HW30 HFT (@ TonyL)

[Craig-P]

I took my .177 HW30 HFT shooting today (informal club shooting / competition between mates) after TonyL put the idea to NickG and I.
My findings:
It’s brilliant.
It’s like ‘proper’ shooting but far more relaxing. Lightweight rifles, simple break barrel priming, quick handling, mild manners and all the other attributes that make these little rifles so appealing.
Given the low power of the 30 but when coupled with a x4 mag optic zeroed at about 18 yards, 35 - 40 yard targets don’t require anywhere near as much holdover as I expected I would have to give them - which made shooting it a dream. But the gusting wind was another story.
I shot with my mate who used his ISP Airstream (I like a bit of a challenge ) and the lower power of the HW30 made it a wind guessing game for me. Where my mate was giving a shot edge of kill, I was aiming off the plate - and varying winds gave me a right runaround.
Clearly my mate ‘just edged’ the win - but overall I reckon I had just a little more success than I do shooting a HFT course with my open sighted 77, which runs at 11.3fpe.
So in summary, Tony - I think a low powered scoped / full powered open sighted competition would be very interesting...

[Bill.B]

Nice stock!

[les allam]

Lovely combo Craig
I unfortunately missed having a shoot with your 30s at the last Bash.
Next time hopefully ldwink.
Les..

[TonyL]

Ooo-er!

Wow! Feeling most loved up and important now, Craig..

Thank you so much for putting some of my madcap thoughts to the test.. I always guessed (and hoped) that the little 30's sublimely mild and forgiving firing cycle might make up for the lack of "full UK power" and this vindicates it. Your observations re trajectory /:wind allowance are pretty much what I guessed to be the case, too.

Thank you so much.

And Les, yes, this little jewel shoots so beautifully, the heavier weight from that beautiful stock reducing what little recoil there was even more and the ergonomics are superb.

[Craig-P]

Lovely combo Craig
I unfortunately missed having a shoot with your 30s at the last Bash.
Next time hopefully ldwink.
Les..

More than welcome, mate. I’ll look forward to catching up with you as always.
Best, Craig

[Craig-P]

Ooo-er!

Wow! Feeling most loved up and important now, Craig..

Thank you so much for putting some of my madcap thoughts to the test.. I always guessed (and hoped) that the little 30's sublimely mild and forgiving firing cycle might make up for the lack of "full UK power" and this vindicates it. Your observations re trajectory /:wind allowance are pretty much what I guessed to be the case, too.

Thank you so much.

And Les, yes, this little jewel shoots so beautifully, the heavier weight from that beautiful stock reducing what little recoil there was even more and the ergonomics are superb.

Pleasure was all mine, mate. Literally.
What I was reminded of, was the ‘dump shoots’ in late 80’s/early 90’s FT side shoots. Along with the long range side shoots, they were by far my favourite. A modern take on these shoots, to be shot with opens, or a low powered rifle would be superb...

[les allam]

More than welcome, mate. I’ll look forward to catching up with you as always.
Best, Craig

Cheers Craig
Looking forward to the next one and having more of a chat and shooting session with you.
Atb
Les..

[TonyL]

Pleasure was all mine, mate. Literally.
What I was reminded of, was the ‘dump shoots’ in late 80’s/early 90’s FT side shoots. Along with the long range side shoots, they were by far my favourite. A modern take on these shoots, to be shot with opens, or a low powered rifle would be superb...

Absolutely Craigy.

[look no hands]

Was that the rifle you got me to shoot at the bash Tone?

Pete

[TonyL]

It most certainly was, Pete.. Lovely, wasn't it?

Has your good lady had the chance to get properly acquainted with her little 30S yet?

[TonyL]

And, as for the next stage.....hopefully, maybe.

I had always been intrigued as to how the lovely little 30 would fare in outdoor comps, balancing that amazing firing cycle and forgiving nature against lower velocity. And we have our answers here. Cheers, Craigy.....Guessing we're running at about 7ft.lbs in .177?

So, as this was always a sort of two part thing in my mind, how about we extend some of this thinking onto a larger, more sturdy platform? We've seen how super-sweet a NickG 22mm TX can shoot. And I think he said it was doing circa 10.5. So, how about we go about reducing the HW99's swept volume so that we get to a very sweet 9 to 10? Wouldn't take much doing at all, considering how sweet they already shoot at 10.5 and sometimes more. On a simple conversion, maybe a slight stroke reduction would do it and balance all the other components to suit? And then a nice, big heavy stock to add mass.

Or we go TX / 77 / 97 and through either sleeving down or stroking and then, again, balancing those internals - piston weight, TP etc., we get to an internal "blueprint" for a super-smooth, super-benign cycle. A little more velocity than the 30 project to reduce pellet time and wind drift (again, aiming for 9.5 to 10.0 ft.lbs?), but retaining the 30's impeccable cycle and forgiving nature. And we can go really heavy with those underlever rifles, if needs be, to further reduce hold sensitivity. And still self-contained and with far more character than a PCP could ever dream of mustering.......

[NickG]

Tony, my tx is 21 not 22 mm and will make up to 12 fpe, my 22 mm 77/97 will make up to 12 also. The one we all liked at the bash with the longer stroke was actually the one doing 10.5. Only putting it straight as people might get the wrong Idea, as a certain somebody we mutually know has been banging on about low power being more accurate rubbish) probably because his work struggles to make power .
However by coincidence today I am revisiting my 20 mm comp tube, originally I had to re jig the under lever geometry to get enough stroke for 11 + fpe , which was impractical for a repeatable conversion, at the standard stroke it makes 10 fpe so probably ideal for your Idea.
My plan is that now I have a more efficient seal and transfer port arrangement in my armoury I am going for 11.😉

[look no hands]

It most certainly was, Pete.. Lovely, wasn't it?

Has your good lady had the chance to get properly acquainted with her little 30S yet?

Not yet I'm afraid, to many things need doing around the house and the weather and dark nights are drawing in, so not much if a chance, I've hardly looked at any if mine.

Pete

[look no hands]

It most certainly was, Pete.. Lovely, wasn't it?

Has your good lady had the chance to get properly acquainted with her little 30S yet?

And yes it was lovely to shoot.

[averageplinker]

This has reminded me of a blog I used to read by an American hunter who used to use an FWB300 to control small vermin. They key criteria for him to do this was windless conditions otherwise it was a no go.
Against tin plate targets rather than live quarry trying to figure out the windage sounds tricky/fun 👍