Elliott
Located in upstate New York, I never met a projectile launcher I didn't like. Besides fooling around with airguns, bows, and blowguns, I pick banjo and guitar. I share my life with my wife, son, and a variety of furry creatures.
Posts by Jock Elliott
The RWS 460 is a handsome air rifle.
The RWS 460, available in .177 and .22, is a long, slender, underlever spring-piston air rifle. It measures 45.5 inches from the tip of the muzzle to butt pad, yet it weighs just 8.3 pounds. At the extreme aft end, you’ll find a ventilated rubber recoil pad. Moving forward, the righthand hardwood stock has a modest cheek piece on the left side. The pistol grip is checkered on each side, and forward of that, there is a black trigger guard which houses a black plastic 2-stage trigger.
The forestock, checkered on either side, tapers gently from the trigger guard to the end. Underneath is a long slot that provides clearance of the underlever when the gun is being cocked. Ahead of the forestock is the underlever which snaps into a fitting mounted on the barrel. The same fitting incorporates the front blade sight.
At the aft end of the barrel, you’ll find the receiver with the rear notch sight on top. To the right of the rear sight is the anti-beartrap release tab, and behind the rear sight is the silver breech block. The breech opening is cut more deeply on the right side to favor loading pellets from that direction.
About six inches behind the breech block is a scope rail with a couple of dimples for anti-recoil pins. Finally, at the end of the receiver is a plastic push-pull safety that can be reset.
If you plan on shooting the 460 with a scope, I can highly recommend the RWS one-piece lock down mount, which is available in both 30mm and 1 inch. It has dual recoil pins, a clamping bar which is sized to the scope rail on the RWS 460, and .025 inches of elevation built in to deal with the barrel “deflection” (or droop) that is usually found in RWS air rifles. The mount worked exactly as advertised, and I had no trouble with it whatsoever. I mounted a 4-12×50 RWS scope (30 mm tube). Although the scope has a minimum focusing distance of around 13 yards at full power, by turning down the magnification I was able to see well enough to make closer shots.
The RWS 460 with a peep sight mounted.
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know of my predilection to shoot “Quigley style” with non-glass sights. I mounted Gamo supermatch rear peep sight that had been drilled for an anti-recoil pin, and it worked just fine. The only downside to this setup is the width of the front sight blade, which obscures small targets at longer ranges. All in all, I really liked this rig, which weighs barely more than the naked rifle.
I also tried the rear sight that comes mounted on the 460. If you find the rear notch to be too narrow, you can loosen a tiny allen screw on the lefthand side of the sight, slip out the sight insert, flip it over, put it back in place, and you have a wider rear notch.
To ready the 460 for shooting, slip the underlever out of its retaining slot by pulling down. Next, move the underlever down and back until it latches. This slides the breech block back and exposes the breech so that you can load a pellet. As you do this, you will notice the anti-beartrap release tab on the right side of the receiver traveling backwards along the right side of the receiver in concert with the breech block.
Just forward of the breech you can see the anti-beartrap release tab, which slides back and forth in unison with the silver breech block.
Next, insert a pellet into the aft end of the barrel. To close the breech, you have to depress the anti-beartrap release tab, which is now located near the rear of the breech opening on the right side of the 460, and return the underlever to its original position. The RWS 460 is the only airgun I’m aware of in which the anti-beartrap release “travels,” but it presents no problem once you become accustomed to the novelty of it.
With the 460 loaded, take aim, push the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. It takes 1 lb 10 oz of effort to take the first stage out of the trigger, and at 2 lb. 9.4 oz, the shot goes down range. The 460 launched Crosman .177 Premier 7.9 gr. pellets at 1,023 fps average and Crosman Premier 10.5 gr. pellets at 836 fps average.
