HW80-.22 or .20 that is the question?

[Rapidnick]

A question I have been asking myself for ages so I thought I'd find out. My first idea was to buy a .20 HW80 and compare it with the performance of my HW80 .22. I have a free slot for .20 air so no problem there. I looked for a while and found nothing so thought I would take a short cut and CONVERT my existing .22 -a Venom Maglaza full works-to .20. I sourced a barrel which because it had fore-sight grooves I chopped and recrowned so it could take a slip on silencer. I then removed the Venom Slimtech silencer from the .22 barrel for use on the .20, and fitted the .20 barrel to the action. This took me about 10 minutes. Changing barrels in all types of rifles is a job I had done many times before so that part went smoothly.
To recap, I now had a Venom Maglaza HW80 action with a .20 barrel. I did nothing to the power plant as I just wanted to do a direct comparison between the 2 calibres.
Now for the testing bit. The .20 barrel was unused so I knew it would need to be 'leaded' before serious accuracy testing could begin. This took about 20 pellets during which time I had zeroed the scope-a Simmons Pro Air 6-18x40 to my satisfaction. I then chronoed the rifle. I must say the results surprised me. In .22 I used 14.7 grain FTT pellets and the rifle was running at around 22 ft lb-825 ft sec. I knew that .20 would be less efficient but honestly was unprepared for the power drop. The .20 pellets-JSB 13.7 grain Heavies chronoed at 770 ft sec-18 ft lb- so a drop of some 18%. This meant the .20 pellets were actually 55 ft sec SLOWER than the HEAVIER FTT .22. Accuracy was comparable-nothing in it in fact so I felt that there was no gain in performance so I returned the rifle to .22.
My conclusions are of necessity, sketchy. For a start I only tested the JSB Heavy pellets-mainly because I have a lot of them and know how good they are in .20. I also knew that the 11.4 grain FTT .20 are really more comfortable in legal limit rifles-or maybe slightly over- so there seemed little point in testing them. I also did nothing to the power plant-I didn't even open it up to see if I could add a couple of washers to increase preload a tad. I just didn't want to interefere with the Venom work in any way. However, from my tests I saved myself a wad of cash by just changing barrels rather than buying a new rifle.
My .22 HW80 Maglaza is a lovely rifle. I knew that before I started and after I finished I was just as certain that I owned an excellent self contained air rifle which will certainly last for the rest of my lifetime.

[wobblywill]

Very interesting nick.when i ordered my fac Hw80 from v-mach i was torn between .177 and .20,after a chat with steve decided on .177 as he wasn't to keen on doing a .20 in fac because of pellet choice.
I collected the gun in 2009 and since then have put thousands of shots through it so much so it needed a service late last year rang steve and as everybody knows he's very busy suggested i took the gun to someone he recommended or send him the piston,guide and spring he'd fit the new parts and lube and i'd do the install myself which iduly did.
The gun had been running around 18ftlb 980fps with jsb 8.4 or 16.5ftlb with jsb heavies before it needed a service,on the install i noticed the new spring steve sent me was a bit longer ,the fac .22 spring i realised as he put a shorter spring when building the gun as the .22 spring might be to much but as it had lost power must have thought the longer spring might be needed.
Testing the gun after service it was now doing 1049fps 20.5 ftlb with 8.4 and around 910fps with jsb heavies it was very hard to make it group with the lighter jsb's so used the heavies for a little while but noticed it was very lively to what it was like,so i swapped the long spring for the shorter and behold just under 18ftlb with 8.4 pellets lovely and smooth again.
When chatting with steve when i ordered the gun he told me the porting was slightly different on .177 and .22 size wise so that might be the big power drop on your gun and i'd definately try the lighter H&Ns my gun likes the lighter ones.
One thing as you say is a venom|v-mach fac Hw80 is THE self contained gun.
cheers will

[Rapidnick]

Thanks for that Will. I think you are possibly right that the transfer port on a .20 might be a little larger than that for a .22. Port size is a black art as far as I am concerned and I wouldn't dream of tampering with mine. Interesting that Steve didn't want to do a .20 but I suspect that was before the JSB 13.7 grain Heavies had been introduced. They transformed everything in .20 and are in my experience easily the best .20 pellets for FAC on the market today. In .177 the 8.4 grain pellets are far too light and, as you have found, push the MV well into transsonic territory. I would certainly stick to the JSB Heavies which at 10.3 grain are perfect for FAC air. I have to say though that I just don't like .177 FAC as the tendency to drill makes shot placement even more important than in .20, 22 or .25.

[tmstech]

I would have been interested in the .20 FTT pellet results in that combination.

[Rapidnick]

I would have been interested in the .20 FTT pellet results in that combination.

Sorry about that but they would almost certainly not be good enough. I have checked them through a Rapid and they just don't behave well much over 16 ft lb. They really are just legal limit pellets in my experience.

[verminhunter]

Golden rule to all shooters.
.177 and .20 for legel limit
.22 and .25 for FAC.
Been there, done it, got the tee-shirt, it dont matter what you shoot either a pcp or a springer these are the facts.
.177 go for target shooting, yes you can hunt, I have a hw97k , very powerful and accurate but I feel and know in my bones its not a hunting round, just zaps the quarry just like a needle unless its a head shot and you try shooting a woody's head at 70 yds. .20 is a better choice in 12ftlb as it gives a good whack and flys flat.
The .22 is heavy is not for 12ftlb, speed is too slow , nor the .25, to bring them up to the 800fps you need to be in FAC area but once your there they rule, Ihave the .22 and .25 in FAC and wouldnt change them for anything.
Also if your going FAC then your hunting yes? so why bother with the smaller rounds.

You should know this my trusted and most loyal friend nickolas.

[2000roy]

Hi Rapidnick
I have an hw80 and I am sure the barrel has a reduction that squeezes the pellet as it leaves . It very noticeable when cleaning the barrel.You have cut this portion off and that may have a big effect on you power and accuracy.