HW97

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dannyshoots

Member
Oct 28, 2015
81
1
Colorado
I have fallen in the deep end of the air gun pool and sinking fast.

I bought a Daystate Wolverine B Hilite in .22 back in October of last year. Then a few weeks ago, I ordered an Impact in .25. While waiting on it, I dropped the bucks for a new HW97 in .177 last week because everything I could possibly find written or YouTubed on the gun proclaimed tack driving accuracy out of the box. Nothing negative could be found on the gun! 

Well, out of the box my blue stocked springer came today. Of course, I took it right to the bench in my sniper room downstairs and began spittin 'em across the chrony, out the window at my target set at 15 yards. My stomach sank when I saw the group and the chronograph's report. On the first 10 round string, I had two H&N FTTs whiz out at over 925 fps! Then some as low as 625. The second 10 round string was more of the same with something around 750 fps looking like what the gun would settle into with the 8.64 gr pellet. I had to leave for the evening but later, inside the house at 10 yards, I set up to adjust the trigger a tad and try the gun again. I didn't use the chronograph. I just wanted to play with the trigger and see if anything improved in the group. Low and behold, it put 10 pellets in the same 1/2 inch hole.

So...what am I experiencing with this new gun? I'm thinking the 4 or 5 900+fps rounds were the result of dieseling. I've read about guns needing to break in, but after all the acclaim for this gun one hole punching right out of the box, I was expecting a tighter than an inch group and 15 yards. My Daystate runs pellet after pellet right up the arse of the previous pellet and has done so from the start.

Some calming thoughts from those of you with experience regarding this German heavy weight would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and yes, for those of you wondering...I live alone. How else could a feller get away with the above?

Thanks!
Danny
 
Hi Danny. Congratulations on your affliction! Haha! And on a very nice new toy. Can you post a photo or two? I think you need to let it settle in for a while. It can take a while for all the lube to burn off and for the spring and piston to break in. It will settle down after a bit. Remember its a springer not a pcp. You will have to learn how she likes to be held what she like to eat. Don't be in a hurry just spend some quality time with her. Remember the artillery hold, it may not like being used on a firm rest. Good luck and most of all have fun!
 
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30cal,

Thanks for the reply. I suspected I would need to put a tin through her. At ten yards last night, she seemed to purr while being held artillery style. I forgot to ask some questions in my last post that have arisen with my research on this gun. First, what are Stage 1 , 2 and 3 tunes? Second, should I consider them before break in? I have watched the take down, polish up and re-assemble videos. Even looked at the V-Mach rebuild kit . The one thing I saw that seemed worth while was polishing the spring washers and the ends of the spring so that puppy has no resistance with its spin. Also, at its current power level, it would be legal in the UK. How could I ring out a little more power from her?

I am going to be pretty well tied up the rest of the weekend. I will post some photos early next week. She is very pretty for being such a heavy gal. :) ...must be all muscle.

Cheers,
Danny
 
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"what are Stage 1 , 2 and 3 tunes" ? Someones sales pitch? Vmach makes a good kit if you get the entire kit -not just a sping & seal- they are pricy, others makes kits/parts for these also. I have only shot 97's that were professionally tuned and they were very nice rifles. I don't think you would be really happy with the firing cycle if you try upping the power. 
It sounds like perhaps you plan on opening it up yourself to work on, if so skip break in and go ahead and degrease , smooth, ..., re-grease everything.
If you want the warranty, DO fire at least 1,000 pellets before think about a tune.
If sending it out for a pro tune, as long as you are certain nothing is grinding or such, do as you please.
IMO, it should ( with it's preferred pellet) shoot 3/4" at 55 yards perhaps better if your up to it.

Spriners can be so much fun, everyone needs at least one, also a red ryder.

John
 
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I have had my 97 for a few months now and a little over 1000 pellets through it. My gun seems to have broke in now and is shooting real nice. At 10 yards indoors it is a perfect one hole group and i am getting about 1 inch groups at 50 yards and i know i can do better with more practice. I still cant figure out if my gun likes JSB's or H&N FTT mine is in .20 cal by the way. What helped me out a lot was removing the stock screws and adding blue locktite as mine where always working loose. Also my gun seems to be fairly temperature sensitive as my zero tends to shift around whit the change in temperature. I am also looking into tuning options for my rifle so keep us posted on what you do. 
 
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The majority of videos and reviews you have seen would of been at sub 12fpe. I had a similar unwelcome surprise with my hw77k after abit of time and some money i got it to shoot fairly sweet. I suggest fitting a tbt maxi kit with 12fpe spring polishing your piston all the way up to 2000 grit (i then finished mine with autosol). But the thing that really tightened up my grouping was adopting the artillery hold over resting the gun on the bag. Plumbers tape on stock screws and trigger screws will give you some extra confidence also
 
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Camd,
Great information! That was what I was wanting to hear. I did learn over the past couple of nights about the artillery hold. I'm consistently shooting 10 round one hole groups at about 12 yards with the artillery hold. I never would have suspected resting on the bag would decrease accuracy. Spring guns are a study all by themselves. I will look into the tbt kit.

Thank you! 
 
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Danny,
May not be the easiest (?) but for pictures I
go to photobucket, find picture and copy " img " link go back tp post and paste it there, THEN hit PREVIEW , the "preview section will show just a x or such but where you would type to fix anything will show the picture if not "preview" again. Then hit post. I think (?) hitting preview " breaks the ;link" and allows it to show. If I don't hit preview first all that shows is X.
There is a how to posted somewhere.

John
 
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At least the link shows and if I click it works, but many people ( myself ) sometimes don't link to click links let me test this:


Alright, I copied the lowest line " IMG " pasted it here, hit preview which made it show in preview pane but not in the above post pane, hit preview a second time, there it is.
That's what I always do, hit preview twice and it THEN shows, if adding lot's of pictures sometimes - not always - I have to hit preview more than twice but not every picture.
Only way I've figured to do it. I'm certain there are other ways.

Didn't realize you had a Blue one, very cool. Springers are fun and if your not accustomed can be a bit of a learning curve, sometimes just moving your hand on the forearm 1" makes or breaks the ability to repeat the same shot. Just excellent practice and when you go shoot something less , fickle , using the "same everytime" hold/breath/all toe's pointed North/??? really does apply to all shooting, springers just FORCE you to pay attention.
Glad to hear your groups are getting closer to what you want, that rifle if everything is good certainly should group well and even 12fpe is just fine out to 55 or so.


John
 
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Thanks for getting that pic up for me, John. I really like the rifle. That kid on youtube in the UK has a Bisley sling swivel that mounts to his cocking lever. I found two places in the UK that carry them but they wont ship to the US. Any ideas how I can sling this beast? I sure as hell don't want to lug around by hand in the field. A couple of days doing that and I'd come home looking like Charles Atlas!! Ooops, I just aged myself didn't I...

Danny
 
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Ebay had some Bisley swivels, but none in 13.5. I was able to find the 13.5 mm swivels at John Knibbs International, LTD while doing another web search yesterday. Total cost was about 25.00 with shipping from the UK being more than half of the total. I'm hoping they get here before the weekend but I doubt they will. Going into the hills for cottontails on Saturday.
 
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I've got two of these in 177. The first one had been worn in before I got it, the second brand new. It does take at least a tin or 2 to settle in. How ever you shoot it, do it the same way each time. One of the reasons I got a second one is that one is set up for field target, so I wanted to be able to just use it for target and pest work, which wasn't practical in the FT set up. And the other reason I wanted to experience the change of a brand new rifle into a nicely tuned and settled in one.

Bottom line, they are great rifles and very accurate.
 
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