I got the best accuracy results with the Crosman 10.5 grain pellets. My first four shots with the heavy pellets went into a group just hair over .5 inches edge to edge at 35 yards. I yanked my last shot, though, so that the group opened to 7/8 inch edge to edge. That works out to .69 inches CTC.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
A little while back, Dale Johnson responded to my review of the FX Independence by saying “10 lb. rifle, if it sits on sand bags all day that’s fine, but a rifle that heavy is useless to me for hunting. 7.5 with scope is my limit.”
When I read that I thought, “You know, I’ve heard other hunters say similar things, that ideally their hunting rig would weigh no more than 7.5 lbs. to ease the burden of carrying it all day.” So I decided to do a little research on the Airguns of Arizona website to see what kind of 7.5 lb. (or less) hunting rig I could put together.
The first and perhaps most obvious choice would be either the Benjamin 392/397 or the Sheridan. Either rifle weighs 5.5 lbs. according to the Crosman website and can be fitted with a peep sight that adds negligible weight. Scoping these pump-up rifles is difficult, but barrel-clamping scope mount adapters are available, and the hot setup seems to be a pistol scope or red dot mounted well out on the barrel, Scout Rifle style.
Another possibility is the Marauder PCP Air Pistol which weighs 2.7 lbs. without scope. It’s a .22 caliber pre-charged repeater that comes with a plastic stock that quickly turns it into a carbine. I’ll be reviewing one of these pistols in the near future.
The FX Verminator is a carbine version of FX’s double bottle airgun and weighs only 5.3 lbs. Similarly, the Ranchero carbine weighs in at 4.8 lbs. Either of these diminutive repeater carbines is available in .177 or .22. Virtually all of the FX long guns weigh less than 7 lbs. (with the exception of the Revolution), and some of them weigh under 6 lbs.
The Daystate Huntsman Classic tips the scales at 6 lbs., as does the Daystate Huntsman Buckmaster. The Brocock Enigma weighs 6 lbs., 13.5 oz.; the Brocock Concept weighs only 6 lbs; and the Brocock Contour weighs only 4 lbs.
Among springers, Weihrauch has several candidates that might fill the bill. If you’re willing to go after smaller game at closer ranges, the HW30s weighs 5.5 lbs., as does the HW30S Deluxe. Either can be fitted with a peep sight or scope. At 7.8 lbs., the higher power HW35E is just a touch over the weight limit, but would make a delightful hunting rig, especially if equipped with a peep sight. The HW85 is a little bit lighter, at 7.7 lbs. and would be a good candidate for a peep sight. The HW50s and the HW50S Stainless weigh 6.8 lbs., deliver more power than the smaller HW30S models, and would also work well with a peep sight.
The BSA Lightning XL, available in .177, .22, and .25, weighs just 6.6 lbs. The BSA Supersport XL, available in the same calibers, weighs 6.8 lbs.
If you want a scope and rifle combination that meets the 7.5 lb criteria, there are some lightweight scopes available to mount on a light rifle. The Burris Compact 3-9 x 32 weighs just 12 oz. The Bushnell Sportsman 3-9 x 32 is just 6.3 oz., and the Leupold EFR Ultralight 3-9 x 33 weighs in at 11 oz.
Play mix and match with light air rifles and light scopes, and you should be able to put together a combination that you can carry for a full day in the field with a grin on your face.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
A while back, a thread popped up on the “Yellow” forum that made me take notice. Larry Durham, otherwise known as LD, was responding to another post, and he said some pretty interesting things.
LD is the designer of the famous LD air pistol as well as the USFT air rifle. He has been around airgunning for many years and has likely forgotten more about airguns than I have learned.
Here is what he had to say back on October 29, 2010: “If you don’t live in some draconian liberal-ruled area, and are not a convicted felon, well then I want to point out that the principle good reason for owning an airgun is because it allows one to enjoy shooting, whether it be target or hunting at relatively short range in comparison to firearms.
