HW30s pellet testing continued
- Thread starter Oquossoc
- Start date
You're not actually hurting the gun aka action, you're only hurting your FPE numbers. Springs and seals are considered consumables and you'll replace them at some point during ownership anyway. Face it, 99+% of owners are only shooting their HW30/R7 platform25-40ish yards and already knew that going into buying one. Most, if they put their time, effort and something like Chairgun into it, could also hit those same beer cans and pill bottles at 100ish yards if they put as much practice into it as Ron has once they get the holdovers figured out.
If a pellet is accurate in your gun and does what you want it to whether targets or pesting, at the yardages you're shooting, then by all means use it. I have R7's in both .177 and .20 and, while I'm not some days, both rifles are very capable of making headshots out to the 30ish yards I use them and taking out the pests I pointed them at and that's even with the heavier 13.73gr JSB pellets in .20.
If a pellet is accurate in your gun and does what you want it to whether targets or pesting, at the yardages you're shooting, then by all means use it. I have R7's in both .177 and .20 and, while I'm not some days, both rifles are very capable of making headshots out to the 30ish yards I use them and taking out the pests I pointed them at and that's even with the heavier 13.73gr JSB pellets in .20.
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To add, you'll know when you're way over weight and severally damaging the spring. You can usually hear it and feel it as the piston fights the initial pressure needed to move the pellet. Its a really slow shot cycle with a ton of buzz. Heavier/tackier greases on the spring may mask that buzz some but I'd imagine the firing cycle would still feel a bit off. My HW57 has this issue with anything over 10gr. It sounds like it wants to die. Oddly enough, that gun also has a PG3 in it.
Worse case scenario I think would be it costs you $20 and 30 minutes (if that) to replace a broken spring. It may take a couple thousand shots though so who knows. My 30S has a few thousand pellets through it since my Vortek kit installed. I'd guess a good 80% of those pellets were the JSB 8.44s and the rest were those 10.3 JSBs. I'm still sitting at a solid 8ftlbs so I would imagine the spring is still good to go.
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My entire purpose for my springers is precision shooting out to 50 meters. Incidentally, that is roughly the distance that pellets are still somewhat stable and manageable in the wind. My three Weihrauch springers fill this role superbly. My .177 HW97K is a precision tool at 14 fpe that is capable of hitting dimes at 50 meters...but it's heavy. My .177 HW50 S is also incredibly accurate at 11 fpe and it's quite a bit lighter than the HW97. I'm confident with it out to about 40 meters. My .177 HW30 is my baby. She's running at 7.5 fpe stock and is a guaranteed one hole group at 20 meters. Unless its windy she's the tool I pick for sub 30 meter work.
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Just to segway this lesson a little. I'll explain a few things that may enlighten some people, including me. Start pressure is important. Too much start pressure is caused by too much resistance. This is a biproduct of both weight and fit. Too much resistance causes the piston to rebound (sometimes several times) off the compressed air pocket that can't exit quick enough. This rapid bouncing back and forth causes premature spring failure. The bouncing back and forth negatively affects efficiency and usually accuracy because of the multiple shock waves created behind the pellet that's still rattling down the barrel.
Accuracy can be affected by many factors so the best way to determine a smooth efficient pellet is through the use of a chronograph. Power will start to drop as resistance increases past healthy amounts. Power is your indicator of efficiency. Most often the best printing pellet is one that falls close to maximum power. Not always but most often. Basically because the air pulse behind the pellet is more like a spike with a smooth shove afterwards. This helps accuracy.
Conversely pellets that are to light or fit too loose don't create enough back pressure and the piston nearly slams the end of the compression tube. With little to no back pressure (dry fire) the gun may detonate and sound like a fire arm. This is because the pressure spike happens so fast the air in and near the transfer port becomes a superheated gas and ignites the smallest amounts of lube in the compression tube. This detonation (explosion) will rupture most seals and send the piston screaming backwards. In extreme cases it's been known to recock the gun by latching the piston to the trigger. Over long periods of time, dieseling which is a more controlled combustion will burn through the seals near the transfer port. There's another thread about that and dieseling is a whole other discussion.
Spring guns are relatively simple devices that have a lot of finite conditions to balance to get working properly. They still have me pulling my hair out from time to time so I still have a lot to learn. From this thread I learned that the 10.3 JSBs don't penalize power as much as I remembered or experienced with other heavies. I imagine the reason for that is they probably have a lower start pressure than other similar weight pellets. It's probably a combination of fit and skirt design. The fun part about this stuff, it's there is always something to learn.
Accuracy can be affected by many factors so the best way to determine a smooth efficient pellet is through the use of a chronograph. Power will start to drop as resistance increases past healthy amounts. Power is your indicator of efficiency. Most often the best printing pellet is one that falls close to maximum power. Not always but most often. Basically because the air pulse behind the pellet is more like a spike with a smooth shove afterwards. This helps accuracy.
Conversely pellets that are to light or fit too loose don't create enough back pressure and the piston nearly slams the end of the compression tube. With little to no back pressure (dry fire) the gun may detonate and sound like a fire arm. This is because the pressure spike happens so fast the air in and near the transfer port becomes a superheated gas and ignites the smallest amounts of lube in the compression tube. This detonation (explosion) will rupture most seals and send the piston screaming backwards. In extreme cases it's been known to recock the gun by latching the piston to the trigger. Over long periods of time, dieseling which is a more controlled combustion will burn through the seals near the transfer port. There's another thread about that and dieseling is a whole other discussion.
Spring guns are relatively simple devices that have a lot of finite conditions to balance to get working properly. They still have me pulling my hair out from time to time so I still have a lot to learn. From this thread I learned that the 10.3 JSBs don't penalize power as much as I remembered or experienced with other heavies. I imagine the reason for that is they probably have a lower start pressure than other similar weight pellets. It's probably a combination of fit and skirt design. The fun part about this stuff, it's there is always something to learn.
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OK. Beginning to understand this heavy pellet thing better. Much to learn with these little spring guns!! Sometimes I wonder how deep I want to get into them, the 22 lr is so simple. LOL. I love shooting the little 30s and it is nice to get trigger time in the back yard at low cost and plenty of available ammo. So the benefits of the air rifles are very real to me, but there is more learning curve than I thought, on the surface they appear to be pretty simple!!
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I can concur with the JSB 10.34's not creating as much start pressure as most other similarly weighted projectiles. I suspect it's a combination of the thin skirt, soft lead, and small bearing surface against the inside of the barrel due to the design of the head.
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