HW45, Just For Men

[magicniner]

Otherwise it's like comparing the handling of a push bike with a Porsche.

Grip, weight and trigger pull are (or can be) comparable, this makes the HW45 quite useful for dry fire practice.
Porsche paintwork is no longer up to the standard of finish on some top end bicycles.

[beagle2]

I find it just the opposite, Beagle. I have cartridge pistols and air pistols. Cartridge ammo is expensive. To shoot them, I have to make a trip to a pistol range: pay a fee: wait my turn: wear eye and hearing protection (AND a baseball cap: I've been cut - badly - by an ejected .40 shell casing from the next lane). The guns are loud. You have to keep your eyes on the other shooters: some of whom are idiots.

Air pistols? Air rifles? When I get the urge to shoot them, it takes me about 10 minutes to go upstairs, set up my target, get my guns out and load them. No trips, no fees, no waiting, no idiots around (other than myself). Ammo is about a third of the cost of .22 rimfire.

I last shot a cartridge pistol about 10 months ago.

I last shot an air pistol about 3 hours ago.

Jim

Looking on the bright side it may be a pain in the ass to have to do all of that but at least you can have a gun to shoot if you choose to the only options we have are pistols with riffle barrels stuck on them or BP ones other than that the only option is air pistols.

Also I think that it depends on where you live in the US in a large town it probably is a bit of hastle to go shooting but in the country on a farm or in desert or woodland areas not to much of a problem I would have thought.

Do not get me wrong I like air pistols and even if I could have a cartridge pistol I would still keep my airpistol for plinking around the hone/garden I suppose its the old problem as we are not allowed to have them it makes them even more desirable to have.

[Jim McArthur]

When you can clear a table of wooden skittles in 6 seconds with an HW45, then it can be mentioned in the same breath as a 1911 A1.

Otherwise it's like comparing the handling of a push bike with a Porsche.

I'll mention the 1911A1 in the same breath as the HW 45 when the cost of .45 ACP ammo drops to 2 cents a round, as it does for pellets for the HW 45.

Jim

[Jim McArthur]

Take your 1911A1 to the olympics and match the steyrs.

Match it against a Steyr? It doesn't even match a .22 Ruger.

No, friends: if you want to have fun and hit targets and still have enough money left to buy groceries: get an air pistol, or a .22.

If you want to get a pistol for protection, AND you are willing to wear a concealment holster, and clothing to hide the rig: get a .32 or .38 snubbie revolver, or a .32 or .380 automatic.

If you want to get a pistol for protection, and AREN'T willing to dress everyhere you go, every minute of your life, around the fact that you're carrying a concealed firearm: get a .22 North American Arms mini-revolver: or a derringer: or a .32 double-action only automatic, on a scaled-up .25 frame.

.45 automatics are for open carry for cops and soldiers: who will breathe a sign of relief the second they unbuckle them, which will be the second they go off duty.

Or for owners of small boats. They make great anchors.

Jim

[Jim McArthur]

Looking on the bright side it may be a pain in the ass to have to do all of that but at least you can have a gun to shoot if you choose to the only options we have are pistols with riffle barrels stuck on them or BP ones other than that the only option is air pistols.

Also I think that it depends on where you live in the US in a large town it probably is a bit of hastle to go shooting but in the country on a farm or in desert or woodland areas not to much of a problem I would have thought.

Do not get me wrong I like air pistols and even if I could have a cartridge pistol I would still keep my airpistol for plinking around the hone/garden I suppose its the old problem as we are not allowed to have them it makes them even more desirable to have.

The old "forbidden fruit" syndrome, hey?

Yes, shooting in the US is easily done if you live in a rural area. But most Americans live in towns and cities.

If I lived in the UK, it would bother me that I couldn't own a centerfire pistol for protection.

It would bother me than I couldn't shoot my .22 Ruger SA revolver at the range. (Earned me a Distinguished Expert rating.

But not being able to own a centerfire pistol for slaying paper targets? I wouldn't give it a second thought.

Paper dies just as dead to .177 as to .45. And for a tiny fraction of the cost.

Jim

[TonyHolden]

Match it against a Steyr? It doesn't even match a .22 Ruger.

No, friends: if you want to have fun and hit targets and still have enough money left to buy groceries: get an air pistol, or a .22.

Jim

I've had a great night tonight with my modded 2240, 10 shots in the black at 20 yards. Okay I was resting the pistol, but, I'm a crip and couldn't hold it at arms length and hit any side of a barn from the inside.

The second target was a little worse thanks to having to change position, c'est la vie. http://distilleryimage8.instagram.co...381b4856_7.jpg

[Rob M]

HW45, just for men??? When I'm feeling all butch and proper manly, I reach for my BSA Scorpions. Much more fun, a big, powerful, heavy pistol with style and even some grace about it, a classic in a way that the HW45 never will be, good as it is.

[Ferrets Bueller]

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HW45, just for men??? When I'm feeling all butch and proper manly, I reach for my BSA Scorpions. Much more fun, a big, powerful, heavy pistol with style and even some grace about it, a classic in a way that the HW45 never will be, good as it is.

With the hw45 being in production for nearly 30 years I think it already is a classic.

Great guns the scorpion too, prefer the magnum though.

