Air rifle and crows.

minktrapper

At what max. distance could you comfortably shoot crows at with a 25-30 ft lb pcp air rifle.

Kran

I have a HW97 spring air rifle that is 16ft lbs and it’s zeroed for 18 meters. I always use a range finder and would say I’m very comfortable with 40 meters and have taken crows at 50 on a windless day. I use the ChairGun app and mil dot scope to give me my drops at all distances.

minktrapper

Kran wrote: »

I have a HW97 spring air rifle that is 16ft lbs and it’s zeroed for 18 meters. I always use a range finder and would say I’m very comfortable with 40 meters and have taken crows at 50 on a windless day. I use the ChairGun app and mil dot scope to give me my drops at all distances.

40m is a good distance. Is it a .22. What weight of pellet do you use.

Kran

Yeah .22, I use a H&N FIeld Target Trophy 14.5 grain pellets. I’ve shot more crows with my air rifle than any other gun, the ability to shoot inside cattle sheds and upwards in general with a rifle is life changing. And being able to zero it in my back lawn is great too

minktrapper

Is your HW 97 a break barrel to cock it. What kind of groups are you getting with it.

Kran

minktrapper wrote: »

Is your HW 97 a break barrel to cock it. What kind of groups are you getting with it.

Yeah that’s the one. If you watch hunters vermin on YouTube he uses one in his springer vids. It’s incredibly accurate, it will put pellet after pellet into a five cent coin size group, that is after firing the recommended 500 shots through the barrel to obtain maximum accuracy and testing as many types of pellets I could get my hands on. I love this gun, I do want to get a hw100 and probably will in the new year but it will break my heart to trade this in.

minktrapper

At what kind of distance will it produce a group the size of a five cent piece.

Kran

minktrapper wrote: »

At what kind of distance will it produce a group the size of a five cent piece.

At my zero of 18meters. I have a workshop and zero it in there out of the wind. I’d expect it to do less than a euro size groups out to 40 meters. Plenty vids on YouTube of it.

Kran

https://youtu.be/6pPcE2WdmQg

minktrapper

Kran wrote: »

At my zero of 18meters. I have a workshop and zero it in there out of the wind. I’d expect it to do less than a euro size groups out to 40 meters. Plenty vids on YouTube of it.

At 40m that would be very good.

Kran

minktrapper wrote: »

At 40m that would be very good.

I’ve dropped bucket loads of crows at 35meters because that’s the exact distance an electricity pole behind my house is from my back window. Honestly couldn’t recommend it or air rifles in general enough.
https://youtu.be/3GY8O90dtT8

minktrapper

Any idea as to the distance a pellet from an air rifle becomes safe.

Kran

minktrapper wrote: »

Any idea as to the distance a pellet from an air rifle becomes safe.

That’s a question I searched ages for an answer as shooting skyward with a rifle does not feel right at all. The pellet can travel quite a bit and my chairgun ballistics app tells me that shooting it upwards at an angle of 23 degrees will give my pellet the maximum travel distance of 475 yards! Now that I imagine is without any wind which is never the case. After the pellet travels 100 yards it has less than 60 percent of its initial power left and it’s dropping off in power very quickly after that.
In real life you can hit a crow at 30 yards in the side of his wing and he will just fly off. I’d say it’s almost as safe as shooting upwards with a shotgun, once your not shooting towards houses etc you’ll never have a problem.

clawback07

Kran wrote: »

I’ve dropped bucket loads of crows at 35meters because that’s the exact distance an electricity pole behind my house is from my back window. Honestly couldn’t recommend it or air rifles in general enough.
https://youtu.be/3GY8O90dtT8

I use a HW 97 in .177 which is rated at12ft lb and use it on crows out to 30 metres on a permission I have . It will also put pellets into a 5 cent hole at that distance all day . I had a struggle to get one at that power rating but it was worth it as it's quiet and great in and around sheds . Had a bsa superten 30 ft lbs and found it louder than a silenced .22 lr and impossible to get serviced so will stay with the Springer which I can service myself - roll on the good times !!

Kran

clawback07 wrote: »

I use a HW 97 in .177 which is rated at12ft lb and use it on crows out to 30 metres on a permission I have . It will also put pellets into a 5 cent hole at that distance all day . I had a struggle to get one at that power rating but it was worth it as it's quiet and great in and around sheds . Had a bsa superten 30 ft lbs and found it louder than a silenced .22 lr and impossible to get serviced so will stay with the Springer which I can service myself - roll on the good times !!

I had to buy a chrono to check what power mine was, even the dealer I bought it from didn’t know or had no interest in finding out. I fitted a Tinbum tuning kit so I do have a spare spring that I could cut down but it’s going so good I just want to leave well enough alone.

clawback07

Kran wrote: »

I had to buy a chrono to check what power mine was, even the dealer I bought it from didn’t know or had no interest in finding out. I fitted a Tinbum tuning kit so I do have a spare spring that I could cut down but it’s going so good I just want to leave well enough alone.

I have done nothing to this one yet as I have only put about 1500 pellets through it but have done one before and it can only improve with a bit of tuning . When I ordered this one I was very lucky as the dealer was on his way to the Weihrauch factory in Germany and texted me from there to see if I wanted 30 ft lb ,12ftlb or 6ft lb which is the legal limit in Germany ! First class service from my firearms dealer .

minktrapper

Would any of ye guys think of getting a PCP air rifle.

clawback07

minktrapper wrote: »

Would any of ye guys think of getting a PCP air rifle.