I own all manner of firearms, thank God, but none is really quite so suitable for quiet, safe, accurate shooting at short ranges. By short range, I mean inside about 100 feet. Yes, airguns can be stretched beyond 100 feet for sure, but many, if not most are truly in a class by themselves within that distance!
The only firearm I know of that might also be considered very useful at 100 feet is your venerable shotgun, but there is the noise and short range safety aspect that for me, rules it out for casual shooting in most folk’s backyards.
Sure, I know there are sub-powered rimfires that can shoot at airgun power and noise levels, but the accuracy is totally lacking, and cost is up there. Also, for sure there IS danger from airgun pellets well beyond 100 feet, and likely even to a degree, at three times that, but when compared to a rimfire, well, the danger is much easier to compensate for.
So …. please try to understand that there is little need to try to make airguns serve the duties that firearms handle so well, since we can, for the most part, still own firearms and airguns!”
I thought LD had a good point, and, strangely enough, a few days after I asked LD for permission to quote him, a semi-unusual coincidence happened. As I was chatting with a friend who owns a farm, suddenly he began singing the praises of his RWS air rifle. “I have all kinds of firearms,” he said, “but at 75-100 feet, my air rifle is just superb.” He went on to tell me how he has used it to dispatch woodchucks in the garden and pigeons in the barn.
I was a little surprised to have two people within a week say basically the same thing: airguns are really excellent inside a hundred feet. That certainly squares up with my experience. When I get the occasional call to do a pest control favor for a neighbor, I feel most comfortable shooting within 100 feet because I have higher confidence that I will hit the target where it counts. And when I am shooting field target, those 40 and 50 yard targets are a lot less certain than the ones closer in . . . particularly when I am shooting a springer.
Of course, there are those excellent fellows who make an art form of shooting air rifles at longer ranges. For example, Cliff Tharpe routinely hunts ground squirrels and prairies dogs at distances far beyond 100 feet with his precharged air rifles. He told my once that his quarry is so skittish that typically he can’t get closer than 50 yards, and sometimes not even that close.
So, what do you think? Is inside 100 feet a kind of magic spot for the utility of airguns? Feel free to chime in and post a comment.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
On a warm Sunday afternoon back in October, 2010, back when there weren’t large white bears roaming my yard (well, maybe that’s a teeny bit of an exaggeration, but it was 8.8 degrees F. just the other morning), I got to do something that is becoming increasing rare for me: I got to shoot my own guns.
Now, I realize that this might be kind of a cheesy thing to say, but I spend so much time reviewing various airguns for this blog that it has become really uncommon for me to drag out a bunch of my own guns and shoot them just for the sheer joy of sending a few shots down range.
But it happened that a warm, fairly calm afternoon popped up one Sunday afternoon in late October, so I began pulling a few of my favorites out of their gun cabinets to see how they are behaving.
The Quigley Sheridan
The first gun I decided to try is my “Quigley” Sheridan. This is a modern Sheridan that Larry Durham very kindly fitted with a globe front sight and a tang vernier rear sight. Shooting .20 caliber JSB Exact pellets off a casual rest, I managed to put three shots in a group that measured only 5/8 inch edge to edge at 35 yards, but the next two shots expanded the group to nearly 2.5 inches. The problem with shooting an air rifle with non-glass, non-magnifying sights is an optical one. It’s simply hard to see the target. Perhaps I’ll start experimenting with shooting with my left eye in the future.
The second air rifle to come out of the closet was a modern “Steroid” Sheridan with a 10X scope. At 35 yards, 5 JSB Exact pellets landed in a group that measured 1-1/8 inch from edge to edge. Four of the shots measured only ¾ inch edge to edge, certainly good enough for defending the garden or the bird feeder.
I then decided to give my scoped Beeman R7 a try. At 35 yards, shooting Crosman Premier Light .177 pellets, I could only squeeze out a 1.5 inch edge to edge 5 shot group. Clearly I was not having my best luck with a spring-piston air rifle that day.
