I bought my HW30s a little over two years ago just as I was getting back into shooting. I'd always wanted a nice, German-made air rifle and the HW30s fit my budget at the time -- and since it was less than 500 fps I could avoid the whole long gun registry schmozzle, too.
Now that my smallbore shooting season is over, I decided to scope the HW30s and see what kind of groups I could get it to shoot. I am not a scope shooter, and I've spent even less time shooting off a support of any kind.
A while back I purchased a low-end Hawke Sport HD 3-9x40 for my Anschutz 190 sporter rifle so I could take my son to the range. Now that it's bear season and I'm avoiding the range, I decided to move the scope to the HW30s and see how it worked.
On Sunday morning I set up a target in my driveway, put down my old shooting mat, set up the pedestal rest and rear bag and shot a series of targets at 30 and 50 feet. I used JSB Match Diabolo .177 pellets and pleasantly surprised myself.
My range set up -- the backer board is a piece of styrofoam home insulation
It took me 15 shots to get zeroed in -- and used to the set up -- shooting five-shot groups and adjusting after each group. My best target measured 0.353" centre-to-centre, which I know isn't great, but at least they were all touching.
I decided it was time to stretch things out a bit so I moved back to 50 feet. I know target air rifles are optimized for the Olympic range of 10 metres (or 33 feet), but I wanted to see what my break-barrel could do.
I was surprised because the groups were more or less centred. There's a lot of vertical but I suspect that's due more to my crappy technique than inconsistent velocity -- but you never know.
Getting a little bored with supported shooting, I decided to up the ante and try off-hand. First up was my bread and butter: prone. I normally shoot with a sling and an exceptionally light trigger, and the Hw30s stock isn't designed for prone, so it was a bit of a reach for my finger.
Sitting at 50 feet
I wrapped the session my giving standing a go. I did my best to get into a proper, international-style standing position, but I've never been trained for standing and I was all over the place, even when I dialled the scope back to 4X.
Standing at 50 feet
I find it interesting that my zero hardly moved from 30 to 50 feet as I thought the pellet would drop more quickly at the longer distance. I was also surprised at how much the centre of my groups climbed in sitting and then again in standing, as opposed to prone. I'm not sure if eye relief with scopes changes point of impact as much as it does with iron sights, but I guess it's a possibility.
I also bought a new air rifle for my son and tested it the same day, but that's another report.
Now that my smallbore shooting season is over, I decided to scope the HW30s and see what kind of groups I could get it to shoot. I am not a scope shooter, and I've spent even less time shooting off a support of any kind.
A while back I purchased a low-end Hawke Sport HD 3-9x40 for my Anschutz 190 sporter rifle so I could take my son to the range. Now that it's bear season and I'm avoiding the range, I decided to move the scope to the HW30s and see how it worked.
On Sunday morning I set up a target in my driveway, put down my old shooting mat, set up the pedestal rest and rear bag and shot a series of targets at 30 and 50 feet. I used JSB Match Diabolo .177 pellets and pleasantly surprised myself.
My range set up -- the backer board is a piece of styrofoam home insulation
Shooting position
It took me 15 shots to get zeroed in -- and used to the set up -- shooting five-shot groups and adjusting after each group. My best target measured 0.353" centre-to-centre, which I know isn't great, but at least they were all touching.
I decided it was time to stretch things out a bit so I moved back to 50 feet. I know target air rifles are optimized for the Olympic range of 10 metres (or 33 feet), but I wanted to see what my break-barrel could do.
I was surprised because the groups were more or less centred. There's a lot of vertical but I suspect that's due more to my crappy technique than inconsistent velocity -- but you never know.
Getting a little bored with supported shooting, I decided to up the ante and try off-hand. First up was my bread and butter: prone. I normally shoot with a sling and an exceptionally light trigger, and the Hw30s stock isn't designed for prone, so it was a bit of a reach for my finger.
Prone at 50 feet
I switched to sitting for the next target, although I didn't cross my legs and braced my elbows on the outside of my knees. I don't shoot this way very often and I don't do field target, so I know there's lots of room for improvement here.
Sitting at 50 feet
I wrapped the session my giving standing a go. I did my best to get into a proper, international-style standing position, but I've never been trained for standing and I was all over the place, even when I dialled the scope back to 4X.
Standing at 50 feet
I find it interesting that my zero hardly moved from 30 to 50 feet as I thought the pellet would drop more quickly at the longer distance. I was also surprised at how much the centre of my groups climbed in sitting and then again in standing, as opposed to prone. I'm not sure if eye relief with scopes changes point of impact as much as it does with iron sights, but I guess it's a possibility.
I also bought a new air rifle for my son and tested it the same day, but that's another report.
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