Hw45

[kekko]

A Newbie message ... 2 questions:

1. I've just bought a HW45. Not a gun for 10 m targets, I know, but what sort of grouping should it (not me) be capable of?

2. The manual says it's zeroed for 10m; and also that it will take a 100 shots or more to settle down. How are both possible?

Thanks in advance,
John

[kekko]

My guess at an answer to the question is something like within a 5p piece [old 5p / new 10p was what I meant], -- if recoil was taken out of the question. Big if. For those thinking of buying a HW45 (and any springer?) the amount of difference made by grip is remarkable: grip hard - down 1.5 inch, grip weak - up 1.5 inch. Dealing with the recoil is obviously a skill ...

A 3rd question: how much difference did recoil-less guns make? I'm guessing that there must be a record of top scores at 10 m pistol shooting through the years, but I haven't been able to Google it. I've read on here that scores haven't changed much since CO2 pistols came along, but what about before that?

Regards,
John

[Hullage]

Consider a laser bore-sight. You can claim to have zeroed at 10 metres without firing a shot - good luck grouping until it's run in though

[BigEars]

Once the smoke's stopped pouring out the end of it you should be able to group in the black on the Olympic 10m target. Sometimes with incredible success. It's great gun to shoot but takes a while to get used to. Enjoy it!

[kekko]

It does smoke quite a bit . Smoke looks quite nice, though.

Also, like others on here, I've found the small allen-headed screws holding the safety catches come loose -- which is a bit surprising, given the overall quality of the gun.

[BigEars]

It does smoke quite a bit . Smoke looks quite nice, though.

Also, like others on here, I've found the small allen-headed screws holding the safety catches come loose -- which is a bit surprising, given the overall quality of the gun.

A drop of the wife's nail varnish on the head of the screws should sort that out as it did on the sight pivot pin which was drifting a bit on mine.

[kekko]

A drop of the wife's nail varnish on the head of the screws should sort that out as it did on the sight pivot pin which was drifting a bit on mine.

Brilliant! And there was me thinking I'd have to go out and find a tube of the right kind of loctite.

[kekko]

Some have said that the gun is more accurate shot full-power than half-power -- because the pellet gets out of the barrel quicker. Others say that it is more accurate on half-power.

Is there any generally agreed opinion on this? Is there any science to it?

(I seem to be finding it a bit more accurate on full-power.)

[Cones]

I found mine a lot more forgiving and easier to shoot with on half power. This is using a one handed 10m stance.

On full power in one hand it kick about a lot.

HTH

Mark

[Rickenbacker]

I have a fairly new '45 in .177 (with a Pachmayr Signature Series rubber grip fitted, which I can highly recommend).

Two handed at full-power, I can keep them in the black of a 10m match card out to around 25 yards, which is great fun (as are a line of redbull cans)!

I've not used it much, but this new-ish model with dual power seems so much lighter than the HW45s of around 10 years ago?

Back then I had a silver one with 2 barrels, scope and shoulder stock (made a fun little carbine). While a friend had a black .177 that was hard to hit a spinner with from 5 yards!

Either they've got lighter or I've grown stronger, but I'm glad I gave the '45 another chance

Phil

[kekko]

Thanks.

In the black to 25 yds is something to aim at. I struggle to do that at 10m. Some days they seem to go in, some days they won't. Somedays on full-power they seem to group better, somedays on half-power. (One group of 4 in a 10p piece area makes me think the gun is even more accurate than I thought. Maybe it's capable of shooting groups in a 5p piece, but with the odd flier?)

Looking at some of the 10m finals on youtube, there are some very, very consistent people.

Don't know about the weights of earlier models; wish this one didn't have all the writing in white on it.

John

[RobinC]

A 3rd question: how much difference did recoil-less guns make? I'm guessing that there must be a record of top scores at 10 m pistol shooting through the years, but I haven't been able to Google it. I've read on here that scores haven't changed much since CO2 pistols came along, but what about before that?

Regards,
John

I'm not aware of recoiling records, the earlier comps in the '70's at 6yds run by the old NARPA association did have target classes for them. There have been recoiless match pistols around since the early 60's so I doubt any one of top standard would have used a recoiling out of choice.
There is no reason though why a top quality recoiling pistol should be any more inaccurate, .22 free pistols shoot as high scores as air on a more difficult target for example.
The problem with a quality recoiling pistol is not the accuracy but the difficulty, the recoil punishes any slight variation in grip or hold whilst any slight failure in trigger technique is compounded by the recoil. I have a savagely recoiling Walther LP 53, bought new in the '70's for full bore pistol practice, which is capable of holding the 10 at 10mts which I occasionaly shoot when I'm feeling maschocistic. A good shot is still a ten but a bad technique shot that would be an 8 with a recoiless is punished by a flyer well into the white. So the simple answer is I don't know for sure but suspect that a top level shot would not shoot a lot different with a recoiling against a recoiless as long as the gun was a quality piece.
Robin

[Nemesis]

When the pistol first came out, I put a .25 calibre barrel into an HW45 and it shot very sweetly indeed, knocking down early Nockover 45mm KZ targets out to about 25 metres with a quality red dot sight installed (Nikko). Recently, I treated myself to the HW45 Silver Star in .177 and suffered the ignominy of scoring 0 ex 20 on our club's Pistol Silhouette course using open sights. As others have said, shooting a powerful springer pistol is tricky as so much depends on a consistent hold.

D.