Quote Originally Posted by averageplinker View Post
Some interesting views throughout the thread. Interesting that a lot of stock is held in the feel of a rifle; I seem to recall BTDT noting on here or in his articles in the mags that a smooth cycle is no good if the accuracy is poop (not his exact words mind )
He has indeed. And I think he’s right.

I prefer the completely dead firing cycle of a Giss gun to the FWB sledge thing. But it’s the FWBs that won the Olympics and internationals.

I quite intensely dislike the typical Theoben rammer’s firing manners. But they hit what they are aimed at, better than a lot of guns with more pleasant shot cycles (yes, I appreciate that there are a bunch of other variables at play).

I can think of other rifles that shoot well (in terms of hitting targets), but are snappy or twangy, or jumpy.

The HW77 combined high accuracy with a smooth cycle (especially compared to the quite lively FWB Sport which preceded it as FT rifle of choice).

It’s hard to underrate the influence of the HW77 35 years ago on our thinking about springers even today.

I wonder if part of the 77’s influence was to persuade us that smooth cycle = accurate, when it’s actually a lot less simple than that.