While this is mainly a RWS forum, you will see that comments about other guns are welcome here also. I love to hear info about the HW's, as they are such fine guns. KevinT is the resident expert, and he has a wealth of knowledge about those guns.
Thanks
Dave@vabch
By the way, I have a vintage HW30 tuned by my friend MZ. I think I could say, that it is the finest gun I have shot. It is the only gun I shoot with open sites and the gun is so damn accurate and smooth.
As I am new to airrifle ( have a Diana 20T01 since xmas) and would like to get something for hunting squirrels ,rabbits ,maybe grouse also. I think I need a little more range. A fellow answered my add in craigs list who has a HW77 that has a maccari kit in 22 caliber shoots at around 860 fps with I think he said 12g pellets claims this is accurate out to 100 yards. Does this sound realistic and could I expect say 2 inch ctc at 100 yards. I would apreciate some experienced replys please,as I realy dont like going down the garden path. PS this riffle is about 500 miles away from where I live also makes it difficult.The sporting goods stores here and within 100 miles dont have much experience with air rifles,So they seem to want to sell the most newwest product thats out Im not ready for a real expencive rifle quite yet Thanks John
I would also like to continue shooting targets with whatever I end up with
"a HW77 that has a maccari kit in 22 caliber shoots at around 860 fps with I think he said 12g pellets"
Yeah...ummm...no, it doesn't. An HW77, modified or not, is not a 19 ft lb gun. Absolute B.S.
"claims this is accurate out to 100 yards. Does this sound realistic and could I expect say 2 inch ctc at 100 yards."
On a perfectly windless day...when everything is going well...great springer with pellets that are perfect for it...benhrested....you may get an occasional 2" group. Occasional, that's it. 100 yds is not (not) a reasonable/ethical hunting distance for a springer. Out of both energy and real-world accuracy.
That said - the 77/97 are great guns. Just don't expect gunpowder results from a springer.
Thanks very much as I am not that experienced with air rifles period Its nice to get someone with experience to shine a little light on things. I put the add on craigs list and this fellow emailed me with pics etc,later a phone call he really wants to sell or trade it Thanks again John
Was the finest underlever available until the TX200 came out. The HW77 is the rifle responsible for the success of the sport of Field Target. Before the TX200 & the eventual domination of PCP's, the HW77 dominated the sport. This rifle & the HW80(Beeman R1) were the most customized rifles in England when springers still dominated the sport. There were literally dozens of custom shops in England like Venom & Airmasters just to name a few. The kind of tuning that guys like Paul Watts are doing here in the U.S. were already being done in England for more than a decade before by guys like Ivan Hancock & Dave Pope of Venom Arms & guys like Ken Turner who designed the original TX200 for Air Arms.
1) How much is he asking? Since it's Craigslist, I don't think you will be letting the cat out of the bag. 2) While those numbers are impressive, a .22 pellet rifle is not a ,22 rimfire. Hunting power at 100 yards, much less usable accuracy, will be marginal unless you are talking about birds. Even then, I, personally, don't find 100 yard shots with air guns to be sporting. (I know there are PCP's with good accuracy, but those have much more power, generally shoot heavier pellets and results posted are almost always from a rest on a closed range with wind flags, etc, not real world hunting situations.)
Anyway, that's an excellent gun in a great caliber. If the price is right, you will have a fine gun fun most all realistic hunting situations.