I had a B S A superten mk lll which was a terrific air rifle , massive power and very accurate as well as being a great looking gun. Unfortunately back up service here was / is non existant and they do need maintenance beyond my capabilities . Even contacting Bsa I'm England for advice was a waste of time .I don't know what the HW 100 is like re maintenance but at the end of the day it's a major factor to allow for when your laying out big money for an air rifle .

minktrapper

Is the HW 100 a side lever. You would think that a bsa rifle would be easy to get serviced. They are made in England I presume. Not enough of them around for someone to do it professionally I expect.

clawback07

minktrapper wrote: »

Is the HW 100 a side lever. You would think that a bsa rifle would be easy to get serviced. They are made in England I presume. Not enough of them around for someone to do it professionally I expect.

HW 100 is a PCP air rifle , i.e a pre charged air rifle , as was the bsa superten .Charged from either a manual pump or a divers bottle .

Kran

Yeah I almost for certain will buy a hw100 early next year. I’d be going with the high pressure hand pump route for filling as access to an air compressor capable of filling a dive tank would be problematic for me. I was very close to doing it this year but firearms dealer near me who I bought my HW97 is absolutely useless and wouldn’t get back to me on things I was trying to order so I left him off. I might head to a better dealer up the country I think ( I’m in North Cork).
For what I do the springer is fine but loading one pellet at a time is painful when I’m using the night vision for rats.

minktrapper

Can you get the HW 100 with something like 28 ft lb of energy. I like the side lever action on it.

minktrapper

Any of ye try the H&N Sport "Hornet" pellets. They have a brass tip on them.

clawback07

Kran wrote: »

Yeah I almost for certain will buy a hw100 early next year. I’d be going with the high pressure hand pump route for filling as access to an air compressor capable of filling a dive tank would be problematic for me. I was very close to doing it this year but firearms dealer near me who I bought my HW97 is absolutely useless and wouldn’t get back to me on things I was trying to order so I left him off. I might head to a better dealer up the country I think ( I’m in North Cork).
For what I do the springer is fine but loading one pellet at a time is painful when I’m using the night vision for rats.

Good point about the loading ! I have the same issue . But I wouldn't go back to the pre charged . Charging with a foot pump to over 3000 psi will give you muscles you'd never get in a gym !

minktrapper

Is the charging with air the only issue with PCP air rifles.

clawback07

minktrapper wrote: »

Is the charging witir the only issue with PCP air rifles.

I am probably biased against PCP air rifles due to my experience with them .I found mine loud and if anything too powerful ! As I said previously a .22lr and subsonics would do the same job and quieter than a 30 ft lb PCP at distances and way lighter than it as well . Any way that is just my opinion and unless there was a decent back up service for replacing seals and maintaining regulators I'll stay with the Springer .

minktrapper

It is the safty aspect that would be my main concern. I have tried the .22 CB Long. But they are not accurate beyond 15 yds. Is there any way of making them more accurate I wonder. Might be worthy of a thread of its own.

Kran

minktrapper wrote: »

Can you get the HW 100 with something like 28 ft lb of energy. I like the side lever action on it.

Yeah you can, I have done a bit of looking into the HW100 and at first I thought you could adjust the power level but you can not. So if you got the 28 ftlb then your stuck with it. I’ve been on airgun forums in the UK and the general consensus is to avoid the 28ftlb model as it can give trouble with the seals due to the higher pressure needed to produce more power. Also it’s louder and not as accurate or so I’m told.
The higher power defeats the purpose of the air rifle in the first place, mine at 16ftlb will put a small dent in a corrugated sheet, the 28 would likely put a hole which rules you out of shooting in cattle sheds, and in around farm sheds is where the best shooting with an air rifle can be had. A 12 ftlb with 40 meters range is actually loads, the 28 would be great for rabbits but why bother when a .22lr will be way better for that and less than half the price.

nophd08

I was also a HW 97 owner. A fantastic gun. Easily knock vermin up to 50 yards and beyond. I was told mine was 18ft lb but I never checked. I hit a bean tin at 103 yards and it had put a hole right through both sides. This shocked me more than anything as I didn't realise the power it had even at that distance. I only sold it because of the pain of loading a single Pellet.
I now have an Air Arms S510 fac, adjustable up to 30ft lb. A superb rifle and whisper quiet with the A-tec mod fitted. I think its worth the expense of buying a diving bottle as it'll last a long time before needing filled. I have mine around 2 years I think and haven't needed to refill it yet. It's an expensive outlay but you'll have it forever and even if you need to drive a distance for a refill it'll be worth it. As for maintenance, there's lots of good help on UK forums but in saying that buy a good brand. I've never had a problem with the s510.

Kran

nophd08 wrote: »

I was also a HW 97 owner. A fantastic gun. Easily knock vermin up to 50 yards and beyond. I was told mine was 18ft lb but I never checked. I hit a bean tin at 103 yards and it had put a hole right through both sides. This shocked me more than anything as I didn't realise the power it had even at that distance. I only sold it because of the pain of loading a single Pellet.
I now have an Air Arms S510 fac, adjustable up to 30ft lb. A superb rifle and whisper quiet with the A-tec mod fitted. I think its worth the expense of buying a diving bottle as it'll last a long time before needing filled. I have mine around 2 years I think and haven't needed to refill it yet. It's an expensive outlay but you'll have it forever and even if you need to drive a distance for a refill it'll be worth it. As for maintenance, there's lots of good help on UK forums but in saying that buy a good brand. I've never had a problem with the s510.

how is the power adjusted on it? Do you have to certify the bottle after so many years like in the UK?

nophd08

Power adjustable by a knob on the side, but to be honest, I've never used the lower power settings. Also, it's hard to know what power it's on apart from highest or lowest as there's no numbers or clicks as such in between.
Air bottle certified every 5 years I think (I stand to be corrected on this) I'm hoping some of the river rescue outfits will refill for me when the time comes