Harper HW35 in .25

[oldpaul]

hi,ive got a sharp innova in .25 with a steve harper barrel.takes 15 pumps to get it up to the 11.5 for the blow off to kick in.got a bit of re-coil too.bit of a novelty though,standard ones take some beating.
atb.paul

[landymick]

15 pumps is a bit poor for 11.5.Needs a look at i would think.

[Hsing-ee]

15 pumps is a bit poor for 11.5.Needs a look at i would think.

I should jolly well think so, an Innova in .25 should be able to make 12 on 3 pumps or 4 at most. Sounds great by the way, the tiny Innova blasting out the giant dustbin-size .25 projectiles.

[Nemesis]

Steve Harper supplied me with .25 HW77 back in the 1980s. This had the brass liner and the recommended pellets were Milbro Rhino. Anything else was a bit tight to say the least. Not the most accurate of rifles but the low recoil was pleasant. Steve also ran me off a .30 barrel for my HW80, also with a brass liner. I still have both rifles and, as the .30 ammo was specially made, I was wondering what brand might suit the barrel today.

[Hsing-ee]

Steve Harper supplied me with .25 HW77 back in the 1980s. This had the brass liner and the recommended pellets were Milbro Rhino. Anything else was a bit tight to say the least. Not the most accurate of rifles but the low recoil was pleasant. Steve also ran me off a .30 barrel for my HW80, also with a brass liner. I still have both rifles and, as the .30 ammo was specially made, I was wondering what brand might suit the barrel today.

You could start with JSB...

JSB Exact .30 Cal Calibre Air Rifle Pellets on the bay of E for £12 for 150. 44 grains a piece.

[Nemesis]

You could start with JSB...

JSB Exact .30 Cal Calibre Air Rifle Pellets on the bay of E for £12 for 150. 44 grains a piece.

Thanks for the recommendation. The .30 Harper-supplied ammo came in black and red Beeman Rampoint tins and my understanding was that these pellets were put in a press to create the dumpy 24 to 25 grain .30 pellets. These had a little nipple on the top, which was often displaced, no doubt aggravating any existing potential for inaccuracy.

[Hsing-ee]

Thanks for the recommendation. The .30 Harper-supplied ammo came in black and red Beeman Rampoint tins and my understanding was that these pellets were put in a press to create the dumpy 24 to 25 grain .30 pellets. These had a little nipple on the top, which was often displaced, no doubt aggravating any existing potential for inaccuracy.

I haven't used the JSB .30 pellets, the last .30 I used was a 7.62mm NATO target full-bore rifle... But JSB do make pellets of the highest quality, and they usually use a design with a long distance between the head band and the tail band, which is the most accurate shape. The 'squashed' .25 pellets you mention would have a short distance and would therefore be prone to inaccuracy, especially with the odd residual spike you mention in the mix.

Only thing is, a .30 calibre HW80 even at 25 ft/lbs is going to have a rather loopy trajectory with a 44 grain pellet, that is the same as a .22 LR bullet but with less than 25% of the energy.... Be interesting to see how it gets on though, do publish your results on here.

[hebhaggis]

There have been a few of these I have encountered - all stripped out and destroyed by their owners ....what a waste !
One HW here last year to be put back to 'original' (?) and another elsewhere stripped out and sold to a colleague . Not only .25 but there was also .20 Custom and also the regular .177 and .22 also done allegedly .
I do not think that Mr. Harper signed or stamped his work - most people knew if there was a brass barrel inside then it was HIS work . He advertised regularly throughout the 80's and 90's .
.25 Rhino are the normal brand to use in this cal as the barrel size is unusually tight ...no idea why this may have been ....back then the only off the shelf UK made airgun in .25 was the break barrel Cobra Strike and a custom BSA done by Man Air ....the old Rhino has a smaller head diameter . Or maybe it was simply this barrel size was all that was available to Harper before doing his tricks on it .
In Airgun World an article was written by a HW owner [ Paul Hill ] in issue ...? who gave his airgun to tuner Ken Turner who tuned his airgun after Harper had fitted one of his .25 ' fast spin , shallow groove , rifled brass inserts ' . With only Rhino'S fitting , the max power ran at 11.8 but was reported to feel like firing a 5ft/lb airgun .
Magic

[jonnyone]

If it is the same as the one I had 25 pellets will be very tight!! Your friend may well be better off looking for BSA pellets of.243 size>

I second this. No matter what pellets I used I had to hammer then into the breech. I had another gunsmith machine the breech so it would chamber better but accuracy and power was never any good with my HW80 with this attached.

Wish I had hung out for HW bringing out their factory .25 barrels.

Dave

[muzzle]

i have 2 hw77 with the brass liners, 1 is .25 and the other is .20

the .25 i bought as a complete rifle but has seen better days
the .20 was the action only no internals

not had chance to try them out yet, hope the accuracy is there.



Daryl

[hebhaggis]

I second this. No matter what pellets I used I had to hammer then into the breech. I had another gunsmith machine the breech so it would chamber better but accuracy and power was never any good with my HW80 with this attached.

Wish I had hung out for HW bringing out their factory .25 barrels.

Dave

HARPER himself said the ONLY pellets to use in his .25 special barrel liners was the old Rhino - still made by Milbro/BT . Any thing else risks damage to the barrel . From memory the head is something tiny like 6.15 whilst the skirt is a larger diameter .

We are spolit for choice now but back then the Rhino was 'the' pellet .

As for accuracy . its always down to prepping ...in.25 or .20 fewer choices [ only one with .25 as above ] ...pellet sizer and wash and lube pellets , after accurately weighting a batch .