Heres the key to handling the HW40/P17....You need to lose the fear of trapping skin. This method of using a flat palm out in front of you, might well seem safe but its employing the wrong muscles, making you inefficient and trepidation rises loading like this.
To load the 40 use the heel of the hand. Making a near fist of your left hand and getting the gun close to the body...get in there and cock the thing. Within a week you will have developed the muscles to load it without thinking. Flinch and flapping about, you will mess up the stroke and trap something.
I would personally resist drilling holes into the piston, reducing cocking effort and velocity because you are increasing the guns lock time.
I have become more and more convinced that the accuracy of pistols is affected by pellet speed, getting the pellet out of the gun as quickly as possible, before the effects of the guns action has time to work on the pellet, is key.
Think FAS 6004, with its match trigger, ergonomic grip and low hand design, still struggling to out shoot a HW40 or 75 until its tuned. Its because it runs slower at 330 fps versus 400 fps!
