I gotta do something with this HW98, it's a bloody scattergun

Now that looks better!!! Lol

Cant wait to see how she shoots with the new ammo....I have a HW80K in .22 and it really likes the 5.53s!

All this talk here lately on the HW98 has me thinking really hard on getting one...lol

But I think it will be in .20 if I decide to pull the trigger....

James from Michigan 

After you cleaned it I can see a couple of trouble areas. You can try shooting it and if you still have a problem try lapping it. If that doesn’t work and you live anywhere in Central Texas contact me and I will cut a new crown on it for free for you.

Hard to actually see the rifling lands in the photo. The dings I do see are on the very edge of the bore and are not near the rifling land ends.

You might consider a new barrel in .177-not cheap but better than scrapping the gun IMO...

A couple friends came over yesterday and we shot in my back yard.



First up was the HW98. Determine to find out how it shoots.



First was over the chrony. The H&N Ø5.54mm went the fastest at 660fps. The Ø5.55mm were in the 610-620s.



Next up was accuracy. Put the traps up at 25, 50 and 75yds.



Started shooting at 25yds. Totally unimpressive with the Ø5.54mm H&N. Grouping about Ø2". Then tried the Ø5.55mm and much to my surprise the groups were very good, about a dime size for 5 shots. Repeated this on two different targets. Even went back to the Ø5.54mm and got the same crappy grouping.



OK, it likes Ø5.55mm. Time for 50yds. Everything fell apart at 50yds. I could hit the trap, but barely keep it within the target. Mucho dissappointment.



Neighbor kid came over w/ his hundred buck gamo. W/ the Ø5.55mm his gun was flinging it at 750fps! Holy smoke! His scope was crap and wouldn't focus so I told him to swap the one off his other gun. He ran out of time doing that so we didn't get a chance to see how accurate the gamo was.



At this point, I'm fed up with this HW98. It's accuracy and performance is dismal IMHO. Is anyone a known good tuner that can get some decent performance from it? Because I'm ready to send it to someone who knows how to get this megabuck gun to perform better.

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PM sent

Energy with the 5.54 is about 14.2 ft-lb, which is a little low for that gun but not terrible. Standard tuning does not usually improve accuracy a whole lot, more a refinement of shot cycle which may make follow through easier and the gun more pleasant to shoot generally. A good gun should produce at least reasonable groups at 50 yards with a variety of field target style pellets, no more than a couple inches with an experienced shooter on the gun. As I mentioned before, with the best performing pellets groups should be near an inch at the same distance.

If you have looked at everything else, it is beginning to sound like a barrel problem. The pellets should fit tight at the muzzle. Do the push through test to check for this. If they don't, supposedly there are people out there who can add choke to the end of the barrel once the sleeve has been removed. Sounds expensive to me. Then there is the crown to look at. I have used the brass round head screw with lapping compound technique to remove burrs from a cut barrel and it did work. You could try a couple different head diameters, one to smooth the radiussed area just outside the bore, and a smaller head diameter to polish the crown itself. I try to polish the lands and just kiss the grooves at the crown.

Beyond that, it might come down to a custom barrel. Maybe someone here knows of a tuner who could take on that task. If you aren't happy with the power/velocity level, a spring change or a new tune kit might help with that. You could also try some of the "green" H&N pellets. They would kick up the velocity and also create a higher spin rate that might even improve stability. Definitely worth a try if you haven't already. Good luck!

 Then tried the Ø5.55mm and much to my surprise the groups were very good, about a dime size for 5 shots. Repeated this on two different targets. Even went back to the Ø5.54mm and got the same crappy grouping.

OK, it likes Ø5.55mm. Time for 50yds. Everything fell apart at 50yds. I could hit the trap, but barely keep it within the target. Mucho dissappointment.

It's a beautiful .22, no question, a real eye catcher.



It's just got horrible accuracy. At 50yds I expect hole on hole accuracy from this kind of a gun, but my '98 is more like a shotgun than anything else.

Not trying to be mean here just offering you a reality check.

Your problem is simple. You think your springer should shoot as well as your PCP. It is shooting at 650 fps. Your PCP is likely shooting around 900. You paid maybe $700 for that springer. You paid more than twice that for your PCP. Your springer has about a pound of steel slamming around inside it between the time you pull the trigger and the pellet leaves the muzzle. Your PCP has less than an ounce of metal moving at any given time. Time of flight to fifty yards with that sort of velocity difference is likely twice as long. Any wind, the slightest breeze and you are going to have groups open up. You are asking more from that springer than is reasonable, especially in .22. Also if you are shooting dime sized groups at 25 yards and you are not shooting under 2 inches at 50 yards on a calm day... it is on you, not the rifle.

For your consideration check out the EXCEPTIONAL groups discussed in this thread and at the bottom you will discover that the gun being discussed is shooting about 5 or 6 fpe harder than your 98. They ARE NOT hole in hole.

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/shot-some-targets-50-yards-with-the-diana-54/

Springers are just a tough balancing act. Your '98 is a 35 yard squirrel rifle, primarily because of the low power level and the fact it is in .22. You might have it in to a tuner and have them spring it for 18 FPE or so and get a little better performance at 50 yards but you are NEVER going to have something that shoots HOLE ON HOLE ACCURACY at 50 yards. That happens just often enough with a springer to make it serious braggin' material. Also that particular rifle is DESIGNED to shoot around 16 FPE max. I can't really recommend you put a heavier spring in it. If you want more range, rebarrel it to .20 or .177. Even if you do all that you are probably not going to have something that shoots under a quarter at 50 yards. It is a springer. Most $500.00 spring guns that have had a $200.00 or $300.00 tune can't do that regularly.

I have shot a very accurate HW98 in 177 caliber only but it had a heavy custom made field target stock and the power level was slightly over 12 FPE. With the 10-50x60 Sightron scope, it weighed about 15 pounds.

Interesting.



Weather permitting we get together on Wednesdays. I'll give her another go and take pics of the groupings.

I wish it were doing 16fpe, that would be 700fps. As it is, w/ the 5.55mm it's only doing 610-620. 12.5fpe.

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What did your tuner do to it and what does he say about all this? The advertising literature says the rifle should be about ~15fpe. Your tuner probably put a 12 fpe kit in it?

An increase in output may only add to your accuracy issues. My suggestion is ignore your concern that you think this gun is shooting slow (It's not) and figure out what is causing the accuracy issue. If the gun is shooting the pellet at a fairly consistent speed, then the pellet should be at the same POI or fairly close no matter what the pellet speed (Within reason and yours is reasonable). Once you get things settled down at this power level if you want a power increase then consider a re-tune. 

Also maybe consider brining the target distance in a bit. Try shooting at ten yards for awhile and verify your groupings. You should be seeing hole in hole shots consistently at that distance rested with this gun. Trying to diagnose grouping issues starting at 25 yards and moving next to 50 or 75 yards is not a realistic approach. 

My .22 R9 shoots the 5.54 FTT pellets consistently and accurately to 55 yards at 660 FPS. An output of 12 to 14 fpe is a very reasonable compromise for this platform and you should be seeing fairly tight groups even at 50 yards. Probably no hole in hole groups at that distance, but reasonable groupings should be no problem depending on conditions and your skill level. Good luck with your quest!

Time for some more targets there MonsterMaxx. =)

Yup I’m keen to find out what’s happening.

Acceptable for a break-barrel rifle.

Really does quite well @ 25 yrds. You don't mention anything about wind conditions.