.177 HW30S and HW99S for MPL shooting.

[zooma]

I have been shooting an HW30S in the MPL series and it is a lovely smooth and accurate little rifle, but I have found it a bit too small to fit me comfortably so I have been considering fitting the action into a bigger stock.

Old age has given me some problems with my back and shoulders and so crouching over a smaller sized rifle probably gives me more discomfort that it would have done a few years ago when I was younger and fitter. Without these problems I would stick with the HW30S "out of the box" as it is a superb little rifle that "does the job" perfectly!

As I was considering the amount of work and the costs involved in making a custom stock (or grafting it into an existing bigger stock) I saw an HW99S and thought I would give this a try instead as it could be a "ready made" fix that could save me a lot of work - and like the HW30S it was still a budget priced rifle that would make a good affordable choice.

The "S" part of the HW99S rifle type means that it shares the same superb "Record" trigger as the HW30s and being just a bit bigger it did feel a bit more comfortable for me to hold too - so I bought it!

I tested the '99S at the club last night and was really impressed with its accuracy over the 6 yard MPL distance and it was a little more comfortable for me to hold as well.

The rifle has more power than it needs for 6 yard paper punching so I am looking at reducing the power down to a similar level to the HW30S as that was more than good enough to punch nice sharp clean holes in the targets and the reduced power should also make it easier to cock too!

It is always tempting just to pull the SSP out of the cupboard and use that instead (and I sometimes have done in the past!), but I do enjoy the challenge of shooting with a simple recoiling springer as it is more in keeping with the original ethos of the MPL - keeping things simple and inexpensive to encourage more shooters to take part without having to worry about being "out-gunned" by those with better kit.

Does anyone else have any experience with target shooting with either of these recoiling springers that they would like to share?