pesting with the HW30

After bringing the local red squirrel population under control this winter with the HW30, the "black hole" effect is starting to take effect. Prime, unoccupied habitat is calling to the local reds. A quick walk about this morning and the little HW30 was 2 for 2. One shot drops. I am noticing considerably more bird activity on my land without the reds. More birds setting up for nesting. The reds are notorious nest predators. If you are looking for a quiet, highly accurate, easy to carry pesting rifle, the HW30 is hard to beat. Good to 25 yds, with a solid rest perhaps a bit more. A 3-12x bugbuster completes the setup. Mine was tuned with a vortec pg4 kit. loves 7.3g pellets. Head shots are recommended.
 
My wife has a HW30s and does well with it. Thought it was way under powered, more so for hunting unless maybe point blank. HW30s reminds me of an over built Daisy Red Ryder. Well, I guess I took my share of small birds with a Daisy Red Ryder! Biggest things I liked about the HW30s was the short length, lightweight, and can break that barrel forever without much effort. Impressed you are taking down squirrels with it - excellent shooting.
 
I shot my German spec Weihrauch HW35 this afternoon… I think it is a similar gun to your HW30… what a joy to shoot in comparison to the RWS-54 which I also had out today. Love the ease of cocking and loading… getting into position was easy and ergonomically efficient … I was experimenting with a set of modified hiking sticks as shooting rests… just wish it can kill critters like tree rats… as it is, it is just a paper puncher and pea gravel eliminator with its 7.5 joule power limit

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I'm probably in the neighborhood of 8 ft lbs with the PG4 kit. That is sufficient for red squirrels, they are smaller than Grey, although it is used on much larger ground squirrels. The vast majority of my shots are 10 to 15 yards. Occasionally 20 or a bit more. For those distances it has been a flawless performer as long as I do my part. I wait for a good shot, if the squirrel is active, or nervously moving I simply pass the shot. I do not hunt when it is windy either. I use whatever rest is handy, usually a sapling or tree, although if it is very close I will go offhand. I was thinking about a pair of shooting sticks, but there seem to be rests readily available where I live and the elevation of the squirrel from the ground to well up in the tree make shooting sticks less useful. Once a gun has the minimum required foot pounds of energy for the intended quarry, any additional energy only buys you a little bit more flat shooting range. Big increases in energy in a springer rapidly increases the weight of the gun and make it much more sensitive/difficult to shoot accurately. The HW30 is a rare combination of low weight, forgiving gun to shoot, accurate, high quality. It does place more emphasis on hunting skills, getting closer to the quarry, taking the right shot, but hey that's why they call it hunting and not shooting. In more open country than the thick woods of Maine, it might not be the best. I personally would not equate an HW30 with a Red Rider BB gun. In my view they are much more accurate, much higher quality and shoot with more authority, but that is only my experience. 700 fps with a 7.3g pellet is enough for squirrels at 25yds and under with accurate shot placement. Shot placement is what kills, a higher velocity pellet simply carries the pellet further once it passes through the animal. I get complete pass throughs as it is. If I needed a higher velocity (increased range) gun for everyday pesting I might consider a multi-pump .177 Dragonfly II. Lightweight, more power (range) that the HW30, accurate, simple, no recoil so easy to shoot accurately, and good value for the money. A .177 would be much flatter shooting than a .22. put a light weight 3-12x scope on it, grab your pellets and go.
 
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