One of "Your" air rifles..

[Mortblanc]

This summer has been unusually warm. Too warm even for my "back porch shooting". The thermometer out there has hovered between 90f and 110f (that would be about 35c-45c for the metric crowd) for the past month with hardly a break and the humidity has been equally as bad.

I decided to move the shooting indoors where there is AC for summer and heat in winter, but to do that I had to make an adjustment in the requirements of the air gun needed, and I had none that would meet those requirements.

Not being restricted by any power ceiling over here we have plunged into a race for speed and power and it has been to the detriment of most other features of the air gun genre.

Yes we have .177 spring powered guns that send pellets blazing away at 1400fps. They will shoot clean through 8mm plywood and dent your pellet trap at closer than 50 meters.

They also require up to 50# effort to cock the gun, and when fired they jump and buck like a wild mule. The example I own actually hurts when fired. The spring slap is torture. Even the best scope will fall to pieces after 25-50 shots and their accuracy is HORRID!

I do not care what happens on You-tube or what doctored targets they offer, or what bogus ranges they claim to be shooting from, the accuracy is unacceptable and most of the reviews are faked so that supplier will continue to send the testers rifles to shoot.

So, I was in a spot where I needed a good quality, highly accurate, well made, low but adequately powered air rifle.

Not only did I drop to your 12# power limit, I went well below it. I was looking for an indoor rifle and power was not really an issue, accuracy was my main goal with ease of cocking the second requirement, right behind a good trigger.

I ordered a Weihrauch HW30 in .177, paid my money and waited.

What arrived was not an HW30 in .177, but an HW30 in .22. I had ordered the .177 for its slightly falter trajectory and the lower cost of the pellets, since this rifle is going to be shot a LOT and pellet cost will become a factor.

I immediately called the firm and reported the problem. They issued me a return form and told me to have UPS pick the rifle up. That was on a Friday.

I also told them that I had not fired the rifle and they could still honestly sell it as a new rifle only test fired at their facility. They told me that they would have to sell the rifle as an un-boxed product at used gun price anyway.

BAD MISTAKE!!!

I shot the holy crap out of that rifle for two days and it was a dream to shoot. Even with open sights is was doing less than one inch groups at 25 yards and everything about the rife was exactly as I had desired.

The only real problem with the rifle was that the HW30 in .22 only gets 450fps from a 14 grain pellet. You can almost see the pellet arch to the target. Still, it shoots wonderfully and proved incredibly accurate.

I boxed it up on Sunday night and shipped it back on Monday morning.

To weeks latter and I get a second UPS truck at the door. This time the HW30 is in .177, and just as nice as the previous one. So yesterday all work was suspended.

I did to things immediately, I installed a BSA air rifle rated scope and adjusted the trigger. I had done neither of those things to the "loaner" rifle. I looked down the bore to insure it was not obstructed, checked the internals to insure everything was lubricated from the factory, grabbed a tin of pellets and proceeded to terrorize some cardboard from my perch on the back porch.

My first group at 20 yards was three shots touching. No attempt was made to zero the scope, I was simply shooting for group. I closed in to 10M (my inside the house down the hall and through the kitchen distance) and the pellets simply stacked on top of each other and widened the first hole slightly.

Sine I had purchased this rifle as an indoor shooting range rifle I was quite pleased that it was as accurate as it proved at 20 yards. It is a blast to shoot and has done one inch groups at 20 yards with every pellet in my bin. That makes it lethal on all the spinners and flapper targets I use for my PCP rifles.

It even shoots the horrid Crosman flat nosed pellets from the discount store into an inch, but will not abide their pointed nosed type. The pointed nosed Crosmans still produce a wide flier every 4 or 5 shots, even from this fine rifle.

The chronograph says it is giving 625fps with the 7 grain RWS hobby pellets for a whopping 6 f/p energy. That speed might increase as the gun breaks in. I do not really care. It shoots where it looks consistently, has the excellent trigger I was looking for, takes only 20 pounds effort to cock, and it is built like a bank vault, or a German peasant girl, whichever analogy you prefer.

This is one rifle in my battery that I expect will outlast me, and probably out last my son and grandson. Some of the early Weihrauch products ate still out there shooting, and their target trigger is famous in the industry.

I am pleased with this purchase and will do my best to wear it out.

And I now have a fine little air gun I could take to GB without legal problems.