My scoped FWB150
Then the guys who inhabit the back room of my brain handed me an idea: why not try a recoilless springer? Once again, I dove into the basement and emerged, this time, with my trusty FWB150. This time I put all 5 JSB Exact pellets into a group that measured just ¾ inch edge to edge. This was clearly more like it!
A target like this always puts a smile on my face!
My final candidate for the day was the always reliable Benjamin Marauder. Shooting again from the same casual rest, I began launching Crosman Premier Heavy pellets at the target 35 yards away. After 5 shots, I strolled down to the pellet trap to admire my work. The group (seen above) measured just 3/8 inch edge to edge. That works out to about 2/10 inch center to center.
So what did I learn from all this? First, that it’s always fun to put a few shots downrange on a nice afternoon. Second, there’s a reason why people use scopes on rifles (so they can see better!), and third, for wicked consistent accuracy, it’s hard to beat a precharged pneumatic shooting the right pellet.
May you soon find a nice afternoon to enjoy a little casual shooting. In the meantime, there’s this big white bear in my yard . . .
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
The Brocock Enigma, left view. There's not much the shooter can fiddle with on this side.
You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that the Brocock Enigma in an unusual airgun. The moment I clapped eyes on it in its long slim box from Airguns of Arizona, I knew that whoever had designed this air rifle had started with a clean sheet of paper and not a lot of preconceived ideas.
The Enigma measures just a hair under three feet from muzzle to the tip of the butt pad and weighs just 6 lbs. 13.5 oz. without a scope mounted. At the extreme aft end of the hardwood stock is a thick ventilated rubber butt bad. On either side of the butt stock is a cheek piece, making it suitable for both left and right handed shooters. Underneath the butt stock is a stud for mounting a sling.
The right side of the Enigma. The knob for detaching the butt stock is clearly visible at the rear of the receiver. Above the trigger is the safety, the bolt, and (just forward of the bolt) the magazine.
The pistol grip is nearly vertical and is checkered on either side. At the forward end of the butt stock is a large knob with finger indentations. Turn it counterclockwise, and you can detach the butt stock from the rest of the Enigma, breaking it down so that the longest piece is a little less than two feet long. Forward of the knob, on the right side of the receiver, is a lever type safety. Push it up (so that the red dot is exposed) to fire the gun. Push it down (so that the green down shows) to safe the action. Below the safety, at the bottom of the receiver, are the metal trigger guard and gold-colored metal trigger. Also on the right side of the receiver is the bolt and a slot for inserting the magazine.
There are no shooter-activated parts on the left side of the receiver except for the large stock-connecting knob. On top of the receiver is a dovetail for attaching a scope. At the forward end of the receiver is the .22 caliber barrel, which is roughly 18 inches long and has a screw-off end piece for attaching a silencer where that is legal. Beneath the barrel is the air reservoir, which also has a cap that can be removed to access a male foster fitting for filling the reservoir with a high pressure pump or SCUBA tank to 190 Bar.
Underneath the air reservoir and the forward end of the receiver is the hardwood forestock, which has a stud for attaching a sling or bipod (furnished with the Enigma) and an air gauge.
To ready the Enigma for shooting, pull the bolt all the way back and pull the 9-shot magazine out of its slot in the receiver. To load the magazine, line up the opening in the magazine with the hole in the clear cover and drop a pellet, nose-first, into the opening in the clear cover. I found it necessary to poke the pellets with a ballpoint pen to get them to seat full in the green rotary pellet holder below the clear cover.
When all nine pellets have been loaded, insert the magazine into the slot in the receiver so that (a) the flat side of the magazine is vertical and (b) the clear cover is facing toward the buttstock. There is really only one way that the magazine can be inserted into the rifle, but if you are accustomed to magazines where the flat side must face downwards and try to insert the magazine in that orientation, you’ll spend a minute or two wondering what’s gone wrong.