[Rickenbacker]

I think a steel Webley pistol could tick all the boxes as a smallbore/fullbore trainer, and bags of fun to boot!

Nick - Have you ever tuned up a Webley? Because I have a .22 Premier here that could be lovely!

[Slinky-power]

I think a steel Webley pistol could tick all the boxes as a smallbore/fullbore trainer, and bags of fun to boot!

Nick - Have you ever tuned up a Webley? Because I have a .22 Premier here that could be lovely!

HW45s and for that matter Webleys both have to (often) suffer the 'problem' of thin ambi grips that really don't help when wrestling with the overlever cocking mechanisms.
If I'm shooting my Tempest or Hurricane I swap the plastic grips for a set of custom right handed grips designed to be both ergonomic and asymetric to ease the cocking procedure.
After about ten shots you really notice a difference.

-SP

[beagle2]

I think a steel Webley pistol could tick all the boxes as a smallbore/fullbore trainer, and bags of fun to boot!

Nick - Have you ever tuned up a Webley? Because I have a .22 Premier here that could be lovely!

I think that I got it wrong when I first looked at this I thought you meant you had one that had been tuned up not asking if Nick had done one so I added this explanation.

I have an all steel .22 Premier in mint condition when I got it the first thing that I did was to take it apart not the trigger part but the plunger etc I gave it a good clean and put some molly past on all of the moving parts I just love the gun the only problem is the power is good for my 6yd indoor shooting but much further than that and the pellets start to curve down.

I find the .177 is much better over longer distances but I have always preferred shooting the .22 for some reason if you have managed to increase the power in yours I would be most interested to hear how you went about it.

At one time I had a nice Senior in .177 that I could not hit a thing with it in the end I stripped it down and it turned out that the spring had been replaces with a longer one and it has a kink in it when I replaced it with a new one of the correct length the gun worked fine.

I do not think putting a longer spring in is the way to go also putting a stronger spring in you would risk bending the barrel when cocking it so what dose that leave us with .

[beagle2]

I somehow managed to do it twice so i deleted this one

[Rickenbacker]

SP - I think its more about developing a good technique with cocking spring pistols (and SSPs). Most 'target people' would tell you that it's then best to re-set your grip on the pistol before each shot. This is where PCPs are an advantage, because your grip is not 'spoilt' by the forces of cocking between shots, so its possible to retain the same grip for multiple shots with a PCP, which can ultimately produce more consistant shooting.

Beagle - I've just bought this .22 Premier. Very nice condition (so its not 'too good to use' ). But I did buy it knowing it has a weak spring / low on FPS. I was thinking how nice could it be tuned. i.e. with a delrin guide, a little top hat, perhaps the piston buttoned, and perfectly sleeved ...

I had quite a large Webley collection (sadly sold some years ago when I needed the money to pay mortgage!). I agree the .177 is more sensible, but also that there's something 'extra' about these guns in .22!

I found that some examples were just nicer to shoot than others ... and not necessarilly the less-used ones. I had a battered Senior that was probably my favorite to actually shoot with.

Also agree not to over-spring the poor things ... as you say, the .22 barrel is thin walled (compared to the .177). And I believe some of the mk1s can suffer from bendy barrels with a standard spring ... not to mention increased pressure on the cocking links, which have a habit of stretching with use, leading to over-cocking the pistol, and more likelyhood of bending the barrel

[Jim McArthur]

I've had a great night tonight with my modded 2240, 10 shots in the black at 20 yards. Okay I was resting the pistol, but, I'm a crip and couldn't hold it at arms length and hit any side of a barn from the inside.

The second target was a little worse thanks to having to change position, c'est la vie. http://distilleryimage8.instagram.co...381b4856_7.jpg

And I'll bet you didn't have to make a trip to the range to shoot it.

20 shots with a CO2 air pistol would cost you about 60 cents in the US.

20 shots with a .45 automatic would cost you about $8.00 (and I'm assuming a discount ammo deal here).

The hurricanes here have played havoc with the money trees that used to grow in my back yard.

Jim

[Slinky-power]

SP - I think its more about developing a good technique with cocking spring pistols (and SSPs). Most 'target people' would tell you that it's then best to re-set your grip on the pistol before each shot. This is where PCPs are an advantage, because your grip is not 'spoilt' by the forces of cocking between shots, so its possible to retain the same grip for multiple shots with a PCP, which can ultimately produce more consistant shooting.

Hi Rick,

For sure, but those thin grips don't help, even with good technique.
A guy I know made my set a while back after we had an afternoon of paper punching and he was moaning about the manual cocking of my webleys compared to his soda-stream fed guns.
I left him my hurricane to play with and a couple of weeks later it came back with the sweetest set of English oak grips. A little wider which feels better in my hands, and he extended the thumb shelf on the left hand side grip right down to the bottom of the grip in an arc on the outer/back edge. Now when you cock the pistol there is no movement, or slipping. It turns slightly toward you automatically into the perfect position for cocking. it sits perfectly in the hand and the new shape lends itelf to two handed grips. It cocks smoothly, none of that 'ole one-two', just a smooth straight pull. The angles he cut them at are really tight too. The seem to fit more precisely than the originals, looks like a computer cut them, not some old bloke with hand tools.
Bloke's a wizard!

-SP