HW30S for target shooting. MPL and Bell Target?

[zooma]

Some time ago my very good friend IJ and I bought a pair of new HW30S together from a German dealer at a very good price.

The two rifles were delivered to IJ (he master-minded the operation) and when they arrived he brought them both over to the Rossendale club and was keen to let me have a shoot with his so I could see what he had done to "improve" it.

I have to admit that his HW30S felt really smooth (especially for a brand new air rifle) and the trigger was superb too.

Almost before I had time to think about it Ian had my new HW30S apart and had performed some minor surgery (involving a copper washer and a light weight trigger spring) and mine instantly felt as good as his did a few minutes earlier.

I have always really liked this small airgun - but I always had a problem shooting it as despite physically shrinking in my old age (over 70) I am still not too far short of 6 ft and I found the rifle just too small to make it fit me and to be able to shoot it in comfort.

Naturally it is a perfect size for IJ (maybe a little on the large side perhaps?) but a bit on the small side for many grown-ups.

Adding to the problem of fitting this small size air rifle to my comparatively slightly lanky frame, I also have a damaged neck and spine (now with the joy of arthritis thrown in too) so I found that I was unable to take more than a few shots with this small "junior" sized air rifle before having to reluctantly stop and take a rest.

Crouching down to get the sights into view was just uncomfortable, so I started to look for ways to change the stock. I had various plans over the years and actually acquired an HW98 stock at one stage as I thought with its adjustable cheek piece and being slightly longer it could solve all my problems, but the more I looked at it, the less I was able to convince myself that this was the best solution.

Recently, I began to appreciate just how far the FT and HFT air rifle stocks that are in regular use have come, with some of them being as well developed and sophisticated as the adjustable match rifle stocks that I was used to shooting with. The main difference is that many of these stocks are made by custom stock makers and are not supplied by the rifle manufacturers.

I decided to give Warren Edwards a call as I was impressed with some of his designs (and with his workmanship) and I asked him if he would make one of the designs that I liked to fit my HW30S.

The upshot was that I sent my HW30S to Warren so he could measure it and make a new stock (of the design I had chosen) to accommodate the small '30S mechanism.

Warren did a great job, and now I have a full size rifle stock (with adjustable cheekpiece and butt plate) custom made to fit my HW30S - and it fits me, and has all the adjustment that I could ever need.

The main reason for writing this is because over the years I have met and spoken to a lot of HW30 and HW30S owners who really like the way their HW30S air rifles shoot, but to a greater or lesser degree find the rifle too small to fully enjoy it.

Now that Warren has all the measurements taken from my HW30S he should be able to chop out any of his designs to accommodate this mechanism in the future. This could be helpful to anyone who like myself really likes the HW30 air rifles but finds them a bit too small to enjoy fully.

.....other custom stock makers are available ..