I bought a HW97 K from Krale and like the rifle except that the accuracy is inconsistent. I've fired over 500 rounds through it so hoped it would settle down.
I have a 20+ year old R7/HW30 S that consistently shoots under 0.5" and occasionally 0.25". Here is a photo of a 5 shot group at 25 meters:
The problem is that the HW 97 is consistently about 0.8" to 1.0" with an occasional group 0.5" and under. I expected to get 0.5" consistently based on the HW97 reputation for accuracy. Here is any image of some groups I shot today:
The groups are in order, left to right. In case it's hard to read, all are 5 shot groups at 25m with JSB Exact Diabolo 25 grain. I'm shooting off the same rest (Caldwell sand bag) as the R7. I've tried the following things:
Vary the rest: on the bag, on my hand and on a piece of foam rubber. The softer rests, my hand and the foam, work better. These groups were shot using the foam.
Vary my hold. I've used the same hold as the R7, a firmer hold and a looser hold. The R7 hold, a fairly loose artillery hold, was what I used to shoot the top left 0.4" group. It's also the hold I used with the next group, 0.8". The rest of the groups were shot with a variety of holds from very loose to fairly firm. One had 4 shots in 0.5" with a flyer. The rife seems to sometimes be putting 3 or 4 shots touching, then one or two flyers. Other times they're just scattered around. The orange dots are 0.75" in diameter.
Vary the receiver/front trigger guard screw tightness. One session I started with the screw tight (not as tight as I could get it but very firm), then loosened it 1/4 turn at time, fired 5 rounds to let the rifle settle in, then fired for group. The groups stayed about the same, 0.8" to 1.0" until I finally loosened it the the point that they got worse. Today I tightened it firmly and shot the 0.4" group.
I'm not the greatest shot in the world but my crosshairs were on the orange dot every time I fired. I couldn't tell anything different when I got the flyers with an otherwise good group.
Tried a variety of pellets. Air Arms 25 grain occasionally shot well, but the JSB 25 grain and 34 gr Exact Heavy Diabolo have been the most constant and produced the few good groups.
Adjusted the trigger so that it doesn't affect my shot, i.e. lightened it.
Made sure the stock screws are tight.
The scope is a Hawke Airmax 4-12 50mm and was on the R7 before this. I have no reason to believe that there's anything wrong with the scope. I've made sure that the mount and rings are tight.
I'm at my wits end. I've done everything I know of to improve a springer so I'm hoping someone will have some ideas based on the target and what I've described.
Thanks,
Scot
I have a 20+ year old R7/HW30 S that consistently shoots under 0.5" and occasionally 0.25". Here is a photo of a 5 shot group at 25 meters:
The problem is that the HW 97 is consistently about 0.8" to 1.0" with an occasional group 0.5" and under. I expected to get 0.5" consistently based on the HW97 reputation for accuracy. Here is any image of some groups I shot today:
The groups are in order, left to right. In case it's hard to read, all are 5 shot groups at 25m with JSB Exact Diabolo 25 grain. I'm shooting off the same rest (Caldwell sand bag) as the R7. I've tried the following things:
Vary the rest: on the bag, on my hand and on a piece of foam rubber. The softer rests, my hand and the foam, work better. These groups were shot using the foam.
Vary my hold. I've used the same hold as the R7, a firmer hold and a looser hold. The R7 hold, a fairly loose artillery hold, was what I used to shoot the top left 0.4" group. It's also the hold I used with the next group, 0.8". The rest of the groups were shot with a variety of holds from very loose to fairly firm. One had 4 shots in 0.5" with a flyer. The rife seems to sometimes be putting 3 or 4 shots touching, then one or two flyers. Other times they're just scattered around. The orange dots are 0.75" in diameter.
Vary the receiver/front trigger guard screw tightness. One session I started with the screw tight (not as tight as I could get it but very firm), then loosened it 1/4 turn at time, fired 5 rounds to let the rifle settle in, then fired for group. The groups stayed about the same, 0.8" to 1.0" until I finally loosened it the the point that they got worse. Today I tightened it firmly and shot the 0.4" group.
I'm not the greatest shot in the world but my crosshairs were on the orange dot every time I fired. I couldn't tell anything different when I got the flyers with an otherwise good group.
Tried a variety of pellets. Air Arms 25 grain occasionally shot well, but the JSB 25 grain and 34 gr Exact Heavy Diabolo have been the most constant and produced the few good groups.
Adjusted the trigger so that it doesn't affect my shot, i.e. lightened it.
Made sure the stock screws are tight.
The scope is a Hawke Airmax 4-12 50mm and was on the R7 before this. I have no reason to believe that there's anything wrong with the scope. I've made sure that the mount and rings are tight.
I'm at my wits end. I've done everything I know of to improve a springer so I'm hoping someone will have some ideas based on the target and what I've described.
Thanks,
Scot
I think one should be able to get well into sub-1" consistently with about any gun at that distance.
