UTube Review of the Hy-Score Pistol

[45flint]

This is my final review, I'm ending with the Hy-Score pistol. I think it's a American classic and a really well thought out spring pistol of its day. As with the other pistols I reviewed I have found very few Utubes that cover it.

https://youtu.be/tYeB1YRluoI

[Garvin]

This is my final review, I'm ending with the Hy-Score pistol. I think it's a American classic and a really well thought out spring pistol of its day. As with the other pistols I reviewed I have found very few Utubes that cover it.

https://youtu.be/tYeB1YRluoI

Yet another very interesting and informative film. Thank you!

I learned several new things by watching it, including that you can dry fire the Hy-Score.

It was particularly useful seeing the Haenel 28, Targe-Aire and Hy-Score together - when you see guns pictured alone you just don't get a sense of how they compare in size etc. Seeing how slim the Hy-Score's cylinder is really brings home how ingenious the concentric design is.

One very small correction: it's Webley, not Wembley!

[45flint]

Yet another very interesting and informative film. Thank you!

I learned several new things by watching it, including that you can dry fire the Hy-Score.

It was particularly useful seeing the Haenel 28, Targe-Aire and Hy-Score together - when you see guns pictured alone you just don't get a sense of how they compare in size etc. Seeing how slim the Hy-Score's cylinder is really brings home how ingenious the concentric design is.

One very small correction: it's Webley, not Wembley!

Your comment brings home to me the value of having collected these pistols, and seeing how they relate to each other. I do come away with a appreciation for how ingenious and maybe under appreciated the Hy-Score really is. Also in a sense the Haenel Repeater is using concentric design in its loading tube?

[Garvin]

Your comment brings home to me the value of having collected these pistols, and seeing how they relate to each other. I do come away with a appreciation for how ingenious and maybe under appreciated the Hy-Score really is. Also in a sense the Haenel Repeater is using concentric design in its loading tube?

I suppose you're right, the Haenel 28R is concentric in the sense that it's using the space inside the spring for the loading tube, but also has the barrel extending beyond the cylinder, like on a conventional break barrel. Interesting that the subsequent British-made version of the Hy-Score did away with (most of?) the barrel extension, thus making the whole pistol incredibly compact.

I think the genius of the Hy-Score design is that it has a long barrel by having it run the full length of the cylinder, has that very neat 'camera shutter' breech (there were also repeater versions of this breech), and has good leverage for cocking by having the pivot bolt so far forward. I agree that if it just used milled steel in place of stamped sheet metal (especially that awful trigger) then it would have been extremely desirable. But then it probably would have been a commercial failure too...

[45flint]

I would love to have the British version of the Hy-Score in my collection as it seems to take it to a higher level. But the Atlantic Ocean seems to cut me off from some of my dreams. Lol The version with the silencer could never be imported to the US, and that's about as cool as it gets.

[Garvin]

I should point out that Prof John Griffiths wrote a detailed article on the Hy-Score (on pages 15-17 here) which is a good companion to the You Tube video, because together they tell you just about all you need to know about this pistol - including that the early Hy-Score 700 had a 'dummy' barrel or empty tube in front of the cylinder, whereas the later model 800 continued the barrel all the way along the tube, and that Hy-Score produced a 'snub nosed' or compact version of the pistol long before the Sussex Armoury/Phoenix version was made.

[45flint]

A question I have had on the repeating model Hy-Score, does the pellet automatically advance on cocking or do you have to manually twist it? That is a well written article on the Hy-score, and all concentrics. He states that it was probably the most efficient spring powered pistol ever produced. Lawrence in his paper said as much as well but stated that mechanically it is only 25% of potential.


'As to the overall mechanical efficiency of these guns, calculated as kinetic energy of pellet over potential spring energy, this comes to around 25%. The losses are partly frictional, partly leakage losses."
-Andrew Lawrence-

[Mark D]

Snub nose Hy score - That's the 804 that came with the quirky repeater mechanism
https://flic.kr/p/Ntb9yN

[Mark D]

A question I have had on the repeating model Hy-Score, does the pellet automatically advance on cocking or do you have to manually twist it? That is a well written article on the Hy-score, and all concentrics. He states that it was probably the most powerful spring pistol of its size. Lawrence in his paper said as much as well but stated that mechanically it is only 25% of potential.


'As to the overall mechanical efficiency of these guns, calculated as kinetic energy of pellet over potential spring energy, this comes to around 25%. The losses are partly frictional, partly leakage losses."
-Andrew Lawrence-

Has to be twisted for each shot and the shutter opened and closed again. Not exactly a speedy process.

https://flic.kr/p/NusLJp

[45flint]

Has to be twisted for each shot and the shutter opened and closed again. Not exactly a speedy process.

https://flic.kr/p/NusLJp

Thanks that what I kind of thought, cause many of the used ones have most of the finish warn off of that back mechanism. Really not a repeater like the Haenel? In a sense it's pellet storage? I just think the single shot is cleaner looking.

[Mark D]

That's a good way to describe it - 'pellet storage'! After each shot you have to open the shutter, twist the 'ears' so that a pellet is dropped into the load section and then close shutter.

The single shot versions not only look cleaner as you say,they are also faster to load if you have a tin of pellets next to you on the
shooting position.

Close up :https://flic.kr/p/NusW5Z

[Geezer]

The U.K. made Phoenix model also found it hard to be imported into the US because it lacked a safety catch.

I suspect, though, that some made it over there as personal imports.

[45flint]

The U.K. made Phoenix model also found it hard to be imported into the US because it lacked a safety catch.

I suspect, though, that some made it over there as personal imports.

I have never seen it over here; period. I think the bigger issue is the silencer which is so cool on the cased examples. US laws are very serious on possession of any silencer that is not registered. That costs you about $250 and you register the silencer. I think you need to register before you take possession which is pretty problematic if your not buying it from registered firearms dealer. Thus this and the Tell 3 are my holy grail guns I will never see.

[Garvin]

the Tell 3 are my holy grail guns I will never see.

Don't give up on the Tell 3 - the 50 made claim in the Beeman Blue Book is nonsense, there were several hundred made, at least. They are scarce and desirable to be sure, but not exactly rare IMO.

[ccdjg]

I would love to have the British version of the Hy-Score in my collection as it seems to take it to a higher level. But the Atlantic Ocean seems to cut me off from some of my dreams. Lol The version with the silencer could never be imported to the US, and that's about as cool as it gets.

There is a cased example currently for sale in the UK on the J.C. Militaria website
http://www.jcmilitaria.com/air_weapons_pistols.asp

It is on page 1 of their air pistols list, and is incorrectly labelled as a "Cased, Post 1969 Hy-Score Arms Corporation U.S.A, Model 802".

They do ship worldwide, but there are two snags. First, the price is extortionate, probably £200 more than its worth, and secondly, it comes with a silencer so you would have to ask for it to be left behind, and I doubt they would give a discount for doing so!

In my opinion though, this British version of the Hyscore is no better in quality than the original US version.