HW45 - other options?

[mrgeoff]

So been looking at a HW45, but what other options are out there? Im not liking the look of the Alecto.

While this will be for garden plinking / garden target, I don't mind spending HW45 money for something "nice"

Sure a PCP pistol would be nice, but that adds another 150 for a pump on any base price, it would have to be really nice!


Thanks.

[Yammer]

I would go for the HW40. I went through the same dilemma of what to buy as I wanted something to shoot with in my garage and the HW40 seemed to tick all the boxes. Although the HW45 and the Alecto are next on my wish list.

[wilkinss77]

So been looking at a HW45, but what other options are out there? Im not liking the look of the Alecto.

While this will be for garden plinking / garden target, I don't mind spending HW45 money for something "nice"

Sure a PCP pistol would be nice, but that adds another 150 for a pump on any base price, it would have to be really nice!


Thanks.

if you want something that packs a hefty punch, the only options are the HW45 itself, or the alecto, or maybe the webley typhoon (the new one, not the variant of the hurricane). or one of the crosman pump jobbies. if you don't mind co2, the benjamin/sheridan EB22's up there with the HW45 as far as power is concerned.

[Rob M]

The Cometa Indian is getting on for the same power as the HW45, the trigger is quite heavy though and the sights don't have much adjustment. Despite that though, they're great plinkers, good fun and pretty accurate.

If you're happy to buy second-hand the BSA Scorpion might be a good choice.

[Ian]

The aforementioned Benjamin EB22 is a good fun plinker with 5ft/lb + power. Cheaper than the HW45 but with cruder trigger (improves with a shoe) and basic sights.

[mrgeoff]

Cool, thanks. I will have a search on all those suggested later :-)

"if" I do go and find a club local, it needs to be something that dosnt embarrass me, so not a Cheapy crossman, but not a full target pistol either.


Cheers!

[Ian]

Cool, thanks. I will have a search on all those suggested later :-)

"if" I do go and find a club local, it needs to be something that dosnt embarrass me, so not a Cheapy crossman, but not a full target pistol either.


Cheers!

Clubs are all different. At my first and second no one seemed to give a stuff whether you were shooting a cheap Umarex or Steyr match pistol. At my third, using anything but a 'proper' match pistol resulted in 'comments'. Mind you, it was good fun winding up them up by shooting a Umarex multi shot etc on occassion!

[Yammer]

I don't know why some replies to this post suggest power over everything else, I thought what was needed was a plinker to be used in the garden not hunt buffalos.

[Ian]

I don't know why some replies to this post suggest power over everything else, I thought what was needed was a plinker to be used in the garden not hunt buffalos.

Depends how big his garden is!

I used to like shooting 5ft/lb+ in .22 at longer ranges - mainly HW45's

These days I am happy with between 3 - 4 ft/lb as I shoot mainly at 6 - 10 yards

[harvey_s]

So been looking at a HW45, but what other options are out there? Im not liking the look of the Alecto.

While this will be for garden plinking / garden target, I don't mind spending HW45 money for something "nice"

Sure a PCP pistol would be nice, but that adds another 150 for a pump on any base price, it would have to be really nice!


Thanks.

What is important to you? theres loads of better options out there - HW45's are seriously over-hyped IMO - why peole obsess about power they'll never use is beyond me
They are too large, too heavy, they diesel like bastard's, they're awkward to load.
But they are reasonably well made and they resemble a Colt 45 if you stand back & squint, but without doubt their single biggest selling feature is that people get drawn into the whole "full power" thing. (I've not seen one that was, that wasn't dieselling, but they are still quite powerful though).
The trouble with any large spring piston pistol is that there is a steep learning curve to learn how to control them and shoot them with any degree of precision, and it requires a lot of practice.
You'll see people quote "that's the challange!" but the truth is most of them still can't hit a bar door despite owning one for the last 10 years
I've seen many people buy them only to find that they don't have the technique and they don't have anyone to help them get better (its not something thats easy to learn from a book), so the gun gets slung in draw unused after becoming an exercise in frustration.
An HW40 for instance as has already been suggested is a far better option I would agree, the trigger is vastly superior, its recoiless and is far more satisfying to shoot and will reward good technique with very impressive levels of accuracy.
(if possible though, my advice would be to try and find either without the truglo sights)
If thats not your bag and you fancy being a 'fun gunner' & the whole combat autoloader look appeals then try the CO2 magazine fed replicas from Umarex...The S&W is particulary nice, as powerful as you'll ever need, reasonably accurate and great fun.

Good shooting whatever you choose

[Fat stig]

If u want to smash tin cans around rather than just knock them over & still put a good group in at 10m target u won't go far wrong with the hw45,if your happy with less power & want something a little easyier to shoot the hw75 is very nice & if cost is an issue the hw40 is great for the money but stick with the real thing not a cheaper copy. Happy shooting.

[Ian]

What is important to you? theres loads of better options out there - HW45's are seriously over-hyped IMO - why peole obsess about power they'll never use is beyond me
They are too large, too heavy, they diesel like bastard's, they're awkward to load.
But they are reasonably well made and they resemble a Colt 45 if you stand back & squint, but without doubt their single biggest selling feature is that people get drawn into the whole "full power" thing. (I've not seen one that was, that wasn't dieselling, but they are still quite powerful though).
The trouble with any large spring piston pistol is that there is a steep learning curve to learn how to control them and shoot them with any degree of precision, and it requires a lot of practice.

Having owned a number if these I have to admit to a certain fondness for them. I cant say that I have found them particularly heavy or in .22 caliber, difficult to load. My personal opinion regarding build quality is that they are superior to a number of others pistols available new. Yes, they all diesel, especially if they have been left unused for a while. I would agree that the power output is often hyped - the ones Ive owned have put out between 4.5 and just over 5 ft/lb. I have found the triggers to be excellent.

As regards difficulty to master, then I think that this is also over hyped. The recoil (smoother in .22) is not that bad and most people can achieve good accuracy with not that much practice. Something like a Webley Tempest is harder to master in my opinion.

I do however think they are as ugly as sin though

[bcham]

i found my hw45 as easy as any other spring pistol to fire accurately?

[harvey_s]

i found my hw45 as easy as any other spring pistol to fire accurately?

I never said that they were inaccurate, just that they were not easy to shoot accurately and yes this applies to the majority of spring pistols.

How accurately though, well I suppose that depends on our definitions of accuracy I'd guess....

Rested and two-handed doesn't really test.

However, if you can put 10 consecutive shots just in the black of a standard pistol target at 10m single handed then you'll be doing very well, never mind any kind of grouping

[lesj]

Free-standing, and used double-handed (as it should be), black zone on Olympic target at 10m is easily achievable. I do it for "zeroing" purposes each sunday. Try being consistant at half-power only, IMO full-power is too much. It wasnt designed to be used as a "Match" style pistol.....there are far, far better springers out there for that purpose. General plinking....very good, but not as accurate as an SSP. A Webley Nemesis should be considered also... second-hand very cheap, but good quality.