Next, push the bolt forward. This pushes the first pellet out of the magazine and into the barrel. Flick off the safety and squeeze the trigger. The first stage of the trigger is very short and comes out at 1 lb. At 5 lbs. 14 oz, the second stage trips, and the shot goes down range with a resounding boom! Filled to 2800 psi, the Enigma launches .22 JSB Express pellets with alacrity: 30 shots at 895.5 fps or 25.6 footpounds of energy.
The Enigma delivered this 5-shot group at 32 yards.
Despite a report that is louder than I like and a trigger that is heavier than I prefer, the Enigma acquits itself very well on the range. At 32 yards, it put 5 JSB Exact Express pellets into a group that measured just .5 inch edge to edge. That works out to just .28 inch center to center.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
The RWS Meisterschutze Pro Compact is downright sleek in its appearance.
I woke up one morning a few weeks ago with the realization that I had never shot one of the air rifles that so many airgunners purchase as their first “quality” air rifle: the RWS 34. A while ago, I had a neighbor who simply loved to hunt with his RWS 34, but I never got to shoot it, and he has since moved away.
So I asked the folks at umarexusa to send me a sample of the 34 Meisterschutze Pro Compact (MPC) in .177 caliber. It comes with a RWS one-piece “drooper” scope mount, an RWS 3-9x40AO rifle scope and a muzzlebrake. When I pulled it from the box, I was immediately impressed by its businesslike appearance.
There is no cheek piece on either side of the MPC's butt stock.
The long, slim hardwood stock is completely unadorned by any checkering or decoration of any sort. At the end of the stock is a rubber butt pad attached to the stock by a black spacer. There is no cheek piece on either side of the butt stock, making the design completely ambidextrous, and there is only a slight rise in the comb. Forward of the pistol grip is a black plastic trigger guard surrounding a black plastic trigger that is adjustable for first stage travel.
THE MPC is equipped with a substantial muzzlebrake, apparently the same one used on the TH 56.
Forward of that, the forestock reaches out to cover the breech block and cocking linkage. Beyond that is the barrel on which is mount a substantial muzzlebrake. The appeared to be the same muzzlebrake that was mounted on the very accurate RWS 56 TH that I had tested some time ago. The breech block on this model is not designed to take a rear sight but instead has fine horizontal lines molded into it. The receiver is finished in a matte black that appears to match the scope and scope mount. At the aft end of the receiver, there is the familiar push-pull RWS safety which is resettable.
The RWS one-piece scope mount fits exactly over the dovetail on the receiver and provides compensation for barrel droop.
Mounting the scope was straightforward. The one-piece mount fits the RWS dovetails exactly and has two anti-recoil pins that drop into corresponding holes on the receiver. The only trick is to make sure that the arrow on the drooper mount is pointing toward the muzzle. With the scope mounted, the MPC weighs 9 lbs. 12 oz.
To ready the MPC for shooting, grab the muzzlebrake, pull it down and back until it latches. Stuff a pellet into the breech end of the barrel and return the barrel to its original position. I estimate the cocking effort to be in the mid-30s, perhaps 36-37 lbs. Next, take aim at the target, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger. The first stage requires only 1 lb. 9.8 oz., and at 2 lbs. 10.8 oz., the shot goes downrange. The RWS 34 Pro Compact launches 8.44 gr. JSB Exact pellets at about 840 fps, which works out to 13.22 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
When it came time to test the MPC for accuracy, that’s when life got interesting. As I so often do, as soon as I mounted the scope, I grabbed the MPC, some Crosman Premier 7.9 gr. pellets and went outside to bang off a few shots at 13 yards from a sitting position. My first group measured just .375 inch edge to edge. Not bad, I thought.
A couple of days later, shooting off a rest at 32 yards, the groups opened up tremendously to well over an inch. Then the gun began throwing flyers – a .75 inch group with a flyer 1.5 inches away. I was just starting to work my way through some alternative pellets when I heard a rattle as I cocked the gun. Investigating further, I found that the muzzlebrake was loose.
