Winter basement vintage pistol shootout - I have to choose my favorite

[ptdunk]

I was zeroing in the Haenel last night and yes it can get tiring lol. Don’t know if this is universal but my Haenels all seem to shoot a little left and the rear sight has to be slightly right to compensate? Wondering if it’s the twist in the spring or my hold?

Just had a look at my 28 and sure enough once I’d zeroed it the rearsight ended up slightly right of centre.
Very accurate pistol though.

Happy shooting, let us know how you get on.

Matt

[hwtyger]

Webley would be my choice

[45flint]

Decided to test by country of production. First up USA. The test was pretty easy as it turned out. The standard Hy-score pistol was the best. Probably the reason it was so successful over the years. The Targ-aire you could argue was the best made pistol. But as a working pistol it wasn’t very close to the Hy-score. Trigger wasn’t comparable, the huge piston caused much more jump in the firing cycle. The Hy-score was easier to cock, much more accurate and a excellent trigger. On to the UK representatives.

[harvey_s]

Score cards man!... let's see 'em

[45flint]

Extremely difficult choice between the two Webley Seniors. Did a number of days of shooting. The straight grip is .177 and my best pellet was a Crosman Premier Wadcutter. Wish I had some RWS Hobbys but didn’t. The 1946 Webley slant grip shot 22 RWS Hobbys. Accuracy was I think indistinguishable. The trigger of the straight grip was better, very light. Sights were a little better on the slant grip. Grip hold goes to the slant grip. Build quality edges a little to the straight grip. I’m pulling the Straight Grip forward but it’s so close. Plus it puts all the remaining guns in .177. German face off next

[45flint]

The English Webley choice was crazy difficult, could have gone either way really but the German choice was quite easy. The Tell 3 may be the holy grail of collecting but I think comes up short as a working pistol. It is probably the nicest looking design. But to shoot it you have to put you hand on top of the barrel right on the sight and push down with force to cock it. Ouch. What a horrible idea really? The front sight is rounded so you can tolerate it. That leads to the sight which are the worse sights of any pistol tested. All mine have a tendency to shoot higher than the sights can adjust for. The trigger though adjustable isn’t that great.

Bottom line I would much rather cock the Haenel for shooting these tests, it is more accurate, good sights, but a trigger that is stiff but workable. Flawless repeating mechanism.

[ptdunk]

Interesting conclusions so far, getting a balance of trigger, sights and hold.
Pistols like the Haenel 28 and Hubertus have had me throwing ‘ease of cocking’ into the mix recently.
Good to know the Tell 3 isn’t necessarily the best shooter, that’ll save me some money!

Enjoying the process, would be good if you could post some grouping pics so we can compare the accuracy of the last group? (no judging, promise)

Cheers,
Matt