Any good spring powered pellet handguns?

[JohnKSa]

About 515fps with 8.6gr match wadcutters. About the same--maybe a few fps faster--with 7.9gr Crosman Premier domes. They fit a bit tighter so they shoot about the same speed as the wadcutters even though they're lighter.

In general, springers do best with midrange weights for the caliber. You can go a bit on the lighter side of midrange for a pistol but not too light or it's hard on the spring.

 

[SIGfiend]

I'm probably go with 10 grain .22 for the HW 45. I've been shooting too heavy a pellet in the .22 rifle and sometimes using them in the pistol. I had 30 grain in my rifle. That would be real slow in the pistol haha.

How is the low power shooting characteristics of your gun? I can't get that by simply changing the barrel, only the .177 and .20 have a low power setting. I think that is great because it takes off unneccessary wear from the spring when used at the range etc.

 

[JohnKSa]

30 grains is way too heavy for even your spring-piston rifle. It will likely shorten the life of the spring. Something around 14 grains is probably closer to what you need for the rifle and maybe a couple of grains or so lighter for the pistol.

I've only used the low-power cocking notch to see if it works. The point of impact is dramatically different from the high-power cocking notch and I don't like re-zeroing all the time. That feature and the "dryfire" capability (where you unlatch the barrel and then push it right back down without doing the cocking stroke) are just about useless IMO. The low power because of the re-zero issue and the "dryfire" capability because the trigger feels completely different.

 

[SIGfiend]

John:

I'm looking at an FWB 103 and found a brand new LH one that fits me for $1400...yikes! 550 fps or so in 4,5mm


Other issue that we talked about earlier swapping barrels with the HW 45 to convert it to 4,5mm or 5mm (from 5,5mm)...will the barrel and piston hole align concentrically with a different sized barrel? Will the seals work correctly?

Moreover, are you certain their aren't imperceptible (but existent) differences for the larger sized calibre of HW 45? If there are, the above 2 problems I speak of may be an issue. I think this would be a good question for Weihrauch but I don't know if they answer in English.

P.S. just bought the Lead-free 5,5mm pellets. Hopefully they won't hurt the barrel despite not being as soft as Lead. Weihrauch says it is a steel barrel so for these guns should we even worry like you mentioned about the soft rifling in airguns?

Also, they are much lighter. I found out I'd been shooting 17 grain pellets out of the HW 45 the whole time. The new non-Lead ones are 9 grains roughly.

 

[JohnKSa]

Try posting your questions about the HW barrel swap at the forum on this site: www.straightshooters.com

 

[SIGfiend]

 

[JohnKSa]

SIGfiend,

I'm not trying to get rid of you, I just know that there are definitely posters on that site who have swapped HW45 barrels and may have useful information for you. I haven't performed a swap myself, because I haven't had occasion to. I know that there are no major issues that would make the swap impossible (like barrel center misalignments), but I don't know if you have to fiddle to get the barrel aligned just so front to back or if you need to replace the seal. Based on what I've seen folks post about swapping barrels and based on what I can see looking at mine I don't foresee any problem, but rather than just guess, I figured you might want to get some input from someone who's actually done the swap with their pistol.

There might also be someone on that site who has experience with the non-lead pellets you've purchased. I haven't done any personal experimentation because the airgunners and airgunsmiths who have tried non-lead airgun pellets seem to have a universally poor opinion of them.

Not shuffling you off, you've just reached the limits of my "expertise."

 

[SIGfiend]

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

[SIGfiend]

John, I shot an FWB rifle. Man was that sweet. I just can't believe that these things cost nearly triple of what a high quality real gun costs. Insane.

 

[JohnKSa]

I just can't believe that these things cost nearly triple of what a high quality real gun costs.

A real gun? Come on, you're breaking my heart.

Actually, if you buy a top quality match .22 rifle, it will cost pretty close to the same amount as a top quality match air rifle.

Which makes it quite a deal. In a firearm, the energy that moves the projectile comes entirely from the ammunition. The air rifle must not only do everything a firearm does, it must also incorporate a mechanism to propel the projectile,and a means to store energy with which to propel the projectile. It stands to reason that an airgun should cost MORE than a firearm of equal quality.

 

[SIGfiend]

No offence but a gun is what you use to protect yourself with. I don't think that can be done with an airgun.

It is hard to pay $2,000 for a match airgun when a firearm match gun can be had for half that.

I do like that FWB and would love to have it but $2,000 no way!

 

[chorlton]

Back in the UK, Weihrauch was the best of the best. I'd recommend anything they produce here. Airguns are quieter and cheaper to fire - they're a lot of fun and I spent many many days as a kid just sending pellets "down range" in my back yard.

 

[SIGfiend]

John, all along, you were right. The Beeman P1 .177 is minutely more powerful than the Weihrauch HW45. Your reason was correct regarding the draconian European laws on airguns.

Beeman confirmed exactly what you guessed in one of the pamphlets that came in my P1's box. I will re-word it to make it more succinct. 'While there exist guns that look exactly identical or have nearly all the same parts, our airguns differ in the sense that they are built to the parameters of the unrestricted U.S. airgun market. So the Beeman version of guns are more powerful and will have more resale value in the long run than identical brands and versions.'

I own the HW45 in .22 since that caliber is not sold under the Beeman name. I think doing the .22 barrel swap into a P1 is a very unsound idea too because the P1 has a two-stage cocking mechanism. Weihrauch specifically said they omitted this in the .22 caliber version because the lower power setting would not be sufficient for this large of caliber.

Call me eccentric if you must, but I bought both--the HW45 in .22 and the P1 in .177 (more powerful than the same HW45 in .177 ). I am very happy with it and have done what you have and added the rubber hogue wrap-arounds. Excellent feel!

Now, John, I must ask, are there any quality lasers that will fit this gun on the trigger shoe (as opposed to on the dove tail rail on top)?

Thanks!
-SIG

 

[JohnKSa]

You'll have to be careful with those two airguns--they have a way of multiplying on you!

P1 has a two-stage cocking mechanism

On my P1, the difference in point of impact between the two cocking strokes is so different that I never use the low-powered stroke. It sounds like a much better idea than it is, IMHO.

I've never looked into using a laser on my P1, but from what I've seen, a lot of the trigger mount laser set ups for handguns have a few adapters that make it likely they'll fit most anything.