With the muzzlebrake tightened, the MPC delivered this very satisfying group at 32 yards.
I loosened the end cap on the muzzlebrake, tightened the two grub screws underneath the muzzlebrake that clamp to the barrel, then screwed the end cap in tight. The next group, shot with JSB .177 Exact pellets, was magic: just .5 inch edge to edge at 32 yards, making the MPC one of the most accurate break barrel air rifles I have shot in a long, long time.
The bottom line is that the MPC is an air rifle that does a lot of things well. It has a decent trigger, makes reasonable power, and delivers excellent accuracy. With this air rifle, you could hunt, plink, or shoot hunter class field target and all at a very reasonable price.
I give the 34 Meisterschutze Pro Compact my highest personal recommendation.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
The RWS 350 Feuerkraft
You know how a kind word from a friend can change your outlook on an entire day? Well, the RWS 350 Feuerkraft did the same kind of thing for me.
Let me explain: I had been feeling a bit gloomy about my springer shooting skills after testing several .25 models. I simply couldn’t master shooting them really well at longer ranges, and I thought perhaps I had lost my springer shooting “mojo” altogether.
But then came Brown Santa (the UPS guy) with a long slim package with the RWS 350 Feuerkraft in .22 caliber inside. I pulled it out of the box, slapped a scope on it, and went outside to give it a few shots. We’ll get back to what I discovered in just a little while, but first let’s take a walk around the RWS 350 Feuerkraft (350F for short).
The stock is fully ambidextrous.
The 350F is a long air rifle, 48.375 inches from muzzle to butt pad, and it weighs 8 lbs without scope. It has a slim hardwood stock that is fully ambidextrous and unadorned by any checkering on any other decoration. At the extreme aft end of the stock is a black rubber recoil pad attached to the stock by a black plastic spacer. Moving forward, ahead of the pistol grip is the black plastic trigger guard which encloses a black plastic trigger that is adjustable for first stage travel.
The red fiber optic front sight is easy to see.
. . . and so is the green fiber optic rear sight.
Forward of that, the long slim forestock encloses the breech block and cocking linkage, giving the 350F a very clean, finished appearance. Ahead of that is the barrel which has a plastic muzzle brake that serves as a mount for a red fiber optic front sight. Moving back along the barrel, you’ll find a green fiber optic rear sight mounted on top of the breech block. Moving back again, there is a dovetail on top of the receiver for mounting a scope, and at the extreme aft end of the receiver is the push-pull safety which is resettable.
To ready the 350F for shooting, grab the barrel near the muzzle and pull it down and back until it latches. This takes about 33 lbs of effort. Next insert a pellet into the breech and return the barrel to its original position. Take aim, flick the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. On the sample that I tested, at 1 lb. 5 oz. the first stage came out of the trigger, and at 3 lb. 14.7 oz., the shot went down range. The 350F was launching 14.35 gr. JSB Express pellets at an average of 722 fps, generating 16.6 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.
Now we can get back to what I discovered when I went outside to shoot the 350F. The first thing I found out was the 350F has a very nice shot cycle – just a quick snap with no buzz or twang. I heard perhaps a tiny bit of vibration, but I didn’t feel any through the gun. The report is also surprisingly subdued for an air rifle of this power — not dead quiet but not raucous either.
If you plan to scope the 350F, definitely use one of the RWS one-piece drooper mounts.
The second thing I discovered is that if you plan to scope this air rifle, you will definitely need the RWS one-piece “drooper” mount. The first scope I tried had conventional scope mounts, and I simply ran out of elevation adjustment. So I popped back inside, swiped a scope with drooper mount off another RWS rifle, and mounted it on the 350F.
