I've been having the worst time with the .177 cal Weihrauch HW97K we bought in February.
It does fine at ten yards. If I stretch it out to twenty, my groups go to pot and it seems that the pellets don't have enough energy behind them to penetrate even a single layer of cardboard. They often keyhole, or wadcutters often hit square on, and then just fall to the floor without even penetrating the paper. Some even seem to hit backwards.
I have a cardboard box filled with old catalogs and papers that I shoot at indoors. I ran out of all of that kind of stuff when I made the box, so the last 1 - 1 1/2 inches at the shooting side is just layers of cardboard, which is even less of a barrier than the other filler.
Some of you have suggested I put a Vortek or JM 12 ft lb kit in it to try to help with the inconsistent groups. And I've been open to that! But given the keyholing and lack of penetration, wouldn't that become even worse?
I live at the top of a mountain at 9200' ASL. Could it be that this gun -- and really, any spring gun -- is just not suited to the thin air up here?
I tried RWS and Meisterkugeln match pellets of various weights, and they didn't shoot any better groups than the cheap Crosman Premiers or JSB Exact pellets I was using. They keyhole, too, and the first 9.3 gr RWS Supermag pellet that I tried didn't even leave the barrel. Subsequent ones did, though.
Am I right when I think that the keyholing is from the pellets becoming unstable in flight, and the lack of penetration is most likely simply from lack of velocity?
This kind of behavior doesn't sound right, does it? Those of you who live at more reasonable altitudes don't have these issues, do you?
Thoughts or advice appreciated!!!
It does fine at ten yards. If I stretch it out to twenty, my groups go to pot and it seems that the pellets don't have enough energy behind them to penetrate even a single layer of cardboard. They often keyhole, or wadcutters often hit square on, and then just fall to the floor without even penetrating the paper. Some even seem to hit backwards.
I have a cardboard box filled with old catalogs and papers that I shoot at indoors. I ran out of all of that kind of stuff when I made the box, so the last 1 - 1 1/2 inches at the shooting side is just layers of cardboard, which is even less of a barrier than the other filler.
Some of you have suggested I put a Vortek or JM 12 ft lb kit in it to try to help with the inconsistent groups. And I've been open to that! But given the keyholing and lack of penetration, wouldn't that become even worse?
I live at the top of a mountain at 9200' ASL. Could it be that this gun -- and really, any spring gun -- is just not suited to the thin air up here?
I tried RWS and Meisterkugeln match pellets of various weights, and they didn't shoot any better groups than the cheap Crosman Premiers or JSB Exact pellets I was using. They keyhole, too, and the first 9.3 gr RWS Supermag pellet that I tried didn't even leave the barrel. Subsequent ones did, though.
Am I right when I think that the keyholing is from the pellets becoming unstable in flight, and the lack of penetration is most likely simply from lack of velocity?
This kind of behavior doesn't sound right, does it? Those of you who live at more reasonable altitudes don't have these issues, do you?
Thoughts or advice appreciated!!!
