More Recoilless Springers?

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M

MJS

Member
Oct 11, 2016
212
81
Colorado, United States
Just a thought...

After owning two PCPs and dealing with pumps, gun leaks and pump leaks, I'd like to see a middle weight (<7 lb, 600 fps in .22) recoiless springer. Anybody else?

If it could be done for under $500, I'd buy. I know about the RWS 54, but thats 10 lbs.

DON"T get me wrong, those PCPs are accurate and fun to shoot while they work, but I like the reliability of a springer. 

Fire away...


 
I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze for the extra complexity honestly. 

A smoothly tuned springer with some mass to it running at a reasonable power level shoots just fine. 

I have an FWB300S and hardly ever shoot it. It's loud and clunky, and the sled acts funky shooting at squirrels up in trees. Plus it's unnecessarily heavy. My HW55 is just as accurate, the same power, and much lighter and simpler. 

Now the GISS and Whiscombe style guns are a different breed, but again, unnecessary complexity. Which is what we were trying to avoid in the first place right? Plus, they cost as much as a PCP and sometimes a tank too. 

A regular HW95 isn't too far away from $500 these days. Adding twice that complexity for the same money? Not a chance. 

For me and my uses, I can't see the point. 
 
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I would have to say to look into an HW30. I have one in .177 and .22. My 22 generates around 6.5 foot pounds with an 11.75 GR pellet which is around 500 FPS. It’s a fun little gun with or without an optic. 


other viable options would be maybe a HW50 or an HW35E. Both shoot around the 10 foot pound mark. Speed dependent on the pellet.


I had an HW50s and it wasn’t for me at the time. I was barely getting into springers and learning the best ways to shoot them. Being impatient got the best of me and I ended up selling it after 3 months. I still regret it as I feel I’ve gotten a lot of practice now with my HW30s. When I did my part with the HW50 it was pellet on pellet. It shot the HN FTT 14.66 around 540 FPS if I remember right. 


the HW35E is just north of your budget. I got to hold one at AOA and it wasn’t to heavy, it felt great when I shouldered it. Only down side for some people would be the little lever you have to release each time you want to cock the gun. I have my eyes on this rifle to add to my collection next. 


I’m only recently getting into springers, I use to only have PCPs as well but my HW30 have been my go tos to shoot in the backyar lately. My 2 Dreamlines are jealous. 







 
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No need for recoiless unles you want to shoot super long range. But even then some practice and technique would do just fine.

My HW50S shoots 595fps with 16gr pellets, and is super accurate. And you don't need a spring compressor or vice to disassemble. 
PSX_20201107_144354.1632955649.jpg

 
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I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze for the extra complexity honestly. 

A smoothly tuned springer with some mass to it running at a reasonable power level shoots just fine. 

I have an FWB300S and hardly ever shoot it. It's loud and clunky, and the sled acts funky shooting at squirrels up in trees. Plus it's unnecessarily heavy. My HW55 is just as accurate, the same power, and much lighter and simpler. 

Now the GISS and Whiscombe style guns are a different breed, but again, unnecessary complexity. Which is what we were trying to avoid in the first place right? Plus, they cost as much as a PCP and sometimes a tank too. 

A regular HW95 isn't too far away from $500 these days. Adding twice that complexity for the same money? Not a chance. 

For me and my uses, I can't see the point.
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This
 
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I know they are going to be hard to find but AirArms made the TX200 SR model for a few years and once properly set up they were extremely accurate at 12 fpe. Probably a little more than your 7 lb limit, but great trigger, AA accuracy, but seem to have become a collectors item. If you can find one at a decent price, you wouldnt be sorry. A few were made in .22 cal but the majority were .177 cal. It uses a sledge system on an aluminum rail, needs to be set up properly but once set, they were great shooters!!
 
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Well first let me jump on the bandwagon...if you've never tried a quality lower-powered springer, you might be very pleasantly surprised. My old Beeman-era R7, with Maccari kit and firing JSB 7.3 roundheads, shoots hard, accurately and freaking near sans recoil. Lots of other models, mostly older out-of-production ones, out there that are similar too (Diana 25 and 27, HW 55, original HW 50 {not the current re-named HW 99}, BSF 45, BSA Meteor, and many others).

BUT...I've also often thought a medium-sized / powered recoilless springer, would be awesome! I agree with Thumper that the Giss double-piston system is probably just too complex to be practical; realistically, some variation of the FWB 300 / Diana 54 "sledge" mechanism may be the most economically doable. But maybe with a little Anschutz 380 DNA? (This match gun had the sliding bits inside a fixed outer "sleeve," so the sights did not move when fired.)

Maybe a simplified and modernized iteration of the older Anschutz 220 / 250 system would be workable too. These had the rear of the mainspring sitting on a "shock absorber" section that moved rearward a small distance upon firing, eliminating 90% of recoil and vibration. 

Or how about this idea: not a springer, but a quality single-stroke pneumatic. The ingenious finger-light geared cocking linkages on late FWB, Anschutz, and Walther SSP match rifles could surely be tweaked to give more velocity in a smaller frame. I could go for an honest-to-goodness R7-sized SSP sporter for sure...!
 
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Or how about this idea: not a springer, but a quality single-stroke pneumatic. The ingenious finger-light geared cocking linkages on late FWB, Anschutz, and Walther SSP match rifles could surely be tweaked to give more velocity in a smaller frame. I could go for an honest-to-goodness R7-sized SSP sporter for sure...!
Click to expand...

I like that idea a lot.


 
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Or how about this idea: not a springer, but a quality single-stroke pneumatic. The ingenious finger-light geared cocking linkages on late FWB, Anschutz, and Walther SSP match rifles could surely be tweaked to give more velocity in a smaller frame. I could go for an honest-to-goodness R7-sized SSP sporter for sure...!
Click to expand...

I like that idea a lot.

Click to expand...


Even if it required two strokes to obtain sporter level energy. Walnut stock and traditional styling, please. I'll spend more than $500 NP
 
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I have an R9, R7, and HW30s. and all of them off the bag will group well under a dime at 25 yards off a bag. They are touchy and you find yourself pulling flyers when you stop concentrating, but they are dead rock solid when you firing on all cylinders. It is almost like therapy to get small groups from a springer. Just get a good one and shoot the hell out if it. In your target price you can get an R9. The HW97 and TX200 are even better, but they cost more and are heavier. 
 
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Once upon a time, there actually was a SSP sporter doing about 12 FPE - the British Titan Mohawk. But it was big, heavy, expensive, and hard to charge, so never quite caught on. And the match guns I mentioned above are of course big heavy dudes doing 550 FPS in .177.

My hunch is, a minimum 7-pound gun with maximum 700 FPS power in .177 would be about the practical limits for an SSP sporter, and it would definitely require a geared lever for reasonable cocking effort. But if not a hunting or field target rig, a truly recoilless, fixed-barrel sporter rifle the size, quality, and power of an R7 would still be pretty awesome! And an SSP is mechanically even simpler than a springer...
 
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