Within a few minutes, I was happily blowing the center out of a target at 13 yards, and I found that I could hit exactly the spot that I wanted. Encouraged by this, I set up a target at 35 yards, and, from a sitting position, was able to put 4 out of 5 shots into a 5/8 inch edge-to-edge group. I yanked the last shot, which opened the group up to 1 inch edge-to-edge, but even so, that’s pretty much minute-of-squirrel’s noggin.
In the end, I found I really liked the 350F. It has no bad manners; it has a decent trigger; it’s commendably accurate, and, like an old friend, it cheered me up about my springer shooting skills. If you’re looking for a no-nonsense air rifle that suitable for hunting or a day afield, the 350F should put a grin on your face.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
As an airgun writer and the guy who puts together the “Airgun Roundup” for the SHOT Show Daily newspaper, I get to talk with quite a few people in the airgun industry. In fact, I probably get to talk to most of the major players at least once a year.
My job, of course, is to gather information from those major players, which I do. But when I get the chance to chat with them, very often I take the opportunity to pitch them on one of my favorite subjects – the need for more highly accurate medium-power springers.
Usually they just listen politely, but today I have more facts to bolster my argument. During a phone call the other day, through a chance remark, I found what the bestselling springers at Airguns of Arizona are. The Weihrauch HW30S/Beeman R7 is the top selling springer, and for second place, it is a neck-and-neck race between the Weihrauch HW50s and the Weihrauch HW97.
An HW30S Deluxe with peep sight mounted.
I am not at all surprised that the HW30S is the most popular. It is a light (5.5 lbs), small (38.78 inches) air rifle that is easy to cock and fun to shoot all day long. The HW30S makes only a modest amount of power (around 6 foot-pounds at the muzzle), but it tends to be a real tackdriver. One of the gurus in the airgun industry says this is because the ration of gun power (in foot-pounds) to gun weight is very nearly 1:1. It is suitable for assassinating pests at modest ranges, and I have even shot field target with one and finished in the ribbons with it.
The HW50S Stainless with scope mounted.
The HW50S seems to me a slightly bigger (6.8 lbs, 40.5 inches) and more powerful version of the HW30S. Cocking is a bit stiff, but still very manageable, and the HW50S generates 11-12 foot-pounds of energy. It’s the kind of gun that you can shoot all day and still come back for more. It’s accurate as the dickens, and the additional power is welcome for hunting or pest control, no wonder so many shooters like this air rifle.
Any of the HW97s is a tackdriver, but I think the thumbhole version is my favorite.
The addition of the HW97 to the list of Airguns of Arizona’s bestselling springers initially came as a bit of a surprise, because I didn’t know that the underlever HW97 was that popular, but as I thought about it, it make sense. The HW97 is a heavier air rifle (starting at 8.8 lbs, depending on the version), but it is only 40.25 inches long, and it generates only a modest amount of power. The sample that I tested in September, 2008, launched 7.9 grain .177 Crosman Premiers at 847 fps, for about 12.6 foot-pounds of energy.
What all of these air rifles have in common is that they are great fun to shoot, deliver excellent accuracy, benefit from Weihrauch’s outstanding Rekord trigger, and exhibit a very reasonable power-to-weight ratio. If an airgunner had all three of these in his gun closet, I suspect he (or she) would be exceedingly pleased for a very long time.
If I were choosing for myself, here would be my selections: an HW30S in .177 with peep sight for general plinking, an HW50S stainless in .22 for hunting, and an HW97KT (thumbhole) in .177 for field target competition. Santa, are you listening?
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
Anybody who has been observing the airgun scene for a little while will have noticed that an increasing number of companies are coming out with non-lead pellets. A while back, I did some shooting with some of Dynamic’s non-lead pellets, and I found that they were pretty good.
Check out this http://198.154.244.69/blog/2008/06/beeman-r7-genuine-classic-some.html and this for additional information http://198.154.244.69/blog/2008/08/additional-experiments-with-dynamic-non.html I think that one of the reasons these pellets work so well is that they are pretty close in weight to traditional lead pellets.
