.177 Eyes wide open.

[HeyU]

Hi AGN, I wanted to express my enthrallment with this HW50 in 177. I've always had 22cal springers and PCP,s. I bought a HW50 in 177. I was very surprised by the power and accuracy of the HW50. But then I soon realized how WHAT a ROLL the wind will play. I love this kind of challenge. Keeps me moving. Anyhoo, my range faces west,max distance 67 yds,(unless)lol,,,,,,,, So my targets r at 25 yds,dingers. I have a constant wind of I'd say 5 mph from north to south. BUT the normal west to east wind kept falling off. In fact that west wind kept switching from west to east. I could feel the cold wind on my neck. It was rather chilly. Sometimes I nailed it,,sometimes not. I have to tip my hat to those that compete in F&T. I walked away with no shame but I definitely found alot of respect and admiration for the 177. and those that compete.

 

[hkshooter]

.177 is my caliber of choice for a few reasons but it remains so for a single reason. I'm used to it. I don't FT or compete and sitting around shooting bug hole sized groups is something I find tediously boring. All my air gunning has been in the field hunting tree rats and feathered vermin. All my testing has been directed by "Can I hit my target within a comfortable effective range consistently, standing off hand?" which is verified by various back yard plinking targets.
I spent years shooting a cheap pneumatic and I got used to the field expedient holds for range and wind, not to mention extreme up angle. It was like second nature, I could figure hold over for range by simply looking at the target, make my adjustment, and fire. More often than not the shot was good.

Around 1995 or so, maybe 1996, one of my distributors offered a new Beeman rifle I had not seen before. They had five in stock and I ordered two Beeman R1 Field Target model rifles in .20 cal. I bought one, another employee bought the other. I bought a few types of pellets, determined which one the rifle liked best, and got busy putting the gun to use. It grouped well in testing, hit like a hammer, and was accurate to my liking. But when I got it in the field we just didn't gel. I couldn't hit with that rifle to save my arse beyond the test range. I spent many days in the field humping that rifle, picking various knot holes, starlings, bugs, leaves, rocks, all at random distances, trying to learn the caliber's trajectory. I even switched back to my .177 R1 just to confirm whether or not I could still shoot and with that rifle everything came back, I was as accurate as ever.
Then I'd switch back to the .20 and try again, and fail again.
I finally got frustrated to the point of not using the .20 and it sat. I loved the stock and ended up swapping the stocks between the rifles and selling off the .20 in my old R1's stock.
All I could figure is the difference between the caliber's trajectory was enough that years of experience and instinct just didn't jive with .20. And so I've stuck with .177 ever since. I've never had trouble dispatching anything I've shot at with the caliber and normally use close to the heaviest pellet available that is accurate, those being Crossman Premier Domed and the old Beeman/H&N Kodiak.
It's my opinion that .177 is ideal for most all uses in air guns and anything else is experimentation. I'm not going to argue there aren't guns out there than can get superb performance out of larger calibers, not at all. It's just for me and how I use air guns, .177 does it all.

 

[silvershooter589]

It's my opinion that .177 is ideal for most all uses in air guns and anything else is experimentation.

Bold opinion, but I respect it!

 

[Mycapt65]

I'm a fan of flat shooting guns. IMO flatter shooting guns are easier to shoot targets at random unknown distances. I don't care what caliber something is as long as it's between 700 and 900 fps. Actually all but two of my air rifles are between 700 and 800 fps. The two outside that are 177 and fall between 850 and 900fps.

Likewise my 800 fps 177 Hw50 stayed when my 22 Hw50 went. The difference was almost 200 fps between the two. I had a hard time hitting targets past 30 yards with the 600 fps 22 Hw50 and sold it. The fellow I sold the it to loves the gun and has killed a lot more squirrels with it than I ever will with my 177 Hw50 or any other rifle for that matter. IIRC he's killed squirrels at well over 40 yards with it. Given my friends success with the same 22 Hw50 I struggled with, it occurred to me that the most important part of accuracy is practice.
Ymmv
Ron

 

[hkshooter]

I'm a fan of flat shooting guns. IMO flatter shooting guns are easier to shoot targets at random unknown distances. I don't care what caliber something is as long as it's between 700 and 900 fps. Actually all but two of my air rifles are between 700 and 800 fps. The two outside that are 177 and fall between 850 and 900fps.

Likewise my 800 fps 177 Hw50 stayed when my 22 Hw50 went. The difference was almost 200 fps between the two. I had a hard time hitting targets past 30 yards with the 600 fps 22 Hw50 and sold it. The fellow I sold the it to loves the gun and has killed a lot more squirrels with it than I ever will with my 177 Hw50 or any other rifle for that matter. IIRC he's killed squirrels at well over 40 yards with it. Given my friends success with the same 22 Hw50 I struggled with, it occurred to me that the most important part of accuracy is practice.
Ymmv
Ron

Yup. Speed. Equals both a flat trajectory and gets there quicker so the target has less time to react and cause a miss.

 

[badger5th]

It's my opinion that .177 is ideal for most all uses in air guns and anything else is experimentation. I'm not going to argue there aren't guns out there than can get superb performance out of larger calibers, not at all. It's just for me and how I use air guns, .177 does it all.

I agree with a caveat that it's true for sub-12fpe airguns. With 800 fps a 0.177 is flat shooting enough for most anything out to 50 yards or so. I have an R9 and HW30 in 0.177. The R9 is fine to 50 yards with 900+ fps MV, The HW30 can do 50 yards but only with rainbow trajectories. Regards

 

[Simplyhooked PCPs]

Hi AGN, I wanted to express my enthrallment with this HW50 in 177. I've always had 22cal springers and PCP,s. I bought a HW50 in 177. I was very surprised by the power and accuracy of the HW50. But then I soon realized how WHAT a ROLL the wind will play. I love this kind of challenge. Keeps me moving. Anyhoo, my range faces west,max distance 67 yds,(unless)lol,,,,,,,, So my targets r at 25 yds,dingers. I have a constant wind of I'd say 5 mph from north to south. BUT the normal west to east wind kept falling off. In fact that west wind kept switching from west to east. I could feel the cold wind on my neck. It was rather chilly. Sometimes I nailed it,,sometimes not. I have to tip my hat to those that compete in F&T. I walked away with no shame but I definitely found alot of respect and admiration for the 177. and those that compete.

@HeyU; I've always had respect for the "PEE WEE" .177 because that's where it started with me "as an adult in 1983". Its inability to buck the wind kept me civil when I first started hunting with my RWS45 and then later with a Beeman R1 in .177. Even though I'm hooked on pcps, I still own some very fine springers in the "PEE WEE" caliber of .177!