I have experimented with the very light (5.4 grain) Gamo .177 PBA pellets, and I found that they did fine at close range (no more than 15-20 yards — in fact I used a PBA pellet to terminate a squirrel at 7 yards with a P1 pistol), but accuracy went to blazes at longer ranges.
So when a package arrived from Airguns of Arizona the other day with some new pellets from H&N, including some very light non-lead pellets, I figured the non-lead pellets would be good for strictly short-range work. As it turns out, I was wrong.
The package contained a tin each of H&N Sport Barracuda Hunter (10.34 gr.) pellets, H&N Sport Field Target Trophy Green (5.56 gr.) pellets, and H&N Sport Barracuda Green (6.48 gr.) pellets. “Green,” in case you haven’t figured it out, is apparently a code word for non-lead pellets.
I started thinking about testing these pellets, and pretty quick I realized I had a problem. Of the .177 guns in house, I had a magnum springer (RWS54), magnum PCP (Marauder), a low-power springer (tuned R7) and a recoilless springer match rifle (FWB150). I eliminated the magnum guns because I didn’t want the ultra-light pellets to go supersonic and have trans-sonic turbulence screw up accuracy. I eliminated the R7 because accuracy in recoiling springers depends a lot on shooter technique, and I wanted to eliminate that variable.
So that left me with the FWB150, an air rifle with trustworthy accuracy that I have successfully shot in field target competition. Twice I have knocked down one-inch targets at 50 yards with that rifle.
Bear in mind, though, this one hard-and-fast rule about airgun accuracy: you let the gun choose the ammo. It doesn’t matter what your buddy shoots, or what the guys on the forum say, or even what the national field target champion shoots, you run tests with different kinds of ammo in your gun and then shoot the one that delivers the best accuracy.
Now, back to our story. I started by shooting the pellets through my Oehler chronograph. I checked the velocity on Daystate 8.44 gr. pellets and found they were zipping through the screens at 653 fps average, about 7.99 foot-pounds of energy that the muzzle. The H&N Sport Barracuda Hunter Pellets averaged 550 fps, for 6.94 foot-pounds. The H&N Sport Field Target Trophy Green pellets blew through the traps at 804 fps average with less than 4 fps variation from high to low, working out to 7.98 fp. Finally, the H&N Sport Barracuda Green registered 695 average, 6.95 fpe. Just for fun, I also shot some Gamo Raptor PBA (5.4 gr.), they clocked 762 average, 6.96 fp.
I started shooting the various pellets in 5-shot groups at 20 yards and took edge-to-edge measurements on the groups. The Gamo PBA and Barracuda Hunter both delivered ¾” groups. The Daystate produced a half-inch group, as did the Field Target Trophy Green pellets. The Barracuda Green pellets printed a 5/8 inch group. The overall winner was a pellet I had not chronographed, JSB Exact Express pellets, which delivered a 3/8 inch group. The bottom line is that all of these pellets would be suitable for defending the bird feeder at 20 yards.
After that I took the winning non-lead pellet, the H&N Sport Field Target Trophy Green, and the winning lead pellet, the JSB Exact Express shot them at 35 yards. The FT Trophy Green produced a group that measured 7/8 inch edge to edge, and the JSB produced a ¾ inch group. While I have shot better groups at that range with pre-charged rifles, that’s still respectable accuracy, and I was amazed that the very light non-lead pellets did so well at that range.
Yes, I thought, but what kind of penetration are those pellets delivering at that range? Maybe those super-light pellets had bled off all their energy by the time they got to out there. To find the answer, I set up two metal soup cans at 35 yards and shot them. The JSB Exact Express pellets plowed through both sides of the can, tearing ragged holes in the metal. The FT Green pellet also penetrated both sides of the can, punching neat holes on entry and exit. Color me soooo surprised.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
